Again, The Witcher and Skyrim trump BOTW in story any day. The Witcher has better combat than Skyrim, but they are also all three completely different games. Skyrim is best for total exploration, story, and lore. It's not "boring and empty" as some people say. It's supposed to be like that, every Elder Scrolls game is. The Witcher feels the most alive and wholesome I'd say with great combat, but I don't own it on Switch and can't say how well it runs or even looks.
Yea, for story you gotta go Witcher first. Even if you like story, I would still recommend BotW over Skyrim. I wouldn't say Skyrim's "story" is great, but its lore/characters are.
BotW is basically just a sandbox unless you're really into Zelda stuff like locations and names that may be carried from the other timelines.
The main story in Skyrim is generic nonsense that isn't really worth writing home about. It does have a lot of cool side-stories though. Way more than BoTW has.
All three of these games are great and I own all three on switch and have beaten the main story for all of them.
For a person who is just starting games like this I would ask myself if you like more story driven games or more gameplay driven games.
If you want story I would recommend the Witcher 3 and choose the easiest difficulty option. This game does a great job getting you immersed in the story and characters and it has lots of weapons, upgrades, potions and food for you to increase player strength and replenish health. There is a perk called gourmet, I believe, and it lets food regen health for 20min so if you need something to get through the more challenging parts this would be a skill you want to pick up immediately. Honestly the game after the early part once you get a handle on the controls isn’t hard at all. Combat is pretty simple and wrestling with the camera is usually the toughest part. I actually ended up bumping up the difficulty to the second hardest overall because near the end of the main story your character is just so over leveled if you are doing a lot of the side quests and Witcher contracts.
If you like more gameplay driven experiences then you should start with Zelda breath of the wild. This game has an incredible physics engine so once you learn the rules of the world you can get really creative to solve solutions and traverse the game world. I know you said you felt like you were just running around when you were playing and it could be that it just isn’t a game for you. But this is a game you have to be willing to accept that at times you won’t exactly know what you want to do besides just go to the final boss since there are few map icons. This allows the game to give the player the space and freedom to really blaze their own trail and figure out things naturally. That is why I think this is such a good game for beginners to gaming. It allows so much player agency in how you tackle different objectives you come across just organically through just playing the game and exploring. I credit the physics engine for allowing players to find other solutions to problems than just want the game makers had intended on you doing. Too many games I feel like have too narrow of solutions and breath of the wild was the first game that really made me feel like I was figuring out and doing things in my own way.
Skyrim while a game I really enjoy and think is definitely worth playing, isn’t something I would recommend if you are new to these types of games. Since it is older it is going to be clunkier and the main story doesn’t draw you in as much as the Witcher 3. But this game has great characters and really lets you flesh out the player character however you want. So you can really tailor this experience to your preferences and gives you a chance to express yourself through a wide range of play styles.
You cannot go wrong with any of these games but based on what I have seen you say about the type of experience you are wanting I think starting with the Witcher 3 would probably be your best bet.
BOTW is practically a genre of its own. I expected it to be widely copied, but it hasn't been--apparently it is so good that nobody has been able to copy it at all.
I agree, though it's worth pointing out that, to really copy BOTW, you'd need several years of development time, and 2017 is still relatively recent in AAA terms.
Also, BOTW is kind of uncompromising. It gets away with it right now because of the novelty of what it offers, but it's still a game where you're spending 10 to 20 minutes just climbing a mountain range only to find nothing on top. I'm guessing that sort of thing will be refined and simplified in the years to come, even by Nintendo, so that BOTW might always remain a rarity. (If it's not clear, I'm fully on-board with BOTW's willingness to bore me. It's essential to the experience.)
All three of these games are great and I own all three on switch and have beaten the main story for all of them.
For a person who is just starting games like this I would ask myself if you like more story driven games or more gameplay driven games.
If you want story I would recommend the Witcher 3 and choose the easiest difficulty option. This game does a great job getting you immersed in the story and characters and it has lots of weapons, upgrades, potions and food for you to increase player strength and replenish health. There is a perk called gourmet, I believe, and it lets food regen health for 20min so if you need something to get through the more challenging parts this would be a skill you want to pick up immediately. Honestly the game after the early part once you get a handle on the controls isn’t hard at all. Combat is pretty simple and wrestling with the camera is usually the toughest part. I actually ended up bumping up the difficulty to the second hardest overall because near the end of the main story your character is just so over leveled if you are doing a lot of the side quests and Witcher contracts.
If you like more gameplay driven experiences then you should start with Zelda breath of the wild. This game has an incredible physics engine so once you learn the rules of the world you can get really creative to solve solutions and traverse the game world. I know you said you felt like you were just running around when you were playing and it could be that it just isn’t a game for you. But this is a game you have to be willing to accept that at times you won’t exactly know what you want to do besides just go to the final boss since there are few map icons. This allows the game to give the player the space and freedom to really blaze their own trail and figure out things naturally. That is why I think this is such a good game for beginners to gaming. It allows so much player agency in how you tackle different objectives you come across just organically through just playing the game and exploring. I credit the physics engine for allowing players to find other solutions to problems than just want the game makers had intended on you doing. Too many games I feel like have too narrow of solutions and breath of the wild was the first game that really made me feel like I was figuring out and doing things in my own way.
Skyrim while a game I really enjoy and think is definitely worth playing, isn’t something I would recommend if you are new to these types of games. Since it is older it is going to be clunkier and the main story doesn’t draw you in as much as the Witcher 3. But this game has great characters and really lets you flesh out the player character however you want. So you can really tailor this experience to your preferences and gives you a chance to express yourself through a wide range of play styles.
You cannot go wrong with any of these games but based on what I have seen you say about the type of experience you are wanting I think starting with the Witcher 3 would probably be your best bet.
Excellent summary! I think I am going to start with The Witcher on easiest setting....
I played BOTW first and loved it but then when I played Witcher 3 it made me realise how little anything I did in BOTW actually affected the world. I loved Tarry Town and building my own house but that was my only real lasting impact on the world outside of main quest. No one even came to visit me at my house or sent me letters! (Only half joking). I think best to view BoTW as action game and not pretend it is an open world RPG. I still love it though and planning a master quest run soon after buying the DLC.
I really dislike Skyrim. I was really excited to try it but it was one of the few experiences that felt "wrong" the whole time. Even after forcing myself for hours with it on several tries I simply couldn't enjoy it much. To me, it feels like a fake experience full of really bad actors and forgettable places and events. I really think it's one of the most hollow experiences I had in gaming.
Witcher 3 is a great game. I havent managed to finish it yet, but I can see why so many people like it. Still, it's not one of my favourite games and I don't think it's as unique as many do. It didn't ruin or make other games any less like many people describe. It's solid in what it tries to do, and has an interesting lore, good characters and interesting missions and events. However, I'm not crazy about the combat, I think it's actually too simple and boring.
I can't say anything about BOTW other than it looks amazing since I haven't tried it. Personally, I don't need that every game makes me feel like I have an impact and made things happen my way. I did love that in the original Mass Effect Trilogy, but I also enjoy many games with a linear story and established characters, so I think that I'll have a great time with this one.
Witcher 3 is intense, brutal, and dark but at 3 games in its one of the most well made and balanced games you can play which is unexpected due it also having the title of one of the biggest games. Most quests you take are like watching an episode of your favorite hair raising thriller, horror, and adventure genre show and it feels like a combination of game of thrones and Middle Ages Mandalorian. Playing witcher is like learning real magic the hard and right way, then using it to save the world 1 quest at a time.
I just got outerworlds. I feel like its one of my most essential games on switch however the switch is all i got or want. Its much smaller than witcher and its the doesn't have 2 prior games that it built off of but i feel it has as much quality of enjoyment enhancements built into it as witcher does. Its dark fillings are more subtle than Witcher but they are definitely there. Outerworlds offers so many options and features within its skill, perk, and battle system it feels wayyy more rewarding. In witcher several skills have possibly too many tiers so it takes way longer to upgrade the Witcher's skills but the game does balance that with mutagens, runestones, potions, and oils.
I was so engrossed in outerworlds, still am, but I cant stop thinking about Skyrim since I started it, I loved so many options on the race select screen, but the game really got me when I picked the lock(i hate this minigame) and got the unique gear and I think a spell. Right in that opening area you are exposed to different weapons of battle like blades, shield, and bow plus a spell almost hidden away, but if you explore the menus you'll find you already own a spell or two. When I explored the skill trees a skill tree in particular caught my eye but i question its morailty so I reluctantly invested in another. I explored mountains behind the opening area and got killed by different various things. When i finally go to village boom there's the spell from the skill tree that caught my eye for sale.
I also tryed the motion controls which are cool and first person view and third person view is the stuff of legends. Ultimately all games are fun enough to warrant a try but read up on/watch youtube gameplay and features so that you know what you are getting into and to make sure the game suits your playstyle.
I am likely to pursue age of calamity in the future more than breath of the wild due to my gaming preferences.
There's no wrong answer to this question. It just depends what you like best in your RPGs (not going to get into the "is BOTW an RPG?" question right now, most people call it that so I'll play along).
Choose BOTW if you like a really open world, exploring different environments and doing lots and lots of puzzles.
Choose the Witcher if you like a very mature and nuanced story with NPCs who act like actual people.
Choose Skyrim if you like somewhat generic but very "sandboxy" games where you design your own character and can play the game however you want.
But wait, there's more! Choose Dragon Quest XI if you like anime-styled adventures that don't take themselves too seriously, but still pack some emotional impact. Choose Atelier Ryza if you like games based on crafting. Choose Divinity: Original Sin II if you like old-school isometric RPGs where you can be whoever you want to be and make questionable ethical choices that influence the fate of the world.
I love that the Switch has so many legitimately great RPGs. There's truly something for every kind of RPG fan on this system, and portability is a huge advantage over other systems when it comes to sprawling RPGs that take hundreds of hours to finish.
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Topic: Witcher, Breath of the Wild or Skyrim?
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