All of the things that made me fall in love with RPG's (Final Fantasy 2, Dragon Warrior) way back when have finally come around again in a game that doesn't reek with elements of a K-POP Pastel looking gender confused kid with an over sized sword. The main character is complex and is an adult with actual problems crazy decisions to make that effect other parts of the game, cause and effect much like in real life. The choices are not black and white obvious which one is best and many times there is no "right" answer. The biggest thing that stood out to me besides the story was the grit, TW3 is dirty, honest, sexy, scary, sad, and worth every minute of it!!
THE STORY, (my favorite plus about the game)
it's fantastic. The main character Geralt is a Witcher (basically a magically created wolf eyed human battle mage who lives for a really long time and cuts of monsters heads). He is part of a dying sect of warriors who where created when magic entered the world through a dimensional rift of sorts thousands of years ago. (Cool!!) Geralt basically has to find his daughter Siri (no not the girl in your phone). Siri is being chased by this group of "Ring Wraith" looking guys who freeze everything just by showing up. Naturally your trying to save her. Along the way you meet up with new and old love interests, make new and old friends. The whole time, each adventure plays into the story so that the sub-stories play out like a "B story" in a film. All of the additional little questing options play very seamlessly into the main story. Like you can choose between multiple women to have relationships with. Which affect your father/daughter relationship with Ciri. You can also have sex with multiple different women.
Game Control,
The combat system is intuitive easy to learn but challenging to master. The horse is one of my favorite parts, although I wish it could kick as part of player combat options when mounted.
((only criticism of the game, to many candles places in places that conflict with picking up loot. Often you will try to open a crate/barrel/sack by pressing "x" and it auto lights the random pile of candles on top of the crate or what ever. Additional if you are to close to the object your trying to open the "press x" prompt that must show up before you can open something is at the bottom of the screen and then cycles out of the players vision so you have to move in circle to get it to line up just right.))
Graphics,
Stellar, felt like I was walking through scenes in a film. Not to the level of "Heavy Rain" but seldom ever distracting. I was not aware of the graphics unless I had some beautiful-crafted-sun-breaking-through-the clouds moment on a cliff that was not a cut scene but just happened to be where I was walking.
VS. Skyrim
Skyrim has a good story, but it doesn't pick up a easily as TW3 does. Characters are so very much more developed in TW3. Really it's no contest, TW3 is so far past Skyrim it's not a really fair comparison, that said no other game comes close enough to compare. Dragon Age(any of them) are just Jr. league by comparison, and Dark Souls 2 is more about being difficult and gimmicky than being a fully fleshed out experience.
One of the big things besides the story overall being more in depth and the characters having...well character. is the population. TW3 has a cities that seem full of people, when your in the main city you feel like the population is believable. In Skyrim to World of Warcraft (NPC's only) the populations always seem kind of sparse. The full population makes for a fuller more "Alive" feeling game. There is no way TW3 doesn't get looked at for adaptation into a film and or TV show.
GWENT!!!
The most fun game within a game I have ever even heard about. It's a card based game that involves a perfect blend of skill, luck, and pluck. The game is fully developed and I expect to see a real live version of the game in stores right along side "Magic the Gathering"(or whatever version they are on now).
Basically the Witcher 3 is on my list of must buys.
