I know basically nothing about the Witcher series; if I wanted to get into it, should I start with the first or second games? Does it not matter? Or would the outdated graphics of the early games be jarring? I still play M2 since I never stopped, but I have a harder time getting started on older games and I can't really go backwards in graphics with them; for example, I probably won't play any Elder Scrolls before Skyrim since that's where I started.
Depends on how much you like RPGs and how much you can put up with limited budgets and a team that wasn't entirely sure what they were doing. The first Witcher is pretty brilliant but the fact the developers were new to making games shows through. It is let down by an underwhelming combat system, some poorly implemented mechanics, and some terribly signposted quests. You would really only play W1 for the story.
Witcher 2 is much more polished than W1, but is also more linear, has an annoying alchemy system, and weird difficulty spikes. Despite alchemy and potions being one of the core elements of the Witcher the game requires you meditate before taking a potion -rather than drinking on the fly- which means you have to either save scum to know what type of enemy you will fight out of one highly telegraphed fight or just ignore the whole system. The story feels more coherent than in any of the games and you have a pretty clear idea of what you need to accomplish and don't get bogged down in loads and loads of sidequests. The minigames, like arm wrestling, can be a bit annoying at times when the game forces you into them. Same with the ******* stealth sections. I think the Witcher 2 probably has the best story -it is definitely the tightest and least flabby.
Witcher 3 is outstanding, but at times it feels like the developers couldn't think of anything for the main quest and just stuffed it full of padding, the main quest on Ard Skellige was particularly underwhelming. While you get drowned in sidequests -don't even bother trying to explore all the points of interest- some of the main quests and setup feels a bit underwhelming. I mean, all the characters talk about how urgent it is you find Ciri before the Wild Hunt, but you spend
months in-game doing side quests and all sorts of stuff. In Novigrad, you meet a moderately influential character whose opening lines are about overthrowing the Church of the Eternal Fire and I haven't heard anything from him despite starting on the final round of quests. I hope he shows up again but I doubt it. There also is, as far as I am aware, no mention of Iorveth or the Scoiatael who play a major role in Witcher 2. The game also makes a big deal about the impending invasion of the Northern Kingdoms by Nilfgaard but nothing really comes of it, unless it occurs at the very end of the game. They made the world a bit too open and frequently you riding around feels like filler with no real reason to not fast travel everywhere. The combat also gets a bit too easy. I'm playing on hard and with the increased enemy levels but I haven't had an actually difficult fight in a while and my potion use is minimal. That could be because I put my points into light armor, fast attack, quen sign, and abilities that let me burn my adrenaline levels to boost my health and supercharge my attacks but I'm not feeling that challenged.
In short, play Witcher 2 as tends to go on 80% steam sale pretty often and most modern computers can handle it, play Witcher 3 once it comes down in price, and play Witcher 1 if you like the Witcher series. I wouldn't play Witcher 3 first though. A lot of characters are introduced in it that you won't have much background for without Witcher 2. Off the top of my head I can only think of one character that only appears in Witcher 1 you interact with; and two others mentioned in easter eggs.
Oh, and the first bit of Witcher 2 is freakishly difficult. Invest points into the Quen magic ability and remember you can always jack up the difficulty later - nobody judges you.
