Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/29/witcher-fans-mad-about-set-pho.html
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More like Book vs Show vs Game.
It’s pretty well known the creator of the books had a huge falling out with the studio behind the games. It would make sense the show matches the tone of the books than just lifting creative assets from the games to keep him happy.
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Read all the books (except newest one), played the games.
It’s very specifically a fantasy world steeped in historical Europe. It may be an alternative universe from ours (according to the books themselves), but they’re still humans. Armor is going to look like armor. And that don’t look like armor.
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. . . the company secured the video game rights from Sapkowski himself, who elected for a lump-sum payment of $9,350 rather than a share of the profits. “I said, ‘No, there will be no profit at all – give me all my money right now!'” Sapkowski told Eurogamer in a 2017 interview. “It was stupid. I was stupid enough to leave everything in their hands because I didn’t believe in their success.
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Damn! Unless he really needed the money right then, why would you ever assume a company would spend millions making a video game for zero profit.
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Leaked set photos almost always look like shit. They aren’t taken from the right angle, lit properly, and don’t have any vfx applied.
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"New creators take on adaptation of beloved [book/comic/video game] series; fans of original hate it"
Tonight on nightly news at 11.
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Never read the book, never played the game. But that soldier looks like he would safely be able to bump into walls at a brisk walking pace, but would be in horrible danger if an opponent was armed with, say, a pointed stick.
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… guy’s an asshole(?)
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Just finishing witcher 3 up after a long break. Couldn’t care less about rando medieval complaints.
The story, in the factional aspects, is ripe for change and adaptation in execution. Please, mess with the jumbled political mess in the game, it’s not the focus of the characters either.
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I’m curious why don’t we see more CG or animated series, especially when it comes to IPs that are much harder to do in live action. At least I would be much more interested in an animated Witcher series than I am for this Netflix disaster, a good example is the Castlevania anime that on Netflix which is a phenomenal series. Then I see this lumpy sad guy in his shitty armor and I can’t help but be deeply disappointed.
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Unfortunately, I don’t recall that kind of creature being in the books. Otherwise, you’re right! That would be a great aesthetic.
God, I am so fed up with internet fanboi outrage. This is clearly a shot from Netflix’s upcoming California Raisins reboot. At least I heard it was. Through the grapevine.
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Castlevania = the right way to do a fantasy series.
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After the insanely detailed and just plain gorgeous models in the game, it was going to be hard to do it justice in live action.
But that was no reason to actually go and do it injustice. Jesus Christ, what the hell are those things made of, tanned scrotum leather?
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… I like it…
The presentation in the game is beautiful, but would be difficult to execute in a live action presentation, also, it’s functionally dubious.
The cloth seen here reminds me of the jack-of-plates type armor which is historically significant. Also, this live action presentation here would be pretty easy to justify functionally; Waxed cloth would prevent /resist moisture damage, and reduce noise & shine off the armor for increased stealth. Finally, in game, wasn’t Redania known for having the superior heavy armor over Nilfgaard? I feel like they made a thing about how Radovid would rather spend coin on armor than find and conscribe new soldiers.
Keep an open mind, please. I’m really hoping this will open the franchise to lots of new fans.
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Apparently the falling out was that Sapkowski licensed the series for a couple grand and no royalties because he thought video games were stupid and didn’t make money. And now resents them for making lots of money off the games when he didn’t. He was not involved much if at all to begin with, and will not discuss this with them. Even though they’d apparently be happy to work something out. And IIRC that’s his take. Seems like a grouchy bastard, and I suspect its more about the games introducing and popularizing the series before he could.
From what I understand the show is licensed from the books, not the games. So lifting designs from the games would potentially be legally dodgy. And it takes place well before the games. Which even the people who made them describe as fan fiction. They’re essentially licensed sequels.
And this fan complaint is fairly fun, given that the fan tantrum about a “graphics downgrade” on Witcher 3 seemed mostly based on a switch to brighter lighting, a more saturated pallette, and a heavier embrace of the renfair/fairy tale aesthetic over assumed grim dark in an E3 demo.
They were at the time a tiny company mostly involved in selling out of print PC games via digital download and doing contract or localization work for much bigger devs. And Poland’s video game industry at the time was almost exclusively based on cheap licensed games and subcontractor work.
Even now they aren’t exactly a huge company, and their success on this was kind of a surprise.
Money. Doing it properly isn’t neccisarily any cheaper than shooting in live action. And unfortunately on the global market it tends to put fewer asses in seats so it brings in less money. The return on investment just isn’t as good. This is also why Disney is making many live action adaptations of their animated classics. Outside the US they generate a shot ton of ticket sales, more reliably than fully reigniting their high end animation operations.
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I do understand that but it will face a much bigger uphill fight getting people to suspend their disbelief with live action fantasy over something that’s CG or animated. I mean anime is doing just fine and it frustrates me that western countries see animated series as a thing for kids when there’s plenty of room for mature story telling.
Ultimately it is a money thing but its also a preconceived notion or bias against animated series/movies that just isn’t true. If studios are unwilling to take a chance on it then we’ll keep seeing these craptastic live action shows and keep complaining about how bad they look.
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I would certainly love an explanation of how this armour is supposed to work, because it looks like it’s designed to trap a blade right where it is, meaning if you stab for the heart, you will definitely get the heart. And that is not ideal.
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Yep yep. In my experience costume designers are pretty thoughtful regarding function, so these choices always mystify me. Armor, probably more than any other wearable, has evolved across cultures in specific ways to provide very necessary, obvious functions, which this design seems to ignore completely.
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