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I dont think Minecraft would do too well being linear.
Minecraft: Story Mode was actually pretty popular. It was basically a story-rich RPG set in a Minecraft world.
Maybe, but it was nowhere near as popular as plain Minecraft. The sales numbers alone can attest to that, plus the fact there hasn’t been a sequel should be all the proof you need to say that a linear minecraft wouldn’t do too well.
It would be nice with some kind of linear quest in minecraft.
However if they were procedurally generated, I’d lose interest. That’s just another layer of grinding.
Open world =/= giant map
Take resident evil games, Control, Batman. Some larger maps than others, but the key is open. Most of the map or level is available to you to explore how you like, with a linear story guiding you through as well, and then progression opens smaller locked areas and new levels.
I play Fallout 4 like Sims with guns.
Also, mods.
Breath of the wild and jet island were able to create this feeling of curiosity where I’d go “huh, that think in the distance looks cool, let’s check it out!” and then, as I was checking it out, it turned out it is relevant to story and progression and also very cool.
Star Wars Galaxy’s was a great open world game.
I think Elden Ring is excellent for being open world. People often criticize the open world aspect because the crafting system is kinda dumb, the caves are samey and don’t offer much in terms of benefits or exciting stuff. It’s also hard to find quests and easy to miss them (on top of the bullshit story telling of Souls). And experienced people often just basically do a boss rush where they run from boss to boss. But I actually think it’s excellent and brilliant game design.
I absolutely loved the feeling of having an entire world to explore. The world did actually feel alive for me, with people and stuff everywhere. Different biomes and decent enemy variety (even though there are plenty of repeats). Looking for quests, exploring caves and doing it all felt like fun. Even though I didn’t engage with the crafting much (I did do a bow and consumables challenge run once, but I stuck to just a few kinds of pots and arrows throughout). I felt for me personally it added to the experience.
But in terms of game design it’s a huge step forward. With the older games if you got hard stuck on a boss, that was it. You could go grind the previous level if you were really desperate, but that was about it. Especially for new people, this often meant they didn’t finish the game. A lot of them didn’t even make it past the tutorial boss. With a community telling them to Git Gud, people would assume the games weren’t for them and quit. Which is a shame, because the games are good and worth playing imho. With the open world aspect, there’s no rush to beat a boss. You can go explore, level up, find better weapons and better armor. And with the way the world is laid out, you can go pretty far without ever beating a single boss. Then come back later and beat the boss, maybe a bit over leveled, but that’s fine. If you want the challenge, it’s there, but if you are just a casual gamer looking for a fun time, it’s there as well.
It’s not all upsides tho, as people can also easily get lost and feel like they don’t know where to go. Or miss entire areas because they were following the main quest. So not all rainbow and sunshine, but overall a positive aspect.
The open world also makes for an excellent randomizer, I’ve been absolutely addicted to Elden Ring Rando. So much fun!
I found that the rewards were almost always meaningful. Even if it wasn’t a weapon or a spell I could use, it was always something unique that I totally could build around.
Elden Ring’s open world was so good that it retroactively made BotW look like shit to me.
I like a game world that’s just fun to be in even when I’m not advancing the story. Taking a break to explore is awesome, and much easier in an open world.
This is what witcher 3 did best imo.
It’s open world, and it feels large… But it’s not actually that large when you think about it.
And the side areas are so rich and dense that you can do quests from a random hub, some that chain on for quite a while… And then realise this whole time that you haven’t actually done any of the main story.
I was excited to learn more about certain monsters in the bestiary, what oils and elements they were weak to etc.
I’m not sure that it’s *better*, but it’s hilarious when you go off and do all the side quests and end up completely over powered by the time you get round to the main quest and just beat the shit out of the main bad guy without realizing that they’re important.
Big bad: “so you have finally come to meet your doo-”
Competitionist: *drops bag of loot on boss, crushing all his bones*
That’s why you scale the enemies to the players armour and level!
Imagine scaling enemies by actual player skill needed to defeat them, instead of just ‘my number more big than your number’.
I disagree. I hate when games do this, particularly open world ones. The point of going to find loot and stuff is that it benefits you. If there is no benefit then the game shouldn’t give you the option. Those games should be linear, because they’re trying to make a linear experience out of something non-linear.
If I’m struggling, I want to be able to leave and come back stronger. Even if I wasn’t, I want to come back and feel that I’ve gained power with the time I spent. If I don’t, I know I’m wasting my time.
That’s what Elden Ring really did well imo. The game sort of guides you towards Margit at the start, but he completely destroys newcomers, which causes them to explore the map more and discover more content in the intro areas. By the time they’ve done most of the interesting stuff in the first couple areas and go back to Margit, he’s far more balanced to fight. Still not a pushover but far more reasonable to fight and no longer frustrating.
Yep, and, if you’re paying attention and thoroughly exploring, you can actually go around the castle and totally avoid him. You can get incredibly strong before fighting him. It makes you feel like you’re actually progressing.
I’ve only skipped him once because Stormveil Castle is an excellent dungeon but it’s cool I have the option if I want to.
Yeah, it shouldn’t be skipped, but it’s cool that it can be. It’s good for challenge runs, or bjngo.
I’d love to do ER bingo sometime. Looks like a lot of fun.
Honestly I really don’t like that in most open world games, mostly cause enemy levels tend to make it feel like I’m just as powerful at lvl 1 as at lvl 40. Bethesda games post Morrowind are particularly bad about this IMO, not to say you can’t have leveled shit just don’t do it to all the enemies, do it like NV where some enemies are leveled but most are flat preset levels.
I hate it too, but I don’t think it was that bad in Skyrim or Fallout 4. Mostly just Oblivion that dropped the ball on this.
Nah it was also pretty miserable in Fallout 4, though in that particular case it was moreso due to issues of bullet sponges rather than damage dealt. But Fallout 4 is also probably the worst of the 3D games IMO, especially when it comes to enemy health.
Worse than Fallout 76?
Unironically yes, the leveled areas in 76 are quite a bit easier to deal with. Also I really fucken hate the settlement system.
Fair, the settlement system is annoying. I also hate everything about MMOs, though, and IMO it’s diametrically opposed to everything that made Bethesda games good. And that’s before we get into how much of a mess the release was …
That’s so fucking lazy by the gamedesigner, and takes away all the fun too IMO.
Being able to fuck around can be fun. A linear Elder Scrolls (morrowind, oblivion, skyrim) would be boring
GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas. Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3 (yes), New Vegas. Elden Ring. Subnautica.
Try making San Andreas linear and you would instantly destroy one of the best games ever made.
On the other hand later GTAs didn’t embrace the open worlds for which the series is known. Once you start a mission the games turn extremely linear without giving the player options.
Very true! I remember in GTA3, some missions could be done in different ways, if you already knew what would happen.
The benefit is the experience. The difference in experiences comes down to the level design. Are you in a maze or in a field?
The best game designs masks this in both scenarios.
The well designed linear game doesn’t always feel like a maze, and has sections that feel like fields between mazes.
The well designed open world game contains mazes that you discover in a field that feels roped off into clearly defined sections that differ from each other and contain large landmarks to orient and draw you in.
Both feel bad if they don’t include (at least the illusion of) the other. A linear game is boring without any choice. An open world game is boring without linear moments.
I’m certain nearly 25% of my crimson desert playtime is climbing mountains for fun then flying back down
Yes. Many. Stop playing Ubisoft checklist simulators.
NFSU2
Outer wilds is the only true open world game since you are exploring a whole (kind of miniature) solar system and you can just fly in one direction forever (kind of). And it’s open worldness is integral part of the gameplay. There is literally no story arch (except the ending), you are just exploring.
When progression is properly controlled such as in fallout: new vegas or hollow knight, then a larger map can do wonders
