The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)

I played Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 back in the day during release years but didn't purchase Witcher 3 until June of 2016. I put about 22 hours into but I was having some severe open-world faitgue so I stepped away. On the 1st of January 2019 I decided to pick it back up (same save) and with an additional 68 hours played through until 14 January, I completed the main story.

I've yet to touch anything from the two expansion packs but that starts tomorrow. The Witcher 3 cements this trilogy as one of my absolute favorite trilogies. Every single game is breathtaking in its own way. Highly recommended.

I was looking at the top 250 list today trying to determine if anything had a chance at actually overtaking this game ever. I remember thinking when Breath of the Wild came out that it would surely overtake Witcher 3 within the year. Now, I'm not too sure. For context, here is the formula used to calculate the list:

v = number of reviews
R = average rating
min = minimum number of reviews to be considered for the list
total_avg_rating = avg rating of every game on the site
score = (v / (v+min)) * R + (min / (v+min)) * total_avg_rating

There are only 4 games that have more than 200 ratings that have a higher average rating than the Witcher 3. They are The Old Hunters (Bloodborne DLC), Metal Gear Solid 3, the 2018 God of War, and Breath of the Wild. The only game of those 4 that has a chance anytime soon of taking down the Witcher is Breath of the Wild, but I don't think it's going to happen. I haven't run the numbers, but Witcher has a 4.67 avg and Breath of the Wild has a 4.70. However, Witcher has around 3150 reviews to only 1780 for Breath of the Wild. I think Breath of the Wild would need at least another 500 - 700 reviews, and also need to maintain that .03 point lead in order to overtake the Witcher. I really don't see that happening.

Fun Saturday thoughts!

When I'm not playing in my PS4, I'm playing in my laptop. The Witcher 3 has been very quite amazing even though I have no idea what the series is all about. Thankfully they are showing some flashbacks, and some "story so far" which helped me somewhat grasp the situation.

I'm just wondering. There are so many "main quests" and there are a lot of dialogue choices. Does my tracking of quests (whichever I pick first) affect the plot or outcome? And if my dialogue choices even matter at all? Because there are times when a timer appears and I have to decide quickly. Hmm.

Till 2015, I was the guy with a penchant for the games I had played in my childhood. My top three games were Planescape: Torment, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. I would relentlessly criticize the current video game industry and the direction it was taking (and I still do).

But something changed with the release of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. The game is an absolute masterpiece and, in my opinion, creates an unforgettable experience very rarely seen before in gaming. It should be noted that I do not think that it is the perfect game. It has more negative points that many of the other games in my top ten list. It had a fair number of bugs when it was released, a redundant loot system, a lot of repetitive padding (especially those treasure hunts in Skellige), and a mediocre (but satisfyingly challenging) combat system.

However, the things The Witcher 3 (TW3) does well, it does phenomenally well. The soundtrack, the story, the choices, the side quests, the portrayal of human emotions, the fantastic depiction of the universe’s lore, the wide variety of enemies, and the role playing experience it provides are all brilliant and intricately linked together.

Finally, the real reason I consider TW3 to be the best game I have played to date is the Hearts of Stone expansion. It will introduce you to several complex characters, an absolutely thrilling narrative, a continuation of TW3's euphonic soundtrack, and one of the best villains in gaming history. In fact, if I had to introduce someone to gaming, I would tell them to only play this expansion. Seriously, play The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone.

Actual Score: 4.5/5