I do not have enough time between now and when Witcher 3 comes out to play one and two, so what do I need to know before I play so I understand what is going on. Can you point me to a good article or video that will explain things to me.

I think 2 covers most of whay you need. Why not just play 2?

If you plan on skipping 1 and 2 theres really nothing you need to know in preparation for 3. 1 and 2 are damn fine games however and you shuld play them anyway.

I've been trying to get through 1 but it is a big old game! Also read the first novel which fills in a lot of gaps as well. Although the games are adaptations not a strict retelling of the same stories.

I jumped into Witcher 2 and felt just fine. There's a journal for character bios that's really handy to learn the world and characters (and it's written in a clever way).

It led me to read some of the books, which are pretty damn good and give you more character insight. (even though the Sword of Destiny collection only has a fan translation online)

I tried playing the first one a while ago but couldn't deal with that atrocious combat system... I still have hopes about finishing 2 before 3 comes out though.

Actually even if I'm still playing through 2 when 3 comes out I think it will be good in fact, give it a couple of weeks or a month for patching before jumping in.

But I believe you could just read the entire plot for both games on wikipedia and call it good.

Not OP, but the actual gameplay in TW2 is god awful. Which is a shame since everything else about it is excellent.

When comparing it to the Rhythm Game that the first game is, The Witcher 2's combat is totally fine.

@christopherson329: You've got like 6 weeks before the game comes out. You'd only have to play like 12 or so hours a week to complete the first two games in that time. Unless you have no free time whatsoever, that seems reasonable to achieve.

Most people would disagree. I think the gameplay in TW2 is fantastic.

Read a summary for Witcher 1, play Witcher 2. Boom, ready. Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition for $20 is an incredible deal, if you didn't pick it up on any of the sales where it goes down to single digits.

Agreed. It's in the action-RPG realm of something like Kingdoms of Amalur. Some of the bosses are downright character-action scenarios, which I really enjoyed.

Whereas Witcher 1 felt more RPG than action.

Just play 2. I never played 1 and didn't feel like I was missing much at all

I'm sure when it gets closer to release, IGN and GameSpot will run some catchup videos, but in the mean time you could always just read the books the games are based on. They're pretty great.

Is there anything to catch up on?

I have played 1 and 2 several times each and i cant remember a single thing of importance that happened and wasnt self contained. I assume TW3 will give you a quick introduction to the characters, the world and Geralts ongoing beef with the hunt and then you are set.

Apart from the first two games being really good and worth playing on their own merit theres no need to worry.

These are really nice videos recaping the events from the first and the second game.

Then there are also the books from the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski which are quite important if you really want to understand the world and the characters, especially Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer and their relationship. I don't know if they are all available in English, but they are an amazing read (and to be honest, in certain aspects quite similar to the Song of the Fire and Ice saga).

There's a whole series of these, the ShoddyCast lore series' (they also have Fallout and Dragon Age ones) have been fairly decent:

@rethla: Yeah the story is kind of convoluted in the games, but I feel that they both do a pretty good job at least explaining the history of the witchers as well as introducing Geralt's "friends."