I suggest you start to play TW1 first,especially if you haven't read the books.

It gives you a slight idea about the characters,lore and gameplay elements(some of them at least).

The Witcher 1 is an awesome lenghty experience throughout if you can cope with the dated graphics engine,which seems to have shown it's age.

I have recently finished Witcher 1 - and if you hold out and hold on untill Chapter 3 or the beginning of Chapter 4, the game starts to shine. The story is unique, creative and yes, innovative (in the truest sense of the word). The combat is a clickfest yes, but you have to remember to fight like a Witcher e.g. you'll need to roll, duck, cover, block, slide, jump. And potions in combat in Witcher 1 can and will be a real life saver.

I thought Witcher 1 was fantastic. The dated graphics didn't bother me at all. In fact, considering they used BioWare's Aurora engine as their base for the game, they did an outstanding job with the graphics. The combat mechanics threw me at first, but you get used to it quickly. Overall, the game was great and I enjoyed it even before they put out their EE. I'd highly recommend giving it a go. Once you get through the first chapter, you'll see why it's well worth your time.

Good to hear the Witcher is worth it once you get a little ways in. I'll definitely go back and play that after finishing W2.

Does importing a save from W1 make that big of a difference in the second game?

Hardly at all. You keep some of your old equipment, though the stats are such that it all becomes obsolete pretty quickly anyway. There are also a few mentions of certain choices and their consequences, but nothing that really affects the plot in any meaningful (or even not-so-meaningful) way. You're not missing anything.

I have both. I am playing through #1 now. I am taking a break from it because chapter 3's trekking frustrates me so much. I am at the activating the Gollumn and just want the story to progress. I hope the pace picks up in chapter 4.

I'll bet the story is great, but you can hardly say that Oblivion and Dragon Age are "worse" than W1. Oblivion is so amazing because of the sandbox/"do anything" element it possesses. Who cares if it's not as carefully written as W1? And Dragon Age just combines so many unbelievably good elements that it's impossible to deny it's at least as good as any other RPG. You may not have enjoyed it as much as W1, but the 90+ scores it got on metacritic speak pretty loudly for its quality.

Oh, ok, so that are the REVIEWERS. Did you happen to check its USER score?

I know, right? Who plays games for the plot? Amateurs, that's who. Real pros know that being able to wander aimlessly among thousands of similar-looking trees before stumbling into a random fetch quest is where it's at :)

I think what Deadboots mean is that for those sandbox-style games there is less focus on the plot and story-writing. A large appeal of those games is the freedom to roam around visiting random dungeons and strange places, hunting deers, jumping around (gasp!), and doing side quests without any constraints.

Whereas in a less open-world, more linear game like TW1 and TW2 the story plays a much more important role.

Figured it was probably that. I just took offense at their quoted text, because I care if a game is less carefully written. Story should be paramount, regardless of how shiny and novel the rest of the game is.

Witcher 1 was great and I played it throughout last year, but I found the game drag on towards the end and I just wanted to finish the story and stopped doing every little thing. I also wasn't tempted to replay, there is great cause-and -effect of your decisions but ultimately I didn't see the 2 paths that drastically different.

Witcher 2 is just phenominally good, and a perfect length (I'm a working professional so I don't have as much time to play games as I'd like). I'm into my 2nd run now and constantly amazed at it... I have to play at a low resolution with lowest graphic settings and it's still the best looking game I've ever played... would love to play again one day on full settings

I'd find it extremely hard to go back to W1 now.

Its a different kind of game. He has a point

I play Witcher for the involving story and choices you make. I play TES for the sandbox element, the immersiveness and the freedom.

I love both
I disagree. 99% of games have a shit story. I play games for the gameplay and design.

Witcher is an exception

Why can't Witcher 2 can have the best of both world? Both sophisticated immersive storyline and bigger world with LOTS of quests? You can scrap the sandbox but i wan't more SIDE-QUESTS. The game is freaking short.