I braved through it, but I must admit I wasn't that into it.

Heard that playing it in Polish with English subtitles is better than the English VO.

Haven't gotten around to playing TW2 yet though.

The first game has its flaws. But still it's a well orchestrated game. The combat mechanism is repetative, but after a while it doesn't bother you much. And then unlocking new levels of sword attack and ugrading magic helps ease the tedium.
Once you learn to cope with the combat or lackluster animation you can appreciate its positive aspects. The environment is a fascinating one and a lot of side quests are pretty interesting. The story is a well written (I have not read the original novels so no comparison there).
What really felt subpar to me was the inventory management, lack of equipment and such. And the alchemy system never interested me much.

Playing the second game now and I like some of the changes (combat mechanism, inventory management) while some aspects don't quite feel right (food is categorised as Junk, and not consumable? why?). But, then, it is all subjective. And ultimately the games (yet to finish the second one) seem pretty good to me. The world and atmosphere in the first game actually felt more alive to me.

I liked the first game, I enjoyed it a damn sight more than Witcher 2.
The combat system works fine but the game does start to drag a bit towards the end.
Damn that swamp to hell and back!

Bhrigu makes some good points. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, even though it was rough around the edges. But remember this was indeed a first game and it was also done in the old BioWare NWN Aurora engine. Considering that, it's bloody remarkable what they achieved.

I tried playing The Witcher 1 twice, large timespans between each try. I gave up on it because it was sooo frikken boring, unoriginal, juvenile, an downright bad in so many ways (writing, presentation, themes, voice acting, the atmosphere was utterly duulllllll and uninspired, imo....and then there's the chauvenism.) I was about 20 hours in each time (the 2nd time I forced myself to go to about 25 hours so I could get beyond the point I had been at previously, JUST IN CASE it got a little better, but no) - a huge waste.

DON'T BOTHER

there are SO MANY better games to play, the social pressure to play the witcher to know wtf ppl are talking about is not worth it - if it is not for you, don't feel like it should be

and to whoever said The Witcher 1 is old, UMMM, NO, it is not!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3D games WITH COMBAT have been being made for 30 years or somesuch at the point it came out

So far I am getting the impression the sequals are a MASSIVE improvement over the first game?

The game is near ten years old (which is a long time in the gaming world) and was made on what at the time was an extremely dated graphics engine. So yes, the fucker is old. Sounds like you've got a personal grudge against this game (because of chauvinism?). It ain't healthy dude.

Highly debatable. The first game by far has the better story, most unique combat and better side quests. The sequels are really really good games but they're more modern arcadey console games than an old school PC rpg like the first. I personally recommend finishing all three of them in order. I have enjoyed all three, have played them all more then once but the first The Witcher still comes across as the most interesting.

nope, that doesn't make it old, not even relatively

10 years is not a long time in the gaming world, at all

It's sequels not sequals for god's sake. How many times do I need to tell you? :D

Also, like I said, the Witcher 2 at least is definately a step down from the brilliant first game.

In terms of graphics? It definitely is. You need to ease up on your hate a little at least. You're becoming entirely irrational.

GAAAHHHH

SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL!!!

It's been several years since I've played and finished it, but I do distinctly remember almost quitting the game early on. Eventually I was glad that I decided to stick with it because it turned into a much better game than I would've guessed based on the first hour or two of gameplay.
I do also remember thinking that the game ought to played on the hardest setting because otherwise the entire alchemy component of the game becomes largely unnecessary. A pity I thought because the alchemy component seemed really interesting. I was too lazy to explore it because most (all?) enemies could be easily defeated without it.

I quit my first attempt at playing W1, and W2. just didnt feel like fun to me. time passed and on whims I tried again and liked them both, the second I really got into.

*shrugs

not a clue why, I guess my frame of mind at the time had alot to do with it. sometimes I just dont have patience or tolerance of game faults, sometimes I am more forgiving. Im going to apply that same logic to yet another attempt at W3 which is going thru the same process. I know there is a good indeed maybe great game in there, just all the annoyances are conspiring to make me not want to play it when I have so many other cranking games to play first.

Now this game is starting to feel better. Feels like an RPG I am familiar with.

Combat and Presentation is bit meh, but at least I can get into this now since that prologue, tutorial part of the game is just abysmmal its without a doubt the worse "Tutorial" Level I ever played.

And people thought Irenicus' dungeon was bad :P

Or the Twilight Princess Ordan Village portion.

Well, the Witcher games contiually improved in big steps. I liked the first Witcher - but it has many weaknesses. The Witcher 2 was very good at the time and I loved it. When I heard that they were going to make The Witcher 3 'bigger, better, open-world' I was afraid that they would lose the story intensity that they had in the second one and that they would make it too big. But I was pleasantly surprised. The Witcher 3 is even better than The Witcher 2 - and the Blood and Wine expansion makes an already awesome game nearly perfect.

So, if you can't stand The Witcher for it's flaws, skip it and start with number 2.

My advice is don't play it with the default over the shoulder camera, play it with the top-down camera zooming as far put as possible, the combat is way better that way as you can have a better idea of where all the enemies are and which style to adopt.