I'm not into card games and board games, they're just not my thing. I never bothered to play the dice poker games in the first two games and I have never tried to play gwent. Needless to say I was quite dismayed in TW2 when on Saskia's path I found that at one stage I was forced to win a round of dice poker in order to continue the main quest. IMO that is one time CDPR really dropped the ball when it comes to quest design which they otherwise do brilliantly. I am currently at the stage in BaW where you have to find the boot black. Please for the love of Christ don't tell me I get forced to win a round of gwent for the main quest because I don't know the rules and don't have a deck.

I also get really creeped out by virtual romance so did my best to skip that aspect of these games as well. Didn't like being forced to do it in HoS but I found the whole wedding sequence grueling anyway.

There are areas in the game, as well as the expansion, where you play Gwent, but you are not forced to win them. Just go along with it, making motions...