Years ago I was given the Witcher 2 as a gift and never really played it, to be truthful I really struggled to get into it. I do love RPGs but they have been more Sci-Fi based like Mass Effect and KOTOR. I have recently quit WoW and I am looking for something new to play. The fact Witcher 3 is on sale has made it really tempting to buy.

I guess my main question is do I need to have played the previous two games to enjoy this? and if I didn't really get into Witcher 2 am I likely to enjoy 3?

Cheers!

No, Witcher 3 is luckily different kind of game.

Each Witcher is a very different game. It is a very fine rpg, but if you prefer sci-fi, then you might not like the content.

If you're on the fence, watch 20 minutes of a let's play. That'll give a good feel of the game.

As always I recommend reading the books first, since the games continue the story from the end of the book series and many character and places and events are making an appearance in the game... if you have the background from the books IMO it's am even more satisfying experience, and some things simply make much more sense...


That said, without knowing what you didn't like about Witcher 2 it's hard to tell.
If it's the fighting, you can try to play Witcher 2 with Full Combat Rebalance mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/822) which makes combat more Witcher-3-like. If you still loathe it, Witcher 3 is probably not for you (or you might want to play it at a low difficulty).

The other difference is that Witcher 3 is open-world with a pretty huge scale and hundreds of side-quests. So if you felt Witcher 2 is too tight and linear, Witcher 3 might be more to your liking.

The grim fantasy world is of course the same in all games, since the setting is defined by the books. So if that's something you're not into, the games might not click with you.

The game is good. The story does reference previous events, and there are a few very minor story elements that carry over. My advice to you is when asked about Letho in the prologue, say you let him go. None of that has a major effect on the game, but just small pieces.

The fun thing about The Witcher games is the fact that each one does its own thing. The first one is point and click, the second is more action and the third is full on action RPG. They're all great games but The Witcher 3 is definitely better than the previous game (the first game is still my favourite). It's a great game either way.

I am yet to see a game which requires you to play the previous titles in order to enjoy the latest one in the franchise. One can even enjoy playing in the Telltale Games without playing the very first episode. The developers always make games as a separate instance or experience, even though the dots do connect to give a bigger picture.

Maybe you should explain why you struggled to get into it, which parts did you not like?

@Wishmaster BG2 is a lot less enjoyable if you skip BG1.

@toxictom The grim atmosphere isn't the same in all 3 games. W1 is pretty much the only game that actually feels grim. The atmosphere shift between W1 and W2-3 is comparable to Diablo 1-2 vs D3.

Wizardry 2+3 ;-)

Get it! The Witcher 3 is one of the best computer RPGs. If you don't have a savegame, you'll be asked a few questions how you handled some decisions in TW2. But you don't need to know what the person asking you is talking about. All answers are valid and they only chance minor story elements. As paladin said: just say you let Leto live. Then you will meet him. The rest is up to your whim.

I had played W2, but it had been a few years so I didn't actually remember the answer to most of the questions.

Witcher 3 is much easier to get into.

I was in the same position. I still haven't gotten more than 30mins into Witcher 2. I'm sure it gets better but it just required too much from me too fast and made me want to jump into something more familiar that I didn't have to focus so much on.