The general consensus seems to me that the official English versions don't match up to the originals, or even the fan translations, or has something changed?
I can't be reading that much on a screen, reading for pleasure I need a physical copy. I know what I have to do, print & bind my own... just so much more hassle than amazon
I'd love to get them read by TW3 of course, but tbh I feel I understand everything I need to from the games, i'm fairly certain CDPR will properly introduce any new_to_the_games characters rather than expect we all to have read the books.
Huh I didnt realize that translations for 1, 3 and 4 arent online anymore
Either way I downloaded them and bought the books
The translations arent perfect and have some grammatical errors but none that ruin the effect of Sapkowski's writing
Either way I downloaded them and bought the books
The translations arent perfect and have some grammatical errors but none that ruin the effect of Sapkowski's writing
If you are comparing The Witcher franchise, I have not read the books, so I can't make a comparison. The three which are in English so far have just been recently bought so have to dig in them soon. Though many here did have mentioned the games are well made and "better" quality-wise though saying that is kinda silly since the games take place after the events of the books and not an adaptation of them.
In a general context, that statement is outright ridiculous, being such a vast comparison which cannot be generalized. Having done lot of reading, watching and playing, different medium offer their own share of pros and cons, and many books are not great as they made out to be and the whole "the book is better than the movies/x" is outright rubbish in many instances, just because it is true while at others.
I for on strongly assert that for story telling video games are the best medium we have right now than all other mediums providing most immersion relatively (that is if done right, as in every case)
Okay my tone might be a bit off, I didn't intend on being rude or anything, just said what I thought.
In a general context, that statement is outright ridiculous, being such a vast comparison which cannot be generalized. Having done lot of reading, watching and playing, different medium offer their own share of pros and cons, and many books are not great as they made out to be and the whole "the book is better than the movies/x" is outright rubbish in many instances, just because it is true while at others.
I for on strongly assert that for story telling video games are the best medium we have right now than all other mediums providing most immersion relatively (that is if done right, as in every case)
Okay my tone might be a bit off, I didn't intend on being rude or anything, just said what I thought.
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people need to stop comparing books and movies to games. These are dedicated to tell a story.I mean especially books.
You don't have a budget in a book, you don't a have a team of programmers and artist working their a** off to meet high expectations.You don't have to create quests, balance your gameplay , take care of graphics and ligthning AND tell a complex story.
In a book you are limited by your own abilties and that's pretty much it.
Its nothing short of amazing what CDPR did with the games and I put it higher than the books(with all due respect to writers)
You don't have a budget in a book, you don't a have a team of programmers and artist working their a** off to meet high expectations.You don't have to create quests, balance your gameplay , take care of graphics and ligthning AND tell a complex story.
In a book you are limited by your own abilties and that's pretty much it.
Its nothing short of amazing what CDPR did with the games and I put it higher than the books(with all due respect to writers)
I'm interested in reading the books. A few questions:
1) How do the community translations fare in comparison with the official translations? (my only option is in English)
2) Should I read all the books before I play the Witcher 2? I'm asking this because I suspect that the Witcher 2 will hold some 'holy shit' surprises, and I wonder if the impact of those moments won't be as strong, if I'm already familiar with things from the books. Or maybe the impact will be stronger, if I'm familiar with the books?
3) This may be a bit odd, but how would you compare the books with ASoIAF? I haven't read too many fantasy books, and Martin is my main source for gritty and realistic fantasy. Does Sapowski focus as much on politics as Martin does? Does he instead focus much more on the fighting? Scheming? Monsters? Men? Death? Just wondering what to expect - or maybe it's better that I approach this without expecting anything in particular?
1) How do the community translations fare in comparison with the official translations? (my only option is in English)
2) Should I read all the books before I play the Witcher 2? I'm asking this because I suspect that the Witcher 2 will hold some 'holy shit' surprises, and I wonder if the impact of those moments won't be as strong, if I'm already familiar with things from the books. Or maybe the impact will be stronger, if I'm familiar with the books?
3) This may be a bit odd, but how would you compare the books with ASoIAF? I haven't read too many fantasy books, and Martin is my main source for gritty and realistic fantasy. Does Sapowski focus as much on politics as Martin does? Does he instead focus much more on the fighting? Scheming? Monsters? Men? Death? Just wondering what to expect - or maybe it's better that I approach this without expecting anything in particular?
In my opinion books are always much better then movies, TV shows or games.
There are exceptions of course.
I would say 'The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy' & almost complete 'The Hobbit trilogy' are the most detailed & accurate following of book events, just the way original author wanted, in this case J.R.R. Tolkien.
Movie industry is lucky to have such a great director as Peter Jackson with enough vision & courage to take this adventure,
On the other hand, The Game Of Thrones is complete opposite from 'The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy'.
I have read several times all books & I'm patiently waiting for next book but it keeps getting delayed all the time.
TV Show from HBO is very good, but not in any case great or excellent. It is missing so much from the books & only 10 episodes per season is just blasphemy. There are enough material & text in books for 30 episodes per one season, & even that wouldn't be enough to tell everything.
Regarding Witcher books, I didn't read books, but that will change very soon. I'm always looking on Amazon for quality editions, collectors edition, on quality paper & hardened covers.
I hope there will be soon complete works to buy, maybe special edition.
There are exceptions of course.
I would say 'The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy' & almost complete 'The Hobbit trilogy' are the most detailed & accurate following of book events, just the way original author wanted, in this case J.R.R. Tolkien.
Movie industry is lucky to have such a great director as Peter Jackson with enough vision & courage to take this adventure,
On the other hand, The Game Of Thrones is complete opposite from 'The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy'.
I have read several times all books & I'm patiently waiting for next book but it keeps getting delayed all the time.
TV Show from HBO is very good, but not in any case great or excellent. It is missing so much from the books & only 10 episodes per season is just blasphemy. There are enough material & text in books for 30 episodes per one season, & even that wouldn't be enough to tell everything.
Regarding Witcher books, I didn't read books, but that will change very soon. I'm always looking on Amazon for quality editions, collectors edition, on quality paper & hardened covers.
I hope there will be soon complete works to buy, maybe special edition.
Ad 1) I read the books in Polish so I can't really help with community translations. Reading the books in Polish is recommended as Sapkowski shows some real mastery in using the language, especially when it comes to it's archaic form(but I understand it's not easy
)Ad 2) Personally I didn't encounter any huge surprises or moments where the impact was stronger because I knew the books. W2 stands well on its own.
Ad 3) I would advise to dive into the books without expectations - if you played any of the games you will probably have some already. For me personally the strongest part of Sapkowski's writing is his overall wit, masterful dialogues and how he explores the nature of man and monster.
@eliharel; I'm English speaker, haven't bought the books because the general consensus appears to be the official translations don't quite convey Sapkowski's writing. But that doesn't make them terrible, perhaps they'd be fine. The community translations have a better reputation for accuracy, so download, print & bind.
I could be wrong here, but I think it's been said that its the short story collections that are most relevant, but ideally you would want to read them all. Saying that i've had no problem getting to grips with the world CDPR present, and I doubt TW3 will require book knowledge - though you know yourself they would probably increase your enjoyment of the game, if you enjoy what you read of course.
@Clearly Balkan; Tolkien never wanted his books made into movies, it's likely he would have disapproved of both trilogies on principle. But if he didn't... I'd bet my house he'd have left the cinema once a dwarf said "up his jacksy".
I could be wrong here, but I think it's been said that its the short story collections that are most relevant, but ideally you would want to read them all. Saying that i've had no problem getting to grips with the world CDPR present, and I doubt TW3 will require book knowledge - though you know yourself they would probably increase your enjoyment of the game, if you enjoy what you read of course.
@Clearly Balkan; Tolkien never wanted his books made into movies, it's likely he would have disapproved of both trilogies on principle. But if he didn't... I'd bet my house he'd have left the cinema once a dwarf said "up his jacksy".
@eliharel; I'm English speaker, haven't bought the books because the general consensus appears to be the official translations don't quite convey Sapkowski's writing. But that doesn't make them terrible, perhaps they'd be fine. The community translations have a better reputation for accuracy, so download, print & bind.
I could be wrong here, but I think it's been said that its the short story collections that are most relevant, but ideally you would want to read them all. Saying that i've had no problem getting to grips with the world CDPR present, and I doubt TW3 will require book knowledge - though you know yourself they would probably increase your enjoyment of the game, if you enjoy what you read of course.
@Clearly Balkan; Tolkien never wanted his books made into movies, it's likely he would have disapproved of both trilogies on principle. But if he didn't... I'd bet my house he'd have left the cinema once a dwarf said "up his jacksy".
Maybe Tolkien didn't want his books to be made into movies, but if he lived to see final result by Peter Jackson, he would be more then pleased. By final result, I mean Extended Edition of full trilogy, which is so much rewarding then 'cinema release' version.
Then again, wishes of Tolkien are one thing, another one completely are wishes of his descendents who were multimillionaires when first LOTR movie was released, not to mention after full LOTR trilogy & now almost complete Hobbit trilogy !
BTW. using term "up his jacksy" correctly in sentence made me laugh sincerely.
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Oh I agree, the LoTR:EE is the definitive version, I simply couldn't watch the cinema version again. And maybe he would have been pleased & surprised by the final result, because it is as masterly done as we could hope for. But if he had been alive, the project wouldn't have got off the ground in the first place. The Prof turned down many offers for the rights in his lifetime, and wrote about his aversion to a cinema version (yes, this was him being narrow minded).
Still, I believe he would have been disgusted by the hobbit.
Still, I believe he would have been disgusted by the hobbit.
I think some people misunderstood my intentions in creating this post. I want to raise awareness off the original writing and how Sapkowski wrote an amazing series. I get that games and books are completely different and can not really be compared. As I said in the first message, the games are exellent and my personal favorite game series. The books were great in my opinion and I really appreciated Sapkowski's intelligent writing style.
Also does any one know of any translations being made for the new book prequel "Storm Season" Sapkowski just released? Google didn't find me anything.
Also does any one know of any translations being made for the new book prequel "Storm Season" Sapkowski just released? Google didn't find me anything.
Not sure how you interpret the ">" sign but a title such as "Book > Games" suggests a comparison being made. I do fully agree with you that the books are excellent, though.
As for a translation, we might get a fan translation but I don't think any official English releases are planned yet.
I don't know about Hobbit. First movie, EE version was awesome & way better then second Hobbit. When I saw first trailers, that scene in the beginning when they're singing & arranging dishes while dancing seemed stupid & childish to me, but upon watching movie it was funny as hell.
One thing that bothered me was part with Radagast, his treating of 'Sebastian' & his race in rabbits slides - that was really stupid & unnecessary.
Compared to LOTR trilogy who is at least for me mature movie, Hobbit is more like E for Everbody movie.
Also last part 'Desolation Of Smaug' is pure evidence of how much cutting was involved to satisfy cinema length movies rules.
Just because of evident cutting, I mean it is black on white how much did they cut & at which scenes, I couldn't give movie a 10/10 --- it was more 8.5/10 to me.
Example: Dam fight with orcs when they're escaping 'Mirk Wood' underground elf fortress, then Legolas fight with Orc Leader almost at the end are prime examples.
Also, Smaug whole part was CGI blasphemy, completely unnecessary - no fear at all in audience or main protagonists.
I'm waiting for Hobbit2 EE version to buy & to see how much did they cut - it was probably around 30 minutes or even more.
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2) I think there is no appropriate order. If you read the books first, you will be more familiar with world when you play the games. If you play the game first, there will be some surprises for you with how the world functions (although not many) and familiarization with the world will be different for you.
3) Sapkowski focuses on everything. His books are in my opinion much faster paced than ASOIAF and the prose is flowing faster, but without losing its literal or story/world building quality. Where Martin creates a character with its own backstory and multiple chapters in the book just to give us a POV of some situation (like Areo Hotah), Sapkowski will give you two paragraphs to show you what's happening and move on so the books don't become crammed and slow paced as we move through them, like it happened with Martin and AFFC and ADWD. Sapkowski just knows what he is going to write, unlike Martin who has no planning skills whatsoever (or he does not use them, which is more likely as he often describes himself as a Gardener - Sapkowski is the Architect).
Sapkowski's politics are more diverse than Martin's (not saying that they are better), his battles and individual fights are simply superior and his focus on social problems, men and monsters (one and the same) is very complex.
I think the books are very different from each other even though they both present themselves as a "gritty fantasy"
Sapkowski's books differ from Martin's very much. Martin writes a sort of historical chronicle while the events are still unfolding. So he is very much into details concerning everything. Sapkowski writes a legend of the White Wolf, of the times long gone. I played the games after I read the books, and I was happy that Geralt returned, really happy to see a lot of characters, significant or minor, returning into the game. Zyvik is one such example. If you already played the games and liked them, you'll like the books. CDPR managed to convey a feel and atmosphere of the books really well, while the books show even more great characters and situation (Regis, where are you?)
Well, in character development, the books was by far superior, even you can imagine the situations with your imagination, also, in the books you can development the characters with a lot of material and time, take this to a game may be imposible,but games have his own way to tell a story, maybe today by today we have to the Witcher series games in the top of one the best game story ever.
Games have his own potential, like a non-linear story, and CD red is like taking this to the extreme, maybe with Baldur Gates, the Witcher 3 will be the most customisable game never made.
Also, yes, i wish see characters like Ciri, Milva, Regis, Cahir, Angouleme, Bonhar, Skellen, Vilgefortz.... i mean, Letho is a bear in comparation with Vilgefortz, or the relation of Yennefer with Geralt is by far, FAR greater in the books, that the relation of Triss with Geralt,... the fights in the books were impresionant.
But with all of this, books are linear, and the Witches games win here, also, now with a open world this will be even better, and CD Red looks like have enough budget to do the best game.
Games have his own potential, like a non-linear story, and CD red is like taking this to the extreme, maybe with Baldur Gates, the Witcher 3 will be the most customisable game never made.
Also, yes, i wish see characters like Ciri, Milva, Regis, Cahir, Angouleme, Bonhar, Skellen, Vilgefortz.... i mean, Letho is a bear in comparation with Vilgefortz, or the relation of Yennefer with Geralt is by far, FAR greater in the books, that the relation of Triss with Geralt,... the fights in the books were impresionant.
But with all of this, books are linear, and the Witches games win here, also, now with a open world this will be even better, and CD Red looks like have enough budget to do the best game.