The quests. All the side quests were relevant to Geralt’s profession, Geralt’s main quest, Geralt’s friends, Geralt himself, or situations that were directly affecting Geralt’s in some way. The quests don’t feel like chores, because they each of them plays into the character’s motivations. I have never seen that in an open world game before. Even Gwent, the most optional of pastimes, heavily features Geralt and friends, so I get why he’d want to collect these.

The quests also overlap each other every now and then and have unforeseen consequences later on, so they feel more organic than the quest list of other games. That they happen to expand on the world building/lore is a welcome bonus. The monster hunting missions also have so much variety that they never really get old and, on higher difficulties, help you learn how to use Signs, potions and oils that you may not have bothered with otherwise.

To me, Witcher 3 surpasses the highest standard for a game’s quest list. Whether anyone enjoys them is a matter of taste, but it is undeniable that the writers and developers put in an unparalleled effort in tailoring these quests to serve the narrative. To do that on the scale of Witcher 3’s size and length makes it seem like it must have been easy for them, when it seems virtually impossible for any other developers/writers.

Witcher 3’s quest system is unrivaled.

U can understand this however this game are an evolution way beyond FC or AC, if they took notes from older games then I'd say they perfected those workings to preferring. Skyrim has slow adventure, TW3 has face paced storytelling adventure and I guess it'll always come back around to not sitting TW3 in games like these cause they aren't the same. 

The Blood and Wine expansion is (IMO) among the very best experiences in gaming, ever. Part of it is the mini-world of Toussaint is simply pleasant to play, easy to lose yourself in.
Although, the Wedding during Hearts of Stone is my all-time favourite story chapter of any game.

For me, Witcher 3 happens to be one of those timeless great works of gaming art. And yes, Death March IMO is the best way to play. it's very well balanced in that it's not particularly difficult, but it does force you to use all your tools rather than just picking whatever you want to win however you want... Ironically, playing on the easier difficulties may actually be more difficult in the end, because you can get quite a distance into the game, and then suddenly you get to a part where you simply don't know what to do, don't have the proper skills, and such... Death March, for the most part, requires you to learn and develop everything... both from a simulated RPG type gameplay, and from a player-based gameplay knowledge and practice perspective.

As a note, the game is quite a bit different than the books. While there are numerous adapted stories, it's in the context of sequels. Books and games are completely different mediums. A lot of people (mainly surrounding the Netflix show hating people) often ignore this so they can fanboy-signal in a circle spank of fanboy pessimism.

Side note, I have a Blood and Wine New Game + save to go whenever I have the Witcher 3 itch.

And yeah. No matter what, this is going to be a great game now, it'll be a great game in 10 years, and it will be a great game in 30 years.

Witcher 3 is walking the very line between Action-RPG and Action-Adventure, and while it excels as latter, it is quite average as former.

So, if your looking for better action RPGs, there are plenty (and that means actual RPGs, not adventure games masquerading as pseudo RPGs), as well as better action adventures...but yeah, as that weird combo of both, so far it's pretty much at the top, with Dawn of the Bloodwalker potentially dethroning it soon (being directed by the same guy who directed Witcher 3).