Let me make this perfectly clear before we begin. This is not flamebait, nor should it be taken as such. I'm a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series, but we have to have this talk now.
Skyrim is hard pressed to beat Witcher 2.
Obviously I cannot make full judgments before playing Skyrim, but after only a few hours of playing The Witcher 2...let's just say my expectations went way up. The witcher 2 has something that I don't think A Bethesda game can have...a good story. Honestly...let's look at what Bethesda has put out before...and it's easy to see that story-making isn't one of their strengths. I would say that Bethesda games are great, not because the stories are great, but because of how the players tell their own stories. Every game seems to place you in the shoes of whomever you want, no matter what.
But this "dragonborn" thing worries me. Sure...in the past players were slightly defined by the game...(Lone wanderer from Fallout 3, Nerevine from Morrowind) But they were never too intrusive. Now...we're the dragonborn. We are THE CHOSEN ONES to kill dragons and learn their player unique DRAGON SHOUTS. Do you get where I'm going with this? AND...with attributes game (Perks are NOT a reasonable replacement, sorry) player uniqueness lessens to a deeper level.
But why am I mentioning this in concern to The Witcher? In that game you play a specific character, no uniqueness to be seen whatsoever...Yet it's such a defining aspect of a TES game...It's a thing that needs to be mentioned.
Another thing unique to TES is the amazing landscapes...every game seems to up the expectations 1000% from the last, and for good reason too. This will be a hard thing to judge, as It's linear VS open world, but from what I've seen so far in the witcher...SKYRIM's already beat. Don't believe me? PLAY THAT GAME. It's photorealistic.
I dunno. People rag on the witcher and I just don't see why. The story's amazing, deep characters that suprise you...amazing world to see, cinematic experiences that make Call of Duty run in shame...It's gonna be hard to remove this game from my number one spot on 2011's RPG list. I'm not sure if Skyrim has what it takes. I guess we'll see.
And by the way, If makes me bite my words I'll shed tears of joy. If it's half as amazing as the witcher, It'll be worth my time.

Skyrim!!!

Skyrimmmm skyrimmm fgdkhjhjskjb

Skkkyyyrriiimmmm

This is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcNI4SfSBAY

I haven't played the Witcher 2 yet, but Skyrim definitely wins in the open character design regardless of if being the dragonborn "lessening the uniqueness". So I don't see the argument there.

And yes, TW2 has better graphics. That's not really a make/break thing though. If Skyrim has a better world design, then graphics mean next to nothing.

As soon as I saw the gametrailers review for The Witcher 2 (previously I hadn't even heard of it), and it recieved a glowing review at that, I wondered if this would be a good warm-up/time eater until Skyrim. You opening a thread about it has convinced me that The Witcher 2 is worth a go at least. I'm not sure if your opening statement about flamebait will take hold but I hope so.

I share your concerns about the whole dragonborn thing. In Oblivion the story revolved around Martin, with the unknown player-character being svcked into the storyline. Now, the player-character is Dovahkiin, and the story pretty much revolves around them. Coupled with dragonshouts, the Elder Scrolls series is heading down a dangerous road of dictating who the player-character is.

I also agree that Bethesda aren't great at storytelling. For me though, that isn't important. I can get hundreds of hours out of an open-world RPG, even if the story svcks... but average about 30 hours from a linear RPG with a great storyline.

I haven't played the Witcher 2, but from what i've heard, the gameworld isn't open like an Elder Scrolls game. Sure it may look stunning and may create the illusion of being able to explore (like Fable), but if it's not fully open then that's a serious negative in my opinion.

Well there goes sleeping.

I haven't played Witcher 2, so I dunno. All I know is Skyrim is gon b gud

The core of Skrim is open world sandbox game, while TW2 is more story driven so its hard to compare it,
but im pretty sure Skrim will be worse in writing/voice acting departement (it was bad in oblivion, and it still haunts in fallout3)
Im now playing TW2 and really dialogs crack me up sometimes, also some quests have really suprising outcomes

Highly true. The mountainscapes in the witcher 2 are so amazing...I get frustrated that they aren't explorable. I can enjoy the hell out of both types of games however. Sometimes all you need is a quick glance at the side of a huge valley in between highly satisfting dragon encounters.

Pointless arguement; Characters will be more unique than Morrowind or Oblivion thanks to Perk Trees and the 50 perk cap.

Skyrim will outsell Witcher 2 by a lot, it's a multi-platform game.

Also Skyrim and any elderscroll game offer a sandbox environment which you control, you can go anywhere do anything you please.
You can make your own story and character, it doesn't matter if you're dragon born or not.

I have wticher 2 and yes it is really great looking, but there is more to a game than that.

The story is great too, but the ending svcks according to most reviewers, I haven't reached it.

Also it is a linear game with limited play through and play time.

Even though the graphics is cleaner and more detailed in Witcher 2, I actually feel by looking at screen shots and videos of Skyrim that it has more realistic nature look.
It really does capture the "nordic" environment.

Not to mention the exploration you can do in Skyrim, 120 + dungeons to play through, magic, weapons, armors, everything is so much more in Skyrim.

You can make your character into almost anything in combat, a magic master or sword master or a combo etc.

Both games are RPG, but that is where it ends.

For me I will put it this way:

Witcher 2 is a game I really wanted, Skyrim is a game I HAVE to have.

I haven't longed for a Witcher 2 as I have longed for another Elderscroll game.

There are two things that annoy me about this thread.

1: you're asking it on a Skyrim centric forum... what do you think people are going to say?

2: How do you expect us to compare these two games when one of them hasn't even been released?

Keep in mind that all the marketing is done on Xbox 360, the weakest of consoles, we have absolutely no idea what potential it has on a high-end pc.

Secondly, perks not being a good substitute to attributes is your opinion, not hard fact. If you think about it, it allows for a much more deep and unique combat/interaction experience.
Bethesda is simply stepping away from the first formula of RPG, a formula that works, isn't broken in any way, but why would no other formula work?

However, I haven't played The Witcher 2 yet, it does look amazing from what I've seen. But it does have its gripes, from the reviews and gameplay I've seen the dialogue and facial animations can look a bit stiff.

IMO the very few gripes The Witcher 2 has, mainly stiff facial animation and character animations during dialogue, have been addressed for Skyrim.

Do I think The Witcher 2 is the best game of the year so far? Definitely!

Do I think that Skyrim will steal the show? Maybe, it certainly has the potential, no one can deny that.

*Scrolls past OP content*

Skyrim Wins.

The Linear story for both neverwinter nights games were to me more in depth and better than Morowinds or Oblivion's both were released within the same year too, but in every other aspect TES was easily better. So the Skyrim's main story might not have the depth of The Witcher 2( yet to be seen) but if that is the case there a countless other aspects about any Elderscrolls game so the main storyline is not what they put the most effort into. I mean the fact that you can simply not even do the main quest if you don't want to is a testament to that. As far as Graphics well all we have seen so far is a dozen screens and a brief trailer all on the 360. Even then they still look great, but the only footage of any length was the fight with the dragon and even then it was still brief clips. Only when there is detailed footage of walking around and exploring and seeing the textures and lighting can it be judge and even then it still can never be judge graphically compared to the Witcher until we see some some confirmed PC footage which most likely will not happen until the game comes out.

TW2 apparently has a better story than previous Bethesda titles. And that IS make/break.

Although I've never played either game, the trailers of TW2 AND TW make the combat look WAY better than Oblivion's ever did, and TW2 has a greater variety of weapons and does close quarters combat better than previous TES games have done. so that's working in it's favor. It can't be denied, it's going to be a tough battle for Skyrim to fight.

1: So far it's been a good discussion.
2: I admitted to that. predictions...my dear boy...predictions.

Not quite. Perks just say small things your character can do...Attributes DEFINE that character.

Realy? Last I recall TES games had a huge open world and a large number of sidequests so that to many players the main quest seems irreblevant anyway, so I can't see the game being a failure if it's story is not as good as TW2s.

OK, I've been playing The Witcher 2 over the last week, so I'm speaking from a bit of knowledge. Here's my plusses and minuses

PLUS

1. Engaging and involving main quest story
2. Well integrated side quests
3. The graphics look amazing on a decent PC
4. The combat feels visceral and intuitive
5. Interesting approach to alchemy, potions etc


MINUSES

1. Fixed third person view with no zoom or first person
2. Linear story
3. Absolutely no element of 'open world' or free exploration
4. No choice over player character - you have to play the (male) Witcher
5. Some of the voice acting is clunky to say the least.

On the one hand I'm totally loving the game, enjoying the experience and finding it a worthwhile purchase. But it has no replayability and - for me - is simply a way to pass the time until Skyrim, which I expect to be much better and long lasting in many, many ways.

To sum up: Is worth buying? Yes. Is it better than Skyrim? I seriously doubt it.

HTH :thumbsup:

This new system allows more replayability and unique characters. The 16 or so Attribute effects are still in, while PERKS do more than "+3 dmg" .

What attribute lets your axe cause bleeding or your zoom slow down time? I'm sorry but those effects are just alot more Dynamic than "zomg +3 carry space"

Ok story might be a dealbreaker for you, but definitely not for everyone. Just make a poll here on the forums about how many people have clocked in hundreds of hours of gameplay in their saves ignoring the main quest in Oblivion.
However story svcking is just an opinion. I thought the Oblivion plot was good, some people think it's crap, and some people think it's amazing. Although a lot of people think the maturity in the game is very well implemented with the world of The Witcher, I'm ready to bet that there are going to be complaints about gratuitous nudity, and gore.

And The Witcher is a 3rd person with action focused combat. Skyrim is taking strides in the same direction, but also giving you the choice to have a Bioshock inspired 1st person combat experience.

The same thing was said about Dragon Age 2...

well to be fair, DAII was a horrid game while TW2 is actually good.

Ultimately games like the Witcher or Dragon Age or Mass Effect are generally built in a fairly linear fashion, TES is completely open world in sandbox. What it looses in story and NPC interaction it makes for in sheer gameplay freedom.

Its not really worth the comparison