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

[green12345]

Only played number 2 and 3 and didn't really like 2 much. Though i'm going to try to replay 2 again one day.

 

[Saheer]

I can't personally rate them in particular order. Witcher 3 might be as overall experience the best one, but all three games has some specific sides that make them all amazing on their own.

Witcher 2 had probably the most interesting story and character development, and in some cases i liked its gameplay mechanics a bit more compared to TW3.
With Witcher 1 i have the weirdest love/hate relationship ever, gameplay mechanics can be so frustrating that i have a hard time replaying the game, but even so Witcher 1 has some magical atmosphere which comes from music, themes, in-game areas and characters as a whole. I also like the so called Witcher philosophy between evils in Witcher 1, which kinda disappears between games, it was the purest Witcher game if i may say so.

Amazing games all three =)

 

[RezoInverse]

Your favorite Game and Quest from The Witcher Trilogy?

The Wicher 3 is complete, and the trilogy is finished, so looking at the 3 games now, which one is your favorite?
And which quest is the best and/or the most memorable?

For me, while I still see TW1 as a completely amazing game, It is clear how much CD Projekt has improved since then. Not only about the graphics, but the gampeplay and the immensity of the world, always keeping a great history; The Wicher 2, Is a game that like soooo much: the history, the choices and consequences, the characters, the gameplay... It is sooooo much close to perfection on my opinion, that I even could put it as THE best RPG I ever played; The real only thing that makes me put TW3 as the better game of the trilogy, is how the world became so much bigger and with much more content, even in comparison to any other game already made, and even that just makes me think of it as 0,000000000099% better than TW2. I see them as:

N° 1 - The Witcher 3
N° 2 - The Witcher 2
N° 3 - The Witcher 1

From The Witcher 3, my favorite quest is actually "Keira's 3 quests". - "Wandering in the Dark", "A Towerful of Mice" and "A Favor for a Friend", are soo much good and just perfect to be played together (something I always make sure to do), starting with a big and dark cave, with ruins and a search for Ciri, then movin to a haunted isle with an amazing, superb and charismatic history, then finishing with a... a fantastic invitation... Always on a partnership with the one who did become my second favorite sorceress from The Witcher world... It is a game experience that I will never forget.

Only with the Main Quests, I go with "Scenes From a Marriage" from Hearts of Stone. Uncovering more about Olgierd's past, Iris and how their life went to such a tragic fate, together with an ambientation which made me remember Silent Hill, Is even the reason why I consider HoS the best part from all The Witcher Trilogy.


Going with The Witcher 2, my favorite quest is "The Secrets of Loc Muinne", at the end. Not just is at my favorite and true path (Iorveth), but the mix of secrets and riddles, plus the choices about Cynthia (I always let her live, and I really like her) and finding my best Witcher silver sword from the game (Gynvael Aedd - other thing who just makes me remember of the books) is just amazing.

At the Main Quests my favorite is, again, a mix: "Where is Triss Merigold" and "Royal Blood", with everything converging with the invasion of the Kaedweni camp and a escape with the help of Vernon Roche.


At The Witcher 1, my favorite quest is "Her Highness the Striga" - you fighting a Striga/Adda... need to say more?hehe

Also "Of Monsters and Men", is memorable. The secrets you can find, even without looking for them, and how all of them combine into a "gray true", and many moral implications at same, is still one of the best examples of what is The Wicher on my opinion, and how good the narrative can be.

p.s. It is sad how It has come to a end, but while I'm really waiting for "Gwent" and "Cyberpunk", I also hope we can return to a new adventure on this world, and hopefully, at a new trilogy.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Can't say anything about TW3 (didn't play it yet), but out of the first two, my favorite is TW1. And favorite quests - probably ones about the story of Abigail. The best part of the game though is knighting of Geralt by the Lady of The Lake.

In TW2 it's The Secrets of Loc Muinne indeed.

 

[minche_r1]

To me it is obvious, the first one has good story but questionable graphic and gameplay, the second one though pretty and hardcore in terms of gameplay and story, it is a linear game after all( You can't even jump!). Wild hunt solve all its predecessors' problems, though not as hardcore as the second one, is clearly the best in the trilogy. Most quests in W3 are great, but I think a treasure hunt quest in HOS is the most sad quest by far...a mother kills her own daughters just because they are prettier than her? Plain brutal.

 

[Rawls]

Favorite game is TW3, then TW2 then TW1.

Favorite TW3 quests are listed here: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...(s)-Spoilers?p=2455071&viewfull=1#post2455071

Top 3 TW2 quest is probably the Rose of Remembrance (what can I say ... I'm an old softy), the secrets of Loc Muinne, or pretty much anything dealing with Vergen in following Iorveth's path.

Favorite TW1 quest is definitely Vizima Confidential.

P.S. Since this is about all three games, I'm moving it to the general discussions forum.

 

[Draconifors]

All three games are excellent, and all have their pros and cons. All things considered I'll have to say TW3 > TW2 > TW1.

Favourite quest from TW1: "A Game of Dice". If that doesn't count as a proper quest, then "A Mysterious Tower".
TW2: "In the Claws of Madness". It was really scary the first time I did it, but I still enjoyed it.
TW3: So many to choose from (and I know I haven't even done all the quests in the game). I don't think anything will be able to beat "Dead Man's Party" from HoS, though! That quest is pure awesomeness from start to finish. :thumbsup:

 

[Alexius321]

I have a hard time choosing between the Witcher and The Witcher 3 for my ‘favourite’ in the trilogy. TW3 certainly has a lot of advantages regarding gameplay, size, graphics, etc, etc. but The Witcher somehow feels most wicher-like out of all three games in my opinion. It has a distinct feel to it, a distinct atmosphere, phenomenal music… it’s the most memorable one in many ways. The Witcher 2 takes the last place for me.

The quest? I have no idea. Let's say: TW - probably Vizima Confidential, TW2 - probably The Secrets of Loc Muinne, TW3 - probably Family Matters or A Towerful of Mice. But there are many others which I have really enjoyed.

 

[Sunsibar]

This is a though one... And then it's not.

My favorite has to be W3, because I can't seem to let go of that game I'm playing my fifth round at the moment and I just can't start anything else. I have tried... I just love that game and everything in it. My favorite quest line is still probably Baron's. Expansion favorites are Scenes From The Marriage and Equine Phantoms.

Then there is W2. Most memorable moment from my first time with this game was the quest where you had to choose Roche or Iorveth. Also that feather collecting quest was fun

W1 is still in the middle... I like that game and I really would like to play it more and complete it, but it's PC only and that is the most difficult part for me. I hate to play with mouse and because I'm having back problems and lousy laptop, it's a bit difficult to play since I don't have a proper table and chair. And my laptop fan is screaming like crazy, so I can play only short periods at a time. Too early to say here what is my favorite quest.

 

[Guest 3847602]

Before HoS and BaW came out I'd say TW1 was my favorite game, but now I'm leaning toward TW3.
My favorite quests would be:

TW1:
1) Vizima Confidental
2) Old Friend of Mine
3) Beauty and the Beast
4) Small Problems
5) Blue Eyes

TW2:
1) In Cervisia Veritas
2) Baltimore's Nightmare
3) Hung Over
4) The Secrets of Loc Muinne
5) With Flickering Heart

TW3:
see here

 

[Pug.]

TW3 for me.

TW1 and TW2 were both excellent games, but I liked the way Doug Cockle portrayed Geralt in Wild Hunt. He felt more human to me - though I'm sure Geralt would protest, "I'm a freak, remember?" - and I liked his wry sense of humor.

 

[RezoInverse]

I like that game and I really would like to play it more and complete it, but it's PC only and that is the most difficult part for me. I hate to play with mouse and because I'm having back problems and lousy laptop, it's a bit difficult to play since I don't have a proper table and chair. And my laptop fan is screaming like crazy, so I can play only short periods at a time. Too early to say here what is my favorite quest.

I understand you. Well, about the mouse, I would recomend the program "Xppader" It is free to use and you can emulate your console control to TW1. On my case, I'm playing with my Xbox One control, and I placed the commands as almost the same of The Witcher 2 and 3. Makes a great difference.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

You can also configure Steam controller for TW1 I suppose.

 

[Garrison72]

TW2 is still the strongest game overall. It's more consistently excellent across its various elements than the other two. TW3's ambition and insane scale mean most people will get more mileage out of that game.

 

[GeneralJarate]

I absolutely love all three of the games, but being given the choice between the three, I'd pick TW3 every time. I believe that the first Witcher game nailed story, but fell short on gameplay and graphics while the second kept the story strong while improving the other two factors. TW3 improved everything. The story felt more personal and out of the three games, it felt the most personal and "spiritually close" to the book series to me. As for my favorite quests:

TW1: Beauty and the Beast - As someone new to the series at the time, the choice to cure Vincent in this quest really developed a witcher's role in my mind.

TW2: In Cervisia Veritas - This quest paid off the buildup to the true hero of this series, Odrin.

TW3: The Last Wish - I had to think a while about this one, but what made it special to me is that it gave the player the player's interpretation of the original short story power to decide whether or not Geralt's wish was a hoax, even if the player didn't fully comprehend it. It was probably the absolute biggest bone CDPR could have thrown to fans of the book series aside from bringing Regis back in Blood and Wine.

 

[Alixus10]

I think comparing w3 to w2 is unfair. W2 was simply a more refined version of w1, whereby the formula did not change that much. They learned from there mistakes and fine tuned it perfectly. With w3 they essentially went back to the drawing board and had to start from scratch more or less as it was there first massive open world game. In that sense w3 should be compared to w1 as they were both the first of there kind. If CDPR make w4 and follow the same formula as the w3 they will have the benefit of Learning from there mistakes like they did with w2. They've even publicly acknowledged many of them. Overall I think the main story of tw2 was better but tw3 was a better overall rpg experience.

 

[sv3672]

I think comparing w3 to w2 is unfair. W2 was simply a more refined version of w1, whereby the formula did not change that much. They learned from there mistakes and fine tuned it perfectly. With w3 they essentially went back to the drawing board and had to start from scratch more or less as it was there first massive open world game. In that sense w3 should be compared to w1 as they were both the first of there kind. If CDPR make w4 and follow the same formula as the w3 they will have the benefit of Learning from there mistakes like they did with w2. They've even publicly acknowledged many of them. Overall I think the main story of tw2 was better but tw3 was a better overall rpg experience.

Well, it is not like they were forced to make the third game open world, it was a conscious design decision (perhaps in the hope that it will increase sales), so if it made the game worse in some ways, then the criticism for those is still fair. But many of the shortcomings of TW3 are not even the result of the open world, and some of the weakest parts of the story are almost entirely linear.

In my opinion, each game is also less of an RPG than the previous one, as the protagonist became increasingly pre-defined with his memories, relationships, etc. being brought back from the books - it is a design choice that favors "cinematic" value (as it is easier to write good dialogues and cutscenes when almost everything is pre-defined) over giving the players freedom to define the character with their choices. I guess that trend would continue in any future games, so I hope Geralt's story is really over and he will not appear again.

Some of the issues with Witcher 3 are simply the result of not enough time or resources to fully develop everything in the game (which could be seen as an indirect consequence of the open world), but others could be intentional to reach a wider audience, and again have nothing to do with the open world. Such as the usually simple quest design that relies mostly on the players using the witcher senses to follow clues (more of a storytelling device than actual "gameplay"), rather than investigating and solving problems on their own. Or the one-dimensional antagonists outside the Hearts of Stone expansion. Or the lack of impact from choices made in the previous games, something on which similar or less resources were spent than on the free DLCs. Or the game giving up the original design principle of giving the player choices where there is no clear good or evil - Witcher 3 tends to follow more of a "good/bitter-sweet/bad" formula, often guiding the player towards the "good" path with various clues.

So, while the third game is clearly the best in some ways, I would hesitate to call it "the" best. In the end, all three have different advantages and flaws, so it is not easy to choose.

 

[Alixus10]

Well, it is not like they were forced to make the third game open world, it was a conscious design decision (perhaps in the hope that it will increase sales), so if it made the game worse in some ways, then the criticism for those is still fair. But many of the shortcomings of TW3 are not even the result of the open world, and some of the weakest parts of the story are almost entirely linear.

In my opinion, each game is also less of an RPG than the previous one, as the protagonist became increasingly pre-defined with his memories, relationships, etc. being brought back from the books - it is a design choice that favors "cinematic" value (as it is easier to write good dialogues and cutscenes when almost everything is pre-defined) over giving the players freedom to define the character with their choices. I guess that trend would continue in any future games, so I hope Geralt's story is really over and he will not appear again.

Some of the issues with Witcher 3 are simply the result of not enough time or resources to fully develop everything in the game (which could be seen as an indirect consequence of the open world), but others could be intentional to reach a wider audience, and again have nothing to do with the open world. Such as the usually simple quest design that relies mostly on the players using the witcher senses to follow clues (more of a storytelling device than actual "gameplay"), rather than investigating and solving problems on their own. Or the one-dimensional antagonists outside the Hearts of Stone expansion. Or the lack of impact from choices made in the previous games, something on which similar or less resources were spent than on the free DLCs. Or the game giving up the original design principle of giving the player choices where there is no clear good or evil - Witcher 3 tends to follow more of a "good/bitter-sweet/bad" formula, often guiding the player towards the "good" path with various clues.

So, while the third game is clearly the best in some ways, I would hesitate to call it "the" best. In the end, all three have different advantages and flaws, so it is not easy to choose.

Going open world was the natural progression the game needed to take. There were too many loose ends in the books and games that needed to be tied off. I find the writing in the secondary missions were fantastic but for some reason they the script was lacking with regards the main plot. I find most Characters really well written in particular Geralt, Regis, Dijkstra and Triss. I found the writers did a great job with copying Sapkaowskis writing with regards to those characters. I found Yen's sharp wit from the books somewhat lacking in the game and most importantly I found Ciri's personality far too normal and bubbly for someone who's gone through the nightmares she's gone through. In the books we see how disturbed she became but in the game she was far too 2 dimensional and normal. TW3 is not perfect but the best of the bunch. Cannot get enough of it. There is a reason why so many have claimed that tw3 has redefined gaming and the rpg genre. In fact I do not remember a game receiving so much acclaim in recent memory. Well deserved imo.

 

[tripialos]

Story: TW1 > TW2 > TW3
Gameplay: TW3 > TW1 > TW2
Visual aspect: TW3 > TW2 > TW1 (obviously)
Quest design: TW3 = TW2 > TW1
Monster variety: TW1 > TW3 > TW2
Music: TW3 = TW1 > TW2
Voiceovers: TW3 = TW2 > TW1
Inventory and interface: TW1 EE > TW3 > TW2
Alchemy (in its principle): TW1 > TW3 > TW2
Characters: TW1 > TW3 > TW2
Politics: TW2 > TW1 > TW3 (no politics of TW1 is better than crappy politics of TW3)
Sex, romances and related: TW2 > TW3 > TW1
Maturity of topics: TW2 > TW1 > TW3

Overall: TW3 > TW1 > TW2

 

[Syncrosonix]

My favorites in order: 3, 1, 2.