What makes The Witcher 3 so utterly brilliant?

[Jumpin]

Witcher 3 absolutely falls under the category of Action RPG. There aren't many games I'd consider here, the only others I can think of offhand are the Seiken Densestu series and Terranigma, but not Illusion of Time, which is more an action adventure similar to the Zelda series, except more narrative based.

What makes Witcher 3 so great?
For me it's because its beautiful (even on Switch), and how it keeps topping itself again and again and again.

It starts out with White Orchard, a tutorial zone that really doesn't feel like a tutorial. I really enjoyed that, particularly compared to how hand-holdy a lot of RPGs have been recently - I am not a fan of that. Breath of the Wild is the only other game I've played that's done tutorials that well, no other RPGs have.

While some people say the Velen part is their favourite, I found it a bit on the quaint side. For me, the game picked up tremendously once it hit Novigrad. Don't get me wrong, Velen is great with its own flavour, dark and soul crushing to everyone and everything involved there. The war zone, and battle between Novigrad and Redania. The cities just beyond reach.

But when Geralt hits Novigrad! Things really pick up. It's a rough city filled with vices. Shops to sell goods at a high price. Liquor, whores, and Gwent!!! It feels much like a World War 2 city, those Nazi groups working to exterminate minorities (elder races, mages, and so on). And you can fuck them up. Going to shows and helping to build up Jaskier/Dandelion's tavern is great. Putting on plays and dealing with the underworld gangs. A tryst with Triss, and her mission to help mages escape... that  reflects the Scandinavians working to rescue Jewish people from the Nazis during WW2.

And when the city becomes too familiar, off to a Viking adventure in Skellige! The region has a few smaller cities, and the villages tend to be larger than those in Velen on average.

But after Skellige, this is where the story really begins. It's kind of like Terrangima, another favourite game of mine, where there's a lot of great spots before, but it's really some time into the game that the story really kicks into high gear. Xenogears, my favourite game of all time, is kind of similar in that the story really takes off later on. But back on Witcher 3, a lot of stuff about the weapon of the elves (digs back into the books), and battling against the apocalyptic force.

But after the ultimate end of this long story, there's more. Hearts of Stone is, IMO, the best story section of the entire game. It's much more refined than anything to that point. It takes place in Redania and brings life to Oxenfurt. The main villain of Hearts of Stone is one of the most interesting villains in any video game I've come across. Interesting how they breadcrumbed him in earlier.

Then, for me this is the best part of the game: Toussaint, a whole new area as part of Blood and Wine, with one of the largest and most beautiful cities in the history of RPGs: Beauclair. But before getting into that there are knights with their stereotypical valour and the world of chivalry. And you even get to run your own wine barony and deal with the other wine producers of the region. This place feels more properly medieval than the rest of the game, but also a far more pleasant country. You also get to go into a fun fairytale land, which is yet another world with dark comedic versions of some famous fairytales. Then underneath all of this, VAMPIRES, and these are quite a bit darker than the Anne Rice style vampires. These vampires are dark and evil beasts that will tear people to shreds... a deep history, they have it carved into their ruins... where they often sleep... ruins you find in this game date back to a time when they ruled over people, and were deciding how to best handle humans... Also, if you're a fan of the 1992 Dracula film, this has the armour of Vlad Tepes!

But Beauclair:

And then there are stories, yes, a lot of dealing with nobility and feudal ties.

An overhead view of Corvo Bianco, it's quaint, but it's yours. This, like Zelda, allows you to display stuff, art, decorations, and your favourite weapons and armours on display.

Now, I really hope that the Xenoblade team is paying attention to Witcher. There are a lot of parallels, and IMO, Witcher 3 is strong in some of Xenoblade Chronicles (particularly the last couple of games) are weak in:

1. Slicker gameplay. Xenoblade Chronicles has become bulky in the latest two entries, it feels like they're moving toward intrusively bloated battle systems that are feeling less and less about controlling the combat. Witcher 3 has a lot of simple commands/actions that have more complex possibilities than Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - now, in terms of an RPG of the more traditional sense that do this well, Chrono Trigger! Xenoblade could be made much better by slimming down the input, and expanding the output, move toward Chrono Trigger.
2. Show, don't tell. Witcher 3's Tutorial doesn't feel like a Tutorial. It gives the player a number of challenges and problems that give them the tools to surpass them - IMO, Death March is the only way to play this, as it drives the player to discover all sorts of things and why they're important. In fact, the first time I played, I played the easy mode, and because of that, didn't really learn to play, and then I was fighting the wild hunt in a cave, and I was stuck. However, I came back to the game later, after putting the difficulty up (as recommended by fans) to what I believe was the second most difficult mode :) And then I learned the game, and KICKED THE WILD HUNT'S ASS when I came back knowing many more tips and tricks, having upgraded some of my oils and such. I believe I had better gear as well.
3. Cinematic approach. Be better with the voices. While I don't mind text, the constant switch between text and voice is really jarring. A Witcher-like approach is best for Xenoblade, have all the characters voiced... And Tetsuya Takahashi should know this, as he's a pioneer in making early ambitiously cinematic video games! He should not let another team's ambition outshine his own. Xenosaga Episode 1 was the game that made me fall in love with the more cinematic approach. This changed the way I looked at games. I want Takahashi to regain that spirit, and ignore the people who give him bad advice about what a game can be. At the very least, we get a game like Xenoblade Chronicles that feels much more polished (Polished? :D)

Witcher 3, easily my favourite game of this decade and the last. I dream of a day when I can the Xenogears universe with the Xenogears-level story, with the 3D world philosophy of the Witcher 3 mixed with Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the cinematic approach of Xenosaga Episode 1, all those mixed together.