Just another console action game with RPG elements. Quite good, but not a masterpiece.

I took a break from the Witcher 3 and went back to play the original Mass Effect from scratch (I played it waaay back when it first came out on the Xbox 360). It is quite enjoyable to play through again, and I forgot quite a lot of the game elements and story. I plan to use the save game to go through ME 2 again too.

The good thing about Witcher 3 is I can probably do the same thing years from now, and have a reasonably fresh experience like I am with ME.

I agree with the person several posts up, I have never seen a game that is so picturesque that I frequently stopped and thought the frame looked like a painting! Art direction of W3 is fantastic.

Wow, it must take a supernova being farted out by a cow that simultaneously gives birth to a woman with fifteen breasts and sex appeal of a billion vixens to impress you! Then again, I doubt even that would do it ....

No.
But for openworld game with good writing with nice scenario and character handling, isn't the only parts that matters.
Mechanics of game also important. And here we got oversimplified approach like chemistry mechanism (which is convinient for player in certain occaisions, but still). And we have crude inconvinient UI and HUD, which made for TV sets and consoles and not for PC players.

With all that - It's good detailed game with flaws in mechanics and gameplay, so i can't call it "masterpiece".

Indeed.
I would've never thought that acting like that wouldn't be that good for her. Gosh, that very last scene...

Man I need to play System Shock 1, now I'm curious about that game.

The Witcher 3 has also become the best game I've ever played. I'm still enjoying it to be honest. The things is: you can see the amount of passion and work in just about everything about this game. There are times I feel amazed like a child when I'm playing it and I completely forget about the external world and allow myself to just get lost in Novigrad, Skellige, Velen...
Losing myself in a game universe hasn't been very usual in the last years, with the exception maybe of 2 or 3 games. Many games just bores me to death these days. Not TW3.
Really: this is a great game, a great EXPERIENCE, whoever says otherwise knows nothing about games, objectively speaking.

I can only imagine how Cyberpunk 2077 will be.

Point me to an RPG game that's better OVERALL than Witcher 3. There isn't one. No doubt you can find a game that's better gameplay-wise or mechanics-wise but you won't find a better story, choices and consequences and characters anywhere. Yeah there's occasional hiccup in the writing, some dialogue line out of place, some inconsistent tone in the conversation but the game FEELS light years ahead in terms of storytelling.
What else you got in the RPG genre now ? Fallout 4 ? Skyrim ? Don't make me laugh. I heard Dragon Age was pretty good but I haven't played it myself so I can't really say.
You can't have it all. At least not yet. Every improvement costs additional development time. That pushes the release away. At some point you have to say: OK, this is it. If you do it too early - the game feels rushed and incomplete. Too late - the game might be already dated on release or people have lost interest in it because they waited too long. You have to strike balance between what you can put in the game and what needs to be cut. The combat system was supposed to be much more in-depth, but that was scrapped due to lack of time (some sort of monster weak spot system, presumably inspired by the one from Metal Gear Rising: Revengance). There were supposed to be many more monsters. The world was supposed to be a single zone. I'm not a fan of the alchemy system either, but that's hardly a big deal.
In the end I think they did the right thing. The game ain't perfect - but it's still the best game I've ever played.
Why do I think that ? I rarely finish games. I play usually around 50-75% of a game during a week or 2 and get distracted by something (another game, life, work, w/e). I hardly ever come back to finish them. I played TW3 for a month straight. Start to finish. That was 3 months ago. I'm already playing it again. Even if I can't put my finger on it - something is different about this one. Must have done something right.

I know that all already. I know how project management works. I'm not comparing W3 with other games.
Your phrase " The game ain't perfect " - that exactly what i said in my post.
Can't call a work that "ain't perfect" a masterpiece, but overall - yes, one of the best game i ever played.

I liked both Sunless Sea and Pillars of Eternity more than Witcher 3, overall. Yes, even in terms of writing and characters. Remember, your opinion is relative ;-) Witcher 3 is easy to approach, it's simple - in writing, in combat mechanics, in investigation mechanics. And that's fine, it appeals to majority and I enjoyed it greatly myself, we need games like that. But an "RPG game that's better overall"? That would be a very long discussion with no actual result.

Pillars of Eternity, Age of Decadence, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Underrail...

My first RPG was Ultima 7. Thus, I go back in time. I loved all three chapters of Dragon Age. Greatly enjoyed Baldur's Gate etc. I am pretty easy about games. They do not have to be perfect. Heck I even liked Kingdoms of Amalur. Let me say I am no critic. I have played all three Witcher games. The first game at completion in my opinion was one of the best RPG's I had played up until that time. Yet, Witcher 3 is in a class by itself. Frankly, I thought the game was never going to end? lol I liked the game so much I went out and purchased a second copy on the PS4. If RPG's aren't your genre' of choice buy something else because the game is really looooooooooooooooooong. Witcher 3 is the best RPG of all time. There have certainly been other great titles, but Witcher 3 won't be topped for sometime. The game is pure excellence. I clearly understand why in most polls it was rated the game of the year. A title well deserved.

From Wikipiedia Case and point.