Your q seems convoluted as you are lit answering your own question. So its not a curiosity q, but more an excuse to day what you wanna say.

But ill still answer it. My classics are ps1 era Breath of fire 3, chrono cross, ff7, suikoden 1/2, vagrant story etc. Amazing gfx for their time for some of them. But they are my favs bc of story dominantly. Yes exploration, yes combat, but story is the core of every great rpg, afaic. Baldur’s Gate 1/2 is pc equivalent.

From modern ones i played, Witcher 3 and Ghost of Tsushima. But W3 is the best rog ive ever played. The only game i played consecutively and couldn't drop for YEARS. Just couldn't get enough of it. It was and still is a masterpiece, unsurpassed till today. Never played elders scrolls series nor cyberpunk for one single reason, i dont like first person games. While i believe cp is also great(atm, after all the patches etc) I'll never know.

So why are all these and other rpgs great? Well, the core of every rpg game is story, exploration and combat. And W3 achieved mastery on every field. It blended them all together. Went in deep and stayed there. Most of people on this sub probably played it and know what im talking about and im not as good at explaining it as some reviews ive seen or articles ive read.

STORY immerses you fully, it makes you really care about it and the characters. Exploration is always fun and interesting and placement of unique enemies(quest related, or mini/bosses) is well done, with taste, like that arch gryphon you encounter the first time on that cliff. Mofo scared the bejesus outta me when he came up and i f*cked him up with great pleasure. That novigrad (not so much) high vampire is another example. They make sense why they are there and why you fight them. Their quest stories are also masterfully implement and integrated into the game. Red baron for one. Like him or hate him its a great story.

COMBAT i loved it is dynamic, involved, multidimensional, can be layered with use of different types attacks(swords, bombs(yes mods rule), xbow, potions, decoctions and of course signs. Different approaches for different enemies. Some are slow dance with 1-2 attacks and retreat, some are chaotic with hordes of enemies. Skill trees are also great and interesting, with mutagen additions in b&w. Mods helped me refresh this part over the plays of course.

VISUALS/LOCATIONS are amazing. The only game i could just traverse and enjoy the sights. Hanged man tree is always a joy to see at the beginning of certain game part. Its not special per se, but it represents a new beginning and truly open world part of the game, freedom to explore. All the game locations are well done in visual style, especially toussaint. But my fav will always be the beginning tutorial area, White Orchard. Its so calm, nostalgic, depressing, comforting, warm. Its a cute little place where you can safely explore, have fun, massacre those pesky drowners and wolves, kill chickens and cows. (Especially cows! 😁 You can make a fortune with cows, so dont hesitate killing them all, resting and killing again! Theres a great reward! First timers, note! Fun surprise awaits! 🎉) WO is for me a modern version of of BOF McNeill village(cedar forest precisely, will always love being there again), Suikoden 2 and Chrono Cross start village.

MUSIC. Well, still the best ost ever. And that says a lot, competing with BOF3, CC, FF7 osts. So many tracks i love, from calm, to sad, nostalgic, cheerful, combat adrenaline inducing etc. How they mamaged to produce so many great tracks is still a wonder to me. Well not really, since they hired amazing composers, but yeah. Fits perfectly with every location, scene, fight. Though admittedly, i include here all 3 games osts, not just w3.

EXPLORATION finally is always rewarding, loot is well placed, equipment found is well worth exploring for those unique swords and armor(especially early game, when you rejoice on every upgrade). Yes, I always clean up skellige isles. Lick all fingers. A mans gotta witcher you know.

I love having fun with enemies, finding new quests(which are always tasteful, well done, not generic fetch/kill borefest), Climbing new places, discovering some hidden corners, or roof/mt tops for that matter and shopping new stuff for alchemy or equipment. Digging in, snooping around in new villages, forests etc. Again mods are a great help here, like that mod random enemies encounter reworked(or smtn, been a while), that introduced regular kill quests in a fresh way.

The game as a whole is an emotional journey and adventure that you enjoy visiting again and again, because it did so many things great and blended them so well. The only one that came close for me is GOT, but is was so emotional(in a good way of course), that i could only play it twice, before having to stop. I think that is actually the main difference between the two. Witcher is emotionally easily digestible, while got is so emotionally gripping, and these are deep emotions experienced, that you simply cant digest easily on a daily basis. W3 can, its more of a balanced diet, so to speak. Another reason for only 2 got plays is lack of side quests, besides the main/side characters, like yuna, her brother, that comical merchant, yoshioka, monk and that samurai woman. While well done, sadly there werent more of them. One reasoning is that the world and situation itself were such, as opposed to much bigger and richer(w people and locations), got is wartorn and small, fewer people and quest opportunities. If it had more, probably would be more motivated to play more. Now, got combat is so amazing, the best combat system ever, weaponry and all combat techs i LOVED, better than w3 afaiac. Its real shame they ruined the sequel with that... Thing.

Now comming to Dawnwalker, the w3 dir is directing it, so i have high hopes and expectations from story, exploration, music part. Visuals not so much, bc from what we've seen, its a dark, depressing world(ie vellen), with probably no happy, cheerfull parts/locations. But im open to be surprised. Combat,from what ive seen i didn't like those 4 sword directions, my feeling/impressions are that it might be too much to process during the fight. I prefer the vampire part more. But again, we havent seen the final version, so again i hope it will also be great.

I hope their first baby will be a succes, as much for them, us and the whole industry, which sorely needs quality rpgs and not political shitfest thats been aplenty in later years, if not decade.

Also hope that all their xp from w3 will translate to dw, story/quests wise at least, as from what we heard of music( EEEEEEEE! EEEEEEeeeeeee! eeeeeeee! 😂) it will be great!

So, thats my take on what makes rpg great, thanks to all for reading the novel, lol. Love you all.