Yes, the Witcher games are RPGs, but they are not in the same vein as the open world Skyrim (which was boring to me half of the time). The third Witcher will be an open world rpg tho.
Even the first two differ.
The first one looks like this, it's an older game, 2007, I think, and is a mixture of Dragon Age and Jade Empire, two Bioware games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em2hok6v6ig
The combat is okay (liked it better in the second one), the story is far from the typical fantasy bullshit (more like dirty, brutal Martin than classical Tolkien). I'd recommend it to RPG fans and to everyone that want to play Witcher 2. Well, maybe you don't even have to play Witcher 1 for the second one, but it does help.
Now Witcher 2 is a beast game. I love the fact that there is an RPG game that is so limited, but so well done. Basically every decision could change something, but the best part is that at the end of one chapter you have a choice to make that can make a game totally different (so yeah, there are two paths to play), so you have to play it two times. The story has a lot to offer, half of the NPCs are memorable, graphics are cool, the tree for developing up is nice too, some fresh ideas,...
The game treats adult gamers as adults, and I'm amazed how everything makes sense, especially you see that when you have actually played both paths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBXea1JvjAI
Just check this video. How would anybody who is an rpg fan, not be hyped by this. I wanna go play it again just watching it and seeing something I missed somehow before although I already played it twice.
So a big big yes for Witcher 2. The first one is good, but the second one is godly.
