No, it's overrated because a good chunk of the 'Dex considers it a great cRPG.
What I meant is that even those who rate it low recognize it as having *some* redeeming values, so it doesn't really need defense.
My impression is that a good chunk of the 'Dex considers it to be ranging from good to very good CRPG and most see it as a template for it's (supposedly) much better sequel. Thing is, if you like pretty 2d backgrounds, RTS-y combat with stats, D&D setting, decent plot and a large number of locations to visit it is likely BG will appeal to you. Oblivion on the other hand was so bad it outright alienated a good portion of Bethesda's audience (of course they've gained hordes of casual players and consoletards to compensate so it worked out well for them financially).
Games are made by what they do well. It would be too easy to dismiss PS:T for its shitty combat, Morrowind for brokenness and wooden NPCs, Fallout for cheese, and so on.
Witcher 2 is good because it does both storyfaggotry and visuals well, whether or not it can even be considered a cRPG.
Sure I can see your point, Witcher 2 is too strong in those two areas for it to be considered outright bad and put on such a list, problem is those aspects of the game matter very little to some players and thus they see it as a bad game/experience.
Personally, while I certainly like the game (I played through it several times) I still have several gripes with it:
-Geralt is supposed to be one of the best fencers around, the game just failed in conveying that as far as I'm concerned. Parrying/blocking drains your vigour while even lowlife bums can parry all day long, Geralt has to learn riposte (counterattack), certain enemies parry, deflect and counterattack his attacks way too easily etc. It's a big part of him as a character and the game needed to do more justice to it IMO.
-Alchemy system and overall UI are much, much worse than the previous game, a sequel should keep what's good about the first game and fix the negative stuff, not fuck up some of the best aspects of the first game.
-Could be considered a personal preference but I found the game has way too much loot. I vastly prefer the way first game approached that, instead of throwing dozens of swords and armor/clothing at you, equipment upgrades were rare, expensive but substantial.
-Sidestepping, dodging would be more preferable to rolling around (doesn't mesh well with the game's grim dark, serious pretense). If not that, at the very least rolling should have drained your vigour and arguably as fast or faster than parrying which in addition to giving parrying 100% damage reduction might have given the game two viable different styles of defense instead of rolling being outright superior in every regard (it's free, avoids all damage, gets you into perfect position to backstab an enemy).
-Boss fights, aside from Letho they're just terrible (too arcadey, gimmicky, some are full of QTEs etc.). Kayran boss is the worst offender (not because I consider it hard or anything, I beat it on the first try), in the world of Witcher going against a dangerous monster without study, preparation and planning should get you killed, you're not supposed to wing it and succeed on blind luck (slice few tentacles then ride one of the remaining ones until the monster topples the architecture around it forming a natural stairway to its head so you can drop the bomb on it).
-Personal preference again but I believe that in some ways Witcher 2 would have benefited from ditching RPG pretense and being a full blown action/adventure game. Being forced to play as Geralt just doesn't lend itself to your usual "from zero to hero" RPG model especially considering that he regained most of his skills in the first game (and became a walking death machine by the end).
I may prefer FPP RPGs for a number of reasons, same with open world, VS story centric design.
It doesn't change that if I were to list three best cRPGs, there would be two isometric ones and one heavily story centric among them (the only one conforming to my general preferences would be Morrowind).
Fair enough, I'm guessing Fallout and PST (in addition to Morrowind)?
no longer works as sufficient rebuttal, and not shit enough to actually make reasonable poster's list.
