The Witcher 3 is easily a contender for GOAT in my book. Everything from the acting, music, graphics, fight mechanics, story, and accessibility were simply top notch. The acting is fantastic in its quality and the vast amount of spoken dialogue. The spoken dialogue definitely helps to bring characters to life especially when coupled with quality voice actors. What really surprised me was how even the characters you meet only once in some random quest by the side of the road have all their lines voiced. Background music is rarely something I notice in a game but the score was overall fantastic with a couple pieces that I had to stop and listen to just because it fit the scene and characters so perfectly and really helped to add to the overall impact. Fight mechanics had the right amount of depth to avoid being a hack and slash while not making it so in depth that you had to read a thesis to understand how to properly set up your character. Nothing wrong with the latter in games where the sole focus is on the combat however. Outside of fighting, things such as jumping, swimming, and horse riding were the only source of frustration I had with this game. At times they simply felt broken as Geralt struggled to get on a boat, turn around underwater, or step over a small fence. In Roach's case, she struggled with ANY movement that doesn't involve staying on the worn path. The story develops at a good pace with plenty of interesting characters and twists along the journey. Every quest has a purpose, and an interesting story to go along with it. No grinding 30 kobolds for broadsword. Instead quests are more focused on exploring and detective work and the combat develops naturally and feels more relevant as you progress instead of a simple grind. I can't recommend The Witcher 3 enough. My friend stopped playing because he didn't like that the trees constantly look like they are in a hurricane. To each his own.
