Poll: Witcher or Oblivion?

[AngryBritishAce]

I'm suprised at the turn out, I would of thought witcher would get more votes than Oblivion, with all it's bugs. Then again I never played Witcher so I don't know if it's any good. My PC is a load of crap so I'll have to wait for the console version

Well, just like most people I LOVED oblivion, it was the first RPG and XBox game I played. I saw my friend playing it and he just handed me the controller and said "play it, you'll like it." Suddenly I was in a world like no other. I did what ever I wanted for the first time in a video game, rather than going down a linear corridor.
It was amazing, that's the best I could say for the first time I played, and it still isn't enough.


EDIT: I also do not understand the thing were people say Oblivion has no plot. It may not be the best plot in the world (I do all the DLC, Guilds and Sidequests first), but I thought it made perfect sense as fantasy goes.
The three combined gifts of Akatosh, the Emperor, The Amulet of Kings and the Dragon Fires, stop the Daedric Lord Mehrunes Dagon from entering the World. The Emperor is killed, the Dragon Fires die out and the Amulet is stolen, allowing Dagon to get through. Right, a pretty good RPG Backstory, I could imagine this being in other fantasy games.
Then there's the bulk pf the story, You must find the Heir to the throne, and retrieve the Amulet, which has been stolen by a cult leader and is taken to "paradise," a realm created for the Cult by Dagon for when they die. You must build a portal in order to find the amulet and use it with the divine power of the Emperor's heir to relight the dragon fires, thus stopping the invasion. Right, I think we have a plot. But what's a plot with no quests, eh?
The quests are very varied, and, as I said, maybe not the best quests in the world, at least they are not just the same things over and over again. It has you go to a destroyed city, a temple of guardians known as the blades, plains of Oblivion (which were HORRIBLY repetitive, but at least avoidable), the cultist's lair Ruins to gather artifacts, as well as Daedric Artifacts (the daedric quests were always fun). And when you're not in a dungeon you are gathering clues to find the lair, routing out spies... ect

You may not like the Oblivion Main Quest, but saying "it has no story" is a poor excuse, making what you say pointless.

 

[RA92]

This poll is pointless. Obviously Oblivion is going to win, since it's a multiplatform game and there has yet to be a Witcher release on the consoles.

I'll go for the Witcher. I hated Oblivion when I found the sequel to the excellently strange world of Morrowind to be so... bland. The Witcher has far more character, and thank Cthulhu they removed the sex cards in TW2.

 

[SpaceBat]

Fortunately it's nowhere near Witcher 1 level of that stuff - in my playthrough for instance, there was one sex scene in the context of a relationship and another (that I didn't see) that was part of a subplot. Generally speaking sex in general feels a lot less gratuitous in Witcher 2.

That sounds pretty reasonable, actually.

Seriously. One of the many things that game did right

Couldn't agree more. One of the best games of all time if you ask me.

 

[Vrach]

Having been a HUGE Tes fan for years i was surprised to find that when i recently started playing The Witcher i actually liked it a LOT more than Oblivion. It had a far more engaging story and more rewarding gameplay and when i finished it i found that i could probably never enjoy Oblivion again, it just seems crap to me now. Sorry guys.

Alright, good to know you found something more enjoyable than something you already really enjoyed ^^

That said, I can't agree at all. The translation kills the story for me as the delivery is just awful. Not that Oblivion is great at delivery either, but at least I can listen to it straight faced without wondering to myself "why is he making that unnecessary long pause in the middle of a sentence?" or "God, that completely sounds like a just decent enough translation" every 2 minutes, it just kicks me right out of any moment, even more so than the voice change in Oblivion.

On top of that, I'm a firm believer in the way TES combat system works on the overall, I like the whole first person combat about it and how it's handled (room for improvement for sure, but the concept is by far the most enjoyable one for me). Witcher combat system makes me want to kill things, out of boredom in the first game and out of shoddy controls for the keyboard in the second (not a matter of keybindings, but programming and responsiveness, I hear using a gamepad solves the issue, but that just makes matters worse imo considering it's a fucking PC game).

Most importantly, Witcher is just way too fucking unpolished. Every single bit of it, people can shout "hardcore PC RPG" at me till the cows come home, the only thing hardcore about it is how little thought and work went into designing the game's UI, combat system etc.

So yeah, as I said... glad you're having fun, it's always awesome to find a new game that you love even more than something you adored before, but I can't even begin to agree with you, not even in a "agree to disagree" way as all I see when I look at Witcher is an unpolished mess, granted with glimmers of awesomeness all over it, but too unpolished for me to bring myself to give a shit.

 

[Trololo Punk]

I'd have to say oblivion, for the simple fact that Ive never played any witcher, but I have heard some good things about Witcher 2.

 

[StormShaun]

I cant choose they are both awesome...aghhhhh *Brain explodes*

 

[00slash00]

its hard to compare the two since the gameplay is so different. however, im big on story and the witcher had a much much better story

 

[Stall]

Oblivion is obviously going to win, simply because this site has a lot of Bethesda sycophants, despite the fact that the company is probably one of the single worst in the industry for releasing buggy, half-finished products while expecting their "fans" to finish their work for them.

Anyways, I'll have to go with The Witcher. Vanilla Oblivion is dull, lifeless, and generic fantasy in all the worst ways. It's fun for the first few hours, but just gets worse and worse as you play it, and all the layers of veneer start to chip away. The Withcer was more interesting in terms of story, thus felt more compelling. It had its faults, but Oblivion had far more.

 

[superbleeder12]

I'm no Bethesda fanboy, but I prefer Oblivion. Primarily because of the mod-ability of Bethesda developed games. I played and beat the first Witcher, and I disliked just about every minute of it. The only thing it did well in my opinion was the moral choice options you have. While Oblivion isn't any better, mods add a lot to the game, hell, there's Nehrim, a complete conversion/story done in Oblivion.

 

[Kenko]

Both are good at what they do, they can't really be judged or compared with eachother as they are way to different.

 

[Baralak]

Oblivion is obviously going to win, simply because this site has a lot of Bethesda sycophants, despite the fact that the company is probably one of the single worst in the industry for releasing buggy, half-finished products while expecting their "fans" to finish their work for them.

Anyways, I'll have to go with The Witcher. Vanilla Oblivion is dull, lifeless, and generic fantasy in all the worst ways. It's fun for the first few hours, but just gets worse and worse as you play it, and all the layers of veneer start to chip away. The Withcer was more interesting in terms of story, thus felt more compelling. It had its faults, but Oblivion had far more.

I've got a friend who simply says Bethesda doesn't release games, just a bunch of sandbox toolkits.

 

[TonyVonTonyus]

I have to go with Oblivion on this one. While the Witcher 2 had briliant graphics, an immersive story and challenging gameplay it lacked diversity. Oblivion had a wide open world (and while I'm on it a map that didn't make me want to smash things), relatively challenging gameplay and and interesting story. While the graphics weren't as good, it was made during a time where the graphics were less realistic. Oblivion has many different types of skill sets and fighting styles, more things to spend your money on and just plainly more things to do.

 

[Stall]

I've got a friend who simply says Bethesda doesn't release games, just a bunch of sandbox toolkits.

That's certainly a good way to put it, yes.

 

[The Becker]

Well Oblivion was shit so obviously The Witcher is better. But even then, it wasn't awesome. Witcher 2, though, is significantly better than either.

Oblivion was shit?... Wait what?

OT: I liked oblivion more than the witcher although i didn't beat it i couldn't really get into it, it was kinda slow starting off and i felt that the characters were not that good

 

[infohippie]

That's a really difficult question, since I love both but for different reasons. Bethesda make the best open worlds, which makes Oblivion a joy to just wander around in to see what you can stumble across.
Their quest lines (except the Dark Brotherhood and maybe the Thieves' Guild lines) are fairly drab and uninspired though, and the main quest line is pretty crappy. The NPCs in Oblivion are also mostly cardboard - again, except for the Dark Brotherhood lot.

The Witcher, on the other hand, doesn't have so much of an open world. You can move freely within the section of the world each chapter is set in, but you can't wander further. There isn't so much stuff to randomly discover, either. On the other hand, the NPCs have more individual character, and I find The Witcher to be much more atmospheric and believable. I particularly like the way magic and monsters are presented as something the common folk turn to a professional to deal with, rather than the ubiquity of magic in Oblivion. The moral choice system in The Witcher is also quite good, with the results of some decisions not becoming apparent until several chapters later so you can't just check out one option then reload to try the next one.
As a fan of Sapkowski's writing, I also like how well they've managed to portray Geralt in the same way he is in the books.

On the whole, I'd say I like The Witcher slightly better, but it can't give the sheer amount of playtime that Oblivion can.

 

[dyre]

While I want to recommend The Witcher purely because its sequel was the single best RPG made in the past five years, I cannot recommend the first in the series. The story has horrendous pacing, as in you spend 15 hours of gameplay not moving the plot in any direction, and then you punch your computer in frustration and uninstall the damn thing. The combat sucks too.

Oblivion has its fair share of flaws, but the huge amount of freedom guarantees that it won't be boring, which is more than The Witcher (1) can claim

Oblivion all the way, The Witcher was a load of tedious, immature, repetitive crap.
With horrible characters.


I managed to get half way through the city area (third part?) before uninstalling and refusing to play it ever again.

Oblivion on the other hand got me playing for hundreds of hours with endless vanilla and mod related fun.


The Witcher is honestly one of the worst RPG's I've ever played, cannot for the life of me understand the appeal.

Son, you are missing out on so much. Are you talking about the first or the second? Both have rough starts, but im guessing the first since you didnt say otherwise, but anyhow...

My reaction when I started playing The Witcher: Oh wow WHAT THE FUCK is this piece of shit game? How the fuck? Thanks for the fucking tutorial, oh shit I forgot, you didnt have one. What the fuck is this bullshit about having 3 swords with 3 different styles as well? Shit man. Fuck this game, just fuck this game.

At the end of the second chapter: Alright *****, I spent 10 hours walking around this dirty piece of shit town, following 20 quests, not sure which one of them progresses the story, and you give me a dead end? You lousy piece of shit, I should have uninstalled you when I had the chance, what a ************, fuck this game, just fuck it.

My reaction when I got past the second chapter and further into the game: BEST. GAME. EVER. WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE THIS MASTERPIECE!

I shit you not man. It really is a masterpiece. Its just that the second chapter is such a piece of shit. I have never encountered a more confusing, drab and tiring portion of a game, and I have played a lot of RPGs. But once you get past that... Dude, the story is golden. Best story telling and best story line I have encountered in a long time. Jesus I was glad that I stuck through it. I think it gets a lot of flak from a lot of people who didnt make it that far.

Damn, I almost wish I didn't uninstall if halfway through the second chapter >_>

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

That too. Reading the press (and comments!) surrounding that game makes me feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. People bill it as a complex, 'core' RPG, when it really is about as deep and challenging as Fable. Is this some kind of worldwide practical joke? Did everyone have a stroke at the same time?

Well, keep in mind that it came out major WPRG contemporaries were stuff like Fable 2, Oblivion, Mass Effect, and so on. So a game that actually requires you to plan ahead at all, has choices and consequences at all (or at least C&C that aren't killed by a morality mechanic), and actually attempts to (mostly successfully) tell a story that's more complex than good vs. evil was inevitably going to pick up a cult following. It's certainly not lol teh best rpg evar!!1!, but it's got moments of sheer brilliance and is a better RPG than lots of more polished efforts by major developers.

The thing that gets me is that I am not a PC gamer so I didn't get to try it out as a franchise so all I can be is indifferent. I've read and watched a load of reviews and perused enough discussion to get a good idea of how the game works, which despite all the bile, I actually want to try.

However, I tend to dislike PC gaming and really don't want to constantly worry about the power of my computer system. It is like Yahtzee said, it is perplexing that it didn't get a port. Hopefully it will as we discussed in another thread. I'd hate to miss out.

Thus, I can't properly weigh in though I will say that I liked Oblivion because it allowed for a more blank slate approach. I got to write my own story and explore a world. I was very fond of the detail in the dungeons and wilderness, especially the easter eggs.

 

[Kahunaburger]

The thing that gets me is that I am not a PC gamer so I didn't get to try it out as a franchise so all I can be is indifferent. I've read and watched a load of reviews and perused enough discussion to get a good idea of how the game works, which despite all the bile, I actually want to try.

However, I tend to dislike PC gaming and really don't want to constantly worry about the power of my computer system. It is like Yahtzee said, it is perplexing that it didn't get a port. Hopefully it will as we discussed in another thread. I'd hate to miss out.

Thus, I can't properly weigh in though I will say that I liked Oblivion because it allowed for a more blank slate approach. I got to write my own story and explore a world. I was very fond of the detail in the dungeons and wilderness, especially the easter eggs.

Apparently they were trying to port Witcher 1 but it failed for some reason, and a Witcher 2 port is theoretically on the way but is mired in legal troubles. But yeah, I agree with you that it's strange that there's no console port, especially because Witcher games really lend themselves to consoles a lot more than, say, something like Dragon Age: Origins, and even that game got a port.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

The thing that gets me is that I am not a PC gamer so I didn't get to try it out as a franchise so all I can be is indifferent. I've read and watched a load of reviews and perused enough discussion to get a good idea of how the game works, which despite all the bile, I actually want to try.

However, I tend to dislike PC gaming and really don't want to constantly worry about the power of my computer system. It is like Yahtzee said, it is perplexing that it didn't get a port. Hopefully it will as we discussed in another thread. I'd hate to miss out.

Thus, I can't properly weigh in though I will say that I liked Oblivion because it allowed for a more blank slate approach. I got to write my own story and explore a world. I was very fond of the detail in the dungeons and wilderness, especially the easter eggs.

Apparently they were trying to port Witcher 1 but it failed for some reason, and a Witcher 2 port is theoretically on the way but is mired in legal troubles. But yeah, I agree with you that it's strange that there's no console port, especially because Witcher games really lend themselves to consoles a lot more than, say, something like Dragon Age: Origins, and even that game got a port.

I will say this, I envy the shit out the PC gaming Modding community for the simple things, like the dragon mage mod for Dragon Age Origins...