The Witcher 3 is the best RPG in the last decade.

[Alby_da_Wolf]

Mummelmann said:

HoloDust said:

Mummelmann said:
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 Gothic the 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.

 

Yeah, it definitely not as mainstreamed as those games, perhaps that's why some people find it difficult to get into - IMO, it happens often when (what are usually more of a niche) genres get into mainstream and have as much hype as W3 had.

On the other side, as a fellow Gothic fan, I'm sure you can see how much it pales in certain design desicions compared to Gothics, land design vs quests for me being worst offender - honestly, even Skellige, that is way better designed than Velen, has its fair share of problems - I feel like they've really tried to make big world just for the sake of it and went too horizontal. But even compared to Witcher 2, specially Flotsam, a lot of places in W3 tend to be dull.

But, you're right, finding flaws in W3 and then pitting it against Skyrim as example of excellent open-world WRPG is quite silly, given how much latter was mutilated compared to Morrowind in order to catter to mainstream.

Gothic 3 is very varied without coming off as silly, having different civilizations across such a relatively small map could have been a disaster but the towns and characters emote enough of an atmosphere to make it work. The voice-acting is often off key though.

I think a large part of the reason I enjoy The Witcher 3 more than Gothic is that I really, really enjoy the mythology, world and overall setting, this is also why I choose to forgive the cardinal sin of too much exposition dialogue in the book(s); I simply like it.

Skyrim is a really good game but I've never gotten past the 50-55 hour mark, the world is just too similar, that's also one of my main gripes with Fallout 3; locations are extremely similar to one another and you find the same enemies, loot and items absolutely everywhere. This is an area where I find a game like Kingdoms of Amalur to be superior to most open-world RPG's (even though it's not truly a completely open world).
My main running issue with the Elder Scrolls games is the tendency to become grossly overpowered almost regardless of the choices you make, you reach a point where the challenge stops and it never comes back, Skyrim manages to be even worse than Oblivion in this regard.
This is another thing I love about The Witcher 3; the level progression is slow and the challenge is present all the time, even at 55 hours in, I'm still getting my ass kicked rather often either by making mistakes or by simply running into monsters with a higher level.

Like I said; I understand people's complaints, I really do, but the setting, music, voice-acting, combat, crafting, visuals and almost everything in The Witcher 3 sits really well with me and I've yet to find something that annoys me as much as Mass Effect's side quests, Skyrim's insane overpowering early on and Fallout 3's large world severely lacking in variation (and challenge, the off-putting AI is also a big minus for me).

As far as mainstreaming goes though, I'm not above enjoying titles that are mainstream, heck; I love FIFA 15 (despite hating EA), but the vast majority of mainstream RPG's take it either too far or not far enough, especially where writing, difficulty and immersion are concerned.
A lot of customers seem to want button mashing and slick, shallow dialogue, but those are not my idea of a good RPG.
Skyrim would be a good example of a very mainstream title that I did enjoy.

OK, it won't be perfect, but I'd say what I read is more than enough to confirm TW3 in my wishlist.
About Gothic, just a few things I don't like:
- although I like the attack control scheme, not having shields I'd have preferred a one-button control to parry;
with the mouse button + direction key attack scheme, circling and attacking with melee weapons makes only possible to do attacks with sideways slashes, as you need to hold a side direction button to circle the enemy facing it, this also makes impossible to circle and strafe the enemies with ranged weapons, as they require the forward key to attack , and unlike melee weapons, they require to prepare the bow first with the mouse button, THEN shot with forward direction key, so you cannot start an attack with them while still moving, not a terrible flaw, though, as circle and attack is only really almost necessary with trolls and they are immune to arrows;
- another little flaw is that non-human and non-humanoid enemy attacks can only be dodged, not parried, and if you don't time your dodging move well, they have a 100% chance to hit you, while you don't get that even with 100% weapon proficiency, and dodging isn' perfect in another way, at least with orcs, skeletons, snappers, dragon snappers and fire lizards, unlike what would be logical, stepping back gives a greater chance to dodge the attack than stepping sideways (actually maybe that's true also with other enemies, but when you have the longest reach and most powerful one and two-handed swords and axes, you can disrupt their attacks and quicly kill them attacking first, a thing impossible with the strongest enemies, as they have longer reach and they are still alive and able to quickly strike back even after receiving the strongest blows).
Naturally I don't complain having enemies still challenging even after becoming very strong, neither I complain about complex controls, I just complain about a few design choices that make dodging less realistic and some attacks or defences more difficult or impossible, wasting a little of the potential the game has with its combat where stats only influence the damage dealt, but once reached master proficiency with a weapon class, it's the player's skill that really decides success against the strongest enemies;
- another flaw is that, at least in Gothic II, the latest unofficial patch, while fixing all the worst bugs remaining, broke some sidequests, or in some cases, just some steps of them;
- final flaw for me, I'd have liked GII world to be larger, when you're still weak it looks larger, but when you're strong, and you can take shortcuts without being killed by the strongest enemies, you realise the world is quite small, and if you have played Gothic I before, in the Valley of Mines you'll see they cut away quite large parts of it, you can still reach them climbing over mountains, but they are totally empty and deserted, what a waste!