Overall i say its entertaining and worth a watch.

My background: i played all 3 games and spent a lot of time digging through lore mostly ingame and sometimes on internet as this world is really fascinating for me. books at the time i played games wasnt even translated officially in english and some fans translated it. I understand books are really popular now but i didnt read them all. i sometimes listen to audiobooks but i cant claim i read all the books.

What i liked:

Henry Cavil and Jaskier nailed their roles. i like how he even tries to grunt like from witcher games. you can tell henry really is a fan of this universe and he didnt half assed it. Jaskier is funny too.

Butcher of Blaviken story line is done really well and i am impressed with sword fights. rounding spins reminded me of the skill u take in witcher 3 which lets u spin like that.. it was really fun to watch him mow down people in market.

Music and background score were done well

Production and locations are really good and some CGI is pretty good for a TV show.

Some battles and magic effects were done pretty good. CGI is mixed bag for me.. but i did like certain spell effects.

What i didnt like:

My major issue with this show is character development and world building. People say this show is true to books but its actually not. What i loved about witcher universe(in books and games) is people have their own angles. Nothing is black and white and more you know about them more hard decisions become if you think they are good or bad etc. This show made lot of characters so blatantly one dimensional. Nilfguard is straight up evil etc.

M really not big fan of triss (or Yenifer) in this show. i dont even know why they kept her in this show. I guess they had to show her in the final battle so they included her in striga curse story line for no other reason.

Yenifer story line started good but later her motivations make no sense. there is no way Geralt would fall for this version on Yen. i never bought their love story part in this show. I really wished they spent couple of episodes just exploring Geralt + yennifer story instead of making it a one night stand.

Beating our head with "destiny" is really annoying too. i thought it was implied and could be done in a subtle way. i dont like it when shows doesnt treat audience like adults and have to keep telling stuff over and over.

Time line jump story telling might be a hard to follow for new commers. i mean I know witchers and powerful mages dont age like normal people but they never set it up. speaking of setting it up.. world building was not done well at all. Say what you may about how bad game of thrones TV show in it final seasons but they nailed world building in its 1st few seasons. if i didnt read a single GOT book i can still get that show. you cannot say the same with this show unless u have played game or read the books. You dont know where nilfguard is or where cintra is or why is there conflict between certain kingdoms.

i know they are setting the answers for future seasons but a visual or any world building on where kingdoms are etc would help people follow the story lot better.

Casting choice kinda took me out of universe. I for one have been invested in universe and pictured some characters based on what we know from games or books. i dunno why they have to cast some characters just to tick "diverse" cast. it didnt help me instead bothered me when i am trying to related to them.

imagine a black gandalf in lord of the rings.. i makes no sense and it doesnt make me a racist as thats not how we pictured gandalf reading books. half the annoyance could have avoided if they just stuck to the source material when it came to casting.

they already address lot of political issues in this universe with elfs and dwarfs etc its ridiculous to change ethnicity of certain characters for no good reason.

Nilfgaardian armor is a joke in this show and takes me out of the world everytime i see them.

"bad guys" motivations were never properly setup. They are just evil. especially Fringilla .. her motivations and why she seeks dark magic made no sense. and why yen decides to come back and help mages no sense either. i thought they could have split the plot line in to 2 seasons and explore the motivations better.

Overall i would say its a decent watch but its no where close to perfect show or nowhere as bad as some critics said. i do think newcomers might be lost with how the story is unfolded.