The Computer/Console Gaming Thread

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

So, I've been chatting with Kurdtthegoat about games and stuff as I usually do and he mentioned something that never pinged with me before.
Lately, I've been crackalacking on open world games. Not so long ago I finally finished Red Dead Redemption. Knocked off Arkham knight( I think this counts to a small extent), Just Cause 2 and am playing thought JC3 and have bought, but not yet played Shadow of Mordor. I'm also looking at nabbing Horizon ZD.

Kurdt brought up the prospect of being burnt out on open world games, as they are a time sink and I thought, that is a possibility. Until RDR, I had never actually finished one, despite playing GTA (VC and SA) a fair bit. However I guess that's a good thing about them. I feel like I can play them without having to finish the story. As long as I feel like I get my money's worth from running around causing my own hi-jinx, then I am fine to sell/trade/shelf it with no regrets.

It also got me thinking, is the sandbox/open world genre the new JRPG fad of times before?

[DELTAprime]

I tend to play open world games till there is nothing left to do unless I bounce off them early on. The only ones in recent years I started, got a long way in and never finished everything on the map are Shadow of Mordor, RotTR and Saints Row 4.

Shadow of Mordor was a matter of something else came along so I've now bought a Steam version and I've restarted it.

RotTR was the same issue and again I rebought it on Steam and I plan to restart it, tho I probably should have bought the Windows 10 version since I started on Xbox One, I assume I could bring my save game over since it'sd Xbox Live enabled on Win 10.

Saints Row 4 just didn't run well on Xbox 360. Since it's easy on console to get around Australian government censorship I rebought it on Xbox One and still are meaning to restart it.

I'm working through BotW, it's a little harder to complete everything since there is no achievements or GTA style stats page to track how you are going. I Googled to find out some basic things like how many shrines (120) and Korok seeds (900) but finding everything will require a guide which still seems like a work in progress for the sites like IGN that still do guides.

Dan Ryckert (Giant Bomb's reviewer for BotW) mentioned that he killed Calamity Ganon for his review and is now looking for shrines, seeds and side quest so maybe I should do the last two dungeons and kill Ganon then work on everything else.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I play open world games, but I don't think they're the gaming godsend some people make them out to be. I do recall a few years ago when the shine came off Call of Duty's linear gameplay and people were clamouring for open world games. If the game didn't have hours of mindless free roaming then it was linear garbage. Personally I really need my (single player) games to have a good narrative and I find open world games to break that narrative with all the side missions and random distractions.

[prjkt]

That's why I get a little burnt out on some games, never ended up finishing a GTA, still have Skyrim and the Fallout 4 DLC to complete, and probably the Witcher 3 also.

Semi-open world games like the Deus Ex and to an extent, the later Thief games, series solve this for me - you get plonked in a location with a few main missions and a bunch of side missions that you can complete as you see fit, but once you're done, there's no back tracking. Helps keep the pace of the game, and my (short) attention span satisfied.

[kup]

Yeah I agree, open world games are a time sink and easy to burn out on them since they can be fairly 'endless'. To fully explore one means dedicating countless hours/days and basically placing other games on backburners or simply missing out altogether.

I am now playing BOTW and it is a huge offender as not all activities can be tracked down. Some don't even figure as quests but rather things you do based on what you find. 'Levelling up' is also a challenge as it is basically doing the shrines to increase your hearts and stamina but to do so you need to trek accross the world which can literally take hours. So you can't fully prepare yourself to finish he main quest unless you have already invested a huge amount of time.

Previous Zelda games aside from the first, were basically linear events with trackable achievements. Games like GTA, Fallout and Elder Scroll games are open world but you can track your progress and literally achieve everything you can achieve. With BOTW it is much harder to follow a linear path.

One thing I give credit to BOTW and the Switch is that one no longer is confined to your home to play it. You can take it on the go so you can add play time while commuting etc which at this point, several other open world games don't offer so you get more chances to explore and finish the game to a satisfactory conclusion.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

In a way, I feel that many open world games kind of take the cheap route and include things just for giggles (not good giggles mind you). Like a game with a stealth section for example. Compare an OW game's stealth section with a game designed around the whole concept of stealth and I think you'll find the stealth game to be a more enjoyable experience (in the stealth aspect).

Like, nowadays, OW games are meant to be the jack of all trades of gaming. Red Dead is a good example here, there was a stealth kill option here (cutting throats with your knife), but aside from the tutorial section, I never-ever used it because it was too tricky to pull off/I couldn't remember how to do it/shooting stuff was just more fun.
But did they feel they had to include a stealth style attack in the game?
Compare that with Arkham series, where the main types of gameplay are the mass group fighting and stealth takedowns only. I'd say that Batman's 2 game mechanics are way more refined than Red Dead's multiple aspects.

Another comparison to make would be to compare OW with a more guided style of gameplay. For this example, I'd like to bring in Uncharted, a game I feel is rather enjoyable, but the player is very controlled by the design of the game. I think Uncharted has a tighter game mechanic because it is solely focused on the pre-determined journey.

Whereas the OW can try and have the same situation, but is unlikely to be able to pull it off because of the inclusion of too many mechanics, meaning more time would need to be spent on refining them, than on the world itself. So developers of OW games spend more time on the OW, would like to include many types of gameplay styles, but don't really refine any of them all that well, leading to a less impressive gaming experience.

If you see where I'm coming from.

Apologies for long post

[prjkt]

Then there're open world style games like the recent Farcry games and Assassin's Creed that are basically the same mini-activities all over again to achieve different weapons/bonuses etc.

At least the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series have a little more variety

[DELTAprime]

Then there're open world style games like the recent Farcry games and Assassin's Creed that are basically the same mini-activities all over again to achieve different weapons/bonuses etc.

Ubisoft has a formula they follow for all their open world games. As someone that has only played the Assassin's Creed series and the first Watch Dogs it's never bothered me, but when I've poked around Far Cry and The Crew it feels like Ubisoft has no original ideas.

They have gone a bit more original with their new snowboarding game which is open world, it's less about climbing towers and more about creating your own fun, which doesn't really too do well. A game should have it's own fun objectives in addition to having your own fun, not be a sandbox where the player is forced to get creative to have fun. Even a game like Minecraft that seems to have no objectives actually does and the player can work towards them.

[Gutsman Heavy]

I hate open world games that are a checklist of collectables/tasks, which is why I'm loving BotW so much, you need to explore to progress. Really feels like an adventure. I play the mini-map and other bits turned off and enjoy getting lost in the world.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Totally agree about Ubisoft's cookie cutter open world formula. Their games are virtually identical with "take base/activate tower/synchronise viewpoint to see side missions and collectibles". I just completed Assassins Creed Unity and that was only because I paid $9 for it. It'll be a long time before I pay full price for a Ubisoft game again.

I really enjoyed the original Crysis open world. Huge game area with a singular objective, which gave you various ways to approach your target.

IMO the best games achieve longevity through replayability, rather than cheap scavenger hunt / side mission mechanics.