moonshineshadow: I have played the first one. Was a nice game. And when the second game come out I realized you could load saves from the first one. But I did not have mine anymore because the computer had broken down in between. So I started to play the first one again and almost finished it. And then I had to move and stuff and somehow I never finished the replay of the first and never even started the second one :D
It's not normally a type of game I would play, but with it being very well priced during a previous sale, I figured I would pick it up to give it a try some day.
I like the idea of keeping your save from the previous game. It makes it more rewarding for the player and gives them a nice link to the second game.
toxicTom: I really recommend reading the books first, beginning with "The Last Wish". The second book "The Sword of Destiny" is still not officially available in English, although it contains a few stories that are of relevance for the following novels and possibly the events in TW3. But there is a fan translations available from
archive.org.
The books are very, very good of you like fantasy literature.
I will have to have a look one day and see if I can find the first book and give it a read. If I enjoy it I will try to get hold of the other English translated ones.