Seems like a really dividing topic. I can see how a lot of people would be put off by it, it's not like Skyrim or Fallout, certainly not Mass Effect.
I disagree with the notion that it is so heavily mainstream though, certainly more so than the first two but still miles behind ME, Skyrim and Dragon Age, with Gothic being the main influence, this should be clear, one would be hard-pressed to call the Gothic series mainstream (as mentioned, Gothic 3 is my second favorite open world RPG).
I'm surprised that quite a few found such gaping flaws and issues in TW3 and then use games Skyrim and Fallout 3 as examples of better productions; these two titles (and others) certainly have their fair share of gaping flaws.







