Reading the books

[Chaa13]

Reading the books

Hi, Actually I really want to play de witcher 3 but I havent played any witcher before (And I want to understand every aspects of the story). So I decided to read the book before playing W1 then W2 then W3. I am on the first book : "The Last Wish", but i would like to know how much books I should read before playing the witcher (it's not that i dont likethis book but when you have a game just near you, it's quit hard to resist :'D) in order to fully understand and know the world. Have you any idea?Thanks a lot

 

[DVF.289]

You don't need to read any of the books to understand the games. It's nice, sure, but you don't have to. The games take place after the books, and take up after a quite strange incident in the end of the last book....

I would safely say that you could play TW1 +TW2 safely without reading the books, though the games contain spoilers from the books. If you're relly careful, read all books, then play. I would recommend reading all of them before playing TW3.

 

[Wolfsblvt]

I am currently reading the first book as well, and playing TW1 for the first time. (Have played TW2 several times though)

It is working quite well. I would say you should read the first few chapters before the game (that really gives some background information), the other stuff can you read parallel while playing

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

If you have time - read all the books before playing. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Straust]

Well, I've read the books first, and it's nice when you're playing and you see stuff that was in the books, but... they don't need eachother to provide a great experience, so... go ahead and enjoy!

(Thanks gawd my native language is Spanish, because there are just like 3 books on english)

 

[MagicalHob0]

i just got through the first chapter of the first audio book ^.^ good so far

 

[Bunk67]

You're not entitled to read the books in order to play the game. Officially, Sapkowski's world ended with the seventh book. CD Projekt RED went off with their own story since the first game. But to understand references, characters that Geralt met, Ciri's story, and many events that occured, why we're chasing her, you should read the books of course.

They're really good. I'm reading the french official translation and they managed to keep the meaning of the polish words, it's a great work. To be honest I never had/"liked" books. I just had to read books in college, our classics french authors (Victor Hugo, Maupassant...). I played the first Witcher without knowing there were books before, and I jumped in. They're excellent. The first and second novels are short stories, mainly to show you the world Geralt lives in, moral choices he had to make, encounters with his friends and some enemies. Then Sapkowski jumps into a story, The Witcher saga, where you're following political events, from every sides possible. Sorceresses and Sorcerers fighting for their kind, political wars between main factions of the world. By their code, witchers are neutral. But Geralt and his destiny manages to be in the middle of this mess.

All those events are mostly referenced in CDPR games, but for someone who didn't read the books, they won't catch it. A reference in-game of Thanedd Island won't have any meanings for people, or why Ciri is Geralt's adoptive daughter, or why she's so powerful, yet every side of the war is looking after her.

By reading the books, you'll fully understand this fantastic world.

 

[Chaa13]

Hi,
Ok ! Thank you for all your answers. I am going to finish the second short stories novel, and will begin TW1 with the saga in parallel.
Hoping not to miss something :'D

They're really good. I'm reading the french official translation and they managed to keep the meaning of the polish words, it's a great work. To be honest I never had/"liked" books. I just had to read books in college, our classics french authors (Victor Hugo, Maupassant...).

I am in the same situation. I find the translation quit good too but I think that some words are strangely translated, such as "glaive" instead of "epée" or others little things ^^

 

[adamgranato]

Id say reading the books prior to playing the game makes you appreciate the games a little bit more. For myself, i started reading the books after W1 came out, got hooked after getting a taste of Sapkowski in that little booklet that cdpr included in the first game which contained several chapters of the first book