Witcher 1,2, and 3 better plot than the books?

[crimzonwarrior]

Witcher 1,2, and 3 better plot than the books?

I read the first short story compilation, and than the first book in the sequence. While both where excellent I have found the plot of the witcher game series to be better. With more attention to detail in the wold, and a more solid in world lore as apposed to the general allusions to fairy tales, and nebulous setting the books had. What did you like more?

 

[didymos1120]

Read the rest before you come to a conclusion. Also, do you think all that lore came only from CDPR?

 

[Elegast7]

Well, noone can really comment on the plot of the 3th yet.

 

[BroccoliSouP]

Saga is simply genious. TW games "just" high quality.

 

[Shakewixx]

i really love the games but they just cannot be compared to the books; for a reason the games are based on them....
Also i think the witcher 3 will be incredibly similar to the plot of the novels specialy ( a bit to the short stories). im really hipped and happy about it

 

[paulthu]

The book story is better but the writer has full power to do anything he wants. That's the greatest thing about written fiction compared to other mediums. With Witcher the video game the developers always has to mind the limitations. Every character they write will need to be modeled and voice acted and animated. They also have to deal with multiple choices while trying to keep everything consistent. I bet for the writers after working with this game it will feel like a vacation to write their own novel.

 

[shawn_kh]

The Witcher is now renowned worldwide because of CDPR and their games.
I'd say they have contributed to the lore greatly and they have paid their dues.

 

[Vincentdante]

The book story is better but the writer has full power to do anything he wants. That's the greatest thing about written fiction compared to other mediums. With Witcher the video game the developers always has to mind the limitations. Every character they write will need to be modeled and voice acted and animated. They also have to deal with multiple choices while trying to keep everything consistent. I bet for the writers after working with this game it will feel like a vacation to write their own novel.

I don't think an author can go crazy when writing a book if he wants it to be good, a book needs to be consistent to keep the reader immersed in the story. And interactive entertainment like a game actually imo gives more freedom for the devs than a book. Imagine writing a book about Super Mario Bros and having it being as good as the game? I don't think you could do it.

On the subject of comparing the story for the Witcher books and the related games however. I can't comment as I haven't finished the saga yet. However before I opened this thread I knew the bias would be with the books. Considering how much everyone complains how "character X" doesn't look like their imaginations.

 

[didymos1120]

The Witcher is now renowned worldwide because of CDPR and their games.
I'd say they have contributed to the lore greatly and they have paid their dues.

Who said they haven't?

 

[Sibladosi]

Haven't finished reading the books yet, but I am enjoying as much as I did with the games story!

 

[Wilcovie]

Witcher 1 had few too simplistic borrowings from books...

Spoiler

Scoia'tael officer in Shani's hospital

... didn't like those. Overall story was good, and main plot idea even epic in comparasion to books ...

Spoiler

there showing what it be if chaos stretch his hands to the chosen and guide him by nightmares

Witcher 2 abandon those borrowings and presents it self as a proper follow-up to the book series.
I put W2 on an equal with books and W1 a little below.

 

[didymos1120]

Witcher 1 had few too simplistic borrowings from books...

Spoiler

Scoia'tael officer in Shani's hospital

... didn't like those. Overall story was good, and main plot idea even epic in comparasion to books ...

The clone characters also kind of bugged me:

Spoiler

The Professor/Magister being a direct copy of Ralph Blunden, The Professor
Gramps being a copy of...Gramps (though he had enough of his own vibe that I don't mind that much)
The Fisher King being a copy of The Fisher King

I much preferred the characters that were clearly meant to parallel those in the books but were very different in the particulars:

Spoiler

Azar Javed being similar in background to Rience (booted from magic school and working for a bigger bad guy),, but very different in personality
Alvin being a male version of Ciri who goes horribly wrong in the end.

 

[GuyNwah]

The Witcher is now renowned worldwide because of CDPR and their games.
I'd say they have contributed to the lore greatly and they have paid their dues.

I think this underestimates the popularity of the books in Europe and overestimates the ability of the games to create a market for them in North America.

And the lore is Sapkowski's work alone. The games may have a lore of their own, but nothing they do is more than a tribute to, and conversely nothing they do can be judged by, Sapkowski's work.

 

[didymos1120]

What do you mean nothing they do can be judged by Sapkowski's work?

 

[GuyNwah]

What do you mean nothing they do can be judged by Sapkowski's work?

I mean, we can't hold Sapkowski up and say "This does not fit, because it is not that way in Sapkowski." The lore as such ended with the end of Lady of the Lake. CDPR's work, not being lore, is not bound to lore and should not be judged against it. It is a different medium and new stories. The telling of those new stories in the form of a game may use established means such as telescoping and combining characters, and this is to be expected rather than cause for carping.

I do not mean by that, that CDPR should be free to accede to just any demand with their resurrected Geralt. They respect what has gone before, and it is well that they should. It is well to respect character traits such as Geralt being heterosexual. It is less important to respect conditions such as "no crossbows, because it is not in the canon".

 

[shawn_kh]

Who said they haven't?

Who said someone said they haven't ?

I think this underestimates the popularity of the books in Europe and overestimates the ability of the games to create a market for them in North America.

We are not just talking North America, we are talking North America, South America, Australia, the whole continent of Asia, and Africa.
There are many gamers all over the world, and after playing the games many will read the books because of CDPR's great job. We cannot underestimate how widespread gaming has become.
As a matter of fact this is how I came to read the books. I played Witcher 1 and liked it very much, read the books and loved it, played Witcher 2 and it was amazing, and will pre-order Witcher 3.

 

[didymos1120]

Who said someone said they haven't ?
.

Touché.
:hatsoff:

 

[didymos1120]

I mean, we can't hold Sapkowski up and say "This does not fit, because it is not that way in Sapkowski." The lore as such ended with the end of Lady of the Lake. CDPR's work, not being lore, is not bound to lore and should not be judged against it. It is a different medium and new stories. The telling of those new stories in the form of a game may use established means such as telescoping and combining characters, and this is to be expected rather than cause for carping.

I do not mean by that, that CDPR should be free to do as they please with their resurrected Geralt. They respect what has gone before, and it is well that they should. It is well to respect character traits such as Geralt being heterosexual. It is less important to respect conditions such as "no crossbows, because it is not in the canon".

I disagree with the "can't judge them by canon" notion. I make allowances for stuff that is largely about enhancing or varying gameplay (i.e, the infamous crossbow, which actually has more basis in the lore than Geralt using specialized throwing knives, bombs, and traps) but that's about it.

ETA: Damn it. Forgot to multiquote.

 

[StaGiors]

What blasphemy you spread mindless simpletons!

All jokes aside, I don't think we can have a full opinion on the matter just yet. I for example, prefer the story from the books, but simply because I have seen it complete. I will have to see the story of TW3 to have a full opinion though.

I do prefer Sapkowski's storytelling better, but this is why a book writer has to do just that. Describe characters and environments, and storytell. A game developer has more things to worry about.

There is also the matter of the original art. Sapkowski came up with the Witcher World, the main characters and all that. So I guess I need to pay tribute to him in that respect as well. And while CDPR has invented original stories (the stories that were copied from the books, I choose to see them as a tribute to the author), they are based on Sapkowski's Lore and World. CDPR simply added storylines, some monsters and pretty much helped us visualize Sapkowski's work. Which is quite an achievement in my opinion.

Now judging the stories as they are, I'll have to lean towards Sapkowski work. Just as @broccolisoup said, Sapkowski's story is genius. CDPR's story is just really really good. Yet their addition to the World is much valued.

 

[GuyNwah]

I disagree with the "can't judge them by canon" notion. I make allowances for stuff that is largely about enhancing or varying gameplay (i.e, the infamous crossbow, which actually has more basis in the lore than Geralt using specialized throwing knives, bombs, and traps) but that's about it.

ETA: Damn it. Forgot to multiquote.

There's no canon that covers any situation in the games; there's only continuity with canon, and we (meaning I) evaluate this by whether the canon informs our understanding of the story CDPR has set out to tell. To choose a particularly loaded example, canon tells us why Yennefer is important to Geralt; it does not tell us what Geralt must do upon encountering her again.

This is very different from films or TV that retell already-told stories (Peter Jackson's Tolkien movies, the Harry Potter movies, the Game of Thrones series). These are set within canon and have some duty to the canon, while being allowed such liberties as are needed to convey the themes the reteller chooses, by means that are suitable to the medium.