Rebellious Arcade

[Copehead]

I kind of agree with both of you there but lean very heavily towards The Witcher 3 being better. I liked Skyrim for its various mechanics and systems that are all interlinked and the fact that you could play it however you want and shape your character like a proper RPG. I also really liked its organic and very immersive world but as Al said it's also a fairly meaningless world. Despite the literal hundreds of hours I put into it I don't recall a single memorable character, plot strand, or side quest which lifted the experience up from simply being very immersive to being involved in its world, to playing a part in the politics and struggles of its people - something the Witcher 3 has in spades, even in its side quests and DLC, many which are good enough to be the main plot.

Also despite how enveloping and tangible the world is, Skyrim lacks variety. It's all various shades of blue, grey, brown, white and the occasional bit of green in the trees. This lack of variety extends to the people, creatures, and the clothing too. The Witcher 3 is chock full of creative design that uses more than three hues and it does this in the base game without any mods. I agree that the world doesn't feel as real as Skyrim's but honestly, in this day and age if I wanted a giant sandbox where the landscape feels real I'd just play Breath of the Wild. That combines the colour and painterly beauty of The Witcher with Skyrim's tactile realism and systemic design and improves on it tenfold. Even its simplistic story is more memorable because it has actual characters that you can root for and even Link himself who never speaks is still more charismatic than the Dragonborn.

As for the combat, I know Al isn't a fan of The Witcher 3's but I think it's decent if you actually learn it and play it properly with dodges, blocks, timing, and various combinations of spells. It's hardly Soulsborne, NieR: Automata, or Soulcalibur levels of deep but compared to Skyrim it actually works like a videogame should instead of having two pieces of wet cardboard limply swinging wet noodles at each other until one falls over. Skyrim's combat is absolutely awful no matter which route you go down. It's so spongey and unresponsive that you might as well play a 1980s MUD where the feedback will be more satisfying.

I've played about 300 hours of Skyrim (completed it 100% on PC and about 60% on PS3) and the things I remember most fondly about Skyrim was simply just wandering around and occasionally stumbling into a dungeon or dragon fight. That was really fun but In just over half the time I spent on The Witcher 3 (160 hours - completed the main story game and first DLC 100%, still doing the second DLC) the amount of things I still remember are too many to list.

tl;dr:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - good
The Witcher 3 - better
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - best

That's just my two cents. Different strokes for different folks.

I just got the platinum trophy for this:



The plot and execution of it is mostly Z-grade Saturday morning cartoon nonsense with the occasional bit of writing that is fairly funny, sometimes making a smart joke that breaks the fourth wall, but not enough. I don't know the exact nature of how it's related to the critically panned Ratchet & Clank movie which apparently reuses many cut scenes from this game but movie tie-in or not, the gameplay is absolutely brilliant, the graphics and sound design are excellent, the level design is great, there's loads of things to see and do, and it's simply just heaps of nostalgic fun that remind me of the days of when 3D mascot platformers ruled the earth. It's nice to see this genre making a big comeback.

The characters in Skyrim are rubbish and the stories are perfunctory it is all about you and Skyrim and I like that, there is plenty of room for your own imagination. If you think the Dragonborn is boring and uncharismatic you are really just saying that about yourself .

The characters in Witcher3 are a joy and even minor characters seem to have more of interest about them than Jarls in Skyrim.

But I just dislike being funneled down a path after playing Bethesda games like Skyrim and Fallout 4. I like a game that allows my own imagination a bit of play rather than telling what is going to happen next every step of the way with long character exposition.

I totally disagree about the look of Skyrim; at first I thought it was far too white and blue but after going back to Dragon Age games and Witcher I realize that is just because it is far more naturalistic and Witcher 3 just looks like a cartoon whereas Skyrim feels real, especially in the latest releases with environmental enhancement, there is nothing prettier than walking the birch forests around Riften in all of gaming.

You are right about the combat, it is like a video game that rewards punching in the correct sequence of buttons, fucking hate that it is so boring, in Skyrim there are nearly an infinite number of ways to polish off just about anything in Witcher there is normally one. The correct sword with the correct oil, the correct potion, the correct spell and the correct dodge, ugh! Again Skyrim allows you to be in control and to be creative. If you are just going to play a Tank and walk around in heavy armour smashing everything with a war hammer than yes it is going to get boring pretty quickly, but why would you do that? It totally misunderstands what the game is about.

As you say different strokes, they are both brilliant games, superficially doing the same thing FRPG but underneath with entirely different concepts of what that should be.

I have played Skyrim through completely about 4-5 times now, I will play Witcher 3 through once thoroughly enjoy it and never touch it again. I will wander round Skyrim with an old character just to enjoy the experience of being back there, that is not going to happen with Witcher 3 and its skies full of hanging corpses.

[Toby]

I tried Dark Souls 2 the other day.

It's quite good in that it's just about fighting, but I think in general I've tired of these RPG style games with moody nameless protagonists.

[PENK]

A load of stuff about Skyrim v The Witcher 3

I've played and really enjoyed both. I rarely finish those kinds of games because they tend to just go on way too long and have way too many things to do and I lose interest (for example both of the Dragon Age ones I've played), but both of those held my interest.
With Skyrim Copehead is right that the world is more immersive; the appeal is mainly in just wandering and exploring. There are more noteworthy landmarks, the individual cities and regions and areas all have their own individual charms and sights and character. I spent a lot of time just riding around looking at things, trying to get every single map reference charted, learning the paths and locations. If I was a bit bored I could go and check out this view, or have another go at getting to the top of that mountain, and so on.
But with The Witcher the story and characters are far more compelling, even though the world is a bit samey - tons of identical muddy villages separated by pleasant but nondescript fields and forests may be more realistic, but it makes the fast travel option much more tempting. But unlike in Skyrim, you have actual characters and relationships and personalities, and even the minor characters or random people around the place get a bit of life instead of half a dozen repetitive lines. There are only two or three proper cities but they are alive and bustling rather than just being gorgeous illustrations like the ones in Skyrim.
The combat is just a means to an end and I don't care too much about that. I prefer to get enemies out of the way so I can move the story forwards.

[Copehead]

A load of stuff about Skyrim v The Witcher 3

I've played and really enjoyed both. I rarely finish those kinds of games because they tend to just go on way too long and have way too many things to do and I lose interest (for example both of the Dragon Age ones I've played), but both of those held my interest.
With Skyrim Copehead is right that the world is more immersive; the appeal is mainly in just wandering and exploring. There are more noteworthy landmarks, the individual cities and regions and areas all have their own individual charms and sights and character. I spent a lot of time just riding around looking at things, trying to get every single map reference charted, learning the paths and locations. If I was a bit bored I could go and check out this view, or have another go at getting to the top of that mountain, and so on.
But with The Witcher the story and characters are far more compelling, even though the world is a bit samey - tons of identical muddy villages separated by pleasant but nondescript fields and forests may be more realistic, but it makes the fast travel option much more tempting. But unlike in Skyrim, you have actual characters and relationships and personalities, and even the minor characters or random people around the place get a bit of life instead of half a dozen repetitive lines. There are only two or three proper cities but they are alive and bustling rather than just being gorgeous illustrations like the ones in Skyrim.
The combat is just a means to an end and I don't care too much about that. I prefer to get enemies out of the way so I can move the story forwards.

Totally agree

The bit enjoyed most in Skyrim was actually Hearthfire, I loved building Lakeview Manor and then sitting on the balcony looking at the view after a hard day slaughtering Draugr; always make sure you build the storage wing at the North so you have outside seating above it with that view of sunset across the lake.

The bit I enjoy most about Witcher 3 is this well drawn characters and your interaction with them, the voice acting is superb, I was a bit taken aback to get to Skelliga and find out they are all Irish though, I thought they were going to be Nords.

Skyrim is about Skyrim, Witcher 3 is about the characters, very different but both fantastic ways to waste many hours.

[driftin]

Skyrim is about Skyrim, Witcher 3 is about the characters

Yeah, that's a good summary.

[driftin]

It's a Telltale game which means it's not a game, it's a badly animated interactive movie with frame drops every minute and the illusion of choice. I wouldn't be playing it if the story wasn't somewhat decent though. It's what pushed me through The Walking Dead 1 and 2 and The Wolf Among Us.

Telltale really ought to just make a brand new engine and make animated films instead of games.

[joels344]

Playing Pillars of Eternity (and The White March DLC) while I await the release of Deadfire:

[joels344]

Excellent review, Ale! Interesting that you drew comparisons between that game, Children of Men and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Hope you play the game some day.

And that day is finally here. 44 hours into the game and cannot stop playing.

[driftin]

Did routes A and B last year with a friend on his PS4 and immediately thought it was amazing.

I've now done routes A-Z on hard difficulty, seen everything, been blown away by just how much more there is beyond routes A and B, how emotional it gets, how clever it is, how much fun and variety there is, and eventually got the platinum trophy. I'm confident enough to say this joins Breath of the Wild and Bloodborne as one of three best games of all time.