The show has a lot of spectacle and the fight scenes are choreographed well. The acting from the main cast is also good, even though some of the lines are delivered awkwardly.

Another thing the show does well is its set design and its costume designs (except for the Nilfgaard armor).

But that is as far as the complements go.

The tone and the narrative of the show fails as the stories it tries to tell are disjointed and possibly confusing for anyone that hasn't read the books. This is compounded by the bizarre decisions to omit certain stories from the books that are essential for the ending of Season 1 to make any sense. Many of the characters' motivations are rarely clear and it sometimes gets hard to care about them.

The shows aim to be a spectacle with its well choreographed fights and battle scenes, but it lacks any focus on the main characters. And certain side characters even have the opposite motivations from what they were in the books.

The CG is also inconsistent, with it being decent in some episodes but then laughable in others, like the Dragon, which was likely intentionally set in a dimly lit cave instead of in the open as was in the books.

The Direction was bad, but the writing was even worse and laughable in certain scenes. It lacked any subtlety with the word "destiny" being thrown around every episode.