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[GooseMan69]

Both came out in 2015. In fact, MGS V came out shortly after I finally finished TW3. They couldn’t be more different obviously. Stealth action vs fantasy RPG. The interesting part is their strengths and weaknesses are essentially opposite of each other. Which game you prefer says so much about what you value in a game. Not good or bad either way.

The reason I thought of this is because I was replaying TW3 with the next gen patch. I got a huge wave of nostalgia because of the impeccable soundtrack, atmosphere, and characters. But holy shit the controls are FUCKED (no, the alternate movement setting is not good). Basic traversal in this game is an absolute jank fest. Geralt simultaneously feels weightless but also unresponsive. It’s like Rockstar game responsiveness without the amazing animation quality. Geralt randomly gets hung up on terrain constantly. Then he’ll randomly decide to do a somersault while walking down stairs for some reason? It also has this dumb thing where the game decides when you switch from exploration mode to combat mode. This results in you getting hit because you’re standing there like a fucking idiot instead of blocking or dodging because the game hasn’t put you in combat mode yet. Oh, and if you wanna jump over a fence or ANYTHING while fighting something? Get fucked. And the horse controls? We all know about that. It just feels ridiculous for this badass Witcher who slays monsters for a living to move like a spastic idiot.

Anyway, I finally had enough of the jank. Not even the fucking INCREDIBLE ambience of Skellige could keep me going. I thought to myself “what’s the exact opposite of this from a control and animation standpoint?” It hit me immediately. MGS V. I loaded it up. Take control of Snake for the first time. Holy. Shit. I felt like an MS patient making a miracle recovery and regaining full control of my limbs. I can actually fucking move! Sprint, crouch, dive, jump, roll, etc. EVERYTHING in this game looks and feels awesome. The horse controls feel great. You can call your horse while in a dead sprint and mount it in one fluid motion. It felt so great coming off TW3.

MGS V, however, has an undercooked story that takes a backseat ( feels crazy to say that about a Kojima game). It has a dead open world with no active towns or settlements what so ever, and basically nothing to do except fuck with enemy camps. This is in sharp contrast to The Witcher’s super vibrant open world and story. But you know what? There’s no way I can consider Witcher 3 a better game when the gap between the basic act of moving your character is so vast between the two games.

Idk, this turned into a whole ass rant. What do you guys think of these two games?

 

[Rubim]

Weird comparision.

 

[adamsapple]

Idk, this turned into a whole ass rant. What do you guys think of these two games

For its half-baked narrative, MGSV was an absolute blast to play. Some of the best open-world game pay with a focus on stealth.

Witcher 3 is just plain legendary tho.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Is comparing apples to oranges really that fascinating?

 

[gela94]

Kojima should get together with cd projekt to create a game

 

[Beer Baelly]

Fuck mgs5

 

[March Climber]

Is comparing apples to oranges really that fascinating?

OP is mainly saying it's odd for two games to come out within the same year where one feels like it perfected third person controls and third person movement, while the other feels like it regressed in regards to both.

Even if you were to compare Witcher 3 to other third person games around the time and how they controlled, it is still on the lower end of quality.

 

[Meicyn]

I also tried to play the remaster and I couldn’t stand it. I don’t know how I tolerated it the first time through.

 

[The Cockatrice]

MGS5 has amazing stealth mechanics but everything else is just utter shit. If it at least had a decent atmosphere like the fucking map they teased with a nice ass base ground zero instead of giving us a wasteland of rocks then I wuld've loved it more, but that along side the dog shit narrative, eh. Ill take jank any day with amazing story, atmosphere, etc.

 

[Roufianos]

Witcher 3 basically arrived at the end of the period where we just accepted that RPGs would be shit to play. If anything, its combat was actually a lot better than e.g Skyrim for me.

MGSV plays well but, as you say, its open world is literally an empty desert. My most disappointing game of all time.

 

[Sweatlord2000]

I never disliked the movement in Witcher 3 that much.

 

[Drizzlehell]

It's a mildly peculiar comparison at best.

Also, were you playing the game with your feet? I don't remember TW3 ever being difficult to control aside from the occasional horse shenanigans where he would get stuck on a bush or go in a direction that I didn't want him to. I remember the combat roll down the stairs too but that's more like a rare glitch than the norm, and it never really affected the gameplay or caused me to fall off of somewhere, so it wasn't a big deal.

I literally played the game for hundreds of hours and if any of those problems you mentioned occurred, then it was more like a rare oddity rather than norm and it would happen maybe a couple of times during a 100+ hour playthrough. You're blowing this way out of proportion, OP.

MGS5 also has its share of odd movement glitches, particularly involving the climbing mechanics or the odd physics fuck ups when you try to get over some rough terrain. Vehicles are also pretty fucked too if you drive over anything that's not a smooth surface. But again, these are exceptions not the rule.

 

[Denton]

Had zero issues with controlling Geralt or Snake, and enjoyed both games immensely. Witcher 3 is better overall though.

 

[Kakax11]

Nope, MGSV is unfinished crap

Witcher 3 is a generational leap in open world RPGs

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Anyway, I finally had enough of the jank. Not even the fucking INCREDIBLE ambience of Skellige could keep me going. I thought to myself “what’s the exact opposite of this from a control and animation standpoint?”

I'm sorry you decided to give up on the best RPG of last generation because Geralt is moving in a funny way. You understand it is an RPG, not Nier Automata?

 

[TheRedRiders]

Yes you're right, despite its flaws I really enjoyed MSGV, I'm missing the homie P-QUOD already, R.I.P

 

[March Climber]

You understand it is an RPG, not Nier Automata?

 

[Gojiira]

Well you’re not wrong OP, but unfortunately I’ll never consider MGSV a good game, ever. MGS is my favourite franchise ever but V is a absolute dogshit experience. Gameplay is fantastic sure, controls are great, stealth is great but nothing is fully realised like the plot, mechanics, story, theres way to many references to cut content and like you say dead open world.
Meanwhile TW3 was jank yes but immensely satisfying to play through, great story and characters, great side quests and secrets. Jank is irrelevant tbh.
Thanks for reminding me MGS is dead though, even Delta is looking underwhelming..

 

[GooseMan69]

I'm sorry you decided to give up on the best RPG of last generation because Geralt is moving in a funny way. You understand it is an RPG, not Nier Automata?

I didn’t give up on it. I had previously finished it, DLC included. It’s a great game. BUT on this current replay I dropped it in favor of a game that actually feels good to control your character in.

 

[The artful mincer]

Both came out in 2015. In fact, MGS V came out shortly after I finally finished TW3. They couldn’t be more different obviously. Stealth action vs fantasy RPG. The interesting part is their strengths and weaknesses are essentially opposite of each other. Which game you prefer says so much about what you value in a game. Not good or bad either way.

The reason I thought of this is because I was replaying TW3 with the next gen patch. I got a huge wave of nostalgia because of the impeccable soundtrack, atmosphere, and characters. But holy shit the controls are FUCKED (no, the alternate movement setting is not good). Basic traversal in this game is an absolute jank fest. Geralt simultaneously feels weightless but also unresponsive. It’s like Rockstar game responsiveness without the amazing animation quality. Geralt randomly gets hung up on terrain constantly. Then he’ll randomly decide to do a somersault while walking down stairs for some reason? It also has this dumb thing where the game decides when you switch from exploration mode to combat mode. This results in you getting hit because you’re standing there like a fucking idiot instead of blocking or dodging because the game hasn’t put you in combat mode yet. Oh, and if you wanna jump over a fence or ANYTHING while fighting something? Get fucked. And the horse controls? We all know about that. It just feels ridiculous for this badass Witcher who slays monsters for a living to move like a spastic idiot.

Anyway, I finally had enough of the jank. Not even the fucking INCREDIBLE ambience of Skellige could keep me going. I thought to myself “what’s the exact opposite of this from a control and animation standpoint?” It hit me immediately. MGS V. I loaded it up. Take control of Snake for the first time. Holy. Shit. I felt like an MS patient making a miracle recovery and regaining full control of my limbs. I can actually fucking move! Sprint, crouch, dive, jump, roll, etc. EVERYTHING in this game looks and feels awesome. The horse controls feel great. You can call your horse while in a dead sprint and mount it in one fluid motion. It felt so great coming off TW3.

MGS V, however, has an undercooked story that takes a backseat ( feels crazy to say that about a Kojima game). It has a dead open world with no active towns or settlements what so ever, and basically nothing to do except fuck with enemy camps. This is in sharp contrast to The Witcher’s super vibrant open world and story. But you know what? There’s no way I can consider Witcher 3 a better game when the gap between the basic act of moving your character is so vast between the two games.

Idk, this turned into a whole ass rant. What do you guys think of these two games?

I feel mgs5 open world is used completely differently than 99% of open worlds.

It's there purely for mission design. It gives scale and freedom in how you approach them and feels unique in this regard no other game really feels like it.

Mgs5 actually needs it open world for gameplay. I feel like alot of games just use there open worlds as connection points for individual linear points of content and might actually be better as straight up linear games E.g. ghost of tsushima and Horizon.

Love or Hate MGS5 If you take away it's open world it becomes a completely different game.

 

[GigaBowser]

MGSV has all times great gameplay TW3 is jarnky my friends

 

[GooseMan69]

I feel mgs5 open world is used completely differently than 99% of open worlds.

It's there purely for mission design. It gives scale and freedom in how you approach them and feels unique in this regard no other game really feels like it.

Mgs5 actually needs it open world for gameplay. I feel like alot of games just use there open worlds as connection points for individual linear points of content and might actually be better as straight up linear games E.g. ghost of tsushima and Horizon.

Love or Hate MGS5 If you take away it's open world it becomes a completely different game.

I agree with you. The open world does serve a purpose. But it’s also pretty lifeless, and could’ve done with some world building stuff that makes it feel alive.

Still a top 5 game all time for me.

 

[Barakov]

MGSV has all times great gameplay TW3 is jarnky my friends

This is one of those posts you're not going to remember in a couple of weeks.

 

[The artful mincer]

I agree with you. The open world does serve a purpose. But it’s also pretty lifeless, and could’ve done with some world building stuff that makes it feel alive.

Still a top 5 game all time for me.

Potentially yeah it would be good if you could combine the best of both.

It's a shame no other dev has really built on MGS5 open world design philosophy.

 

[RagnarokIV]

I think pound for pound Ground Zeroes was way better than Phantom Pain.

As a series long fan of MG, it hit everything right with the amount of gameplay and cutscenes relative to its size. Tonally different with phenomenal directing throughout it all.

 

[Physiognomonics]

I loved the TW3 when it released but I would not play that game again because of those incredibly awkward controls.

Thanks to the sublime gameplay and controls, I much prefer MGS5. Story is nonsensical as in all Kojima games, no surprises here.

 

[The artful mincer]

I think pound for pound Ground Zeroes was way better than Phantom Pain.

As a series long fan of MG, it hit everything right with the amount of gameplay and cutscenes relative to its size. Tonally different with phenomenal directing throughout it all.

Ground Zeroes was excellent but I feel certain missions would be impossible without an open map as big as Phantom Pains

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

I think the thing that made W3 stand out when I played it first was the fact that even side quests had voiced line cutscenes with decent production value/camera work. That was something always lacking in similar games that came before. It had a good variety of stuff to do as well.

Upon replaying it not long ago I realized that my favorite part of the game was the one that had the least to do with any story: the Monster Hunts. I really liked how it involved looking for clues on the creatures, figuring out what they were, consulting lore books to find their weakness (which was very much needed), and tracking them down.

A focus on that type of gameplay (kind of like how MGSV is focused entirely on stealth/base capture), could make an interesting game, especially if it were expanded upon. Like I’d play a smaller scope spin off game where you could make your own Witcher and go on Hunts, maybe even have Co-op. It could be like a western made Monster Hunter in the Witcher setting. I feel like such a concept would be fucked up today somehow though; like it would get Fortnite-ified or something.

 

[Ben87fr]

Yeah i tried to replay the witcher after the patch and i couldn't stand it, i replayed mgs v very recently and it's incredible how responsive it is.

 

[Thaedolus]

MGS5 was like getting ready to bang with a 10/10 then when you’re gonna put it in you’ve got whiskey dick and she walks away in a huff.

…not speaking from experience or anything

 

[RagnarokIV]

I think for me W3 and Cyberpunk have the same issue - when you're exploring, doing quests going through dialogue choices it's amazing - I can't get enough. As soon as you hit any combat, it falls on its ass.

 

[Punished Miku]

MGSV is one of the best games ever made. Nearly perfect controls. Tons of varied ways to approach encounters. Like a giant toybox of stealth mechanics at their peak. Top tier graphics, art design, and performance. It continues to blow my mind that anyone actually takes any aspect of the MGS storyline seriously and actually factors that into their score on any level.

Witcher 3 sucks, and was one of the worst games I've played last gen. Felt terrible to play at all times, whether its movement, combat, following stupid footsteps, doing anything in their menus, interacting with the economy or leveling up system. It's been years, but I swear at one point I slid down a very gentle slope that a child could roll down while laughing and then it killed me from fall damage. That's when I checked out finally.

 

[Punished Miku]

I didn’t give up on it. I had previously finished it, DLC included. It’s a great game. BUT on this current replay I dropped it in favor of a game that actually feels good to control your character in.

This was 100% evident at the time. I called it out within 5 minutes of turning it on. Hearing everyone claim its perfect for 2 years and all the awards made me physically ill. It's still nice to see some people agree late, rather than never.

 

[Fahdis]

Kojima is that you?
Get back to work!

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I played em both back to back, enjoyed the hell out of them but I was so burned out from open world after that. I think I didnt play ANY ow games for a year.

 

[Certinty]

Absolutely loved both of them.

But despite MGS V’s non-existent story and the horrific handling of missions during the end (still have no idea what the hell went on there), the gameplay alone makes me think it’s the better game.

Heck, even now MGS V’s gameplay might very well still be top five.

 

[RaduN]

I dunno, i loved the V story and delivery (the one shot direction is virtually flawless, unlike some other recent atempts). I mean, not many stories reach the heights of Paz arc or Shining Lights to be honest. Not to mention the best produced audio cutscenes in any game, ever.
The ending was a complete mind fuck as well. Maybe the biggest 4th wall breaking in the series..i dunno.

A fantastic game all together.

Witcher 3 was good, but yea, it controls pretty awful.

 

[killatopak]

For me they were polar opposites.

MGSV has AMAZING gameplay but half baked everything else.

Witcher 3 was half baked gameplay but AMAZING everything else.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

For me, MGS5 PP is like Fallout 4, an underappreciated masterpiece that is one or two development decisions away from a perfect 10.

 

[Rickyiez]

Kojima should get together with cd projekt to create a game

/thread perfect solution here

 

[kiphalfton]

For its half-baked narrative, MGSV was an absolute blast to play. Some of the best open-world game pay with a focus on stealth.

Witcher 3 is just plain legendary tho.

Too bad Konami/Kojima got in a hissy fit fight and we won't ever get another MGS game with the same gameplay.

 

[Killer8]

The moral of the story is that gameplay and 'fun' always conquers everything. The Witcher 3 has a lot to do, great story and setting, but the actual gameplay is very sub-par and it's just hard to maintain your interest over the course of the journey. Whereas MGSV basically lacks all of that but its gameplay is near perfection. I still boot it up to this day just to fuck around with the mechanics.

 

[poodaddy]

MGSV, (particularly Ground Zeroes), is the best stealth game of all time in terms of gameplay.

The Witcher 3 is one of the best games of all time in general.

I'll take both with a side of "Hell yeah mother fucker" thank you.

Gif added for mindset context.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The moral of the story is that gameplay and 'fun' always conquers everything. The Witcher 3 has a lot to do, great story and setting, but the actual gameplay is very sub-par and it's just hard to maintain your interest over the course of the journey. Whereas MGSV basically lacks all of that but its gameplay is near perfection. I still boot it up to this day just to fuck around with the mechanics.

I don’t think you got your argument right given that the Witcher is the larger IP out of the two…

So no, it looks like gameplay with boring and confusing story doesn’t trump everything.

 

[Melfice7]

MGS5 has the best gameplay of all MGS's and probably of all stealth games, but it's also the worst MGS at everything else

Witcher 3 is the best witcher game but also could be so much better with refined gameplay

 

[darrylgorn]

MGS games also have very archaic controls but I'll agree that it looks good compared to Witcher 3 lol

I'll take Xenoblade over both

 

[Roni]

MGSV's story is not bad, it's just ahead of the curve:

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/mgsvs-story-is-severely-underrated-franchise-spoilers.1464290/

 

[bender]

Polar opposites. One is carried by a wonderful sandbox but lacking in narrative while the other has a wonderful narrative with a paint-by-numbers open world and also-ran combat mechanics.

 

[Warablo]

MGS V had some cool mechanics but the whole package kinda sucked or didn't piece together right.

 

[Mozzarella]

I played both but i only finished one.
I gave up on MGS V after 25 hours, maybe its not a shit game, but i didnt enjoy my time with it, frankly i think MGS is not suited for open world design, and i think the game wasn't interesting to me, its too try hard, its really not appealing to me how it presents itself. Maybe the controls are good but why would that make or break an entire game to me, controls for me are means to an end, unless im on a platformer like Mario then their weight is bigger, but aside from that nothing so impressive, as for stealth mechanics they are decent, but i always preferred Chaos Theory and Hitman type of stealth as opposed to MGS type, i do like the old MGS, it was my favorite one in the series but when it comes to stealth gameplay i usually prefer Hitman and Splinter Cell, actually Hitman is in my top 5 favorite franchises in gaming.
Witcher 3 has its flaws, and my god the haters have given me headache over the years with how much they love to shout in my ears about them, they feel they are being special when they do that, and i get it, the game has flaws, almost every game is, maybe its overrated and i dont blame you, but i frankly dont care lol, i liked my time with it and it was very memorable to me, i can easily recall 10 side quests from it in detail, thats impressive feat to make me remember them, and i was invested in the world and its lore, great writing and i didnt have problems with the gameplay, its not amazing or anything but it was serviceable enough for me. What made me like it even more was probably the amount of seethe it generates among a group of gamers, its really hilarious so i grew to like it even more, its funny how both fanboys and haters tend to do the opposite of what they try to do, and ofcourse the expansions were sublime, maybe if MGSV had a cool expansion its fans will love it more? idk or maybe if it wasn't so long, stealth games imo dont need to be long or open world, but it was a nice experiment and i have to give Mr.Kojima credit for that.