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Comment by xvector | Hacker News Reader

Witcher has to have been one of the worst-written TV shows I’ve seen. A shame because the source material isn’t bad at all.

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Critically the show seems to have been rated poorly but the audience rating on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes is extremely high. Overall the data is looking like it'll be another one of their hits despite your personal take on it (just as many did not like Stranger Things).

As with anything with a pre-existing fan base, the initial reviews are the pre-existing fans. The reviews will normalize when more people watch and review.

Big witcher fan, just finished the show an hour ago. Gotta say, strongly disagree. This whole season was just a prologue leading into the 'real' story. Despite that, they managed to fit in great stories that fans of the games would have wanted to see.

Ah well. I thought the story was bland and utterly predictable with badly written scenes and dialogue. Maybe the show is just not my type.

The game stories were so, so much better. One of the only games I’ve played that seriously emotionally impacted me. And changed my perception of games forever.

There haven't been any good video game-to-motion picture ever. What people love in games is really hard to put on screen (Witcher has the original source material books but they were never as famous or good as the games).

Honestly it's really hard to do it, to appeal to both the gamers and the wider audience who never touched the game (inc the critics)

I'm playing games since the late 80s and seen so many movies and TV shows failing.

This list is perfect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_g...

Witcher is really well reviewed by audiences though. A good secondary indicator is that Reddit loves it.

Oh yeah that's what I meant sorry. A lot of those movies and TV shows are loved by the fans

The Castlevania anime is really well done and can stand alone without the game but if you have played some of the games it really feels like a playthrough with a good story, though the first two seasons are based on one particular version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(TV_series)

I found it quite surprisingly good! Also surprisingly gory and crude - which isn't good or bad but seems notable.

Lol, mostly agree, but can I just say.... MORRRRTAAAL KOMMMBAAAT (techno music...)

>> There haven't been any good video game-to-motion picture ever.

LOL, it isn't based on video game at all. There is a series of actual fantasy books written by Andrzej Sapkowski that serves as a basis for the show. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher

However, they made a rookie mistake and started filming Sapkowski's source material in the order it was written, i.e. starting with short stories, which is why the show does not make sense: each episode is a separate story, not connected to previous episodes. They should have started with the 5-book saga, and maybe throw some of the short stories as flashbacks.

Show also lacks the proper introduction of characters and the world's mythology. I am a fan of the books, so it all made sense to me, but wider audience might have a trouble making sense of all Wither abilities, Law of Suprise, etc.

In eastern europe Witcher is THE thing kids read after they read Lord of the Rings. I think the biggest problem with the show is that they normalized/westernized the "exotic" slavic stuff. The game didnt do that. They also miss the cynicism and irony of Geralt situation. Probably because slavicsm and cynicism is not something Americans would relate to?

I'm Eastern European and I think that Netflix's adaptation is great. Sure, there wasn't such diversity in the series and the books setting as because of the middle ages of Rzeczpospolita, but anyway, the series are good.

The timeline confuses quite a lot people (the show has a 7.6 rating in China and a lot of people say it's intelligible, either due to bad translation or bad viewing habits like playback speeds IDK), but it's what made this show extra unique and intriging at least for me, I knew absolute nothing about The Witcher, but the way this show proceeds and the slight confusion came with it just made the whole experience another level, I felt I'm doing an adventure with the story trying to figure it out.

Some people aren't comfortable to be challenged, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had the same feeling, thoroughly enjoyed it. They dared to venture beyond the typical and find there own footing. One of the better series on a Netflix. It reminds me a bit of Black Sails which is my personal favorite series in recent memory.

The timeline was easy to follow, that wasn’t my issue.

The issue was just bad writing. So much bad writing. Cliche moments everywhere, terrible dialogue, completely and utterly predictable plot, bad screen time allocations.

I think the screenwriters should first figure out how to write one engaging plot before trying to figure out how to interweave three.

I agree, especially with people who aren’t familiar with the source material.

Compare the very first ep of GoT with Witcher. The first does a wonderful job gradually introducing you to its world, the characters and the background of the story. The latter just immediately dives you into a bunch of unfamiliar names, places and jargon. Confuses the novice at the very first episode.

Well tell me about great high fantasy series then. Netflix's The Witcher is one of the best genre players out there. Of course, it has its own flaws, but overall it's that push forward thing that we're all needed.

It feels a bit like that remake of Oldboy. It's so normalized in aesthetics and thinking it misses the real point. I think it is safe bet by netflix to have some fantasy show. If they went all in with the slavic culture and cynicism it would probably be much more interesting but not a crowdpleaser. Strangely the show seems to follow the book narrative almost too much. It seems confusing for newcommers (i guess again being safe to not make bookfans angry or just lazy)?

Also Witcher rated 16?

I must admit it is quite fun to watch though, I only played the game never read the book but series left a surprisingly good impression. Hope they will not cut it short.

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