Fear not, I am not including Grim Dawn in this category, as I consider it a Diablo-like ARPG. This game does not compete with the Witcher, they are apples and oranges.
If you want the apples and oranges argument about ARPGs my choice is Grim Dawn over Diablo 3. Diablo 3, better presentation, better story involvement. Grim Dawn, better world building, amazingly conceived backend and character building, and obviously the robust loot system. Simply the best ARPG I have ever come across, and I think I literally have played them all (I’m 48 years old, I was writing text video games on the Commodore 64 in the good-ole days).
Ok, enough of that. Any other Witcher 3 lovers? I am sure there are plenty and I am simply using this forum to revisit my favorite game ever
I played Witcher 1 about 10 years ago, didn’t like it. Saw a whole gameplay by my brother of W1 and W2, didn’t like both. Saw a bit of Witcher 3, I found it interesting but didn’t like it also.
I don’t consider it the best RPG and will never do.
I enjoyed the first and second Witcher games. Unfortunately I’m not able to properly get into Witcher 3 because children lol. I’m 42 now and my son is only two now, left it a little late haha. But yea, Witcher is too much of a time investment at the moment. It eyeballs me from the library though…:eek:
Only problem I had with Witcher 3 is that I was content after 80-90 hours. But still had 100 hours left to play. So it dragged on for way too long to complete everything the game had too offer. And the map with all the islands… Now that area, with the quests there, was too much of a chore if you want to complete all of it. Boss fights were poorly done as well in most cases.
Played all three games, enjoyed them a lot. Especially the Wild Hunt. As a fan of the books, I loved seeing the story continue and get more of a definitive ending. The world and the atmosphere were a treat. And some scenery was just supurb, like the Skellige Isles or Touissant at night.
Hoping for another game in the universe somewhere in not so distant future.
Well Boston Strong, I am 44 so we both knew the C-64-era.
So, is Witcher 3 the best RPG ever?
Hard to say because do you mean “technically”, “story-wise” or “most fun to play”? Technically it is definitely the best for me. Graphics, etc. was really fine.
But otherwise?
Well, I played games like Ultima V, Bard´s Tale I - III, all SSI-Games, Baldur´s Gate I + II, Planescape Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Dragon Age…so, no, it´s a great game, but if had to choose, I would prefer another game, so it is hard to say.
Story, script, world - no doubt Witcher is second to none. Quest design is masterful. Lead characters are voiced by local movie stars in the original Polish version, and their performances are stellar (English version in comparison is “just good” - I’m saying this as a bilingual person). So, in the storytelling department, Witcher is definitely the most accomplished - not just RPG - but video game ever.
Game mechanics and combat, on the other hand, are not as impressive. It’s hard to expect Ninja Gaiden/God of War/Sekiro from an RPG but combat could really have been designed much better. Loot/crafting is ok but Witcher sets are op, you get rich too early, etc.
It’s definitely the prettiest RPG but is it the best one? Hard to say. Most definitely top 5.
Fun fact: W3 is the most acclaimed (largest number of awards) video game ever.
Fun fact 2: The story of W1-3 wasn’t written by Sapkowski, the author of the original series of novels that are the game’s direct prequel (even though Gerald “kinda” died in the book). Sapkowski had been begged by the readers and publishers for years to continue with the story and he had always declined. But rumor has it he did have some say in the creation of the game’s main plot.
Fun Fact 3: Netflix is making a Witcher TV series.
It’s far from perfect, but so’s everything else. There’s a lot I dislike about W3 (to say nothing of the awfully jarring experiences which are W1 and W2), but yes, I would have to say it is probably the best RPG experience on the market at present.
RPG is so vast of a genre it’s kinda hard to pinpoint a “best” one. Heck, even if you consider sub-categories, “best game” will always be a subjective matter, proven by the many, many discussions about GD vs D3 vs PoE.
RPG doesn’t really mean anything anymore. Is it gameplay? Narration? Presentation? Everything is a RPG, and therefore, nothing is. But if we’re speaking of third-person western action RPG, then The Witcher 3 has very strong narrative and writing, imho.
Now, if speaking about J-RPGs, my favorite genre, then after looking back, I have to say Final Fantasy 7 still has a special place in my heart.
I didn’t care for Geralt, not for Ciri, not for Trish, wanted to kill Yen, let Anna die etc…
But Olgierd? Iris? O’Dimm? Damn, those were some pretty well made characters.
Mediocre game, but great presentation. Story and writing were okay for a game, but pacing for this kind of story was atrocious in my opinion.
Things I liked the most about the game: polish version of this trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i14I0-dmMAA) and polish VA in the game.
I wouldn’t say this is the best RPG ever, but I still think it’s worth playing.
