I recently decided to pick up both games, and immediately started Witcher 1 upon downloading it. What struck me right off the bat was the obvious intent of the game: it's not so much a game as it is a story - a visual/cinematic experience. While I loved the soundtrack and could see myself enjoying the gameplay, I was bothered by the fact that the voiceovers were so clearly flawed and that the somewhat dated visuals did a less-than-spectacular job of portraying what I felt the game was really going for. A few hours in, I decided to just jump ahead to Witcher 2 to see if they better achieved the aforementioned "cinematic experience."

I am nothing short of amazed at what I've seen of Witcher 2 so far. I was a bit frazzled at the beginning due to the number of characters and past events that were crammed into the prologue (mostly the ones mentioned in passing), but I'm starting to get the hang of the plot and really enjoy the characters I've met. The visuals are absolutely phenomenal, and the music I've heard so far is quite good as well. And the voiceovers... oh! So much better - and the voice actors I've heard so far are very talented.

What do you think? Did the Witcher need the major update that W2 gave it, or were you able to consistently appreciate the first game for what it was? Does W1 need to be played in order to fully experience W2? What do you think of playing W2 and going back to W1 after becoming engrossed with the Witcher universe due to the intense cinematic experience W2 has to offer?

I saw the first trailer for TW2, and decided to buy the first one and play through it. I really enjoyed it, but the trekking to and fro at times got a bit....aggravating, and the combat system, well, just wasn't challenging in the slightest. I liked the story, and the moral ambiguity at times, but never, in the entire experience of TW1 did my jaw drop, never during the game did I have a dumb smile plastered on my face for hours, full of incredulity that a game could look so gorgeous, and be so engaging as TW2 was for me.

For all of its flaws, TW2 is one of the most memorable games out of the several hundreds of games I've played

I really think that CDPR really listens to what people criticize about their games and really work in fixing those issues. Repetitive environments and NPCs, and bad presentation. They

Overall, I really think that they improved every good thing about TW1 on TW2, and fixed the parts that were rough. I particularly like the new combat much more. However, TW1 still has very redeemable qualities like good quests and a great story.

If they put the same amount of genius when going from TW2 to TW3 it will undoubtedly be one of the best games of all time.

Glad you are enjoying it

Congratulations for getting both Witcher games. I came across Witcher 2 1 month before it release and i do AWARE that Witcher 2 was developed some years ago. But i never BOTHER it as the first Witcher didn't really amazed me anyway.

It's really amazing that CDPR can come come up with Witcher 2 visuals which even beat Crysis 2 graphics (vanilla) with such sophisticated and amazing story/plot.

The combat is really refreshing and kudos to CDPR that this combat system deserves a praise from myself as the combat is not a button mashing game. If you do so, you'll drop dead within seconds. It involves creative thinking on how you like to pursue a battle. I won't spoil you on the combat but it's really fun once you get the gripe of it.

I bought TWEE later and the combats was plain sucks. I have to breeze through the combat just get involved on the quests and plot. I would appreciate if someone could mod TWEE combat to be like Witcher 2. Honestly, i can't go back to Witcher 1 with it's boring combat :(

Withcer 2 is a MASTERPIECE. The whole game is a work of art and compelling storylines. The only downfall it's too short!

Of course this is all my opinion.

Cheers

I want CDPR to focus on new games, expansions, dlc, etc. But I would still kill for a remake of the original with the engine and combat of the second one, with some improvements to the dialog, cut scenes, and environments of course.

I hate the heart-thumping sound.. and every beautiful caves have to be turned to black and white. I mean the caves in itselfes are all beautiful.. I mean they can come up dark, beautiful caves without resorting to black and white.

A relatively-old game = dated visuals (except for Duke Nukem Forever haha). I believe that is the norm.

The Polish voiceovers for TW1 is nothing short of astounding so I highly recommend that you play it with Polish VO and English subtitles.

I consider TW1 a classic. It can be hard to get into at first, and the combat is nowhere near as good as TW2, but it's arguably more epic due to the insane amount of content and the pacing.

I know CDPR worked hard on TW2, but TW1 seems more like a labor of love, where no effort was spared to make the game have as much quality as possible. Unfortunately, TW2 has parts that feel too streamlined or rushed.

True, but given what they have worked on - a new graphics engine, high level of details, good English voice-over, the branching in the main plot, to mention a few - as well as the desire to make console-porting easier, I guess some compromise had to be made.

exactly. Cat should have just increased the gamma like in the first game, nothing more. i should somehow mod it to work like the last game.

TW1 grew on me over time...I wasn't that fond of it early on, but when I really finally played it all the way through it became one of the top games I've ever played. I still hold it on a higher level than TW2, and TW2 is fuckin awesome.

Definitely play through TW1, you won't regret it.

Witcher 1 takes a little time to get rolling, and if you want to get into it, you have to be a little patient, especially getting through the first few hours of Chapter 1 while learning all the ropes. The main story doesn't really start taking off until Chapter 2, but Chapter 1 I think gives some decent background on Geralt and what he does (I really like the decision you're forced to make at the end of Chapter 1).

Overall, Witcher 1 has a lot of content when compared to Witcher 2, and once you get into it, it's really entertaining and interesting.

Witcher 1 have some nice twist and storytelling too but i'm not really a fan of point and click combat style. I don't care about dated visual and presentation because if i care i wouldn't be here at GoG for my first purchase. I consider it as different style of art. Every game is unique, it have their own visual and presentation style.

But i still love Witcher 1 same as Witcher 2 because it have something that the second game didn't offer. For example the variety of monster, story, quest and landscape. And i agree W1 offer lot of content than the second edition, but more content doesn't exactly mean better. There are some quest in W1 that seem redundant and it is like to make the gameplay hours become much longer.

I agree, I think all should have in mind that they spent last four years not only on writing the story and art design, but many many other, heavy time and money consuming things. And there had to be a release date, because there was a limited budget.

That is why I believe that The Witcher 3 will be the game that will shine even more that TW1 and TW2 together. Because CDPR - now having the RED Engine in place - can spend their time purely on making the best Witcher game of all times :)