You’re not gonna miss anything vital to the third game. Basically W3 is a continuation of the storyline in the books which were left quite open ended; more so than it is of the W1 and 2, which feel more isolated stories. You’d definitely understand who the characters and wild Hunt were more if you read the books. Yen and Ciri aren’t even in the first two games despite probably having the most page time except Geralt in the books. I love the first two games but I can see they’re not for everyone. But yeah in summary if you’re going to do either, read the books or read the wiki at least.

Just play W2

U can u just may be a bit lost

Absolutely play at least 2 and carry your save over to 3 you can carry your save over from 1 to 2 , if you are open minded to more content no reason at all not to play the first two games you can carry over save game from W1 TO W2 carry that SAVE GAME from W2 TO W3 you could totally skip W1 if you don't like the old school outdated combat / graphics but W2 is worth a play especially if you can get the game for a good price .... alot of people might say the first 2 is not worth playing but it is !! me personally I was really tuned off by witcher 3 for a while but I played witcher 2 and carried my save over it made me see the game in a more engaging perspective. You respect what the older games had and didn't have and what the witcher 3 then brings to the table . Not jumping into 3 and neglecting everything else other than 3 .

People say there isn't anything vital to 3 but that doesn't mean the first 2 games that lead to 3 aren't worth playing ... of course they are worth it there would be no witcher 3 without the first 2 !!

...... unless you already played it don't skip 2 there is alot of choices matter type options very worth it

i think you should start directly witcher3. if you want to learn Witcher's story, you can watch witcher 1/2 gameplay videos. that could be better for you

You don't a have to play witcher 1 imo, that one is fine to watch a recap of (which is what I did). However I would highly recommend playing 2, as the story is direct setup for 3, and so your save carries over. I also personally really enjoyed witcher 2.

I never played any Witcher games till The Witcher 3 in 2017 on Ps4 and it was Awesome to me 😊

I never play the Witcher 1 and 2 because they were used PC only. Then I love playing the Witcher 3 on PS4 better.

I never knew of the world of the Witcher until well after TW3 & the two expansions came out, and the game already had finished being developed by CDPR. I started with TW3 and am very happy for doing so, I've sunk hundreds of hours and several playthroughs into this wonderful game.

I personally wouldn't play TW1 or 2 because of how old those games are. Just a personal preference of course, but I usually draw the line on playing older games when their graphics are pretty bad compared to today's graphics. Too difficult for me to get immersed. Both of those games are old enough that the graphics are very outdated IMO.

I would recommend going for TW3 directly, they've done an incredible job explaining things and allowing someone to just hop right in even if they didn't play the previous games, read the books, or know anything about TW world beforehand.

You can hop into any game without playing or reading anything. They set it them up well enough where you could dive in.

I played 2 and fell in love.

Then I read the first couple of books and was pissed that no more had been translated. And had no promise of being translated further.

Then 3 came out and OMG.

After a first vanilla run through hit up the Enhanced Edition if you have PC. It’s beautiful and brutal as hell. Never felt more like a Witcher. Also plays more like 1&2.

Then I got a decent PC and played 1 lastly. Thronebreaker is fun too. Meve is dope.

I play the online TCG Gwent most days.

I just bought a Witcher tarot deck.

Did I say that I love the world of the Witcher?