It's a good game, 8/10 for me, excellent in some things, like characters and story telling, but it fails too often in open-world part of design, which is more important for me in open-world RPGs.

I can't pit it against other, more linear games, but in open-world RPG genre I would always take Risen 1 or Gothic 3 over W3.

Perhaps it would be fair to say that it's one of the best mainstream open-world RPGs in last 10 years, but I'm still sticking to my belief that it would be much better game if it was more linear affair like Witcher 2 - I'd take Floatsam over any area in W3 any day.

the witcher 3 is a great game, but... i still put bloodborne above it. I love the deep gameplay and the multiplayer of bloodborne.
The witcher take the story telling, but bloodborne takes gameplay and replay.

That's very arguable. Personally, it's the souls series is better.

I rank it with Bloodbourne, equal but not better. Two different beasts IMO.

What really impressed me with Witcher 3 is that it is a huge open world game that manages to remain as deep (in some cases deeper) than most linear games. This is a rare feat in my eyes.

The Souls games and Bloodborne pull it off, but with a more cryptic style of storytelling which is where they differ greatly.

Sorry, OP, but Persona 4 does exist.

Completely agree except with the part as the best RPG in the last decade. There are a lot games which are as good as The Witcher 3 (or better). Anyway The Witcher 3 is my GOTY 2015 (sorry Bloodborne...)!!!

I liked The Witcher 2 better, 3 has too much repetitive elements and the restrictive game play becomes too big of a contrast to the narrative. The open world was certainly fun to explore in W3, yet was more of a hindrance to the story than helping it along. I got bored with it before the end and had to push myself to complete the story. 7.5/10 (I played through W2 twice thanks to the completely different paths)
I'm reading the books atm, very enjoyable and no clunky controls getting in the way :)

Dark souls is the best RPG in the last decade anyway. Ni No Kuni was more fun than W3 to me too, and also massive.

I'm just glad this game was made and supported the way it has been. Too many games and publishers have 'hurt' their reputations with mediocre games and letdowns. This game finally has mostly all positive feels around it. It is almost an overwhelming game, but you can focus on just the 25 hour story if time is an issue for you. Such a masterpiece.

How are you liking the books? Just started the first one, I find that it is way too heavy on the exposition dialogue at times but I really like the way Geralt is portrayed, he's a fair bit "meaner" in the source work (books) than what I imagined him from playing all three games.

It could be the translation at some points, but there are a couple of issues with the first 100 pages or so of the book I'm reading, perhaps it'll improve as the series carries on in the other books.

PS: After actually having spent time with the game, I still don't understand why some are calling the controls clunky, I haven't had a single issue with neither controls nor camera, save for once when fighting a werewolf in a cramped cave.

I never played any Witcher game but I love the DA franchise, I'm thinking about giving it a chance