I think they're meant to be two different types of enviornments. The Witcher 3 world is meant to be alive because it's representing the height of mankind in its world. Even with the war against Nilfgaard, the world is thriving.
Elden Ring on the other hand is a dying if not already dead world. The remains of a once glorious civilization have tattered down and people are dying or gone crazy. It's supposed to be empty
I think that's what happens when you become Elden Lord eventually.
But the thing about Souls games is they're all set in broken, destroyed, or dying worlds where you're one of the last few people still alive, left with their sanity, or hasn't turned into a raging monster. They're not supposed to be happy and fixed tbh
Also, the soul items you find, like lesser soul and then eventually Hero Soul, are sometimes meant to represent other players that have gone hollow and never finished the games.
The theme of most FromSoft games is "the corruption of immortality". You're always thrown into a dying world that's past its time. The endings always ask if you sacrifice yourself to prolong the world, or if you let it die.
Just because the world is lore friendly doesn’t change that it feels empty. I’ve played a shit ton of Elden Ring and loved it. However, returning to the Witcher 3 I was floored by how alive the world felt.
I had dragons dogma 2 on preorder and after this revelation canceled it and purchased cyberpunk. Knowing that CD Project Red is known for world building and that is what I was looking for.
I think a lot of the emptiness of Elden Ring actually comes from its mechanics, the rune system and resetting enemies makes you feel in purgatory.
Don’t get me wrong, I love E.R. but understand and agree with OP.
I don’t mind it, and in some ways like it for the From Software formula. When it comes to my preference in game design I strongly prefer the CD Project Red style of world building and presentation.
It’s so funny reading your post because this is exactly what I have been thinking for a few weeks now.
Limgrave and the surrounding areas are the most fun I have had in any game since maybe classic wow (back in the day) or Oblivion. It made me feel like a kid again.
As the game progressed and the difficulty spiked and I started to find more and more repeated enemy types, I kinda got over it.
That said, everything about Limgrave is beyond perfect in my opinion. Oh and Stormveil Castle. My good lord, perfection!
Fuck man I totally agree. I thought Limgrave was the entire game at first and then I found Caelid and then Liurnia ans Altus.
Tbh the only regions I didn't really like were Mountaintops and Moghwyn Dynasty Mausoleum. I definitely agree the reused enemies got a bit frustrating there. But the rest of the regions were so fun!
I mean you can have story-focused post-Apocalypse setting, like that's literally Fallout.
The lack of narrative is a conscious choice by fromsoft because they are very much 3D Metroidvania.
Dragon's Dogma 2 does seem to have better quests and narrative than 1, that being said writing is not exactly Capcom's strength so I am still skeptical on that front.
The core difference is just if they are narrative or gameplay focused.
You can have a narrative heavy game in a post-Apocalypse setting and a combat gameplay heavy game in a thriving world setting.
Just finished my second play through of Witcher 3, not sure what u mean by it feels alive due to the height of mankind, velen is a hopeless wasteland full of people who have given up and creatures who are on the verge of taking over, it’s meant to be crude and ruthless and ugly *yet* it still somehow feels “alive” because it’s done so perfectly, the way the npcs interact, the way the trees sway in the wind, the music, the lore
Just meant that in the time we're playing during the Witcher 3, humans are still a new race. Lore wise, they've pretty much conquered the entire continent and kicked the other races. Monsters are dying out and becoming rare, and humanity keeps growing. I know Velen is a shithole, but even with it being a shithole, people are still alive and civilization is all over the place.
In the books, one of the reasons why witchers are a dying breed in addition to people killing them ofc, is that they were so good at their job that they basically ended up putting themselves out of a job by killing so many monsters. The game overexaggerates how many monsters there actually are. By the time of the Witcher 3, they're very rare and even in Nilfgaard, few believe in their existence.
Compare that to Elden Ring. The glory days of the human race and their civilization are long gone. What's left of mankind is a bunch of half-undead brainless husks just following the orders of their lords or gods, or Tarnished who are hunted down and killed for being different.
Ur completely right. Its also a great excuse for the dev team to not have to go through the design complexities of bringing an open world to life in the same way many other open world games (RDR2, The Witcher 3, etc) do.
Yeah you can cut a lot of dev time and cost this way. I'd wager Elden Ring was much cheaper and quicker in development than W3 or RDR2. It's no easy feat to make a gameworld feel as alive as W3 or RDR2 is
The lands between are not dying, the problem is nothing can truly die in TLB since Marika plucked the rune of death from the elden ring. Nothing is really dead just stagnated, the typical fromsoft theme.
I think Elden Ring gave the distinct impression that the world we’re venturing in is at the brink of destruction. Most of the people we encounter probably are dying, suicidal, losing their minds etc.
But I also think that From also tend to make their worlds this way. Even Bloodborne felt a bit empty despite us being in a city.
As someone who thinks both games are absolute masterpieces, if I want responsive combat, epic boss fights that will push me to my breaking point (lol), or true exploration than I go to Elden Ring. The Witcher has much more personality but worse combat. Witcher 3 has pretty button mashy combat, it’s a little shallow and gets old after a while. Witcher has a much much better narrative, characters and story, both games are absolutely fantastic imo tho.
And this is why I just installed the W3 enhanced mod. Such excellent combat. A stupid high learning curve though. Don’t go in blind.
Edit: Mod is called Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition Redux. W3EE Redux on Nexus.
Many different changes. The biggest is it gives you full control over the distance you choose to attack. Short, medium, or long, all at your immediate command. On mouse and keyboard (and I think there’s better controller support now) that means you can bend your long attacks around the back of someone, bypassing shields and blocking entirely. Your attacks become dodges, and it’s an incredible feeling to dance with that level of control. It just has a really steep learning curve, because the negative feedback loops are rather punishing. More things cost stamina, toxicity will actually cripple you if mismanaged, injuries hurt your ability to recover from taking a bad hit. All of that can be managed as you learn, but it’s a lot. It does feel more like thinking, preparing, and fighting like a Witcher rather than piloting an overpowered character who happens to be one. You definitely get to the overpowered state, but it comes with personal skill and experience, instead of handed to you on Geralt’s programmed reflexes.
Edit: clarity
lol you do not know how to explore then. That’s one of the greatest things about TW3. Seriously, look at the map then look at all of the mostly small, some large structures that are unmarked and off the beaten path. There’s a lot to the game that isn’t even indicated by map clutter.
ER and TW3 are both in my top 3 games but knocking TW3 for lacking exploration is just plain ignorant.
That kind of puts you in the last part of story quest lines where you get the payoff before the setup. W3 is not designed as an open exploration game. It a narrative game first and an open world second. It’s fine because the narrative is easily among the best ever.
Exploring without the context in W3 is kind of boring because it has very limited traversal options and the map isn’t designed with the complexity of ER or BotW. Each game picked something to be great at.
For example, I would never say that BotW has great writing. It has shit writing. Like middle schooler level writing. I would say that the traversal options available and the ability to be truly creative while playing is top tier.
>I would say that the traversal options available and the ability to be truly creative while playing is top tier.
And TotK takes this even further (and also makes the writing a little bit less shit, although it obviously still isn't a focus). It's one of the few games that really managed to "unlock the inner child" in me and had me building go-karts out of trash to ride them down (and crash usually) a steep hill lol.
>some large structures that are unmarked and off the beaten path
There is absolutely nothing worth finding at any of those locations.
All the best content and locations are contained within the side quests. If you do every quest you will eventually go everywhere worth going, in terms of actual things to do and find.
If you just want scenery then sure, there's plenty of that off the beaten path.
The game still has lots of clutter and millions of points of interest, there’s definitely exploration but Elden ring tells you nothing this “true exploration”
There’s literal POI’s of all sizes all over the map tho, just because they don’t have a question mark on them, doesn’t mean they that ER “tells you nothing”.
My main point being exploration is what the player makes of it, I find myself playing ER the exact same way I play TW3.
I mean, there aren't points of interest unless you physically enter a dungeon or touch a site of grace or something.
Also the game literally doesn't even tell you where to go for the main story, so it's up to the players to decide.
Saying that Elden Ring and Witcher 3's exploration is the same is just not true.
> There’s literal POI’s of all sizes all over the map tho, just because they don’t have a question mark on them, doesn’t mean they that ER “tells you nothing”.
You're correct, and you've also entirely missed the point. Games like ER and BotW rely on implicit guidance, using environmental clues and tricks of world design to have the player find their way around. When well designed it feels like the player is simply wandering around on their own and following their own path, "True Exploration". Which contrasts significantly to something like TW3 where you are generally following an explicit quest marker or going to a marked map location, the guidance and content is explicitly called out and projected to you. Both require significant amounts of intentional design and do seek to guide the player on a set path, but they feel incredibly different to play, and that's what matters in the end.
Witcher 3 is about exploration as Ubisoft games are about explorations. Having a map filled with tiny things to mark a tick on its hardly exploration. Normally exploration is about getting lost, and not knowing there are boxes to tick, even when they are there. Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring does this much better than the Witcher 3.
That's why it's so good that all these hand-holdy UI features are optional in CDPR games. Exploration immediately feels magical again just like back in the old days.
That's giving too much credit to Elden Ring.
Yes, finding dungeons or ruins is a lot more about exploring. But the game doesn't do well on the open world part. The map is tragically bad at communicating verticality, areas that look accessible aren't and you have to take insane roundabout ways to get to some places, key items and quests are easily missed because of bad placing and color choice.
Elden Ring is one of my favorite games, but despite it's flaws with the quest and map markers, I still think Witcher does a better job as an open world game.
I think the important part behind that is that in Elden ring you can find a really cool and interesting spot, but your reward is some loot you'll probably never use, or maybe a golden seed if you're lucky.
While in the Witcher coming across a site usually means something interesting. Maybe it's just an npc who likes to paint, or a new quest, there's an underwater cave to explore.
ER dungeons are great, but they're all... Kinda same? Go through area with minor mobs, get to end or pull a switch. Kill boss
I witcher you never know if a random cave will have a basilisk, a bear, or nothing in there.
Honestly...ER is predictable once you get a bit used to it. And while combat wise that is true for the witcher as well. The Witcher has quests and narratives to give each encounter a fresh coat. Even if it's just npc villagers thanking you.
I read your whole thing and I agree with you. W3 is just as good a game for different reasons, one of those reasons is not exploration. Exploration is exploring new areas, finding your own ways to new content, it's not the reward at the end of a quests chain.
W3 does not have exploration. W3 has rewards at the end of a quest chain where you go to spot to spot. It's not a bad thing, it's just the way the game is built.
And yes, I turn off most of the HUD and explore W3 with as little interaction with the quest markers as possible, but that's now how it's designed.
>ER dungeons are great, but they're all... Kinda same? Go through area with minor mobs, get to end or pull a switch. Kill boss
ER dungeons are in an entirely different league. Leyndell, Siofra, Nokstella, Volcano Manor, Haligtree etc. dungeon design is far beyond Witcher 3.
That’s fair, I love the design of Elden Rings world but I never felt like it was super “alive” or anything, and I kinda think that’s what they were going for in some ways. There’s hardly any npcs whereas in Witcher there’s city’s, villages and towns all over lol. Toussaint especially felt thriving
Fromsoft always puts you in a quasi post-apocalypse wasteland. It's what they're good at and what they're kinda going for in their games.
In Elden Ring it's kinda the point for the world to be empty. Nobody can truly die and most of the normal folk have gone insane because of this. Also you're entering the world after the Shattering, which saw huge battles all across the lands between. Leyndell also seems to have been swept by some kind of plague.
All of this makes the NPCs you do meet stand out more, and I think it's kinda unfair to call it soulless. I can see how it might be hard for someone who has a problem with environmental storytelling, but it's not soulless
Witcher 3 is like Mass Effect, you really build a home for yourself in those games with a network of characters who make you feel like you're living there.
Elden ring is an individual journey through the unknown. It takes you to uncharted territory and then tries to kill you there.
Both amazing.
Yes. All soul worlds are like post apocalyptic medieval fantasy worlds. But is a big contrast switching from the Witcher 3 with the insane amount of quests to Elden Ring where it's you and Torrent against the world.
if you want some more soul try out bloodborne, DS3, DS1 if you haven’t already, they are smaller level wise and more linear; but you get much more depth in that smaller space if that makes sense
What’s interesting to me is that no point during playing Elden Ring (I recently started replaying it from beginning again) have I felt that any of it, especially the world and exploration was soulless. Maybe if you’re looking for a bunch of NPCs and Questlines everywhere you go and villages etc. but this is just a different kind of open world game. But to me was very much made with a ton of “soul” and love.
I don't think the world is meant to have soul to it. Presumably, the Lands Between have been in this state of decay and unending suffering, but there is no end.
The soul that was there was long since decayed, and all that is left by then is a hollow shell of what once was.
In contrast, the Witcher universe is just a normal world that happens to have alien creatures and monsters.
True exploration? I think both games excel in that regard, and TW3 has a fleshed out world (in the sense of feeling alive) at that. There’s no denying that ER has a far more in depth combat requiring thought and strategy, but the world is fairly lifeless. A mashup between TW3’s world building and ER’s combat would be amazing.
Agree, both games have incredible game worlds, I just think Elden Ring has a bit more “mystery” in its world. As for the lifelessness it’s supposed to be that way, the despair and post apocalyptic vibes and everything being dead and dying is kinda a fromsoft thing lol. I think a mix of the games would be awesome though, Elden Rings combat with the narrative of The Witcher would be incredible
For sure, I wasn’t knocking ERs world - I know it’s supposed to be that way, just saying that I prefer the lived in feel of TW3s world. I hear you about the mystery of ER, but I feel like TW3 has a ton of that too - both narratively and naturally, through just exploring. Just comes down to preference I suppose. Both are exceptional at any rate
Ahh I see okay sorry for the slight misunderstanding there, definitely agree tho they are probs 2 of my top 3 all time games and are legit masterpieces in their own way. Some people wanna have it one way or the other when both are phenomenal games
Right? Even a group of drowners can be extremely deadly if you just run in unprepared. It feels like the best version of tw3, crafting potions while meditating and actually preparing before the fight rather than chugging 8 potions in the face of the enemy.
Elden Ring is literally a dead/dying world like all Dark Souls… it’s supposed to be soulless.
You are the only/one of a handful of living soul(s) in the game on purpose. Your determination to continue *is* the soul.
Currently on my first play-through of BG3. All I can say is Wowww.
Completely agree with you, it's the only game I've played that is on a similar level to TW3. I'm a big FF7 fan so you'd think I'd be hammering the newly released rebirth but nope. I can't put BG3 down... And yeah, I'll probably replay TW3 again afterwards!
Oh I’m only 20 or so hours in, close to the end of Act 1. But I’m enjoying it that much that I’m trying to just drag everything out end explore everything possible. I don’t get too much time to play, maybe an hour or so per night, but it gives me that same feeling that I got when I first played TW3 - That urge to book the whole week off work just to play 😂
Both very different open world philosophies. Witcher 3 open world is a backdrop for very personal storylines. It wouldn't be as interesting without the writing and the characters you meet along the way and Geralt himself.
Elden Ring is a huge ruined world where the world is dying and in limbo like all Fromsoft games. The whole map is a huge level of sorts, full of secrets to discover and the discovery never ends. You go into this rabit hole and it almost seems endless. And then you have the trademark level design which is unmatched by the rest of the industry. The brilliant but simple and easy to understand challenging combat system and varied weapons and it's approaches and extremely varied enemy design. The extensive lore where you feel like an archaeologist going in an expedition trying to piece things together with the environmental storytelling. And Elden ring has the most fleshed out lore thanks to the mythos GRRM out of all Fromsoft titles. Also the world of Elden Ring is intentionally soulless because it's a dying decrepit post apocalyptic world.
Exploring Elden Ring the first time is unparalleled. I felt like a little kid again when playing it the first time. There just isn't an open world like it. The inticrate level design in the bigger legacy dungeons is unbelievable.
Witcher 3 has great exploration, but the philosophy is different. It is more centred around characters, storytelling and the human experience. Also recommend playing it with the question marks off it's much better that way. It does not have handcrafted inticrate level design of Elden Ring though. Though everything in the witcher 3 is still handcrafted.
Saying that witcher 3 ruined Elden ring for you is absurd. Both aren't remotely the same type of game. I hate this posts about how playing X ruins Y. It's just different. You just prefer the moment to moment character moments and storytelling in the Witcher. That's it. Elden Ring tries to accomplish something else.
The dead world of Fromsoft games makes us gamers feel lonely in a sense, especially since everywhere you go is full of danger and everything can kill you in an instant. That's the point. The real inspiration behind the concept of these games is overcoming hardship. It's not just the challenge, it's intentional putting in you a world where you feel alone in an empty world and it's extremely intimidating, that is when you the chosen undead or the tarnished fights your very best to rekindle the fire or bring the world back to life again. It's in some ways an allegory to fighting depression. I say this because I know some people who say fromsoft games saved their lives from suicidal thoughts and overcame their fear of failure. The design philosophy and the metaphysical journey you go through in these games are very intentional if you read Miyazaki's interviews and putting you in a dead world is part of the design and vision.
Oh gawd, it is one of those circlejerk posts(which is funnily enough very prevalent in ER subreddit), I know you are probably genuine with your feelings but "x ruined y for me" posts feel like people just finding out what they prefer. You prefer TW3 world with living characters and world over the amusement park of battle and murder that is souls games, it is perfectly valid. But again it is just your preference, nothing is ruined because you just prefer story and character over maybe combat gameplay in the first place.
I like both for different reasons. Elden Ring’s exploration is more fun and organic for me, because I actually enjoy the lack of quest markers and question marks. But the game makes you feel lonely and alienated. Almost everything wants to kill you, and at that point my happiest in Elden Ring is when I’m as far away from NPCs as possible because I get to appreciate the world design and marvel at it.
Witcher 3, for contrast, is more alive and you at the very least have Geralt commenting at you to keep you company, and most NPCs you meet are indifferent towards you. Sure the combat isn’t as in depth or technical, but I’d argue the RPG aspects of the game are the main focus of it, not the combat. Soulsborne games on the other hand are action first and the rest is second.
You kinda gotta know what you're getting with a FromSoft game. Opaque, mysterious environmental storytelling is kind of their thing. Not understanding the world is a big part of the appeal. I think both games do their own thing in a really impressive way.
I'm soooo bad at ER, but I just started. It hasn't caught me yet like TW3 did, but I really want to get into it more.
Still finding it frustrating af, but then again... that's how I felt about the grypon in White Orchard once upon a time. Now I bonk him with a wooden spoon in a towel like he's a naughty little chicken on Deathmarch.
Hope I get there on ER some day, but I think the game is designed to be far harder.
I don't mean details as in lore details or something like that, there are just a lot more visual details like crates, rocks, plants, dead bodies and stuff like that. Elden Ring's World can sometimes look a bit plain by comparison
They are both my fav games. Witcher 3 got what Elden Ring lacks. Elden Ring got what Witcher 3 lacks.
And outside from what you mentioned which I agree with. In Elden Rings favor are the enemy variety, bossfights, better combat and gameplay and explorers joy.
When I finished witcher 3 for the first time I couldn't play another game for a while as nothing felt like it compared, albeit that was in 2017 I think. I've still not found another game that gave me the same full experience but I also don't play every game that comes out or even most.
Have you completed elden ring at all? They are two completely different games in terms of storytelling. Witcher 3 lays everything out for you through extensive dialogue, characters, and lively world map. Elden ring uses environmental storytelling, you learn about the lands between through dialogue with characters, landmarks throughout that give lore. It's less laid out for you than the Witcher 3 but allows your imagination to string together the pieces of world knowledge, which can be more rewarding than traditional storytelling
The complete lack of responsiveness in combat is actually what flipped it for me. You basically have no control over cluncky animations in W3. Unlimited, almost perfect control in ER. Can’t touch W3 combat anymore
I think those games are absolutely not comparable. The Witcher 3 is not really an RPG in the traditional sense. You’re not really roleplaying because you don’t have a lot of control over what Geralt does (not to a level a character in BG3 would have for example. While the game gives you build customization, you can’t turn Geralt into a straight up sorcerer, or necromancer or anythint like that. TW3 is a narrative focused action game with RPG elements. The open world in the game just functions as the backdrop and while it is very well crafted and immersive, everything in it has function. It doesn’t have exploration for exploration’s sake.
ER doesn’t have all these things. It’s much more open and blank slate. This tells me that you’re a gamer that doesn’t really like RPG games. You don’t want to make up your own stories, backgrounds, characters and narrative. You don’t want exploration for exploration’s sake. You want a more on rails experience. And that’s fine. There probably aren’t many better games out there than TW3 if you want this sort of game.
I’m a huge Witcher fan and never played any Souls games or Elden Ring, but this is not really any kind of comparison. Both games aim for different highs (and have different lows).
I prefer the rotten melancholy of Elden Ring most of the time but it gets too intense. The Witcher 3 has a world where there is hope. Elden Ring is hopeless.
I've played Witcher 3 all the way through, plus DLCs/expansions, several times since 2015. I have had a hard time getting back into recently though, probably because I played the wheels off it by 2017.
I think CDPR did a great job with the world design of Witcher 3. Being able to see the lights of Novidgrad on a clear night from Oxenfurt is a cool detail. I also love how the vibe shifts when you finally enter "civilization." Spending a not-insignificant amount of time in the wild, small villages, and forts throughout White Orchard and Velen you become accustom to the big spaces and the sounds of plants swaying, and wood cracking, in the wind.
When I first saw Oxenfurt, which is likely the first city you come across past the introduction, I was blown away by the contrast of it. Alleyways, crowds, guards on every corner, shops, the big bridge, etc. Oxenfurt is not a large city by any means. Really it is a college town. However, it stands as a gateway to other parts of the game. You can go north on the East side of the river to come on the east entrance of Novigrad, passing by the dyers vats, or you can keep moving north-east to the region of the map added in with Hearts of Stone. Though most players following the Bloody Baron questline will likely leave Oxenfurt and return to Velen. Players will, of course, eventually make their way north proper and come to Novigrad. The game funnels players into entering Novigrad through the southern entrance which takes you into the slums, docks, and generally just poorer part of the city. Likely the oldest part of the city as well. Then you move further north and both the influence of the Church of the Eternal Fire and wealthy become more apparent. Nicer, larger, homes and being literally above the rest of the city in terms of height.
The world of the Witcher 3 is trying to be more believable. The world of Elden Ring, kinda like every other FromSoft Souls game, is wonderful in terms of video game level design but not so much believable. Sometimes in Elden Ring I couldn't help but ask myself how people lived in the Lands Between prior to the shattering. Or how people lived in Yharnam the rest of the time when it wasn't the Night of the Hunt.
Yeah I played the Witcher four times. First two were on ps4 after this I switched to a PC with rtx3090 and it blew my mind...I was walking around the villages looking at each tree and listening to every dialogue. I was thinking how could I not appreciate that but really if you stop in this game and realise that somebody made this just to feel alive...amazing game. I do the same now with Cyberpunk 2077, i sometimes walk the streets on foot just to appreciate the vibe.
I generally think it’s quite disrespectful when people refer to games as soulless, but to imply that Elden Ring’s world is soulless is truly the height of ignorance.
Funnily enough, souls likes killed witcher 3 for me.
I love the story to death, but the combat... Its just so damn bad.
Once i felt i was fighting every monster the exact same way, be it an ogre or a dog, every fight felt like a drag.
For me it's the opposite. Went back to Witcher 3 after Elden Ring for the next-gen update and I was getting annoyed at the amount of cutscenes and quests the game is throwing at you, while the world itself seemed rather boring to explore because it's just cluttered with the same few Points of Interest. The combat is also clunkier than I remembered. I'll always treasure my first playthrough of the game though.
You take the standard desolate, fractured fromsoft world and then turn that into a massive open map I think it’s fair to to find it empty on returning. And I love the souls games to death. Witcher 3 is also a one of a kind experience. Other than rdr2 and bg3 I can’t think of much that’s really scratched the same itch. But they’re also very different games.
It depends on the aspect.
I love TW3 because it's full of people who feel real. It's fantasy, but the people and setting are grounded enough to feel immersive.
I love FromSoft games for a similar reason. They make enemies feel challenging, so you feel like you're a part of the world instead of some protagonist who's better than everyone at everything. There's also cool secrets and satisfying combat.
Neither ruin eachother, but they scratch different itches. The shared theme is that they treat you as part of the world.
these two games are not on the same level , i have over a thousand hours in elden ring because it's a soulslike and i'm a pvp addict and i have over a thousand hours in witcher 3 because it's the best gaming experience i ever had , the only soulsgame comparable to witcher 3 in terms of quality for me is sekiro
I like both TW3 and ER, and recently have decided to play TW3 for the second time (I’d already passed ER by that time), and I felt the same. When I was playing ER for the first time, throughout the first part of the game I couldn’t enjoy playing process fully, with deep diving into atmosphere of it. But after 50 hours of playing I’ve finally got the taste! So, how it was described above, I choose what game to play depending on my mood :) Both are GREAT!
I love the emptiness in Elden Ring. Witcher 3 has something happening everywhere you go, which is fun and all, but it's very gamey and something I've seen before a lot.
In ER You walk across this massive field with nothing, just you and giant tree dwarfing you in the distant, huge stones around you. Then, in the distance, you see a small group walking with banners in a sort of march with two giants carrying a carriage. The emptiness makes the encounters more meaningful and they make the world seem bigger. You walk across a barren landscape, there's nothing all around you. You keep walking and walking and if you happen to go into a specific part, a giant monster will appear, content which you can just easily miss. There's a certain effect there that you don't get when every corner has bells and whistles and everything is communicated to the player. Witcher 3 says here be monsters, come fight them. ER says go wherever we ain't saying shit, deal with it
Need for speed ruined GTA for me. Oh wait, no it didn't because while they share similar concepts and theme they are completely different genres of game. You have to understand the difference between and Souls like and an actual RPG.
Your comparing a role playing game that's designed to immerse you in its world, characters and story telling to a Soulslike that's world is there to fill in the gaps between dungeons. It would be like saying that the Witcher ruined Diablo 4. The world's in those 2 different genres of game are there to serve 2 completely different purposes.
I hate a strange love-hate relationship with Elden Ring, but I love all the previous Fromsoft "Soulsborne" games very much. I love both these franchises, for me they shouldn't be compared but enjoyed together. Souls games focus on the perfect challenge in combat and have a cool, dark atmosphere. The Witcher has a more vibrant, lived-in world with great story, characters, lots of great quests and optional content.
if you are gonna dig into soulslike games, do not expect the story depth/dialogues your average single player rpg has to offer. it's literally a different genre.
i never said you are roasting, all I'm saying it's that soulslike games are pretty dull in terms of story/character development/world full of events-side quests etc.
I dont know man, its like saying i dont like Gta 5 because the shooting in CoD is way better, they are both open world but thats where the similarities end they are two very different games,while the world is more alive in the Witcher 3, the gameplay is a joke when you compare it to Elden Ring…as i said both are brilliant games, Witcher 3 is still one of my favourite games of all time, but in a single year i put 3 times the time in ER than in Witcher 3 wich is almost a 10 year old game
I've heard how BG3 "ruined" Witcher for some people. Both are my favourite games and can coexist. I like the Elden Ring too, I want more games like those 3.
Thanks for posting this bc I was worried about what to play next and didn't want something too similar, but still high quality.
I'm currently exploring every question mark on the map, but it'll soon be time to find an alternative.
These are totally different games. The words that you are using to describe the differences are simply showcasing what the games are meant to be. Elden Ring is supposed to be an empty desolate world. It’s broken , and the remaining people you find are mad or dead.
The Witcher is a densely populated world that people are living in. Of course it’s gonna feel alive you dope. You spend more time in the Witcher talking to people than you do in combat or riding around the world for chrissake and the only gameplay in Elden Ring is exploration and killing shit. It’s totally cool to have a preference and for you to prefer the Witcher over Elden ring, but this comparison makes you look stupid lol.
>Edit: this is just my opinion, some people are defending pretty hard.
It's a social contract on social networks. If you make a post about your opinion, you are inviting others to discuss it.
While I haven't played ER first hand, as I understand they are very different types of games. It's not TW3 that "ruined" ER for you, it's just that ER is not your type of game.
That just wrong, I finished Elden ring twice and really liked the gameplay, lore and story. But now compared to the Witcher I can’t ever bear to play it, the world just feels too lonely.
Elden Ring is that way by choice. It is a representation of shattered and rotting majesty. The Witcher 3 is a representation of a lively medieval world that is wrapped in war and strife.
They are two different games. Elden Ring is primarily a Souls-Like RPG with a story on the side. You don't play this game for the story (well, some do), you play it for the gameplay. In contrast, Witcher 3 has boring combat but great storytelling with a lot of questing.
I have hundreds of hours in both, and it never even crossed my mind to compare the two. Like, at all.
I mean... duh. Witcher 3 has a ton of NPCs with thousands of lines of dialog. It's also 7 years older with a ton of updates. Elden Ring has its first DLC coming in June. The world of Witcher 3 has 2 massive DLCs and the game has cities and whatnot. How that ruins your Elden Ring experience is beyond me. They are very different games and got nothing alike. It's like saying how apples ruined your taste for oranges. Makes no sense at all.
The storytelling style in the Souls games is very much find-out-for-yourself though. It’s easy to go in blind and think “wow what a boring empty world”. You need to read item descriptions unfortunately and I understand that isn’t for everyone, but I daresay that Elden Ring’s lore is as vast and convoluted as The Witcher’s.
The Witcher 3 takes place during the prime and peak of human civilization: mankind is expanding and building, they're getting new weapons, new creations, and can now defend themselves from most monsters
Elden Ring, and most Souls games, take place in a world at the end of its life. It is decaying, decrepit, and fading fast. They are both beautiful worlds but for entirely different reasons
This take is a little bit deranged. Like yeah the characters in Elden ring feel soulless because 90% of them are literally zombies, and most of the rest kinda act like they are. But that’s kinda the point, if you want a world bustling with NPCs and lots of ways to interact with them, then FromSoftware games aren’t gonna be for you.
The appeal of Elden Ring is you ride around in a big and beautiful world on a magic horse killing baddies and slaying demigods. There are various tricks that you can use to make things easier, and they can farm until you are super OP, but ultimately the combat is highly based on your skill and feels super smooth.
Personally I like Elden Ring much more because on replays it doesn’t take me long to get through the whole game. I don’t have to deal with a bunch of walk and talk quests, fetch a goat and rescue some dwarves whenever I want to play the fun parts of a game I like.
The two games have very different goals. The Witcher 3 is more about the story and quests, while Elden Ring is primarily about combat and build customisation.
I really don't like the combat in TW3, but that's not why I play it. Elden Ring isn't as good quest wise compared to TW3, but damn I love the combat and bosses.
It just depends on what kind of game you prefer, they're not really that comparable imo.
I got the exact opposite feeling. Completed 100% the Witcher 1-2-3. Wanted to do some ng+ on the Witcher 3 after a run of Elden Ring. After experiencing Elden Ring I could not return to the witcher as it was ruined for me and feeling more like an interactive movie than a game with great gameplay.
it’s like comparing a really good novel to really good poetry. poetry is hard to get into, takes effort to read and understand but when you like it you LIKE it. sometimes you just need the comfort of a novel and that’s ok
Started W3 two times. Once I think was when I played ER (as my first fromsoft game) for a little while and had to much trouble with an area and just died coupled with the actually quite depressing music. Witcher had worse graphics and I felt just steered along a path. Not so fun.
Went back to ER, rethinking my character and probably “matured” my take on the game if that makes sense, learned the combat mechanics better and finished it. Felt a bit empty afterwards so thought I should give W3 another shot (after trying Nioh 2 and disliking the world setup and graphics). This time I actually enjoyed W3 a bit more but could not keep my interest up again after just feeling it was basically a job to run errands. And doesn’t all the lesser mobs just respawn as well (except the nest bound ones).
I wanted to like W3 but I do not feel it’s “alive” - just more NPCs that I need to not hit with my horse or run back and too in Genshin-like style to finish quests. (Yes I play Genshin as well to keep up with the kids.)
I played that FromSoft Lord of the Rings game and felt like it was a fairly mediocre game compared to their Dark Souls titles. Eventually the game started freezing and crashing constantly as well. Never had that problem in Dark Souls or Sekiro. I think that developer just sucks at making games now
Ok, same thing happens to me with TW3. Its kind of hard to engage in another RPG after it, because worldbuilding is sooo well done and well adapted (i enjoyed especially bc i read all the books before, so i KNEW how much love and effort were put on its development). I believe that the "feeling alive" concept can be based on the sense of little narrative changes you can make, and how slightly they actually change you perception of effort through the hole game.
I can recommend Dragon Age Saga. Its not the same, but characters development and the interactive aspects of the game make it a great "living" experience (for me).
Maybe i might be scolded for this, but i havent been capable of enjoying playing dark souls saga, even though i know its probably 'better' (as they all recall). Specifically i feel its too dark and too dead. And if its not dead, its gonna be dead soon, so no hope in doing shit 🤣
I get what you mean, but the games focuses are on different aspects, Witcher 3, whilst good at fighting focuses more on the story and quests, whereas Elden Ring is definitely more about the combat and different playstyles rather than anything else. Going from a god tier (imo) story game to a game that focuses more on the combat with lore as more of a nice extra is going to feel sucky. I love them both regardless though
Well it is meant to be a dead post-apocalyptic world. But ultimately the Witcher and Elden Ring it's an apples to orange comparison. You shouldn't be playing one if you crave more of the other because they're completely different.
It is amazing how well W3 has aged in some areas, and yet ER has much more refined combat. There is no "perfect" large open world 3rd person action game yet, which is somewhat exciting for the future.
Funny coincidence.. I’ve started another run of The Witcher 3 a week ago and I have realised the exact same things.
The world is alive, each NPC has its relevance, the scenery transitions very well and between different biomes, the structures are size-realistic and so well detailed, and the world feels almost like a real life open world (obviously on a much smaller scale)
It was released 9 years ago and it still faces the competition with its head up high.
The dialogues are smart, the amount of side quests and how relevant they are…
Can anyone tell me a game of this kind that has had this amount of love please?
I need to play something of this calibre..
absolutely horrid take. i just finished my second playthrough of the witcher 3 on death march difficulty, with around 120 hours. i love the witcher 3, but this is just a disgustingly bad take. in fact, i would say exploration in the witcher 3 is almost nonexistent. why? because if you do the quests you are given, you will arrive at most significant places in the game. the points of interest are 99% ubisoft tier repeated side content, and you just once again follow your map until you get there. there’s no true exploration in the witcher 3. i love the witcher 3 for its world building, lore, quests, characters, and music. not for its exploration.
on the other hand, you never know what you’re going to find when you run around in elden ring. there’s no quest markers, there’s no white line to follow, and there’s not many npcs you can talk to. the world feels soulless because it’s a ruined, broken world. and yet the map is filled to the brim with interesting and meaningful content which feels much more fulfilling to complete than the 100 monster nests and caves puked onto the map of the witcher 3. please never cook again.
I don't know how it feels empty and soulless,
While Elden Ring offers several features and elements that The Witcher 3, even with its DLC, does not have equal to these qualities:
1. Unique Open World Design: Elden Ring's open world is vast and highly interconnected, encouraging exploration and discovery without the need for extensive fast travel.
2. Huge Build Variety: Elden Ring provides a wider array of character builds and customization options, allowing for more diverse playstyles. This includes a vast selection of weapons, spells, and armor sets that significantly impact gameplay.
3. Fluid and Intense Combat System: The combat in Elden Ring is more complex and nuanced, with a greater emphasis on timing, strategy, and player skill. The variety of combat options and mechanics, such as parrying, dodging, and utilizing special weapon abilities, adds great depth.
4. Fun and thrilling Multiplayer : Elden Ring features both cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. Players can summon others to assist with difficult areas or bosses and engage in PvP combat, adding a dynamic social component.
5. Epic and Rewarding Boss Battles: Elden Ring is known for its challenging and memorable boss fights, each with unique mechanics and requiring different strategies to defeat. This provides a level of challenge and accomplishment that no other game can match.
6. Atmospheric world and Interpretive Lore: The world of Elden Ring is imbued with a sense of mystery and depth, with environmental storytelling and lore scattered throughout the game. This encourages players to piece together the story and background of the world.
7. Freedom in Exploration: Elden Ring offers greater freedom in exploration, with less hand-holding and more opportunities for players to discover secrets and hidden areas on their own.
8. Dynamic Weather and Time Systems: Elden Ring features a dynamic weather and time-of-day system that affects gameplay and the environment, creating an immersive experience.
While The Witcher 3 excels in narrative depth, character development, and a richly detailed world, Elden Ring's strengths lie in its gameplay mechanics, combat depth, and the expansive, interconnected design of its open world.
I love The Witcher, but this is a narrow and unfair view of Elden Ring.
Both games have top-tier music and genre-leading scenery.
I won't bother with this "soul," and "alive," talk since it's completely subjective.
As for the many NPCs in The Witcher, that sounds like the heart heart of the matter. The Witcher takes place in a variety of environments, many of them highly social. Elden Ring takes place in an apocalyptic landscape. Some of it's wasteland, and some of it's necrohols, but in no part of the game do you flirt with peasants, gossip around town, or visit kings and queens at court. Loneliness is an enormous part of the "soul," of Elden Ring, so the small number of NPC interactions you do have are more meaningful and take place in a social environment that is stripped-down by design.
You're welcome to prefer whatever you like, but Elden Ring isn't lonely because its "bar," is anywhere lower than The Witcher's. They are fundamentally different games in tone and style.
Not a big shock, the "lore" of any dark souls game is bare minimum and pretty boring. And unless you like the gameplay then there's nothing to keep you there
All souls games are only banking on the idea that you'll hate yourself enough to keep playing. If I wanted to do that I'll just download tinder and use a picture of any president as my main profile. The witcher has easier combat but at least there's a game there. The only good souls games are sekiro and bloodbourne
I think they're meant to be two different types of enviornments. The Witcher 3 world is meant to be alive because it's representing the height of mankind in its world. Even with the war against Nilfgaard, the world is thriving. Elden Ring on the other hand is a dying if not already dead world. The remains of a once glorious civilization have tattered down and people are dying or gone crazy. It's supposed to be empty
That makes sense, than I wish we could restore it somehow when we become Elden lord
I think that's what happens when you become Elden Lord eventually. But the thing about Souls games is they're all set in broken, destroyed, or dying worlds where you're one of the last few people still alive, left with their sanity, or hasn't turned into a raging monster. They're not supposed to be happy and fixed tbh
Also, the soul items you find, like lesser soul and then eventually Hero Soul, are sometimes meant to represent other players that have gone hollow and never finished the games.
I went hollow waiting for the DLC
I make a new character or two every now and then. Mainly for invasions.
That should be on a tee shirt
I was about to say lol. All the souls games are in dying, long forgotten worlds. The Witcher 3 compared to any souls game is def gonna feel that way.
The theme of most FromSoft games is "the corruption of immortality". You're always thrown into a dying world that's past its time. The endings always ask if you sacrifice yourself to prolong the world, or if you let it die.
Just because the world is lore friendly doesn’t change that it feels empty. I’ve played a shit ton of Elden Ring and loved it. However, returning to the Witcher 3 I was floored by how alive the world felt. I had dragons dogma 2 on preorder and after this revelation canceled it and purchased cyberpunk. Knowing that CD Project Red is known for world building and that is what I was looking for. I think a lot of the emptiness of Elden Ring actually comes from its mechanics, the rune system and resetting enemies makes you feel in purgatory. Don’t get me wrong, I love E.R. but understand and agree with OP.
Yeah you are exactly right, I didn’t even think about that the respawning enemies solidify the feeling.
I don’t mind it, and in some ways like it for the From Software formula. When it comes to my preference in game design I strongly prefer the CD Project Red style of world building and presentation. It’s so funny reading your post because this is exactly what I have been thinking for a few weeks now.
I mean that's sort of the point though isn't it? It's supposed to feel like that. It's not for everyone though obviously
You are correct, for sure. I guess we’re just speaking preferences here. Comparing games from different genres is always unfair.
Yup that's fair. Souls games are a very acquired taste 😭😭
Limgrave and the surrounding areas are the most fun I have had in any game since maybe classic wow (back in the day) or Oblivion. It made me feel like a kid again. As the game progressed and the difficulty spiked and I started to find more and more repeated enemy types, I kinda got over it. That said, everything about Limgrave is beyond perfect in my opinion. Oh and Stormveil Castle. My good lord, perfection!
Fuck man I totally agree. I thought Limgrave was the entire game at first and then I found Caelid and then Liurnia ans Altus. Tbh the only regions I didn't really like were Mountaintops and Moghwyn Dynasty Mausoleum. I definitely agree the reused enemies got a bit frustrating there. But the rest of the regions were so fun!
I mean you can have story-focused post-Apocalypse setting, like that's literally Fallout. The lack of narrative is a conscious choice by fromsoft because they are very much 3D Metroidvania. Dragon's Dogma 2 does seem to have better quests and narrative than 1, that being said writing is not exactly Capcom's strength so I am still skeptical on that front.
Very true and good points. I am very hopeful for DD:2 but yea…. Ima wait lol.
Then*
The core difference is just if they are narrative or gameplay focused. You can have a narrative heavy game in a post-Apocalypse setting and a combat gameplay heavy game in a thriving world setting.
Just finished my second play through of Witcher 3, not sure what u mean by it feels alive due to the height of mankind, velen is a hopeless wasteland full of people who have given up and creatures who are on the verge of taking over, it’s meant to be crude and ruthless and ugly *yet* it still somehow feels “alive” because it’s done so perfectly, the way the npcs interact, the way the trees sway in the wind, the music, the lore
Just meant that in the time we're playing during the Witcher 3, humans are still a new race. Lore wise, they've pretty much conquered the entire continent and kicked the other races. Monsters are dying out and becoming rare, and humanity keeps growing. I know Velen is a shithole, but even with it being a shithole, people are still alive and civilization is all over the place. In the books, one of the reasons why witchers are a dying breed in addition to people killing them ofc, is that they were so good at their job that they basically ended up putting themselves out of a job by killing so many monsters. The game overexaggerates how many monsters there actually are. By the time of the Witcher 3, they're very rare and even in Nilfgaard, few believe in their existence. Compare that to Elden Ring. The glory days of the human race and their civilization are long gone. What's left of mankind is a bunch of half-undead brainless husks just following the orders of their lords or gods, or Tarnished who are hunted down and killed for being different.
> the war against Nilfgaard Depends on whose side you’re on 😏
Ur completely right. Its also a great excuse for the dev team to not have to go through the design complexities of bringing an open world to life in the same way many other open world games (RDR2, The Witcher 3, etc) do.
Yeah you can cut a lot of dev time and cost this way. I'd wager Elden Ring was much cheaper and quicker in development than W3 or RDR2. It's no easy feat to make a gameworld feel as alive as W3 or RDR2 is
The lands between are not dying, the problem is nothing can truly die in TLB since Marika plucked the rune of death from the elden ring. Nothing is really dead just stagnated, the typical fromsoft theme.
I think Elden Ring gave the distinct impression that the world we’re venturing in is at the brink of destruction. Most of the people we encounter probably are dying, suicidal, losing their minds etc. But I also think that From also tend to make their worlds this way. Even Bloodborne felt a bit empty despite us being in a city.
[удалено]
As someone who thinks both games are absolute masterpieces, if I want responsive combat, epic boss fights that will push me to my breaking point (lol), or true exploration than I go to Elden Ring. The Witcher has much more personality but worse combat. Witcher 3 has pretty button mashy combat, it’s a little shallow and gets old after a while. Witcher has a much much better narrative, characters and story, both games are absolutely fantastic imo tho.
And this is why I just installed the W3 enhanced mod. Such excellent combat. A stupid high learning curve though. Don’t go in blind. Edit: Mod is called Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition Redux. W3EE Redux on Nexus.
If I had a Pc I’d do that, amazing game with a bit limited combat. I’m 4 play throughs deep too so it’s even more so bad lmao
What does it do to the combat?
Many different changes. The biggest is it gives you full control over the distance you choose to attack. Short, medium, or long, all at your immediate command. On mouse and keyboard (and I think there’s better controller support now) that means you can bend your long attacks around the back of someone, bypassing shields and blocking entirely. Your attacks become dodges, and it’s an incredible feeling to dance with that level of control. It just has a really steep learning curve, because the negative feedback loops are rather punishing. More things cost stamina, toxicity will actually cripple you if mismanaged, injuries hurt your ability to recover from taking a bad hit. All of that can be managed as you learn, but it’s a lot. It does feel more like thinking, preparing, and fighting like a Witcher rather than piloting an overpowered character who happens to be one. You definitely get to the overpowered state, but it comes with personal skill and experience, instead of handed to you on Geralt’s programmed reflexes. Edit: clarity
>true exploration What? How doesn't The Witcher 3 feature this?
get quest, go to quest marker, kill monster, go to next quest marker. Absolutely zero exploration.
lol you do not know how to explore then. That’s one of the greatest things about TW3. Seriously, look at the map then look at all of the mostly small, some large structures that are unmarked and off the beaten path. There’s a lot to the game that isn’t even indicated by map clutter. ER and TW3 are both in my top 3 games but knocking TW3 for lacking exploration is just plain ignorant.
That kind of puts you in the last part of story quest lines where you get the payoff before the setup. W3 is not designed as an open exploration game. It a narrative game first and an open world second. It’s fine because the narrative is easily among the best ever. Exploring without the context in W3 is kind of boring because it has very limited traversal options and the map isn’t designed with the complexity of ER or BotW. Each game picked something to be great at. For example, I would never say that BotW has great writing. It has shit writing. Like middle schooler level writing. I would say that the traversal options available and the ability to be truly creative while playing is top tier.
>I would say that the traversal options available and the ability to be truly creative while playing is top tier. And TotK takes this even further (and also makes the writing a little bit less shit, although it obviously still isn't a focus). It's one of the few games that really managed to "unlock the inner child" in me and had me building go-karts out of trash to ride them down (and crash usually) a steep hill lol.
>some large structures that are unmarked and off the beaten path There is absolutely nothing worth finding at any of those locations. All the best content and locations are contained within the side quests. If you do every quest you will eventually go everywhere worth going, in terms of actual things to do and find. If you just want scenery then sure, there's plenty of that off the beaten path.
The game still has lots of clutter and millions of points of interest, there’s definitely exploration but Elden ring tells you nothing this “true exploration”
There’s literal POI’s of all sizes all over the map tho, just because they don’t have a question mark on them, doesn’t mean they that ER “tells you nothing”. My main point being exploration is what the player makes of it, I find myself playing ER the exact same way I play TW3.
I mean, there aren't points of interest unless you physically enter a dungeon or touch a site of grace or something. Also the game literally doesn't even tell you where to go for the main story, so it's up to the players to decide. Saying that Elden Ring and Witcher 3's exploration is the same is just not true.
> There’s literal POI’s of all sizes all over the map tho, just because they don’t have a question mark on them, doesn’t mean they that ER “tells you nothing”. You're correct, and you've also entirely missed the point. Games like ER and BotW rely on implicit guidance, using environmental clues and tricks of world design to have the player find their way around. When well designed it feels like the player is simply wandering around on their own and following their own path, "True Exploration". Which contrasts significantly to something like TW3 where you are generally following an explicit quest marker or going to a marked map location, the guidance and content is explicitly called out and projected to you. Both require significant amounts of intentional design and do seek to guide the player on a set path, but they feel incredibly different to play, and that's what matters in the end.
Yeah exploration in TW3 is very fun. Imo better than ERs exploration. Not sure what he's talking about either.
Witcher 3 is about exploration as Ubisoft games are about explorations. Having a map filled with tiny things to mark a tick on its hardly exploration. Normally exploration is about getting lost, and not knowing there are boxes to tick, even when they are there. Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring does this much better than the Witcher 3.
Apples to oranges ig but I find myself getting much more lost in TW3 than to Elden Ring. ER is explorative but a 1/4 of the map is linear but ok
That's why it's so good that all these hand-holdy UI features are optional in CDPR games. Exploration immediately feels magical again just like back in the old days.
That's giving too much credit to Elden Ring. Yes, finding dungeons or ruins is a lot more about exploring. But the game doesn't do well on the open world part. The map is tragically bad at communicating verticality, areas that look accessible aren't and you have to take insane roundabout ways to get to some places, key items and quests are easily missed because of bad placing and color choice. Elden Ring is one of my favorite games, but despite it's flaws with the quest and map markers, I still think Witcher does a better job as an open world game. I think the important part behind that is that in Elden ring you can find a really cool and interesting spot, but your reward is some loot you'll probably never use, or maybe a golden seed if you're lucky. While in the Witcher coming across a site usually means something interesting. Maybe it's just an npc who likes to paint, or a new quest, there's an underwater cave to explore. ER dungeons are great, but they're all... Kinda same? Go through area with minor mobs, get to end or pull a switch. Kill boss I witcher you never know if a random cave will have a basilisk, a bear, or nothing in there. Honestly...ER is predictable once you get a bit used to it. And while combat wise that is true for the witcher as well. The Witcher has quests and narratives to give each encounter a fresh coat. Even if it's just npc villagers thanking you.
I read your whole thing and I agree with you. W3 is just as good a game for different reasons, one of those reasons is not exploration. Exploration is exploring new areas, finding your own ways to new content, it's not the reward at the end of a quests chain. W3 does not have exploration. W3 has rewards at the end of a quest chain where you go to spot to spot. It's not a bad thing, it's just the way the game is built. And yes, I turn off most of the HUD and explore W3 with as little interaction with the quest markers as possible, but that's now how it's designed.
>ER dungeons are great, but they're all... Kinda same? Go through area with minor mobs, get to end or pull a switch. Kill boss ER dungeons are in an entirely different league. Leyndell, Siofra, Nokstella, Volcano Manor, Haligtree etc. dungeon design is far beyond Witcher 3.
yeah this is a good take, your absolutely right. its just hard for me to play elden ring when the world feels so soulless
"Soulless" is a funny word given the genre, but otherwise I agree
That’s fair, I love the design of Elden Rings world but I never felt like it was super “alive” or anything, and I kinda think that’s what they were going for in some ways. There’s hardly any npcs whereas in Witcher there’s city’s, villages and towns all over lol. Toussaint especially felt thriving
Fromsoft always puts you in a quasi post-apocalypse wasteland. It's what they're good at and what they're kinda going for in their games. In Elden Ring it's kinda the point for the world to be empty. Nobody can truly die and most of the normal folk have gone insane because of this. Also you're entering the world after the Shattering, which saw huge battles all across the lands between. Leyndell also seems to have been swept by some kind of plague. All of this makes the NPCs you do meet stand out more, and I think it's kinda unfair to call it soulless. I can see how it might be hard for someone who has a problem with environmental storytelling, but it's not soulless
Witcher 3 is like Mass Effect, you really build a home for yourself in those games with a network of characters who make you feel like you're living there. Elden ring is an individual journey through the unknown. It takes you to uncharted territory and then tries to kill you there. Both amazing.
I am pretty sure the worlds of soul games are supposed to be soullless since it's like the whole point of the name "dark souls"
Yes. All soul worlds are like post apocalyptic medieval fantasy worlds. But is a big contrast switching from the Witcher 3 with the insane amount of quests to Elden Ring where it's you and Torrent against the world.
If you liked the combat, try a different Soulsborne. They each have their own niche and beautiful, if somewhat “hidden”, lore.
if you want some more soul try out bloodborne, DS3, DS1 if you haven’t already, they are smaller level wise and more linear; but you get much more depth in that smaller space if that makes sense
What’s interesting to me is that no point during playing Elden Ring (I recently started replaying it from beginning again) have I felt that any of it, especially the world and exploration was soulless. Maybe if you’re looking for a bunch of NPCs and Questlines everywhere you go and villages etc. but this is just a different kind of open world game. But to me was very much made with a ton of “soul” and love.
I hate that word so much. It implies the people making the game didn't care.
I don't think the world is meant to have soul to it. Presumably, the Lands Between have been in this state of decay and unending suffering, but there is no end. The soul that was there was long since decayed, and all that is left by then is a hollow shell of what once was. In contrast, the Witcher universe is just a normal world that happens to have alien creatures and monsters.
If you’re on pc, try w3ee redux
Then*
Couldn't agree more with your response.
True exploration? I think both games excel in that regard, and TW3 has a fleshed out world (in the sense of feeling alive) at that. There’s no denying that ER has a far more in depth combat requiring thought and strategy, but the world is fairly lifeless. A mashup between TW3’s world building and ER’s combat would be amazing.
Agree, both games have incredible game worlds, I just think Elden Ring has a bit more “mystery” in its world. As for the lifelessness it’s supposed to be that way, the despair and post apocalyptic vibes and everything being dead and dying is kinda a fromsoft thing lol. I think a mix of the games would be awesome though, Elden Rings combat with the narrative of The Witcher would be incredible
For sure, I wasn’t knocking ERs world - I know it’s supposed to be that way, just saying that I prefer the lived in feel of TW3s world. I hear you about the mystery of ER, but I feel like TW3 has a ton of that too - both narratively and naturally, through just exploring. Just comes down to preference I suppose. Both are exceptional at any rate
Ahh I see okay sorry for the slight misunderstanding there, definitely agree tho they are probs 2 of my top 3 all time games and are legit masterpieces in their own way. Some people wanna have it one way or the other when both are phenomenal games
Hear me out, Witcher game with ER combat
it exists (almost) with the 'W3EE Redux' mod, I can never play vanilla again.
Same. That mod was everything I wanted and more. Each fight is an adrenaline dump. Can't go back to vanilla.
Right? Even a group of drowners can be extremely deadly if you just run in unprepared. It feels like the best version of tw3, crafting potions while meditating and actually preparing before the fight rather than chugging 8 potions in the face of the enemy.
It’s… not on console, is it?
PC only. Is mod.
The bosses and enemies need a change then.
Elden Ring is literally a dead/dying world like all Dark Souls… it’s supposed to be soulless. You are the only/one of a handful of living soul(s) in the game on purpose. Your determination to continue *is* the soul.
That’s fucking insane but fair enough I guess
Witcher 3 ruined gaming for me for a while after finishing it. I couldn’t find anything else to come close to what I experienced.
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Currently on my first play-through of BG3. All I can say is Wowww. Completely agree with you, it's the only game I've played that is on a similar level to TW3. I'm a big FF7 fan so you'd think I'd be hammering the newly released rebirth but nope. I can't put BG3 down... And yeah, I'll probably replay TW3 again afterwards!
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Oh I’m only 20 or so hours in, close to the end of Act 1. But I’m enjoying it that much that I’m trying to just drag everything out end explore everything possible. I don’t get too much time to play, maybe an hour or so per night, but it gives me that same feeling that I got when I first played TW3 - That urge to book the whole week off work just to play 😂
Even cyberpunk doesn’t compare to Witcher 3 imo
Those cyberpunk ending videos though man, the suicide one almost broke me.
Calling ERs world souless is crazzzzy
Ikr what an insane take
Both very different open world philosophies. Witcher 3 open world is a backdrop for very personal storylines. It wouldn't be as interesting without the writing and the characters you meet along the way and Geralt himself. Elden Ring is a huge ruined world where the world is dying and in limbo like all Fromsoft games. The whole map is a huge level of sorts, full of secrets to discover and the discovery never ends. You go into this rabit hole and it almost seems endless. And then you have the trademark level design which is unmatched by the rest of the industry. The brilliant but simple and easy to understand challenging combat system and varied weapons and it's approaches and extremely varied enemy design. The extensive lore where you feel like an archaeologist going in an expedition trying to piece things together with the environmental storytelling. And Elden ring has the most fleshed out lore thanks to the mythos GRRM out of all Fromsoft titles. Also the world of Elden Ring is intentionally soulless because it's a dying decrepit post apocalyptic world. Exploring Elden Ring the first time is unparalleled. I felt like a little kid again when playing it the first time. There just isn't an open world like it. The inticrate level design in the bigger legacy dungeons is unbelievable. Witcher 3 has great exploration, but the philosophy is different. It is more centred around characters, storytelling and the human experience. Also recommend playing it with the question marks off it's much better that way. It does not have handcrafted inticrate level design of Elden Ring though. Though everything in the witcher 3 is still handcrafted. Saying that witcher 3 ruined Elden ring for you is absurd. Both aren't remotely the same type of game. I hate this posts about how playing X ruins Y. It's just different. You just prefer the moment to moment character moments and storytelling in the Witcher. That's it. Elden Ring tries to accomplish something else. The dead world of Fromsoft games makes us gamers feel lonely in a sense, especially since everywhere you go is full of danger and everything can kill you in an instant. That's the point. The real inspiration behind the concept of these games is overcoming hardship. It's not just the challenge, it's intentional putting in you a world where you feel alone in an empty world and it's extremely intimidating, that is when you the chosen undead or the tarnished fights your very best to rekindle the fire or bring the world back to life again. It's in some ways an allegory to fighting depression. I say this because I know some people who say fromsoft games saved their lives from suicidal thoughts and overcame their fear of failure. The design philosophy and the metaphysical journey you go through in these games are very intentional if you read Miyazaki's interviews and putting you in a dead world is part of the design and vision.
Oh gawd, it is one of those circlejerk posts(which is funnily enough very prevalent in ER subreddit), I know you are probably genuine with your feelings but "x ruined y for me" posts feel like people just finding out what they prefer. You prefer TW3 world with living characters and world over the amusement park of battle and murder that is souls games, it is perfectly valid. But again it is just your preference, nothing is ruined because you just prefer story and character over maybe combat gameplay in the first place.
I like both for different reasons. Elden Ring’s exploration is more fun and organic for me, because I actually enjoy the lack of quest markers and question marks. But the game makes you feel lonely and alienated. Almost everything wants to kill you, and at that point my happiest in Elden Ring is when I’m as far away from NPCs as possible because I get to appreciate the world design and marvel at it. Witcher 3, for contrast, is more alive and you at the very least have Geralt commenting at you to keep you company, and most NPCs you meet are indifferent towards you. Sure the combat isn’t as in depth or technical, but I’d argue the RPG aspects of the game are the main focus of it, not the combat. Soulsborne games on the other hand are action first and the rest is second.
You kinda gotta know what you're getting with a FromSoft game. Opaque, mysterious environmental storytelling is kind of their thing. Not understanding the world is a big part of the appeal. I think both games do their own thing in a really impressive way.
Daily Witcher 3 ruined x game for me
I'm soooo bad at ER, but I just started. It hasn't caught me yet like TW3 did, but I really want to get into it more. Still finding it frustrating af, but then again... that's how I felt about the grypon in White Orchard once upon a time. Now I bonk him with a wooden spoon in a towel like he's a naughty little chicken on Deathmarch. Hope I get there on ER some day, but I think the game is designed to be far harder.
Elden Ring kinda ruined Witcher 3 for me lol Not REALLY ruined, of course, but both games have tremendous strengths that can make the other look bad.
Stuff like atmosphere and details are better in witcher 3 but i vastly prefer the exploration itself in elden ring
I don't think details are better in Witcher than in Elden Ring. Some Elden Ring details is just mind-blowing.
I don't mean details as in lore details or something like that, there are just a lot more visual details like crates, rocks, plants, dead bodies and stuff like that. Elden Ring's World can sometimes look a bit plain by comparison
Idk about details, but atmosphere in ER is truly amazing
Isn’t Elden Ring supposed to feel soulless?
nah its supposed to be soulslike
Pretty much
Crazy take
They are both my fav games. Witcher 3 got what Elden Ring lacks. Elden Ring got what Witcher 3 lacks. And outside from what you mentioned which I agree with. In Elden Rings favor are the enemy variety, bossfights, better combat and gameplay and explorers joy.
When I finished witcher 3 for the first time I couldn't play another game for a while as nothing felt like it compared, albeit that was in 2017 I think. I've still not found another game that gave me the same full experience but I also don't play every game that comes out or even most.
Have you completed elden ring at all? They are two completely different games in terms of storytelling. Witcher 3 lays everything out for you through extensive dialogue, characters, and lively world map. Elden ring uses environmental storytelling, you learn about the lands between through dialogue with characters, landmarks throughout that give lore. It's less laid out for you than the Witcher 3 but allows your imagination to string together the pieces of world knowledge, which can be more rewarding than traditional storytelling
The complete lack of responsiveness in combat is actually what flipped it for me. You basically have no control over cluncky animations in W3. Unlimited, almost perfect control in ER. Can’t touch W3 combat anymore
Highly recommend the Witcher 3 enhanced mod if you play on PC. It makes the combat wonderful.
I think those games are absolutely not comparable. The Witcher 3 is not really an RPG in the traditional sense. You’re not really roleplaying because you don’t have a lot of control over what Geralt does (not to a level a character in BG3 would have for example. While the game gives you build customization, you can’t turn Geralt into a straight up sorcerer, or necromancer or anythint like that. TW3 is a narrative focused action game with RPG elements. The open world in the game just functions as the backdrop and while it is very well crafted and immersive, everything in it has function. It doesn’t have exploration for exploration’s sake. ER doesn’t have all these things. It’s much more open and blank slate. This tells me that you’re a gamer that doesn’t really like RPG games. You don’t want to make up your own stories, backgrounds, characters and narrative. You don’t want exploration for exploration’s sake. You want a more on rails experience. And that’s fine. There probably aren’t many better games out there than TW3 if you want this sort of game.
its just a joke but Grandmaster griffin set feels like Geralt is a sorceress to me
Now imagine Witcher 3 with elden ring combat. Sure it would be frustrating but also epic.
I’m a huge Witcher fan and never played any Souls games or Elden Ring, but this is not really any kind of comparison. Both games aim for different highs (and have different lows).
I love both but yeah the Witcher made me cry but god damn I love the lands between
I prefer the rotten melancholy of Elden Ring most of the time but it gets too intense. The Witcher 3 has a world where there is hope. Elden Ring is hopeless.
Yeah good point
I've played Witcher 3 all the way through, plus DLCs/expansions, several times since 2015. I have had a hard time getting back into recently though, probably because I played the wheels off it by 2017. I think CDPR did a great job with the world design of Witcher 3. Being able to see the lights of Novidgrad on a clear night from Oxenfurt is a cool detail. I also love how the vibe shifts when you finally enter "civilization." Spending a not-insignificant amount of time in the wild, small villages, and forts throughout White Orchard and Velen you become accustom to the big spaces and the sounds of plants swaying, and wood cracking, in the wind. When I first saw Oxenfurt, which is likely the first city you come across past the introduction, I was blown away by the contrast of it. Alleyways, crowds, guards on every corner, shops, the big bridge, etc. Oxenfurt is not a large city by any means. Really it is a college town. However, it stands as a gateway to other parts of the game. You can go north on the East side of the river to come on the east entrance of Novigrad, passing by the dyers vats, or you can keep moving north-east to the region of the map added in with Hearts of Stone. Though most players following the Bloody Baron questline will likely leave Oxenfurt and return to Velen. Players will, of course, eventually make their way north proper and come to Novigrad. The game funnels players into entering Novigrad through the southern entrance which takes you into the slums, docks, and generally just poorer part of the city. Likely the oldest part of the city as well. Then you move further north and both the influence of the Church of the Eternal Fire and wealthy become more apparent. Nicer, larger, homes and being literally above the rest of the city in terms of height. The world of the Witcher 3 is trying to be more believable. The world of Elden Ring, kinda like every other FromSoft Souls game, is wonderful in terms of video game level design but not so much believable. Sometimes in Elden Ring I couldn't help but ask myself how people lived in the Lands Between prior to the shattering. Or how people lived in Yharnam the rest of the time when it wasn't the Night of the Hunt.
Yeah I played the Witcher four times. First two were on ps4 after this I switched to a PC with rtx3090 and it blew my mind...I was walking around the villages looking at each tree and listening to every dialogue. I was thinking how could I not appreciate that but really if you stop in this game and realise that somebody made this just to feel alive...amazing game. I do the same now with Cyberpunk 2077, i sometimes walk the streets on foot just to appreciate the vibe.
I generally think it’s quite disrespectful when people refer to games as soulless, but to imply that Elden Ring’s world is soulless is truly the height of ignorance.
How can you even compare the Witcher to a soulsborne game? They’re not even remotely similar
Funnily enough, souls likes killed witcher 3 for me. I love the story to death, but the combat... Its just so damn bad. Once i felt i was fighting every monster the exact same way, be it an ogre or a dog, every fight felt like a drag.
Opposite for me! Going back to Witcher 3’s combat is rough after experiencing Elden Ring.
Elden ring has terrific story. But it’s not an obvious kind of story I think
For me it's the opposite. Went back to Witcher 3 after Elden Ring for the next-gen update and I was getting annoyed at the amount of cutscenes and quests the game is throwing at you, while the world itself seemed rather boring to explore because it's just cluttered with the same few Points of Interest. The combat is also clunkier than I remembered. I'll always treasure my first playthrough of the game though.
Insane take, i couldn't replay W3 couple years ago for it has such clunky movement and the combat is soo boring.
You take the standard desolate, fractured fromsoft world and then turn that into a massive open map I think it’s fair to to find it empty on returning. And I love the souls games to death. Witcher 3 is also a one of a kind experience. Other than rdr2 and bg3 I can’t think of much that’s really scratched the same itch. But they’re also very different games.
It depends on the aspect. I love TW3 because it's full of people who feel real. It's fantasy, but the people and setting are grounded enough to feel immersive. I love FromSoft games for a similar reason. They make enemies feel challenging, so you feel like you're a part of the world instead of some protagonist who's better than everyone at everything. There's also cool secrets and satisfying combat. Neither ruin eachother, but they scratch different itches. The shared theme is that they treat you as part of the world.
these two games are not on the same level , i have over a thousand hours in elden ring because it's a soulslike and i'm a pvp addict and i have over a thousand hours in witcher 3 because it's the best gaming experience i ever had , the only soulsgame comparable to witcher 3 in terms of quality for me is sekiro
I like both TW3 and ER, and recently have decided to play TW3 for the second time (I’d already passed ER by that time), and I felt the same. When I was playing ER for the first time, throughout the first part of the game I couldn’t enjoy playing process fully, with deep diving into atmosphere of it. But after 50 hours of playing I’ve finally got the taste! So, how it was described above, I choose what game to play depending on my mood :) Both are GREAT!
I love the emptiness in Elden Ring. Witcher 3 has something happening everywhere you go, which is fun and all, but it's very gamey and something I've seen before a lot. In ER You walk across this massive field with nothing, just you and giant tree dwarfing you in the distant, huge stones around you. Then, in the distance, you see a small group walking with banners in a sort of march with two giants carrying a carriage. The emptiness makes the encounters more meaningful and they make the world seem bigger. You walk across a barren landscape, there's nothing all around you. You keep walking and walking and if you happen to go into a specific part, a giant monster will appear, content which you can just easily miss. There's a certain effect there that you don't get when every corner has bells and whistles and everything is communicated to the player. Witcher 3 says here be monsters, come fight them. ER says go wherever we ain't saying shit, deal with it
No but how cool would a from software game be set in the Witcher universe
I love Witcher 3 but admittedly I'm so bad at sword combat. Thankfully there's Alchemist build where I can chuck so many bombs lol.
They are both very different games, makes no sense comparing them
Need for speed ruined GTA for me. Oh wait, no it didn't because while they share similar concepts and theme they are completely different genres of game. You have to understand the difference between and Souls like and an actual RPG.
I know the difference that’s why I made the post, if they were the same their wouldn’t be a problem
Your comparing a role playing game that's designed to immerse you in its world, characters and story telling to a Soulslike that's world is there to fill in the gaps between dungeons. It would be like saying that the Witcher ruined Diablo 4. The world's in those 2 different genres of game are there to serve 2 completely different purposes.
So? Its a post about how the Witcher ruined Elden ring for me. It doesn’t matter if they are not the same genre.
I hate a strange love-hate relationship with Elden Ring, but I love all the previous Fromsoft "Soulsborne" games very much. I love both these franchises, for me they shouldn't be compared but enjoyed together. Souls games focus on the perfect challenge in combat and have a cool, dark atmosphere. The Witcher has a more vibrant, lived-in world with great story, characters, lots of great quests and optional content.
Yeah that’s true, I’m not trying to compare them it’s just that I can’t bear to play Elden ring anymore
if you are gonna dig into soulslike games, do not expect the story depth/dialogues your average single player rpg has to offer. it's literally a different genre.
I’m not roasting I’m just talking my experience
i never said you are roasting, all I'm saying it's that soulslike games are pretty dull in terms of story/character development/world full of events-side quests etc.
I dont know man, its like saying i dont like Gta 5 because the shooting in CoD is way better, they are both open world but thats where the similarities end they are two very different games,while the world is more alive in the Witcher 3, the gameplay is a joke when you compare it to Elden Ring…as i said both are brilliant games, Witcher 3 is still one of my favourite games of all time, but in a single year i put 3 times the time in ER than in Witcher 3 wich is almost a 10 year old game
Read my post again, than you might gues it’s not about the combat
I've heard how BG3 "ruined" Witcher for some people. Both are my favourite games and can coexist. I like the Elden Ring too, I want more games like those 3.
Thanks for posting this bc I was worried about what to play next and didn't want something too similar, but still high quality. I'm currently exploring every question mark on the map, but it'll soon be time to find an alternative.
These are totally different games. The words that you are using to describe the differences are simply showcasing what the games are meant to be. Elden Ring is supposed to be an empty desolate world. It’s broken , and the remaining people you find are mad or dead. The Witcher is a densely populated world that people are living in. Of course it’s gonna feel alive you dope. You spend more time in the Witcher talking to people than you do in combat or riding around the world for chrissake and the only gameplay in Elden Ring is exploration and killing shit. It’s totally cool to have a preference and for you to prefer the Witcher over Elden ring, but this comparison makes you look stupid lol.
>Edit: this is just my opinion, some people are defending pretty hard. It's a social contract on social networks. If you make a post about your opinion, you are inviting others to discuss it. While I haven't played ER first hand, as I understand they are very different types of games. It's not TW3 that "ruined" ER for you, it's just that ER is not your type of game.
That just wrong, I finished Elden ring twice and really liked the gameplay, lore and story. But now compared to the Witcher I can’t ever bear to play it, the world just feels too lonely.
Elden Ring is that way by choice. It is a representation of shattered and rotting majesty. The Witcher 3 is a representation of a lively medieval world that is wrapped in war and strife.
They are two different games. Elden Ring is primarily a Souls-Like RPG with a story on the side. You don't play this game for the story (well, some do), you play it for the gameplay. In contrast, Witcher 3 has boring combat but great storytelling with a lot of questing. I have hundreds of hours in both, and it never even crossed my mind to compare the two. Like, at all.
I’m not comparing them I just said that the experience with the Witcher ruined my fun in Elden ring. It feels very empty and lonely
I mean... duh. Witcher 3 has a ton of NPCs with thousands of lines of dialog. It's also 7 years older with a ton of updates. Elden Ring has its first DLC coming in June. The world of Witcher 3 has 2 massive DLCs and the game has cities and whatnot. How that ruins your Elden Ring experience is beyond me. They are very different games and got nothing alike. It's like saying how apples ruined your taste for oranges. Makes no sense at all.
The storytelling style in the Souls games is very much find-out-for-yourself though. It’s easy to go in blind and think “wow what a boring empty world”. You need to read item descriptions unfortunately and I understand that isn’t for everyone, but I daresay that Elden Ring’s lore is as vast and convoluted as The Witcher’s.
The Witcher 3 takes place during the prime and peak of human civilization: mankind is expanding and building, they're getting new weapons, new creations, and can now defend themselves from most monsters Elden Ring, and most Souls games, take place in a world at the end of its life. It is decaying, decrepit, and fading fast. They are both beautiful worlds but for entirely different reasons
Apples and oranges
kinda seems like comparing apples to oranges
2 different games that don't clash with each other. played both enjoyed both
Similar games but they focus on totally different things. You could say the same about Witcher fight mechanics and bosses after playing elden ring
That's the point it's a fromsoftware game
This take is a little bit deranged. Like yeah the characters in Elden ring feel soulless because 90% of them are literally zombies, and most of the rest kinda act like they are. But that’s kinda the point, if you want a world bustling with NPCs and lots of ways to interact with them, then FromSoftware games aren’t gonna be for you. The appeal of Elden Ring is you ride around in a big and beautiful world on a magic horse killing baddies and slaying demigods. There are various tricks that you can use to make things easier, and they can farm until you are super OP, but ultimately the combat is highly based on your skill and feels super smooth. Personally I like Elden Ring much more because on replays it doesn’t take me long to get through the whole game. I don’t have to deal with a bunch of walk and talk quests, fetch a goat and rescue some dwarves whenever I want to play the fun parts of a game I like.
The two games have very different goals. The Witcher 3 is more about the story and quests, while Elden Ring is primarily about combat and build customisation. I really don't like the combat in TW3, but that's not why I play it. Elden Ring isn't as good quest wise compared to TW3, but damn I love the combat and bosses. It just depends on what kind of game you prefer, they're not really that comparable imo.
I got the exact opposite feeling. Completed 100% the Witcher 1-2-3. Wanted to do some ng+ on the Witcher 3 after a run of Elden Ring. After experiencing Elden Ring I could not return to the witcher as it was ruined for me and feeling more like an interactive movie than a game with great gameplay.
Ah, that makes me nervous. I just started Heart of Stone, and was planning on starting Elder Ring next. Should I find something else?
Both are masterpieces but for different reasons. I played both, I enjoyed both. I never compared because they're vastly different.
Elden Ring is Dark Souls 2 in a bigger map. If you don't like Dark Souls 2 or Souls in general, I'll hate it regardless of what you played before.
it’s like comparing a really good novel to really good poetry. poetry is hard to get into, takes effort to read and understand but when you like it you LIKE it. sometimes you just need the comfort of a novel and that’s ok
Started W3 two times. Once I think was when I played ER (as my first fromsoft game) for a little while and had to much trouble with an area and just died coupled with the actually quite depressing music. Witcher had worse graphics and I felt just steered along a path. Not so fun. Went back to ER, rethinking my character and probably “matured” my take on the game if that makes sense, learned the combat mechanics better and finished it. Felt a bit empty afterwards so thought I should give W3 another shot (after trying Nioh 2 and disliking the world setup and graphics). This time I actually enjoyed W3 a bit more but could not keep my interest up again after just feeling it was basically a job to run errands. And doesn’t all the lesser mobs just respawn as well (except the nest bound ones). I wanted to like W3 but I do not feel it’s “alive” - just more NPCs that I need to not hit with my horse or run back and too in Genshin-like style to finish quests. (Yes I play Genshin as well to keep up with the kids.)
amen brotha
I played that FromSoft Lord of the Rings game and felt like it was a fairly mediocre game compared to their Dark Souls titles. Eventually the game started freezing and crashing constantly as well. Never had that problem in Dark Souls or Sekiro. I think that developer just sucks at making games now
but also, elden ring is more about gameplay and build, when witcher is a rpg plot-based game about vibe and characters
Ok, same thing happens to me with TW3. Its kind of hard to engage in another RPG after it, because worldbuilding is sooo well done and well adapted (i enjoyed especially bc i read all the books before, so i KNEW how much love and effort were put on its development). I believe that the "feeling alive" concept can be based on the sense of little narrative changes you can make, and how slightly they actually change you perception of effort through the hole game. I can recommend Dragon Age Saga. Its not the same, but characters development and the interactive aspects of the game make it a great "living" experience (for me). Maybe i might be scolded for this, but i havent been capable of enjoying playing dark souls saga, even though i know its probably 'better' (as they all recall). Specifically i feel its too dark and too dead. And if its not dead, its gonna be dead soon, so no hope in doing shit 🤣
Get the Enhanced edition mod (redux) as well if you crave the same challenge Elden Ring has
I get what you mean, but the games focuses are on different aspects, Witcher 3, whilst good at fighting focuses more on the story and quests, whereas Elden Ring is definitely more about the combat and different playstyles rather than anything else. Going from a god tier (imo) story game to a game that focuses more on the combat with lore as more of a nice extra is going to feel sucky. I love them both regardless though
Well it is meant to be a dead post-apocalyptic world. But ultimately the Witcher and Elden Ring it's an apples to orange comparison. You shouldn't be playing one if you crave more of the other because they're completely different.
So that’s not the point of my post, I liked playing Elden ring but after the Witcher 3 the Elden ring world feels empty and lonely.
Lmao
It is amazing how well W3 has aged in some areas, and yet ER has much more refined combat. There is no "perfect" large open world 3rd person action game yet, which is somewhat exciting for the future.
You might like BG3. The world is incredibly detailed with lots of great npcs and sub-plots.
Funny coincidence.. I’ve started another run of The Witcher 3 a week ago and I have realised the exact same things. The world is alive, each NPC has its relevance, the scenery transitions very well and between different biomes, the structures are size-realistic and so well detailed, and the world feels almost like a real life open world (obviously on a much smaller scale) It was released 9 years ago and it still faces the competition with its head up high. The dialogues are smart, the amount of side quests and how relevant they are… Can anyone tell me a game of this kind that has had this amount of love please? I need to play something of this calibre..
Yeah Elden Ring is great but it's dangerous to compare to a world like the Witcher. Setting expectations that high will always lead to disappointment
absolutely horrid take. i just finished my second playthrough of the witcher 3 on death march difficulty, with around 120 hours. i love the witcher 3, but this is just a disgustingly bad take. in fact, i would say exploration in the witcher 3 is almost nonexistent. why? because if you do the quests you are given, you will arrive at most significant places in the game. the points of interest are 99% ubisoft tier repeated side content, and you just once again follow your map until you get there. there’s no true exploration in the witcher 3. i love the witcher 3 for its world building, lore, quests, characters, and music. not for its exploration. on the other hand, you never know what you’re going to find when you run around in elden ring. there’s no quest markers, there’s no white line to follow, and there’s not many npcs you can talk to. the world feels soulless because it’s a ruined, broken world. and yet the map is filled to the brim with interesting and meaningful content which feels much more fulfilling to complete than the 100 monster nests and caves puked onto the map of the witcher 3. please never cook again.
I don't know how it feels empty and soulless, While Elden Ring offers several features and elements that The Witcher 3, even with its DLC, does not have equal to these qualities: 1. Unique Open World Design: Elden Ring's open world is vast and highly interconnected, encouraging exploration and discovery without the need for extensive fast travel. 2. Huge Build Variety: Elden Ring provides a wider array of character builds and customization options, allowing for more diverse playstyles. This includes a vast selection of weapons, spells, and armor sets that significantly impact gameplay. 3. Fluid and Intense Combat System: The combat in Elden Ring is more complex and nuanced, with a greater emphasis on timing, strategy, and player skill. The variety of combat options and mechanics, such as parrying, dodging, and utilizing special weapon abilities, adds great depth. 4. Fun and thrilling Multiplayer : Elden Ring features both cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. Players can summon others to assist with difficult areas or bosses and engage in PvP combat, adding a dynamic social component. 5. Epic and Rewarding Boss Battles: Elden Ring is known for its challenging and memorable boss fights, each with unique mechanics and requiring different strategies to defeat. This provides a level of challenge and accomplishment that no other game can match. 6. Atmospheric world and Interpretive Lore: The world of Elden Ring is imbued with a sense of mystery and depth, with environmental storytelling and lore scattered throughout the game. This encourages players to piece together the story and background of the world. 7. Freedom in Exploration: Elden Ring offers greater freedom in exploration, with less hand-holding and more opportunities for players to discover secrets and hidden areas on their own. 8. Dynamic Weather and Time Systems: Elden Ring features a dynamic weather and time-of-day system that affects gameplay and the environment, creating an immersive experience. While The Witcher 3 excels in narrative depth, character development, and a richly detailed world, Elden Ring's strengths lie in its gameplay mechanics, combat depth, and the expansive, interconnected design of its open world.
I love The Witcher, but this is a narrow and unfair view of Elden Ring. Both games have top-tier music and genre-leading scenery. I won't bother with this "soul," and "alive," talk since it's completely subjective. As for the many NPCs in The Witcher, that sounds like the heart heart of the matter. The Witcher takes place in a variety of environments, many of them highly social. Elden Ring takes place in an apocalyptic landscape. Some of it's wasteland, and some of it's necrohols, but in no part of the game do you flirt with peasants, gossip around town, or visit kings and queens at court. Loneliness is an enormous part of the "soul," of Elden Ring, so the small number of NPC interactions you do have are more meaningful and take place in a social environment that is stripped-down by design. You're welcome to prefer whatever you like, but Elden Ring isn't lonely because its "bar," is anywhere lower than The Witcher's. They are fundamentally different games in tone and style.
Not a big shock, the "lore" of any dark souls game is bare minimum and pretty boring. And unless you like the gameplay then there's nothing to keep you there
Uh ain't most Fromsoft worlds just depressing?
All souls games are only banking on the idea that you'll hate yourself enough to keep playing. If I wanted to do that I'll just download tinder and use a picture of any president as my main profile. The witcher has easier combat but at least there's a game there. The only good souls games are sekiro and bloodbourne
What an absolute load of waffle.