The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or Red Dead Redemption 2, which game is better at storytelling?

[Deleted member 58846]

These are among two of the best received games of the generation, big open world juggernauts that emphasize world building and storytelling above all else. They're both great games, and as I am sure you know at this point given how much I keep gushing about them, I love them both.

But which of them do you think is better at storytelling of these two, and why?

I find this to be an interesting question, and I struggle to give a clean answer. I think there are some very obvious areas each game succeeds in on this front - Red Dead Redemption 2 has far superior characters, The Witcher 3 has far better world building and lore, Red Dead Redemption 2 has a stronger throughline, The Witcher 3 succeeds in far more compelling smaller narratives - that it's very hard to settle on just one of these two masterpieces and say that this, this is the one that is a better game for storytelling than the other.

For now, I'm going with TW3, mostly because it lets me influence the direction of the narrative via a very nuanced choice and consequence mechanic, but honestly, this is more of a gunpoint pick than anything else.

What do you all think?

 

[gnarlyxcharlie]

Red Dead. It's on a whole other level storytelling wise although they are both two of my favorite games this gen.

 

[R dott B]

RDR2 is in another league.

 

[Master Chuuster]

RDR2 easily. The Witcher 3 is one of the few games that can sort of come close to Red Dead 2's excellent storytelling, but there's still a huge gulf separating the two.

The Witcher 3 succeeds in far more compelling smaller narratives

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Agreed, though I must say RDR2's side quests and questlines are significantly better than I expected them to be. Not all of them, and TW3 is still king in this area, but RDR2's got some pretty damn great questlines and quests that completely are skippable.

 

[UltraMav]

RDR2 might be the most impactful story ever told through video games, so I'll pick that one, even though I like Witcher 3 more as a game/universe.

 

[Ostinatto]

The witcher 3 is light years above RDR2 imo

 

[zombiejames]

I haven't played as much of The Witcher 3 as I'd like but I have played all of RDR2. RDR2, without a doubt.

 

[Ryuelli]

Red Dead Redemption for sure, Witcher 3 doesn't come close.

 

[Flandy]

Everytime I refresh the thread it's 50/50 lol

 

[Deleted member 16876]

I gotta go with RDR. It has its issues but over all was much more emotional. Arthur is one of the best protagonists ever. Funny enough I thought he was going to be a bad characters due to how Rockstar's trailer made him look. I ended up playing though the story even though I hated the gameplay just to play more with Arthur.

Nothing against Witcher but RDR was more my thing.

 

[Anoxida]

RDR has basically a high quality hollywood script, it's not even contest in terms of writing.

I still enjoyed the story in witcher 3 more because im a sucker for fantasy but from a technical perspective I realize these games are in different leagues.

 

[Gravity Insanity]

The story in RDR2 is so good that it legit feels like you're watching and playing a movie. It gave me an experience I've never felt in a video game before.

 

[M. Wallace]

RDR2 by a country mile

 

[Zem]

As much as I think The Witcher 3 is a better game, I can't believe it's winning this poll. What the fuck?

 

[PlanetSmasher]

RDR2, but Witcher 3 is no slouch either. RDR2 does a better job of telling its story overall, but TW3 definitely has its moments. And Hearts of Stone is an amazing achievement in micro-campaign narrative.

 

[Jtrizzy]

RDR2 writing and story are better or on par with a lot of big budget movies. I have a ton of respect for Witcher 3, but Red Dead is in a league of it's own as far as this goes.

 

[TheAmazingSpiderMan]

TW3 by a mile..

What I mostly remember for RDR2 was - "I gOt A pLAn" for every single new camp you went to, also the numerous times "we just need some morrrr money ARTHURRR"

Not forgetting the "we going to TAHITIIIII"

I did enjoy RDR2 but TW3 overall is my favourite out of the 2.

 

[Deleted member 3925]

Both are excellent, but RDR II was more impactful for me.

 

[hank_tree]

Red Dead. It's not even close.

 

[Rommaz]

I think The Witcher 3 is a miles better game than RDR2 but in this one particular aspect, RDR2 stands ahead of it.

 

[FeD]

RDR tells its story well but throughout the experience I always feel a spectator. Like I'm watching the story unfold. But again the tell the story very well.

With the Witcher because of the way the choices are setup I'm naturally much more a part of the story. It's completely different way of telling the story in my opinion.

Now if I have to choose I prefer the Witcher. Purely because the game actually made me feel bad about choices I made. It struck me in a way only a videogame can, whereas the best emotional beats of RDR2 hit me the same way a good film or series would.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

RDR tells its story well but throughout the experience I always feel a spectator. Like I'm watching the story unfold. But again the tell the story very well.

With the Witcher because of the way the choices are setup I'm naturally much more a part of the story. It's completely different way of telling the story in my opinion.

Now if I have to choose I prefer the Witcher. Purely because the game actually made me feel bad about choices I made. It struck me in a way only a videogame can, whereas the best emotional beats of RDR2 hit me the same way a good film or series would.

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Yeah, this is the tie breaker for me. I think overall, there is a very legitimate argument to be made that RDR2 is superior at straight storytelling, but TW3 actually makes storytelling a shared experience with the player's input directly influencing how things play out, and I think that pushes it over the edge for me.

 

[AbsoluteZero0K]

Witcher 3 doesn't punish you with MISSION FAILED if you go off the beaten path when you get bored between the long rides from here to there.

WItcher 3 also doesn't have a character who says, "I GOT A PLAN!" every time you see him.

Witcher 3 TRIPLES the number of strong women characters featured in the game compared to RDR2.

 

[Ascenion]

RDR2 and it isn't close. The Witcher 3 has a worse overall narrative than The Witcher 2. Wild Hunt excels at the smaller more intimate stories like The Bloody Baron and Killing Radovid. The overall plot overstays it's welcome and drags heavily in the last 3rd before almost moving to quickly to a less than ideal conclusion and weak final boss.

 

[ShadowAUS]

For me Witcher 3 - I don't hate RDR2 by any means but the story didn't do much for me and I found it to be pretty rote on the whole. Which isn't to say that the W3's storytelling is some innovative masterpiece (it's far, far, far from being that) either but I feel it did rote fantasy better than RDR2 did rote western. The only character I found well written in RDR2 was Arthur and maybe John but John's writing was also held up by the fact of having a whole other (much superior) game to himself but the overall narrative was very predictable and kind of boring, which isn't helped by RDR2's archaic mission design dragging down a lot of story beats - RDR2's writing and narrative would've worked much better as a 2 1/2 hour movie for me. Hearts of Stone on its own is better than RDR2 and W3's main plot combined and Blood and Wine isn't far behind. A lot of the smaller side narratives in W3 also have better story telling than RDR2 but on a much smaller scale.

Oh and I thought Dutch was an awfully written character and dragged down the narrative a lot.

Though if we're only talking about main plots of the main games then RDR2 - W3's main story is fine one of the weaker parts of the game.

Edit: I think I will add this as well, it explains my love of HoS pretty well.

 

[Carlius]

Rdr2 exceeds in main story but witcher obliterates it in smaller ones. Also, witcher 3 dlc is up there if not superior to rdr2.

 

[Datajoy]

Easily Red Dead. The story in that game is an absolute epic of pain and loss. Deeply affecting on so many levels.

 

[NightShift]

The Witcher 3 with Hearts of Stone > Red Dead Redemption 2 > The Witcher 3 without Hearts of Stone.

While there is a lot of great writing in The Witcher 3, the main story is so cliche and forgettable that I can't put it over the consistent goodness of RDR2. Hearts of Stone however crushes RDR2 and anything else in The Witcher 3.

 

[Eros]

Posters are so confident in RDR2 being a tier above yet the votes favor Witcher by a little.

I'll put Hearts of Stone above RDR2 though.

 

[hydruxo]

Fuck, that's really difficult. RDR2 has the edge over TW3 base game IMO, but Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine are incredible and have great storytelling.

 

[Megamind.]

Short answer, the witcher 3.

Long answer... I might get around to it at some point

 

[Van Bur3n]

I don't know how y'all are saying RDR2 if you played to chapter 6. That chapter's pacing was just falling apart rushing itself to try and answer all of the questions and full of plot holes with its main antagonist's motives that make little sense. That alone sort of sours what was suppose to be the climax of the game and the answer to all of our questions as to why Dutch's gang ended up the way it did. And what a disappointment it was. It is only the nostalgia trip epilogue that makes up for it.

TW3's main story starts to falter in its pacing towards the end as well, but not to the degree RDR2 did. It was mostly the expansions of the game that warrants most of TW3's praise regarding its story. That much is absolutely earned.

 

[Static]

Witcher 3 is my favourite game, bar none. Red Dead is not in my top 25. I voted red dead and am shocked it's losing.

 

[electricblue]

Red Dead but only slightly. I liked how side quests were tied back into the overall narrative. Witcher was better at individual quests but weaker on the overall Ciri plot.

 

[Nazgûl]

Tough question, OP. I think both are great.

 

[texhnolyze]

They're both great, but I still prefer The Witcher 3.

Anyway, it's good to see you back to your posting form, PT.

 

[leng jai]

Since when did RDR 2 become the ultimate example of story telling? Feels like people are forgetting how flawed the pacing and rehashing of "we've got a plan" every chapter because Arthur has an emotional story arc.

 

[Hugare]

An important part of storytelling is pacing, and that's something very lacking in RDR 2

Writting would be a tie. In both games, the writting is top notch.
The story was much more engaging in The Witcher 3. In RDR you never had an endgoal.
Sure, in W3 you had a lot of side activities and etc., but there was something that kept you going. In RDR, almost every mission was meaningless most of the time.

Heck, Guarma chapter by itself should desqualify RDR 2 as the best at storytelling

 

[SunBroDave]

Both are great obviously, but I vote Witcher 3 because, to this day, the most amazing thing about that game is the unbelievable amount of quality storytelling in the game. It's just got amazing little stories around every corner.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

TW3, remember the red baron story? that was great for videogames

 

[Deleted member 56752]

The Witcher because it does many different kinds of story telling. The world and art tells story, side quests, people in the town tell stories, the main linear story, etc. red dead is great but it's just a basic linear story

 

[Neoleo2143]

The Witcher because it does many different kinds of story telling. The world and art tells story, side quests, people in the town tell stories, the main linear story, etc. red dead is great but it's just a basic linear story

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This critique of RDR2 makes no sense. The towns and experiences Arthur has tell many different stories and not just the long single main narrative.

 

[Klyka]

All I remember from my time with RDR2 are the "I have a plan but we need ONE MORE JOB" and "TAHITI AND MANGOES!" memes

 

[Sirank]

I always have a hard time with stories like RDR2 where all the characters are constantly and obviously making stupid choices and being oblivious which leads to all the bad things happening over and over and over again. It's like you are doing all this to yourself why should I feel emotional for you.

Witcher 3 the main find Ciri detective hunt is pretty simple, at least on par with RDR2, but the stories you interact with and influence along the way (and the DLC campaigns) absolutely annihilate RDR2 imo.

 

[LocoRoco]

TW3

 

[leng jai]

Are talking about story telling in the context of a video game here? In that case TW3 wins easily because you have way more choice and control over what happens, even down to a lot of random innocuous side quests. I don't think either game has some fanastic overarching plot but some of the stories told outside of the main quest in TW3 are incredible. Shit like Hearts of Stone, Tower of Mice and Bloody Baron are talked about constantly. In RDR 2 4 you mostly just hear how great Arthur is and how emotional the ending is.

 

[SolidChamp]

Supremely difficult decision. Either one could be considered the greatest open-world game of the gen. Both are rich in detail and offer unparalleled narrative depth.

I'm currently on a completely fresh replay of The Witcher 3 (in Novigrad right now) and it's reminding me why it's overall the best game of the gen. So I chose that, due to the strong sense of player agency and role play in a world that has seemingly endless narrative threads to explore.

 

[Van Bur3n]

It's really not a "tough" or "difficult" question, y'all. RDR2's story weren't that good. Why does your opinion differ from mine.

 

[Sean]

TW3. It kept me interested and invested and I had fun with the story and the world and people the whole way through.

RDR2 was an unenjoyable slog that I forced myself through as everyone was saying it was great. I got pretty far into Chapter 6 and just stopped caring and quit and never went back. The story did not draw me in at all and I barely cared about anyone.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

The Witcher 3 completely.

RDR2 may have astronomical production values that are unmatched for it's presentation and cutscenes, but nothing changes the fact that it was a simple story drawn out way too long.

Half the storytelling of that game was exposition while riding to to the mission location. People in stories do stupid things so that events can happen that push the story, I accept that. RDR2 was a constant stream of people doing absolutely dumb shit and not talking to each other. A more well written game would have combed over that and smoothed it out. Instead, we are have to ride this train of a man going mad repeating himself as nauseum and trusting in the words of a person he met 7 months prior over the person he literally called his brother. Ugh.

The Witcher 3 got hung up on a few too many beats of, ooph just missed her!, In act 1, but hit enough emotional beats with side characters and ciri that it was all forgotten. Add that to the absolutely fantastic final act and it's hard to argue it didn't ultimately naile landing and adventure aspect better than most games period.