I loved exploring the landscape in TW3, turning the mini map off was the best way to play. However once I had been everywhere the game slowly turned into a chore to finish. It was great for the first 30 hours then slowly went downhill to a sigh of relief when it was finally done near the 50 hour mark. In comparison, BotW entertained me for 170+ hours.
I actually enjoyed the witcher books more. Geralt seems less of an ass in the books.