The Witcher author - Andrzej Sapkowski - "The game has caused me a lot of s***"

Eurogamer.pl: "In a lecture at the convention Polcon in a fairly harsh words he spoke about the players and developers."

[Cy]

This site really needs to stop accepting these google translated articles. They're basically unreadable.

[monkey602]

Yeah I tried and got nowhere with making any sense of all that

[NewMonday]

From what I could decipher the author is upset that people think his books are an adaptation of the game, while the game is actually an adaptation of his books, and that the story cannon from the game has superseded the original cannon of the books.

though he dose acknowledge that the game gave his work popularity in the first place and that lead to his work being published in several languages.

[Bansai]

Basically, he's salty that the games overshadowed the books.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@ban- no he's angry that the developers have not given proper or I would say more transparent citation to his work

[Bansai]

He never said that, and even if he did, they [CDPR] did punctuate that the whole series is based on the books and not the other way around. Every single game says that.

[Eamon]

Actually, the games are a sequel to his books. CDProjekt did a very clever move by making Geralt amnesiac at the beginning of the first Witcher game. It was clever in that it easily introduced new people to the world of The Witcher without having to adapt the original stories nor having to change their events at all.

Characters like Philippa Eilhart would meet Geralt for the first time in the games and the player wouldn't know that Geralt actually met her before, so since he doesn't remember, it feels like a first meeting all over again. The same with Triss, Dandelion etc in the first Witcher. It also gives a valid excuse to why Geralt doesn't talk about or search for Yennefer or Ciri in the first 2 Witcher games.

[nix]

Guys read the book series. It's freaking amazing.

[Lon3wolf]

@Edmix,

GoG have always said it was adapted form those novels, they even had Andrzej Sapkowski advise on the games (I believe) in the beginning. He distanced himself from the games ages ago. I bet it's just some journo dragging up old stuff again now that the GOTY W3 is coming out.

[Bahamut]

You're right, completely unreadable.

[Anzil]

Didn't even read the second paragraph

[zodiac909]

I find it so weird that in this day and age, Google Translate STILL has so much trouble accurately translating languages. =/

[Movefasta1993]

I only read book 1,and i love it.I'll read book 2 soon.

[Fist4achin]

Same here. I've heard the second gets into the weeds of the politics of the kingdoms. I am just starting it.

[RememberThe357]

I just finished the first book a couple of days ago and I honestly wasn't that impressed. It read like a series of short story's loosely related; not a bad thing in essence and i actually found some of the situations interesting, but it felt shallow and impersonal. When it ended it felt like the end of a first act and. If hadn't had the context of the games I wouldn't have finished it. After reading this book I'm firm in my thought that the developers of the game are better story tellers than the author.

[Movefasta1993]

I prefer the short story layout but i can understand why you did not like it. The chapter with Geralt and Renfri was legendary imo .

[RememberThe357]

Yeah the book has a couple moments that are so "Witcher" and so awesome. But my expectations were molded by the games and that might not be fair since you're the Witcher all the time and you're with him through everything. Plus, I just finished the Red Rising series earlier and I think I was hoping for that sort of book. With all that said, I still plan on continuing the series, Geralt is awesome and the stories are so unique.

[cerpintaxt44]

the first book is a collection of short stories. Blood of Elves is the book that starts the narrative.

[FalloutWanderer2077]

"After reading this book I'm firm in my thought that the developers of the game are better story tellers than the author. "
No, you don't get it. The first two novels chronologically are The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, both of which are just that, short story collections. The Last Wish, the book you read, is supposed to flow exactly as you described and IMHO, I love how it has interlude chapters continuing Geralt's recovery and stay at the temple of Melitele in Ellander from the Striga attack. The Witcher saga doesn't truly begin until Blood of Elves. This is the chronological reading order
1. Last Wish (Short story collection)
2. Sword of Destiny (Short story collection)
3. Blood of elves
4. Time of Contempt
5. Baptism of Fire
6. Tower of Swallows
7. Lady of The Lake
The novels are absolutely excellent and must-reads for any fan of the Witcher games and Dark Fantasy. I'd strongly advise reading the novels before playing the games, in between games if need be but before playing Witcher 3 or at the very least after playing so you can go back and replay the games to see just what you've missed. There's so much lore, remarks between characters, past events and history that only book readers will understand and appreciate. Personally, I played TW1 and TW2 and then read the books before Witcher 3 released. Highly recommended!

[burza1982]

Read stories and novels first. Saga is on the end and stories and novels are better then saga, more Geralt and similar what you had in the game.

[RenegadeRocks]

the books are the best. My most treasured stories. the way Andrej intertwines persoanl human themes with global modern themes is magical. love the humour, the characters, the world. Its mind blowing. I feel like re reading them all right now. Might as well do after my current deadline ends. :)

[Kreisen]

Without CD Projekt RED nobody outside of Poland wouldve ever even heard about his books and yet he never had anything good to say about them or the game.
Hell how much money did he pocket becouse of CD Projekt RED? Im sure he was very, very angry accepting all that cash. What a piece of shit...

[RememberThe357]

That was my first thought. This guy is tryin to convince everyone that the success of the game was because of the success of the books. The ego is strong with this one.

[ThunderPulse]

He's a punk.

[letsgopal]

For years he's known for being a very egoistic asshole. And he basically said that people who play video games are idiots.

[bloodybutcher]

Of course. If you ignore the pre-game translations to Russian, German, Spanish, French etc.

[cerpintaxt44]

murica!

[RabbitFly]

Yep. Yet never in English, which is the biggest market for books. Not because Murica! like Cerpintaxt44 jokingly says, but because there are a lot more people viable to read books in english in countries all over the world.

Me f. ex. I am not from an english speaking country, but of all the languages that the Witcher books have been published in. The only one I can read is English, and none of the books, maybe except the last wish, was published in english before the games made the stories popular.

[TheTwelve]

Must be horrible to have your books get so much attention and increased sales due to the game. I wouldn't wish this upon any struggling writer, in fact.

[Cy]

As a struggling writer, I totally agree. I'd hate it if someone made games out of my books and drove up my sales. It would be even worse if it got my books translated into other languages, of all things. I feel so bad for this poor guy.

[letsgopal]

he's just an asshole towards anything and anyone. He thinks people that play video games are stupid

[theshredded]

Judging by this, CD project Red are greedy limited bastards.

[RememberThe357]

With all that free DLC and epic story telling I'm left feeling the same way

/s

[glassgannon909]

that you paid for.

[shammgod]

If it wasn't for the game series, there would be a lot less fans of these books.

[rainslacker]

He seems upset that people won't pick up the book because they think it's an adaptation of the game, and think that the books aren't faithful to the game. However, he doesn't seem to give much credit to the fact that people brought it because they knew it was the source material for the game, and wanted to read it....kind of like how movie adaptations can drive high sales of other books....particularly in the sci-fi and fantasy genre.

He at least acknowledges that without the CDPR games, that his books wouldn't have likely been translated for western markets, so if that's the case, anything he sold would be additional people getting to know the stories and his work.

In any case, he accepted the licensing of his work, so if he's upset about it, it's kind of his own fault if he didn't stipulate that it had to remain faithful to the books itself. If he wants to have problems with individual gamers or whatever, then that shouldn't be applied to the whole game IP itself or it's fan base.

[ifrit_caress]

Oh my gosh, I stopped reading at about 25% into the article. I just can't follow the article, the grammar is so far off and the sentences are very incoherent. It's just too difficult to read and make sense of it.

[RememberThe357]

#googletranslate

[bloodybutcher]

It is.not worth reading. Sapkowski is.just bitching about everything and insults gamers. He was always a tosser, with his head so.far up his arse, that he could lick his lungs.

[opinionated]

Hahaha..thanks for the great games pal

[MilkMan]

The games are popular, he should be grateful that the buzz generated by the game feeds the sales of his books.
It's a symbiotic relationship.

[JoeyMad]

my head hurts

[cfc83]

So the guy took cheques in the hope the game wouldn't be popular ?...tosser.

[ShadowKnight]

One of the best game this generation

[Mr Marvel]

He might be angry at the games, but they're the only reason I went out and bought "The Last Wish".

[Question_Mark]

In the last few paragraphs, it looks like says the people who play the games aren't very intelligent.

He admits that he doesn't know anything about the game and says he could ask someone who's played it, but would rather ask someone intelligent.

The games made his books more popular, even though he claims it's the other way around, had them translated into more languages, and helped them sell more, yet he craps all over the game and its fan base, all the while not knowing anything about it.

He seems like a real scumbag.

[thejigisup]

A-hole yes, scumbag no. He deserved to get paid for this. The games and the books both have their own legs though I have to admit the games have improved his book sales. He should play the games before speaking ill of them. Ntm there's plenty of educated people who have played the games. He's rightfully mad. But no one cares sooooo

[letsgopal]

"He deserved to get paid for this." Just read the article. He already got paid the full price when he signed the contract with CD Projekt. They agreeed to the flat price.

he's salty about the fact that he never got any money from the very first witcher game (which wasn't made by cd projekt and was cancelled) so why should he get any money for a game that wasn't even released?

Sapkowski is an known asshole AND scumbag. He once came to his own fan-meeting, he was rude to his fans and completely drunk.

[vergilxx3]

Well Let mi help with translation
First You need to understand that the books were first.
Andrzej Sapkowski is complaining ,because people are rejecting his books saying that it is "not how it was in the game"
and the translating companies are using art from the game on his books ,he is suffering more loses from this than gain
And Cd project says that he is getting popular because they made the game but in truth its the other way around
he also says that it is not the witcher he created or imagined

at least this is what i could understand from all this

oh yeah and he did not get a penny from CD Project

[FalloutWanderer2077]

CDPR paid for the rights before making Witcher 1 and from an interview earlier this year that I watched he said it was the right amount of money, not giving any definitive information. He's a very sarcastic individual and the language barrier for non-Polish speakers makes things even harder to discern what's what. He's a cynic and can come across as an asshole but, in truth, I do not think he's the dickhead most think he is. There are a few talks and interviews with English speaking (He can speak English, just not fluently) or has subtitles in English.

[SaveFerris]

Some artists can be very protective of their work, and dislike it being changed without their permission.

Also, I'd love to see a big budget mini-series based on the books, though people may compare it (un)favourably to Game of Thrones.

[thejigisup]

They undoubtedly would, however the witcher 1 and two were so good they should do it anyhow.

[FalloutWanderer2077]

From my understanding, CDPR had the rights to do what they wished. The games are non-canon, giving them complete creative freedom, other than them sticking as close to the characters and lore as possible from the novels. The Witcher game trilogy, if you know the books, is a non-canon continuation.

[mahmoods26]

The games did more to make his book series popular than he ever could have. He should be thankful. I can understand if he's frustrated that people think the books came after the game but that's not the fault of the developer, it's the fault of the publisher and easily rectified.

[letsgopal]

"he's frustrated that people think the books came after the game "

You completely missed the point. He's not frustrated, he simply acts like a jerk because he sees people playing video games as idiots not worth his time, and recently there's a lot of fuzz about witcher 3. He's also super salty about the money he never got for a game that was never released (Metropolis Software was working on Witcher 1 which was cancelled in 1997). This guy is a known asshole with a really big ego.

I remember the time when he was being sarcastic and rude to his own fans on his own fan-meeting. Oh, and of course drunk.

[mahmoods26]

I was being nice. Also he did get paid, he got licensing royalties for the game. It's just that he's bitter because the licensing fees were miniscule since the series wasn't well known at the time.

[Soc5]

Mo money mo problems...

[ninjahunter]

This guy has done nothing buy trash talk the games since day one.

[Enigma_2099]

No offense, but I'd rather play the game.

[chris235]

to be honest, witcher3 was so boring. not no man's sky boring but 0815 boring. you can have the best writer in the world but when your quest system ist dated and predictable because ten thousand rpgs did the same thing before then it's the game's concept that is flawed. not too many gamers seem to have noticed but for me witcher 3 was a huge dissappointment. no writer on the planet could have made this game worth the while.