Should I read the books before buying and playing these games? Does it add to the experience at all...

should I read the books before buying and playing these games? Does it add to the experience at all, or are the games 100% standalone? Also, I've heard lots of people say that I should skip the first one. Why is this, and is it a good idea to do so?

Games are a direct sequel to the books, but it's not necessary to read them to enjoy the story the games offer. You'll just have a better understanding during 3, and catch all the call backs.

Don't read the books it will make you a Yen cuck. We don't need more of those here.

Why would you skip the best one?

>not liking your Dear Friend Yennefer

The short stories books are pretty good.
Last Wish and Sword of Destiny.

The rest are a continuous tale that nosedives in quality, but I endured it because I grew attached to the chracters.

just try the first two and decide if you want to continue.

about skipping W1.... the game's story is fantastic, but the gameplay is quite... archaic and rough, not for everybody.

And It can be skipped because despite fantastic, the story is mostly self contained and in 2 and 3 is where the narrative meat happens.

>The rest are a continuous tale that nosedives in quality
people always say this, but I liked the Witcher books. What do people hate about them so much?

name one time Yen cucks you you can't

I think it's because the books worked better in a short story format. I can only make guesses though, considering I ONLY read wish and sword.

I felt that some character motivations and drama is artificially generated to pad the story, to the point that the 4th or 5th book (can't remember) is pointless and nothing happens.

all the deaths happen because people suddenly acts out of character and dies in front of to fuel cheap guilt and drama.

The games have pretty awful gameplay. If you like story games, sure. But if you care the slightest about gameplay, don't bother with this overrated series.

memes

I don't even hate the ciri saga, I think it's pretty good, but the first two books are simply amazing while the rest is just good.

It all starts going to hell when the books no longer focus on geralt OR ciri and just some random nobility and crap.

Because the short stories genuinely were better and fit the whole "witcher" thing well. Saga again wasnt up to par.
W1 is actually a good game if you get over the starting hump, it has some really nice enviroments, good story and so on.

>in-universe, people consider this ugly
???

Aedd Gynvael.

different beauty canons

The first time you meet her in game.

but that's pretty accurate to how he's described in the book

If the face doesnt put potential sex partnerss off I dont think he can be considered ugly.

I meant that maybe the citizens of New Shitstania find big warts attractive, or whatever

the fuck are you talking about? she shows up on a horse and demands that you come with her

Isn't Geralt supposed to be a womaniser?

>trissfags

How is bad gameplay a meme? Did you just reply for the sake of replying? You sound insecure.

it's more the appeal of the misterious and forbidden that drives chicks to him.

You should learn polish and read the originals.

Yep. There's a whole thing in Sword of Destiny about this, Geralt starts to get tired of meaningless sex because he's just a fetish for them.

>learning polish
no thanks, I don't have 3/4 of a decade to dedicate to it

i played the first game in 2009. been following since still haven't read a book because im not native speaker. try to read fan translation it so fucking painful word is too fancy.

Before witcher 3 for sure.

isn't he sterile or some shit like that? I imagine that's a huge plus factor as well

It's obvious you're not a native English speaker.

What language? The books have been translated into a dozen different languages at this point, and Sword of Destiny recently got an official English translation (UK only)

>Geralt is supposed to be ugly meme
In the books there's a whole conversation between a couple of supermodel sorceresses about how he's handsome and how they want to fuck his brains out

sorceresses are weird, user

He IS however an ugly fucker in W1 and W2. I even installed a mod for him in W3 to make him uglier, helps a bunch.

I hate to tell you, user, but there's virtually no difference between those two pics

Pre-patch TW2 Geralt is best Geralt.

That mod is great, makes him look way closer to 1 and 2 and is aesthetically more pleasing to look at.

He's also described as dull and grim looking with a horrendous smile and really pale skin.

But every adaptation seems to have ignored the pale skin since that's just too far I guess.

>fucking eyebrows on his forehead

wild kek

...

Yeah, he and the sorceresses are all sterile.

Are there any sorceresses out there who are trustworthy? any at all?

Triss

>betrays Geralt, Yen and Ciri for the Lodge
nah man

Marti Sodergren is one of the few genuinely good people in the series
And look where it gets her.

Question:

Why is it that Ciri has full Witcher reflexes and movement speed, despite never having undergone the Trial of the Grasses?

And refuses to tell Geralt about their past because she wants to have Geralt all for herself. (During Witcher 1)

Healer who got shanked by jealous merc officer?

She doesn't, but she's got Mary Sue magic blood instead.

>thinking that what happens in the books matters
the games are non-canon, anyways

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it's due to her heritage, training and the preparation for the trial that gives her the advantage. I'm pretty sure that she isn't as good as a Witcher. She is simply an excellent swordsman.

Because she's a stupid fucking Mary Sue
Also maybe being a child of the Elder Blood gives her super powers or some shit, whatever.

Yeah, after risking her life to try and save soldiers on a battlefield regardless of their side
She deserved better

Because she's magic.

Life's a bitch for everyone.

What kind of build you guys use?

I mostly just stun them with the jedi mind trick then hit them with a strong attack 2 or 3 times from behind, then repeat. And when I say them i mean everyone this works 90% of the time.

That's actually horribly accurate description of her "salad"

I don't use Axii in the games because it's completely unrepresentative of what it does in the books.
That said, I'm trying to play a Signs build at the moment and finding it kinda dull.

>Ciri is a Mary Sue
no

She's not a mary sue, her blood is.

Has he used it in the books? I either can't remember anymore or then I haven't read it yet.
What does it do in the books then?

he uses it to calm down roach, don't remember else

The Signs are rarely mentioned by name in the books, it usually just mentions that Geralt does some finger waving and things fall over.
I can't remember a specific reference to Axii. The closest I can recall is Geralt using it to calm Roach. Full-on mind control is powerful sorceress territory, certainly not something awitcher can do.

Vilgefortz did nothing wrong

Triss did nothing wrong there, the Lodge was acting in their best interests

Vilgefortz was basically a fucking Bond villain, right down to the eye.
I was honestly really disappointed how most of the series had multidimensional and believable characters, and then the main antagonist was like something from a Saturday morning cartoon.

the lodge a shit

Letho is the best antagonist of this series.

Azar Jahved and Eredin are both kind of lame.

name one thing the Lodge did wrong

1. Everything

why should I believe a literal neckbeard?

>antagonist

you meant brotagonist right?

I've only played the third one and read none of the books and was fine.

I actually just started reading The Last Wish the other day, and though the sign isn't mentioned by name, it seems reasonably evident that he uses Axii on a guy in the first few pages.

>The Rivian straightened. He quickly pinned his blade under his left arm and with his right hand raised towards the guards, swiftly drew a complicated sign in the air. The clout-nails which studded his tunic from his wrists to elbows flashed.
>The guards drew back, shielding their faces with their arms. One of the customers sprang up while another darted to the door. The woman screamed again, wild and ear-splitting.
>'I'll come by myself,' repeated the stranger in his resounding, metallic voice. 'And the three of you will go in front of me. Take me to the castellan. I don't know the way.'
>'Yes, sir,' mumbled the guard, dropping his head.

At least that's what I interpreted as happening there.

I think that's kind of the point though. There's a great moment where the lodge is trying to convince Ciri that they have her best interest in mind, and they're completely blind to the idea that it wasn't Vilgefortz' brutality or methods that made him evil, it was his belief that he had the right to control people, which the lodge shares with him. His overtly villainous qualities draw attention to the fact that they're incidental.

Various political assassinations that destabilized the north, trying to use Ciri to further their power and agenda, discriminated against men, were generally huge cunts.

Yennefer is literally the only sorceress worth a damn.

Fuck the North, bunch of savage barbarians they are. Nilfgaard has the right idea, and would do a lot of good over there.

Vilgefortz was NOT a Bond Villain, there's more to a Bond villain than just having a mad desire for power. It also implies having stupid-ass plans and a crippling weakness for letting their opponents slip through their fingers by their own incompetence. Vilgefortz did neither.

>most powerful (and handsome, young, nihilistic with a wicked sense of humour) being in the universe who can do whateever he wants
>is evil for no reason and gets killed off by the protagonst even tho he could just gather allies and rule the world with everyone admiring him
Yeah sapwkowski is pretty shit writer.

>with everyone admiring him
nobody likes Sorcerers, least of all the kings and aristocrats that he would have to depose to take power

>just gather allies bro :^)
he did. they were Nilfgaardian, because there is no way that the North would stand for a Sorcerer coup de'etat that forces them all into being one country

This. Do not take anyone who says to skip 1 seriously.