Will I have to play Witcher 1 and 2 to understand anything of the plot?

[MorbidToaster]

For those who have played both W1 and W2, did you have to play W1 to understand W2?

[Grimminski]

No. Just read a summary if you're curious about the story.

[Draegon®]

For W1 there are some minor things that happens if you import a save from 1-2, like if you help a certain person in W1, you get a mysterious package In W2 from that person, I believe 1% of your gold and some weapons and armor carry over, but nothing massive.

Story wise, I don't believe you are missing out on much, there might be some characters or locations that you meet and visit again in W3 but I don't think it's going to be major.
(You never know though)

I do believe one should play W2 before 3 though, as it has a ton more story elements and tells you a lot about the world. You will be more invested in the story and there are some major choices you can make, for example there are some very powerful characters in W2 that you can decide to kill, spare, save from certain death, make them enemies and so forth, which will certainly play into how W3 unfolds.

Witcher 3 last I heard got about 36 different endings, I am certain that a lot of those endings will differ from your choices in W2.

If you ask me though, both games are epic and I would tell you to play them both to get the full experience and see everything there is to see, but if you are short on time or dislike the gameplay or the graphics of witcher 1 as I have heard is the main reason people skip it, then go for W2.

A story recap of witcher 1 can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB_bHqHzhIA

Remeber, keep your W2 end - saves safe on multiple drives incase of fire and prepare your anus for the next installment.

[Islander]

No

[marakinta]

It depends on how much you enjoy lore. There is a certain character that is very important to Geralt, and it may help to play the older games to gain a deeper understanding of that character, but CDPR claims that W3 will be stand alone, so I suspect the backstory will be recapped for new audiences. Either way, the game looks to be awesome.

[d3fron]

I think you should play Witcher 2. It contains the majority of the story and you can get familiar with the combat system of Witcher as it is quite unique in contrast to other RPGs. Besides, this will shorten the waiting time ;)

[Clown Reemus]

Witcher 2 save will have critical impact on the story of Witcher 3. If you let one character die in Witcher 2, he will not appear in 3. And if you help him, he will be there with a quest or a story. I would say Witcher 2 is crucial if you want to maximize your story-experience from Witcher 3.

[Nossa ₪]

If you play W1 things you did at the W1 save will change something on W2 and W3 as well.Dont you think it will be weird if you kill someone in W1 and then he becomes your ally on W2?So that way someone didnt play W1 dont think that and resumes playing

[Ruaridh]

I think The Witcher sets the scene and introduces alot of the major characters.
The Witcher 2 develops the plot.
To my understanding The Witcher 3 should conclude the plot.

The Witchers saves were transferable to the second game, however from what i remember this only translated to your last set of weapons like G'valchir, the moonblade and raven's armour or mentions of major plot characters from the first game like Yaevinn, i think .
Hopefully there will be alot more plot changes with the Witcher 2 transfering to 3, like Saskia, Triss Merigold, whether you chose to side with Roche or Iorveth and of course Letho .

Playing The Witcher 2 would probably be a good thing, spotting an important character etc would be easier as well as knowing a little more about them. It may also help to understanding how the game will play and feel a little bit more.

As for The Witcher; it gives the introduction to what sounds like the big antagonist of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt and a background to Geralts Witchering past as well as some interesting small stories like the were wolf .

I'd say, play The Witcher 2 then if you feel like delving more into the universe and like a challenge try The Wticher maybe the books too.

[MorbidToaster]

Thank you all for amazing feedback, I will play Witcher 2 and watch/read the story recap on Witcher 1

[Clownski]

Originally posted by MorbidToaster:

Thank you all for amazing feedback, I will play Witcher 2 and watch/read the story recap on Witcher 1 :spycon:

I wouldn't advise that. You should definitely play W1 (and read books!) before playing W2. You may not understand many threads if you won't.

[LeFrench]

no. ignore this guy. the majority have given the right choice: read the first's wiki summary. But play the second.

[LGN || Jel]

W1 is long and all i could think about was playing W2, both great but as of right now... W3 releases in 5 months so u hav plenty of time to smash out 1 and 2 like i just did. Cant wait for 3!

[Klaas Piemel]

Originally posted by MorbidToaster:

For those who have played both W1 and W2, did you have to play W1 to understand W2? :jarate:

It is definitly easier and way more fun to play at least the second 1. The first one has a really good story but is more of an introduction to all the themes and characters and groups and such.

[Hadley]

Of course, they should only allow People to play it if they import their Witcher 1+2 Savegames and answer a Lore-Quiz especially for the Savegames, to make sure its your own.

[zacharyb]

Originally posted by Hadley:

Of course, they should only allow People to play it if they import their Witcher 1+2 Savegames and answer a Lore-Quiz especially for the Savegames, to make sure its your own.

That would lock out a bunch of people who haven't played the game before, or people who got a new computer but beat the previous games, or for people who lost their saves. That would be a dumb business strategy and would hurt their sales a lot. The Lore-Quiz is also a stupid idea, some people probably haven't played the game in years, and probably wouldn't remember everything.

All they need to do is add a recap video of the previous witchers, and maybe add a selection thing like bioware uses.