As Odran said, knowing the previous games is not needed to understand the story of Witcher 3. But I would still recomend playing them, mostly beacause they offer an easy and quick introduction into the world of Witcher, without resorting to reading fantranslation of the rest of Witcher Saga. Becasue, the entire Witcher 3 plot - at least what we could glimmer from the trailers - will revolve mostly around Ciri and the clusterfuck that is following her, everywhere.

But, if you have time and don't want to play games, I would recomend learning Polish and reading the books in its original language

 

Yeah, I'll get on that last bit!

Thanks for the advice though, guys. Seems like I'd be alright not trying the other games, but I might get around to it just based on the recs.

 

They are worth it.

And for the books, while it is not required to read them the game makes much more fun if you have read them. It is full of small hints to the books and the characters appear much deeper with the added background, especially in the first game.

 

Don, play the games. I honestly think they're worth it and are a more different experience than you're used to in games.

 

The games are great, really. Anyone interested in Witcher 3 should play the previous two, though the first game is definitely showing its age right now.
I think it would be easier to just play the second one, since it eases you in quite nicely.
As for the books, they have their moments. They fit into the whole subverse the trope motion so popular in the 90s. Actually the whole series is based on reversing the results of popular (Slavic and others) folk tales. Like in this:

"And the sorceress told the witcher: "Hear my advice: don iron shoes, take an iron staff in your hand. Walk with the iron shoes on till the edge of the world, and feel the land before with the staff, wet it with your tears. Go through fire and water, do not rest, do not look back. And when the shoes are worn, when the staff is spent, when the wind and heat have dried your eyes so much, that not a single tear can escape, only then, at the edge of the world, will you find what you seek and love. Maybe."
And the witcher went, through fire and water, did not look back. But he didn't don the iron shoes, nor did he carry the iron staff. He only took his witcher's sword. He did not heed the sorceress' words. And he was right, for it was an evil sorceress."

 

Preorder with new trailer. Mind blown, Ciri confirmed, and we got a short preview of - probably - Yennefer. Both of them look good.

 

Yeah, that's Yennefer for sure. It can't be anyone else, really, at this point.

Youtube screenshot, so my apologies for it not looking all that good.

 

Yep, thats Yen, purple eyes confirm it.

And here is Ciri and a close-up on her face.

 

If that's Yennefer I would like her to be more, not sure if that's the right word for it, refined. But she's good anyway. With Ciri confirmed and Emhyr present that's pretty much everything I wanted to be included in the last game. Only thing missing is Francesca's cameo, but that would be just icing on the cake.

And is that just me or English Geralt sounds a lot like Littlefinger? Maybe I just got this impression because he was talking with Tywin Lannister.

 

After watching it one more time, I agree. This is why the only good, true and proper way of playing The Witcher is to play it in Polish, all other versions are blasphemis

 

By the way, do we know who will provide a voice for Emhyr in a Polish version? Or do we need to wait till they release this trailer in a proper language and then maybe try guessing who that may be?

 

I have no idea. Probably in the next couple of days the Polish version will be revealed.

 

I found her OK, better a believable look than one to fantastic (even if she cheats with magic). And you are right, everything seems to point to one bombastic finale, we have a love (tri)angle, wars, kings and an emperor and the girl who can jump between dimensions. Added to that a simply beautiful graphic, I mean just look at Novigrad, and interesting gameplay and 2015 will be a year where dreams come true. Seems s bit risky to introduce two new (for the ones who only played the game) characters in so prominent positions, but I have read the books so that doesn´t really affect me.

 

Trailer in Polish.

@Celestin - Jan Frycz as Emhyr?

 

YES!! finally something meaty.

I don't care about how Yennefer looks. I dislike her, greatly and will do everything in my power to completely ignore her if I can(seriously Geralt should just stop with that woman).

That cave though. It looked amazingly huge. I'm not sure if that's just a one off but if that's how most of them are then damn.

Also Horse racing?

Vesemir playing a larger role this time is great. I thought I saw Letho's bulky arms in that shot of the remaining Witchers(not sure whether to be excited about that or not).

Igni looked awesome. So did the bombs. Horseback combat. Deep sea diving. NoonWraiths are back(by far my best monsters from the game)

February can't come soon enough. I'll try and save up for the collectors edition.

 

Check the official site and see if you can reserve your own copy of collectors edition. I just did.

 

They're limited?

 

Well, there is a sign advertising that they are, but ther is only a counter of how many were reserved - curently at 4 518 units. But I still don't know if any of the shops outside Poland offer the collectors edition as of this moment. Or if you can reserve one here in Poland and get it shipped to your place.

 

Maybe, sounds a lot like him. Just from the trailer it appears that Dance will be better than whoever that is.

 

And the collectors edition for both PC and PS4 got sold out here in Poland. Xbox version still available.