Why do people keep saying this? I found Oblivion and Skyrim to have better story, the story in Witcher is basically looking for ciri, where is ciri, she's been here, she's heading there, go there and look for ciri, get there she has already gone somewhere else, go there and repeat and repeat until the end.

Why is this story so amazing for a lot of people?

You will love Skyrim, if you are a gamer who enjoys more gameplay, just like me, then trust me, Skyrim is pure gameplay, you don't get the red path to follow, or the 10min long talks, in Skyrim you are 98% of the time playing the game, versus 30% of the time in Witcher.

Then Skyrim is a full open world, and much more interactivity everywhere, you can change clothes, change weapons, armour, upgrade everything and so on. Then Skyrim has the choice of first person which makes you feel more in the game, like its really you out there.

Your thoughts are mine exactly, so I highly recommend you Skyrim and also fallout 4.

PS - With that said, I still prefer Xenoblade chronicles and Xenoblades X over those games. I wouldn't take gaming advice from anyone who hasn't played the xeno series, any person who enjoys videogames as much as me have bought a wii/wiiU just for those.

Ask yourself this, if witcher 3 was really that good, how come those fans didn't buy an xbox to play witcher 2? Most people on ps4 that I know here in Europe that loved witcher 3 have not even bothered to get a 360 or xbox one to play the second one. So much for all that love for witcher.

This is pure nonsense, and I think you're aware why. In part because the people you know don't represent the majority, in part because Witcher 3 is the standout of the series, and, most importantly, the quality of a game simply can't be defined by the traction it generates on people to play other entries of their respective franchise. You're here to judge the individual strenghts of the game, whatever it does for CDPR and their adaptation of The Witcher is another story. 

So... If I really didn't like Skyrim because I found the combat to be very meh, and I didn't find the disparate narratives very engaging, would I enjoy Witcher, or would I have the same issues?

Witcher's narratives and combat are a lot better than Skyrim's.

When people talk about Witcher 3 having a great story, they're talking less about the central thread of finding Ciri, and more about how much effort has gone into the individual strands; the way even optional sidequests have more depth than main story quests in most RPGs. Instead of just being "go to this location and exorcise the ghost" you'll find out the whole backstory of the person who became that ghost's life, for example. You'll find out about their relationships with the still living characters you talk to and interact with, who themselves may be directly affected by your taking on that sidequest, and its all treated with a level of gravitas and attention to detail far beyond most other games of this type.

Standout yes, but everyone seems to say its great because of the story, which started on the first one. So if people really love the story, why not go back and start from the beginning?

Graphics of Witcher 2 are amazing on the X, I play it, it looks incredible in 4K.

People keep talking about strengths of the game, and this and that, but they never seem to be specific, was it graphics? Graphics of Skyrim are very impressive in 4K on ps4 pro and xbox X, and in my opinion has a better atmosphere, Witcher looks too clean and pretty for such a violent world.

Witcher has some good music, but it starts to get tiring after you heard it 1000 times.

I get the feeling most people praising Witcher they just do so because that's the accepted thing to do, everyone seems to want to fit in society, no one seems able to have their own opinions.

I ask these people, write it here all the things Witcher does better, if it is the story then say what part of the story, don't just keep saying its great because its amazing and fantastic. Specify everything.

If you like the story and cutscenes then admit you prefer to watch cutscenes than playing the games, and that's fine, that's why they come up with interactive movie games these days.

Actually hated TW3 when I first tried it, but I gave it another chance and loved it afterwards. The side content is just an absolute treasure trove.

Could never get into Skyrim. Maybe I'll give it another chance soon enough.

Besides the baron quest, and that kid who couldn't speak,  I didn't see any amazing story in there. Which other stories in there were really amazing?

When I compare story of games I usually just compare the main quest of the game.

Look at god of war, it was capable of telling a fantastic story, and still I remember being playing the game for 95% of the time.

And I'm still not convinced on the side quests, because from what I remember I was more talking and not exploring or fighting, I was just listening, in Skyrim, sure the story of the quests is not great, but they put you in caves and several locations to fight and explore.

Don't get me wrong I love stories, that's why I read books, but I play games for fun, exploration, freedom, not sitting hearing people talk to each other while I press the A button for each line, pressing the A button to skip lines is not a challenge.

By the 'finding out the backstory', Skyrim does it better, it gives you the option to read the books and such on the quests, instead of being forced to watch a 20min cutscene. So you can still learn the story if you want, but you can just explore and move on.

I agree that details are high, I was in awe when I was riding the horse and seeing the trees move with the wind, very pretty and nice, doesn't make a game fun or challenging. Ryse was impressive visually on xbox, very pretty indeed, I still thought it was a terrible game because it was far too linear and too many QTE, like I said I prefer freedom and do my own thing, I don't mind people talking, just don't take the controls away from me for far too long.

And I found it insulting to my intelligence when the developers remembered they were making a GAME, and let you walk a room for 5 seconds before the next 20min cutscene, if they want a 1 hour custcene just do it, don't pretend to give me controls, that's disingenuous. Its like hey we got a 1 hour cutscene but this is a game so every 15min lets let the player cross a room to speak to another character so we can call this a game.

I'm not saying everyone has to like the same things as me, just accept that I have my reasons for preferring elder scrolls or fallout or xeno games over Witcher, and like I said, I also accept people who love Witcher for the story, just think its a shame they haven't discovered books, they might want to change hobbies.

PS - I never said I hated Witcher, I played the 3rd and then purchased the second one and played both in 4K HDR, still good games, all Im saying is its very overrated, but by no means bad.

You're arguing points I never made.

You said you didn't understand why people praised Witcher 3's narrative content, I simply explained that it's because even optional sidequests typically delve into the private lives, background, and motivations of multiple characters and how they interact with each other instead of just being "go kill 6 red scorpions" or "go collect 5 blue flowers."

Oh, and I'm very familiar with books thanks very much, having been an avid reader of novel-length fiction since primary school.