Baldur's Gate 3:
The sum of all parts, 51 years of gaming refined to one game, the most highly reviewed game of all time that still shattered my expectations, the game that entirely changed my perspective on parts of life, the game that made me laugh, the game that certainly made me cry, the game that made reading books after 220 hours still put me in awe after yet another realization, the game that had me staring at 15m of credits that had nothing but text, the game that made me a lifelong larian supporter, the game that was so non-linear it was nearly a fault, the game that had me playing 90-100h in two weeks, and the game that would have been perfect, if only it had a voiced main character
Baldur's Gate 3: 9.9/10 - 10/10 (undecided could go either way)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
an unmatched atmosphere, a true journey of a story, and the most immersive world ever made
9.8/10

1: Story: 9.95/10
while it may not be the most non-linear story ever made, there is only one game that i would say is on its level (outside of dlcs (phantom liberty)), that being bg3. But i think the fact that its not entirely non-linear does a lot of favors for it, this is not to say that its entirely linear, your decisions will change outcomes and change the world around you. Spoilers, please please please for your own sake do not look if you have not beaten the game before: my only issue with the story is that the ending doesnt give itself time to set in, after ciri enters you should be given the option to kill avalach, some amount of dialogue about what just happened and then just kill or not kill. this wouldnt effect future games as you could just say that it wasn't cannon, we already know the emperor ending isnt cannon so why wouldnt this also be fine? the difference between the endings of this and cyberpunk and baldurs gate 3 is that, both of those games have more impactful endings due to giving it like 10+ minutes for them to truly set in before all is said and done. give me a little time to cry lmao, i cried for like 1m maybe after the main story of cyberpunk and probably like 10+ m after phantom liberty, baldurs gate 3 had me crying off and on for the entire very very very very end sequence i wont elaborate to avoid spoilers but yeah. i will say every time i do battle of kaer morhen i prolly cry for like 3-5m BECAUSE TIME IS GIVEN FOR IT TO SET IN. either way the ending is still fantastic, its just not perfect, which baldurs gate 3 and phantom liberty do have perfect endings in my opinion.

2: Gameplay: 8/10
the gameplay grew on me an immense amount actually, i believe i originally gave it a 4/10 or a 5/10 maybe? out of my "big 3 games" (cyberpunk, bg3, tw3) its probably the worst but i now really really enjoy it. it has its downfalls, which is the main reason why this game isn't a 10/10, but despite that its still great. there isn't much more to say about it

3: Soundtrack and atmosphere: 10/10 (im trying to avoid giving above 10 ratings now but if anything were to ever get one it would be this, truely like a 15/10)
unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. whenever i hear this soundtrack in youtube videos unrelated to tw3 i get essentially flashbacks, it stuns me for a short period. the opening fade in to "Kaer Morhen" is only bested by 1 song in terms of use of music in games, the only greater being the combination and transition from "The Killing Moon" and "Phantom Liberty" at the end of, well, Phantom liberty.

White Orchard: THAT DAMN VIOLIN MAN, gives off the theme that something horrible has happened, you just dont know it yet even better, at the end of the game it goes from that, to now you know something horrible has happened, and you either are the cause or what solved it, no matter what you observe the result of your actions as you mourn until you get to the inn, incredible man, cinema, probably my favorite zone in the game for that reason alone, the decision for it to be the first and the last is one of my favorite elements of any story ever. i could talk for literal hours about why i love white orchard so much and its music is a huge factor

Velen: captures that wild west feeling so well man, whatever the instrument is that rattles, the the various stringed instruments, it feels like your in a desert but its actually a swamp, i wish the zone was better because the music is such a good reflection of the zone and does such a good job for the zone that introduces you to the real content of the game

novigrad: nothing special compared to the other zones imo, but it does capture that feeling of a great city, almost feels like your in the midst of a renaissance period within the city, the busy nature of the music and its fast pace. when i say nothing special compared to the other zones, the music is like a 9.5/10 in novigrad, not a 12/10, so its still really really good

skellige: the music here is almost indescribable, and it fits the place where its put in the story so well both times its put in the story, after novigrad the first time and then after kaer morhen and novigrad the second time . the music is placed in a zone where you have accumulated various dilemas and moral decisions that you know you need to make now or coming very soon. something about the combination of whatever the main stringed instrument that is used aswell as the harp is what i can only describe as "thought provoking". its such a change up from anything else in the game, along with the vocals. its fills me with a sense of peace, but is placed at a time where there should be absolutely no peace. i would literally walk on horseback from location to location in skellige because of the music. i feel like there is so much to say about just the soundtrack of skellige alone, but man it almost feels to complicated yet simple at the same time to put into words. listening to it as im writing this section makes me just want to load up a save and simply walk around, nothing else.

3: Characters: 10/10
there is little i can say here without spoiling but man, from main game to dlc, the character roster is stacked beyond belief. i am a person who appreciates the hell out of both yenn and triss, and its nearly impossible for me to actually choose one over another. Yenn is so complicated in a perfect, maybe beyond perfect way. Triss is the character that got me hooked on this game, i was sort of half interested until her quest line, after i hit it i literally spent all of my freetime from that point onward on this game. ciri and geralt will get their own section don't worry. eskel and lambert are unbelievable for how good they are with how little screen time they have. zoltan might be the best match with his surroundings outside of vesemir with kaer morhen, hes chaotic in such a great way. PRISCILLA MAN i didn't think i would like her nearly as much as i did, but man does the little time she has on screen really count. BART MIGHT BE THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE GAME, I WOULD KILL ANYONE FOR BART. there is so much more i could say but its just great character, stacked on another great character, that somehow is carrying another great character on its shoulders.

4: Ciri and Geralt: 10/10
i used to think geralt was somewhere between am 8/10 and 9/10 character, but i now realize that ciri would not be as transcending of a character if geralt wasnt was who he is. the juxtaposition between the two of them, and how different geralt is around her compared to others, the only thing i can think about with these two is simple: man i love this game so much.

there is a revolving door of 3 characters for who is my favorite of all time, all for very different but still connceted and somewhat similar reasons, i couldnt actually rank these 3, ive tried but every time the next day i feel somewhat differently. ive come to the conclusion that they are all tied for 1st place
these characters are:
1A: Cirilla, Zireael, Ciri (one person)
1B: Songbird, So Mi
1C: Shadowheart
all 3 of these characters hold such a different special place in my heart
- songbird kind of sent me into a small depression, but one that i am somewhat greatful for, because i came out of it better
than i entered
- Shadowheart did the opposite, she pulled me out of a larger depression because of some of the lessons that her character teaches, she entirely shifted my mindset when it comes to approaching life and i am extremely greatful to both Larion Studios and Jennifer English because of it
-Ciri: i dont have the same emotional attachment to ciri, her character is just amazing. there has to be some way i can relate to the character that i just can't point out or maybe am too scared to. either way she is what makes the witcher 3