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.
@@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.
It's funny, I never gave much that to those two aspects but now since I'm writing a book of my own I really do need to put some thought into that due to my MC being given the authority to rally a militia and the fact that he needs to equip and manage them.
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! 😌
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.
The realistic armour used by humans was something I loved about the games. It made the Wild Hunt’s armour look more terrifying and fantastic by comparison. Showing that these were invaders from another world
Not only that, but I also liked the contrast of regular humans trying to take on various oversized wildlife with just a common knowledge/motivations and the effects of that. Especially that first quest in White Orchard when you track the griffin back to its lair, find its mate brutally killed by soldiers, and you can almost hear both Geralt and Vesemir facepalming straight through their skulls, because griffins mate for life and become murderously vengeful if someone razes their nests
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
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 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.
The writing looks so damn fun but jeez I can't put up with the card game visuals. This feels like having an amazing story with cool visuals like Final Fantasy VII remake but combat is just a card game. I wish that at least the visuals would be different. Could even have animated 2D sprites of different units attacking, but still have the card game mechanics with unit strength, types, counters etc.
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?
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.
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.
The Battle of Brenna really triggered my hatred for the Scoiatel when they attacked the field hospital where Shani and Iola was. Serves them right being hunted like animals when the Nilfgaardians lost that battle.
Dude I don't remember in wich book but there was a really good narration of a battle with non on the main character in it. Just explaning the worlds politics, really great
I completely agree, I thought Total War set in this world with armies of continent would be amazing! Also I like how they put realistic mostly historically accurate (with our Medieval times) armour and weapon.
It's incredible how, despite constructing one of the most complex high fantasy universes, Sapkowski still managed to maintain a level of realism. The geopolitical tension, the military, the battles, the character dynamics, and every little detail of the world are believable. I absolutely love the armor design in The Witcher 3.
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 just came across this in my recommended videos and FUCK YES. I love the "mundane" parts of the Continent. The Witchers are a dying breed as are the monsters at large they hunt. Civilisation is taking over. I love how the books describe the grime, the actual life of the people around. It's somewhat easy to describe epic battles, heroes and tales, and that is great. But I want to hear about the stories of the shit caked, muddy, flea ridden men-at-arms, like Poor Fucking Infantry.
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.
Yeah We have a decent buhurt scene but that’s actual casual/competitive armoured fighting. But it’s a good way into getting into getting a set of steel armour as each group have their own suppliers and are only way to get approval for having historical steel weapons.
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.
also the state of the world at the end of TW3 was really interesting ☘️ do you think they will go with the northern realms ruled by dijkstra? I'd love to see him again as I'd love to see the skellige of queen cerys and the part that dol blathanna will play
@@danielkowalski7527 I really like the concept behind Thronebreaker - finally something in The Witcher universe that doesn’t revolve around witchers. There are many aspects of the game that I genuinely like. However, the reason I still haven’t finished it is Gwent. I don’t enjoy learning new rules for games. I barely managed to learn Gwent in The Witcher 3 so I wasn’t thrilled about having to relearn it when CDPR changed the rules for the standalone version. I kept thinking I’d pick it up once the game stabilized and the rules stopped changing, but CDPR kept altering the mechanics, adding new cards, changing the effects of older ones and so on. This is why both standalone Gwent and Thronebreaker failed in my opinion - most people didn’t want to relearn rules for the standalone Gwent, especially when the rules kept changing constantly. I want to make a video about this at some point.
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.
As a big fat nerd, i loved the battles and political intrigue. I loved Nilfgaard using elf commandos to sow chaos. I love the fact Nilfgaard has a proffesional standing army with ranks and command structure. Seriously, how the fuck do people not like all the cool military stuff?
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
There is something about czech people and manly hobbies that warms my heart. Board games, wargames, military cosplay, love for medieval things in general. Things that were a huge part of my childhood and i would love to do but i live in south america and there is none of it here. Also, Lansquenets in the witcher? What? That's awesome.
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.
I really enjoyed the early parts of the video, I was enraptured by your nilfgaard larp because since I was first introduced to this series I've always been a fan of them. But it's a little bitter to mellow out on a series you've invested this much in just because the merchandise focuses on the main character or because the fans like the easily accessible faction. The niche parts of the franchise will only ever be interesting to us dedicated hobbyists, the average normie has no will or capacity to engage with it - and listen - that's okay. We can enjoy those parts as well, no need for bitterness. I believe geralt talks about this in the last wish. Filavandrel asks him how he fares among humanity, because he is visibly different. And geralt says something to the extent of "I manage. I manage, mostly because I have to. I've gotten over the self pity that comes from being different." Edit: Upon watching some of your other content it seems you revel in the bitterness and self pity. You love hating that the creators aren't pandering to your specific needs as if they're the only valid interpretation of this series. Instead of giving the witcher 4 time you immediately jump on the opportunity to perpetuate the currently very popular consensus(maybe normie? :) ) about how "Cd projekt have done the worst thing imaginable". Instead of engaging in the reasoning and nuance behind their choices, speculating and hoping what you might see in terms of the things you like about the franchise(e.g seeing how the world politics progressed since 3, exploring the continent and it's aesthetics and history further, all the things cdpr has a good track record of doing etc.), you're bitter they didn't pick your specific idea of where the franchise should go. I don't have a high standard for youtubers because I know outrage and negativity gets clicks, but I hope you understand that being a fan of the setting doesn't mean just being a fan of your niche corner and being bitter about everything else, it means enjoying all aspects of the series -unless the creators have disappointed you continuously, like disney with star wars, but cdpr has a great track record- and applying criticism as necessary, but I guess you lack the nuance and you'd rather blame the normies for wanting a "power fantasy", which is a ridiculous, one dimensional, nuance-less statement anyway. Good luck in future endeavors. I sincerely hope you realize you were too quick to judge when the game comes out. But then again maybe it will indeed be awful and everyone doomposting about it will be vindicated for the tiresome tradition of doomposting about new things.
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 😅
Very good video. And yes the other factions and possibilites don't get enough love. But it is all those factions who make the World of the Witcher what it is! 🍻
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?.
The Nilfagaardian army was so cool when I first found out about the Witcher. It reminds me of that scene from Game of Thrones. "What is the bigger number, Five or One? (Five Fingers versus a Fist) The Nordlings need a political miracle or an immenent disaster to stop squabbling over border forts and raise such an army. Nilfgaard can just do it. Professional, disciplined, the combined forces of NIlfgaard and it's vassal provinces, a dozen armies of a dozen countries, all marching to the will of the White Flame, and to top it all off, clad in that awesome Black Plate and Golden sun. And behind them, the finest merchants, bankers, politicians, diplomats, mages, spies and farmers support the army. You can defeat the Nilfgaardian army, but they'll always come back with a new plan, a new scheme, a new direction. Sodden hill happens, the northern mages and the kingdoms unite and push them back? spend years dissolving the power of the mages, put the kings against each other and the second they are all turn for a second, in goes Emyr's Black army. The Northern Kingdoms have to win every time, Nilfgaard need only win once. It feels like an army, like a nation, that could take and, more importantly, hold, the northern realms, rather than "ooh scary spikey dark evil horde here to burn everything down for reasons." Then Netlfix turned them into crinkly leather armoured dweebs or the Telmarines from the Narnia films.
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'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
Crazy coincidence finding this video for me. I remember about 2-3 years ago discovering Nazair brigade completely by accident because I was searching for what? You guessed it, pictures of Nilfgaard soldiers. But even with the card game and thronebreaker having released, there was just a dearth of anything that represented Nilfgaard. I found the FB group and seriously must've spent over an hour or more just admiring the gear and costumes you folks had on. You had turned Nilfgaard into what I had always imagined it to be from the books. This kind of low fantasy version of the HRE/central European medieval army. And what really struck me was that not everyone represented was a high ranking knight or noble. The common soldiery was represented as well, and even the camp followers. It really looked like an authentic medieval LARP that just happened to have the Nilfgaard heraldry. Anyway, my point was that your efforts, while basically ignored by CDPR have been seen by fans of this community and inspired me to look even more into The Witcher series as a whole. I won't comment on the recently released trailer, but I think it's safe to say, CDPR is going their own direction with this setting and that all of the ancillary elements of what makes The Witcher so cool is being pushed to the side. It is what it is, I suppose. But I want to say that I really appreciated the work that you're group did. Genuinely. You guys represented the factions and soldiers better than even the video games did, let alone the show. Cheers!
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 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!
100% agree and love your take on the world of the Continent. Military and political factions also need emphasis and exposure so as not to exhaust the most hyped components of its fantasy. It's like pure sugar vs a sweet cake: which do we tire of first? (and I'd argue that the world of the Continent is not a sweet cake)
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't be easier to contact sapkowski directly and show your projects to him ? I don't know the man, but I bet he would like the encyclopedia idea.
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.
You've got really, really cool larpers there. I'm going to get started with that next year, looking forward to being a random shmuck mercenary low key terrified of magic, witchers and monsters and in way over my head.
Honestly I would think the biggest reason why the milltary in the witchers world is so underrated by fans is simply it's not common in the monster hunter genre and never has been ieven in ancent times... But being the genus of the witchers setting where it is a massive deep dark fanstay world not just a sandbox to kill monsteres in the milltary is amassive part of all wi6cher media.
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 I lost most of all is how close they keep a lot of the armor and uniforms of the Renaissance era, even those that seem “silly” to us today. It’s something I want to see more in media, besides jut wanting more color
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
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 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, TH-cam 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.
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.
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 agree with you, i was a bit put off by watching the new trailer for the 4th game. I saw them have ciri drink a potion and that totally did it for me. they've lost their way i think. I would love to have had some enthusiasm again like I had when I originally found out about the games. I'm not a big literature guy I don't think my imagination likes to go through the trouble of relating the visuals the words convey to me so I generally just end up saying words.....lol.
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
Not sure how I didn't find this vid before, despite watching all of your stuff as it comes out. TH-cam keeps disappointing... but your vids don't; I appreciate that you're showing people another perspective when it comes to The Witcher. But I share your disappointment, and difficulty to get excited about the IP. Also, thanks for recommending "The Rise and Fall of the Witcher", it sounds like a good watch. I'll be sure to check it out.
Another cool tid bit, you can tell that the era this world is in is the late Middle Ages. This and that there are gunpowder grenades shows that the world of the Witcher is on the cusp of entering the cool era of Guns and Knights.
I would kill for a Medieval Total War 2 mod in The Witcher universe with Temeria, Redania, Kedwen, Skiellige, Nilfgaard and the rest as a playable factions
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 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.
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.
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?
The Witcher and Star wars both suffer from this issue of way over focusing on one small aspect of the world and forgetting about all the other really cool stuff. For the Witcher it Witcher's and for Star wars it Jedi, with both of then every single story ends but always have to end back with a Witcher or Jedi and more often then not just one very specific Witcher or Jedi. Like don't get me wrong I like Witchers and Jedi but I also like many other thing in these worlds and Im getting tried of being told characters stories over and over and over. Its ok to have a star was film or game not have a Jedi or a skywaker and its ok for a Witcher game to not have a Witcher.
@@FolkWalkCZ Thank you! You do really good stuff , and I agree with you that CdProject needs to contact with their community to do cool things together!
Nilfgard has been my fav military force and also also gwent faction. Yes they're somewhat evil and their emperor is a bit of a twat. But you can't deny that they look good. Much like the nazi fashion.😅😅
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.
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.
It's funny, I never gave much that to those two aspects but now since I'm writing a book of my own I really do need to put some thought into that due to my MC being given the authority to rally a militia and the fact that he needs to equip and manage them.
@artilleriman That is late ME/Renaissane not Napoleonic era
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! 😌
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.
The realistic armour used by humans was something I loved about the games.
It made the Wild Hunt’s armour look more terrifying and fantastic by comparison. Showing that these were invaders from another world
Exactly. I think it's what started my love for "Regular historical medieval guys thrown against fantastical creatures/ armies" as a concept
Agreed
Not only that, but I also liked the contrast of regular humans trying to take on various oversized wildlife with just a common knowledge/motivations and the effects of that. Especially that first quest in White Orchard when you track the griffin back to its lair, find its mate brutally killed by soldiers, and you can almost hear both Geralt and Vesemir facepalming straight through their skulls, because griffins mate for life and become murderously vengeful if someone razes their nests
I agree, that's why also I hated the show so much, how they dared to use those plastic scrotum armors?
Absolutely! I can't stand all that spiky or bulky armour that so many fantasy games have.
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
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.
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.
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
The writing looks so damn fun but jeez I can't put up with the card game visuals. This feels like having an amazing story with cool visuals like Final Fantasy VII remake but combat is just a card game. I wish that at least the visuals would be different. Could even have animated 2D sprites of different units attacking, but still have the card game mechanics with unit strength, types, counters etc.
I wish it was more in the style of a traditional RTS. I just can't get into card style games.
@@bighatastrea I will say that it takes it a bit further than Gwent. The puzzles and such were really fun.
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?
Battle of Brenna was just perfect
yea lost due to 1 cowardish scout
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.
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.
I’ll have to keep an eye out for that
The Battle of Brenna really triggered my hatred for the Scoiatel when they attacked the field hospital where Shani and Iola was. Serves them right being hunted like animals when the Nilfgaardians lost that battle.
Nice to see you in person. Keep it up!
Your Nilfgaard group looks amazing. Its funny how fans can do a way better job then a million budget series.
Dude I don't remember in wich book but there was a really good narration of a battle with non on the main character in it. Just explaning the worlds politics, really great
New Folk Walk video, time to grab the snacks, and my potions.
The encyclopedia idea is awesome!! Glad i stumbled on this video and hope CDPR can come across it as well.
I completely agree, I thought Total War set in this world with armies of continent would be amazing!
Also I like how they put realistic mostly historically accurate (with our Medieval times) armour and weapon.
It's incredible how, despite constructing one of the most complex high fantasy universes, Sapkowski still managed to maintain a level of realism. The geopolitical tension, the military, the battles, the character dynamics, and every little detail of the world are believable. I absolutely love the armor design in The Witcher 3.
I love the Blue Stripes of Temeria as far as military goes. I love that they are like the Special Forces of the Temerian army.
If they ever made a Witcher War Game, I’d love to be a Scout/Spy for either Temeria or Nilfgaard.
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 just came across this in my recommended videos and FUCK YES. I love the "mundane" parts of the Continent. The Witchers are a dying breed as are the monsters at large they hunt. Civilisation is taking over.
I love how the books describe the grime, the actual life of the people around.
It's somewhat easy to describe epic battles, heroes and tales, and that is great.
But I want to hear about the stories of the shit caked, muddy, flea ridden men-at-arms, like Poor Fucking Infantry.
@@markreivi Always nice to see that like-minded people still find my videos 🙂
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.
Fricking love the larp scene in Europe, we don’t have anything like it in Australia
Yeah
We have a decent buhurt scene but that’s actual casual/competitive armoured fighting.
But it’s a good way into getting into getting a set of steel armour as each group have their own suppliers and are only way to get approval for having historical steel weapons.
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 ;-)
also the state of the world at the end of TW3 was really interesting ☘️
do you think they will go with the northern realms ruled by dijkstra? I'd love to see him again as I'd love to see the skellige of queen cerys and the part that dol blathanna will play
@@danielkowalski7527 I really like the concept behind Thronebreaker - finally something in The Witcher universe that doesn’t revolve around witchers. There are many aspects of the game that I genuinely like. However, the reason I still haven’t finished it is Gwent. I don’t enjoy learning new rules for games. I barely managed to learn Gwent in The Witcher 3 so I wasn’t thrilled about having to relearn it when CDPR changed the rules for the standalone version. I kept thinking I’d pick it up once the game stabilized and the rules stopped changing, but CDPR kept altering the mechanics, adding new cards, changing the effects of older ones and so on. This is why both standalone Gwent and Thronebreaker failed in my opinion - most people didn’t want to relearn rules for the standalone Gwent, especially when the rules kept changing constantly. I want to make a video about this at some point.
This nerd here appreciates it very much. From the blue stripes to the nilfgardian cavalry.
Nauzicaa rise up
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.
battle of brenna was probably the moment i got interested in military history
As a big fat nerd, i loved the battles and political intrigue. I loved Nilfgaard using elf commandos to sow chaos. I love the fact Nilfgaard has a proffesional standing army with ranks and command structure. Seriously, how the fuck do people not like all the cool military stuff?
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
There is something about czech people and manly hobbies that warms my heart. Board games, wargames, military cosplay, love for medieval things in general. Things that were a huge part of my childhood and i would love to do but i live in south america and there is none of it here. Also, Lansquenets in the witcher? What? That's awesome.
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 ;-)
The closest you could get to that would probably be KCD
I've been waiting for someone else to point this out for a long time.
I wish the future of the Witcher games wasn't so bleak right now lol
"Somehow, Ciri underwent the Trial of Grasses"
I really enjoyed the early parts of the video, I was enraptured by your nilfgaard larp because since I was first introduced to this series I've always been a fan of them. But it's a little bitter to mellow out on a series you've invested this much in just because the merchandise focuses on the main character or because the fans like the easily accessible faction. The niche parts of the franchise will only ever be interesting to us dedicated hobbyists, the average normie has no will or capacity to engage with it - and listen - that's okay. We can enjoy those parts as well, no need for bitterness. I believe geralt talks about this in the last wish. Filavandrel asks him how he fares among humanity, because he is visibly different. And geralt says something to the extent of "I manage. I manage, mostly because I have to. I've gotten over the self pity that comes from being different."
Edit:
Upon watching some of your other content it seems you revel in the bitterness and self pity. You love hating that the creators aren't pandering to your specific needs as if they're the only valid interpretation of this series. Instead of giving the witcher 4 time you immediately jump on the opportunity to perpetuate the currently very popular consensus(maybe normie? :) ) about how "Cd projekt have done the worst thing imaginable". Instead of engaging in the reasoning and nuance behind their choices, speculating and hoping what you might see in terms of the things you like about the franchise(e.g seeing how the world politics progressed since 3, exploring the continent and it's aesthetics and history further, all the things cdpr has a good track record of doing etc.), you're bitter they didn't pick your specific idea of where the franchise should go. I don't have a high standard for youtubers because I know outrage and negativity gets clicks, but I hope you understand that being a fan of the setting doesn't mean just being a fan of your niche corner and being bitter about everything else, it means enjoying all aspects of the series -unless the creators have disappointed you continuously, like disney with star wars, but cdpr has a great track record- and applying criticism as necessary, but I guess you lack the nuance and you'd rather blame the normies for wanting a "power fantasy", which is a ridiculous, one dimensional, nuance-less statement anyway.
Good luck in future endeavors. I sincerely hope you realize you were too quick to judge when the game comes out. But then again maybe it will indeed be awful and everyone doomposting about it will be vindicated for the tiresome tradition of doomposting about new things.
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 😅
Very good video. And yes the other factions and possibilites don't get enough love. But it is all those factions who make the World of the Witcher what it is! 🍻
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?.
The Nilfagaardian army was so cool when I first found out about the Witcher. It reminds me of that scene from Game of Thrones. "What is the bigger number, Five or One? (Five Fingers versus a Fist) The Nordlings need a political miracle or an immenent disaster to stop squabbling over border forts and raise such an army. Nilfgaard can just do it.
Professional, disciplined, the combined forces of NIlfgaard and it's vassal provinces, a dozen armies of a dozen countries, all marching to the will of the White Flame, and to top it all off, clad in that awesome Black Plate and Golden sun.
And behind them, the finest merchants, bankers, politicians, diplomats, mages, spies and farmers support the army. You can defeat the Nilfgaardian army, but they'll always come back with a new plan, a new scheme, a new direction. Sodden hill happens, the northern mages and the kingdoms unite and push them back? spend years dissolving the power of the mages, put the kings against each other and the second they are all turn for a second, in goes Emyr's Black army. The Northern Kingdoms have to win every time, Nilfgaard need only win once.
It feels like an army, like a nation, that could take and, more importantly, hold, the northern realms, rather than "ooh scary spikey dark evil horde here to burn everything down for reasons."
Then Netlfix turned them into crinkly leather armoured dweebs or the Telmarines from the Narnia films.
Well said 🙂
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'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
Crazy coincidence finding this video for me. I remember about 2-3 years ago discovering Nazair brigade completely by accident because I was searching for what? You guessed it, pictures of Nilfgaard soldiers. But even with the card game and thronebreaker having released, there was just a dearth of anything that represented Nilfgaard. I found the FB group and seriously must've spent over an hour or more just admiring the gear and costumes you folks had on. You had turned Nilfgaard into what I had always imagined it to be from the books. This kind of low fantasy version of the HRE/central European medieval army. And what really struck me was that not everyone represented was a high ranking knight or noble. The common soldiery was represented as well, and even the camp followers. It really looked like an authentic medieval LARP that just happened to have the Nilfgaard heraldry.
Anyway, my point was that your efforts, while basically ignored by CDPR have been seen by fans of this community and inspired me to look even more into The Witcher series as a whole. I won't comment on the recently released trailer, but I think it's safe to say, CDPR is going their own direction with this setting and that all of the ancillary elements of what makes The Witcher so cool is being pushed to the side. It is what it is, I suppose. But I want to say that I really appreciated the work that you're group did. Genuinely. You guys represented the factions and soldiers better than even the video games did, let alone the show. Cheers!
@@LordOfWar_sos Thank you for such kind words. I showed your comment to the rest of our group and everyone really appreciated it.
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 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.
“We enjoy these military themes, which doesn’t mean we are pro war” 👏
100% agree and love your take on the world of the Continent. Military and political factions also need emphasis and exposure so as not to exhaust the most hyped components of its fantasy. It's like pure sugar vs a sweet cake: which do we tire of first? (and I'd argue that the world of the Continent is not a sweet cake)
coolest thing in the witcher world is PFI
Great vid!
Thanks 🙂
i would love an rts witcher game
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't be easier to contact sapkowski directly and show your projects to him ? I don't know the man, but I bet he would like the encyclopedia idea.
I would love to see Witcher Total war now thx
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.
You've got really, really cool larpers there. I'm going to get started with that next year, looking forward to being a random shmuck mercenary low key terrified of magic, witchers and monsters and in way over my head.
Honestly I would think the biggest reason why the milltary in the witchers world is so underrated by fans is simply it's not common in the monster hunter genre and never has been ieven in ancent times... But being the genus of the witchers setting where it is a massive deep dark fanstay world not just a sandbox to kill monsteres in the milltary is amassive part of all wi6cher media.
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 I lost most of all is how close they keep a lot of the armor and uniforms of the Renaissance era, even those that seem “silly” to us today. It’s something I want to see more in media, besides jut wanting more color
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
Bridge on pontar kinda resembles Czerwińsk Floating Bridge from 1410 war with teutonic order.
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 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, TH-cam 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.
Awsome vid
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.
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 agree with you, i was a bit put off by watching the new trailer for the 4th game. I saw them have ciri drink a potion and that totally did it for me. they've lost their way i think. I would love to have had some enthusiasm again like I had when I originally found out about the games. I'm not a big literature guy I don't think my imagination likes to go through the trouble of relating the visuals the words convey to me so I generally just end up saying words.....lol.
THANK YOU!
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
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
Finally someone talking about this
Same opinion on Thronebreaker. But I love the art and music of it.
Not sure how I didn't find this vid before, despite watching all of your stuff as it comes out. TH-cam keeps disappointing... but your vids don't; I appreciate that you're showing people another perspective when it comes to The Witcher. But I share your disappointment, and difficulty to get excited about the IP.
Also, thanks for recommending "The Rise and Fall of the Witcher", it sounds like a good watch. I'll be sure to check it out.
Glory to the Unicorn dynasty, glory to Kaedwen!
Another cool tid bit, you can tell that the era this world is in is the late Middle Ages. This and that there are gunpowder grenades shows that the world of the Witcher is on the cusp of entering the cool era of Guns and Knights.
Yes, finally, thank you, my favorite subject in fantasy universes
I would kill for a Medieval Total War 2 mod in The Witcher universe with Temeria, Redania, Kedwen, Skiellige, Nilfgaard and the rest as a playable factions
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.
Couldnt agree more
Good vid
Thank you 🙂
Isn't order of flaming rose inspired by teutonic knights?
exactly my thoughts all the time
miluju tvůj neskrývanej českej přízvuk!
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.
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 names of geographical locations and states are another heavily underrated part of the Witcher
Like the Pontar, Yaruga, Dol Blathana, Rivia. Chefs kiss
and I don't like the fact that some of them look like they're from the Middle Ages, and others like they're from the Early Renaissance.
completely right on the witcher 2 point, everytime i play it im reminded of the absolute 12/10 game witcher 3 could of been
It would be great if CDPR would contact you! Or more fans…that’s a huge wasted potential
your accent is so obvious love it
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?
the army group west, center and east was clearly inspired by operation Barbarossa
The Witcher and Star wars both suffer from this issue of way over focusing on one small aspect of the world and forgetting about all the other really cool stuff. For the Witcher it Witcher's and for Star wars it Jedi, with both of then every single story ends but always have to end back with a Witcher or Jedi and more often then not just one very specific Witcher or Jedi. Like don't get me wrong I like Witchers and Jedi but I also like many other thing in these worlds and Im getting tried of being told characters stories over and over and over. Its ok to have a star was film or game not have a Jedi or a skywaker and its ok for a Witcher game to not have a Witcher.
That's a good comparison 🙂
all soldiers are anti war, but they still fight it,
We really need to work on the accent as Czechs, I could tell in the first second xd
What song plays on 25 39? Is this melody from the witcher?
It's from The Witcher 2. th-cam.com/video/d_jizNCiInw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4DnKDbkqWaWTmdy1
@@FolkWalkCZ Thank you! You do really good stuff , and I agree with you that CdProject needs to contact with their community to do cool things together!
Do you have The Witcher TTRPG, written by Mike Pondsmith, creator of Cyberpunk, the latest CDPKR game? Interesting connection that
E'er y Glòir ✋🏽☀️🏴
Gloir aen Ard Feainn ☀🖤
Nilfgard has been my fav military force and also also gwent faction.
Yes they're somewhat evil and their emperor is a bit of a twat.
But you can't deny that they look good. Much like the nazi fashion.😅😅