Btw don't get me wrong, I think witchers are a cool concept. But as someone who's been a fan of The Witcher for so long, the witchers themselves started to lose a bit of their appeal for me at some point and I began to take a much greater interest in other aspects of this fantasy world. It’s a bit like when your favorite musician releases a new album and you instantly love a few of the best songs from it and play them on repeat. But because you listen to them so much, they lose some of that initial magic after a while and don’t excite you as much as they did when you first heard them. So you start listening to other songs on the album that maybe didn’t instantly grab you at first, but the more you listen to them, the more you appreciate them. This way, you keep digging deeper and end up appreciating almost every song on that album. That's how I feel about many aspects of The Witcher universe. I appreciate a lot of things that most fans might not think about when it comes to The Witcher, or at least that’s how it seems to me. And I know it sounds a bit arrogant or pretentious (like look at how big of a fan I am compared to all of you), which definitely isn’t my intention, but it just feels like not many people move beyond the witchers themselves as poster boys of The Witcher and dive deeper into this fantasy world which is a shame. I wish I could talk to more people about the minutiae of this fantasy.
I think a major reason why the military is often underappreciated because it looks mundane and realistic rather than fantastical. Despite this, the geopolitical conflicts are definitely interesting and I feel like Witcher games did a good job in portraying every faction as multi-faceted and flawed but the main appeal of Witcher will always be the main characters since it is character-centric story. However I am more interested in your views on Gothic/Dark Fantasy genre such as FromSoftware games and their inspirations like Lords of Fallen
@@hamizanyunos1502 after binging a lot of fantasy, I honestly think the genre NEEDS more mundane types of soldiers, wearing mail and tabards and kettle or nasal helms, knights bearing colorful devices. It's still very much a spectacle, especially with how uniquely subtle you can make the differences between factions, rather than overt distinctions
@@jjhh320 You have a point but there probably needs to some type of modifications to be different like Nilfgaardian soldiers have those oversized black shoulder pads. Dark Souls and Lords of Fallen have some mix of mundane but also intricate armors that I think are cool, they are not necessarily over the top that we see in high fantasy but maintain the whole gothic vibe. Another reason why I think Witcher military is not appreciated is because we can easily compare it to real life medieval-early modern armies.
I completely agree. It NEVER breaks immersion. It always feels real. Another aspect of Sapkowski' s writing that is not appreciated is; Economy. He really understands Socio Economics. 😎👍🏾
Yes, i major in International Relations and you can just tell he was an Econ Prof. The way he describes the world is so different than i would, but i very much enjoyed it for the realism❤❤❤
@@NunofUrbeeznis Its just wonderful to get people from the profession or at LEAST with a better understanding of it - confirm what i said! It makes sense! Thx! 😌
@@MadMatTom7769 On meta level it actually had more references to the first half of 20th century in Central-Eastern Europe. Be it the ethnic tensions, a bunch of squabbling states taking turns backstabbing each other, even as an existential threat already loomed on the horizon or post-war pogroms.
@@MadMatTom7769 The witcher is based a lot on late medieval europe, where standing armies and plate armor, As well as monarchs gaining more power over their vassals being the norm.
I feel like Cahir really shows Sapkowskis approach to the military. Sure he is introduced as a black knight with feathers on his head, but he's just a guy way over his head, trying to do what he feels is the right thing.
This 👆. I also felt it was really powerful how Sapkowski emphasized Cahir’s youth and loyalty to his family. Even if he was too young to understand what he was being asked to do. For Sapkowski it’s always about how the broader society and culture influences the individual, not just the individual coming up with their own views, which is a perspective I find quite realistic.
This is a really needed video, because I often find people saying that the politics and battle scenes of The Witcher are “random” and “aren’t related to the main characters”… like whaaaat :D? That whole context defines their lives, and that is part of what makes this series so unique. Especially because of the historical and cultural context influencing it. (Because I am from the US, Witcher was refreshing to me-a lot of American takes on war glorify it and make the Americans out to be the heroes, maybe experiencing pyrrhic victory and trauma, but overall saviors and good guys, in an ultimately two-sided context. And this is also how real conflicts become portrayed by the media, devoid of cultural and historical context). It’s one of the reasons I find Witcher so valuable to share with others because it demonstrates why these “large” topics matter to people personally. War is not just a drawing on a map… it is more like “a fire raging through a brothel,” as our poet said. And because of that, it’s also very complicated to explain how this presents itself in the books and games, so thank you for this video :)
I like Gwent in The Witcher 3 😃 But I don't like the standalone version and the one in Thronebreaker which is essentially the same. I have to do a video about it at some point where I'll explain why.
The original Beta of stand-alone gwent was sooo much fun. It was like gwent from original Witcher 3, but just made bigger and better in the best ways ... THEN, they changed it entirely as it got super popular, and that really ruined it / made it into something totally different... Twas sad thing to see. But those first Beta versions were really, seriously great. Am glad I got to play it during its first phases in the least ..
@@thedivine5897 unfortunatly last expansion and balance changes totally killed so many decks game is just gr8 except cheap comic shit wiedzmin 2 styled
CD Projekt just went corpo.. The Witcher 4 will be a real test to see if they follow Ubisoft’s steps to the downfall or going back to the good old days.
@@TopDrek bro, even if that was true, cdpr was always woke. you can make a bald black woman with a mans voice in cyberpunk, whats woker than that? there's also, like, gay cutscenes. that's pretty woke. did that stop cyberpunk from being a good ass game?
@@TopDrekI can’t imagine any legitimate Witcher fan thinking that playing a Witcher game from Ciri’s POV be “woke” She’s like the perfect protagonist and has been built up across multiple games
Don't ever lose your enthusiasm, man. I really love your videos! Being Serbian, Slavic mythology is dear and well known to me, and I love learning about medieval weapons, armor and tactics. Have you heard about the tavern in Moscow, opened and owned by Witcher fans? The inn is called "Under Witcher's sword" (Под ведьмачым мeчом). Cosplayers, Witcher (Russian) voice actors, interior, drinks and food fashioned to look like the ones from the game, live music, they have it all. I'll be visiting Moscow in July, can't wait to check it out.
Yeah, I have the cook book but I'm waiting for Czech translation of the prequel so I'll probably get it next year when the translation is finished. But from what I've heard the book is good so I'm looking forward to it 🙂
@@FolkWalkCZ Man CZ is pretty similar - learn poslish for the books ;-) ITS WORTH IT because sooooooo much is lost in translations, and even as a Pole i had to learn sooooo many unknown words to me.... Have U read Husite trilogy?
I totally get you. Watching history related content and videos about historical arms and armor became my hobbie, I appreciate when developers create military stuff based on realism instead of generic fantasy. The Witcher series has really "believable" military gear, and that makes it much more interesting than WOW-esque armors or giant anime weapons. It is also worth mentioning how castles and other fortifications are relatively realistic as well (even though you mentioned in a previous video).
I love exploring battle sites, garrisons and destroyed infrastructure in the Witcher 3. It really makes me feel like a detective exploring the history of the land.
For the CD Projekt not writing back, they know who you are, if the process alows it, they will contact you, these projects are massive and take time. But there is a danger interacting with fan work, for which many authors, but most notably the late and great Terry Pratchett would attest to. If you cooperate too much with your fandom, it just takes one fool, to be polite, to claim you stole his idea and you're stuck in a multi year lawsuit and even if you're certain you win, that's time, money and publicity you don't want to waste. I do hope they reach out to you tho, as what you're doing looks spectacular tho.
I am still excited about Witcher 4 and the various other Witcher projects CDPR have in the works. But I see the passion that you guys have and for what it's worth, I agree with you, CDPR should reach out to influencers like you to promote their products. If I were in charge of their marketing efforts, I would rely more on what people like you do instead of billboards, TV advertisement spots, RUclips ads and so on, you know, all the things that you just kinda go dead inside when you see, and do more exciting things with willing influencers like yourselves.
I'm glad that you catched reference to Polish szlachta. And very good recomendations about movies, I would only add "Potop" to the list. Nice clip. Amazing project with the nilfgardian army. When it comes to CD Preojct we are worried that they are becoming another big AAA corporations with all its wokenes and they have lost their Polish heritage. Greetings from PL
Good stuff, I think I've seen pictures of your group's cosplay and I'm quite jealous of your armour. Big fan of Nilfgaard myself, I did some amateur concept art for troops from the various provinces because I was interested in the topic but there wasn't too much information available.
I love the idea of a more grounded Witcher RPG where the player would be an infantryman, at least for a part of a campaign. If that never happens, at least we can use Warhammer Fantasy TTRPG or heavily homebrewed Dungeons and Dragons to run it on a tabletop.
For those interested, a total conversion mod for Mount and Blade Warband is in development about the Northern Wars. For those unaware, Warband is a mixture of third/first person rpgs and grand strategy games like Total War. The mod, which is of a pretty high quality, will be released sometime in January.
Witcher visual encyclopedia would be marvellous, especially revolving around military aspect, CDPR please wake up and get hold of these passionate people, Witcher fanbase need big push and growth, moreover CDPR you should be the captain of this gigantic ship, this is how you build both the interest in the IP and your revenue. PS: Is it possible to get hold of those Nilfgaard catalogues you guys hand out to CDPR people?.
It is great to have a believable backdrop for any kind of story, and Witcher has that covered quite well. Armies, logistics, climate, economy, politics, geography - all of these have to make sense, otherwise I am stuck on them instead of the story. I would consider them as important as the main topics the writer/game director plans to explore. Now, are these aspects the coolest thing in the world? No, I don't think so. I think witchers and monsters are more interesting. But putting a witcher and a monster in a believable setting is just so much more interesting than simply having bosses waiting in their dungeons for the witcher to tackle. I really don't like the sorcery aspects of books/games/movies. Those, in my opinion, take away from any story. I find that witchers have enough weaknesses to make their struggles interesting. Sorcerers/-esses, less so, they are just plain OP, and have too few rules.
Great video as always! Do you know Sapkowski wrote a new Witcher book??? Rozdroże kruków (Crossroads of Ravens), it is a prequel telling the story of Geralt shortly after completing training and becoming a witcher, its really good :D Cheers, from Poland!
Great video as always. Love to see a true fan talk about many aspects of this world. Very much agree with you with all the stuff you said in the video.
I'm leaving a like. I stopped the video after a short while because I'm on the third book only, so I'm avoiding spoilers. but I agree that humanizing characters is a strong point of the witcher. I initially thought about how it humanized the peasants but I guess he does the same whith warriors. Good stuff
Some of that Nilfgaard armor looks amazing, did you guys make it yourself? Or can it be bought somewhere? Would also love to know about the commands you invented. I am part of the Witcher RPG wiki, so I'd like to add them to the Nilfgaardian language.
Our armor is usually custom-made by Czech armorers and blacksmiths. The best armor parts are made by Elthien Tanno ( instagram.com/elthien_armory ). As for our commands, we have them in the brochures I mentioned. I could send you a PDF of it if you email me at folkwalkcz@gmail.com .
People in Czech LARP community usually have their armour made by an armourer or they buy it from stores (and sometimes make adjustments to it) or buy it at swap meets
I rlly wish the Witcher had ASOIAF level world building politics wise. The political landscape of the continent in the Witcher is so interesting but there’s only so much info.
One of the parts of the Witcher books that I liked the most was the descriptions of the movements of war and the political and military maneuvering that would precede the actual war. You could tell he's a student of history, it felt like reading a fictionalized retelling of real events.
While it's interesting that Sapkowski's military experience informs his work, his depiction of armies isn't why (most) people are interested in his world - it's the magic and the Witchers. It makes sense that the military is very tertiary in CD Project's mind. Kingdom Come Deliverance isn't a good counter-example, because they don't have fantasy elements in that universe - so the military is of course the main focus.
I’ve been wishing for a Witcher Miniature wargame (WFB rank and file as you mentioned) for years honestly, so many fleshed out units and factions, would work so well. I’ve also been wishing for miniatures/figures of just regular soldiers, even finding some of characters like Iorweth was a challenge 😅
I think your concerns aren’t extremely warranted. CDPR, in their last games, showed a pretty major drive for understanding and actualizing the world, economy, and contexts of the Witcher. Just because they haven’t reached out to larpers or whatever and haven’t released Aedernian coins or Kaedweni t shirts doesn’t mean that they’re gonna throw away any of the factions in the next game. I’m assuming that the devs understand how devoted their fan base is, and how much they hated the Netflix shows. I’m also pretty sure that they’re gonna deliver something decent.
We'll see. The main point of the video was to show that right now CDPR could be doing much better job at focusing more on other parts of The Witcher. And I'm not saying they should ignore the witchers completely but I think that they get enough love from them and the fans already. So it would be great if other factions would get some love as well.
You’re not alone. The reason I enjoy the Witcher setting so much is the low fantasy esthetics as a lover of medieval equipment and architecture. The Witcher schools are neat but there’s really nothing like how the Witcher feels like both fantasy and history. Game of thrones might compare but the armor looks like shit
The pattern of backstabbing on the eve of and during WW2 was quite common actually, and during one convention Sapkowski remarked that the Northern Aedrin affair could also be read as alluding to the Polish annexation of Trans-Olza (a d*ck move on our part BTW). Obviously it wasn't anywhere near as consequential Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, and Sapkowski probably intended this primarily as a dig at Polish "ultrapatriots". Also, it was back in the 90s, so before Russian imperialism reared its ugly head again on a large scale, but still.
I think it is worth pointing out that, as you said, CDPR has been working on Cyberpunk lately and seemed like they had pretty good fan interaction and cooperation for that game. Using your same example, we didn’t hear or see much of anything from Warhorse Studios for the past few years in regards to the sequel, so I really don’t feel like that is all that fair to compare one studio that is about to release a game and another that is still early in development by their fan interactions. Also, I very much agree with you, fantasy elements aren’t really that interesting to me, I tend to prefer low fantasy or historical fiction settings, so I share your interests in the non-fantastical elements of the Witcher series. That said, while hardly alone, we are in the minority. They are only going to make merch and things that they know will interest the widest group of people, aka witchers and monsters. I don’t agree with you that necessarily indicates a lack of interest or care from the developers though.
hey, I found out through your videos that there is a much bigger fanbase of the withcer in the central european areas but they mainly only speak polish or czech. im from India, but I want to be able to understand fan films and read the books in their original language, so I was thing about learning a new langauage but I dont know whether I should try learning polish or czech, could you help? You said that witcherstories is in czech but alzurs legazy is in polish. The books are also in polish, from this, im thinking about trying to learn polish but do have any suggestions?
Yeah, learn Polish. I'm not sure if Czech would be useful for you. If you can speak English you'll get around fine in the Czech Witcher fan community in case you would ever want to visit our events.
@FolkWalkCZ ohk great, tysm. I was looking at the con morhen website to inquire and maybe get a ticket, but it's showing that everything is sold out, could you recommend any other events?
It's also quite possible people you have meet are no longer working at CDProject. Plus CDPR is more into withers and thinks they are the cool factor of that universe not the PFI.
The most under appreciated fact is that we never knew how good the Witcher games were until we saw the abysmal Witcher IV reveal trailer. It's over, CDPR has fallen, time to move on.
I dislike strategic games and (like most of the community?) love gwent so even though at first glance it doesn't pair well (wartime storytelling and card game in Thronebreaker that is) I personally prefer it to watching some 3D models "fight"
People who dont know what lebensroum, general plan ost and what happend in eastern Europe from 1938-1945 can say how USSR didnt liberate eastern Europe what is very common for people brought up under slavophobic governments we have today.
17:40 Even quick preliminary research is enough to discover that most of the senior staff working on Witcher 4 are company veterans some of them like the lead writer for W4 worked on Witcher 2 and have been with the company for over 17 years. The art director has worked with the company since Witcher 1 and so on. I am sorry Folk, I like your content a lot, but this video comes off as you being whiny because CDPR didn't decide to work with your particular (small and obscure) group of LARP-ers. It's not like Poland has probably one of the biggest and most active historical reenactment and HEMA communities in the world and some amazing Witcher LARP-ers. CDPR already worked and continues to work with the experts and community they have available at home.
I’m not claiming that there are no original developers left at CD Projekt, but many of the original team have left and a lot of new devs have joined. I’m not sure if these newcomers will truly understand The Witcher, especially if they’re not from Poland or Central Europe. CD Projekt has simply turned into a big corporation and there are already too many red flags around it for me not to be skeptical. Also I’m not salty about them not working with us. I just used our experience as one of many examples because it’s something I’m closest to and know the most about. In the video, I also mentioned other cases where CD Projekt has completely ignored various cool fan projects. I forgot to bring up one instance where some friends of mine from the Czech Witcher fan community created a card game based on The Witcher games and art used in them. When they reached out to CD Projekt to ask if they could collaborate and do somthing similar to the partnership CD Projekt has with the creators of The Witcher: Old World board game, they were told no. CD Projekt said they could release it unofficially as a fan project but couldn’t sell it. Since those people had invested so much time into it and wanted to make something out of it, they had to completely change the game’s theme and setting to be able to sell it. So it’s definitely not just us being ignored by CD Projekt that irks me. Their overall dismissive attitude toward fan projects frustrates me and the fact they don't even know about most of them because as creators of The Witcher they should be huge fans themselves and know what's happening in the community. As for their collaborations with Polish reenactment and HEMA groups, I don’t know how good those are, but I’ve seen Polish Witcher LARP groups, and no offense, but their quality isn’t very high. It's definitely worse than in the Czech Republic. When it comes to Nilfgaard and Scoia’tael, we’re undoubtedly the best in the world. And that might sound like arrogant bragging but it's not meant to be. If there would be someone better I would give them credit and praise them like I always do in my videos when someone from another country does something really cool around The Witcher. From what I know, the Witcher fandom in Poland also isn’t organized in the same way ours is here in the Czech Republic. I simply don’t know of any other Witcher fan community that’s as dedicated as ours and I don’t understand why CD Projekt has ignored us for so long. That's all.
@@FolkWalkCZ *"I’m not sure if these newcomers will truly understand The Witcher, especially if they’re not from Poland or Central Europe"* --- It doesn't matter. All of the senior positions, especially those responsible for the art direction, story, and themes are taken by CDRP's veteran (Polish) developers. People doing coding and programming can be from Bangladesh, they don't have any impact on what makes the Witcher what it is,. *"I also mentioned other cases where CD Projekt has completely ignored various cool fan projects"* --- And they are under no obligation to do otherwise. It's not like other AAA companies are doing otherwise. The best way in which CDPR can show respect to the fans is to make complete, unbuggy games with fairly priced expansions, no DRMs and a ton of free additional content. And so far, bar the Cyberpunk premiere, they've been doing just that. *"I forgot to bring up one instance where some friends of mine from the Czech Witcher fan community created a card game based on The Witcher games and art used in them. When they reached out to CD Projekt to ask if they could collaborate and do somthing similar to the partnership CD Projekt has with the creators of The Witcher: Old World board game, they were told no"* --- And? What's so shocking about that? Would you become a business partner with every random bunch who approaches you? I mean, it's pretty clear they've planned a physical GEWNT release of their own. Why would they split profits with amateurs when they have already plans of their own in motion? *"but I’ve seen Polish Witcher LARP groups, and no offense, but their quality isn’t very high"* --- I wouldn't know since I happen to be a reenactor and the common opinion of LARP-ers in Poland is that they are cringe to lazy to do proper reenactment. Suffice it to say, that for Witcher 2 reenactors in full armour were used for motion capture to make the movements of armoured opponents more realistic. Jan Chodkiewicz, easily one of the best swordsmiths and HEMA fencers in the world made their original witcher swords replicas they used for reference and for sound design. Finally, they cooperated with Sieniawski & Sons (HEMA and stage fencing instructors) to create Olgierd's moveset. Finally, they cooperated with a folk reenactment band Percival to make the soundtrack for The Witcher 3 😉 In short, they do cooperate with fans and hobbyists a lot. They just happened to primarily use the talent available at home.
@Velesus101 Okay, the main thing I wanted to say is that I was fine with CD Projekt not contacting us after Game Access and I didn’t hold it against them. My frustration with their approach developed gradually over the years as I kept hearing about cases where they ignored fans who are creating really interesting and cool stuff around The Witcher. I just think it’s such a huge missed opportunity because many of those projects could have been useful in the future. Even if I weren’t a member of the Nazair Brigade, I would absolutely love to see a Nilfgaardian camp in a future game that’s highly detailed - not just NPCs standing around aimlessly, but a fully functioning military camp where everyone is performing their tasks. And there could be some interesting side quest built around the location. CD Projekt could leverage groups like ours for that because they’re run by reenactors who know a lot about how these things actually worked in history and we also have hands-on experience from our events. To wrap up, I don’t think CD Projekt owes anything to fans of The Witcher, but their attitude toward their own community says something about them. We’ll see how the upcoming Witcher games turn out. I hope they’re as good as the first three of course, but I’m just skeptical after everything I've heard since The Witcher 3 came out.
We still have Andrzej Sapkowski's books. He has just published sequel to the series. He also has other series called Narrenturm (it is a trilogy about hussites wars and magic)
Btw don't get me wrong, I think witchers are a cool concept. But as someone who's been a fan of The Witcher for so long, the witchers themselves started to lose a bit of their appeal for me at some point and I began to take a much greater interest in other aspects of this fantasy world. It’s a bit like when your favorite musician releases a new album and you instantly love a few of the best songs from it and play them on repeat. But because you listen to them so much, they lose some of that initial magic after a while and don’t excite you as much as they did when you first heard them. So you start listening to other songs on the album that maybe didn’t instantly grab you at first, but the more you listen to them, the more you appreciate them. This way, you keep digging deeper and end up appreciating almost every song on that album. That's how I feel about many aspects of The Witcher universe. I appreciate a lot of things that most fans might not think about when it comes to The Witcher, or at least that’s how it seems to me. And I know it sounds a bit arrogant or pretentious (like look at how big of a fan I am compared to all of you), which definitely isn’t my intention, but it just feels like not many people move beyond the witchers themselves as poster boys of The Witcher and dive deeper into this fantasy world which is a shame. I wish I could talk to more people about the minutiae of this fantasy.
Agreed, the differences found between each Kindom's militaries has always impressed me. Good sorce of world building
Same fucking here man, i love The Witcher for so long that at this point the Witchers themselves are the least interesting part of this world.
I think a major reason why the military is often underappreciated because it looks mundane and realistic rather than fantastical.
Despite this, the geopolitical conflicts are definitely interesting and I feel like Witcher games did a good job in portraying every faction as multi-faceted and flawed but the main appeal of Witcher will always be the main characters since it is character-centric story.
However I am more interested in your views on Gothic/Dark Fantasy genre such as FromSoftware games and their inspirations like Lords of Fallen
@@hamizanyunos1502 after binging a lot of fantasy, I honestly think the genre NEEDS more mundane types of soldiers, wearing mail and tabards and kettle or nasal helms, knights bearing colorful devices. It's still very much a spectacle, especially with how uniquely subtle you can make the differences between factions, rather than overt distinctions
@@jjhh320 You have a point but there probably needs to some type of modifications to be different like Nilfgaardian soldiers have those oversized black shoulder pads. Dark Souls and Lords of Fallen have some mix of mundane but also intricate armors that I think are cool, they are not necessarily over the top that we see in high fantasy but maintain the whole gothic vibe.
Another reason why I think Witcher military is not appreciated is because we can easily compare it to real life medieval-early modern armies.
I completely agree. It NEVER breaks immersion.
It always feels real.
Another aspect of Sapkowski' s writing that is not appreciated is; Economy.
He really understands Socio Economics. 😎👍🏾
Sapkowski was an economist before he devoted himself to his writing.
@Rahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh17 really? This explains everything. Thx! 😃
Yes, i major in International Relations and you can just tell he was an Econ Prof. The way he describes the world is so different than i would, but i very much enjoyed it for the realism❤❤❤
@@NunofUrbeeznis
Its just wonderful to get people from the profession or at LEAST with a better understanding of it - confirm what i said!
It makes sense! Thx! 😌
Some people don't like the political and military aspects of books, but for me, they were the most interesting.
I only disliked that they were more like napolean era and not late ME/Renaissance in terms of structure and organisation
@@MadMatTom7769 On meta level it actually had more references to the first half of 20th century in Central-Eastern Europe. Be it the ethnic tensions, a bunch of squabbling states taking turns backstabbing each other, even as an existential threat already loomed on the horizon or post-war pogroms.
@@MadMatTom7769 The witcher is based a lot on late medieval europe, where standing armies and plate armor, As well as monarchs gaining more power over their vassals being the norm.
I feel like Cahir really shows Sapkowskis approach to the military. Sure he is introduced as a black knight with feathers on his head, but he's just a guy way over his head, trying to do what he feels is the right thing.
This 👆. I also felt it was really powerful how Sapkowski emphasized Cahir’s youth and loyalty to his family. Even if he was too young to understand what he was being asked to do.
For Sapkowski it’s always about how the broader society and culture influences the individual, not just the individual coming up with their own views, which is a perspective I find quite realistic.
thronebreaker is awesome, yeah i agree the card focus is not my favourite but i overlooked it because the writing was *chefs kiss*
Such a gut punch that the series got canned, Thronebreaker hooked me in then left me wanting.
@merlylvsm same but due to how poorly gwent went and cdpr going mega woke it's probably better they left it there
This is a really needed video, because I often find people saying that the politics and battle scenes of The Witcher are “random” and “aren’t related to the main characters”… like whaaaat :D? That whole context defines their lives, and that is part of what makes this series so unique. Especially because of the historical and cultural context influencing it. (Because I am from the US, Witcher was refreshing to me-a lot of American takes on war glorify it and make the Americans out to be the heroes, maybe experiencing pyrrhic victory and trauma, but overall saviors and good guys, in an ultimately two-sided context. And this is also how real conflicts become portrayed by the media, devoid of cultural and historical context).
It’s one of the reasons I find Witcher so valuable to share with others because it demonstrates why these “large” topics matter to people personally. War is not just a drawing on a map… it is more like “a fire raging through a brothel,” as our poet said. And because of that, it’s also very complicated to explain how this presents itself in the books and games, so thank you for this video :)
Indeed. Sure author said that the most important part is Ciri's story but the world he put her in is very complex and has some charm to it.
Geralt: "Gwent?"
Folk Walk: "Not now."
Geralt: "Ok 😢"
I like Gwent in The Witcher 3 😃 But I don't like the standalone version and the one in Thronebreaker which is essentially the same. I have to do a video about it at some point where I'll explain why.
@@FolkWalkCZ Yes i also love gwent in the witcher 3 but for some reason standalone version lacks
@@OUTLAW1345 I feel the exact same too
The original Beta of stand-alone gwent was sooo much fun. It was like gwent from original Witcher 3, but just made bigger and better in the best ways ... THEN, they changed it entirely as it got super popular, and that really ruined it / made it into something totally different... Twas sad thing to see. But those first Beta versions were really, seriously great. Am glad I got to play it during its first phases in the least ..
@@thedivine5897 unfortunatly last expansion and balance changes totally killed so many decks game is just gr8 except cheap comic shit wiedzmin 2 styled
CD Projekt just went corpo.. The Witcher 4 will be a real test to see if they follow Ubisoft’s steps to the downfall or going back to the good old days.
TOTAL CORPO DEATH.
After yesterday nah Witcher 4 is cooked it went woke
@@TopDrek bro, even if that was true, cdpr was always woke. you can make a bald black woman with a mans voice in cyberpunk, whats woker than that? there's also, like, gay cutscenes. that's pretty woke. did that stop cyberpunk from being a good ass game?
@@Elvis.D99 All the guys who made the Witcher trilogy left after 3 so they weren't "always woke"
@@TopDrekI can’t imagine any legitimate Witcher fan thinking that playing a Witcher game from Ciri’s POV be “woke”
She’s like the perfect protagonist and has been built up across multiple games
Don't ever lose your enthusiasm, man. I really love your videos! Being Serbian, Slavic mythology is dear and well known to me, and I love learning about medieval weapons, armor and tactics. Have you heard about the tavern in Moscow, opened and owned by Witcher fans? The inn is called "Under Witcher's sword" (Под ведьмачым мeчом). Cosplayers, Witcher (Russian) voice actors, interior, drinks and food fashioned to look like the ones from the game, live music, they have it all. I'll be visiting Moscow in July, can't wait to check it out.
Andrzej Sapkowski wrote a prequel to Witcher series. There is also a cook book from Witcher unvierse
Yeah, I have the cook book but I'm waiting for Czech translation of the prequel so I'll probably get it next year when the translation is finished. But from what I've heard the book is good so I'm looking forward to it 🙂
@@FolkWalkCZ How do you like the Cook Book?
@@FolkWalkCZ Man CZ is pretty similar - learn poslish for the books ;-) ITS WORTH IT because sooooooo much is lost in translations, and even as a Pole i had to learn sooooo many unknown words to me....
Have U read Husite trilogy?
I totally get you. Watching history related content and videos about historical arms and armor became my hobbie, I appreciate when developers create military stuff based on realism instead of generic fantasy. The Witcher series has really "believable" military gear, and that makes it much more interesting than WOW-esque armors or giant anime weapons. It is also worth mentioning how castles and other fortifications are relatively realistic as well (even though you mentioned in a previous video).
Battle of Brenna was just perfect
yea lost due to 1 cowardish scout
New Folk Walk video, time to grab the snacks, and my potions.
Nice to see you in person. Keep it up!
I love exploring battle sites, garrisons and destroyed infrastructure in the Witcher 3. It really makes me feel like a detective exploring the history of the land.
For the CD Projekt not writing back, they know who you are, if the process alows it, they will contact you, these projects are massive and take time.
But there is a danger interacting with fan work, for which many authors, but most notably the late and great Terry Pratchett would attest to. If you cooperate too much with your fandom, it just takes one fool, to be polite, to claim you stole his idea and you're stuck in a multi year lawsuit and even if you're certain you win, that's time, money and publicity you don't want to waste.
I do hope they reach out to you tho, as what you're doing looks spectacular tho.
I am still excited about Witcher 4 and the various other Witcher projects CDPR have in the works. But I see the passion that you guys have and for what it's worth, I agree with you, CDPR should reach out to influencers like you to promote their products. If I were in charge of their marketing efforts, I would rely more on what people like you do instead of billboards, TV advertisement spots, RUclips ads and so on, you know, all the things that you just kinda go dead inside when you see, and do more exciting things with willing influencers like yourselves.
I'm glad that you catched reference to Polish szlachta. And very good recomendations about movies, I would only add "Potop" to the list. Nice clip. Amazing project with the nilfgardian army. When it comes to CD Preojct we are worried that they are becoming another big AAA corporations with all its wokenes and they have lost their Polish heritage. Greetings from PL
Good stuff, I think I've seen pictures of your group's cosplay and I'm quite jealous of your armour. Big fan of Nilfgaard myself, I did some amateur concept art for troops from the various provinces because I was interested in the topic but there wasn't too much information available.
The encyclopedia idea is awesome!! Glad i stumbled on this video and hope CDPR can come across it as well.
Yes, finally, thank you, my favorite subject in fantasy universes
I love the idea of a more grounded Witcher RPG where the player would be an infantryman, at least for a part of a campaign. If that never happens, at least we can use Warhammer Fantasy TTRPG or heavily homebrewed Dungeons and Dragons to run it on a tabletop.
Warsword conquest - mod for warband - or diffrent theme but PERFECT EXPERIENCE - Prophesy of Pendor ;-)
For those interested, a total conversion mod for Mount and Blade Warband is in development about the Northern Wars. For those unaware, Warband is a mixture of third/first person rpgs and grand strategy games like Total War. The mod, which is of a pretty high quality, will be released sometime in January.
Witcher visual encyclopedia would be marvellous, especially revolving around military aspect, CDPR please wake up and get hold of these passionate people, Witcher fanbase need big push and growth, moreover CDPR you should be the captain of this gigantic ship, this is how you build both the interest in the IP and your revenue.
PS: Is it possible to get hold of those Nilfgaard catalogues you guys hand out to CDPR people?.
It is great to have a believable backdrop for any kind of story, and Witcher has that covered quite well.
Armies, logistics, climate, economy, politics, geography - all of these have to make sense, otherwise I am stuck on them instead of the story. I would consider them as important as the main topics the writer/game director plans to explore. Now, are these aspects the coolest thing in the world? No, I don't think so. I think witchers and monsters are more interesting. But putting a witcher and a monster in a believable setting is just so much more interesting than simply having bosses waiting in their dungeons for the witcher to tackle.
I really don't like the sorcery aspects of books/games/movies. Those, in my opinion, take away from any story. I find that witchers have enough weaknesses to make their struggles interesting. Sorcerers/-esses, less so, they are just plain OP, and have too few rules.
Great video as always! Do you know Sapkowski wrote a new Witcher book??? Rozdroże kruków (Crossroads of Ravens), it is a prequel telling the story of Geralt shortly after completing training and becoming a witcher, its really good :D Cheers, from Poland!
Yeah, I've heard it's good and I'm looking forward to it 🙂 I'm just waiting for Czech translation.
Great video as always. Love to see a true fan talk about many aspects of this world.
Very much agree with you with all the stuff you said in the video.
Great vid!
Thanks 🙂
I'm leaving a like.
I stopped the video after a short while because I'm on the third book only, so I'm avoiding spoilers.
but I agree that humanizing characters is a strong point of the witcher. I initially thought about how it humanized the peasants but I guess he does the same whith warriors. Good stuff
Glory to the Unicorn dynasty, glory to Kaedwen!
battle of brenna was probably the moment i got interested in military history
Some of that Nilfgaard armor looks amazing, did you guys make it yourself? Or can it be bought somewhere? Would also love to know about the commands you invented. I am part of the Witcher RPG wiki, so I'd like to add them to the Nilfgaardian language.
Our armor is usually custom-made by Czech armorers and blacksmiths. The best armor parts are made by Elthien Tanno ( instagram.com/elthien_armory ).
As for our commands, we have them in the brochures I mentioned. I could send you a PDF of it if you email me at folkwalkcz@gmail.com .
People in Czech LARP community usually have their armour made by an armourer or they buy it from stores (and sometimes make adjustments to it) or buy it at swap meets
I rlly wish the Witcher had ASOIAF level world building politics wise. The political landscape of the continent in the Witcher is so interesting but there’s only so much info.
I would love to see Witcher Total war now thx
THANK YOU!
One of the parts of the Witcher books that I liked the most was the descriptions of the movements of war and the political and military maneuvering that would precede the actual war. You could tell he's a student of history, it felt like reading a fictionalized retelling of real events.
Finally someone talking about this
While it's interesting that Sapkowski's military experience informs his work, his depiction of armies isn't why (most) people are interested in his world - it's the magic and the Witchers. It makes sense that the military is very tertiary in CD Project's mind. Kingdom Come Deliverance isn't a good counter-example, because they don't have fantasy elements in that universe - so the military is of course the main focus.
I’ve been wishing for a Witcher Miniature wargame (WFB rank and file as you mentioned) for years honestly, so many fleshed out units and factions, would work so well. I’ve also been wishing for miniatures/figures of just regular soldiers, even finding some of characters like Iorweth was a challenge 😅
I think your concerns aren’t extremely warranted. CDPR, in their last games, showed a pretty major drive for understanding and actualizing the world, economy, and contexts of the Witcher. Just because they haven’t reached out to larpers or whatever and haven’t released Aedernian coins or Kaedweni t shirts doesn’t mean that they’re gonna throw away any of the factions in the next game. I’m assuming that the devs understand how devoted their fan base is, and how much they hated the Netflix shows. I’m also pretty sure that they’re gonna deliver something decent.
We'll see. The main point of the video was to show that right now CDPR could be doing much better job at focusing more on other parts of The Witcher. And I'm not saying they should ignore the witchers completely but I think that they get enough love from them and the fans already. So it would be great if other factions would get some love as well.
@@FolkWalkCZ they did gwent and thronebreaker and U didnt like it ;-)
You’re not alone. The reason I enjoy the Witcher setting so much is the low fantasy esthetics as a lover of medieval equipment and architecture. The Witcher schools are neat but there’s really nothing like how the Witcher feels like both fantasy and history. Game of thrones might compare but the armor looks like shit
Good vid
Thank you 🙂
The pattern of backstabbing on the eve of and during WW2 was quite common actually, and during one convention Sapkowski remarked that the Northern Aedrin affair could also be read as alluding to the Polish annexation of Trans-Olza (a d*ck move on our part BTW). Obviously it wasn't anywhere near as consequential Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, and Sapkowski probably intended this primarily as a dig at Polish "ultrapatriots". Also, it was back in the 90s, so before Russian imperialism reared its ugly head again on a large scale, but still.
Yup they could have done a game with gameplay like in Warhammer40K series with all lore Witcher books have
I think it is worth pointing out that, as you said, CDPR has been working on Cyberpunk lately and seemed like they had pretty good fan interaction and cooperation for that game. Using your same example, we didn’t hear or see much of anything from Warhorse Studios for the past few years in regards to the sequel, so I really don’t feel like that is all that fair to compare one studio that is about to release a game and another that is still early in development by their fan interactions.
Also, I very much agree with you, fantasy elements aren’t really that interesting to me, I tend to prefer low fantasy or historical fiction settings, so I share your interests in the non-fantastical elements of the Witcher series. That said, while hardly alone, we are in the minority. They are only going to make merch and things that they know will interest the widest group of people, aka witchers and monsters. I don’t agree with you that necessarily indicates a lack of interest or care from the developers though.
hey, I found out through your videos that there is a much bigger fanbase of the withcer in the central european areas but they mainly only speak polish or czech. im from India, but I want to be able to understand fan films and read the books in their original language, so I was thing about learning a new langauage but I dont know whether I should try learning polish or czech, could you help? You said that witcherstories is in czech but alzurs legazy is in polish. The books are also in polish, from this, im thinking about trying to learn polish but do have any suggestions?
Yeah, learn Polish. I'm not sure if Czech would be useful for you. If you can speak English you'll get around fine in the Czech Witcher fan community in case you would ever want to visit our events.
@FolkWalkCZ ohk great, tysm. I was looking at the con morhen website to inquire and maybe get a ticket, but it's showing that everything is sold out, could you recommend any other events?
I am curious. Are there any receipes in the cook book your LARP group is able to cook during your campaigns?
miluju tvůj neskrývanej českej přízvuk!
It would be great if CDPR would contact you! Or more fans…that’s a huge wasted potential
It's also quite possible people you have meet are no longer working at CDProject.
Plus CDPR is more into withers and thinks they are the cool factor of that universe not the PFI.
It seems the biggest complaint which I agree with is they're not interested in building the world and the lore which is a huge shame
Do you have The Witcher TTRPG, written by Mike Pondsmith, creator of Cyberpunk, the latest CDPKR game? Interesting connection that
the army group west, center and east was clearly inspired by operation Barbarossa
E'er y Glòir ✋🏽☀️🏴
Gloir aen Ard Feainn ☀🖤
The most under appreciated fact is that we never knew how good the Witcher games were until we saw the abysmal Witcher IV reveal trailer. It's over, CDPR has fallen, time to move on.
I am fast
I dislike strategic games and (like most of the community?) love gwent so even though at first glance it doesn't pair well (wartime storytelling and card game in Thronebreaker that is) I personally prefer it to watching some 3D models "fight"
Imagine being called a normie cause the main thing in "The Witcher" for you are indeed the witchers 😭
Comment for statistics
People who dont know what lebensroum, general plan ost and what happend in eastern Europe from 1938-1945 can say how USSR didnt liberate eastern Europe what is very common for people brought up under slavophobic governments we have today.
thronebreaker did it best
17:40 Even quick preliminary research is enough to discover that most of the senior staff working on Witcher 4 are company veterans some of them like the lead writer for W4 worked on Witcher 2 and have been with the company for over 17 years. The art director has worked with the company since Witcher 1 and so on.
I am sorry Folk, I like your content a lot, but this video comes off as you being whiny because CDPR didn't decide to work with your particular (small and obscure) group of LARP-ers. It's not like Poland has probably one of the biggest and most active historical reenactment and HEMA communities in the world and some amazing Witcher LARP-ers. CDPR already worked and continues to work with the experts and community they have available at home.
I’m not claiming that there are no original developers left at CD Projekt, but many of the original team have left and a lot of new devs have joined. I’m not sure if these newcomers will truly understand The Witcher, especially if they’re not from Poland or Central Europe. CD Projekt has simply turned into a big corporation and there are already too many red flags around it for me not to be skeptical.
Also I’m not salty about them not working with us. I just used our experience as one of many examples because it’s something I’m closest to and know the most about. In the video, I also mentioned other cases where CD Projekt has completely ignored various cool fan projects. I forgot to bring up one instance where some friends of mine from the Czech Witcher fan community created a card game based on The Witcher games and art used in them. When they reached out to CD Projekt to ask if they could collaborate and do somthing similar to the partnership CD Projekt has with the creators of The Witcher: Old World board game, they were told no. CD Projekt said they could release it unofficially as a fan project but couldn’t sell it. Since those people had invested so much time into it and wanted to make something out of it, they had to completely change the game’s theme and setting to be able to sell it. So it’s definitely not just us being ignored by CD Projekt that irks me. Their overall dismissive attitude toward fan projects frustrates me and the fact they don't even know about most of them because as creators of The Witcher they should be huge fans themselves and know what's happening in the community.
As for their collaborations with Polish reenactment and HEMA groups, I don’t know how good those are, but I’ve seen Polish Witcher LARP groups, and no offense, but their quality isn’t very high. It's definitely worse than in the Czech Republic. When it comes to Nilfgaard and Scoia’tael, we’re undoubtedly the best in the world. And that might sound like arrogant bragging but it's not meant to be. If there would be someone better I would give them credit and praise them like I always do in my videos when someone from another country does something really cool around The Witcher. From what I know, the Witcher fandom in Poland also isn’t organized in the same way ours is here in the Czech Republic. I simply don’t know of any other Witcher fan community that’s as dedicated as ours and I don’t understand why CD Projekt has ignored us for so long. That's all.
@@FolkWalkCZ *"I’m not sure if these newcomers will truly understand The Witcher, especially if they’re not from Poland or Central Europe"* --- It doesn't matter. All of the senior positions, especially those responsible for the art direction, story, and themes are taken by CDRP's veteran (Polish) developers. People doing coding and programming can be from Bangladesh, they don't have any impact on what makes the Witcher what it is,.
*"I also mentioned other cases where CD Projekt has completely ignored various cool fan projects"* --- And they are under no obligation to do otherwise. It's not like other AAA companies are doing otherwise. The best way in which CDPR can show respect to the fans is to make complete, unbuggy games with fairly priced expansions, no DRMs and a ton of free additional content. And so far, bar the Cyberpunk premiere, they've been doing just that.
*"I forgot to bring up one instance where some friends of mine from the Czech Witcher fan community created a card game based on The Witcher games and art used in them. When they reached out to CD Projekt to ask if they could collaborate and do somthing similar to the partnership CD Projekt has with the creators of The Witcher: Old World board game, they were told no"* --- And? What's so shocking about that? Would you become a business partner with every random bunch who approaches you? I mean, it's pretty clear they've planned a physical GEWNT release of their own. Why would they split profits with amateurs when they have already plans of their own in motion?
*"but I’ve seen Polish Witcher LARP groups, and no offense, but their quality isn’t very high"* --- I wouldn't know since I happen to be a reenactor and the common opinion of LARP-ers in Poland is that they are cringe to lazy to do proper reenactment.
Suffice it to say, that for Witcher 2 reenactors in full armour were used for motion capture to make the movements of armoured opponents more realistic. Jan Chodkiewicz, easily one of the best swordsmiths and HEMA fencers in the world made their original witcher swords replicas they used for reference and for sound design. Finally, they cooperated with Sieniawski & Sons (HEMA and stage fencing instructors) to create Olgierd's moveset.
Finally, they cooperated with a folk reenactment band Percival to make the soundtrack for The Witcher 3 😉
In short, they do cooperate with fans and hobbyists a lot. They just happened to primarily use the talent available at home.
@Velesus101 Okay, the main thing I wanted to say is that I was fine with CD Projekt not contacting us after Game Access and I didn’t hold it against them. My frustration with their approach developed gradually over the years as I kept hearing about cases where they ignored fans who are creating really interesting and cool stuff around The Witcher. I just think it’s such a huge missed opportunity because many of those projects could have been useful in the future. Even if I weren’t a member of the Nazair Brigade, I would absolutely love to see a Nilfgaardian camp in a future game that’s highly detailed - not just NPCs standing around aimlessly, but a fully functioning military camp where everyone is performing their tasks. And there could be some interesting side quest built around the location. CD Projekt could leverage groups like ours for that because they’re run by reenactors who know a lot about how these things actually worked in history and we also have hands-on experience from our events. To wrap up, I don’t think CD Projekt owes anything to fans of The Witcher, but their attitude toward their own community says something about them. We’ll see how the upcoming Witcher games turn out. I hope they’re as good as the first three of course, but I’m just skeptical after everything I've heard since The Witcher 3 came out.
Hihi something was released today
I feel like the witcher universe has been irreparably damaged by those atrocious netflix shows.
I hope im wrong.
We still have Andrzej Sapkowski's books. He has just published sequel to the series. He also has other series called Narrenturm (it is a trilogy about hussites wars and magic)