[Isinlor]

I like simulation-like open world games, but Witcher 3 was one of the very few games with a good story. To be honest I think the only one that I cared about. Especially the bloody baron questline was amazing storytelling. Heart of Stone was also great story based on Polish ballad Mr. Twardowski.

Cyberpunk is unfortunately nowhere near as good in terms of the story as the Witcher.

[gambiting]

Hard disagree, cyberpunk had a fantastic story, compared to the witcher 3 that I've tried to finish about 4 separate times and failed every time - the side quests are fantastic, the main quest is just unbelievably dragged out and boring.

Everyone mentions the blood baron quest - and yes, it was great, outstanding even. I've never seen anyone mention anything after that point - it's just a mess of narrative that gets in the way of some other great content in that game.

Cyberpunk has great main quest and memorable side stories.

[Isinlor]

I played the Witcher 3 twice trough leaving a small bit of the second expansion unfinished just because I don't want this game to end.

I lost interest in Cyberpunk quite early. To me Cyberpunk is too American with overdone themes. Although the Cyberpunk anime is great. Simple story, but has really well put together characters and delivers emotional punch. I will have to try to get back to the game. Maybe on second try it will be better.

[bsder]

The Cyberpunk anime got the fact that the environment was a character while the video game didn't.

A tremendously important point in the Cyberpunk anime was the fact that their world was really horrific to live in. You could live semi-miserably and go out in an untimely fashion--possibly even in a blaze of glory--or you live completely miserably and could go out in an untimely fashion with a whimper. Living well and pleasantly was really never on the table.

Whereas, Cyberpunk the video game is the standard, kinda-generic power fantasy. You never really feel "oppressed" by the overall system as you're kind of outside it.

[smoldesu]

Frankly, I think they're both bad. CDPR gets a lot of stuff right, but their self-insistence on their world and storytelling is only rivaled by Final Fantasy. Cyberpunk's main quest feels like Fallout 4 with a fake veneer of moral ambiguity, and the sidequests are either penis-based or another car who wants to lecture me on their philosophy of the week. Almost every single mission in that game had me cringing, to the point that I'd mute the dialogue and still wince as I read the subtitles. It's... pure suck. As for my review of the gameplay... it's just Borderlands again. I can't be fooled like this, sorry.

The Witcher 3 is weird, relative to Cyberpunk. I haven't finished it, but it's writing is a lot more grounded and less... bad. The gameplay feels clunky, though, and the pacing is completely fucked (cutscene -> fetch quest -> cutscene -> fight -> GOTO 0;). Neither of these games really deserve commendations for the way they handled questing, and even the most heralded RPG interactions like Dark Souls and New Vegas leave plenty of room for improvement.

[Aeolun]

> memorable side stories

I struggle to remember any aside from the cowboy detective (because he was so unimaginably annoying) and the magic taxi.

Magix taxi was fun, but the ending was fairly unsatisfying.

[gambiting]

I've played the game a year ago and I still remember:

- the story where a guy agrees to be crucified on live TV

- the whole detective sidequest - it's a shame you only remember him being annoying, the entire story about family, about finding your relative, about solving a horrendous crime mystery - absolute masterpiece.

- the whole Panam sidequest - she grew from someone I didn't care about to being a close companion. And the quest where her and the rest of the aldecaldos go to steal the neural-link driven tank is just epic. Also her relationship with the aldecaldos.

- whole Judy storyline, where she comes to gripes with the death of her close friend and how the system doesn't care about any of them. The moment when you sit with her at the edge of a poisoned lake and talk about life will always be in my memory.

- the side quest with destroying the prostitution gang owners so that the women could basically get revenge and run it themselves - 10/10 for some moral choices.

- the entire Rogue + Johnny content that wasn't necessary for the main mission. Damn that character goes through a redemption arc like no other.

- the AI taxi quest was actually stupid and it felt like an excuse to make some out of universe jokes(with one taxi being voiced by Glados from Portal if I remember correctly). But I mean....meh. The final choice was cool.

All of the above adds to the fact that at the end of the game you actually care about the characters that surround you and you want to see them there with you. I've gone back and played through every possible ending(other than the secret one because it's so bloody hard) just to see what happens. And in the endings where you don't contact Pam or Judy...man it's actually heartbreaking. Like it makes you feel like shit. None of this would happen if their sidequests weren't actually good.