Let it be on record that CD Projekt Red is a master at worldbuilding and narrative prose, which oozes out of every nook and cranny from White Orchard to Toussaint. That said they are probably too tied to the craft of making a genuine true-to-Geralt game that they intentionally cut down design decisions that would actually make the gameplay good.
Narratively, Witcher 3 stands atop very well if not completely amazing. The first Act of the story is decently well paced although the bits before Velen were uninteresting save for some bits of the fanservice to bookreaders that wasn't really enough to tide me over, but overall it's remarkably well written from the quest-tied sidequests to the entire arcs relegated to Novigrad and Skellige. The second Act is phenomenal, with one particular quest that is probably my favorite of the game because it also ties in the gameplay decently too. The third act however is a crock of utter shit and it's clear that the finale was a rushed first draft which is a real shame. But despite this, the cavalcade of great well fleshed out characters and remarkably well done prose left me more than satisfied upon finishing.
Gameplay wise, other than the strong world and map design it falls completely on its face. Combat ranges from Quen to win to potion knowledge tests that are not interesting to concoct or plan around. There are a few exceptions but generally the combat is so restrictive and asinine to pull off and especially with how often you do it that it brings the whole game down terribly. A major sticking point I'll throw as evidence against it is that you have no freedom over which animation Geralt uses when attacking any enemy. It's a clear attempt to make Geralt play out his movements in the book but because you're so restricted to any random particular animation you get near enemies, combat on higher difficulties requires you to play so utterly safe and in such an uninteresting way and on lower difficulties is not satisfying at all as it becomes pure mashing. There's no sweet spot to be had here.
A couple bullet points of the DLC to add onto this before concluding:
Hearts of Stone has the best narrative storytelling especially with the quest within the world of the painting. It also has combat encounters that require a bit more thinking and leaves this DLC particularly in a fantastic corner.
Blood and Wine is 2 parts fantastic characterization and worldbuilding and one part a garbage final act that ends up actually worse than TW3 base's final act. It's still phenomenal overall due to the highs it gets to but what an absolute disappointment in the end.
Overall I find Witcher 3 to be a very good game, and I hope CD Projekt Red learns from their mistakes with Cyberpunk to actually make the gameplay part good instead of just their writing team.
Narratively, Witcher 3 stands atop very well if not completely amazing. The first Act of the story is decently well paced although the bits before Velen were uninteresting save for some bits of the fanservice to bookreaders that wasn't really enough to tide me over, but overall it's remarkably well written from the quest-tied sidequests to the entire arcs relegated to Novigrad and Skellige. The second Act is phenomenal, with one particular quest that is probably my favorite of the game because it also ties in the gameplay decently too. The third act however is a crock of utter shit and it's clear that the finale was a rushed first draft which is a real shame. But despite this, the cavalcade of great well fleshed out characters and remarkably well done prose left me more than satisfied upon finishing.
Gameplay wise, other than the strong world and map design it falls completely on its face. Combat ranges from Quen to win to potion knowledge tests that are not interesting to concoct or plan around. There are a few exceptions but generally the combat is so restrictive and asinine to pull off and especially with how often you do it that it brings the whole game down terribly. A major sticking point I'll throw as evidence against it is that you have no freedom over which animation Geralt uses when attacking any enemy. It's a clear attempt to make Geralt play out his movements in the book but because you're so restricted to any random particular animation you get near enemies, combat on higher difficulties requires you to play so utterly safe and in such an uninteresting way and on lower difficulties is not satisfying at all as it becomes pure mashing. There's no sweet spot to be had here.
A couple bullet points of the DLC to add onto this before concluding:
Hearts of Stone has the best narrative storytelling especially with the quest within the world of the painting. It also has combat encounters that require a bit more thinking and leaves this DLC particularly in a fantastic corner.
Blood and Wine is 2 parts fantastic characterization and worldbuilding and one part a garbage final act that ends up actually worse than TW3 base's final act. It's still phenomenal overall due to the highs it gets to but what an absolute disappointment in the end.
Overall I find Witcher 3 to be a very good game, and I hope CD Projekt Red learns from their mistakes with Cyberpunk to actually make the gameplay part good instead of just their writing team.