How Will Your The Witcher Save File Affect The Witcher 2?

This is the question Giant Bomb asked of CD Projekt senior producer Tomasz Gop, finding out that using a The Witcher save file will impact the Witcher 2's narrative, characters and loot bag.
"First, it's not obligatory," Tomasz Gop, senior producer at CD Projekt RED told me via e-mail, "the story will nicely shape itself at the beginning even if you haven't played the The Witcher. But if you have, just go ahead and grab the save you finished with."

"The most important thing is the storyline--the most important choices you've made will be reflected in The Witcher 2. People will behave differently or places will remind you of what you've done," Gop continued. 

"There's also bits and pieces of other stuff: Witcher's swords, for example. They seemed to have been quite important for many players, so why not transfer those into The Witcher 2?"