Current Events > Are Witcher 1/2 necessary to play before 3? Even if not... are they worth it?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I bought all 3 in a steam sale a while back; given the show's popularity I figured I'd see what the fuss is all about.

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No to both
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I'm working through the first game because I went and bought them all on sale at deep cuts to the price.

I just reached chapter 2 in the first game, and I haven't regretted the purchase. Admittedly however, the game is a little clunky thanks to being on the Aurora engine, so I set it to easy so I could just focus on absorbing the story more.

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No, but 2 is personally my favorite. 1 is also a decent game if you can deal with hefty amounts of jank imo.

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I've only played 3. It made perfect sense.

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Why would you not play them if you already bought them? Alternatively, why buy them without the intent to play them, but I guess steam just kinda does that to people.

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Hambo the Hog posted...

Why would you not play them if you already bought them? Alternatively, why buy them without the intent to play them, but I guess steam just kinda does that to people.

I remember buying Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 for like $2 each several years ago. They're almost given away in sales sometimes.

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DuranOfForcena posted...

no one is saying that 3 won't make sense unless you've played the first two. no one ever says that.

TC was wondering so I answered.
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i beat witcher 3 to hell and back. decided to play the previous games and read the books.

im in Vezima in the witcher 1 trying to light some candles in a town outside it for something. i cant fight the hounds all at once and have to get gud.

i bought the 1st book hoping to finish it before i watch the netflix series. i didnt even start and finished season 1 of the witcher.

still want to play and read the series. maybe by season 2, i will get ahead of the netflix series then at the same time, be on witcher 2.

heard if you use old Completed witcher save you can bring the good gear with you and a couple menial choices to start out the witcher 2 game

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Jabodie posted...

I remember buying Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 for like $2 each several years ago. They're almost given away in sales sometimes.

Yeah but then why not play them? If you're gonna throw away $4 then throw it away on like four delicious ice cold Coca Cola products at McDonald's instead.

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HBOSS posted...

i beat witcher 3 to hell and back. decided to play the previous games and read the books.

im in Vezima in the witcher 1 trying to light some candles in a town outside it for something. i cant fight the hounds all at once and have to get gud.

i bought the 1st book hoping to finish it before i watch the netflix series. i didnt even start and finished season 1 of the witcher.

still want to play and read the series. maybe by season 2, i will get ahead of the netflix series then at the same time, be on witcher 2.

heard if you use old witcher save you can bring the good gear with you and a couple menial choices to start out the witcher 2 game

It's a minor impact, but some things will come over. I think more transfers from Witcher 2 to 3. If you're talking about the hounds I think you're talking about, you need to use potions to kill anything strong in the game. Unlike Witcher 2 and 3, potions are an absolute necessity as you're basically a jabroni without them.

If you're fighting a proper monster, at minimum I'd take Swallow and apply the proper blade oil. And Cateye is way more necessary in caves imo.

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Hambo the Hog posted...

Yeah but then why not play them? If you're gonna throw away $4 then throw it away on like four delicious ice cold Coca Cola products at McDonald's instead.

They're fairly lengthy games. And I don't drink soda (or eat at McDonald's).

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Jabodie posted...

They're fairly lengthy games. And I don't drink soda (or eat at McDonald's).

You should try it. Soda's pretty good.

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Everyone told me they are not.

Then when I played the 3rd one all of these people show up that obviously have some sort of history with Geralt and you have no idea who they are. That history is not explained or even hinted at for several of those characters. I really felt like I was missing out.

You're fine for the main story, but a ton of the side content doesnt give you enough context to follow along very well.

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Hambo the Hog posted...

You should try it. Soda's pretty good.

Good at causing obesity and diabetes.

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Jiek_Fafn posted...

Everyone told me they are not.

Then when I played the 3rd one all of these people show up that obviously have some sort of history with Geralt and you have no idea who they are. That history is not explained or even hinted at for several of those characters. I really felt like I was missing out.

You're fine for the main story, but a ton of the side content doesnt give you enough context to follow along very well.

Most of that history is from the books, not the other games.

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They aren't necessary for 3, but they do give some welcome back story to many characters and factions/the world, and 100% yes they are enjoyable to play. Well, the first one is a little rough, but I always advise people just to put it on Easy and enjoy the story more than anything.

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DuranOfForcena posted...

that's incorrect, it's from the games as much or moreso than it's from the books. especially because so much of it is involved with characters who weren't even in the books, like Vernon and Letho.

missing out on all of that is definitely a consequence of not playing the first two games, and is exactly the kind of familiarity i was talking about in my earlier post.

Most of the familiarity from 2 that carries over is in the Radovid assassination plotline. Letho is not important even if you let him live, and I can't remember anything all that important other than Geralt having a romance with Triss and Shani in the previous games. Vernon is probably more meaningful if you took his route, but if you took the Iorveth route, almost every character involved there is either dead or absent from 3 aside from Philippa. And even then, a lot of the context for Philippa abusing Radovid and blinding her is in the dialogue of the assassination plotline. The biggest influence playing 2 will have is probably whether or not you decide to defend Vernon from Djikstra (or however it's spelled), but even then you may just side against him because it's clearly a bad idea to let him seize power.

Of course, I played 3 over years so there may be things I'm forgetting, but most of what was recognizable to me was in that one quest line or basically an easter egg like Letho.

Edit: And even then, starting from Witcher 1 I felt I was missing tons of context playing that game.

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Jabodie posted...

Good at causing obesity and diabetes.

Don't worry, they make Diet Coke, too.

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Witcher 2 is great & I highly recommend going down the Vernon path.

lilORANG posted...

I've only played 3. It made perfect sense.

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Your save files transfer accross, it's mostly about decisions. The gear system doesn't completely match up from 1 to 2 to 3, but most gear from 1 to 2 carries over, but you won't be using it for very long due to better stuff.

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HBOSS posted...

im in Vezima in the witcher 1 trying to light some candles in a town outside it for something. i cant fight the hounds all at once and have to get gud.

Early on, getting mobbed up on is deadly. Stay mobile, don't let yourself get surrounded, use Group fighting style (invest bronze talents into the level 2 attack and the knockdown chances, and nothing else) and Aard. If you're fighting The Beast then spam Aard until you knock it down, don't try to chain up combos on it because you'll get wrecked by a nasty counterattack.

Invest your talent points into the main levels of Strength first, best bang for your buck, then Dexterity, then everything else. Group style becomes shit later in the game when you face tougher enemies, it's really only good for taking out the trash and is only ever worth bronze talents, never silver or gold. Aard and Igni are better investments for dealing with groups because they work on a lot more enemies, and Igni has a nice synergy with the Strong Silver sword style.

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