As a mature (old) gamer, I don't have a lot of time to invest in addictive immersive RPGs anymore. But this game didn't really give me any choice in the matter. As a huge fan of DragonAge, I didn't think another sword and sorcery RPG would be able to top it but TW3 beats it handily in every phase (except possibly game controls and some aspects of the interface that made me spend too much time in the menus). The only thing I missed (and not too much) was the "companion" concept. Would have loved having Yen and Zoltan at my side for the side quests. But on every other level this game delivers an experience that is so far above any other that, upon finishing the base game last night, I've already bought and downloaded TW and TW2, and am about to try to find the books. I'm obsessed! Totally immersive, the game is so real that find myself cherishing the NPC relationships and mourning the dead. The openworld is so beautiful and interesting and so well constructed that you feel like it must be a real place on some other astral plain. The story is so good. Even the side quests are intricately plotted, unlike some other games where they are merely vehicles for acccumulating xp and loot. And I love that almost every decision I made influenced the course of the game in an entirely unpredictable way. I never knew which answer would produce what result. In short, if you enjoy RPGs, this is the game you've been waiting your whole life for.
