DA Fan gives TW3 a shot: Text Based Let's Play

Various Things I like:

Voiced Over Introduction was intriguing. Better than DAI.

Tutorial was good because it incorporated story elements and you couldn't actually die during it. That's better than Origins and DAI.

One can light fire for light sources without having to be a mage.

Wind, clouds, stars, shooting stars, weather, night/day cycle = beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Very colorful in general. 

Peasants and Guards recognize when your weapon is out and react. You can bump into people and they go "oof!' instead of the People WALLS of DA.

Mount!: The horse actually makes you go faster as compared to no increased speed mounts of DAI. I mean, it always seemed my Quiz could go just as fast walking.  On top of that! it is a self pathing horse, so you just press X and enjoy the scenery with an occasional course adjustment. Or you can take total control. Also, does not disentegrate into black dust when you walk away.  Helps immersion and as a devotee of Fast Travel in DAI, I have no urge to use it now.  Horse refuses to go over cliffs or giant gaps in a bridge. like a normal horse would. haha

I like that they put the suggested path dots on the mini map and the exclamation points are more subtle.

I can swim! and jump in a realistic way, and climb rocks!

And there are kids all round who speak (if repetitively). And farm animals in town as well as wild animals out of town. And adults are gossiping and looking like they're working on daily tasks and not just standing there. Although, we did see soldiers practicing in Haven or at Skyhold with the Soldiers Ring upgrade.

I like that when Geralt takes a trophy, I see a little cinematic where he pulls out a dagger to cut off the head.

Random Side Quests are NOT fetch quests and you get the little nod of self worth when you clear an abandoned village of it's troubles.

Meditation for healing is cooler than sleeping in a tent (or pretending that you did, as you never actually see yourself entering)

I get to kneel on the ground! I think there should be more sitting on objects in these games.

I hope they keep having this merchant following me around. He's kinda ugly and has limited personality, but I like the Bodahn-like connection.

Your actions have consequences. I've already accidentally not thought through a handful of "choices" that resulted in bad things. This is good! even if I did feel like a shit. It's interesting, because even when you think you're making the "good" choice, it turns out not entirely to be right. 

Interacting with your ward/kid in the dream sequence is neat. the only comparison I have for it is Clementine in TWD. I wish there had been more.

Things I didn't like:

As a new player, who did watch the first game and part of the second game on youtube...and still not knowing what's going on until you talk to people you don't get access to for the first 4+ hours of the game... I had to look up stuff online to figure out how I would handle a few choices. They also didn't reintroduce Witcher Neutrality very strongly. It was passing banter with the mentor. Game Import/Simulation of Choices never give you a frame of reference. I had to look outside the game for it. Prefer the DA style where it gives you a summary of the world state. I also wish they explained money a bit better? how can I haggle if I have no idea of the prices of things? Need a frame of reference.

Limited Flavor Text. It seems to be more about choosing to do or not do an action rather than expressing a personality through dialogue.

As of right now, I don't like either of the only two romance options I have. A red headed manipulative liar who took advantage of my memory loss and a raven haired Miss Mysterious who thinks I'm faking my memory loss but never tried to find me.

Dying from falling. Realism that just annoys me. Reduce my life to 1, but don't punish me for trying to control my video game character and not quite getting it right.

Horse Battle is a fail. I also don't get the horse fear thing. Geralt's horse should be made of sterner stuff.

Quests unlock access to people who can craft/repair stuff, so I'm having to fast travel back to the Starter Town to get it done right now until I advance. Also, Repairing? More realism I don't need.

Another realism I don't need is merchants with limited gold to sell to.

They do a lot right with the sky and weather, but their lightning looks pretty much like a white line drawn onto the sky. DAI has good lightning in Crest Wood.

On the Fence About:
At first, I really liked the Witcher Senses zoom and highlight better than the golden ring of Hot Cold game that is finding things in Inquisition. Makes me feel like a person is looking instead of... Weird game mechanic. But the highlighted zones you are supposed to search with this are too large. There are two points where I just stopped using the senses and just wandered around looking with my eyes. It still took a long time. However, this mechanic allows "listening" and "smelling" which are unique and fun for this whole video game experience of tracking your prey/mission. So, I'd say tweak it way before getting rid of it.

Card games inside games. So long as they are optional...

The haggling is inconsistent? Sometimes I get to haggle, sometimes I don't.

I remember someone liking the Glory Kills of TW3. I find them kind of meh. The glory kills of origins I liked was climbing the Ogre and sinking a sword in it's head. This slow down thingie where I just put my sword through a mans' chest standing on the ground (if I manage to see it through the foliage) is a bit underwhelming.