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[The Witcher] Watching Season 2 is Your Destiny, Probably

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Posts

  • manjimanji Registered User regular
    I have talked my tinder date into coming over to watch the Witcher with me (after a fancy dinner). man, i hope it's good! my previous 'come over and watch nightbreed' gamble a few matches ago went spectacularly wrong :<

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    manji wrote: »
    I have talked my tinder date into coming over to watch the Witcher with me (after a fancy dinner). man, i hope it's good! my previous 'come over and watch nightbreed' gamble a few matches ago went spectacularly wrong :<

    If not, have Henry Cavill read her the book

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  • Mc zanyMc zany Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    Ressing this thread.

    I saw the first episode yesterday, pretty good. It deffo follows the books rather than the games.

    Henry Cavill is Geralt no question about it. His look, his mannerisms, the voice are great. They had a Q&A afterwards and the showrunner said that Cavill pestered her for the role before the scripts were even written (and that they saw 250ish actors for the role).

    The standout was the swordfighting, which was fast and brutal. I was happy that to see the short sword/dagger fighting style get some love.

    Mc zany on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    Niiiice!

    And yeah, from all accounts, Cavill wanted the role for ages, and gave it everything.

    https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/16/henry-cavill-warned-start-go-blind-injury-wearing-geralts-contacts-filming-witcher-11916807/

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  • ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    yeah special contacts like that are notoriously shitty to work with, I think that's one of the reasons they gave Geordi a visor instead of contacts in TNG, and Brent Spiner still complains about the contacts (and makeup) he wore

  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Shorty wrote: »
    yeah special contacts like that are notoriously shitty to work with, I think that's one of the reasons they gave Geordi a visor instead of contacts in TNG, and Brent Spiner still complains about the contacts (and makeup) he wore

    I think the CDC or FDA recently put out a thing about cosplayers using non prescribed costume contacts and getting injuries. Be careful with stuff you put in your eye!

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  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    Shorty wrote: »
    yeah special contacts like that are notoriously shitty to work with, I think that's one of the reasons they gave Geordi a visor instead of contacts in TNG, and Brent Spiner still complains about the contacts (and makeup) he wore

    GoT originally was going to give Dany eye contacts as well iirc, and after a few days they decided it wasn't worth it

    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    Seen a lot of reviewers talking about the show today, but actual reviews are embargoed until premiere. What is coming they doesn’t sound super encouraging.

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    Seen a lot of reviewers talking about the show today, but actual reviews are embargoed until premiere. What is coming they doesn’t sound super encouraging.

    Link?

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  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    Seen a lot of reviewers talking about the show today, but actual reviews are embargoed until premiere. What is coming they doesn’t sound super encouraging.

    Link?

    Some in the spoilers bellow. I don’t follow to many critics so some other have been in my feeds as “likes” of someone else so can’t really find those.

    A Half Eaten Oreo on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    I mean, the books are pretty crazy camp!

    Book 1 (the last wish spoilers!!)
    Has Geralt fight and kill grimdark snowwhite!


    Plus, the world is much more monster filled than, say, game of thrones
    GoT spoilers and extensive Witcher Monster spoilers
    Got has dragons and basically Zombies

    Witcher has

    Werewolves
    Vampires, which range from simple beasts to the most powerful and intelligent representations of vampires in fiction
    Giant Manspiders
    Basilisks
    Smaller, animal-like Dragons
    Elder Dragons that are pretty much just straight Lord of the rings dragons- they can also speak and do magic
    Cursed Humans in a myriad of forms
    Genies
    Evil-sh spirits of pretty much every place
    -Woods
    -Cities
    -Castles
    -Graves
    -Sewers

    All kinds of eldritch evil, from as old as the world, to as old as other, older worlds, to as old as the universe.
    And that's not even close to a broad ovderview!

    I can see how witcher might stump you if you expect "Game of Thrones, but on Netflix"

    autono-wally, erotibot300 on
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  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    I’m still hoping for the best. It’s my favorite game series and I love the world and setting. But review embargo until release is always a scary concept for the quality of the media.

    Edit: I just realized I misread Feinberg’s tweet and he’s commenting on the “do not reveal list” and not the show itself.

    A Half Eaten Oreo on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    Like seriously.. The witcher stories are a pretttttty strange mix! I can totally see people get tonal whiplash from them. I'd like some book reader reviews.

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  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    I’m still hoping for the best. It’s my favorite game series and I love the world and setting. But review embargo until release is always a scary concept for the quality of the media.

    There's positive voices from book readers in the subreddits, and positive twitter reviews too.

    Again.. There's a load of silly about the series! It's part of what I like.

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    But if you're new, the name alone might already be too silly

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  • KetarKetar Come on upstairs we're having a partyRegistered User regular
    Seen a lot of reviewers talking about the show today, but actual reviews are embargoed until premiere. What is coming they doesn’t sound super encouraging.

    Link?

    Some in the spoilers bellow. I don’t follow to many critics so some other have been in my feeds as “likes” of someone else so can’t really find those.

    Yeah, Alan Sepinwall saying that he won't be reviewing it at all is a pretty bad sign. I was disappointed to see that on my twitter feed, since even my wife is hyped for this show now and we'll have to at least check out the first episode or two.

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular


    Seems it's pretty far out there. I mean..

    Let's not forget the .. special horse thing

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  • SharpyVIISharpyVII Registered User regular
    So it sounds like it's gonna just come at you %100 not giving a damn if you know anything about the franchise which I can definitely see turning a lot of people off.

    Not me though, send all the crazy Witchering my way!

    One thing Game of Thrones did very was introducing everything slowly to an audience who probably weren't familiar with the source material.

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    What's the Do Not Reveal list
    Like plot points?

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    SharpyVII wrote: »
    So it sounds like it's gonna just come at you %100 not giving a damn if you know anything about the franchise which I can definitely see turning a lot of people off.

    Not me though, send all the crazy Witchering my way!

    One thing Game of Thrones did very was introducing everything slowly to an audience who probably weren't familiar with the source material.

    They said they'd stay relatively true to the books, and the first two books are a collection of short stories which, in usual short story fashion, throw you into a fully fleshed out world with little introduction.

    I mean, the trick is to just read on. Everyone you need to know for a longer time will get brought up again! It's not like you need to remember everyone at once.

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  • metaghostmetaghost An intriguing odor A delicate touchRegistered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    What's the Do Not Reveal list
    Like plot points?

    Yeah, I assume it's just saying "avoid spoiling certain things during your reviews", but presumably the list is either focused on inconsequential details or it's ridiculously restrictive and makes reviewing the show a bit more work than one would like.

  • Trajan45Trajan45 Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    idk this is the sort of thing I'm not sure how much I'm going to trust professional reviewers tweets on. The production looks good from the trailer, so if it's goofy vs serious, I'm still fully on board as long as the acting, dialogue, and action are good. My favorite part of Witcher 3 was Blood and Wine which had a ton of goofiness in it.

    Thankfully it'll be out tomorrow and I can judge for myself. The greatness of Netflix is that unlike a movie, I don't have to buy a ticket, get dressed, go down the theater, deal with people, etc. I can just avoid reviews and watch it tomorrow.

    Trajan45 on
    Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    I'm gonna stay up and watch at least a couple eps, so luckily for you guys I will let you know if you're allowed to like it or not

    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    So, 30 minutes

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  • SharpyVIISharpyVII Registered User regular
    Reviews are mixed, some good, some average but it definitely seems like the reviewers with previous knowledge of either the games/books enjoyed it more.

    Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

    Some of my favourite shows had rougher first seasons so I'm happy it'll continue to get better and better.

    The Last Kingdom ln Netflix had a pretty average first season but the most recent one has been amazing.

  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    we're liiiiiive!

    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • SharpyVIISharpyVII Registered User regular
    I can't start watching it for another 10 hours or so :( so post your impressions!

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    SharpyVII wrote: »
    I can't start watching it for another 10 hours or so :( so post your impressions!

    Same here... If anyone can post some spoiler free impressions, I'd be thankful!

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  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    OK, I watched the first few minutes, and that was great.
    today is just not your day

    Classic Geralt

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  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    episode 1 starts in kind of a weird spot in the story - obv they want to introduce Ciri and Geralt, but the storylines aren't happening at the same time, and it doesn't do a great job of actually telling you like who Ciri is and why we should be rooting for her, and who the heck is invading anyway. It seems like there's better stories to start the series on that are A) earlier in the timeline, and B) like designed to introduce you to these characters. Exposition's a bit awkward. Cavill is very charming though.

    Queen Calanthe is dope, but her impact feels a bit less here than in the books where we've met her a couple of times. In the books:
    by the time we meet her we've established that the witcher world is pretty dang sexist. Which is why Calanthe is a badass, she's like "well our kingdom ain't got a king so I'm gonna do all those king things, like leading armies and waving swords around, even though nobody prepped me for this shit, and if you don't like it then stfu, I'm still your ruler." She's not some sort of warrior queen, but when Nilfgaard attacks she puts on armor and fights to the death anyway, because she's hardcore

    edit: hmm, finishing ep 1 and it's kind of an awkward adaptation of that story. I dunno, if I hadn't read the original story maybe I wouldn't notice, but unless I missed a line they sort of forget to like, actually explain what Renfri's plan is at the end there.

    Kana on
    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • SharpyVIISharpyVII Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    The Forbes review mentions there's an almost monster of the week vibe which is awesome.

    SharpyVII on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    SharpyVII wrote: »
    The Groves review mentions there's an almost monster of the week vibe which is awesome.

    I absolutely fucking adored the "monster hunter is my day (night) job" vibe witcher 3 had sometimes. With all the preparation; finding plants for fitting potions and weapons oils, reading the monster book to find weaknesses and strategies..

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  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    So far, audience reactions seem to be overwhelmingly positive. Twitter is pretty alight with people gushing under the relevant tag

    Edit. #TheWitcherNetflix is trending at #2 world wide currently, too!

    autono-wally, erotibot300 on
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  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    I've seen absolutely no one saying Cavill wasn't perfect for the role though. He lives and breathes it.

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  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    https://www.pcgamer.com/netflix-witcher-review/
    You can relax: Netflix's Witcher series kicks ass

    Cavill kills it as Geralt in one of the best shows this year
    .

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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited December 2019
    I’m a few episodes in and my thoughts are: it is flawed but they’re doing their best
    I still think this should have been a firmly episodic short story focused season to introduce the characters and the world, rather than awkwardly trying to do that and also tell the beginning of the saga—that feels like a Netflix mandate, get to the Game of Thrones stuff fast already, no one bothers with episodic stuff anymore (they’re wrong of course)

    The stuff they’re doing with multiple plot lines happening, most of which are not happening concurrently, is confusing for anyone not familiar with the books

    BUT

    Everyone from the choreographer, the actors, and the production design team are killing it, and the music has been appropriately excellent as well

    I really hope it does well and they can iron these things out more in future seasons

    Olivaw on
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    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • TurambarTurambar Independent Registered User regular
    Very early takes, very minor spoilers
    #1
    Geralt's clothes are awesome, how dare people criticize them

    #2
    15 crowns for a dead dog? I'd start farming dogs

    Steam: turamb | Origin: Turamb | 3DS: 3411-1109-4537 | NNID: Turambar | Warframe(PC): Turamb
  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    I can see why they would want to mix up the storylines - Ciri is at the very minimum a co-protagonist with Geralt, and so you've got to make this the Geralt and Ciri (and Yennefer) show. But it's not executed too well, and it results in soo much weird timeline shenanigans that have got to be confusing as shit for new viewers. It'd be pretty awkward to have like 2/3's of the episodes contained as flashbacks, but still, it feels like it could've been edited into a whole better. Also of course as a book reader I gotta bitch that some of the stories have really been chopped down to like reader's digest versions. Like I think the show actually forgot to quite explain wtf Renfri's plot actually was in ep 1.

    On the positive side, ep 1 definitely feels the weakest and from there it improves, Yennefer and Geralt have both been great in p much all their scenes. Ciri seems a bit blank so far, but more because of the writing than the performance. Dandelion Jaskier has good best buddy energy with Geralt. I can see why a critic would dislike the show, but if you like a good fantasy story, or have a specific fondness for The Witcher, it's a solid watch.

    Kana on
    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    Yeah it’s... just a poor decision that feels like they’re trying to make the best of it
    It really does feel like we could have gotten all the Yennefer backstory in a single episode dedicated to it

    And we could have ended the season on the attack on Cintra rather than began with it

    That would have given us more time to understand this world and these stories and these characters beyond the broad strokes they have to use to mash them all together, and given us time to remember who and what and why things are happening, at least in these early goings. All the cutting between things HAS to be baffling to people with no history with these stories

    It really can’t be overstated how good the casting has been, though. All the leads seem to be giving their best, but because of the nature of how this is all constructed, we haven’t actually gotten any scenes with them together yet, which again makes me question why they thought this was a better structure...

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    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
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