Not important. (Gaming)

by cheapLEY , Thursday, February 04, 2016, 13:47 (3012 days ago) @ MacAddictXIV

I say that as someone who didn't played The Witcher 1 or 2, but I absolutely LOVED The Witcher 3.

For the most part, The Witcher 3 isn't really necessarily a direct continuation of the previous games in the same way that Mass Effect 3 or Halo 3 are. It's just a new game that happens to be set after the previous two.

You'll meet some characters along the way that are from the past games, but it's always made pretty clear that Geralt knows these people, and it's almost never really important HOW he knows them.

The Witcher 3 is a great stand-alone story. Folks that know the entire history of the franchise might have a better time, in the same way that those that know the history of Halo might enjoy Reach more, but it's not important to that story being told.

Also, I've talked to plenty of people that did play the first two games, and still couldn't actually remember what happened because they're so convoluted and twisted. The Witcher 3 gives you an opportunity to simulate a previous save (a character comes and asks you question about choices from the past games). A lot of folks I've talked to personally and have read about online had to look up those decisions because there's so much going on they couldn't remember who was who and what they did.

TL;DR: Just play the Witcher 3. No need to start at the beginning, unless you just want to play the old games.