Concerns about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Bellator Pius Gratus]

I thought Blood of Elves was before of Sword of Destiny.
:listen:

I thought so too, well, at least that the stories weren't as important as the ones in the Last Wish. But apparently they are. Short story books comes first, then the saga or whatever you may call it. Learned it just the other day. And Sword of Destiny is yet to be translated.

 

[Vincentdante]

I thought Blood of Elves was before of Sword of Destiny.
:listen:

Nope, listed above is the correct order.

@s-jay2676 The PC requirements for the first game are incredibly low for a game released in that time. Probably to do with it being CDPR's first game and practically an experiment from the desire the company had for just wanting to make a game. Either way it might be worth comparing to your current rig.

Taken from GoG:

Minimum system requirements: Windows XP, Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon 64 +2800, 1 GB RAM for Windows XP, 1.5 GB for Vista, NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800 or better, 8.5 GB available hard drive space, DirectX 9.0c compliant soundcard

http://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher

 

[Cipher-Six]

I would recommend playing TW1 and TW2. I can't say what the devs will do in TW3, but my general rule of thumb is, if you want to enjoy and appreciate an entry in a series fully, you should play/watch/read the entire series. I started TW2 without playing TW1 and barely understood anything through my entire playthrough. Then I went back and played TW1 and fell completely in love with TW2 because I had such a better understanding and appreciation for the lore/factions/characters.

I always liken it to other famous series; no one would start watching the Star Wars trilogy with Return of the Jedi, and no one would start watching the Godfather trilogy with Godfather 3. I would highly recommend playing TW1 and TW2 in preparation for TW3, just IMO.

 

[Tarathelion]

I have never played any of the Witcher games, yet I am interested in buying the Witcher 3. So I'd like to know how complicated the story is. Will I be able to understand and enjoy it without playing the previous games?

The important thing is that Cd Projekt has promised to make sure new players to the franchise won't be overwhelmed with info at start of the game (that was the case in W2). So, there is a plan to introduce players like you smoothly into the world of witcher. Of course previous games will give you a little bit of a backstory and depth but it shouldn't be needed to enjoy and understand the story. Its more like third Indiana Jones movie than a third Lord of the Rings one. The story is supposed to be self contained . Second Witcher sort of setup the political climate of third game. thats it. Its not like mass effect (i wouldn't encourage people to play third one without playing at least second one)

 

[SMiki55]

If you're going to read the books, keep in mind the correct reading order:
1. The Last Wish
2. Sword of Destiny
3. Blood of Elves
4. Times of Contempt
5. Baptism of Fire
6. The Swallow's Tower
7. Lady of the Lake

Books 1,3,4 and 5 have official English translations which are available e.g. on Amazon both in paper and digital forms, while the other three books don't have official English translations yet (yes, it's completely weird that they skipped the second book). However, there are fan translations of these books available here: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/16494-Our-Community-Fan-Translations . They are of a very decent quality.
The first two books are collections of short stories, while the main saga starts from the third book and continues till the end.


On the topic of the games: The Witcher 1 & 2 are more self-contained than e.g. Mass Effect games, and everything indicates that it will also be the case with the third game. So you'll most probably be fine. By the way, The Witcher 1 doesn't require a very powerful PC. It's also available on Mac. I suggest you to try, it can actually run quite well even on a laptop. This game is totally worth trying.

There is also "Season of Storms" - a prequel located between short-stories from "The Last Wish".

 

[Vincentdante]

There is also "Season of Storms" - a prequel located between short-stories from "The Last Wish".

I think it's set after the final short story but before the first one, which is a bit of a headache to think about if you haven't read it already and understand why that makes sense.