Witch Witcher (see what I did there?) do you like better, and why?

Second one , better pacing , less grinding , visuals and combat all better. Rest is on about the same level.

Different games are different.

Both are good. Pacing is better in the first, while the second is far more true to the novels. The first has amazing graphics given the engine they were using, and the second has amazing graphics in general. The first has combat everyone complained about, the second also has combat everyone complained about. The first had more sex presented in a less believable way, and the second had less sex presented in a more believable way.

Does one really have to be better than the other? I'd say it's a tie.

Witcher 1 are very long.

Although many people may like a long game. I don't. I like a game with re-playability. I like how they the story where I can follow 2 totally different paths and end up in 2 places. Both game demonstrate lots of labor they put in.

I wont go back playing witcher 1 for it is an old game and witcher 2 has already raised its standard tremendously. But judging the game at the time it was release, witcher 1 is really good.

I'm leaning a little more towards the second, particularly because I actually stuck with it until the end, and then proceeded to replay it after. I never could bring myself to finish the first. But on paper, TW1 seems like a better game, especially for the old school CRPG crowd. It's a tough decision, since they both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Some quest in Witcher 1 are really good. Investigating suspect anyone? There are some unforgiving level like Swamp that i really like because of the variety of creatures there. But sometime it feel too long to complete a simple quest. So at the moment i leaned toward Witcher 2 a little bit.

Another tie...taking all things into account...they are both great.

Both games have had me totally hooked while I've been playing them.

TW1 has longer and quality story & RPG goodness while TW2 has shorter yet even higher quality of those. On my first TW2 playthrough I didn't even think that the prologue acts as its tutorial because its so engaging and immersive.

If they can fix or improve the combat animation/lag which sometimes get stuck and feels more like an invisible queue of commands then I'll be having more sleepless nights due to addiction to TW2. Right now depending on parry most of the time lands me into trouble (sometimes I have full vigor but Geralt wouldn't block no matter how I press [E] unless I roll or do something else, grrr, just use quen and save myself from headaches).

TW2 makes Copy-Paste 2 (DA2) a product of amateurs in comparison.

That's not that simple, therefore I divide it in categories and compare TWEE with TW2

Story:

Main story: TW2
Side quests (for friends): TWEE
Side quests (other): TW2
NPC development (friends): TWEE
NPC development (other): TW2
Dialogs: TW2
Locations: TWEE (nothing can beat Murky Waters yet)
Handling sex encounters: even

Game mechanics:

General combat: TW2
Finishing moves: TWEE (it was flawed in TWEE but I didn't like the cut scenes in TW2)
Boss fights: TWEE
Monsters: TWEE because of the variety
Alchemy (potions): TWEE
Alchemy (oils): even
Alchemy (bombs): TW2
Character development (melee): TW2
Character development (magic): even
Character development (alchemy): TWEE (alchemy tree is mostly useless in TW2)
Inventory: TWEE
Items: TWEE
+Bonus for traps to TW2
+Bonus for dagger throwing to TW2
-Penalty for QTE sequences even when they are turned off to TW2
No bonus for crafting to TW2 because despite being generally a good idea it's a pain in the ass to craft anything.
Lures in TW2? Never felt that they are useful, never used them. So, no bonus for that.

User interface: TWEE (by a mile)
Visual effects: TW2
Cut scenes: TW2

Overall: TW2 (not by a big margin)

I like both also; I don't think one is superior to the other, they're different games. Certainly the graphics of TW2 are far better.

I do think CD Projekt listened too much to critics of the first. I for one like "hunting quests" (kill x number of this creature, bring me 10 livers from that one, etc) and that TW2 didn't have enough of them. I liked the sex cards, and Geralt's rampant promiscuity. After all the complaining about QTE's and Bosses, I'm afraid they might exclude those from TW3.

I also liked TW1's: alchemical secondary effects, extra bonuses for using rune stones of one color, and I think it's inventory system was better than TW2's.

Agreed.
However I liked TW2's weight instead of slot limit. Its inventory system's disadvantages come down to the bad interface and needing to keep crafting recipes.

--Edit--
I disliked TW1's secondary alchemical effects because it made stacking potions in the limited slots a pain. I'd often curse and reload when I accidentally made a non-stacking one. Would have been good with TW2's weight-based system.

I like them both.
I liked alchemy and dice poker in W1 more. W2 still has many annoying bugs

Yup. They are very different games really, for all kinds of reasons. I would probably veer towards the second for better combat and better presentation, but the original beats it in several other areas. It's kind of an apples and oranges thing though, with no clear winner.

I purchased Witcher 2 a day after release & completed it a few days ago and plan on replaying....

I also am playing Witcher 1 (nice deal at gamersgate.com) for the directors cut enhanced edition. While I am only on Act 3 with Witcher 1 I can tell right away the first installment is a lot longer. Lot of fetch side quests which I am taking my time doing as you are building Geralt up from level 1.

-Epic Scale of Game: Witcher 1
-More Grinding feel (some players like this): Witcher 1
-Story: Even
-Replay Value: Witcher 2, while the game is shorter, less grinding effort and the pace of the story is quick so once I finish Witcher 1 I plan on converting the save over to 2 and replaying it.
-User Interface: Witcher 1, also the player does have 2 camera choices which helps in certain battles
-Graphics: Witcher 2, no surprise here. Game came out years later so it's expected the graphics improve with latest technology.

Mods: While Witcher 2 has some good mods, it will only get better once a tool set is released. Far as Witcher 1, have hunted down some great mods, and am presently using the Black Edition User interface which gives the UI a nice dark Witcher feel, the high res texture packs for npcs and the world, dark geralt, perfect blood and perfect rain.