I played both Witcher 1 and 2 but i couldn't get myself to like them since they won't weren't fun to play but after watching the TV show i decided to give the third entry a go and i'm liking much better than the previous. It still feels janky but the gameplay feels more accessible now and the story is more interesting now i have a good background about the universe.

If you are like me then you might want to give the third entry a chance before saying goodbye to this gen :)

It is an absolute glorious video game. 110 hours of nothing but RPG goodness I had with it

I only watched one episode of the show and stopped. I wasn't a fan mainly due to the fact that the world felt so cold. The Witcher is definitely dark fantasy, but there is also a lot of beauty in its world and the show from what I've seen doesn't really have that compared to the games. I love The Witcher 3. I put 400 hours into the PS4 version, then bought it later and put another 200 plus hours into it on the Xbox One X. The Witcher 1 was great, though I had a hard time getting through its first several hours so I started and stopped the game for a long time before finally getting through it just before The Witcher 3. I played two first, and it's okay but it's my least favorite of the three. Oh, I will say though, I wasn't as into my second playthrough of The Witcher 3 though as there wasn't anything new to discover, and I felt like I was just checking things off a list then. That said, it was prettier, and I did play on Death March.

I too took a while to get into The Witcher. I tried 2 and bounced off it pretty hard, then started playing 3 a couple years ago. I've been savoring it on and off since then, almost done with everything except the last few hours of Blood and Wine. : ) Absolutely fantastic game.

@ntm: The first episode does a lot to establish a certain tone that the rest of the series largely follows, but to be honest: it lightens up quite a bit. I'm not saying it's a cakewalk, it's got a lot of grotesque stuff that was more prominent in the books, but if you compare to Game of Thrones, it takes itself much, MUCH less seriously and actually indulges in a lot of great comedy and trope subversion.

If you've got time, I recommend another episode or 2. Dandelion is a breath of fresh, delightful air.

I played through most of the main story and many of the sidequests but I just didn't like the core combat.

@undeadpool: I was mainly referring to the setting, not the tone of the story.

Witcher 3 is one of the best RPGs ever made (a statement i don't make lightly). You'd be doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out. But if you're want to watch the show (based close enough off the books) know that the games are unofficial sequels so there will be spoilers.

I took me about three tries to actually get invested and finish the game. It helped that I watched the show and read the books since the trilogy is basically fan-fiction to give the franchise a different conclusion while including several stories from the books.

I just wish the combat weren't clunky garbage since there's so much of it. I finished the game and the DLC because I wanted to explore and follow the story, but I never enjoyed the fighting. Horizon was the same - enjoyable world, bad fighting. Maybe I've been spoiled by Japanese 3rd person action games but W3 and HZD just feel terrible to me.

That said, I don't regret finishing W3. As a fan of the books, I very much enjoyed the fan fiction ending.

I feel like that might partially be due to the budget constraints. There isn't a lot of money behind that show (yet), and you can feel them really tightening their belts in certain episodes.

@noobsauce: wait, is the show a prequel to the first game? Because one of the scenes had Geralt fight a striga and the scene was pretty close to the intro scene of the first game.

@giant_gamer: ok, bare with me here. the first game is kind of weird in that it does what it wants but is technically after the events of the books. The 2nd and 3rd game are very much after the events of the books with 3 even directly or indirectly referencing events of the books. The show so far has been a mix of adaptations of some short stories (the first two books are a collection of short stories) while exploring things only hinted at in the books (like Yen's pre mage days as a hunchback) and a bit of doing it's own thing. So is the show a prequel to the games? Yes but it'd be more accurate to say the games are fan fiction sequels to the books (and the better part of the content of the show). And that's my thesis.

Witcher 3 is one of my favorites of all time. I played it once at release, and some time later read all the books and played a second time. It's so good. But so huge. It's one of those games that I'd like to play again someday, but the size of it may ensure that doesn't happen.

I liked the show. I was disappointed in how they put it together though. I don't think the different timelines crisscrossing all over each other was the way to go. I'd have preferred a straight timeline of events I think, even though that would mean Geralt wouldn't show up for several episodes.

@bane: hey they paid for Cavill to star and no one knew if the other key leads would hit (i think they do a great job myself). Adapting the short story books was always going to be tricky with the shifting time the stories take place and Sapkowski not exactly being a master of continuity. At the very least, the show will flow normally now as they start getting into book 1 of the series proper content.

@giant_gamer: Like someone said, the games play fatt and loose with the books' content. Sometimes they reference the stories, sometimes you play them even though they already happened in the books. If I remember correctly you fight the striga in W1 because the same princess has turned into a striga AGAIN. The game came with a small book containing the very first short story, which is the one the striga episode was based on.

Yeah, they do a lot with a streaming show's budget, but it was enough of a hit (and Netflix, for all their faults, aren't as dense as networks, who tend to slash budgets once shows have successful first seasons) that I think production values are going to be higher in season 2.

It's far from a perfect show, and with how confused the adaptations already are (the games take place after the books but aren't really canon, but that might change with Sapowski and CD Projekt making nice finally) it can be a lot to take in, so I recommend just taking the show as it is and not worrying about whys and wherefores and whens.

I personally enjoy how much they're nailing the characters and characterizations, and how funny the show can be. The episode where Dandelion gets cursed is hilarious but also showcases some REAL acting chops from Caville (or at least a REAL understanding of the character of Geralt).

I have finally beaten the game along with both expansions and I have completed all the quests main, side and contracts.

Now, I'm planning GWENT XD

Thanks Netflix for introducing an amazing game to me. It's definitely the best open world RPG game of last gen!

Good job on finishing that huge game! I'm currently working my way through the game series from the beginning (having beaten the first two games years ago and never finishing the 3rd). I've been reading the books, too. They are...not great.