Isn't that part of the main quest? Same as with the witches of crookback bog. I can't remember.
They overlap.
Side quests and main quests in Witcher 3 quite often overlap with each other, because the side quests of Witcher 3 are not just about random NPCs you meet (some of them are ) but are about your friends aka the side characters.
The Bloody Baron itself is a side quest to resolve, but it comes in the way of the main quest which is "Ask about Ciri in Velen"
2 Side quests overlap, Keria and the Baron.
Both are impressive in their own way, the Baron is a family drama/tragedy quests which overlaps with the main story and introduces you to Phillip Strenger, who then after the main quest is resolved you get to continue his final quest to seal his fate, and ofcourse in true Witcher 3 fashion, 70% of his fate is probably sealed way before that quest, since it tracks older choices too.
Keira quest overlap with the Wild Hunt encounter but then at the end the same happens and you get to do her the quest of the Towerful of Mice, which by the end of it you get 2 choices, one to impact the region of Velen and the other to impact Keir Metz fate.
It branches further to Novigrad where you get to see one consequence of your action OR Kaer Morhen which then can affect another side character fate, so in this one side quest you can indirectly impact 2 side characters.
The overlap of side and main quest has been CDPR special, since we can also see that in King's Gambit quests in Skellige, or Cabaret quest in Novigrad, ofcourse they are side quests objectively and can be ignored but they are so well integrated in the main quest that you dont feel like its a random filler content whatsoever, you feel its part of the story because it does what a side quest should do ( or at least should do if its fails to meet other requirements) and thats to be substantive.
Blood and Wine follows the same formula, after you defeat the Golyat you meet up with a person name
Guillaume, after you get introduced to him, he later offers you to join his side quest called Warble of Smitted Knight which takes you on an interesting detective/tournament quest, i personally loved it, and it has two major choices.
Cyberpunk 2077 does the same strategy regarding side quests, you get introduced to River, a cop/detective who is working on a case and after you get to meet him and know him, you become friends and you get the option to do a special side quest with him about a very interesting event. (won't spoil)
So to sum it up, CDPR quests are not like Bethesda where you get to play them your own way, instead they use different formulas and they nail it.
You said earlier that Yakuza is king of Side quests, well i pretty much disagree, in Yakuza i was playing for example as Majima going up to important meeting, when a girl stopped me along the road she wanted me to play boyfriend with her, not only that is so random and comes out of nowhere, it also doesnt make sense in the game world, it also isn't meaningful in any shape or form, its so lackluster in gameplay, story, development, choice and everything, since even if you nail it the end is the same, its just a filler waste of time. If i compare that to a village quest at Velen where Geralt walks by, reads a notice about a missing wife and starts to investigate, this leads to an interesting tale of betrayal and love, im referring to the quest about the werewolf, its true that from a gameplay point of view you do the regular Witcher job, you investigate with the senses, find clues and make decisions but everything that is happening, feels natural and logical and the content puts the player in tough positions, i can also refer to the Tomira quest in White Orchard, where you go there to do Alchemy business but by a chance you find a girl laying on the bed, almost dying, you ask about her and you get the backstory, if you choose to go further, you get offered a tough choice again, and the consequences of that choice won't appear to you straight after, instead you come back later to find she was taken somewhere else, to a Nilfgaardian camp, and you learn more about what happened later.
Thats what makes them praise worthy, the way they are integrated within the game, how they overlap with the main story, how they affect the world, its characters and the ending, the moral choices it asks the player and how it shows their consequences, the plot of their little stories, the cutscene quality that is almost on par with the main quest (cant say the same for most other games), how natural and plausible it all feels.
Thats why the game is praised for its side quests
The other 2 games in my top 3 are praised for different reasons, Oblivion and New Vegas, in the case of New Vegas you can refer to Beyond the Beef video on Youtube, since it does a far better job than i could ever do. And in the case of Oblivion its mostly the variety and how unique and cool the content is between each side quest.
But even games like Chrono Trigger imo is a great choice, it does flesh out its characters and gives you great rewards, in a way the side quests of Chrono Trigger is great for a JRPG.
If you want more content on that you can check out this video as it demonstrates the difference between the 2 viable approaches when making a side quest
