Open World games - Yay or Nay?

[Rudy]

Open world games are the push for everyone since they create a lot of content and activities although they can be pointless fetch quests. A true open world really hurts story telling because you don't know where the gamer is going to go (if you want a story based game).

This Polygon article argues that Bioware needs to stop making open world and just go back and focus on good story telling and let the game be shorter.

"There are also inherent weaknesses that every open-world game possesses. The more quests that clutter a map — navpoints, in Andromeda — the more likely a player is to view these entirely mechanically. I don't think "I'm going in this direction because of the strong narrative pull" so much as "I'm going in this direction because it's the nearest location that lets me clear these quests from my log." That’s not fun, that’s the strategy we use when vacuuming our rug."

http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/18/153...-world-bioware

[Rudy]

Obviously this will change based on the type of game and individual. Also I do think this can be a grey area. Tomb Raider and Shadow of Mordor had open world concepts but they didn't dominate. It was a nice mix at times without interrupting the story too much.

I enjoyed Dragon Age but this article is a perfect illustration of the problem with that game. It felt like you were really playing two games. The game kept you in certain areas by making enemies a certain level so you couldn't go there yet. There were a ton of fetch quests that really unnecessary. At the same time if you did explore you could find some good loot or find a Keep you could storm that had some pretty good fights. The problem was the cool stuff was drowned out by the repetitive fade rifts and you really did feel like you were trying to clear stuff off a to-do list. I think DAI would have really benefitted by being shorter and having longer side quests or cooler things you could stumble across.

I vote that Open world games are largely bad IF you want a story based game. It's too hard to do a good story in open world imo. Other games may not want a strong main story but just let you run around and check things out. I can see the strengths in that (Polygon refers to Skyrim and W3 in this respect). Probably an unfair poll question but I thought it would be interesting to read people's thoughts.

[bdoughty]

Define a story based game? It is a big reason I did not vote because there are so many variants on stories in game. Look at all the linear games getting more open, like Tomb Raider and Uncharted 4. You say fetch quests/fluff where more linear games use finding hidden trinkets. Tomb Raider dared to have you do both with the last game. Every game has "filler" but it is not a requirement. Some people simply love to explore and are collect.

I have played numerous open world games with a memorable story. Starting with Red Dead Redemption. Many people who played The Witcher 3 solely for the story. Afterall the series is made off a series of books. Sure Skyrim, Zelda BOTW and Fallout 4 do not have traditional stories because they branch out in a hundred different places along with having a main storyline. Not to mention that games like Fallout series which has numerous endings based on the decisions you make. Much tougher to write all these scenarios then it is a linear story. Also the freedom in many open world games allow the gamer to make their own stories within the game. Mods add to that even more. I played 3 story mods for Skyrim that were really well done.

You have the sandbox like Minecraft. People make their own stories out of scratch, share them on youtube etc. The Heavy Rain and Until Dawns, where the story is emphasized but there are gameplay functions and not always linear as exploration is emphasized in some of these. Then the Telltale games where it is story heavy with limited gameplay as choices are the priority. Walking Simulators, stories based on puzzles that are not limited to a linear setup in most cases. These are just a few off the top of my head.

If I am in the mood for a really good story, I turn off the console, boot up Netflix and watch a really good TV series.