What game have you been playing? It sure ain't W3. It is one of the most realistic depictions of a medieval setting, the fantasy elements excluded of course. What, did you think that the medieval age in Europe was all songs and roses? Wow, you need to do some research. Maybe you've seen too many king Arthur movies. The medieval times were hell on earth compared to the modern age. And you whine about the foul language of the peasants? Wow. And somehow everyone's foul and perverted and yet so politically correct at the same time? How does that work? You clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about. I get the vibe that Zelda is more your speed and you just tried to force yourself into something realistic and gritty because so many seem to like it. You don't and that's fine. Now go collect seeds with fairies in Asexualia. Off with you.

Yep, it's not a W3 problem, it's a general problem. When you have a world of hundreds of voiced characters, you simply cannot afford to hire a unique voice actor for each and every one. Didn't bother me too much.

See, that's the problem. You're comparing Witcher to Zelda and that's not going to work. WRPGs are not about climbing or platforming or that sort of stuff. As for controls, you probably prefer the Nintendo feel, but that's not necessarily the feel people want for a game like this. Actual combat does not feel like pressing neat little buttons on a controller, there's a challenge to it. It's about timing and balance and skill. I believe the new game Kingdom Come Deliverance is taking this aspect even further and I expect to see a fair bit of complaining about how "clunky" the controls are. People will be shocked because it's not just "press x to kill" anymore. Now, I'm not saying that the controls in W3 are flawless and the best there ever was, but at least personally I had no problems with them. It's just a matter of what works for you and what you are used to. Git gud.

What, level differences are "arbitrary"? You do realise that your level is supposed to represent your experience and skill? The whole point is to start as a beginner and hone your skills to become better. I absolutely hate it when enemies scale with you. Elder scrolls Oblivion has remained a plague in my memories in this regard. Even the loot drops became ridiculous. Over time even your basic highway robbers had become as powerful as elite warriors and they had gear and riches that would make kings jealous. Why would they even need to be robbers anymore? Stupid. Just stupid. It makes no sense, it's pointless. It means that no matter what progress I make, even the frigging rats and squirrels are going to give me a hard time because they magically get more powerful for no reason. You mean to tell me that a newbie adventurer would be just as good as killing skeletons as a seasoned veteran? A rat is supposed to become irrelevant over time as you become better. Skeletons are supposed to be significantly more challenging to kill than rats. At first you can't handle them, but later with experience and skill and better gear, you will beat them. That's how it's supposed to work. Do you really enjoy a world where you can beat anything at level one and it doesn't matter what the creature actually is? Rats and dragons, all the same, just swing away. What's the point? Where's the threat? Are the creatures in BotW all the same threat level or how were you able to explore at all?

Well...Witcher is not about that...not a really big problem, considering how its world was built....though it can be annoying at times.

But you can climb in Gothics...or be persistant enough to jump your way up in most cases, even with very steep cliffs (which can often reward you with something unexpected).
In Morrowind you can jump more or less depending on Acrobatics skill (IIRC).

If anything I'd wish more RPG developers would pay attention to RPG roots...as in actual dependance of your characters abilities based on atributes, skills and gear. In which case, whether your character can successfully climb something would depend on their skill, racial bonuses (if any), armor penalties and such.

If you ever feel you have to "waste hours" playing a video game, then you're clearly not enjoying it. Maybe you really are growing out of gaming :) I can sympathize to a degree, I've been gaming for 30+ years and sometimes I feel like I've seen everything a thousand times, only the graphics get better. My selection of games is narrowing slowly, not everything piques my interest anymore. No problem with W3, however. For me, it blew the doors open and became a new platinum standard for how games should be made. Can't wait for Cyberpunk. Give me long and good quality side quests with deep characters over the hollow and barebones stuff of Bethesda's worlds any day. They even have those radient quests because they seem to be about quantity over quality. I don't get the appeal of a randomizer churning out endless and repeating token quests. Well, the good thing about sidequests is that you can ignore them completely if you wish. I guess we're both complaining for no good reason :D