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• Paws

  

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  October 30, 2015 5:35 PM EDT

  Was there ever any doubt among the three of us here who played it?

  We’ve won the prestigious @GoldenJoysticks Awards in 5 categories! Thank you everyone who voted! #goldenjoysticks pic.twitter.com/sl45CdZo8t

  — The Witcher (@witchergame) October 30, 2015

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 30, 2015 5:47 PM EDT

  The Ultimate Game of the Year? No surprise to me. 

• Paws

  

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  October 30, 2015 6:03 PM EDT

  Interestingly, in comparison Skyrim picked up three awards in 2012's Golden Joysticks.

• Bryn

  

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  October 30, 2015 6:17 PM EDT

  Hard to say GOTY. We still need to see Fallout 4... Tomb Raider no matter how good will be nowhere near those levels, and Battlefront is being shot in the foot thanks to EA greed and no story.
• Paws

  

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  October 30, 2015 6:28 PM EDT

  By comparison Fallout 3 picked up 2 awards at the Golden Joysticks in 2009. Fallout 4 won't be part of 2015's awards but will be on 2016 lists.

• Bryn

  

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  October 30, 2015 6:31 PM EDT

  1. Fallout 3 still won game of the year for 2007 and is one of the greatest games for 360 or PC to this day...
  
  2. Why? That's stupid. It was released in 2015.
• Paws

  

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  October 30, 2015 6:45 PM EDT

  What's with the 1. and 2.? Comes across as aggressive, not sure how to take it. Please clarify?

  I think for the Golden Joystick awards it's an annual award ceremony which is held at around the same time every year. So their year runs from October - October. Notice how Skyrim won in the 2012 category? It was released in Nov 2011.

  Because of the way the industry is, any company or retailer can call any game their Game of the Year. Yet true prestige lies in the GJ award in that category. So Fallout 4 may win Gamespot's GOTY position but it can't win 2015's Golden Joysticks.

  I'm sure Fallout 4 will do exceedingly well in 2016, I have no doubt about it, but I repeat my old words that we as a site are mistaken in backing just two games seeing as how The Witcher 3 won the same number of awards as those two games combined. Maybe it's just me but that speaks volumes.

• Bryn

  

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  October 30, 2015 7:44 PM EDT

  Hit the numeral separator on accident.
  
  And to be honest, as much as I love Witcher 3, its highly overrated.
• Paws

  

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  October 30, 2015 7:49 PM EDT

  Certainly not here it isn't. Only about five people have actually played it  and only three of them comment.

  So why do you think it's overrated? What in particular?

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 3:03 AM EDT

  There´s no point to argue, Phil. For Bryn-Dog, Fallout 4 is the game of the year - maybe even the game of his life. Even if it still haven´t come out.

  We must be really careful with Bryn now. He´s 10 days from orgasm and truth to be told, I´m not sure I´m prepared to have his...fallout all over my screen.

  

• Paws

  

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  October 31, 2015 3:23 AM EDT

  Lol  It's like I never learned from past lessons: It's useless to argue with Brynn, even when he is wrong he's right!

  I wasn't arguing though, just curious as to why he thinks W3 is overrated as it is a very specific word to use. I wonder if he means it's overrated because it has it's flaws in terms of mechanics, horse AI and irritating inventory, or if it's overrated as a piece of storytelling.

  It's dangerous ground to stand on and will inevitably invite comparisons with other games. For example, as a story TES Skyrim is total pants. Mechanically, the combat is basic and the AI shocking. Yet it is one of my favourite games ever and definitely on my top ten list. This is because Skyrim is more than the sum of it's parts and it's weaknesses are far outstripped by the things it does well. Skyrim is not by any means overrated.

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 3:41 AM EDT

  I was just kidding, though I wonder why Witcher is overrated too.

  But I tell you one thing. You can´t compare Witcher to Fallout or Skyrim, because one thing: Story. Or more importantly Character.

  In Fallout and Skyrim, you can be anyone you want, but the story still could have been better, which is direct opposite to Witcher, where story is amazing, but you play as Geralt, so your character is set. 

  But the morality, choices, and quests that are not one like another...When I´m thinking about games I could compare Witcher to, DA for example comes to my mind. And if I compare Witcher to DA:I...No wonder that Witcher is much better, and DA:I was called the best game of the year when it came too, but now we know how it is.

• Paws

  

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  October 31, 2015 4:00 AM EDT

  Oh aye, but as an open world fantasy RPG and in a discussion on a site formerly called The Skyrim Blog, not making those comparisons is incredibly hard

  In terms of story and character, I have often been intrigued by the opinion that a blank slate character such as TES games have you create are more immersive and personal to the player than pre-existing protagonists such as The Inquisitor or Commander Shepard.

  I know it's probably an entirely separate discussion, but that idea of blank slate vs defined character is the core of the argument. I'd love to have your opinion on this video if you have six minutes free:

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 4:36 AM EDT

  Well, I´ll tell you this and you better listen...

  I banged Triss because she´s redhead...

  But now, seriously. The blank slate...works well in Skyrim because it´s open world for you to explore. But that´s about it. Explore. There isn´t much inner conflict there, because if you´re roleplaying, you pretty much create your own story, you make your own excuses and choices and from them you make your results. Which is not bad, I quite like that, but it serves only one purpose: explore.

  Witcher, Mass Effect or Dragon Age 2 where you are presented with character with it´s backstory and you have very little say to it, makes you more involved in the story. Hell, having this kind of character actually makes the story interesting in the first place. While the character is not you, you actually can see their emotions. I mean, seeing Shepard in the bathroom after the Earth got hit and how he talks about Ashley/Kaidan...that makes you care.

  Shooting bottles in the Presidium with your best buddy Garrus and letting him win? That makes you care about your character and your friends. Because frankly, they are not Shepard´s friends. They are yours.

  And same goes for the Witcher. Even if the character comes from the books, you don´t care. You want to be the Geralt and you have the option. And choosing between two women...well, that ain´t easy in the real life, so you can really relate to that in the game. And it makes you think about your choice. Have you ever put that much thought into Skyrim?

  I don´t think so, but again, it´s not meant for that.

  Also, only Bethesda game that actually made me think and care about characters was Fallout 3. Dad and Agata (or whatever was her name) were people that I actually cared about. But again, that´s because that Fallout 3 somehow forced the story on you somehow. Or at least I felt that way. That the game makes me care about Dad.

  Wow, that´s quite short rant....

• Paws

  

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  October 31, 2015 4:57 AM EDT

  Lol, on my first play through I did the same. I hadn't read any of the books by that stage but I did remember Triss from Assassin of Kings. That and because it was the way I followed the story - I didn't go to Skellige until I had done all of Novigrad and Velen's quests. Although overall I prefer Yen, Triss is probably the better person. Her one character flaw being that she manipulated Geralt into a romantic relationship in the first place. As this was because she fell in love with him rather than motivated by a desire to screw over Yennefer, I think it adds to the three dimensionality of her character. She's cute too.

  I agree about the exploration factor in Skyrim. That and immersion are undoubtedly the TES series' strengths and it uses them so very well. Yet because Witcher 3 is also open world and motivates the player by exploration too, albeit to a lesser degree, I think the comparisons can be drawn. Although the map is bigger, the game is much shorter because of the amount of story - the game is only finite because the story takes up so much of it's space. Yet in the end is the journey more rewarding? Is less actually more when story is the reason for there being less?

  Garrus will stay with you far longer than Lydia will because of that relationship you describe and how the game reveals his character to you. When you look back at Skyrim from whatever awesome Fallout 4 has planned for us, what will you remember most fondly about the game? I doubt it will be the relationships you establish with your companions. Likewise, when you look back at Mass Effect it isn't the scope of the galaxy and exploring unknown worlds that lingers, but rather the friends you have there.

  I think The Witcher 3 is the first game I have played that when I look back at it I will remember both of these elements. That is why it is one of the best games ever made despite the numerous mechanical flaws it has.

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 5:12 AM EDT

  Show me a game that doesn´t have flaws

  As for the exploration, the leveled enemies are both good and bad in this instance. If you´re playing Skyrim, you can explore indefinitely and there will be some challenge at any level.

  Yet in Witcher 3, once you are like level 34 the exploration somewhat turns into "achievement hunting" or something similar. Because you no longer feel like there is some danger around the corner, you know you can deal with anything you stumble upon. At least, that was the case with me. I was exploring just because I was annoyed by those question marks on my map

• Paws

  

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  October 31, 2015 5:26 AM EDT

  I get you. Halfway into my first play through I turned all those undiscovered locations off from my map. I much prefer Skyrim's blank map which reveals it's secrets over time as opposed to Wild Hunt's Ubisoft approach to use those question marks as enticements. So for me when I found such places it was a legitimate surprise in many ways. By turning off the mini map and the undiscovered locations I was able to have a much more immersive experience.

  Iirc, both Morrowind and Oblivion had a similar system enemy level, that some dungeons were deadly to the player during early game. Skyrim's system is a vast improvement over that. By level 20 in TES IV all the bandits and marauders in the world were running about in Glass and Daedric armours  On one hand W3's system encourages the player to return later, while on the other it can be frustrating when you're used to Skyrim's smoother approach. That said, having a dungeon or tomb inhabited by weak enemies only to see Deathlords and Dragon Priests every where during end game is also somewhat immersion breaking. I guess it's a very hard balance to strike.

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 5:31 AM EDT

  Well, Oblivion was harder the more levels you had, so...yeah

  Turning off the question marks...Hm, that´s something I didn´t consider. Instead I was running around the world to remove them. Dumbass

• Bryn

  

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  October 31, 2015 9:30 AM EDT

  Hey, fallout 4 can still be atrocious
• Bryn

  

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  October 31, 2015 9:37 AM EDT

  @Phil's video: That was well done... But Triss tried to let Geralt be caught, tortured, possibly killed, and ciri raped and she didn't regret a moment of it... So id disagree there is no right answer :P
• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 10:31 AM EDT

  Come on, Bryn. You know I´m just shitting you :)

• Bryn

  

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  October 31, 2015 11:14 AM EDT

  I know :P
• Paws

  

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  October 31, 2015 4:33 PM EDT

  Is that praise for the Halloween Hunt vid? Thanks Brynn

  What's this about Triss would have allowed Geralt to be tortured and Ciri raped? During the Thanedd rebellion she tried to keep them both safe, no?

• Karver the Lorc

  

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  October 31, 2015 4:41 PM EDT

  I think he´s referring to that point where Triss "betrayed" Geralt and Ciri to the Lodge. But to be honest, I don´t recall it much clearly, I forgot all the details. Only that she betrayed them somehow, but both Ciri and Geralt never found out. I think

• Paws

  

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  October 31, 2015 4:49 PM EDT

  The Lodge of Sorceresses wouldn't have raped Ciri or tortured Geralt though would they? Maybe Philippa would...