NEWCOMER RECOMMENDATION: do not play before reading the books

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Wow, i just got out of the tutorial zone and finally got some real story... yeah i'm starting to agree that its definitely worth reading. Why? Because the game gives you goosebumps if you do know whats going on..

Personally ive missed - How geralt comes in contact with the nilfguardian emperor (they seem somewhat familiar and geralt is not a stranger to the nilfguadians which i didnt expect), how ciri is somehow the emperors daughter, and how she vanished for starters.

I'm getting on the books.

Also, if by chance the story in the game turns into an incoherent mess (witcher 1-2) or just drops off because the studio ran out of money during development (see all bioware games) let me know and i'll get back into it.. But wow.. yeah for sure you need to read the books.

EDIT: Even the map is different, tolkien never did that, touche.
 
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So OP doesnt playing a game, suffering like heroine addict reading all the praises and wants us to suffer too? Lol, go away. Im 60 hours in and enjoying every minute. When I finish 2 walkthroughs I'll get to books
 
So OP doesnt playing a game, suffering like heroine addict reading all the praises and wants us to suffer too? Lol, go away. Im 60 hours in and enjoying every minute. When I finish 2 walkthroughs I'll get to books

Oh, I'm sorry for making a recommendation that will let people understand a lot more of what's going on. How dare I! How about you do not read the books, if you would not like to have the game enriched, and get off my thread.

my response to your comment is: read vesemas228's post

---------- Updated at 03:24 PM ----------

I liked the main story although I would of liked it more and cared more if I had read the novels, some characters such as ciri for example I had no clue who they were outside of references made in Witcher 2 and what I saw throughout Witcher 3 to someone who's read the novels the story would likely mean much more than it did to me, I still enjoyed it though and I think you would.

The story and the side quests didn't feel quest fetchy like Dragon Age Inquisition did for example, many of the side quests tied into the game brilliantly especially later in the game.


another reason to read the books, folks!
 
Id have to agree, i didnt read the books, but read a lengthy summary (? if thats the right word) on the backstory and lore before i started playing the witcher games.

Without that im pretty sure i would not have understood what the big deal is with the wild hunt, and why i would care so much about ciri or especially yennefer since she can be quite unpleasant ;)

Not to mention the the way the world works, its kingdoms, past wars and war crimes, notable figures etc. etc.
 
Id have to agree, i didnt read the books, but read a lengthy summary (? if thats the right word) on the backstory and lore before i started playing the witcher games.

Without that im pretty sure i would not have understood what the big deal is with the wild hunt, and why i would care so much about ciri or especially yennefer since she can be quite unpleasant ;)

Not to mention the the way the world works, its kingdoms, past wars and war crimes, notable figures etc. etc.

i still hate yennifer. she's a hateful self-indulged *****..

oh, geralt is stupid, he can't formulate plans.
 
Id have to agree, i didnt read the books, but read a lengthy summary (? if thats the right word) on the backstory and lore before i started playing the witcher games.

Without that im pretty sure i would not have understood what the big deal is with the wild hunt, and why i would care so much about ciri or especially yennefer since she can be quite unpleasant ;)

Not to mention the the way the world works, its kingdoms, past wars and war crimes, notable figures etc. etc.

I also found a really good source to read up on the books and what have happened here: http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Witcher_series

It is to bad only a few of the books are translated to English. So if you don't want to read fan translation you would have to wait until next year or even 2017 I guess before they are all translated to English. I still read (or rather listen to the audio versions) of the books (I am only at Blood of elves) even if I read the plots in the wiki and I still find it very interesting and like I can really understand the depth of what is happening since I know the backstory now.

It is fun to get the full story finally, I must say some parts when playing Witcher 1 all those years ago where a little confusing :)
 
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I've read them all because my first language is spanish, even bought the collector's edition of last book that puts together the two volumes in one book and yes the game spoils a lot specially from the final book. I think reading the books make the game more exciting because all the things, places and characters are brought to life and it's magnificent, the level of detail they give us is just amazing. I'm excited about the expansions, Toussaint was a weird place in the book, like a fantasy everything was almost perfect and I really want to see how the story progressing has affected it from war or not. I hope they make more expansions about more places, like the Brokilon Forest, Cintra, Dol Blathanna maybe even Rivia, but I think that's too much to ask.
 
I met Emhyr and then I stopped playing. I just had to due to a feeling I got. So I finished reading Baptism of Fire and Tower of the Swallow last week, and now I'm a third into Lady of the Lake.

Tomorrow I'll be playing Witcher 3 again. ^_^
 
After reading through the plot of the books I feel even more intrieged to read the books! Especially the two last books, to bad they are not translated yet to english : ( But while it feels good to have more of the "backstory" i cant say it feels very woven into the games, at least not the first two Witcher games. It seems like there is something "missing" between the book stories and the games. (Geralt did have amnesia in the two first games, but still)

It also feels like the last book is not meant to be the last, maybe he did not write another because CD Project Red bought the rights to do the games and continue the story? Or how involved is the author in the story now?
 
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This can't be posted enough: Community Fan Translation


It also feels like the last book is not meant to be the last, maybe he did not write another because CD Project Red bought the rights to do the games and continue the story? Or how involved is the author in the story now?

Not that i am aware of, Lady of the Lake is the end and about Sapkowski's opinion, read this:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...r-of-the-witcher-books-thinks-about-the-games

If The Lady of the Lake isn't the end, Sapkowski is taking his sweet time for a sequel, because he finished Lady of the Lake 1999.
 
It is to bad only a few of the books are translated to English. So if you don't want to read fan translation you would have to wait until next year or even 2017 I guess before they are all translated to English. I still read (or rather listen to the audio versions) of the books (I am only at Blood of elves) even if I read the plots in the wiki and I still find it very interesting and like I can really understand the depth of what is happening since I know the backstory now.

This. The Swallow's Tower is supposed to come out translated in May 2016. Who knows when Lady of the Lake will be translated. And no, I will wait for official books overseen by Sapkowski.

And by gawd, do they have a beautiful hardcover boxed set in Polish. If only.
 
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This can't be posted enough: Community Fan Translation




Not that i am aware of, Lady of the Lake is the end and about Sapkowski's opinion, read this:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...r-of-the-witcher-books-thinks-about-the-games

If The Lady of the Lake isn't the end, Sapkowski is taking his sweet time for a sequel, because he finished Lady of the Lake 1999.

Wow that article was very depressing. And Sapkowski seems to be a bit of a douche.. I really thought there was a real cooperation between the author and CD-Project Red and that the events in the games really was the "real story" and follow up on the books. Seems Sapkowski could just go and write a total different follow up if he wanted to. He did write a new prequel in 2013 so who knows..
 
I'm on book 4 (2nd of the saga) and I need to let newcomers know my opinion- do not play without reading.

I am now learning about geralt+yennifer+ciri+wildhunt and i think this is critical- I do not think it is the same without having all the back story. Why are you looking for ciri? who is yennifer, really? You do not know that without the books.

I have played TW3 for about an hour up to the castle scene after killing the gryphon, and there was at least 10 book references and things that would be lost on you otherwise. in thevery first scene, even, it references stuffed unicorn sex, from the book.

I think back to tw2- all the responses that were lost on me- characters I did not know, but geralt knew or has aresponse to- these were countless, and I probably would have known if I had read the books.

Its excrutiating, knowing I can't play until i read another 3.5 books, but its worth it.

In fact, the Videogame Trilogy comes up AFTER the 6 books.. Where, in the end of the last one, are reported the facts leading to Geralt's "Amnesia" :fury:
 
Wow that article was very depressing. And Sapkowski seems to be a bit of a douche.. I really thought there was a real cooperation between the author and CD-Project Red and that the events in the games really was the "real story" and follow up on the books. Seems Sapkowski could just go and write a total different follow up if he wanted to. He did write a new prequel in 2013 so who knows..

Well, it is his work and it is the original, so he has every right to say that anything else not made by him is not the original and just an interpretation of his work, just like the polish tv series/movie. CDPR himself say that their games are meant to be a sequel to the books, but again only their interpretation of it.

As far as i know there were meetings between CDPR and Sapkowski, to clear some crucial issues for the story or the map for instance, but that's it.

I still hope that Sapkowski writes a sequel one day, but with each year my hope dwindles away.

---------- Updated at 05:40 PM ----------

Just finished the epilogue of Storm of Reasons, well, i still have hope, but ugh, hope dies last.

As Nimue said in the epilogue:
>But...< She felt an urgent relief, and the words just came out of her. >But i want to know...more. More about Yennefer. More about Ciri. More about how the story really ended. I have read...I know the legend. I know everything. From all Witchers. From Kaer Morhen. I even know all names of the signs! Please, tell me...<
 
So just adventuring along my merry way... 76 hours in i just got to the part where you meet dijkstra...

Yeah that would have been significantly less interesting without all the mental flashbacks of dealing with him in the past. Still haven't gotten any further myself in the books.. baptism of fire feels a bit slower.

Also, i'm not sure if anyone else finds this interesting.. but in the audiobooks..

- Ciri had a scottish accent, i guess her current voice can be explained if she spent alot of time with yennefer and any other sorceresses i've yet to read. Still it would have been neat if she was scottish.
- Skellge was pronounced differently in the audiobooks.
- I haven't been to skellge myself in game, but in the short story about ciri i distinctly remember the people being described using "dark skinned", even though they had scottish accents also. Its a shame the game didn't get so interesting. *dont say consoles, dont say consoles*
- Much more interestingly, Dandelion was pronounced dan-dillion. Guess what, in english its quite common to change the phoenetics of a word when its a name. I think in russian that's how the word is pronounced also...

And all this is possibly interesting because, if the games are not considered canon by andrzej sapkowski, but as far as the translations and audiobooks of the actual novels go, i'm guessing there was some care taken when producing the official works... hmmmmm.

Also in my head somehow dijkstra was short.
 
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