yes

I haven't played it yet, but you can carry your save from your game to the other, so I while there's never an obligation for you to play the others, it'll shape your experience.

no, but you will miss a lot of stuff like lore, characters, references.

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I've tried Witcher 1. Impressive game. But I'd suggest you start off with Witcher 2 :)

not really, you can go through the witcher 3 directly and you will get some references that make you understand a bit what happened in the witcher 1 and 2 but i certainly recommand playing at least the witcher 2, in fact the trilogy is amazing and the witcher 3 's greatness is amaizingly unbelivable , the only negative point in the witcher 3 and all the previous witcher games is that their story come to an end after getting you really attatched to it wich put you in a hard situation to find another substitute for it when you finish it off :'(

Each game is a separate story, BUT each story builds on the world established by the previous game. If you go straight into witcher 3, any characters or past events mentioned wont make sense to you, but there is enough establishing done in the game so that you wouldn't be completely lost as to what has happened to shape the world into what it currently is... you WOULDN'T be jumping right into the middle of a story by going straight into witcher 3.

However, as a big fan of the franchise, I think the whole series is well worth playing for the stories, the character, and especially the world the franchise is set in. Yeah the first game has aged poorly, but if you can get past that (and the admittedly rough, but responsive control scheme), start with the first game.

PERSONALLY I think the first game is the best of the franchise. It nails atmosphere so brilliantly, and has a really really good story (in my opinion), introduces most major characters, and has significant relevance to a core concept in the final game.

AND FINALLY.. pick up the witcher 3 paid dlc... the first one was phenomenally good, had a really interesting story, added a significant chunk of play time, and if the second dlc is as good, we'll be in for a real treat when that one hits next year as well.

I've started Witcher 1 three times at this point, but I can never make it past chapter 2. I just always find that the dialogue is too stilted and unnatural and I just can't get into that combat system. Oh well.

I haven't played Witcher 3 yet but, I can tell you that I finished Witcher 1 2 days ago and just started Witcher 2. And Witcher 2 has a lot of references from Witcher 1. If you decide to play Witcher 3 without playing the previous ones then you would just miss some story and references. My recommendation would be to play Witcher 1 then Witcher 2 before you play Witcher 3.

If you do decide to play Witcher 1 first then I highly recommend you do the mod which increases your running speed. And trust me you will fall in love with it because it takes forever to travel from one place to another if you do not have the mod. Also, I would suggest you do the Main story only if you want to know the story because the side quests can take a while. And the inventory system and combat system is not my preference at all.

I started Witcher 2 yesterday with all the mods recommended for it and I can tell you that it looks gorgeous. They have done major enhancements compared to Witcher 1 that makes the game feel more fluid and enjoyable.

I played Witcher 3 just fine without playing the earlier games. It's not hard to get caught up with the story. It's not going to get confusing.

There are lots of references from the previous games. If u haven't played them u won't get the sense of some scenes, dialogues, parts of the story, which will make happy a fan of witcher games. But generally I advice u to play it even if u haven't played first 2 parts.

Play all of them and be sure to buy them of Kinguin for the best price. Sadly the best price is for GOG ... but it's worth.

I wouldn't say obligatory, but it will definitely make you understand the story better.

I'm sure most console players started with the 3rd game and played it just fine. Don't think it's necessary to play the previous 2.

Read the books :v

But for real - it's not obligatory to play all of them, but you'll get full picture by that. You'll know all of characters, post events, world etc. In my opinion it's better that way.

And seriously dude, read the books.

The witcher 1 is for undestand how this universe is and how it works. You don't need to read the books. The Witcher 1 is like a 'resume' of them. Fuck, even an innkeeper spoilers the ending! Be aware.

The Witcher 2 has a lot of political issues, plot and lies. You better read the books befure because its a good damn sequel to them. You don't need basically anything from the witcher 1 except its ending, some decisions and Geralt's gear.

The witcher 3... I don't have it. Need better computer. Please Halp

There's a shit ton of references to the previous games and the books throughout three but it's not really necessary to have played/read anything earlier.

I don't think it's obligatory to play the previous games but it might help understand the world/lore/etc. :)

i've finished witcher 1, 54 hours played or so, i loved it big time, started witcher 2, didnt like the changes as for the first game, tried to play it anyways but it got pretty spooky so i let it to rust. Prolly if i were you i would play the whole saga cause it brings you all the background info u need to dont get lost in the story.

good luck

Play the first, then the second and then the third, considering the save import system :)
But I love the franchise, watched the tv series (and the lame movie which is just scenes taken from the tv serie cut together) and got some of the books, so I really recommend you to play it (no need for the books/tv-serie for you to understand anything though!) ^^

Start with Witcher 2!

Withcer 2 influcences 3 pretty much and you probably won't understand the romance part if you don't play. I didn't play witcher 1 (i couldn't with that fighting system) but i watched every cutscene (a 3 hour long movie lol) so i don't know if that important or not. Witcher 1 was to learn about universe more than a story to me. I bet you will be okay starting with 2 but starting with 3 make you lose some stories and characters.

YES.

And here is why. When people say that there are a lot of references to the previous games (as well as the books, which you should also read btw because they're amazing! :P), they mean it. There are a SHITLOAD of references in those games. And said references aren't just some fun facts or easter eggs related to previous games. There are tons of recurring characters, plot aspects, gags, running jokes, honestly if you really want to enjoy The Witcher 3 in all its glory you just can't skip first two games! Also the save importing option is there for a reason - choices you make throughout your playthrough actually matter to the plot.

You must believe a die hard fan of both book and game series! :)

It's really boring to play Witcher 1 now. It wasn't so good and was very overhyped those days, now just outdated game with stupid combat-system and still with bugs. Just pain. Second game is much better, and there are much more connections with third game.

A lot of people are saying yes but I feel like they're kind of missing the question. I've played about 12 hours of Witcher 3. Never played the first two and I'm following it/ enjoying the story just fine. I would probably enjoy it more if I played the previous ones but is it essential? No.

A side note: you'll almost definitely want to play with a controller. I tried keyboard and mouse for most of my playtime and I hated the game. I had dropped the difficulty down three times and was still getting destroyed. I suppose you could argue it's just a learning curve but to use WSAD, shift control and alt basically all at once was very awkward for me. Combat is significantly easier with a controller. Makes what is clearly a good game waaaay less frustrating.