My Favourite Video Game: Solnedgang
My Favourite Video Game is a guest feature from bands and artists where we set them a simple task… tell us about your favourite video game. In this feature, atmospheric and melodic post-rock/metal artist Solnedgang accepts the challenge. You can read all about the choice below.
Hey, Jon from Solnedgang here. There seems to be a theme of choosing RPGs in these features, so who am I to break with the norm? Especially since it’s by far my favourite video game genre, and has been for as long as I can remember playing games.
I could have chosen something old-school like Zelda: Link’s Awakening (which I played on the original Game Boy) or Icewind Dale (which I feel is underrated – I remember enjoying it more than Baldur’s Gate 2), but I’m going to go with a more recent one (partly because I can’t remember much from the previously mentioned games!): The Witcher 3.
Like many others, I hadn’t played The Witcher 1 or 2, and for a while I was resisting the urge to play the third game because it felt a bit ‘wrong’, and I was worried I wouldn’t get the story. I finally gave in and I was blown away almost straight away. I’m sure having played the first two games would have made me enjoy the main storyline more, but that storyline is far from the best one in the game.
It’s got the perfect mix of dense, diverse areas, great combat with challenging enough enemies (depending on your level of course) and if you go exploring (which I love doing in open world RPGs) you almost always get some kind of pay-off, either in a new side quest, cool new gear, or even just a bit of lore. And of you get bored with the main story, or combat or whatever, there’s always a side quest that gives you something completely different to do. Or just go and play Gwent for a while!
The world is so rich, the voice acting so good, the characters and creatures so well-developed – even if some of the characters are a bit one-dimensional, including the main ones. Is it the perfect RPG? Er, no – not for me anyway. Is it the richest world, with the most engaging storytelling, and most enjoyable combat I’ve seen in an RPG? Yes, and that’s why it’s my favourite game.
Honourable mention goes to Dragon Age Inquisition, which I enjoyed immensely and also includes a couple of features that would have made TW3 near-perfect – namely the ability to create your own character and party-based combat. I can’t really see how that would have worked in TW3 though, so it would be way too harsh to mark it down because of that.
One last thing to mention: I’ve got massive hopes for Baldur’s Gate 3. Hopefully I’ll have time to play it – check in with me again in a few years!
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