Should I play the Witcher 2 before TW1?

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Merad

Platinum Member
May 31, 2010
2,586
19
81
About how long is each chapter? Maybe if I start playing it tonight I can have it done in a month.

I did a playthrough in about 32 hours, having completed the game once before. Was very thorough up through Chapter 4, but in the last Chapter I skipped some of the notice board (gathering) quests.

TW1 is very worth playing on its own, and then you'll be ready story-wise for TW2.
 

dpodblood

Diamond Member
May 20, 2010
4,020
1
81
How about start playing it now instead of wasting time asking people how long it's taking them to get through it?

You know if you don't want to post in my thread you don't have to right? If you don't want to waste your time then leave instead of acting like a twat.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
126
TW1 felt very clunky and uneven to me when I tried to get into it a while back. Is it really necessary to slog through it to play TW2? It looks 80,000 times better, particularly with animation and general smoothness of play.
 

shurato

Platinum Member
Sep 24, 2000
2,398
0
76
I had the same dilemma as the OP. Time is a precious commodity for some people you know. Asking how long it's taking people to finish the first 1 is smart if your short on game time. To the person telling the OP to basically shut up and go play and find out yourself instead of asking around is kind of rude don't you think.

If it wasn't for the advice of members here in the other thread, I would have never decided to purchase Witcher 1 and start that before I started W2 which I've already purchased and installed. I too wanted to jump straight into W2.

I'm kind of glad so far that I began with W1. It looks like a great game so far. I'm able to play it maxed out on my rig and I figure this gives a little time for the bugs, etc to work itself out on W2.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
TW1 felt very clunky and uneven to me when I tried to get into it a while back. Is it really necessary to slog through it to play TW2? It looks 80,000 times better, particularly with animation and general smoothness of play.

I'm glad I played the "The Witcher" because I can now use the best silver sword and armour from Witcher 1 in Witcher 2 at the start.


Btw Witcher 2 is a lot harder then Witcher 1.
 

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
4,670
4
0
I'm still getting the "can not connect to server" when I try to update the Witcher.

Has anyone else had/solved this issue?

I bought the Witcher right after it came out, so I've had it for a while. I've never had this problem before.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Via: not much you can do,however I did read this,

I can't log in to the Witcher 1 account
Please be patient as we bring this feature back. It should be available soon

Or could use this and email them,

We are aware of the issues some of you are having, and we are working hard to resolve them. In case you are having other difficulties, please refer to our FAQ to see if a solution has already been posted there. If not, feel free to contact our tech support at tw2support@cdprojektred.com.
If you feel like sharing and discussing your problem with other users, you can also try putting a comment to this news post as we will answer questions here as well. We are here 24/7, and we are responding to tickets as quickly as we can.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
6,390
469
126
I played like 5 hours of Witcher and I couldn't stand it, I think I gave up after I was told to run around the dungeon looking for ingredients...bored to tears.

Witcher 2 though is all action (so far), so it's a lot more engaging so far. It also helps that the graphics are a lot better.
 

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
TW1 made me motion sick.

TW2 has been resigned to the "Great but will never play" pile, along with my copy of Stalker, Clear Sky, CoP and HL2.
 

Lumathix

Golden Member
Mar 16, 2004
1,686
0
46
I can understand the reasoning behind playing TW1 before TW2, but I gotta say I hated the controls in TW1. While they're not perfect in TW2, they are MUCH better.
I didn't finish TW1 and I won't be going back. I'm a couple hours into TW2 and am enjoying it alot.
 

Phobic9

Golden Member
Apr 6, 2001
1,822
0
71
I played like 5 hours of Witcher and I couldn't stand it, I think I gave up after I was told to run around the dungeon looking for ingredients...bored to tears.

Witcher 2 though is all action (so far), so it's a lot more engaging so far. It also helps that the graphics are a lot better.

Same for me. I loaded up Witcher 1 the day before Witcher 2 came out and I just couldn't do it.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
If the games follow the books, they are completely separate stories, so don't need to be played in order. Similar to the Conan universe, yes they are loosely connected, but separate.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
TW1 made me motion sick.

TW2 has been resigned to the "Great but will never play" pile, along with my copy of Stalker, Clear Sky, CoP and HL2.

I think both are great games,some things I miss in W2 that were good in W1 are like inventory chest to store all your loot,drinking potions while in combat was good idea too so no meditation crap,combat wise both W1 and W2 have their good and bad points.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
126
I'm glad I played the "The Witcher" because I can now use the best silver sword and armour from Witcher 1 in Witcher 2 at the start.


Btw Witcher 2 is a lot harder then Witcher 1.

Hard I don't mind, but there were a lot of things in W1 that just drove me batty, and the production quality seemed incredibly uneven. Some things were really well done, some things were just really clunky and unintuitive. I did hear that it got a lot better a few hours into the game though, but I could never find the time to get through it.

W2 looks much more playable :) I'm happy to hear that I'm not going to be missing some critical plot points/etc by skipping W1, though I'd be willing to read the cliffs notes on the general story/etc.
 

shurato

Platinum Member
Sep 24, 2000
2,398
0
76
I just finished Witcher 1 and am now ready to play witcher 2. Game starts off pretty rough and a bit boring till it starts turning it up notch after chapter 3. I have to admit the game is epic and now I'm really glad I took the advice of playing through W1 first because now I fully understand what an unbelievable badass Geralt is.

I think the story and the game changing decisions are what really kept me going. The voice acting was *extremely* distracting. Might have been better to just turn off the speech and read the subtitles in hindsight. I was basically speed reading most of it and fast forwarding the actual speech. When I say bad I mean really bad. The voice actor who played Dandelion needs to find a job that doesn't require him to speak.

Now on to Witcher 2~!
 

s1njin

Senior member
Apr 11, 2011
304
0
0
I have the same dilemna - have some of the 'warts' of Witcher 1 been patched out of this game, were I to D/L it from Steam and jump in relatively soon?
 

Martimus

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2007
4,490
157
106
I have the same dilemna - have some of the 'warts' of Witcher 1 been patched out of this game, were I to D/L it from Steam and jump in relatively soon?

Yeah, the major warts of the original game have indeed been patched out. The game is now very stable, and the load times aren't nearly as bad as when it was released. Plus, they went back and redid the voice work for the English audience, since the original dubbing from Polish left something to be desired.

Still, Act 1 is very slow, and there are some repetitive fetch quests early in the game. While I liked Combat in the game, it is quite different and once you get the hang of it it is very easy. The game just isn't as good as the sequel, but it is a pretty good PC RPG.
 

s1njin

Senior member
Apr 11, 2011
304
0
0
Yeah, the major warts of the original game have indeed been patched out. The game is now very stable, and the load times aren't nearly as bad as when it was released. Plus, they went back and redid the voice work for the English audience, since the original dubbing from Polish left something to be desired.

Still, Act 1 is very slow, and there are some repetitive fetch quests early in the game. While I liked Combat in the game, it is quite different and once you get the hang of it it is very easy. The game just isn't as good as the sequel, but it is a pretty good PC RPG.

Thank you !!!
 

Arg Clin

Senior member
Oct 24, 2010
416
0
76
Absolutely play TW1 before TW2. There's a lot of introduction to the world and its inhabitants in TW1, that feels kinda presumed knowledge in TW2 I think.

Even more so Geralts friendships/relationships which (re)builds throughout TW1.

I'm sure TW2 can be played just fine without having played TW1, but I guess the experience would be somewhat lesser.
 

dpodblood

Diamond Member
May 20, 2010
4,020
1
81
Hey; My thread got resurrected!

Since I've posted this I have actually finished TW1. As most people said, it's slow at first but it picks up after the first 5 hours or so. Totally a worthwhile game for those who are willing to invest some time in it. Really hoping for a Steam sale over the holidays so I can pick up TW2. It looks excellent.