I had more fun in 30 minutes of NG2 Black than the last 30 hours of the Witcher 3. Why do game developers operate in bubbles?
I'm currently playing through the Witcher 3 in preparation for the rumoured new DLC, and while the Witcher 3 is a great game in it's own way it's just not even remotely in the same league in terms of gameplay when it really should be.
I just turned on chapter 2 in NG2 Black for 30 minutes while taking a break from the Witcher 3 and I just can't believe the unfathomable masterpiece that the first two chapters of NG2 are. I love the whole game, top 5 games ever for sure for me, but it definitely runs out of steam the further into the game you get, probably because of insane deadlines. But those two chapters are just unreal. What an amazingly ahead of it's time this game was.
I don't understand how you can be a professional game developer, and release a sword combat game seven years after NG2 and not learn a thing from it. It's also the general gaming audience though to some degree, people just don't demand good gameplay enough anymore.
Rest in peace Itagaki, you were no doubt a flawed person as most of us are, but nobody can deny you created a true masterpiece.