Since when did memorable characters define a good game?

Fantastic open world RPGs  such as The Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, Fallout, Dragon's Dogma and Two Worlds LOL have hardly any memorable characters but they are superior to the Witcher on so many other levels.

Generic is exactly the word I would use for Skyrim. I haven't played any Witcher game, but kudos to them for having actual taste.

He's right, it is. Quests are mostly boring and repetetive (go into tomb, kill dead guys or go into fort, kill bandits or necromancers etc). The whole conflict between Imperials and Nords seemed tiny and inconsequential, the main story is thirteen on the dozen and the whole series suffer from the same problem as the newer Fallout games; a large open world not worth exploring.
You'll find interiors that look the same, they contain the same enemies and loot.
Skyrim is a lot better than Oblivion in this regard but there's still something to be said for smaller, more compact world with a lot more diversity, there's a long way to go.

The Gothic series beats the Elder Scrolls in many ways here.
The Witcher 2 does seem a lot more unique, its miles ahead on dialogue, story, characters (name a single person you cared about in Skyrim, they're all cardboard cut-out's), the combat is tons better, the alchemy and magic system is more difficult and balanced, the economy is challenging, some quests are actually hard, its near impossible to become overpowered, Skyrim is teeming with bugs etc.
Not to mention how much better it looks, to think that Skyrim arrived a full six months after The Witcher 2 and basically looks like shit in comparison is sad. Yes, Skyrim is free roam and open world, still no excuse for textures from 2000 (we're talking the flat and unflattering fare from the original Deus Ex here), animations that make the early Pinocchio seem limber and physics and nature with no logic, depth or any kind of sense and direction.

Skyrim is, along with so many other 7th generation games, incredibly, massively overrated. The Witcher 2 is brilliant, its a lot more linear than Skyrim but that's a good thing, there's no sense in having a vast open world if there's nothing worthwhile to do in it, unless you count visiting 200 places with three module sets of textures and five enemies and picking flowers, worthwhile.

Also, the "perk" system and new skill tree in Skyrim is ridiculous, the UI is ghastly and the overall mechanics are so watered down that one might as well stop calling it an RPG at all. APG is more like it, Action Playing Game. Or CIMPG, Clusterfuck Inventory Management Playing Game.

And, the most generic movies, music, books and games are often the most popular ones. Lowest common denominator and all that. I'm not saying that I never enjoy generic things but the majority mass of any one market is likely swayed by the simpler things.

Call of Duty games, Twilight books, Transformers movies and Rihanna's music are perfect examples.

Actually Call of Duty 4 was very innovative and is the one that became popular.  Twilight isnt really generic either as I cant think of any kind of movies or books like it right off the bat.  The movies arent that great because of bad acting/directing not because it being generic.    Ill give you the rihanna one but ive already come to terms that music is a lost cause.  There is still great music being made they just arent heard of usually

Call of Duty 4 was great and fairly innovative, the ones after were not. Twilight is the very definition of generic, it takes well used mythology and throws in gimmicks, is poorly written, has a juvenile storyline and cardboard characters, including but not limited to, a main character that is a hollow shell of a being. There are plenty of generic movies that don't have bad acting or directing, most Judd Apatow movies fit under that description.

Yes, there is still great music being made and the same goes for movies and games. My point is that the flesh of the market and most of the big sellers are the generic ones, simply because they are generic. The more medicore something is, the broader its appeal, if you start going into depth in one direction, you will alienate many people one way or another, so people opt for the middle, or the lowest common denominator, like I mentioned.

This is not my theory, this is how society, and entertainment especially, really works.