I enjoyed this season about as much as the first, maybe a little less. The more straightforward, coherent story structure is welcome but I thought the action was a bit less exciting. My biggest criticism of the season is that the bond between Ciri and Geralt/the witchers doesn't really feel earned despite having 8 screen hours of opportunity to develop their relationship. People just say they care about each other without sufficiently showing how or why. This applies a bit to Yen and Geralt's relationship, too. Doesn't apply to a certain bard, though.

Finally, after watching the whole season 2...I still only like episode 1. The rest I find to be a complete mess, way too many unnecessary changes and additions, accompanied by the cringe worthy writing. Honestly, I now understand why Sapkowski said what he said in THAT interview, when asked about "the future of The Witcher show, which has already been renewed for season two"

"Allow me to quote Joe Abercrombie, the author whose books are very much to my liking: “Life is, basically, fucking shit. Best to keep your expectations low. Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

I fucking loved the second season... Maybe not quite as much as the first, as I really like how they put Geralt's story into an episodic format rather than the single story arc that Ciri's story had, and the two major Yen arcs. The second season was definitely more conventional. Blood of Elves is probably the most difficult book to adapt, and I liked the additional stuff with Voleth Meir and the ties to the Wild Hunt for that character.

Witcher is probably my favourite TV show currently running.

I like how they adapted A Grain of Truth, and felt that was a pretty good way to do it - while reading all the exposition in the books is interesting, it's not really necessary for the plot. They'll likely be doing A Shard of Ice in the next season since they kind of built to it.

I really enjoyed the 2nd season. When it comes to TV/film adaptations, it's almost never going to be exactly how it was in the original source material so getting upset about this kind of stuff is meaningless. I haven't read the books, so I can't comment on those, but I have played Witcher 2 and 3. The fact Eskel was an asshole seemed to be more of him being "infected" than his personality. We even get a flashback of Eskel and Geralt having a great moment together. Sure, they could have kept him alive, but they didn't so whatever.

Are some really complaining about Mark Hamill not getting to play Vesimer? Lol They actor who played Vesemir did a great job.

If you like the TV series, I'd highly recommend the books. They're very exposition heavy, and have a lot of story-inside-the-story type stuff, which is common in medieval literature and Tolkien; both strong inspirations for The Witcher. While it sounds like a bad thing on paper, it works well in the books. They have a generally more mature feeling to them than most fantasy does - so even if you're not a fan of fantasy, you might still like them.

-- On Eskel and other bitching --

So I didn't even know this thread was supposed to be some hate-fan circle jerk. I probably should have paid closer attention to the title :D
Anyway, disliking something because you simply don't like it is fine and fair. We all have different tastes. But that's not what the thread starter is doing. He's going out of his way to spout off this melodrama about a show with "critiques" that amount to a steaming pile of rhino shit.

1. On Eskel. Contrary to the guy's criticisms, in the books, Eskel's NOT Geralt's best friend, NOT a main character, and NOT integral to the plot. He's a minor character.

The funny thing is he probably plays a bigger role in the Netflix series than he did in the books where he had all of what, 7 or 8 lines? He only appears in Blood of Elves (the main basis for the season) and, even then, only featured in one chapter after popping up in the previous. For perspective, he's on the level of Haldir or Glorfindel from Lord of the Rings - and a less significant character than Glorfindel if you include the Silmarillion which, unlike Witcher 3, is at least canon (thatgets to my next point).

2. The Netflix series is not based on the games. Using that as a complaint is as goofy as whining about Nolan's Batman films and Joker 2019 based on differences from the fucking 1960s Batman series :D

3. I think it's obvious why whining about Mark Hamill not playing Vesemir is bullshit. Of all the trivial/irrelevant details he criticized the show on, this is probably the most random and weird. Silver lining, at least all the melodrama makes sense now - he's a Star Wars fan! :D

Come on dude, lighten up!

I'll probably give the books a go at some point. Since you're into fantasy check out, Name of the Wind.  I just finished the 1st book and I'm reading the 2nd now. Really good read. 

I saw this thread, but I wanted to finish season 2 before knowing what it was about. I thought it was going to be some issue with the plot or something actually worth getting upset about like GoT season 8 level bullshit. Finding out it was an issue with the show not being like the game? Come 'on now.