yes yes yes yes
yes yes yes
The thing with people recommending you skip the first episode, is that it is an adaption of a budget action game. Most people aren't really aware of it (so the change comes as a surprise to them), or prefer the way the anime expands the backstory/character development anyway. The first episode starts in media res in the portion covered by the game, before the second episode starts back at the beginning of the plot and continues until it catches up to where it started and then continues to the end of the story. Kind of like Berserk.
It's not really meant to be a spoiler, but a lot of people see it as one. If you've played Chaos Wars and read the character bios, you'd probably know at least part of the spoilers and what the games focus on so it's not exactly a big shock (though the anime is based on the first game while Chaos Wars uses the sequel's plot and characters). Though, about 80% of the stuff in the first episode is repeated verbatim in the second half which is the other reason people tell them to skip it.
--
The only certain death in the universe is Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons.
Not changing this line until I beat Seven Heroes (2/24/07)