Favorite and Best Game: BOTW vs RDR2 vs TW3

Favorite and Best


  • Total voters
    42

robertmac43

Forever 43!
Mar 31, 2015
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I loved all 3 three of these games for different reasons. If I had to pick a favourite it would probably be the Witcher 3, and best would also go to that game.

I have been meaning to go back and play RDR2 again and spend more time in the world, so maybe that will switch my feelings towards it.
 

Beau Knows

Registered User
Mar 4, 2013
11,572
7,387
Canada
BOTW for both.

It took a great series and injected it with some new ideas and better captured the spirit of an open world adventure. Despite being on the least powerful hardware of these 3 I think it's the actually most pleasant looking in a lot of ways. It's very stylized and beautiful. The other 2 are technical marvels, but less interesting.

They're all open world games, but BOTW's gameplay and structure are designed around that better than RDR2 and W3.

Red Dead has more of that typical Rockstar mission format where you follow someone around while they talk, then you do exactly what the game tells you tell to when it tells you to. If you deviate from what the game wants you to do, it's mission over. It's an open world, but once you are inside missions, it kind of abandons that. It's doesn't really mesh in my opinion.

I find BOTW to be a nearly infinitely replayable game. You don't mind going through the game again and again since each time you play it you can approach things differently. Even the shrines, which are the most linear parts, can still be fun to complete again as you find new ways to get through them

If I had to rate them:
BOTW - 9.5/10
A masterpiece with very minor wrinkles

The Witcher 3 - 9/10
An amazing game with some clunky controls and UI

Red Dead Redemption 2 - 6/10
There's a lot of impressive stuff packed into the game, but it doesn't all come together to make for a good experience
 
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S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
31,011
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Toruń, PL
For me I think gameplay is the most important because you can have a mediocre story like Destiny, but if the gameplay is fun then it's a hard game to put down.

It might be unfair since I only played about ten hours or so of The Witcher, whereas I got many more hours with BotW and RDRII. In terms of gameplay, easily BOTW and it's not even close to the other two. The gameplay is smooth, fighting is smooth, and walking around is smooth. Only complaint I have about it is that the default controller button setup is very strange, but Nintendo is going to Nintendo.

RDRII still has the best map of the three and so many hidden features in the game where I recently started again and seen so many new aspects I haven't ever (like picking up a perfect elk skin in the middle of a forest from a bear attack). The character models and movement really lets the game down in big ways, but I was expecting this because Rockstar games haved always had very lacklustre gameplay - their games are built within the world instead.

The Witcher EASILY has the worst gameplay of the three; your character walks around like a drunktard and the horse mechanics with the controller is even worse. I think the fighting can match BotW in terms of depth, but all three eventually are a step below the fluidity you get from NieR: Automata.
 

Mikeaveli

Registered User
Sep 25, 2013
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Edmonton, AB
Haven't played RDR2. Of Witcher 3 and BOTW I would take Witcher 3. The combat, story, and side quests of BOTW are all pretty terrible especially in comparison to Witcher 3. Witcher 3 also has Gwent lol
 
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x Tame Impala

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Aug 24, 2011
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Haven't played RDR2. Of Witcher 3 and BOTW I would take Witcher 3. The combat, story, and side quests of BOTW are all pretty terrible especially in comparison to Witcher 3. Witcher 3 also has Gwent lol

Blasphey. "Terrible" in comparison?
 

Chaels Arms

Formerly Lias Andersson
Aug 26, 2010
7,303
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New York City
The Witcher 3 is the only game I've ever played where I felt a serious sadness as I watched the ending cutscenes knowing the game was done. I've had that feeling many times with books before but never with a video game.
 

robertmac43

Forever 43!
Mar 31, 2015
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Haven't played RDR2. Of Witcher 3 and BOTW I would take Witcher 3. The combat, story, and side quests of BOTW are all pretty terrible especially in comparison to Witcher 3. Witcher 3 also has Gwent lol
Didn't even think of Gwent in my decision! Makes want to double down more on the TW3.


Also on the note of side quests. I think the Witcher has the greatest mix of additional quests ever in a game. The detail and stories within them are all amazing!
 
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Papa Francouz

Registered User
Nov 25, 2013
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My favorite game on the list is The Witcher 3, no contest. The base game is decent, but the DLCs really elevate that game for me. As a Zelda fanboy, it's tough to vote against Breath of the Wild, but I think the narrative of The Witcher 3 won out for me.

The best game on the list has to be Breath of the Wild, though. It made actual advancements in the open world genre, and it didn't sacrifice anything in the way of gameplay to do so. I can see how the game doesn't appeal to everyone with its subdued narrative, but it's a legitimate open world game where you can go anywhere and do anything you want at anytime and, most importantly, progress however you want to progress using whatever method you want, whereas the other two are not.

I couldn't even finish RDR2 because the gameplay was so bad. I loved the characters and the general story was awesome, but Arthur controlled like shit and the lack of actual choice and player input when doing missions killed the game for me.
 

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
31,011
16,542
Toruń, PL
I don't get the appeal of RDR2 at all. A dreadful game. The first RDR was a masterpiece.
The story in RDR clearly destroys the story in RDRII, but the map in RDR is absolutely ridiculous in terms of barren and emptiness. RDRII is entirely made for the map to come to life and the game does exactly that. There are so many different environments ranging from north British Columbia to the Texas coast, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, West Virginia, and New Orleans. The game includes all the major cities of the old map as well besides Mexico. Thinking that there is no appeal to RDRII is just nonsense and disingenuous.
 
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Mikeaveli

Registered User
Sep 25, 2013
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Edmonton, AB
Blasphey. "Terrible" in comparison?
Maybe terrible is too strong of a word, but the better game is The Witcher 3 and it's not really close in my opinion. The only actual fun part of BOTW is exploring the open world. Which is fine because that is what takes up most of your time in the game, but it makes for a less rewarding experience because every other aspect of the game is so underwhelming. Being able to pause the game at any moment and immediately heal to full health takes any fun and challenge out of combat and boss battles. The puzzles are watered down and repetitive compared to previous Zelda games. The story and side quests are not interesting at all. Again, overall I do think it's a fun game and there are some things it does well, like the graphics, exploration, and art style, but I think it would be a lot better with actually interesting things to find and do.
 

tucker3434

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Apr 7, 2007
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I thought RDR2 was excellent. Bought the Witcher. Couldn’t get into it. Not my type of game. Never owned a Nintendo after game boy.
 

robertmac43

Forever 43!
Mar 31, 2015
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Maybe terrible is too strong of a word, but the better game is The Witcher 3 and it's not really close in my opinion. The only actual fun part of BOTW is exploring the open world. Which is fine because that is what takes up most of your time in the game, but it makes for a less rewarding experience because every other aspect of the game is so underwhelming. Being able to pause the game at any moment and immediately heal to full health takes any fun and challenge out of combat and boss battles. The puzzles are watered down and repetitive compared to previous Zelda games. The story and side quests are not interesting at all. Again, overall I do think it's a fun game and there are some things it does well, like the graphics, exploration, and art style, but I think it would be a lot better with actually interesting things to find and do.
Makes me excited for when a studio uses BoTW's extremely open gameplay and adds a compelling story with player choice. It could take the genre to another level!
 

YoSoyLalo

me reading HF
Oct 8, 2010
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Never played witcher so I’m choosing between BOTW and RDR2

it’s BOTW easily for me. I love the story and characters of RDR2 but the gameplay is legitimately bad.
 

kingsboy11

Maestro
Dec 14, 2011
11,634
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Haven't played Witcher although I've been tempted to give it a go one day.

BOTW for both options. I never played RDR, but played RDR2 and enjoyed it a lot, but I didn't have the emotional connection to the franchise as I do with Zelda. BOTW was basically everything that Nintendo wanted the game to be when they launched the game all those years ago. Just exploring around Hyrule to find every nook and cranny was unbelievable.
 
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Fantomas

Registered User
Aug 7, 2012
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The story in RDR clearly destroys the story in RDRII, but the map in RDR is absolutely ridiculous in terms of barren and emptiness. RDRII is entirely made for the map to come to life and the game does exactly that. There are so many different environments ranging from north British Columbia to the Texas coast, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, West Virginia, and New Orleans. The game includes all the major cities of the old map as well besides Mexico. Thinking that there is no appeal to RDRII is just nonsense and disingenuous.

There's no appeal to me. That's all I'm sayin'.
 

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
31,011
16,542
Toruń, PL
There's no appeal to me. That's all I'm sayin'.
You're entitled to your opinion, but RDRII is pretty much RDR on platinum steroids so that I get how it doesn't appeal to someone who loved the first one? Both are quite similar to everything including gameplay except with more features in RDRII - which I admit some are idiotic like feeding and brushing your horse. Only aspect I agree with you is story and even then RDRII story was still quite good even with the predictable ending.
 

Nizdizzle

Offseason Is The Worst Season
Jul 7, 2007
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Very close for BoTW and TW3 for me. Both are some of the best games ever made, IMO. However, they are great for very different reasons.

The Witcher 3 has an amazing and cohesive story. I don't feel like there was ever a part of the story where it overly dragged or I wanted it to end. The voice acting for Geralt is probably the best of any game I can think of, and the character propped up an already great game. The gameplay was very good, but not amazing. Although they had different character trees (potions/magic/swords), the fighting gameplay is just parry/dodge/slash with your sword - buffing with potion or magic along the way.
Gameplay 8/10. Story 9.5/10.

Breath of the Wild was just so different from any other game I'd played. It gave a level of freedom and creativity that I haven't experienced before. You can approach pretty much any challenge in a variety of ways and the game doesn't try to shoe-horn you into any one playstyle. The game kind of fell short in the story department as the overarching story was pretty generic and straightforward. I think the vast amount of variety and content in the game made me not really care about the lack of story, because I really, really enjoyed my playthrough. Hoping BoTW2 can improve on that aspect.
Gameplay 10/10. Story 7/10.

I didn't really care for Red Dead Redemption 2. I got about halfway through and just stopped playing it. The story and gameplay were both strong, but I neither compelled me to continue with what felt like a very long, and drawn-out main story.
Gameplay 8/10. Story 8/10.

If I had to pick:
Favourite: Breath of the Wild
Best: The Witcher 3
Rest: Red Dead Redemption 2
 
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JaegerDice

The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA
Dec 26, 2014
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BOTW is a masterpiece, but it isn't perfect.

The biggest issue, IMO, are that the dungeons (or legendary machines, whatever) are really quite weak compared to the grand, intricate dungeons of previous Zelda games.

Smaller, more annoying issues are the rate at which weapons degrade and the rate at which the stamina meter drops. The latter isnt too much of a problem after leveling up a few times, but I do really wish that they had just made the bloody Master Sword immune to degradation of any kind. Even if that meant that they blocked you off from getting it til midway or 2/3rds of the way through the game (instead of being able to get it almost immediately if you know how and where).

Everything else about the games design is spectacular.
 
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