[SPOILERS] Witcher 3 vs Witcher 2 vs Witcher 1. Vote and discuss which one is your favorite :)

[whiplash27]

I played the crap out of TW2. Beat it more than any game I've ever played. The sheer size/length of TW3 will not make me want to do the same. I may play it again some time down the road, but It's way too big of a time investment for me to want to keep replaying it. TW1 & 2 were of the length that I like in RPGs, that 20-30 hour range.

I still like TW2 the most (although I haven't replayed it since playing TW3). Although, I do think that if TW1 was remade on a modern engine with a good combat system (or TW3's) it could very well be the best of the group.

 

[johnkittz]

Witcher 1 is amazing. I recently got it from gog and I can't believe how good it is. Sadly though I won't be playing 3 anytime soon due to my Computer being a potato and not having Internet for a newer console. I did play 2 on Xbox 360 and I loved that one too, but I gotta say witcher 1 is by far my favorite. The combat is good for me, the story is good, sidequests are actually worthwhile, and the astropmehere is awesome. Geralt in the first one is so different from the geralt in the 2nd one.

 

[hiuuz]

My best decision was to start with the first game! I love the atmosphere of the game, the other two game is a bit more colorful. Oh, and the first Geralt looks much more awesome! The other two rather a handsome guy!

 

[Yeiiow]

All 3 games have their own set of flaws and highlights, some doing particular things better/worse than the others. But it would say they are all overall really good.

When it comes down to a favorite i dont really have one, but i can easely say that the first two games are supperior in most aspects to The Witcher 3.
While overall i think TW3 is still a good game and i did enjoyed my first(and only) playtrough of it, there was much left to be desired. It felt more like a stand-alone tittle rather than a sequel to the two previous games. It was also filled with unnesesary fan-service to the books that felt out of place and did not developed the story in any postive way.

The gameplay in TW3 has a better flow than previous two tittles, specially with features like jumping, horse riding and swiming. And the animations(specially facial) are top notch in comparison to anything else out there.
However, the story was overall a big letdown full of cliches and black and white choises, and the oversimplifications of things like alchemy was very dissapointing, so was the inclusiong of the MMO style leveling and itemization. I also miss many immesion and QoL details like animations for eating, drinking, etc, something that the previous two Witcher games, or the newer RDR2 and Kingdom Come Deliverance do way better.

So all in all TW3 being the biggest and most expensive in terms of development of the 3 does not really equals to it being the better product, if anything i feel it is the oposite. The previous two tittles are better becouse they were more focused and did not try to do everything at once like TW3 does.

 

[hiuuz]

All 3 games have their own set of flaws and highlights, some doing particular things better/worse than the others. But it would say they are all overall really good.

When it comes down to a favorite i dont really have one, but i can easely say that the first two games are supperior in most aspects to The Witcher 3.
While overall i think TW3 is still a good game and i did enjoyed my first(and only) playtrough of it, there was much left to be desired. It felt more like a stand-alone tittle rather than a sequel to the two previous games. It was also filled with unnesesary fan-service to the books that felt out of place and did not developed the story in any postive way.

The gameplay in TW3 has a better flow than previous two tittles, specially with features like jumping, horse riding and swiming. And the animations(specially facial) are top notch in comparison to anything else out there.
However, the story was overall a big letdown full of cliches and black and white choises, and the oversimplifications of things like alchemy was very dissapointing, so was the inclusiong of the MMO style leveling and itemization. I also miss many immesion and QoL details like animations for eating, drinking, etc, something that RDR2 or Kingdom Come Deliverance do way better.

So all in all TW3 being the biggest and most expensive in terms of development of the 3 does not really equals to it being the better product, if anything i feel it is the oposite. The previous two tittles are better becouse they were more focused and did not try to do everything at once like TW3 does.

Besides that it's true that a game producer can't meet everyones requirements. There is always somebody who like something what somebody else not. Alchemy is a good example: sometimes in TW1 when I catch the mood, I like compile the potions manualy, selecting the ingredients myself one by one. But I'm sure about that most of the gamers in TW3 just make that few clicks, get the potions what they want and run forward to next contract.

 

[whitewolf2077]

I think, five or more years from now, they should make a remake of W1, W2 and W3 and tie them all up in one game. Ambitious project but worth the effort. It would be the definitive Witcher game. Hope this idea gets more traction so CDPR decides (or at least considers) doing this. Please CDPR.

 

[hiuuz]

I think, five or more years from now, they should make a remake of W1, W2 and W3 and tie them all up in one game. Ambitious project but worth the effort. It would be the definitive Witcher game. Hope this idea gets more traction so CDPR decides (or at least considers) doing this. Please CDPR.

This is acceptable only in one case: they make choosable TW1/TW3 face option!

 

[EagleArch1019]

The Witcher 1 had better voice acting. Otherwise, it's a tie.

 

[geraltthebleidd]

Obviously its The Witcher 3 because Yen is reason enough and no i like Triss more.

 

[aJ0sJ0s]

as far as story goes it W1=W2>W3 and thats predominantly what I care about

 

[whiplash27]

Normalizing for graphics & combat advances. TW1 & TW2 > TW3. I'd love to play TW1 on a newer engine because I have a feeling it could very well jump to the best overall. As is, TW2 is my favorite. Personally, I thought that CDPR made TW3 too big for its own good. They could have cut the map in half and filled it with more detail and the game would have probably been a ton better. When I take Vizima from TW1 and Flosam from TW2 and compare it to anything in TW3 there's nothing close. Novigrad for how large and ambitious it was, never felt very memorable. The story in TW3 also wasn't as interesting as the first two either. It felt too forced as a way to close out the game while linking to the books and it completely ruined the political angle that was so prevalent in TW2.

After spending over a hundred hours on Kingdom Come Deliverance I've come to realize that open world games should never be as large as TW3. Smaller open worlds with memorable hubs are so much better. Unfortunately, I know that CP2077 is supposed to be huge as well, doesn't bode well for someone like me... but I know bigger sells better apparently.

 

[geraltthebleidd]

my first game was The Witcher 1 but The Witcher 3 is my favourite. I like the big open world. Its something i whished for since the first game. Thats one plus. Second i like the small cut scenes where geralt is talking with npcs. Nearly all enemies besides 2 or 3 from Witcher 1 and 2 are in Witcher 3 GOTY Version. Story destroys everything! Its like a neverending fantasy in videogame form. Sex scenes were not better in W2. This is not true. I myself believed that aswell not some long time ago. Triss is not better than yen. They have both pros and cons. The houses in W1 are a joke compares to W3. The main story is not better. Never. Its just more dark and some parts are more detailed(oil) and sex cards. Running is a chore.

 

[ooodrin]

The main story is not better. Never. Its just more dark and some parts are more detailed

I guess it depends on what you want and want and expect from the main story - I'd agree that TW1 doesn't have the same emotional impact (which is kinda impossible when 2/3 main characters from the books are missing), but at the same time the story in TW1 doesn't suffer from the fake drama (the entire saving the mages subplot) and "legendary" writing in the Reason of State. To its credit, TW3 makes both easily skippable (which has been extremely helpful for my overall enjoyment of the game), but their presence still taints the writing quality.

 

[SavageMen]

Needless to say TW3.

 

[Razrback16]

I love all of them, but TW3 is probably the best game I've ever played in over 30 years of hardcore gaming.

TW2 is probably right behind it. TW2 had such fantastic character development and for me, it was probably the first game I'd ever played that had the type of romance development that it did, and I'll admit, I'm probably older than a lot of gamers @ 37, so I think the romance angles of games are very appealing to me at my age - when I was a lot younger before I got married, the relationships weren't as big a deal and combat was a bigger focus, but that's one of the things with The Witcher series that really triggered me emotionally was the romance stuff with Geralt and Triss / Yen.

Furthermore on TW2, one of the things I REALLY enjoyed with it over the others is how the political intrigue in the game shaped choices in a much more impactful way than the others did. That's not to say TW1 and TW3 didn't have politics in them, they did, it just felt to me like TW2 had a lot more to do with politics from the stuff with Foltest to Stennis / Saskia, with some Nilfgaardian stuff embedded as well. I really liked all of that.

 

[Ivan_Kalashniuk]

Needless, indeed.
TW3. Even though TW1 was quite a good one for its time.

 

[Maverick89]

Gameplay W3
Story W1
HUD W1
Music W1=W2=W3
Art W1
Locations W3

 

[gialdonar]

Witcher 1 has the best atmosphere, soundtrack and locations. W3 has best gameplay. W2 is most intense.

 

[Deemonef]

Witcher 2

 

[GeorgeMendes]

Am I playing this wrong?
I'm playing the Witcher games in order, and now I'm up to the boss battle in Witcher 2, having finished the first one.
The combat in Witcher 2 is sluggish and unresponsive, and Geralt seems weak in comparison to the first one. Is that intentional? It took me several hours of dying to take out the Kayren, and now I'm pretty much stuck with Letho.
I mean I'm sure it's not as difficult as something like Dark Souls, but I'm finding it a lot harder than Witcher 1 (playing both on normal). Am I playing it wrong? Should I be a higher character before facing Letho, at level 11? I don't want to set the mode to easy, because I value playing it the way its intended, but this is insane. My hands hurt lol.
I keep wondering if there was something I'm missing.
Edit: I died a lot playing Witcher 1, but I could actually see why and it didn't bother me. That was almost strategic; this seems a lot more twitch-based.