Poll: Witcher or Oblivion?

[SpaceBat]

He's right, it really does. Heavily branching plot lines, much improved characterisation, much improved handling of sex and relationships in-game, better voice acting, way better combat (while also being much harder) and IMO it even manages to do quick time events right!
The areas you get to explore are amazingly detailed and very atmospheric, and as icing on top - the sheer graphical quality!

That actually sounds amazing. Might I ask for your opinion of the first Witcher game, so I know what you're comparing it to?

My biggest issue with it would have to be that it's way too short. It took me about thirty plus hours to first beat it, but an intro, two large chapters, and one short chapter is just not enough for me. I'd have really liked to see a couple more chapters, but I guess we'll wait and see if there are some good expansions on the way. Having said that, it does have pretty good replay potential.

Ah well, as long as the story and characterization doesn't suffer because of it, I don't mind games a bit on the short side. The reason most other RPG's are longer is because of artificial lengthening anyway, so as long as these 30+ hours are filled with great main- and side-quests, I'm completely ok with it.

Also, the two groups of whores you meet (and can indeed hire if you wish) all have comedy-oversized breasts - please try to see past that. At least the main love interest character has a much more normal sized rack.

Ah well, they're prostitutes. I don't really mind.
Wait a minute...main love interest? For the love of all that's good, please don't tell me that I'm stuck with Triss Merigold as the only main love interest. Or at least tell me that if she really is the main LI, I have the possibility to just ignore the romance.

 

[ImprovizoR]

Witcher 2 spoilers ahead

Spoiler

You went with Roche first too? *brofist* Finally, someone who didnt follow that elven pig! Did you slay Henselt? One more question, it looks like you have played through and followed Iorveth, I havent yet, is there enough difference? Im going to do it either way but I have this really bad feeling I will end up lifting that fucking curse from that damned battlefield again.

More The Witcher 2 spoilers:

Spoiler

Iorveth's path is better in my opinion. I chose Roche first time too because he it felt like a good idea at the time. But Saskia is such a sweet girl...I mean dragon, and choosing Iorveth is definitely the lesser evil, maybe even the actual good choice. The differences are HUGE! And you can actually save the dragon (Saskia) if you go with Iorveth.

In the end, you can compare any games you want. You can even compare Oblivion with Modern Warfare. The only real factor involved is how much fun you had with those games. And I had more fun with The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2 than Oblivion. Morrowind is a different story though. It's the best of all 4.

 

[Archer666]

Witcher. Oblivion just bored me, even with some mods installed. It just wasn't as fun a game as Witcher.

 

[jamradar]

Seeing as how I have played Oblivion but haven't played either of the Witcher games I only really have one possible answer.

Oblivion.

 

[frehls]

hue

 

[Saviordd1]

Having been a HUGE Tes fan for years i was surprised to find that when i recently started playing The Witcher i actually liked it a LOT more than Oblivion. It had a far more engaging story and more rewarding gameplay and when i finished it i found that i could probably never enjoy Oblivion again, it just seems crap to me now. Sorry guys.

So you made a thread to basically tell us you don't like oblivion anymore?
Good job

Figure that out all on your own?
Good job

Well for the record I can safely say that nobody gives a shit about your personal game preferences, the polls also flawed as others have said.

 

[LordFisheh]

I really enjoyed the open world of Oblivion and the sheer amount of stuff you could find out in it. But I can't stand how generic it is. I mean, say you have a High Elf - it means nothing. They just walk about and act exactly like a human, are treated exactly like a human, and so on. In the end, they're just people with pointy ears.

If a fantasy story is going to include another race, or take the quest to a different nation, I think there should actually be a reason, or uniqueness, rather than 'now the people have pointy ears' or 'now we're in a jungle, just because'. And everything was like this; magic was shiny stuff with no real meaning of its own, the Church was a generic good-guy-Church-of-the-Light Church, and so on.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad by any means. Shivering Isles flags everything I just said as bullshit, and I remember getting dismissed as pond scum as an Argonian.

Still, I think the game most of the time just seems lifted straight from the most bland-and-bog-standard-fantasy sections of RPGs made when that kind of thing was still new and interesting.

Having been a HUGE Tes fan for years i was surprised to find that when i recently started playing The Witcher i actually liked it a LOT more than Oblivion. It had a far more engaging story and more rewarding gameplay and when i finished it i found that i could probably never enjoy Oblivion again, it just seems crap to me now. Sorry guys.

So you made a thread to basically tell us you don't like oblivion anymore?
Good job

Figure that out all on your own?
Good job

Well for the record I can safely say that nobody gives a shit about your personal game preferences, the polls also flawed as others have said.

It's called discussion value. People are meant to discuss their thoughts on question raised by the OP.

 

[The Big Boss]

Having been a HUGE Tes fan for years i was surprised to find that when i recently started playing The Witcher i actually liked it a LOT more than Oblivion. It had a far more engaging story and more rewarding gameplay and when i finished it i found that i could probably never enjoy Oblivion again, it just seems crap to me now. Sorry guys.

So you made a thread to basically tell us you don't like oblivion anymore?
Good job

Figure that out all on your own?
Good job

Well for the record I can safely say that nobody gives a shit about your personal game preferences, the polls also flawed as others have said.

You obviously gave enough of a shit to comment.

 

[The Big Boss]

Having been a HUGE Tes fan for years i was surprised to find that when i recently started playing The Witcher i actually liked it a LOT more than Oblivion. It had a far more engaging story and more rewarding gameplay and when i finished it i found that i could probably never enjoy Oblivion again, it just seems crap to me now. Sorry guys.

Yes, I'd tend to agree with that, even though I didn't like Oblivion that much to begin with. Don't worry though, Skyrim 'should' *cough*, be a match for the Witcher 2, if it isn't, it'll be ashame, but Oblivion had a very MMO feel to it, which I didn't like.

Exactly. I liked Oblivion but it's story and world just seemed bland and un-engaging after having experienced The Witcher

 

[infohippie]

He's right, it really does. Heavily branching plot lines, much improved characterisation, much improved handling of sex and relationships in-game, better voice acting, way better combat (while also being much harder) and IMO it even manages to do quick time events right!
The areas you get to explore are amazingly detailed and very atmospheric, and as icing on top - the sheer graphical quality!

That actually sounds amazing. Might I ask for your opinion of the first Witcher game, so I know what you're comparing it to?

I'm sure this won't fill you with confidence, but I actually rather enjoyed the first Witcher game. I thought the intro at Caer Morhen was kinda poor, and I also thought it took a while after the arrival in that little village to really start getting into the story, but from the next chapter onwards I really enjoyed it. If I can really get in to the atmosphere of a game, that will excuse a lot of flaws in my eyes, and I loved the whole Eastern-Europe, low fantasy feel to the game. I didn't think much of the combat, and the characters were a bit wooden. I also thought the animation needed some work. The second game, however, is very different from the first, and improved in all areas except length.

Ah well, as long as the story and characterization doesn't suffer because of it, I don't mind games a bit on the short side. The reason most other RPG's are longer is because of artificial lengthening anyway, so as long as these 30+ hours are filled with great main- and side-quests, I'm completely ok with it.

Yeah, I always had quests on the go. No grinding to speak of, and no lengthy travel times. Some of the characters do talk at great length though. And the intro is supposed to introduce you to the fighting mechanics, but doesn't do a good job at that.

Wait a minute...main love interest? For the love of all that's good, please don't tell me that I'm stuck with Triss Merigold as the only main love interest. Or at least tell me that if she really is the main LI, I have the possibility to just ignore the romance.

You don't like Triss, really? Takes all sorts, I guess.
Yeah, Triss is the love interest character. You don't have to follow up that part though, there's a point in the first chapter you can either confirm your interest or tell her she's a good friend and that's it. However, she is important to the story, so you can't completely get rid of her. If you do decide to develop things with Triss, though, you get what I think is the most well-done sex scene a game has ever had. Tasteful without being coy, and a couple of humourous parts. And she's a much more likable character in the second game.

The combat, though, is hard. You'll need to use swords, Signs, traps and bombs, even just on medium difficulty. It's also much more enjoyable than swordplay usually is in an RPG.

 

[Incomer]

In the end, you can compare any games you want. You can even compare Oblivion with Modern Warfare. The only real factor involved is how much fun you had with those games. And I had more fun with The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2 than Oblivion. Morrowind is a different story though. It's the best of all 4.

Fuck, that sounds awesome. Shit. I have too finish Nehrim and Iorveths path now. I better get right on it.

I actually haven't done Iorveth's path yet. In regards to the rest

Spoiler

I did let Roche kill Henselt, because Roche was a total brohemian for the entire game. I also let him castrate Dethmold because fuck Dethmold. From what I read Iorveth's path is better, and very different. What I want to know is who all here let Letho go. I felt that he wasn't really a bad guy, but... I needed me some closure. And an awesome boss fight. Not disappointed on either count.

In regards to Imrpovizor: I pretty much agree with everything you said. You can compare games, but unless they are very similar (Baldur's Gate-Dragon Age, Battlefield-Modern Warfare), you shouldn't just say which one is better. Its a matter of personal preference.
I also started playing Morrowind a few weeks ago and I am addicted to that shit. It really is better than Oblivion overall.

Spoiler

I did let Roche kill Henselt too. I hated Henselt. I bought a phsyical copy of the game instead of buying it on Steam or whatever. It comes with some goodies, one of them being a letter which says something along the lines of "Henselt is a blind pig, jumping on everything that appears tasty, fat and ugly, unaware of what is going on around him". To this day I havent seen a more accurate description of him. As I said earlier; even if it means that the north falls to the hands of the empire temporarily; its a lot better than Helselt ruling it. And I will team up with Roach and topple the Nilfgaardians myself if I have too (in Witcher 3).

As for the Kingslayer... I let him go. For me personally, I only wanted answers, and since I got those in the end, I had no real reason to kill him. Yes, he framed me and etc, but hell, I dont blame him. As for his motivations and reasons for doing as he did, I thought they were underwhelming to say the least. I was expecting something better. And failing all that, he seems like a nice guy and im sure he will turn up in the Witcher 3, maybe lend me a hand (not that I let him live only with gameplay bonuses in mind, I would just like to see him again).

Anyone who reads this is gonna think I get into my video games way too much haha. But hell, the two Witcher games are just that damn good.

Oh those are some rather unique decision you guys did!

Spoiler

On my first play I went with Roche too, he seemed generally helpful (and I still think it's the more interesting play-through , though granted things end up much better should you follow Iorveth. I didn't let the regicide happen (seemed like the best way to thwart kingslayers plans) and I wasn't all that interested in Ves. I went for Triss whom I generally liked as she seemed pretty much as you would imagine her from the stories and graphics did some decent job putting her together ^^. I didn't kill the dragon (though I had saved and tried to loot it, walking away from its corpse in a cut-scene made me feel good about my first decision) and I did kill Letho (he's not that bad, he actually saves Triss should you choose to abandon her and go for Dethmolds balls), because I mean seriously - Foltest seemed as a good king (know his backstory, and ewwww...but!) and for some reason I don't like the Empire and he openly admits plans to co-operate with it.

 

[Kraj]

Oblivion all the way, The Witcher was a load of tedious, immature, repetitive crap.
With horrible characters.


I managed to get half way through the city area (third part?) before uninstalling and refusing to play it ever again.

Oblivion on the other hand got me playing for hundreds of hours with endless vanilla and mod related fun.


The Witcher is honestly one of the worst RPG's I've ever played, cannot for the life of me understand the appeal.

Thank you... I... I love you... O_O
I thought I was alone, I gave the Witcher so many chances, and each time it was even more of a paragon of mediocrity.
...
I've probably logged at least 1000 hours on oblivion since it was released all those years ago. If not more. So. Much. Moddage.

 

[Incomer]

See I was kind of confused about Triss because... (the following will contain major Witcher 1 spoilers too)

Spoiler

When you get back from the magicians tower in the first game, having been knocked out and all (depending on what you did in the second chapter, but thats the most common outcome), you wake up in Triss's house. In a brief cutscene, while you are waking up, you see Triss talking to a woman in a mirror (another member of that circle of witches, I can only presume) who tells her to "Be careful, the Witcher could be onto you faster than you think." I think I dont have to point out how heavily this implies shes going to betray you or whatever. Maybe I missed something.

Foltest was a shit king, btw, he was a bro, but Temeria would have fallen with him alive too. You just know he would have fucked up in some other way. But shit, you killed Letho? Why would you do such a thing? ;.;

Well every single sorceress in Sapkowski is scheming ***** and Triss is by far the one who is least likely stabbing you in the back at any given time. You could be pretty sure that Foltest wouldn't fuck up any worse then he already did just because it couldn't get much worse :-D And he is the kind of leader who does what he musts, he's not hard core racist yet he's oppressing elves big time as it delivers.

Spoiler

And Letho had to die because: A] I didn't like him (for a dude I saved he sure as hell wasn't very helpful (he did nothing for me on the first play) B] He broke the code - witchers are meant to kill monsters, human monsters not included, unless directly attacked ) [Yeah I'm bit of a hypocrite with this ^^ ].

 

[SpaceBat]

I'm sure this won't fill you with confidence, but I actually rather enjoyed the first Witcher game. I thought the intro at Caer Morhen was kinda poor, and I also thought it took a while after the arrival in that little village to really start getting into the story, but from the next chapter onwards I really enjoyed it. If I can really get in to the atmosphere of a game, that will excuse a lot of flaws in my eyes, and I loved the whole Eastern-Europe, low fantasy feel to the game. I didn't think much of the combat, and the characters were a bit wooden. I also thought the animation needed some work. The second game, however, is very different from the first, and improved in all areas except length.

Hmm, I suppose you're more forgiving than I am then. The wooden characters, horrible dialogue and voice acting just did it for me. Yes, the atmosphere was good, although done before and nothing refreshing and new, but it wasn't enough to make me just excuse the flaws. Don't get me wrong now, I never said the Witcher just plain sucks, I just found it incredibly disappointing and merely slightly above average. Perhaps I hyped it too much, but I couldn't help it, PC gamers everywhere were claiming it was the greatest thing ever to have graced the PC this gen.

Yeah, I always had quests on the go. No grinding to speak of, and no lengthy travel times. Some of the characters do talk at great length though. And the intro is supposed to introduce you to the fighting mechanics, but doesn't do a good job at that.

I don't mind difficult games and I'm sure I'll figure out the combat mechanics without the help of an intro. I also don't mind long conversations with characters, as long as they're well-written and interesting characters and dialogue.

You don't like Triss, really? Takes all sorts, I guess.

Spoiler: reason

She was a sexist moron, what was I supposed to like about Triss? She schemes behind my back, throws out condescending remarks about me and everybody else, assaults me and then calls me a pig. Yes, my annoyance for Triss comes mostly out of that single chapter, but still, it just baffles me how retarded she was in that chapter.

Tell me how her following reaction was a logical and not-retarded one:
Triss: You must give the child to me. He has great potential and we can bring that potential to light.
Me: Hmm...*Thinks back to the cutscene in which Triss talks to some kind of mage about scheming something behind everybody's back, about how she fooled everyone, about how all the men are stoopid, about how she has to be careful that I don't find out*
Me: I'm going to give the boy to Shani. I don't care about his powers, because these apparently only appear at a time of need. Shani can act as a mother to the kid who saw his mother die in front of his eyes. The kid needs a mother, not a mentor. Besides, I saw you talking to someone behind my back, about fooling everyone and basically scheming something up. I don't care what it is, because when you refused to answer me, you lost my trust. How can you expect me to give something powerful to you when I don't even know what you're doing?
Triss: YOU JUST GAVE THE KID TO HER SO YOU CAN GET IN THE REDHEADS PANTS.
Me: Uh, no, I have a perfectly reasonable explanation for that. You're not stupid, you can probably understand why.
Triss: NO, ALL YOU WANT IS SEX AND CAN'T CONTROL YOUR HORMONES.
Me: What? You're the one who fucking jumped me out of nowhere just because you were horny...not that I mind.
Triss: NO, YOU PIG. DO WHAT YOU MUST AND GET OUT. I'M GOING TO ACT AS A CHILD AND JUST BE ALL SULKY AND IGNORE YOU FOREVER.
Me: Facepalm.jpg. I retract my statement over you not being stupid.

And Geralt didn't say shit, as if he really did do it for sex. Perhaps this is because it's where the limitations of the roleplaying mechanics shined the most, but that still doesn't justify Triss' retarded behavior. It's a shame, really. She did come off as the confident, strong woman who can take care of herself, who is independant and doesn't rely on others like the 90% of all other videogame females and that was somethnig I really liked. But that chapter just showed me that she was nothing more than a spoiled, stupid *****.

Yeah, Triss is the love interest character. You don't have to follow up that part though, there's a point in the first chapter you can either confirm your interest or tell her she's a good friend and that's it. However, she is important to the story, so you can't completely get rid of her.

Why does Shani just completely disappear, though? I mean, sure she wasn't exactly a good character, but I still picked Alvin to stay with her and not Triss and decided to get into a relationship with her and not Triss. Why the fuck are the choices I made in the previous game suddenly completely unimportant?

The combat, though, is hard. You'll need to use swords, Signs, traps and bombs, even just on medium difficulty. It's also much more enjoyable than swordplay usually is in an RPG.

I played the first witcher on the highest difficulty immediately and it wasn't that difficult. I'm sure I'll be handle the second game as well, even if it does cause some trouble.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Thank you... I... I love you... O_O
I thought I was alone, I gave the Witcher so many chances, and each time it was even more of a paragon of mediocrity.
...
I've probably logged at least 1000 hours on oblivion since it was released all those years ago. If not more. So. Much. Moddage.

Hallelujah, there is hope afterall.
In my opinion the witcher had no redeeming features, single click quicktime combat, horrendous characters, bland visuals and a durp crafting system.
Whilst Oblivion was a pretty rough in places (Elder scrolls magic system has always sucked and the lolwut voice acting) the quests had nice variety, and just exploring the world itself was a great experience. A lot of the bits that fell short were picked up by modding community as well.

Son, you are missing out on so much. Are you talking about the first or the second? Both have rough starts, but im guessing the first since you didnt say otherwise, but anyhow...

My reaction when I started playing The Witcher: Oh wow WHAT THE FUCK is this piece of shit game? How the fuck? Thanks for the fucking tutorial, oh shit I forgot, you didnt have one. What the fuck is this bullshit about having 3 swords with 3 different styles as well? Shit man. Fuck this game, just fuck this game.

At the end of the second chapter: Alright *****, I spent 10 hours walking around this dirty piece of shit town, following 20 quests, not sure which one of them progresses the story, and you give me a dead end? You lousy piece of shit, I should have uninstalled you when I had the chance, what a ************, fuck this game, just fuck it.

My reaction when I got past the second chapter and further into the game: BEST. GAME. EVER. WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE THIS MASTERPIECE!

I shit you not man. It really is a masterpiece. Its just that the second chapter is such a piece of shit. I have never encountered a more confusing, drab and tiring portion of a game, and I have played a lot of RPGs. But once you get past that... Dude, the story is golden. Best story telling and best story line I have encountered in a long time. Jesus I was glad that I stuck through it. I think it gets a lot of flak from a lot of people who didnt make it that far.

I'm not sure if I can bring myself to give it another chance, the last game I did that on was Farcry 2.
That too was a complete pile of crap, but I hate leaving something unfinished so soldiered on. Was it worth it? FUCK NO. After countless hours of terrible FPS the end was within sight, then the game decided I wasnt worthy, bugged, and wouldnt give me the final mission.

Although this might be a different experience, any game that forces you to play 10 hours of that in order to get to 'real game' is not worth the time in my eyes.

 

[black_knight1337]

considering ive only ever had the persistence to play through the tutorial in the witcher 1 once then i have to say oblivion. i spent a good year or so doing everything possible in it.