The books and the games are actually quite good, there’s a reason they got so big in Poland. See this synthesis of other comments:
“It must have been really hard for gamers to do that side quest where Geraldo of Rivia says racism is bad.”
“Or when Ciri is canonically bisexual. Or how the Witcher 2 is about a guerilla movement for national liberation.”
“I feel like “Geralt turns to the camera and says ‘the real monsters are cruel and intolerant men’” happens in a good ten percent of the quests, both side and main.”
I don’t think Andrzej Sapkwoski is explicitly leftist but the stories would get ripped apart by the anti-woke crowd if they were first released today instead of in the 80s, and no I don’t think this is just cope to defend a story I found deeply meaningful. Geralt’s character arc in the original short stories and books is about going from a jaded bitter individualist “why should I ever stick my neck out for anyone else” to “I will fucking eviscerate anyone from the dominant social group who tries to pogrom these ethnic minorities”.
Chuds just have exactly 0 media literacy skills so they see white man and think “omg he’s just like me” when his position in society is actually to be persecuted, scapegoated, and given the shittiest of shit-work to the point where he multiple times has to go into the shit-filled sewers just to earn money for food.
I mean I had no interest in the Netflix show because it looked horribly done, not because Big Woke woked all over it or whatever the chuds said
I don’t think Andrzej Sapkwoski is explicitly leftist
He’s a weird dude who is a chud and an asshole, but for some reason he at least was explicitly antiracist when wrote the books. Ultimately, i would count him as a lib because his solutions to racism and national liberation are liberal.
I didn’t read that one because even the back cover summary makes it explicitly anticommunist. He also engaged in some character assassination of Geralt when in Season of Storms he wrote a story when Geralt (CW SA, pedo) completely ignores when some dude try to rape a kitsune’s daughter literally 5 meters from him with a reason for inactivity being obviously that the rapist is human and victim is not.
To the first, I guess I can see why some Poles in his generation would have a complicated relationship with Communism but yeah I have absolutely 0 interest in reading that.
To the second, wow what the actual fuck, way to lose touch with who the character he created even is. It’s not the first time an author has revisited some story they wrote when they were younger and showed they’ve completely forgotten who the character was at core by making them suddenly rabidly conservative. I actually got a copy of that book but hadn’t gotten around to reading it because by the time it got translated and arrived I was focused on other stuff.
Have you read his Hussite trilogy? I was stoked to try reading them years ago but they hadn’t been translated to my language yet and by the time they were I was fixating on other things so I still haven’t gotten around to them. The reddit crowd says they’re even better than the witcher, but reddit leans so I don’t necessarily take anything they say seriously.
I can see why some Poles in his generation would have a complicated relationship with Communism
They don’t have anything complicated. Writers just opportunistically flipped the flag the moment system changed. Literally entire art community in Poland did, that’s why i have zero respect for them and wish them happy getting fucked up by AI like we workers are fucked up every automation round. Maybe they finally will find some class solidarity which they never had at all.
Have you read his Hussite trilogy?
Yes. As always he manages to create vibrant and believable (pseudo)late-medieval setting and some good characters, but the trilogy is hard case of the trilogy-burnout syndrome with the 1st book being excellent, 2nd mid and 3rd taking nosedive.
Writers just opportunistically flipped the flag the moment system changed. Literally entire art community in Poland did, that’s why i have zero respect for them and wish them happy getting fucked up by AI like we workers are fucked up every automation round. Maybe they finally will find some class solidarity which they never had at all.
Wow that’s disappointing, thank you for sharing that. That’s so pathetic to just not have any ideals and opportunistically do a 180 on a dime like that.
Sucks the trilogy syndrome hit that series too. Idk if I’ll bother then, I like a story to be self-contained and if the ending ruins it I’d sometimes rather not even get invested. At this point “trilogy” is so overplayed and leads to needless bloat, a series being a trilogy is a red flag
The fanbase is just another example of “curtain is blue and there’s no other meaning” brainworms even though the game has quite a lot of interesting themes going on
I’m glad I never bothered with Based Geraldo’s game because the fanbase seems nuclear toxic.
The books and the games are actually quite good, there’s a reason they got so big in Poland. See this synthesis of other comments:
I don’t think Andrzej Sapkwoski is explicitly leftist but the stories would get ripped apart by the anti-woke crowd if they were first released today instead of in the 80s, and no I don’t think this is just cope to defend a story I found deeply meaningful. Geralt’s character arc in the original short stories and books is about going from a jaded bitter individualist “why should I ever stick my neck out for anyone else” to “I will fucking eviscerate anyone from the dominant social group who tries to pogrom these ethnic minorities”.
Chuds just have exactly 0 media literacy skills so they see white man and think “omg he’s just like me” when his position in society is actually to be persecuted, scapegoated, and given the shittiest of shit-work to the point where he multiple times has to go into the shit-filled sewers just to earn money for food.
I mean I had no interest in the Netflix show because it looked horribly done, not because Big Woke woked all over it or whatever the chuds said
He’s a weird dude who is a chud and an asshole, but for some reason he at least was explicitly antiracist when wrote the books. Ultimately, i would count him as a lib because his solutions to racism and national liberation are liberal.
Too bad he’s a chud and a lib but I guess irl people’s politics can be quite idiosyncratic, I appreciate the explicit antiracism.
I guess I heard he wrote a book about some soldier in Afghanistan and not on the side fighting against occupation so that can’t be a good sign.
I didn’t read that one because even the back cover summary makes it explicitly anticommunist. He also engaged in some character assassination of Geralt when in Season of Storms he wrote a story when Geralt (CW SA, pedo) completely ignores when some dude try to rape a kitsune’s daughter literally 5 meters from him with a reason for inactivity being obviously that the rapist is human and victim is not.
To the first, I guess I can see why some Poles in his generation would have a complicated relationship with Communism but yeah I have absolutely 0 interest in reading that.
To the second, wow what the actual fuck, way to lose touch with who the character he created even is. It’s not the first time an author has revisited some story they wrote when they were younger and showed they’ve completely forgotten who the character was at core by making them suddenly rabidly conservative. I actually got a copy of that book but hadn’t gotten around to reading it because by the time it got translated and arrived I was focused on other stuff.
Have you read his Hussite trilogy? I was stoked to try reading them years ago but they hadn’t been translated to my language yet and by the time they were I was fixating on other things so I still haven’t gotten around to them. The reddit crowd says they’re even better than the witcher, but reddit leans
so I don’t necessarily take anything they say seriously.
They don’t have anything complicated. Writers just opportunistically flipped the flag the moment system changed. Literally entire art community in Poland did, that’s why i have zero respect for them and wish them happy getting fucked up by AI like we workers are fucked up every automation round. Maybe they finally will find some class solidarity which they never had at all.
Yes. As always he manages to create vibrant and believable (pseudo)late-medieval setting and some good characters, but the trilogy is hard case of the trilogy-burnout syndrome with the 1st book being excellent, 2nd mid and 3rd taking nosedive.
Wow that’s disappointing, thank you for sharing that. That’s so pathetic to just not have any ideals and opportunistically do a 180 on a dime like that.
Sucks the trilogy syndrome hit that series too. Idk if I’ll bother then, I like a story to be self-contained and if the ending ruins it I’d sometimes rather not even get invested. At this point “trilogy” is so overplayed and leads to needless bloat, a series being a trilogy is a red flag
The fanbase is just another example of “curtain is blue and there’s no other meaning” brainworms even though the game has quite a lot of interesting themes going on