#witcher fans who like to think about things PLEASE interact i do want more people to talk about this franchise with actually dskfjgsh

[vulpinesaint]

i very much keep myself in my own little bubble on the internet because i am aromantic and also a hater and so fandom spaces are generally pretty hellish for me. however in the witcher fandom specifically i am forever surprised to see the complete lack of engagement with the actual themes of the text. like,,, i am certain that there are people out there having great conversations about it but the fact that the only widely accessible discourse (in the epistemological sense of the word not internet arguments) around the story is surface level character discussions when there is SO much to talk about there in OBVIOUS ways. obvi there are deeper character conversations to be had (so little about geralt's like. deep grief at his perceived inability to be human. i'll forgive it cause it is much more prevalent in the books but it's still a shame...) but there are SO many larger-scale things to talk about. the witcher as a story about colonialism i feel like i never see mentioned and considering the sheer integral nature of that discourse in the text it seems really improbable that nobody wants to talk about it? from the very beginning the story is telling you very openly about the way that humanity assumes itself to be the rightful occupant of the land when it is in fact an occupying force, and it's discussing what makes for a rightful use of violence in pushing back against that colonizing force, and what is necessary for survival under colonialism, like... i've still only read a few of the books but even JUST in the edge of the world story, without considering the scoia'tael and the larger dynamics of the fantasy racism and systemic discrimination in the world of the witcher, it is a VERY clear story about the aftereffects of genocide and the question of integration into the occupying force. like you CAN'T ignore that or write it out of the story for the netflix show cause that's what the larger story is About. and beyond engaging with the direct themes of the text i feel like i'm missing so many critical discussions. so much to talk about with the men-writing-women of it all, the way that yennefer is treated by the original author and then the way that in trying to work around that characterization she sort of just gets girlbossified in the other direction by the netflix writers, the way that yennefer is either beloved without criticism or hated without critical thought by the fandom. idk. again i say nothing with absolute certainty because i do take pains to talk about this in my own little corner and not seek much out about it but man. all this fanfic and we're not gonna talk about Any of that? not even geralt of rivia's central motivation of being a guy who wants to do the right thing?

[fyx-ation]

A Meandering Ramble on FFXVI

Firstly, if you haven't played the game yet or haven't finished the game yet, I suggest scrolling on. If you want a recommendation to play it, the best I can give you is a 7/10. Worth playing. Not the best thing on the market in the same territory but refreshing (I might use that word a lot going forward) and holds interest very well. Like a page-turner of a book.

That said, the rest of my ramble will be behind the cut to spare spoiling others.

Huh. What a strange little game. I actually just finished it, though I do need to go finish the chronolith things at some point. But I wanted to strike while the iron is hot, so this might be all over the place. I usually try to provide some essay-like structure when I write about a game... But I'm not really feelin' it since I've been working 5am shifts for a while and my brain is fried.

I have not read or watched any other reviews or summaries or impressions of the game. I didn't want my opinion to be tainted by bias because some creator or another loved or hated it.

It is Very Pretty. But perhaps not in a PS5 sort-of rock your eyeballs way. It handles like the Witcher III and Final Fantasy had an off-putting love-child. By that, I mean just the walking around and interacting with things reminds me of Witcher. Casual conversations are overheard from NPCs, and occasionally one that will actually speak to you (Clive) even if they aren't offering a quest or incentive. Facial animations, weather/landscape animations. Very Pretty but maybe a smidge outdated? How is that possible? Everything is lovely! But a little stiff if it's not an important, scripted, you-can't control your character here, sort of scene. The ones that aren't separately rendered cutscenes but still have extra polish? Yeah, not those.

You know what else this game reminds me of? Mass Effect (or Dragon Age). There's no open world to explore. There are pocket maps that you can return to from your Normandy Hideaway, but usually you're just sent there to do a mission quest or hunt or something.

So, let's deconstruct that a little. I think and hope that the producers of this game looked at what has been working and what has landed with the fan-base like a sopping wet diaper. Open world fatigue? Absolutely real. Stamina bars? Fuck right off. Pacing the game out with enormous, unskippable BS like a car ride because the plot is paper thin? Nope!

Does it work for a Final Fantasy game, though? See, this is where the conversation gets choppy. (While I didn't interact with reviews, I did see some plumes of smoke on the horizon in the form of thumbnails and the like). Some people are ride or die "this ain't MY final fantasy." Worse, some are like "this isn't a JRPG q_q."

Personally, I let that ship sail years ago. I loved the old turn-based games, don't get me wrong. I lament there aren't that many on the market anymore. But I've moved on. 16 is probably the biggest departure so far from that. Excluding the online games, they've been moving away from that format since 12. 13 was the last to have party members who you can actually control. (I'm not counting the 7 remake here, either) 16 doesn't have a party system. You can't swap Thane Krios (my space boyfriend) in when you fast travel from your hideaway to the next story beat. It's just the protag and whatever side piece is relevant at the moment, and that side character just does their own thing.

Do I like it? Ehh.... yes and no. Clive doesn't talk to himself or them much, so I feel like a lot more banter was needed. I could see why they left it out on the battle maps ("Hey, Clive, remember when were playing checkers and mom kicked the board because oh hello Mr. Behemoth."). But in city hubs? More banter, please. Even more conversations like the newer God of War games have would be most welcome.

And controlling just Clive? It's fine. I am A-okay with it. Combat's really fun, even when I'm not playing at my best and half-dozing on the couch. It's better than holding down the circle button (15 shaming is my kink). It's all amazingly refreshing in comparison to SE's other departures from turn-based battles. It's the first one so far (again excluding ff7r) to actually succeed at doing something different.

But I would not recommend the game to anyone on that alone. If they were looking for a hack n' slash pew pew magic pew game, I'd suggest the newer God of Wars first.

This is where I'm on the fence about how to judge the game as a whole because it isn't SPECTACULAR. It's good. Combat's good. Story is decent. Side characters are interesting (though some are woefully under-cooked, including Jill, whom I often compared to a piece of cardboard while talking to friends). Pacing a HUGE improvement from previous installments, though the last few hours of the game are weirdly smooshed into sidequests which aren't really sidequests because they are invaluable to the story and the game expects you to do them.

However. The world-building, which is very nice, is padded with lore directories just to clarify shit to people who have no idea what the fuck is going on or who have maybe missed or forgotten details that flesh out the motivations of everyone on the two continents. Did you forget who was fighting who while Clive was was off kicking boxes? Boy, do we have the right solution for that: it's LORE DUMP MAN and his faithful sidekick MAP TIMELINE WOMAN. I'm not saying they are bad things... just... odd. Heavy-handed? I love it when games offer some sort of journal to keep me on track or remind me of things, and yet they feel like they were put in this game because things are a bit blurry for the first third. They throw a lot of names at you, a lot of factions, and a lot of talk of different battles that you don't even witness so the only way to clarify all that is to be given Baby's First Overview. I think that might be indicative of a small failing on the game's part. Lots of telling with little showing often leads to lore dumps in RPGs, because it's critical that you understand for the sake of the story. Weirdly, there actually aren't a lot of exposition dumps in the actual gameplay. I guess they couldn't find a happy medium.

It's late. Gotta get up at 4, so I'll bring this ramble to a close for now. I'll talk about tone and themes later, probably.

Is it worth $70 and satisfying? Mostly. If you like button mashing combat and fantasy, sure. If you're a die-hard FF person, sure, but bolster your expectations as it doesn't really fit that mold. Anyone else that's curious, I'd say wait for a sale or promotion.

TBC

[hanzajesthanza]

new year, ni-mue...

get it? it's like "new me," but "nimue"... haha...

tl;dr i'm going by a pseudonym now!

personal update

in the new year, as i'm going to try to make more witcher context (no promises, it's just a goal of mine—it's simply a matter of initiative and positive thinking!) i'm going to stop using my real life name online, because i realized that's probably not a very bright idea.

the thing is, my "real life" name used to not be my real life name—it used to be my online psuedonym, but for gender reasons, it was more comfortable than my real name, and i began to use it in real life, so now it basically functions like my "real name."

this didn't bother me too much on tumblr, because "nobody really cares" about tumblr, but since tumblr has become a twitter-alternative at the same time that i've realized i also have a penchant for using other social media sites other than tumblr, more public-facing ones, namely reddit and youtube, i've realized i should probably phase out using my real name for a pseudonym for general internet safety rules. and please, i know i'm not a child, but internet safety is important at any age. a good example has also been made for me by some of my internet friends who do use pseudonyms, and i've somewhat always regretting not going by one.

if we're mutuals or have spoken before or you just happen to know my name, don't worry about switching out my name or calling me something else *if it's a private conversation.* you can call me by my real name on discord or in DMs.

i still completely identify with my real name and i'm not switching my name for any gender-related purposes—i just don't want to have my name written down publicly on social media sites like tumblr, youtube, reddit, etc. where anyone who's never spoken to me before can just show up, find my name, and start calling me by it, or worse, trying to cyberstalk me.

so, what pseudonym will i be going by?

after giving it some thought (a lot of thought, as included in the read more), i have decided to go by the pseudonym nimue.

reflections about fandom experiences, explanations of my concept, and other ideas and disclaimers under the cut. skip to the end for answers to some anticipated questions.

experiences in the fandom

around one to two years ago, i began thinking about the witcher fandom and my role in it with more seriousness. ... that sounds ridiculous, i know—i'm literally just some guy on the internet.

but i seriously enjoy writing long posts about the witcher and having long discussions about the witcher on the internet. and apparently, there are people who also enjoy reading these posts and having these discussions. i've always wanted to prioritize this kind of interaction and spaces, as i find them incredibly fulfilling. maybe it sounds pathetic, but the witcher and fandom has a genuine priority in my life—it's a great hobby, an interest i focus on almost every day. so it stands to reason that i'd like to identify in this space and create spaces where this kind of interaction can flourish.

i don't know if it's the general direction of the fandom at the moment, but this past year, especially these past six months, have been pretty great in relative terms of fandom interaction—at least for me. the discord server is active, there seem to be new witcher book fans joining tumblr, and i've started using and posting on r/wiedzmin and r/witcher with some unexpected success and appreciation.

i'm trying to be mild here, but i feel like this fandom is growing and has a lot of potential—perhaps it's wrong to say this about a fandom that just turned, indeed, 36 years old, but i just mean—in my experience. when i joined the fandom in 2017, it felt like there was virtually no books content. most everything was witcher 3 content, which was great, but personally? i remember feeling deeply unsatisfied—and more than that, i was deeply lonely. yes, there were friends and mutuals (shout out to the longterm mutuals and homies!) but there was no daily conversation. this really continued for some time. of course, the n*tflix series made it a worse situation, even more despairing.

until march of 2020, when i promoted the first discord server (now a private server) and people—who became my good friends—to my surprise, actually joined. this bastion of book fans, as i'll call us, went on as a kind of cultural hub, and i was very encouraged by this. today, the new books server i created six months ago has taken this torch and functions as a hub. and in these experiments i realized—there are people out there, we just need to find each other.

but, i also realized, this will not happen by itself. we need to take the initiative.

by this hand—yes, all of that about fandom experiences was a huge non sequitur—i have pondered the creation of a witcher fandom persona, along with a youtube channel, also for a long time.

i began to think of this in mid-2019, with no shame i admit it was in anticipation for the then-upcoming n*tflix series. i, foolishly and naively, thought that i could create videos comparing the n*tflix series to the books and assessing what was accurate to what was made up. of course, it turned out that december that it was all made up, and there was little serious analysis to be had, because what could be created was either overwhelming—explain every single mistake they made, which would take forever—or nothing at all—it was not even worth watching and reviewing.

after that, i felt very turned away from the thought of a channel, and somewhat creatively stifled. it became a challenge to not compare, every single day, between what the books had VS what the n*tflix series had—not only in terms of lore, but in terms of fans. it suddenly felt even more lonely and futile to make witcher book content, even when it would have been the time that people perhaps needed it the most.

i perked up a little bit in december of 2020, but i ran out of time to create anything of substance—did i mention, throughout all of this time, that i was in college? i was free for a month for winter break, then had to jump directly back into the spring semester. and i did not fool around about my studies—i put every single bit of effort i had into school, then into work. so, of course, there was little to put into the witcher.

of course, the pandemic hit, and everything went online. i barely remember these months, they're all a blur. i had some great conversations and friendships online during this time, because all socialization was moved to online, but i can't remember if i put any effort into the channel during these months or not.

channel concept: inis vitre

then, in december 2021, i was suddenly plagued by some visions and motivation to put into the channel. i had this idea, along this line of thinking:

"i'm very nervous and insecure about creating videos online. my voice, my face, my body, to put it all on the internet feels too accessible. i need to hide under layers of pretend, of fantasy, of escapism, in order to feel confident enough. what to do?"

i came up with the idea of a youtube channel called "nimue's tower"—of course, after re-reading lady of the lake a bunch during the fall of 2021, i came to have more appreciation for ch. 2 and 7. there is a very lifelike, fleshed out world of nimue's island, her tower and all of its aesthetics and philosophy. adding to this that it seems almost untouched by fans, so why not create something around this identity?

i later changed the idea so that "nimue's tower" would be a sort of canon-focused, lore-focused segme—one of many segments—which would appear on the channel named: inis vitre. (that's the name of the island, if you haven't read ch. 2 of lady of the lake in a while). perfect! and this would open it up for other kinds of themed segments to appear on the channel—"condwiramurs' corner," for instance, which would feature headcanons, theories, and other "source: it came to me in a dream" type of content—literally.

so, my plan was that i would loosely roleplay as the sorceress nimue on her island inis vitre, who is receiving a guest—condwiramurs, you, the viewer—to help her with seeking the legend of the witcher girl. in united scholarship, we would "explore the legend" together in various videos analyzing different scenes from the books and the "lore".

cute concept, right? hopefully not too cringey? i'm still set on this, by the way, so i hope to do this sometime in the future—!

the amount of "roleplay" and acting "in character" is a variable i have yet to see to. is it nimue... as a youtuber? is there a more meta "hey guys, what's up, welcome back to the channel"? or is it a more serious "you're finally awake, come and eat breakfast, and then we can discuss your dreams" type, where there is heavier storyline? is it video-by-video, or are there consecutive, chronological episodes with a progressing storyline? ah, decisions, decisions. but this is the general concept i want to pursue, and the kind of title, image, persona i want to create. this has all been sitting in my head for around a year now, so i just have to write it out on the internet, to say: "i thought of this, this is what i am going to do."

reasons i chose inis vitre & nimue

again, this is possibly cringey, but i wanted to write out the reasons i resonate with nimue as a character and inis vitre as a place.

inis vitre, to me, is a metaphorical, figurative place. an island in the middle of a lake where no one goes unless they want to be afflicted by the mania of the legend of the witcher. a somewhat remote place, where only nimue, the fisher king, condwiramurs, and the serving maids reside. a place of scholarship and pursuit of the legend - with a library and gallery, filled with memories, facts, and dreams. thinking of it this way, i already live on inis vitre - on my own little "island", apart from everybody else, where i give into my obsession about the witcher to analyze and daydream as much as i like. and of course, the natural setting with its pine trees, beaches lined with mussels, pristine waters, and cool air reminded me of my real-life setting, too. so to me, inis vitre is a lot like a home.

as for the reasons i identify with nimue:

nimue describes her relationship to the legend of ciri in terms of pathology, a "mania" which "simply everyone knows" that she is "afflicted" with.

nimue is very curious and motivated, especially when she was young, emotional, and passionate about the legend (in season of storms).

nimue is very methodological in how she approaches the legend. she has a library of sources for this very reason.

nimue prefers, and seeks, the "real" legend, wanting facts and reality. owing to this, she is neat, and tidy, and demands respect for both herself and her work. she's studious, and treats it seriously!

nimue is regarded as short. yes, this is a serious reason why i relate to her. she is short, yet no one disrespects her anymore for this fact. it doesn't affect how her opinions are perceived.

of course, i also identify with condwiramurs:

condwiramurs describes her relationship to the legend of ciri in terms of love, calling it like the early infatuation and romance being replaced by something like the coolness of marital duty.

condwiramurs is, literally, a dreamer. her job is to read inbetween the lines and envision what was not stated or recorded. she also seeks the truth, but by using her own abilities and powers on top of the research.

condwiramurs prefers the "beautiful" versions of the legend, the story-like ones, where ciri throws behind her an apple, a comb, and a handkerchief as she is leaving the world of the aen elle.

to me, "nimue" and "condwiramurs" are just representations of the fans of the series, and the kinds of internal discourse we have. this is also why, in my opinion, these two sorceresses are not described in such individualistic detail, unlike the sorceresses of the lodge, for instance.

answers to anticipated questions

no, this is not kinning. no, this is not me losing my grip on reality. i just want a fun, witcher books-related name that i can give to introduce myself, but one which also resonates with me. the name is intended with a dash of some wry referential humor, it's not a serious, "i am this character, treat me as such" kind of deal. as i stated, the name "nimue" is representative of an attitude, a philosophy, the passion and curiosity of a fan of the witcher. it's not a literal name. that's why it's a pseudonym.

yes, i know some people find it cringey to go by a character name from the fandom you are participating in. my way of thinking is this: only the fans which have read up until lady of the lake will understand that my name is a witcher reference, and nimue is a minor character whom many fans already forgot about, or didn't care much of in the first place. thus, not every fan that interacts with the witcher will, upon first glance, find it an unbearably distracting name, so much so that they are unable to interact with me (like, it's not like there is a legion of "nimue fans" who make headcanons for the character, ship the character, etc. so that it would be distracting to call myself by this name). additionally, i'm not going to be compulsively introducing myself by this name in every post i make, it's more like... a business card. something to call me by, something to introduce myself as, a number you can put in your contacts. that's really how i think of names functioning in society, anyhow.

yes, i know that nimue is a female sorceress and it is a "female name." well, my real life name is also a "female name," and does that make me female? no. my relationship with my gender is my own. don't worry, i know what i'm doing. i don't care if this leads to me being more misgendered on the internet, because i don't need to prove my gender to anybody, i know who i am. and i can just hope that people will respect me for what i say and take me seriously.

yes, i know that this doesn't mean complete safety on the internet. remember that that is only one of the reasons i am making this change. my thinking is, better late than never, better to start now than never at all, and best to do it when it lines up with a creative venture and something i want to put my heart into.

[jaskicr]

let’s talk about fandom racism

i have seen so many people say that they don’t like yennefer, or they don’t vibe with her, or she isn’t compelling, or she is irrelevant to their fics/art/creations...

yes. everyone is allowed to like and dislike characters. everyone is allowed to have their preferences. and i’m not disputing that. but when people brush yennefer off, justifying it some of the reasons above or other reasons they come up with, i question whether there’s something rather dodgy behind this, especially when those very same people really, really stan white male characters (geralt, jaskier, the wolves etc)

some people are going to come at me, ‘why are you making everything about race??!??’ or accuse me of calling them racist, when they aren’t racist, how dare i say stuff like that. but it’s interesting, isn’t it? the way fans justify their dislike or their dismissal of female characters of colour with excuses like they’re not ‘compelling’ or they’re ‘problematic’ - when their fave white dudes are arguably just as bland and problematic, but those fans continue stanning their faves anyway.

it’s important, i think, for many fans to take a step back and evaluate their preferences. ‘fandom is for fun,’ you might say. ‘why do i need a reason to like a certain character? can’t i just like them because i do!’

you can! what i want people to evaluate, though, is how their preferences have been shaped by unconscious bias. unconscious bias is created as people grow up, shaped by people around them, shaped by the structure of society - and in society, white-dominated ones in particular, racism is embedded deep within, and it influences the way many people perceive and treat media, the way they interact within fandoms.

that is what i want people to examine and evaluate. you might reject it - because no one wants to be told that they’re racist, that they have unconscious prejudices that they don’t even notice. everyone wants to think that they’re open-minded, that they’re inclusive, that they are completely accepting of every minority group ever - when in fact, the way they’ve been brought up, the way society has influenced them, has created biases within them that shapes their preferences and perception.

i’m not saying people are being intentionally malicious and sidelining characters of colour like yennefer on purpose. i’m saying that there are unconscious prejudices that influence their views in a way that they likely aren’t aware of, leading to them dismissing characters of colour, or demonising them, or magnifying the flaws that a character of colour has while excusing a white character (usually a white man) for similar flaws. 

this can very clearly be seen in how so many fandoms have white male characters as the most popular amongst fans, with many white mlm ships being the centre of those fandoms. meanwhile, people of colour, whether or not they have a compelling or interesting story arc, are relegated to the side, either ignored or used as a facilitator to help the two white men get together, or acting as a side character who has no life outside their connection to the white man.

sound familiar, fandoms?

i’m not telling you that you have to like characters of colour. i’m not saying that if you don’t like yennefer, you’re racist. i can’t make you like them, and it would be wrong of me to make you. but i am imploring that you examine and evaluate your preferences, and see if you have any unconscious prejudices and biases that you might not have noticed before, and become aware of them and how your prejudices might affect the way you treat others, the way you engage with fandom content.

then maybe - maybe, poc like me won’t feel so unwelcome in fandom. we all recognise that representation is important, and the fact that characters of colour are so often pushed aside in fandom tells us that you want to push people like us aside. it tells us that, because of your internal biases, you prefer white men over us, and for me? it makes me feel unwelcome, sometimes, the way i see characters like yennefer and triss and fringilla ignored or dismissed in favour of geralt and jaskier and the wolves.

and i get that people have preferences! i too enjoy writing and reading about geralt and jaskier. but sometimes i bring up yennefer or triss or fringilla and i simply get talked over - this really doesn’t make me feel welcome, and though i can’t speak for every poc in this fandom, i can imagine that at least a few of us feel the same way. 

geraskier is still one of my favourite ships, but i’ve noticed that i tend to gravitate towards white mlm ships, and i wonder - what does that say about me and my internalised prejudices? what can i do to improve and evaluate myself?

not liking yennefer or other characters of colour doesn’t automatically make you racist. you don’t have to like them in order to not be racist. i’m merely asking that you be conscientious of your preferences, and be mindful of how you engage with fandom especially regarding characters of colour. 

consider whether you hold characters of colour to a different standard than a white character - if a character of colour were white, would you dismiss them in the same way? would you demonise them for their flaws? 

consider how you write and interpret characters of colour. do you fall into harmful stereotypes? do you use characters of colour to uplift white characters, and do characters of colour only have significance in relation to white characters?

consider how you treat fans of colour. do you listen to us when we express our concerns, or do you talk over us and try to speak for us, rather than amplifying our voices? consider your white privilege, because there are parts of fandom that impact on real life. 

there is so much more i want to talk about, so much more i could talk about in this post (going into women of colour specifically), but the post would become far, far too long, and i’ve answered quite a few asks regarding this issue, so do check them out if you’re interested in knowing more about my take on different issues regarding fandom racism. 

(and here’s an ask where i link several posts about fandom racism in the witcher fandom, and in fandom in general)

feel free to send me asks or dm me about this! this is just my take on things and i’m speaking from my limited experience, so i might not be the best equipped to talk about this. i’m open to discussion, i’m still learning and developing my views on this, so please do talk to me if you find an issue with what i’m talking about or want clarification on anything<3

[witcherscreenshotsdump]

Hey Bububull! Can you give us a quick insight of your thoughts for this second season? SPOILER INCOMING : I didn't like it but I'm frustrated cause I saw some qualities and the ending really send us toward the Thanned Coup arc. It's frustrating cause like I said there's the potential, some scenes were good but I don't get the whole fanfiction around the characters (like Yen lose her magic, ciri possessed by Voleth Meir wtf???!) and the eskel thing made me cringe like hell no why? frustration/20

Hey !! my thoughts were summed up already in this post but i'm guessing you want more details?

okay good things first then:

Mimi Ndiweni as Fringilla, i was always pleased to see her on screen, her interactions with francesca were cute ( 'it's not terrible' * cue shy smile* oh baby, baby girl ) she's too good to be in this shitshow

the editing effects used on Vereena's movements were very creepy

that one dwarven lady with her beard looking great and cute who appears 5 seconds !!!!!!!!! love you girl !!! the show should have been about you and your bearded ladies friends

rience actor was intimidating

you can see the big rat pelt on Ciri's wall at kaer morhen, cute but would have benefited from a previous short establishing shot showing monsters pelts on the walls of the other witchers

Jarre was perfect to me, exatly how I imagined him

Philippa looking awesome TOO BAD THE SHOW SAID FUCK YOU AND HAD HER AS AN OWL FOR 99.99999999 % OF THE SHOW

witcher dude has more than 2 words of vocabulary now !!! yay!

now as to what exactly soured the experience... lemme seee.....

was it the cringy dialogue ( i know, i really insist on this but it REALLY sounds like a kid writting their first wattpad fic of...idk the lord of rings, making the entire fellowship say every variation of 'fuck' every 10 words because they want to be like a grown up who can use swear words and the teacher isn't there to be mad at them for doing so )

...

you know what? now that i think of it... it sounds exactly like 'my immortal ' dialogues, incredible truly

was it that the music was incredibly discreet and forgetable?? it was one of the good point of S1, what the hell happened??

was it that everything drags while somehow feeling rushed?? how did they managed to do that?

was it that they caved in to the dudebros who wanted a ginger Triss ( pssst the hair color thing was just an excuse you know ? :) the actual problem for these people is that Anna isn't white, that's why you shouldn't have changed anything about her ) and then in the same breath make petty jabs at book fans for wanting the story to be more faithful to the source material AS THEY SAID THEY WOULD BEFORE S1 WAS RELEASED ( i did not forget those snobby tweets about ' WE'LL BE FAITHFUL TO THE SOURCE ' and 'AcTUallY We'RE ADAptING The BOOKS nOt The GAMES UwU ' targeted at the game fans who were being dicks about the firsts visuals of S1, those tweets gave me hope back then, oh how wrong i was to even have a slither of hope ) and now you piss on the books and try to suck it up as much as you can to the game :)

was it the fact that it call itself an adaptation when it's 90% fanfiction? and a bad one at that? seriously Vesemir wants to create more witchers now? useless leshen attack in kaer morhen? useless not-eskel death? even more useless sex workers in the very secret witcher hide-out? the whole thing with the demon? the possessing Ciri bit ? her killing the no name witchers? Vesemir stabbing her? the whole monolith buisness with the stallecite or whatever it's was called ? Ehmyr telling the whole court about Ciri being his daughter????????? lmao what a mess

also Ciri is way too OP way too fast???

was it the fact that once again the Yennefer/Ciri relationship is written off in favor of the paternal relationship with Witcher dude??? ( psst did you know that in the source material Ciri NEVER calls Geralt her father? but she explicitly calls Yen her mother several times? and yen calls her her daughter too? :), i'm blaming the games for this shift )

was it the fact that chemistry is completely absent between witcher dude and any other character ( wooden acting doesn't help )

WAS IT THAT IT WAS SO FUCKING BORING, at the end of the day all i ask of a show is to entertain me, and here i wasn't. i was unable to even enter the universe because i kept being put off by poor editing, bad storytelling, poorly written characters and dialogues, i just felt like i was wasting my time

and last but not least:

henry cavill acting is very bad and it's even more jarring when he is next to other actors who aren't just T-posing ( well, A-posing technically ) and doing more than 2 facial expressions

and those CONTACTS dear god, those contacts makes him look like a bad taxidermy, why keep them??? they cleary don't care for the lore, why not drop the bad yellow eyes for witcher dude?? Geralt probs doesn't even have yellow eyes in the books

seriously, like , you're watching a scene and one character is talking and doing their thing then the camera pans to witcher dude and he stand there like

( ha! same pose for the arms too lol , put some plastic armor on him and no one will see the difference )

[gayregis]

right away sorry if this gets too ranty I've just been Thinking lately and i feel like twn is such a good example of like. this idea that Real and Good film and television can only be made by Hollywood i guess? like there's even this polish saying that roughly translates to "you praise the foreign and don't know your own" which gets made fun of a lot but also. it's very true imo. like i still wonder what could've been if actual good polish filmmakers were entrusted with making a new witcher (1/?

and it would've been such a good opportunity for like. one showcasing that there Can be good art and entertainment made locally and two some genuine cultural exchange. like i know its too big of an idea for Capitalism™ but if there was a well made polish-language show on international Netflix like. idk i feel like maybe that could spark some interest in like broadening peoples horizons and changing their views on what fantasy looks like etc and its just frustrating that there wasnt even a chance

i really agree. i have been dreaming recently about what my ideal "visual adaptation" of the witcher would look like, and what i've come up with essentially is something like the polish audiodramas set to 2D animation by fans of the witcher. subs, not dubs, i guess?

audiodramas

gilthoniel1173 on youtube has uploaded many select clips of the audiodramas, translated them and set them to pictures. amazing work and i highly recommend this.

i really value the majority of sapkowski's prose, though there are faults with the witcher, his prose really has a marvelous quality to it and i am trying to think of a way to keep this intact. something like the audiodramas in which there are narration may be the best way to go, with subtitles so that

animation

it's the sort of thing i think about like, hey, if i had netflix's budget (approx. $70 to $80 million, [dies]), how would i make the witcher adaptation?

disclaimer: i hesitated to @ artists because i feel like it sends the message that i am saying, "hey you, specifically, should do this idea for free, also btw, i only see you as a witcher fanartist and nothing more :)" this is not my intention, what i want to do here is just want to bring light to these artists in the community and the work they have done, both witcher-related and original work (and i hope that i am in no way defining them as 'only-witcher' artists). additionally, this is in no way suggesting that i don't want to involve any artists i did not mention or that i do not adore the work of other artists in the witcher fandom, these are just the immediate two i think of when i think of animating the witcher.

i imagine it in the style of @paticmak , @astrolunos , @johix because they have done just such gorgeous art of the witcher... <3 (i hope everyone reading knows of these artists already, but if you do not, please check out their work and support!)

paticmak's cherry vodka, an original animation which you should watch: [x]

paticmak's witcher fanart: [x]

astrolunos' animations, including geralt and ciri from sword of destiny and yennefer and ciri from blood of elves: [x]

astrolunos' witcher fanart: [x]

johix's jadýrko, an original interactive story which you should check out: [x] [x]

johix's art (some ship and ns/fw): [x]

specific witcher pieces from these artists that i think about:

[paticmak / "The witcher drawings redraws and sketches"]

[astrolunos / slavic-inspired outfits]

[astrolunos / "yen and ciri’s room, ellander"]

[johix / geralt and dandelion at beltane (ship)]

other major inspirations in my dreams of this:

studio ghibli movies (spirited away and howl's moving castle)

independent animators like felix colgrave (double king)

laika studio animations (kubo and the two strings)

gobelins studio (sundown)

embracing the roots, introducing diversity

my main point in this section is that i believe the polish & eastern european culture of the witcher is essential to it, at the same time i also value diversity and uplifting people of color. i do not believe that these two concepts are in conflict with one another! a discussion simply needs to be held, which is something that netflix did not do because it had few eastern european voices on the set, and kept the voices of color it did have down.

something netflix failed to do is acknowledge the witcher's cultural origins... at all. really, at all. in the writing, in the dialogue, in the set design, in the character and fashion design... and they had the opportunity to do this. this is massively disappointing and thoughtless.

my goal would be to bring polish & other eastern european writers who are fans of the witcher to work through the prose to tell the story. i would also like to have female and lgbt voices in this because the witcher has some elements that are...! disconcerting, let's just say. as we saw with lauren, having a woman in charge doesn't immediately make things not misogynist anymore, somehow she added to the misogyny of the witcher. but i think this is still a step in the right direction. additionally, this writing process would NOT look like writing fanfiction. it would really be going through and working with the artists and translating the prose, deciding what should be kept and what should be left out (some things like forest gramps should be left out, wouldn't you agree?).

new scenes could be added, but they would just have to be done for a reason. i believe the 2002 hexer did this somewhat-successfully in scenes such as this one, in which they develop relationships between characters just that little bit more and add to the pathos of the witcher (which is quite direct and does not "loiter" upon many things!)

i would also really value the voices of set designers, fashion historians, food historians, and cultural anthropologists who are from + study poland & eastern europe because i believe the history and culture should be integrated into the witcher and appreciated, demonstrated in a positive and celebratory light to the world, without doing so in a cultural appropriation-like manner (in which elements are just taken without any knowledge of where they are from and what context they hold). also, yes, the witcher is not a historical fantasy - but its setting is inspired by history and it would be rewarding to see a visual fantasy universe that is not based in english culture!

i think the witcher community is really vast and holds many opinions... this is both a good and bad thing, because "the witcher fandom" includes both people of color and like, white supremacists. i will say that i wouldn't want the latter working on the project, just saying. i would like to see designs of color for the cast of the witcher (i have done a few but hesitated to post them, lol) and sensitivity readings, NOT just diversity for views like netflix performed, but diversity that empowers, makes sense, and isn't "people of color are in this, they are either white-passing or just there to support the white characters." ... i also would like to think about how we approach diversity, as in, designs/casting of color should not be relegated to insignificant or evil characters, the good protagonists could be people of color. i would also like to think about and avoid problematic tropes such as when white characters in a media teach and "civilize" a young person of color, or when "monsters" or non-human characters are cast as people of color... i think people of color should be given roles in which they are in control, powerful, desirable, and good. we need to think about the message we send. in the end, my goal would be "genuine cultural exchange" as you said.

additionally: i think involving jewish and indigenous (broad terms, but i mean them to be broad) voices specifically in conversations about writing would be significant because sapkowski made some decisions in the witcher which can come off as offensive to these groups in particular (regarding the parts of the story about elves, dwarves, gnomes, dryads, and specific characters such as yennefer and regis).

music

honestly, not many thoughts here! can we really get any better than the soundtrack of the witcher 3? cdpr has many faults, but their music is not one of them in my opinion.

afterthoughts

i was displeased to learn that alik sakharov left twn because of not being appreciated and instead being fought on his writing, but i feel a project like this would actually value input like his instead of kicking him out and citing "creative differences"

what is really the most significant thing to me is good writing and ciri's relationship with her parents, because i believe these being taken away is one of the things which was most painful about netflix's "adaptation."

[stars-meets-the-sunlight]

hello, could you maybe write a henry x reader, where she feels sad and left out bc she sees the chemistry between the girls (anya&freya) and Henry? if you could make it angsty? thank you dear

A/N: Hi angel! Thank you for your request. I think I’m not so good with angst, but I really tried to do my best. Hope you like it ✨

Pairing: Henry Cavill x reader

Length: 1458

Warnings: angst

The rain falling that day was no joke and got you unprepared at all. Arriving at your office wet soaking was the more laborious thing you did in months, surprisingly there wasn’t a lot of work to do, just the normal amount of papers and scouldings from your pain-in-the-ass-boss.

Being an independent woman has it’s rollercoasters sometime, you were used to it.

The Witcher promotions started already, and you could not count on Henry for the weeks to come, and to be honest, being near to him these days were giving you a really weird feeling. You didn’t know if it was because of the long time he spent shooting the series that could’ve destabilized the relationship you two had. He have seen beautiful places in the world, met amazing people and had the company of two gorgeous women. 

That definitely wasn’t your common way of living life, more of a empty stomach all day because the caffeine had you without appetite or a long bath in almost scalding water because of your back pain, not so glamorous.

Henry was the renovation of your life when he got in, giving you a motive to laugh and would prepare a warm and delicious meal to heal your stomach and give you strength to overcome the back pain, as well massages or what he could do to help. When he left to do his work, you always felt like there was a hole in your life, something missing, so you had to adjust to your transient situation, ordering food when you got home because you had no vitality left to cook a proper homemade meal.

The insecurity you felt was gaining great proportions, and you knew it when you felt afraid of watching The Witcher. You knew that your heart would ache to see Henry having so much chemistry with Anya. Yeah, it was a silly thing to feel, but you could not help. How could you? You were the average woman that had no time to workout, that had no time to go to saloon to do your hair, the average woman that looked nothing like a model like figure. 

And the worst was to come, because in promotions the actors were all interacting with each other, and the fans would make assumptions of what was happening, was that a friendship? Or are they dating? They don’t really know. 

You couldn’t blame anyone for your insecurities, Henry never gave you reasons for that, Anya was only making her job, and afterwards the decision of not to be showed off as his girlfriend was yours, not his. 

You were happy for the success that The Witcher is making, of course, and proud of your man. Henry was just so… Too much to you. He’s handsome, talented, made awesome movies and you were just you. The bland and plain you. 

“Hello?” you said after answering the phone in your office. 

“Hello, babe. It’s Henry.” his voice was soft, and you could see his smile in your mind.

“Oh, hi babe.” you lowered your voice. “I wasn’t expecting you to call.”

“Yeah, neither I.” he laughed. “How is your day?”

“Do you want the standard answer or the real one?” 

“The real one, give it to me.”

“I’m feeling helplessly bad today, the rain started pouring and I arrived the office soaking wet. I’m tired, you know that.” you sighed, trying to not cry on the go.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, babe. I’m sorry that I can’t be with you right now.”

You laughed in self  consolation. “That’s ok, Henry. Why would you want to.” you snapped when realized what you had said. Oh no.

“What? Babe, what are you saying?” his voice was now really full of worry and you could feel it.

“I don’t know, Henry. I’m sorry.” you took a break. “You are so happy with your job, you have two beautiful women by your side, your fans... I don’t want to ruin your mood with my usual bullshit.” 

“y/n, don’t say it. I-” 

“That’s okay, babe. I’m okay.” you interrupted him. “I have a lot of work to do right now. I’m sorry.” you hung up the call. 

“Shit.” you whisper to yourself feeling guilty. Why you said those thing? He don’t even said something to bad or rude, he actually asked how was your day going.

That’s cool, you thought. You were feeling guilty, left out and sad. The best combination for a tough day.

-

“Hey, have you seen The Witcher?” your closest co-worker said bringing her chair near you, so she would be able to speak in a lower tone. It’ sarcastically and tragic funny how when you don’t want to talk about something, this is the only thing people around you could talk about. The success was undeniable. 

“Hm. Yes! I have.” you said clearly lying. 

“And had you watched that Comic-con’s interview with Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra?” They are fricking awesome.” she said so excited you had to fake a smile.

“Actually, no. How was that?” obviously you wouldn’t watch those interviews, that will not make you feel better at all.

“The chemistry! Ugh. The way they smile to each other, specially Henry and Anya.” she made a pause to take your clipper. “They are really good looking too. I don’t know what’s happening there, but if a couple forms,  they will be a hell of a gorgeous couple.”

“Wow.” you said faking a good reaction.

-

While you were opening the door, you could hear you favourite album of your favourite band playing in a volume not so low and not so high, and the smell of food made your poor stomach ache with hungry. Henry was home, his presence is so overpowering that you actually didn’t had to see him to feel him. 

When you were taking of your heels, he appeared, with impeccable figure, casual clothes, just his perfect self. Your first thought was more like a self conscious thought of how you were looking right now, you had no idea, and that made you shrink with all your insecurities coming to you all the same time. You were crying and didn’t even realized when it started, all you did was to cover you face your hands ashamed of the scene you were making.

Henry got shocked and hurried to embrace you in a tight hug. “Hey, what happened?” he asked kind of scared. “Hey, babe. Look at me, please.” the tone he used was almost begging, so you just took you hands away and looked to him, with a vision blurred. “Ok, that’s good. Now say what is making you cry.”

“It’s idiotic.” you took a deep breath and blew expiration, trying to recover. “You don’t need to hear my bullshit.”

“No, no, no. I need and I want to hear.” his hand were making a light caress in your back, just like it’s done when a baby just finished to eat.

“I’m insecure, ok?” you looked away. “I’m just a normal woman, I have no special treats like the women you are surrounded by. The way you and Anya get well along and stuff.” you could feel the tears falling down again. “I’m holding your life back, I know, I’m not enough to you, I will never be…” you were crying again, you felt so stupid for feeling like this.

“Oh, y/n, babe.” you felt his hand on the side of you face. “Don’t cry, I beg you, it hurts to my core.” he said kissing your forehead. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize how you were feeling, I’m sorry.” he said looking to you watering eyes. “How could you say that? Not enough? You are enough, you are who I love, who I want to spend my life with.” now he was wiping your tears with his thumbs. “Anya… it’s just a co-worker, a friend, yes we get along well, but it’s our work. You, y/n, are my babe, my lover.”

“You're sure?” you said sobbing a little, looking for a signal of falsehood in his face only finding pure love and worry.

“Yes, I am. Do you want to know a funny thing?” He said with a kind smile. “I’m insecure too. You think that leaving  you here alone it’s easy to me? I always have to deal with the feeling that I’m not enough to you.” he said and hugged you tight again. “I guess we need to speak more, holding things back it’s not good.”

“Totally.” you said felling a relieve so great and needed that you never know you needed. “I’m sorry for not seeing your side.”

“That’s okay.” he laughed a bit. “Can I have a kiss now?”

_________

Masterlist

[lil-lycanthropy]

One frustrating thing (out of many) that I’ve noticed with tumblr is just the blatant disrespect they have for male celebrities. Just absolutely horrific and baseless behaviour.

If they find a man attractive, they sexualize him. It’s really gross. As in I’m uncomfortable with the amount of energy they put towards it. A good example is Henry cavil—in certain fandoms, they just say really gross shit about how they want to grab his chest (his titties) or have him dom them in very explicit terms. And it’s not in some random niche, it’s everywhere. Some of my favourite Witcher blogs have a really bad habit of sexualizing Henry in a way that makes me uncomfortable, and I can’t imagine what would happen if that post happened to spread somewhere where he could see it.

If they find a man unattractive, especially someone who was popular in the past, they’ll just be mean? For no reason? They’ll say that they’re ugly and untalented and get 30,000 notes because they hate someone who was popular in 2012 and many people found attractive. They focus entirely on his appearance, especially if he actually hasn’t really done anything wrong but they just feel like hating him.

And I really don’t understand why some users don’t get the boundary. I know male celebrities are often privileged people blah blah blah, but there’s no reason to do these harsh attacks on their looks? If they did something genuinely wrong, like yeah criticize the hell out of them, but based on a person’s looks? Literally get over it. You are more likely to harm someone who did nothing wrong but happens to have similar features than the problematic person. It’s not my business to tell people what they can and can’t do, but people should probably think critically before harassing someone because they either don’t like them or they want to be fucked by them.

It’s really immature to me, not to mention extremely creepy and would no doubt be harassment if the actor happened to stumble across it. Y’all would not excuse that behaviour against an actress, and your solution for equality is to disrespect men in the exact same way? Being a shitty human being is fine as long as it’s toward an “inferior” gender?

Genuinely. What the fuck is wrong with you?

And I know some smartass is gonna comment “yknow [insert probably white male celebrity] isn’t gonna fuck you” and that’s exactly the problem on this website! People here think that boundaries don’t exist because tumblr is so anonymous! (Plus I’m an ace lesbian so jot that down).

I also know someone is gonna be like “well just don’t follow people who post like that” it’s literally EVERYWHERE. I’d be following like 4 animal themed blogs if I did that. I’m uncomfortable with the attitudes surrounding these men, and I think that discomfort is based on something solid rather than being a personal preference, which is why I’m making a post rather than just quietly unfollowing people. It’s an attitude problem based on the people who think it’s acceptable behaviour, not on the people like me who find it problematic. I’m the first person to unfollow someone if they do something I’m not a fan of, but i do believe it is a case of otherwise good people doing something because it’s trendy and no one’s told them it’s not acceptable and is actually quite damaging.

Tl;dr: please treat male celebrities like people, especially if they’ve done nothing wrong. If they’re problematic, don’t go after their appearance because that’s not helpful. If you find them super attractive, please just think before posting and try to be respectful, as they’re a living human being. If you don’t find them attractive or interesting or talented and that’s the only thing “wrong” with them, then literally just don’t post about them. It’s pretty easy to not be a judgemental creepy asshole.

*Terfs do not interact. This is a threat.*

[randomfandomimagine]

Soul of a Warrior. Chapter 13: True Love Awaits

Fandom: The Witcher

Ship: Jaskier x Nissa (OC)

Previous Chapter - Chapter Index - Next Chapter

AO3

Please reblog and leave a comment, it would make my day!

A/N: I hope you’re all enjoying this series so far, thank you so much to everyone that is still following it! 🥰 Also, I’ve been including a few The Amazing Devil references here and there because reasons, if you’re a fan too, see if you catch them! 😄

Hana was kind enough to retrieve Pal for me in Touissant. I had missed my beloved horse, and his company proves helpful in my loneliness. Of course, I am not quiet alone, though that weight in my chest hasn’t left me. I try to take it as a reminder, as further incentive to stay, for the quicker I accomplish my goal, the sooner I can return and let go of that ache.

Her company is indeed a delight, as always, even if our interactions are a bit tepid until we recover the time we’ve lost. She has been very supportive of me the entire time I have been here. After I suggested I could go to nearby towns to work as a medic, she has always accompanied me. Hana hasn’t ceased looking after me with the care of an older sister. I enjoy her presence every day, it being the best thing of this place as well as learning.

“Are you having any trouble?” The redhead asks over my shoulder, forcing me back to reality.

“N-No” I clear my throat, redirecting my eyes to the woman’s wound. “I’ve got it”

These days I have been quite absent and find it nearly impossible to focus. I can’t exactly explain what is causing this state, though I have a faint suspicion. The first few days I was enamored with the place, with the new people and opportunities, with all the new knowledge. I was far too distracted by this wondrous situation to miss anything. Or anyone. At the end of the first month, however, as soon as the routine set in and the magic vanished, things changed. Some absences became too noticeable, and the ache in my heart grew in intensity. No matter how much I adore Hana, or everything that I am doing here, there is something missing. A gaping hole in my heart.

“Nissa” Hana insists, and I click my tongue in annoyance with myself. This person needs my cares. All my monster knowledge proves incredibly helpful as well, even if these are claw marks this time.

“Right” I must concentrate, I am working after all.

People often came to my aid when they were in need of a healer. The first few clients weren’t as pleased with my services, but as time passed and I acquired more practice, I also found confidence in my learned skills. Now, as I observe the wound on the woman’s arm, I recognize it doesn’t require magic. It is fortunately superficial, and although nasty looking, it can be treated fairly easily. More importantly, it can be treated manually, for I have learned not to use magic at every opportunity and instead save it for deep wounds or complicated injuries.

My hands nearly work on their own as they treat the wound, firstly cleaning it now that it has stopped bleeding to then move on to carefully bandaging it.

“Change the bandage twice a day” I tell the patient as I finish. “And apply salve when you do, it will help it heal quicker”

“Thank you” The woman heaves a sigh of relief. “I was so frightened… I didn’t want to turn into a werewolf”

“That won’t happen” I patiently repeat, used to people sometimes being more concerned about non physical ailments. “If it were a bite, perhaps. Claw marks, however, are like any other wound”

“A coin?” Hana reminds her not so subtly.

“Of course” The woman produces some from her pocket and hand it to me.

“Charmed to help” I offer a polite smile as I save the payment in my pouch.

“Remember not to go out late at night” Is my friend’s goodbye as we exit the small house.

I absently count the coins in my pouch. It is hard to believe that not long ago I didn’t even own one and now it is full to the brim. In all honesty, it does bring a smile to my face.

“You didn’t use magic this once” Hana’s hand moves idly and creates a portal that sits on the ground before us. “And you haven’t fainted, what a coincidence”

“That was so long ago…” I roll my eyes, returning my pouch to its place on my belt. “Are you not going to forget about it?”

“No, you obstinate woman” She grunts in exasperation, nearing the magical portal. I grin in spite of myself, even if it only exasperates her more.

When we cross, we are once again at Aretuza. Hana's brown eyes are attentive to my every move. Surely, she must have noticed how distracted I am as of late. I pay no attention to her concern and instead begin walking, leading the way. We near the academy, bustling with the sorceresses that I have gotten to know these past years. I pay more attention to them than to Hana, who keeps lecturing me and giving me a bit of a headache. Triss is heading our direction, bearing her usual warm smile as she approaches us to fortunately put an end to my friend’s endless scolding.

“Nissa, you’re back!”

“Hello, Triss” I hug her when she opens her arms. “Long time no see”

As I found out, Triss happened to be affiliated with King Foltest. After what happened in Vizima, she had often gone back to aid the very few survivors that managed to escape the dragon fire massacre. A stark survivor herself, Hana often accompanied her to Vizima. Not lately, however, for rumor had it that these days Triss went to meet with a certain witcher instead. Even separated, their memory chases me.

“Are you alright?” Triss asks, frowning slightly. “You seem a bit absent”

“Her head is on the clouds lately”

“I’m fine, Han”

“If you are unhappy, feel free to leave at any time” The latter reminds me, even if with a resigned sigh. When I peer at her in surprise, she nods her head. “Yes, I have noticed it”

“I am not unhappy…”

“Yet you don’t quite feel at home” I detest that Hana knows me so well.

I also hate that returning to the comforting feeling that was her friendship wasn’t as ideal as I expected it to be. Of course, it has been wonderful to meet her again and spend some time together. It feels as though her magic healed internal wounds. Reconciling that part of my past and closing that chapter of my life feels like letting go of one of the many burdens that seemed to haunt me. Yet that is not quite enough, somehow.

Things have changed. I have changed. And mostly there are two people to blame, even if one takes a bigger part of it. Nonetheless, how am I to voice these thoughts? How am I to admit to Hana, my old friend, that I crave something more? That now that I know that she is alive and well, safe and more than capable, I can carry on without her? That now that I have learned healing my stay here seems pointless? I feel like a child that only desires that which she cannot have, yet my heart keeps yearning for their return. The more I think about them, the more my skepticism fades and the more destiny and true love feel real instead of a foolish fantasy as I once thought they were. This feeling in my heart tells me so.

“I… It is nothing personal, truly. I have met some amazing women here and made great friends” I fondly squeeze Triss’ arm, earning a smile from her. “Still, I…”

“They are your home” Hana completes for me, abandoning her grave tone. Now it is full of understanding and resignation.

“Am I that transparent…?” I force out a smile, even if averting my eyes.

“You speak his name on your sleep” The redhead smirks, although it is the playful glint in her eye that speaks for itself.

“Hana…” I whine. When Triss giggles, I am convinced that I am blushing.

“I am appalled that I never got to meet the bard” The latter nudges me. “Honestly, it makes me curious that you sigh for him in such a way”

“Oi, I don’t sigh for him!” I defend myself, perhaps too adamantly. “We are just friends”

“There is no need to lie” They share a look of rapport that sets my teeth on edge.

I glare at them and laugh in outrage. My embarrassment deeply amuses them.

“There, I haven’t seen you smile like that in weeks” Hana insists, pinching my burning cheeks. I scowl.

“If you could stop torturing me, that would be wonderful” I softly push her away, refusing to look into their eyes while they laugh at my expense.

“Nissa” Triss shows me her kind smile. “You better visit us”

“I haven’t even decided anything yet” I mutter, shoving behind my ear the strands of hair that escape my disheveled bun. “Stop that”

“Perhaps you should take Pal for a ride” Hana tilts her head in the direction where I left my horse. “Clear your head”

I squint at her when I recognize the meaning behind her words. Her eyes are expressive enough to speak her thoughts. ‘You may be deceiving yourself, Nissa, but you can’t deceive us’. No, I am not deceiving myself. I have not made my mind up yet.

“Hm…” I utter a mocking hum as I wrinkle my nose at her. Hana grins.

Perhaps trying to let that sink in, she takes Triss and leaves me alone. I don’t look at them over my shoulder, yet I can feel their eyes on me as I stand there deep in thought. No matter, Pal’s company will be reassuring. It might contribute to solving the conflict within me. I stare at my worn-out boots as I approach the horse, calmly sitting where I left him. He leans his head against my shoulder as soon as I approach, and I smile and caress his mane back. As soon as I climb onto the saddle and start galloping, I grin widely. It feels liberating. Last time I freely rode Pal and wandered was far too long ago.

_ 

My thoughts feel as tangled as ever. If I didn’t know it was impossible, I would blame my state on some sort of powerful sorcery. Although the source of my emotions is real, it does feel purely magical.

With Pal moving for me, I found it hard to ground myself in reality, immersed in deep thoughts which weren’t useful. Nothing has changed as a result, not my uncertainty nor my yearning. Forcing myself to actually pay attention to the direction my feet take, I have left Pal to rest for a moment while I take a stroll. I promise myself to make it brief and then return to him.

Like a wake-up call, a sound suddenly startles me. My eyes examine the area that surrounds me, scattered with trees, until I find the source. As if I needed more proof to blindly believe in destiny, my heart halts as soon as I turn to the sound of footsteps. I recognize the figure in the distance, even when he faces his back to me. His vibrant red clothes are a dead giveaway. If that wasn’t clue enough, an instrument hangs from his back. A smile creeps up to my lips as I walk closer to him. My accelerated heart betrays my excitement. For several seconds I can only watch him, still astonished that it is truly him. He clumsily steps on the soil under his feet, nearly slipping because of the mild slope. I chuckle. It is really him.

“Jaskier!” I call him, causing him to immediately turn around. His face lights up.

“Nissa!” He replies in surprise, trudging my way as well. “Ugh, a friendly face”

We meet in the middle and stand there for a moment, just peering at each other. I have the urge to lunge myself at him and hug him tight, though ultimately I don’t. I am mortified when I feel out of breath at his mere presence before me. The effect he has on me has not changed, as my feelings have not faded in the slightest. A smile slowly creeps up to his lips, as those lively blue eyes I had missed so much look me up and down. He hasn’t changed a bit in all this time. 

“You… you changed your hair” He points out, lifting a finger up to push away one of the strands that frame my face. “Y-Yeah…”

I never feel his touch, for he lowers his hand and looks away from me. Time has taken a toll on our closeness, as things seem to have cooled after so long without seeing each other. I no longer know how to address him, and our once intimate connection seems gone.

“It gets in the way” I shrug, chuckling nervously. “And it’s more comfortable than a braid”

“Less laborious too, I assume” Our eyes meet once more. “You always spent so long braiding it”

The cold autumn breeze fills the silence as it caresses our skins and ruffles our hair. As usual, he doesn’t push his away when it falls over his eyes. I smile. Remaining quiet, he imitates my gesture despite not knowing the thought that conjured it.

“What… what are you doing here, Jaskier?” He pauses, apparently too busy staring at me.

“It is so good to see you, honestly” Making me realize we are still just standing there, he begins walking. I do the same, lingering by his side. “You are not going to believe what happened”

“I’m all ears” My heart unexpectedly wells up, being thankful for the company myself.

“I got lost in this… stupid place” He motions around us. “Luckily I found you, and you can be my compass”

“Gladly” I say, desperate to break through this rare stiffness in the conversation. In reality, there’s a question burning in my mind that I can’t help but to blurt out. “And… where’s Geralt?”

As we walk together to a more open area, I notice how his feet halt for a moment. Jaskier recovers quickly, though, and carries on with our brisk pace.

“I don’t know, actually” He plays with the leather strap supporting the lute to his back. “We sort of… parted ways too”

I take notice of the reluctant and saddened hint in his voice. Sensing something has happened between them, I open my mouth to ask. However, Jaskier pipes up once more.

“Never mind that, tell me about what you’ve done” He tilts his head in my direction. His voice has acquired its usual energy once more. “Have you learned a lot?”

“I have” I glance at my hands, now calloused and mildly worn-out. “Even if I haven’t quite perfected magic yet”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re fine” He waves his hand in the air. “There's nothing you can’t do”

I chuckle. His compliment flatters me. I have missed how casually he can spew lovely words. Struggling to find a proper reply, I only part my lips. The sudden rustling of nearby bushes alarms me. Forgetting about searching for a witty remark that before came so naturally, I peer in the direction of the sound.

“I suppose magic is quite a complicated subject” He is saying, still focused on the conversation. “Still, you have been here… what, nearly two years? Surely, your abilities must have greatly improved”

“Shut up” I ask him, slowly nearing the bushes. I tip toe not to be noisy, though he does not. His steps are fidgety and heavy.

“Well, that isn’t very nice” He puts a hand on his hip, mindlessly following. “Nissa, have you turned impolite?”

I recognize his attempt to rekindle our relationship, though the timing is greatly off. Thousands of possibilities fill my mind. It can be a monster behind the bush. It can be Scoia’tael. It can be Jovan. Was Jaskier followed? Was I being watched? Did I put all my friends in danger again?

“Honestly, that was quite hurtful, I-“

“Shut up!” I slap a hand against his mouth, not worrying to glance at him. Jaskier grunts against my hand, but resigns himself to his imposed silence.

The noise continues, although the rustling alone isn’t enough to properly hint to who the attacker might be. The tall bush is moving. Jaskier stiffens when he sees it too. I recognize a shadow lurking behind it and gasp. Then I act on an instinct and throw myself towards Jaskier. He yelps, clumsily holding on to me when I push him to the ground.

Landing on top of him, I hear him grunting when his back makes contact. The lute thuds against the ground, protecting him from harm. Before he can speak again, I cover him with my body and return my palm to his mouth. His eyes are wide as he watches me in astonishment. I look away from them and back to the bush. My heartbeat fills the silence. I hold my breath. The rustling then continues as a shape slowly emerges from the bushes, too slowly for my poor nerves. I breathe out when I see our ‘attacker’.

It is only a deer. The animal calmly paces near us.

“Melitele…” I utter in annoyance, heaving a deep breath.

Jaskier’s fingers meet with my hand, which he gently pushes off his mouth. When I peer down at him, there is a pronounced frown on his brow. Worried about his wellbeing, I open my mouth, though my breathing is so erratic that I can’t speak.

“Uh… Nissa?”

“False alarm…”

“I noticed… Uh, I don’t know if you realized, but… you’re straddling me”

I feel heat creeping up my entire face when I see I am in fact straddling him. Because of the lute on his back, his torso is propped up and our faces are extremely close. I can feel his breath on my nose. My body is pressing his to the ground while my free hand protectively keeps his chest in place, so I take it off.

“Sorry…” I laugh a bit, hoping he can’t hear the hammering of my heart. “Are you hurt?”

“No…” His hand squeezes my hip. “But you’re still on top of me”

“Forgive me” I hurriedly scurry off him and allow him to move.

“Oh, you are forgiven” Jaskier calmly mutters. I can feel his eyes on me.

I suddenly feel incredibly disheveled when several strands of hair fall over my face. My panting doesn’t help. Neither does my still racing heart, nor the heat in my body. Wishing the ground could just eat me whole, I focus my glance on it while my hands try to find something to occupy themselves with. They still remember the feeling of his chest hair against them, of the movement of his breathing under my palm. Instead they move to my hair and attempt to fix the mess that is my bun. Once I check it has survived the sharp movements, my fingers instinctively fall upon my dagger. I whip my head up and stare at Jaskier. I pretend not to realize how he is gawking at me.

“You should take this” I offer it to him, not wanting to leave him exposed. “Just in case”

“There was no danger” He reminds me, watching the harmless deer with the corner of his eye. “I’m alright”

“But if there is, you have no weapon”

“If I take it, I leave you with no weapon”

“I can take care of myself”

Studying magic and medicine hasn’t been the only abilities I have improved on. Every day, I have made it a mission to train a bit. Abandoning the use of my dagger, I familiarized myself with Kader’s old sword. I am nowhere near as skilled as Geralt is, but I can surely hold myself in a fight now. Furthermore, and remembering how obstinate the witcher was about it, I have tried to use my legs and fists as weapons as well.

“I appreciate the thought, Nissa, but-“

“Jaskier, take the damn dagger”

“Actually, I don’t need it… I… always carry something with me”

When he pushes his open doublet aside, I see a familiar hilt sticking out from his waistband. As my hand rests over my dagger, I recognize how similar Jaskier’s is. For a moment I wonder why he hasn’t said anything about it before. Then I remember where he got the weapon from: it was that day in the mountain, when one of Jovan’s treasure hunters dropped it and we found it. Has he kept it all this time? Why? Was it because it reminded him of me or only to arm himself? To my knowledge, he never carried weapons before we met, only his trustworthy lute. The idea that he held on to the dagger only flusters me further, as if I wasn’t very much so before.

“Don’t worry about me, love” Jaskier grins in the end, even if there is so much to him at this very moment. The way his fingers delicately hold on to his dagger. How his eyes are fondly watching me. The subtle blush in his cheeks.

“R-Right” I nod, cringing on the inside. “Good”

“Are you alright, Nissa?”

“Yes. A-Anyway, where was I?” I continue walking, flustered by his scrutiny. “Right, magic”

The subject change is rather abrupt, and I know how bizarre the moment is when Jaskier doesn’t say a word after that.

_ 

Finally forgetting about my strange moment of alarm, Jaskier has started talking again. He seems fascinated by my tale of all the things I have learned here. When he jokes and asks about the beautiful sorceresses, I feel as though the awkwardness is in the process of leaving us.

Pal has taken us back to the academy. I lightly tug on the reins and proceed to jump off. Before I can, Jaskier is already on the ground and reaching out with his arms. I grin as I lean in his direction, allowing him to hold me by the waist and carefully lower me onto the floor. I feel stupid as I wonder in the gentle touch of his hands and his surprisingly muscular biceps under my fingers.

“Thank you” I mutter, moving away from him too quickly when we stand too close.

“My pleasure, my lady” He stands still for just a second. “So, uh… why didn’t you just use a portal, if you can in fact conjure them?”

“Simple” I say as I walk away, waiting for him to follow. “I refuse to use them unless I absolutely have to. Magic comes with a price, and I dislike using portals in any way”

“Ah, just like Geralt…” His tone instantly shifts from cheery to gloomy. I anxiously glance around to distract him from whatever has happened with the witcher. As I do, I spot Hana and Triss sitting by a tree. They are having a lively conversation that I hope does not include me.

“I want you to meet Triss” Though I hesitate to touch him again, I link my arm with his and drag him in their direction. “She is the sweetest”

“Is that her, the brunette?” The grin does indeed return to his lips. “She is gorgeous”

“Oh, how I have missed your blatant adoration for other people” I mock him, averting my eyes when both the women and him watch me.

“Sarcasm can harmful a weapon, my dear Nissa” His hand pats mine over his forearm. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re jealous”

“Nissa!” Triss luckily calls attention off the subject, standing to her feet and approaching us. Hana stays behind for a bit, mouth agape as she stares at Jaskier. I can’t wait to have her tease me further, especially knowing that she was more than correct.

“Hello, lovely dame!” Jaskier offers his hand as soon as Triss is close enough. “I‘m Jaskier, and who might you be?”

She isn’t exactly subtle when her eyes widen at the mention of the name she has heard so many times. Gosh, why does he make me feel like a child with a stupid crush?

“Triss. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jaskier” Her eyes fall upon me for just a second before returning to him. “Nissa has told me all about you”

“Has she now?”

“H-Hana!” I call her over, frantically gesturing for her to save me.

I ‘accidentally’ bump my shoulder against Triss while I leave them to reunite with Hana. Triss whispers a ‘he’s cute’ before I leave her side. Hana rushes to reach me, even if her eyes won’t stop traveling from him to me. An uncharacteristically mischievous grin plays in her lips.

“How did you find him?” She blurts out, tugging at my sleeve as soon as she approaches.

“We sort of... just found each other near the woods” I chuckle, mildly distracted by the sound of his voice behind me. “Isn’t that such a coincidence?”

“Coincidence…”

“Of course”

“Are you leaving with him?”

“I…” Although I hesitate, that feeling in my heart returns to eliminate any doubts. “I think so…”

“True love awaits” She simply whispers to me as we return with them.

Tag list: @x-joie-x​ / @x-jodi-x​ / @dancingwith-thesunflowers​ / @golden-guide​ / @alwayshave-faith​ / @this-is-whump-dammit​ / @legallyblindgamer727​ / @lilyevans1​ / @kingniazx​ / @molethemollie / @a-somehow-functioning-dumbass // Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list to be notified when I post next chapter!!

[untaintedtea]

I should have written this earlier when Witcher Netflix was more fresh in my mind (I haven't done a proper rewatch yet) but I still wanted to write a post about some thoughts I had (that I actually remember lol) and stuff I want in the next season. It's like 99% about Geralt/Yen/Ciri bc I have three brain cells and they're dedicated to them.

The spoiler-free stuff: I definitely loved it! There's some scenes in the book that I would have loved to have seen on screen that I'll mention later, but I really liked it for the most part. My main issue is the pacing, but I understand them trying to fit so much into only 8 episodes -- I hope next season will have at least 10 or even 12 eps to fully flesh out the storylines. There were times where I wondered how easy it was to follow if you didn't know the books, and it seems that it's kinda been mixed? But all-in-all people are loving it, there's lots of memes and new content, and I'm happy about that.

Yennefer's backstory and Anya Chalotra were the highlights for me, and I loved Tissaia as well. By "I haven't done a proper rewatch" I mean that I've only rewatched the first ep (Renfri ❤️) and the parts with Geralt/Yennefer lmao. I'll prob watch it all again later on. Now to the spoilery stuff (includes some refs to the books):

Some specific stuff I liked:

Geralt finally being able to sleep in the Last Wish episode and then him saying in the next ep that before he met Yen, "nights were restless" so she/the thought of her helps him sleep now? lol

Yen touching Geralt's face after he tells her she's important to him as if she can't believe she's important to someone right then and needs to make sure he's real or that she's not dreaming 😭

Téa and Véa and how they actually talked instead of not really communicating well themselves in the books

Yen's elven blood being emphasized and it being a thing that allows her to be naturally inclined towards magic…idek I'm just into that lmao

Geralt "hm"-ing all the time was excellent and is, unfortunately, v relatable

I wasn't gonna say this but since I posted about his casting on my blog previously…I'm still not a fan of Henry but I cannot deny his knowledge and dedication to Geralt and the Witcher lore, and I think he portrayed Geralt very well to the point where I don’t think I imagine anyone else playing the role now? I really mean this bc before I refused to reblog/tweet anything with him in it bc I’m petty LMAO

This is obvious but Toss a Coin to Your Witcher is the song of the year and Her Sweet Kiss is also good. @ netflix soundtrack WHEN

Some stuff I have issues with:

Istredd getting an expanded storyline is fine with me (and will probably set up better angst) but I wish he didn't do the thing Geralt does in Thanedd where he thinks about things Yen likes…I guess that's minor by itself, but Geralt thinking about the house in Thanedd is so important and I hope at least they keep that for the future. Also making the imaginary sorcerers Yennefer conjured up clap like in Thanedd is like…ok I'll allow it but Thanedd better be Extra Good bc I remember reading the part where they're in bed again when I wanted to make myself upset lmao

I wish we got the line when Geralt first called Yennefer "Yen" because "nobody's ever called me that. Say it again" is SO POWERFUL and I think that would have helped set up Geralt/Yen better in the series. Anya did describe the relationship as "animalistic and full of lust" and honestly that's fair but I also want people to understand why tf I'm smiling when we watch them fuck after the last wish instead of being like "ok but where did this come from" lmao. Yeah they’re horny af but pls!!!

Tbh I just want more Angst...like in the Bounds of Reason ep, the "you left" thing and Geralt asking for forgiveness was so short and would have been better if they just…expanded on it a little more…idek this is where I really wished they had an extra episode or two just to elaborate :/

The lack of baby dragon is so sad tbh. I liked that they did without Yen getting her titties exposed and threatened with rape obviously but the baby dragon running over to Yen tho!!

Ciri is my sweet child whom I love dearly and I understand her storyline but I wasn't super into her parts in a way? It makes sense since she's running and hiding and I felt her panic and loneliness and all that, but I think this could have only been fixed if they did Brokilon like in the books. I guess they'd have to cut down on Calanthe maybe?

As for the "Who is Yennefer?" ending:

I know many book readers weren't super satisfied with this, since ofc this is the famous "you're something more" scene, but I think it's fine within the context of the show because of the way Brokilon was handled (obviously I would have liked to see Geralt + Ciri interactions so we could have gotten “something more” though). It also sets up a connection between Yen + Ciri early on -- not really a strong one, but a connection nonetheless. And ofc it makes sense to people who don't know the books, and this is an adaptation after all.

I wish it wasn't as abrupt though? The fact that Ciri's first words to Geralt were about Yennefer is kind of a weird, but I guess that Ciri's vision was so vivid she couldn't help it maybe? And her mentioning Yennefer after Geralt talked about being linked by destiny enforces that it's all three of them linked.

I think this ending line allows for flashbacks via communication? Like if Geralt were to tell Ciri about Yen (and Yen telling Ciri about Geralt), they could elaborate on the relationship between Geralt/Yennefer that way and maybe have a flashback episode or at least a few scenes. I don’t really imagine Geralt saying too much about Yen but still?

So that takes us to things I want in the next season (not exhaustive; I need to do a BoE re-read):

The Dear Friend letter!!

And obviously before that, Triss staying at Kaer Morhen for a while…I wouldn't mind if they completely wrote out any attraction she had to Geralt ofc, but Ciri being sure that Triss is "not Geralt's woman" is also good

Imagine Ciri reading Yennefer's mind and accidentally seeing her thoughts about Geralt…not that she'd even need to though, as long as Yen tells Ciri that Geralt's hands are very gentle is enough lmao. But I'd love the "what is there between you and Geralt" line! In general, I really want Yen/Geralt to be like, the most obvious thing to the audience lol.

Yen telling Ciri that she's lucky bc Ciri knows that Geralt will come back for her and Yen isn't sure that Geralt would do the same for her 😭

Since they're doing the story with Nivellen, I'm hoping for other short stories to be adapted too. My favourite is A Shard of Ice, and I read that it's Henry's favourite too so I'm optimistic about it being included somehow. And since Istredd has a bigger role, it could work? ALSO WE NEED EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNICORN. PLEASE

Flashbacks to Belleteyn (is having another orgy scene ok. pls say yes) and the Geralt seeing that the 14th name on the hill wasn't Yennefer. He wanted to die again ahhhhhhh

Yarpen asking Geralt "is [Ciri] yours?"

More Jaskier songs about Geralt/Yen…even just one pls

And more angst bc like. There's so much come on lmao hurt the audience

A lot of Yennefer + Ciri. Just a Lot of it.

[imaginativecrime]

7 reasons The Witcher series is a mess (or damn I need to vent)

Unpopular opinion time! For the record, I’ve read the books, played the games, hell, I’ve binged the Polish movie and series (because my love for Michal Zebrowski and Zbigniew Zamachowski is undying, sue me), and I was super hyped. Then I spent the entire series yelling at the TV, so I made a handy numbered list of the reasons why I personally consider it mediocre at best.

Because I’m fucking disappointed and I’ll never not be bitter about it. Fact.

Be warned, there are all sorts of spoilers below.

Let’s look at some of the issues that affected the show as a whole:

1) Adaptation is hard work - but you have to do it right

Adapting a story from one medium to another is difficult, you inevitably have to change things to make it suitable to the new form of expression and also, everybody wants their adaptation to be unique, to emphasize points they think are important, to reflect on the current times, you name it. But changes in an adaptation should make sense and lend themselves to the storytelling.

Many changes in the series were arbitrary, nonsensical and contributed absolutely nothing. One such example is the Battle of Sodden Hill, a terribly executed “siege” with not enough extras to fill a classroom instead of a battle of 100 000 people. Writing out Redania, Aedirn and the Brotherhood of Sorcerers from the conflict doesn’t seem to have a point to it, while the delayed arrival of the armies of Temeria and Kaedwen is both unexplained, unlikely and underwhelming, not to mention that it completely undermines the Nilfgaardian threat as a whole. This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg of all the things that are wrong with Sodden Hill in the series. 

Or take Foltest and his affair with Adda. It is perfectly clear in the books that after seven years of wizards, witchers and all manner of frauds coming and going while Foltest is obsessed with breaking the curse instead of killing his daughter, even the very last blind and deaf peasant knows about his shenanigans. It’s only logical, too. The story is relayed to Geralt in no uncertain terms at the very beginning. Now in the show the whole episode is too short to set up a murder mystery that requires Geralt’s incredible detective skills (uhuh) to unravel. What is worse is that you cannot make a big reveal of something that your audience actually has previous knowledge about. So why even bother to have Foltest deny it and have Geralt beat it out of Ostrit? 

Which brings us to point two:

2) We all know which way to Temeria, don’t we?

Even if you have popular source material, you cannot expect everyone to know it. An adaptation has to consider people who are just getting their first introduction to the sandbox. When your lore is as rich as that of the Witcher, you need time and careful effort to set up your world. The show made a total shit job of this one. As in the above example, sometimes the show ignores that we, as an audience, know things. 

Another example is Vilgefortz. We know him, his plans, abilities and allegiances, we have very specific expectations of his character. Besides completely failing these expectations (and doing a very unconvincing early reveal of his true colors), the show goes as far as taking Vilgefortz’s iconic sentence (You mistake stars reflected in a pond for the night sky.) and putting it in Fringilla’s mouth. Like did they actually think we wouldn’t notice? Or not be pissed?

At other times the show expects us to fill in its glaring blanks exactly by knowing our lore and characters. One obvious, overarching example of this is the issue of the separate timelines, that sometimes left even fans a little confused. Also, fun fact: one of my friends (who has no idea about anything in the Witcher’s world) for instance needed some time to realize Pavetta wasn’t, in fact, a grown-up Ciri, and he remains to this day very confused about Blaviken.

Basically, we are on a swing here, which is actually made even worse by another thing: bad pacing.

3) Hold your Roach for a moment

The first season wants to cram too much into its limited time and it has a severe negative impact on worldbuilding and character development. By bringing in all three timelines from the beginning, the show has to juggle time allotted to each. 

To be frank, Ciri’s timeline at this point consists of a lot of running and screaming, which in itself hardly merits all the time we spend with her. It could have been utilized in part to provide us with a view of the war from ‘below’, to show that beyond the high politics and heroic battles there are burned villages, dead peasants, people who lost everything, cripples, deserters, ruined fields, and so on. Instead, we get one refugee camp of neat tents, actual beds, food and complaints about Calanthe (though not of dead husbands, lost homes or winter). Though I guess it should come as no surprise that the shock value of paint being made from a woman’s reproductory organs (that never happened in the books) is more important than actual large scale human suffering.

Now giving Yennefer an extended back story is great. But by that level of extension once again time is being consumed that is taking other opportunities away. Opportunities like giving Geralt himself a bit more background, clarifying points for fresh faces in the audience, giving characters more time for meaningful interaction. Because there is not enough time to let the story breathe and progress naturally, episodes are often rushed, choppy, and shallow. 

4) Reverse worldbuilding, aka welcome to nowhere 

Another serious issue with worldbuilding is what I suspect to be a deliberate departure from the game visuals and aesthetic. One of the things I adore most about the games is that it built heavily on Eastern European history and folk tradition. Nothing compares to the feeling when you ride into a village and you feel right at home because things are inherently familiar, or you go out into the woods and hear the exact bird song you are used to.

Netflix is very careful not to even offer a whiff of this particular identity to its show, but it doesn’t seem to have a clear artistic vision beyond that. Thus while landscapes are nice enough, other settings such as cities, taverns, ballrooms and the like are horribly bland in that “this is how we imagine the middle ages in Hollywood” way and look exactly what they are: sets. While one is not likely to quickly forget the red rooftops of Novigrad or the wild beauty of the Kaer Morhen pass from the games, there is nothing memorable about the locations presented in the series. (Even more bewildering is the depiction of the elite boarding school of Aretuza as a creepy dungeon with elf skulls everywhere. I cannot even begin to address this one unless it is all in caps.) 

Point being that the show lacks an actual visual identity that would distinguish it from any other dime a dozen medieval fantasy.

5) My kingdom for a decent wardrobe

Sadly enough, the bland and flavorless visuals have a terrible effect on something else: clothes and armor. While some costumes are well done, there are way too many examples of the opposite. One very obviously is Nilfgaardian armor, which looks like fossilized trash bags with sad dick helmets. The fact that armor in the show is treated as the equivalent of cardboard is doing no one any favors. Please do your homework next time. Please?

Another inexplicable departure from the books and games is the appearance of the nobility, and most jarringly, sorceresses. That dress Yennefer picks out the first time? It’s literally the drabbest, ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, and the others are not much better. When it comes to period-accurate choices, the range is just so wide: we are talking cambric, velvet, silk, cloth of gold and silver. We are talking luxurious furs, embroidery, colorful feathers, bright dyes, coats of arms and jewelry. Brooches, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hat badges, belt buckles, hairpins, you name it. People wore their wealth. Making them look like sad orphans will not make them look any more medieval.

Peasant clothes also had their decorations, though to a lesser degree than nobles, obviously. But I guess it’s too much to hope that those would get any attention when queens are dressed like they lost a bet.

6) I see your people and I raise you mine

Including people of color in the casting choices caused a lot of heated debate amongst the fans, but at least it means that the show cares about minority representation, right? Right?

The world of the Witcher has its own minorities, and what we have seen of them so far is so incredibly pathetic that I haven’t the words. For one thing, they look so terrible that elves in the Polish series actually look better, and that was so not a high bar to exceed. To make matters worse, they again seem to lack any sort of distinguishing visual identity (except for the Dryads. I’m also willing to make an exception for Chireadan, as he actually looks right and he’s a settled elf.)

Sadly, unlike the games, the series also fails to establish even the beginnings of a compelling narrative for its minorities, which definitely needs to be in place by the time Thanedd happens at the very latest. What is more, we seem to be given something called the Great Cleansing, which is plenty obscure but comes across as a Night of Broken Glass sort of thing (though that could be just me). While still salvageable at this point, this shift in narrative is cause for some concern, and so far doesn’t make much sense.

7) Your villains are not my villains

Unlike the books and games, the Witcher series sadly doesn’t seem to excel at presenting opposing sides without the need to vilify one (which again, makes me worried about what they are going to do to the Scoia’tael later). 

Nilfgaard is now an Empire of Evil (TM) that lives for killing and religious fanaticism, Fringilla is a psychopath, and Cahir... Well, Cahir is a thousand shades of wrong all on his own. Stregobor and Istredd are now assholes of a whole different caliber, and even poor Eyck of Denesle gets to enjoy his five minutes of fame as a madman frothing at the mouth instead of a paragon of knightly virtue.

This is going so well.

[the-rainbow-mafia-blog]

Y don't u care abt UsUm?

// Short answer; because I feel Nintendo doesn’t either.

And now a long answer because I’ve been sitting on this rant for ages and I bothered the Discord server enough with it. I want to put foward first that the opinions expressed here are my own. I am a big fan of Nintendo and this is something that bothers me. This is no way shape or form an attack to people who love these games to bits. This is also not meant to hate on a franchise or a company. The purpose of this rant is to put some arguments behind my statements.

Sources are linked in the text. I used Nintendo but I always meant everyone involved in the making of these games.

The reason I feel comfortable sharing it now is because people have their, rightful, concerns about the upcoming games; Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, releasing in a few short weeks for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo’s newest and most succesful baby. 

Why doesn’t Nintendo care about Pokemon, according to you?

First we need to ask ourselves;

How much does Nintendo make on Pokemon?

While I do think they care in a sense the numbers won’t lie. Pokemon has made around $95 billion US dollars since the franchise came to life in 1996. To put it in a way bigger number; they make about 4130434782.61 US dollars PER YEAR on Pokemon. (This is my own math, I do not know the exact numbers per year. I divded their total by the amount of years Pokemon has been alive.) That’s a lot of money and it’s with right the most financially succesful franchise to date. 

Only a part is made by the video games $17.138 billion. It’s merchandise makes more; $64.1 billion.

I could not find a reliable source on how much it takes to make a Pokemon game in monetary value.  What I could find however is that Pokemon is making less and less per game they release. Without counting Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Sun and Moon made LESS than X and Y.  

The only main series game that made less than Sun and Moon (again not counting UsUm) was Black/White.

Nintendo knows people will buy their games anyway;

Dropping sales or no, Pokemon still manages to fatten the piggy bank over at Nintendo because people will buy it anyway. The Pokemon craze of the 90′s should tell you that. People would buy it if it had Pokemon on it. Those people are now in an age group that has money to spend, hell some even have kids. So Nintendo is smart and releases commercials like this one or this one.  This marketing is beautiful (and no, not only Nintendo knows how to do this) because they play on your feelings. Who didn’ make a friend because you both liked Pokemon? And if you grew up with Pokemon like the person in the second commercial the whole feeling and setting is famillair to you, hell they could’ve casted you and it would’ve make sense.  They compare the whole bleakness of adult life, having to work to pay the bills, having less time for video games, to that warm familliar feeling of coming home and playing Pokemon. They feed on your nostalgia; your desire to relive those moments or if you have kids, to share the feeling those games gave you with your off spring. Or your younger siblings or other family memmbers.  I catch myself doing it! When a young one comes up to me, or I see a kid play the game on the bus I get that familiar feeling of ‘Hey I used to do that!’ It’s smart and it’s a thing Disney is good at too. It zooms in on what was precious to you and now resells that feeling to you. 

“Hey buy our game to feel something again. The world sucks anyway but Bulbasaur is still cute!” This isn’t a bad thing! Nintendo is a company and at the end of the day they need to make money. That is fair and I am in no way bagging on them over that. But it’s my belief that Nintendo keeps making money on the Pokemon games this way. Which leads me to my next point;

The Pokemon games come across as lazy.

Again, opinion but it feels like that. Which is also why I don’t care for UsUm; it’s lazy.

I truly believe Pokemon has some decent writers who don’t get their chance to shine. The beginnings of great stories and characters are there but it feels unfinished. Like someone bought the ingredients to a delicious dish but forgot to make them. Over the years Pokemon has a colorful bunch of characters, and the ones that stand out the most are the baddies. They usually get the coolest designs, the sickest themes, one way or another they are present in the climax but again. It’s lazy. How many of them pretend to be good or have a high moral standing and then turn out to be absolute dickbags? Almost all of them. Then they have characters (Ghetsis, Lusamine and Faba come to mind first) do something horrible (abuse of minors and playing God) and they get away with it what is basically a slap on the wrist. 

And after you beat them… for me the story stops. Yes you can go and beat some very powerful trainers and claim your title as whatever the thing in this game is and yes often that unlocks some post credit content but it’s bare. The big threat is gone.

“But,” I hear you say “It’s a DS/3DS game. There is only so much you can do.” Disagree. Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick, Professor Layton and The Legend of Zelda OoT 3DS and Majora’s Mask all released on the same consoles and have a much richer story and even more characters. All games keep their pacing and the story really feels like it ends when the credits role. 

Then there is the overal quality. The main characters in Sun/Moon looks like someone forgot to progamme their soul in: /Screenshot take from THIS video/

I, again, easily could compare this other games who have much more expressions but let’s take one of Nintendo’s own;

There is so much more emotion in the Legend of Zelda one.  It released a few years earlier than Pokemon Sun/Moon too.

Second the frame rate drops like a hat. While some framerate drop is expected this much is a little too glaring to ignore.  To compare it to BoTW or Red Dead Redemption on the PS4, who both also have some frame rate issues at times it only happens in certain locations, usually a spot with lots of effects of NPCs. In my opinion, Pokemon does not have the luxery of that excuse. It would random drop in almost every location i was in.

The story

Every Pokemon has a story and I get that it’s basic. It’s a game for all ages after all. I get it won’t have a deep story like other games have. The basic gist of the game is to still enjoy catching all these mon’s with occasional story woven into it. But here is the thing that irks me; The little sneak peaks of story that we do get.. it’s good. It’s just so unfinished. It’s like there is a constant battle in the developers room betweeing writing a deep and interesting story (I’m not counting Pokemon Lore, just the story given in a game) and focussing on just the gameplay. There are many examples of rich story games with little gameplay (Grim Fandango, The Walking Dead, Almost every Visual Novel ever, Detroit; Become Human, just to name a few.) There are games with lots of gameplay and little story (Mobile games for example) and there are games that mix story and gameplay perfectly (Red Dead Redemption, Left 4 Dead 2, Persona 5 to name just a FEW examples) 

I feel Pokeon TRIES to be all three of these styles of games but ends up failing at everything.

Storywise they lured peopel in with Team Rainbow Rocket, like mentioned before this is for most people the reason they get drawn in; seeing their old baddies return and getting to interact with them again. It’s the same reason for me. But it feels unpolished, same with The Ultra Recon Squad. They seem like GREAT characters but again, so little is done with them that I feel there could be so much more.

Don’t change a winning team. 

Pokemon has been selling the same game to us for years. Again, I don’t blame them. Why bother. People like it, why change it? They try new gimmicks now and again and I respect them for trying. I personally like the Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu versions. While they were FAR from perfect I can at least applaud them for doing something new and interesting. While at the same time trying to lure people who only played the mobile app into the main series by remake the first game all over again. Again, I understand. I would too if I were them.

But with Sword and Shield they are taking something away; Pokemon. And with that the whole thing comes undone. This is supposed to be THE Pokemon game, the big one, the game that will release on The Switch; home of BoTw and Mario Odyessy but also the upcoming Witcher 3, Skyrim. Games that are all much bigger than Pokemon and yet they took a vital part out of it.

The video is deleted now and I won’t link to the Chinese Bootleg game as it does steal user data, but the whole issue was the animations.  The animations in the bootleg were GOOD. And if we remember the amount of Pokemon makes per year they can afford themselves a team of good animators. This isn’t some indie studio who employs 20 people and have to live of Kickstarter donations, this is GAME FREAK, this is NINTENDO. And it’s not like they can’t, please remember Pokemon Stadium.  Look at the animation on that. Now remember that Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, ALSO came out for the Nintendo 64 and got a beautiful update on the 3DS. If they can do that, surely they can port the animations.

And yes, I’m hearing you. You say that there are a lot of Pokemon.. but they’re taking a lot of them out of Sword and Shield. So there is no excuse for the battles to look like this. And remember this is the same console that has BoTW, one of the most applauded games in recent gaming history. A game with tons of content, tons of NPCs, tons of Items and has almost none of the issues Pokemon has.

I don’t care about USUM because it’s a lazy cash grab that adds nothing new to the table except some side story that doesn’t do anything to the main story. Play UsuM, Play SuMo, you’re basically getting the same game. Nintendo is smart and tries to sell you the same game twice due to a Pokemon being unique to a game. Meaning that if you want them all, you’re going to have to fork over 120 US dollars and guess what? That version is almost sold out where I live. So it’s working. And I don’t blame them. I am impressed.

Because I get the feeling that, with absolutely minimum effort they are forking in insane amounts of money.  Nintendo is a company. They need money. I don’t blame them for doing the things they do. I am however, entitled to my opinion and despite everything said above I will see myself getting a copy of Sword or Shield in the future. Because that is how it always is. Because I too, want to relive the moments of my youth when the biggest concern I had was chosing my starter.

[mimikoflamemaker]

So, the Witcher trailer dropped on Friday...

This post was cooking up since then. And much to my surprise it’s still largely in the “I don’t know” land - probably because this is exactly how I feel about it. And here is a few reasons why:

the trailer is visually really pleasing - not completely the way I imagined some things, but certainly nice to look at. I’m not any sort of expert on cinematography or effects and I am not going to pretend to be. I liked the way it looked and let’s leave it at that. Honestly it looks much better than I thought it will be.

that said, the first time I watched it, I was not sure what is going on - it felt a bit chaotic, and frankly, not much like the Witcher world I am used to and imagined all those years since my first reading of the short stories.

it is pretty visible though that this trailer is mainly geared towards capturing the attention of Game of Thrones fans, looking to fill the void - this chaos reference was so very obvious... And I am not really sure if this is the way to go with this show.

Gosh I have such mixed feelings about this I don’t know where to start...Probably because I have some certain images/portrayals ingrained so deeply in my head that it is impossible to get them out and the dissonance can be jarring.

Let’s start with Ciri, because she is probably the easiest one - because I like the way she looks and acts, as much as I can like that after seeing 2 minutes of the trailer. I guess her first look photo was just an incredibly unflattering one. This is a Ciri I can get behind and I’m looking forward to see how she is going to do in the show.

On the negative Triss still didn’t do it for me. NOT AT ALL. Aside from appearance, she is supposed to be younger than Yennefer... by quite a few years. It was brought up several times in the books. She’s even purposefully altering her age to look younger than Yen, almost like a teenager. Here it is most definitely not the case and I have no idea why.

And since I brought up Yen, let’s get it over with. I really like the idea of Netflix to tell us more about her past, which was, to put it simply, quite bad. It could be really good to see her struggle from the hunchback to the powerful sorceress. Maybe people would need it to connect with her, to realize that she’s the titular “strong female character”. I knew that after reading her first longer interaction with Geralt in “The Last Wish”. You knew this was not a woman you want to fuck with and no one had to point it out to the reader. Why everything needs to be so plainly spelled out these days anyway? Did we forgot how to think?

Anyway, back to Yennefer for a bit - She is still clashing with my mental images, but a little less than she was in the beginning. Maybe because it feels like she is really trying to put the Yennefer vibe across, I don’t know...

Now, let’s move to the main thing - Geralt. Geralt... I think I will never get rid of my mental image of him, but I think that Henry can pull another version of our resident monster slayer... and do it right. If - IF I will be able to see that restrained emotions and softness he has for his loved ones brewing underneath that stone-hard facade... didn’t see with either Triss or Yen for now, but the clisp were only a few seconds long. I would really like to see him with Ciri to determine that, but alas it looks like I will have to wait and see. 

I think that I will end this here. I could go on, complaining about “the lack of slavic feel” so many people yell about on the internet. Or about black dryads/elves. Or about the fact that Henry looks to buff. Or about... anything really. But that would be pointless - this show is NOT made for the fans like me. It is made exactly as I would expect an american company to make a show of something they have no real feel of... They are cutting on the “slavic vibe”, because they say they are following the books, which sure in english are losing much of that particular touch due to translation. They are trying to gain the attention of GoT fans as I noted above and I think they are trying to unnecessarily made this show into something... much more epic and grandiose in themes that it needs to be. The witcher is not that kind of a story. It never was.

And most importantly they are gearing this whole show towards they target audience, which are the casual fans at best and people who are looking for something to watch after GoT. No one sane will try to please the “hardcore fans”, because it is 1) impossible and 2) an obstacle in making money. Which is the bottom line of what it is always about. Making money.

(Side Note: the audience loved how different than mainstream the games were with their painted villages, open fields, noonvraiths and so on, exactly because it was different and maybe that should be a clue which way to go, but well to each their own)

Which is probably why it’s so hard to make my mind about this trailer. I can’t say I loved it and I can’t say I hated it either. But, if I want something geared specifically to my taste, I go to AO3 and browse through fanfics. Or sit down and write them myself.

[vanceencounter-blog]

My Faves of E3:Part 1

Microsoft

Favorite Game: Cyberpunk 2077- I have been excited for this game based solely on the merits of the Witcher 3. CD Project Red left a great impression on me with that release  (I have never played Witcher 1 or 2, don’t @ me). I am typically not willing to fully sign off on a game until I see actual gameplay footage. While the general public did not get footage, we did get an awesome cg trailer that did a great job building excitement for the game. 

The world seems vibrant, colorful and unique. It also seems jam packed with many different locations, types of people and activities. We see the V(your customizable protagonist) riding a train, driving in a night rider esque car and while we didn’t see them flying, it seemed to heavily imply that was possible as well. People of various augmented varieties were seen throughout, allowing them to shoot hoops better, lay a beatdown on a sparring construct and even alter their facial appearance.

CDR did a great job with Witcher making a dark and interesting world while not making a game devoid of fun or humor. That tradition seems to carry on here, based on V’s exposition. He states that Night CIty is worst place to live in in America but everyone still wants to live there. More of a town of dreams where bad things happen, than a full on city of darkness a la Arkham City. This sets the tone of the game nicely, along with the pumping synth music, vibrant lights and even the font for the game itself.

I have learned that the game will be first person instead of third. This has caused backlash among the CDR faithful, hoping for a cyberpunk version of The Witcher. I am not at all shocked or appalled by this change. I like seeing developers be able to stretch their wings and make new types of games. If we kept devs locked into doing the same thing forever we would never get Horizon Zero Dawn or Child of Light. As an augmented human being in a futuristic setting, it makes much more sense from a gameplay perspective to be an fps. This allows you to have augmented vision and have better control over aiming your guns.

I can’t wait to hear more about this game. I fear that we won’t have a release date anytime soon but I appreciate CDR’s dedication to their craft. Witcher has bought them some well earned breathing room and freedom to take their time making a polished product. They have also promised to have continual post game free content, as is their tradition. For now I remain excited for the next glimpse they provide us.

Honorable mention: Gears of War 5- I have been a long time fan of the Gears series. I was unemployed and dropped out of school at the time of the first Gears, which meant I had a hell of a lot of time to myself. Time I spent playing a copious amount of GOW. My proudest achievement to this day is “Seriously”, which was presented to those who had 10,000 online ranked kills. It was one of the only online games I actually spent the time and energy learning the glitches to allow me to play on even footing. So you can understand how I may be interested in another entry to the series.

This Gears glimpse did not pick off right where the last game left off. Instead we see a JD with a messed up arm in some sort of incubator like device, with a shaved head and facial scar. Marcus and JD don’t seem to be getting along anymore. Even Kait and JD seem to be at odds. This leads to Kait and Del striking out on their own to find out the truth behind Kait’s newly acquired locust pendant. It was her grandmother’s which seems to lead us to believe Kait may be Queen Myrrah’s grand daughter.

I love the fact we are getting a game about Kait and Del. Marcus has had more than enough time in the spotlight and JD wasn’t terribly interesting. As a PR move, this is genius as well. The game’s main character has never been anyone but a burly white male marine.  By following Kait as the main character, it helps silence the criticism the series carries for being too much of a “bro shooter”.  This story seems personal and poised to offer many twist and turns. It seemed like there was some definite friction that was gonna happen between our two protagonists. I would be surprised if we didn’t at least play some of the campaign as JD and Marcus but would not be disappointed if that were the case.

From a gameplay perspective we didn’t get to see a tonne of new weapons yet. This is slightly disappointing given Gears’ track record of cool and unique weaponry. I do know a few people who would love to take up those bone sticks and bash people online. There were quite a few new enemies including the locust who gives up said bashing sticks, a leech like creature and some DBs, that seemingly have been taken over by a locust infection of some sort.

Cyberpunk gets the nod here for me, as it is a brand new property in the video game space.

 Ubisoft

Favorite Game: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey- I have been a long time Assassins Creed Die hard. The series has been a real roller coaster ride, with the highs of ACII and ACIV Black Flag and the lows of AC III and AC Syndicate.  I think Ubi made a smart choice putting the series on pause and reevaluating it’s direction after the general populace started to fatigue on yearly releases. AC Origins proved to be a triumphant return, albeit in a different form. A form which Odyssey seems to embrace and enhance.

Odyssey is even more of an RPG than Origins was. In addition to gear with levels and rarity distinctions, they have added dialogue trees and the the ability to choose your character at the start of the game. RPG elements have been blended into games for years now but I can not get enough of them. The ability to customize your character through their perks and your weapons of choice, lets the player fight in the manner that best suits their playstyle. Now the story can play out in a similar fashion by allowing you to direct character interactions however you please.

Another issue the franchise has had is the division between the life of the Assassins which is grounded in reality and history and the science fiction elements of their present/future story line. They seem to be leaning more into the scifi elements of the future in this entry. Rarely do we see any of the artifacts of the god like alien race. When we do, it tends to just be the apple and every now and then we catch snippets about the number or details of the remaining artifacts. Based on the abilities the spear of Leonidas grants you, it would appear that it is one such item.

I’m torn between the inclusion of this weapon. In terms of the modern day story it makes sense that the Assassin’s and Templars would come into contact with these items and use them to their benefit. The problem is the game is based in the real world so if these items were used frequently and openly in the past, surely we would know about their true power today. At this point I think it would behoove Ubi to either turn up the sci-fi in the past and finish out the story of the gods or drop the god storyline and make these period pieces solely. From a gameplay standpoint I like the idea of getting more interesting weapons. This would allow each Assassin to feel even more unique from game to game and the devs would have more game mechanics available to them.

Regardless of these concerns, I am excited by the freedom the gameplay and story provide. Being able to choose your gender and character without the loss of a defined character is great. Not saying Brodie was the best protagonist in Far Cry 3 but I prefer that over the silence of the Far Cry 5 hero. Any game where I can collect sweet loot and level up always has my attention and as such I remain hyped for AC.

Honorable Mention: The Division 2- The Division is back! Enough time has passed to be excited, especially because I never played any of the DLC. They are doing quite a few things that makes this look more than a rehash of the first game.

First off, the setting is summer time in D.C.. This gave us more variety in scenery, with a jungle environment shown off as well as the typical urban environments. The devs also had more freedom in the clothing options they provided to the player, as they now no longer have to worry about getting frost bitten.

Enemies look a little different this time out. There are now heavily armored enemies that signify they are going to be bullet sponges. This is a welcome change from the first game where a random high level enemy would be taking a hundred bullets to the toque before they would drop. Non-armored enemies do appear but are much easier to dispatch than in the first Division. The time to kill dropping I fully endorse and I appreciate them attempting to ground the game further in realism. Enemies had some new tricks up their sleeves, such as gooping a player to the ground causing them to need their team mate to release them. I hope this is indicative of an effort to have more unique challenges to face along the way.

The enemies aren’t the only ones with a few new tools in their belt though. There were some new gadgets like a device that split into little bee-like things and heat sought an enemy before exploding.  The biggest and baddest additions to your armory come in the form of high level special weapons. Once you hit the end game you will be presented the option to wield a grenade launcher, a 50 cal sniper or a torque bowesque cross bow. I am always up for more differentiation between party members and players, so I think this is a great change.

The raids will be launching soon after the release of the game in order to give players a chance to gear up and get high enough level to participate. The raids are 8 players and will require good gear and high level play to conquer. Personally I find this sort of end game content much more interesting than grinding endlessly in the dark zone. We didn’t get much about the dark zone but this first look at the game was more than enough to sate me for now.

 In this instance Assassin’s Creed wins based on the hooks it has had in me for years. Division I enjoyed but has a lot to prove. I am hoping they have heard the player’s feedback and are able to turn that into a game with a deep end game, diverse enemies and characters that feel like your own.

Sony

Favorite Game: The Last of Us 2- This is one of those games I think you could release nothing about and still have people lined up outside of their local game store on day one. I think they have done a good job so far giving us just enough information to tantalize without overloading though.

We started on a scene where Ellie is at a dance and life seems to be going a lot better for her these days. Joel isn’t seen but is eluded to by a fellow community member. This seemed like a very deliberate decision to leave him out of the spotlight and make Ellie the focus. In fact in the whole trailer he never showed up once. The developers have stated that this is her story but I would not be surprised if we had the inverse of The Last of Us and have one or two Joel levels. The trailer continues with Ellie dancing with another woman and ends up kissing her. People who never played the The Last of Us dlc may not know Ellie was a lesbian but the devs have stressed this is a part of who she is, making it important to display this. I am all for getting more diverse characters in games over having the 100th old grizzled army vet character. Unfortunately for her life isn’t all kissing girls and dances though.

We quickly cut from her at the dance to being out in the dark, shanking an enemy from behind. The cut scene looked great but in true Naughty Dog fashion the in-game graphics were just as impressive. The first thing that struck me was the visuals but as the trailer progressed it was the movement that stuck with me. Everything Ellie does seems realistic and once she engaged with a group of enemies it became clear the level of immersion we will be experiencing.

The melee combat seems much more refined and interesting in this game. Any weapon an enemy holds Ellie can pick up. Even if it’s a heavy one handed weapon it will just become a slow two handed weapon for her. The melee kills were so detailed and unique they seemed like pre-scripted quick time events. When she killed an enemy their arrows clattered to the ground and Ellie would physically pick them up rather than having them just pop into your inventory when stepping on them. This was a lot to take in before even factoring in the exploration.

There is a jump button now included in the game. This sounds like a game changer when it comes to traversal and the ability to sneak up on enemies. Speaking of sneaking they have significantly increased the nuance of hiding in tall grass. It is no longer a simple “I’m in the grass so I’m invisible” situation. Enemies can now spot you if they are close enough which makes things much more harrowing. You can now duck under cars as well but the enemies will search under them for you. In a section of a supermarket they also showed her squeeze in between shelves to flank her enemies. This breadth of options makes simple scenarios have many different ways to tackle them. In that super market section you will notice enemies tell one another to spread out and search for you. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their AI.

Each enemy knows that you are in a given space once alerted. This leads to them searching for you until they find you and not giving up like in other stealth games. They also have individual names, which their compatriots will call out. Changes like this make every grunt seem like a real person rather than a nameless thug. They also do not have patrol routes but move with a sense of purpose based on contextual clues they have. All in all it seems like Naughty Dog is poised to raise the bar for gaming yet again.

Honorable Mention: Ghost of Tsushima- This is a game we knew next to nothing about but it blew me away with its impressive showing. From the get go it was visually striking and unlike anything else we have seen. The use of color was striking with very muted tones at the start which easily drew the eye to the red tree matching the leaf that the main character, Jin, picked up.  Apparently this is very much an open world game and the focus of the demo was a side quest. The fact that there was this level of detail in an open world game is impressive to say the least.

Once the titular ghost arrived on the scene of the crime he runs into three mongols terrorizing the locals. In typical Samurai fashion they square off before he one shots the opposition. The combat seems more involved than something like Arkham Asylum. It reminded me of For Honor where blocks and parries will be vital to survival.

Once Jin got closer to the temple it became a stealth section or so I thought. The devs confirmed he could have went in the front door swords blazing but he probably chose the smarter option. By using his grappling hook he was able to sneak in through the temple roof and dispatch of the enemies silently. The grappling hook is only one of many weapons that our protagonist will unlock throughout the game. It shows the necessary transformation he goes through from samurai to something more, in order to overcome the tremendous threat the mongol hordes pose. There was a section where he stabbed an enemy through a sliding screen door which was very cinematic but was not scripted. The end result would have been the same with backup being called but it would have come to fruition differently based on how you tackled the enemies. As I have mentioned time and time again, I value this level of player agency very much and can’t wait to see all the options available to the player.

In the end he had to confront his ally as she was threatening to kill the proprietor of the temple. Jin states that we should be fighting the mongols rather than out own country men. She chooses to rebutt with steel. Once again the swordplay seems very intense with slow mo dodges and sword clashes. Flaming arrows rained down around your battle and started a blaze as your duel waged on. The fact that this was not a main mission but had such a memorable set piece bodes very well and earned it my honorable mention.

[thatkrazymann]

Throw a Watching to your Witcher.

So it has come to pass, another Netflix Drama series: The Witcher. For those unfamiliar, this new venture comes courtesy of one Andrzej Sapkowski, a polish writer best known for (drum roll please…) The Witcher series! The Witcher is a kind of dark fantasy series, like Lord of the Rings if it caught a venereal disease from a prostitute and also had an old, nagging injury from some old battle, like say, an arrow to the knee? The Witcher follows the adventures, or misadventures, of one Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher, as he travels the lands seeking to just live his life and do what he can to survive. If you are unfamiliar, a Witcher is a monster hunter, not a witch hunter, who has extraordinary abilities that have been granted to them via a forced mutation, they’ve basically been created to be roam the lands and kill various monstrosities for coin. But let’s get to the point, is Netflix’s The Witcher any good? I have played one of the games, read the books, seen the show(which apparently not all reviewers could be bothered to do but hey, why bother to fully work on something you’re paid for right?!) and after consuming all that media, I can’t say I’m totally a fan, but I can say that the show does indeed make for an entertaining watch for newcomers, and it’s at least better than season 8 of Game of Thrones so there’s a win right there.

As I have said, I’m not a devoted fan of The Witcher, I played the Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, I couldn’t really play the others because I don’t have a PC. I was interested in reading the books after playing the game and found them intriguing and a nice change of place. But with both the game and the books, I found myself really searching for a starting point which didn’t really exist. The show does actually have a much stronger jumping off point, giving the viewer a good baseline for the series to continuously build around. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have some issues and problems, especially to a newcomer I’m sure. There were plenty of times where I took a trip to the wiki page for clarification or to just understand what some character had said that everyone seemed to think was important, and there are still things that I’m not sure the significance of. The Witcher does succeed at doing some pretty good world building, the monsters and magic system are especially well thought out, though a little hard to grasp. But you can really see that care has gone into this series, the team behind the camera, and indeed the team in front of the camera, really do care about this world and the story that is being told, which is rare for a Netflix series I feel.

*Spoiler town ahead so if you want to know what I feel overall, jump to the end!* 

If we want to talk gripes, I have a few but let’s start positive first, this is a rich story! There are so many things going on and multiple layers (like an onion) and the show really doesn’t stumble over itself too badly. A few things that did trip me up was the beginning of Yennefer’s story, why she sucked and then didn’t suck with magic, the girls who turned into eels for what feels like a test, etc. There were some minor quibbles but as the story progressed the true depth of each of the characters shone though. Now, acting wise, I didn’t think I would like Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, I can’t really tell you why, I guess because I just couldn’t see his face as a Geralt but he has a strong opening performance that only gets better the more we see him. Henry is obviously the actor that has read the books beforehand and absolutely loves them, and that pays dividends. I’m not sure if he did all his own fight choreography but man, it looks like he did and during those moments his love for the character shines through in the most minute of details. While I don’t see the same love for their characters as I do from Henry, Anya Chalotra’s portrayal of Yenefer is amazing. The fact that she manages to play Yenefer with a literal crookedness about her before casting that aside shows just how great she is. Anya does a great job owning many of her scenes but I feel like the character kind of stopped getting understandable character development after she met Geralt and her actions become increasingly more contrived. The side actors are all pretty decent, some kind of phone it in, knowing they’re in a fantasy setting where they can say “fuck” repeatedly and not have it seem out of place, while some play to their strengths and deliver really good nuanced performances, although the Ciri storyline has got to be up there for most useless storyline around. Hardly anything answered and really not much gained besides having her occasionally see that everyone sucks in the “real” world.

A weird but for me, ultimately pretty charming aspect of the series that may or may not be a deal breaker for you is the fact that the whole series is told a little out of order. It’s not as tricky to follow as Westworld, but it does make you do some work, and you know what? That’s fine! Working to discover something is kind of a nice feeling, especially when your guesses come true, even halfway so. It doesn’t block everything off behind this grand, final reveal , it just feels a little odd to be seeing events and have characters refer to passages of time in large blocks. The Witcher also succeeds in this by making sure that if you didn’t pick up on some or all of the hints, you don’t feel like a dummy, something which Westworld had no shame beating into me. I certainly think it could’ve been a little more complex with its narrative structure and I know a large group of reviewers and viewers will moan about how it’s unnecessary and that they just want to watch something and turn their mind off and enjoy but you know what? Art isn’t an anesthetic, it’s not supposed to lull you in and put you asleep, it’s supposed to tell something that gets your brain jogging, and while this isn’t a jog, it is a brisk pace for the brain.

Now, time for some proper looking at what may not in fact be too great with The Witcher series and there are certainly a couple things. As I previously said, the Ciri storyline feels very superfluous to me. We don’t learn much beyond the fact that she’s some kind of kid who harbours ancient, primal, magic, which sounds cool until you realize that there’s no payoff for that. Shit never goes down. Sure, Ciri screams and trees blow down, stuff happens but it doesn’t affect the world, I don’t care about that as much as I feel like I should. The Ciri storyline I feel could’ve been saved for the opener of the next season, to show and fill us in on what happened to her between the beginning and end of the first season, then you can throw away as many characters as you want. Dragging her story out without any payoff feels incredibly lacklustre. Another problems is in fact something that I did touch on as saying it was good, the side characters. While the acting involved is good for the most part, I don’t find myself caring about any of them Sure, a couple of them are good and memorable, but on the whole? They all feel like they don’t serve a grander purpose. Whenever characters reappear, they still haven’t changed much and it feels like using them to hide little bits into the hidden narrative layer would’ve been the way to go. The exception to this is Jaskier, who is always brilliant but also helps to give us, the viewer, a character we can relate with who actually does things in this world that change and affect others. It’s disappointing that even my favourite side characters for their amazing acting, like Stregobor, Tissaia, Mousesack, and Calanthe, never really bring something into the fold that I feel gives weight to the narrative, which brings us to my final complaint. The story feels a little dry and meandering, and while that can be acceptable for some episodes and others do help give a better view of the narrative, the episodes toward the end just really bumble about. Geralt hunting monsters or interacting with royalty is interesting and telling, watching Geralt have some kind of fever dream not so much, even if the fever dream is very emotional. Same with Yenefer, when she’s learning magic and fighting off assassin’s and interacting with Geralt? A+, good going, conversely, whining about wanting a choice that SHE made and saying she wants to take it back because she was forced to make it? Not so much. Worse than that, she goes on to protect what she wants to burn down for really no reason that I can gather. Things are interesting but also tedious with her and the world she inhabits.

So, at the end of all this, what are my feelings on the show? Should you watch it? YES! Absolutely. There’re only a couple things issues and they’re all pretty minor in comparison to other shows. The writing and pacing is a little sporadic and while the acting on the whole is good, with the except that some of the minor actors phone it in so they can say “fuck” in the same sentence as saying “the elves” or “butcher of Blaviken”, then you’ll be fine. Sure, a lot of those characters have weird motives or no motives and people bitch and complain about things that I really don’t think is relevant but that’s fine. My two biggest gripes are with a lot of the characters just being absolutely unlikable for the sake nothing or something I don’t understand, even after delving into the wiki, and the Ciri plot which could’ve been touched upon in the season 2 premier and it would’ve had more weight. The acting is fairly rock solid with notable love going out for Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Joey Batey, and Anna Shaffer. The fight choreography is some of the best I’ve seen and I really hope some kind of behind the scenes look at that is shown. So, all-in-all, I’d say a 7/10 to 7.5/10, and since a lot of people will generally think that’s bad, I’ll add this: I’m definitely gonna rewatch The Witcher, probably 2 more times (despite the “Netflix drama time commitment”) and I don’t think I’ll be bored or won’t enjoy myself! Give it a watch and let me know what you think!

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All of these seemingly disparate men have one thing in common: they’re dads looking to date other dads in a new game called Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator. Launched earlier in July, it’s currently holding the top spot on Steam, the dominant online PC games store better known for sci-fi shooters and serious fantasy role-playing adventures. Excitement round the title was so high, that when the release was delayed by a few hours, co-developers Vernon Shaw and Leighton Gray had to post an apology to wildly expectant fans on Twitter. It received over 17,000 likes.

So how did a game about dads dating each other - a relatively niche subgenre of an already niche kind of game - become number one on Steam, a PC store with over 125m users?

Well, Dream Daddy’s success is indicative of a confluence of multiple themes becoming popular right now. First, there’s the “daddy” trend in current pop culture, where “daddy” means an older man who is sexually interested in younger men or women. The term has been around for a while, and has started to filter into video game design in recent years. An exact definition is harder to pin down; it is usually refers to a character, who is larger and typically older than the average player, someone serious but with a sense of humour – someone you look up to even when you’re playing the game as them. Think Geralt, the gruff-voiced monster slayer from from The Witcher, or Mitsurugi, the elder statesman from the Soul Caliber series of fighting games. Some modern characters are more overtly paternal, such as Joel from post-apocalyptic adventure The Last of Us, Booker DeWitt from Bioshock Infinite and Nathan Drake’s surrogate father figure Sully in Uncharted. These are daddies that you can’t help but want to please – and they have become a key element of mainstream games design.

Secondly, there is a growing demand for queer games in an industry where mainstream hits tend to represent the white, hetero male-gaze, leaving straight women, people of colour and a huge proportion of LGBT people out in the cold. For years they have had to make do with independently made visual novels, dating games imported from Japan or the “everyone is bisexual” approach of Bioware’s Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. It’s not that games by and for this diverse market don’t exist but they often don’t receive the publicity they need to get them into the hands of as many people who want them. Dream Daddy, however, has enjoyed the push of its publisher, Game Grumps – a hugely influential YouTube channel with nearly 4 million subscribers. Given this boost, Dream Daddy proves there’s a largely untapped audience queer-themed games.

There is also a growing interest in games that think about and explore relationships, rather than just using humans as action ciphers. A broadening, diversifying audience and a growing community of creators who see games as a mode of self-expression means that we’re seeing more titles that revolve around personal interactions, character customisation, romance and choice. The Sims has always been the obvious standard bearer here, but recent critical hits such as Gone Home, Life is Strange and the experimental titles of Nina Freeman, Christine Love and Robert Yang are pushing in games toward human complexity.

It’s genuinely funny, it’s sincere, it doesn’t poke fun at its players or its characters, it never punches down and it features positive depictions of gay and trans characters that don’t feel shoehorned in or spotlighted in uncomfortable ways. The interactions between dads and other dads and between the dads and their kids are all depicted as important and meaningful. Dream Daddy promotes healthy attitudes towards fatherhood, dating and sex. In these uncertain, troubling times, it could be exactly what people need.