So, my b day is coming up. I have to decide between one or the other. I know they are vastly different games.

Here is some background for me: I thought the story in the Witcher 1 was excellent. I really enjoyed Morrowind's atmosphere and the backstory. I hated Oblivion; ugly animations, ugly voice acting, boring gameplay and no story at all. Looking at videos for Witcher 2 and Skyrim they both look great. The story looks missing, again, in TES but the gameplay looks very engaging with maybe a more Morrowind level of story.

I'm torn, which should I put on my birthday list?

Buy The Witcher 2. Why? Because CD-Projekt Red didn't sue anyone using the word "the" in another game's title...

probably wont be a popular answer around here, but i honestly think youll get more mileage out of skyrim. witcher 2 is pretty linear and youll be on a set track for most of the game, but skyrim - if its anything like fo3, nv and oblivion, will give you absolutely LOADS of stuff to do.

so whats more important to you. a stronger single more linear story, or a huge amount of game time with lots of exploration and discovery in a world that feels much more vast and full? hope that helps you decide.

Well Skyrim costs the most out of the two, so that would be the best choice if someone else is buying ;)

I'd rather get The Witcher 2 now, just because Skyrim, like Morrowind and Oblivion, will probably get much better with patches and mods later on. Also, DLC, etc.

Bethesda's games are not the kind I would recommend on launch.

Witcher 2 is really good, and it's cheaper. The combat is kind of hectic at times, though. Nothing like in Witcher 1, where it was more of a rhythm minigame. Now it's "your back is made of lava, don't let anyone touch it or you die, instantly, and there's a swarm of guys lusting after your back". It's great fun if you don't mind dying every now and then. Also, no DRM and all kinds of cool extras.

I have yet to play Skyrim, because its day 1 update is kind of big and takes a long time to download. Actually, the Steam servers are toasty and it's downloading at really low speeds, so maybe the update isn't so big after all.

And happy birthday in advance!

The Witcher 2. Story, choices, and good combat.

who gives a shit about that? seriously. oh yes they are.

i couldn't recommend one game over the other, honestly. The Witcher 2 and Skyrim are probably the best RPGs of the year, and in fact candidates for GotY awards. you should pick up both as both have their advantages, The Witcher 2 being a linear, story-focused experience whereas Skyrim is an open-world exploration-focused experience.

I do

I do. Seriously.

I do.

I agree with Dragobr.

If you plan to start playing it soon, go with TW2 and save Skyrim for when it gets patched, DLC'ed, expanded, GOTY'ed, and discounted. I do too,

BUT, to be precise,

CD-Projekt Red didn't sue anyone using the word "the" in another game's title..

and

Bethesda didn't sue anyone using the word "the" in another game's title..

and

Bethesda didn't sue anyone using the word "Scrolls" in another game's title..

in fact

Bethesda sue someone for trademarking (or trying to) the word "Scrolls"

Not that I am in favour of Beth in this case, in fact I am not, but I though some clarification was necessary.

I played Skyrim for a bit over an hour. There are a few problems I'll point out. First and foremost, just an hour of playing gave me a headache (and it feels like you can't see around you in the game). I think the FOV is crazy low or something, and I already got the headache before I realized that I could google for a solution, so if you get it, I recommend changing the FOV with googlable tricks. There have been a few bugs/weird stuff already, like a guy I was walking with suddenly started screaming, ran into a river and then teleported behind me and calmed down. There were some guys who walked right through each other (not a big deal but just irked me). There was also some guy who ran to me and started shouting something about "well now it's clear, but no thanks to you!" and I had no idea what she was going on about. The gameplay feels pretty good thus far, but the menus take a bit of getting used to (Witcher 2 menus aren't that great either, tbh).

Anyway, other than the headache, it's not that bad thus far. The character creation intro part takes a while. I can attest that you can make a Geralt (Witcher) lookalike and name him Tiffany, so you can play Witcher in your Skyrim, sort of :p