I watched the first 4 episodes of 'The Witcher'

Cory

Will the Netflix series ruin the video game for me?  I've never played it (not sure if I would like it but would give it a try, or if there are more than one).

I'm not the big on the princess' storyline yet.

The "hunchback next door, turned bombshell witch" storyline has really grown on me though.

Not sure exactly how it's all going to come together yet, but will probably finish it tonight.

Cory

This timeline is making my head hurt.

awookiee

google Witcher episode recap and read the Vulture.com explanations.  It's really not that complicated but they do a really poor job of showing/explaining it... The Yennifer timeline starts out in the past compared to Geralt's timeline and then jumps to the present, The Ciri timeline is the future compared to Geralt's timeline.  The trick is listening to the clues on what the situation is in Cintra.

Cory

Thanks,  it didn't really seem all that complicated in the end.  I had suspicions about different timelines, and I think I just over-complicated it in my mind/expected it to be more complicated.  An age-old mistake.

asmallcat

The show seems to be following the books, and the games only very, very loosely follow the books, so you'll be fine IMO. 

Elisa

I heard the first season is  based on two sets of short stories. More like prequels. 

rustywright4

I’m on ep 4 as well and had trouble figuring out the timeline. I found the vulture reviews and they set me straight but yeah terrible way of showing different timelines. What happened to the “10 years earlier” text or something like that, is it more fun to guess? I don’t get it. I like the show though!

redlancer

I'm up to episode 6 and had a good feeling on the timeline shenanigans toward the end of episode 1.  I don't think anything was explicitly said in that episode to set the time frames, just have a better sense for these things after a few years of BaldMove coverage making me smarterer   

I think i like not have the  -10 years earlier-  and  -5 years later-  tags all over everything(?)  Makes for a little bit of a twist without being overly dramatic about it as you piece the timeline together in your head. Though can see it's not for everyone. Wife was a couple episodes behind me and was not having fun with it. On the far end of the spectrum some don't seem to get it at all. I have one friend who still doesn't get Pulp Fiction because people who were killed earlier in the movie keep showing back up. And don't even try to explain Memento...

My guess is a season-2 will be presented a bit more linear as it seems these different timelines are converging to the end of S1. 

Cory

asmallcat said:

The show seems to be following the books, and the games only very, very loosely follow the books, so you'll be fine IMO. 

Does that mean the game is very different from the show (or at least from Geralt's storyline)?

A_Ron_Hubbard

@Cory,  I'm halfway through Witcher 3 and it seems like it takes place long after the series and books. So, I guess it will spoil major characters living or dying maybe? I read some books (in the game) that are essentially synopsis of some of the TV episodes, which was fun.

Doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can spoil, to be honest.

rkcrawf

I'm only on Ep2, so I have only skimmed some of these posts. I like the story so far (it is a lot of high-fantasy names to process), but the show needs a $$ injection. SFX, costumes, settings, lighting, etc. When I saw the devil in Ep2, I thought that Geralt would think it was an in-universe dude in a mask. It took like 30 seconds for me to realize that that's the legit make-up/costume. At times, it looks like Star Trek:TNG level of special effects. Some of the directing / editing is a little off, too. I wasn't always getting everything at first, from scene to scene.