Quick witcher question

[Gizmo1990]

The witcher series is on sale on Steam right now so my question is this. I did not like the first witcher combat system but I did enjoy the story (not that I got very far, because of the gameplay) is The witcher 2 better gameplay wise and do I need to have finished the first witcher to understand what is going on?

 

[Sack of Cheese]

If you finished Witcher 1 and import the save file, you get the weapons and armour you had in Witcher 1 right at the start of Witcher 2.
Other than that, there're some callbacks here and there but nothing too big. Some of my friends told me the story is still easy to follow even if you haven't played Witcher 1.

 

[Sleix]

The ending to the first Witcher game links in with the beginning of the second, other than that there are a few cameos from the first game and you get to import your weapons and armour (Although the stats, especially on the armour, are drastically reduced making them pretty obsolete). The first game is pretty good though, I'd say it's worth finishing.

 

[shrekfan246]

Since neither of the responses yet have covered the first part of your question, the combat of The Witcher 2 is probably the biggest difference (aside from the graphics) when compared to the first one. Where the first one is a heavily timing-based bastard mix of something like Baldur's Gate and God of War, the second is more like a slightly loose combination of Dark Souls and Kingdoms of Amalur. The difficulty curve is rather insane though, the first few hours are pretty consistently more-difficult than everything that comes after.

Whether or not it's "better" depends entirely on if you like actual action-RPGs or not, I suppose.