should I play the witcher and the witcher 2 prior to this game coming out? I already own them both and started playing the first but the controls are so bad.

I would. The game seems pretty dependent on story and you can transfer data on the PC. For Witcher 1 I suggest just playing on easy. You can blow through most fights and just enjoy the story.

You can watch the official summary of the witcher 1 on youtube. You have to play the witcher 2 though. It's a fantastic game.

Witcher 2 is a must .... specially because of story , 1 on the other hand its ok but yeah it took me more than a year to finish it , because I didnt like the gameplay that much.

Witcher 2's a pretty good game. Some of the story stuff was a bit confusing until you get in the groove and get a feeling for the world and tone.

@pyrodactyl said:

I watched that video after playing Witcher 1 and it's fine as a refresher but I don't think it really does the game itself justice.

The Witcher 1 is my personal favorite between the two so there's really nothing wrong with the controls in my opinion. The combat is kind of obtuse to get into at first and you do have to configure it right for you, which is most cases means changing the movement and camera options to have it make sense. I sympathize with people who have trouble, especially at first, but once you get past that I think The Witcher 1 is fantastic.

I could care less if you actually play 1 and 2, but this isn't an obvious case of skipping the earlier games. Given the character throughlines and the kind of gameplay to expect, getting through both is a great setup for 3.

I read The Last Wish short story collection and I thought it was a good intro to the world.