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Big scale RPG's (oh Gosh, incredible!) - which are better than Skyrim?

927 views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  dman811 
#1 ·
Hello.

I have this question:

a. Skyrim.
b. Dragon Age.
c. Witcher.

We have these games... which are more greater by rating, ladder?

Many thanks!
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P.S. MULE! MULE!
 
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#6 ·
They are all different types of games, different types of RPGs. I'll clarify now that I have 750 hours in Skyrim, around 50 hours in Oblivion and 30 in Morrowind (I know, barely anything), I played a little over 40 hours of The Witcher before the SSD it was installed on crapped out causing me to lose my saves, I beat The Witcher 2 twice going down each of the two paths, I beat Dragon Age: Origins 4 times as 4 different characters, I beat Dragon Age 2 twice (sided with mages both times though), I beat Dragon Age: Inquisition once (a 150 hour playthrough). I will start playing The Witcher 3 in a few days.

The Witcher games and Dragon Age cross paths more than either of them do with Skyrim. Both have role-playing within a story, a choice-consequence narrative design. Dragon Age far exceeds The Witcher in this regard purely in terms of role-playing; Dragon Age has far more choices, far more consequences, and the results of your choices have more than one impact (unforeseen consequences, chain reactions, more than just 2 outcomes for every major quest).

Remember how I said I played "the two paths" in The Witcher 2? Dragon Age: Origins and Inquisition have far more than just two paths; the plot and character development can change completely depending on your actions, to a much greater extent than the first two Witcher games. Save game importing between the first two Witcher games is also extremely insignificant, changing only two minor scenes (a brief dialogue option and one insignificant encounter). Plus, you're stuck as playing a predefined character in The Witcher which inherently limits its role playing (he is far more defined at the start than say, Commander Shepard, who is a clean slate since the game lets you choose his background). While The Witcher games have much less role-playing, the writing quality is at least slightly better. Skyrim doesn't really have this kind of role-playing at all, neither do the other Elder Scrolls games.

Skyrim, like its predecessors, is more about freeplay. You can role-play as any type of character pretty much; a petty roadside bandit, a family man, a scholar, etc. You can join different factions, going down different major quest lines. But it doesn't have much of a story. It has the most freedom by far, it's the only true open world game between it, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and The Witcher 3.

In terms of gameplay mechanics, combat, and statistics, The Witcher games again provide the least. There is only one "class" or playstyle (sword + 5 or 6 spells), and the second game has some of the most simplified hack and slash combat. Leveling up is rather insignificant in the first two The Witcher games since there are very few stats, only a basic persuasion skill and not many new combat abilities.

Skyrim on the other hand has many different skills and over 20 different playstyles. It has the most variety, while Dragon Age is the most tactical. The three Dragon Age games (especially the first and third) have pause-and-play tactical combat, in which you utilize a party of four characters. You can take control of each character or just issue commands, and in Origins you can program their AI to respond specifically to different combat scenarios. Dragon Age has a few playstyles under three basic classes; Warrior, Rogue, Mage. Each one has specializations that can almost be compared to prestige classes in D&D (but a lot more simple).

The first two Witcher games are extremely linear, 3 is open world to some degree (might be region locked, I'm not sure). Dragon Age: Origins is hub-based like the D&D classics, Dragon Age 2 takes place within a small city and doesn't really branch out much, Inquisition is like Origins times fifty in terms of scale; still hub-based but the non-hub maps are gigantic (more than a few are the size of entire open world games).

TL:DR: They are different kinds of RPGs. Skyrim is not story focused like the other two, it's a freeplay RPG and the only true open world one. Dragon Age and The Witcher are both story focused yet The Witcher remains an action RPG unlike Dragon Age, and The Witcher has significantly less role playing but slightly better writing quality in comparison.
 
#8 ·
B
A
C

If you want ratings between those three, that would be my rating. I highly suggest you playthrough the Dragon Age series. Starting with Dragon Age:Origins. You will not be disappointed.
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Originally Posted by choptt View Post

P.S. Are you a real Arnold Schw.?
He is.
 
#9 ·
IMO Skyrim is great despite the cheesy story and hand holding (I've put 100+ hours in it) but I personally enjoyed Morrowind and Fallout: New Vegas much more (I haven't played Dragon Age or The Witcher yet).

PS: Mass Effect is great as well.
 
#11 ·
Skyrim is great if you want a free play experience. Story is extremely weak, in my opinion. But it's a fantastic world to adventure in and lose track of time. In this area it outshines just about everything. Since the beginning of the elder scrolls series, at least the ones that I have played, the story starts out the same; you are in jail awaiting execution. I have been playing elder scrolls games since the second one titled "dagger fall". But I'll be hard pressed to find a better game to just sit down and aimlessly wander through a world having a great time while doing so.

Dragon age is the closest to dungeons and dragons of the three. I absolutely loved the first Dragon age, didn't much care for the second one, and have not played the third yet. Bioware does know how to make great rpgs though.
The witcher was based of a best selling fantasy book series, and has great atmosphere and story. The witcher series was more geared towards an adult audience in terms of content and writing.combat in the witcher is definitely the most action based of the three, to me.
In terms of which is the best is based on what you want to do.
 
#12 ·
People gawk at me for this, but B A C is the order I'd go in. I like the overall play style of Dragon Age the most (especially Inquisition), Skyrim second, and the fact that I'm just flat out bad at The Witcher (and that I always forget to save) makes that come in third. I am also a person who can't play most RPGs with a keyboard and mouse, and out of the three, I'd say DA:I was the best with a controller, and Skyrim was surprisingly one that I could not play with a controller. The Witcher controller support is good, I just don't like the overall mapping of the buttons.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by dman811 View Post

People gawk at me for this, but B A C is the order I'd go in. I like the overall play style of Dragon Age the most (especially Inquisition), Skyrim second, and the fact that I'm just flat out bad at The Witcher (and that I always forget to save) makes that come in third. I am also a person who can't play most RPGs with a keyboard and mouse, and out of the three, I'd say DA:I was the best with a controller, and Skyrim was surprisingly one that I could not play with a controller. The Witcher controller support is good, I just don't like the overall mapping of the buttons.
There's nothing to gawk at. Dragon Age (Origins and Inquisition) has the most tactical gameplay of the three franchises, and the second most versatile (first being The Elder Scrolls). The Witcher 2 and 3 just have hack and slash gameplay which is too simple and repetitive for me.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by boredgunner View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by dman811 View Post

People gawk at me for this, but B A C is the order I'd go in. I like the overall play style of Dragon Age the most (especially Inquisition), Skyrim second, and the fact that I'm just flat out bad at The Witcher (and that I always forget to save) makes that come in third. I am also a person who can't play most RPGs with a keyboard and mouse, and out of the three, I'd say DA:I was the best with a controller, and Skyrim was surprisingly one that I could not play with a controller. The Witcher controller support is good, I just don't like the overall mapping of the buttons.
There's nothing to gawk at. Dragon Age (Origins and Inquisition) has the most tactical gameplay of the three franchises, and the second most versatile (first being The Elder Scrolls). The Witcher 2 and 3 just have hack and slash gameplay which is too simple and repetitive for me.
That's why I bounced off Witcher 2 more than once.

I didn't like DA:I combat much either... but that's because my standards were high, as I was used to ME3 MP at the time. Coming from Oblivion, my combat expectations in Skyrim were MUCH lower
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#15 ·
C
A
B

Witcher 3 alone makes C better than B for me, fantasically fleshed out characters, a huge world. And your choices have some hefty, game altering decisions to make.
Skyrim is a unique beast, the game is more or less "choose your own adventure" and mods make the game. Vanilla Skyrim is pretty bad.
DA just felt like a Witcher series with a deeper emphasis on characters but much weaker mechanics in general.Not that it's bad. I had a tough time decideding between A and B for 2nd place.
 
#16 ·
I played Skyrim somewhere around 100-150 hours, I'm coming close to 150 on DA:I without even getting to The Descent.
 
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