General gaming discussion

Modern open world games are a bit much alright. A good comparison is Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2.

I played the first one until I found as many secrets as I could, I was left wanting more. For the second I was getting bored after Chapter 3, it just went on and on and on. Then there was the epilogue...

Yeah I loved RDR 1 but abandoned RDR 2 very, very early on. I remember having 15 mins to squeeze some gaming in and 5 was loading the damn thing and the other 10 was mashing the A button to get to the next "go here, do this, then go there do that" task That was the end of that.

Valhalla has been different in that I was really enjoying it, but it's just too damn long. A pallette cleanser is a good idea, but I know I'll never come back to it and it'll bug me.

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550100#Comment_118550100

Yeah. I really enjoyed Valhalla but by the end I was fast forwarding cut scenes, it went on waaaay too long and by the half way-point you can more or less hold your own against any enemy so the challenge was gone. I battled through but it felt more of a relief to be done with it than a joy of completion.

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118549380#Comment_118549380

I spent just over forty hours on FC6 before stopping playing it for good.

I used to be a fan of the open world Ubisoft games, but I am not so sure anymore. Bigger ain't always better.

SuperBowserWorld

I played BOTW twice.

Then RDR2.

Then GTA5.

Then Skyrim.

Then AC Odyssey.

In the past few years.

I've looked at horizon forbidden west gameplay and it looks stunning but I get an anxiety attack just thinking about playing it.

So even if I had a PS, I think I'm done with these huge open world games. Maybe when I'm retired ..

Total finger nails on blackboard grind burnout.

In my mind I think I'll go back to do side quests but ... Life is too short !!!!

Stuff like a link between worlds on 3ds had all the same levelling up, exploration, collection buzz without the huge time sink grind involved. Ditto for Deaths Door.

I have RDR1 and the Witcher 3 just sitting there but I can't bear starting them. 🙃🙃🙃

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551360#Comment_118551360

I have Zelda BOTW and The Witcher 3 started about three hours into TW3 and 4 or 5 into BOTW and stopped playing both about two years ago TW3 probably even longer ago. I have no interest in either of them. Don't ask me why. It's also the thoughts of having to put massive hours into them which is turning me off and BOTW weapons breaking climbing and running out of stamina really annoying features to be put in a game.

CastorTroy

The main problem I have with Open World games isn't the amount of stuff on the maps as it can be optional. It's when they use the size of the world to pad the game. Like "Here's a mission: First go to this point, then go to this point on the opposite side of the map, then back to this side of the map, before collecting these 3 items from the 4 edges of the map."

Zero-Cool

Especially about how you get around the map. Spiderman was extremely fun to get around but there became so much to do, I'd just go with fast travel anyway.

Then you have RDR 2 where it felt like the horse had to take a break every 20 seconds. Realistic? Yes? Fun in an open world game? Absolutely not. Infinite sprinting on horses would have made it much better to get around but still tough as that map was **** huge.

CastorTroy

Have also seen when trying to fast travel, getting the message that can't fast travel during missions.

Spider-Man is enjoyable to get from point A to Point B. Breath of the Wild's good in this way as well since can pretty much go in a straight line, climbing anything in the way and gliding down from it. Infamous and Prototype as well.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118552036#Comment_118552036

Then you have RDR 2 where it felt like the horse had to take a break every 20 seconds.

There was a button you pressed every so often to recuperate the horse so you could sprint infinitely. I forget which button it was as I haven't played it since I finished it around the launch of the game.

SuperBowserWorld

BOTW - "I don't want this game to end."

All the rest - "When is this game ever going to ******* end"

☺️☺️☺️☺️

BOTW - I'm bored. 😛

recyclops

Because I played the Witcher before botw that was the one I hold in highest regard all the AC games after it was released are a woeful attempt at mimicry.

Botw is Brill, except weapons breaking which is a woeful mechanic and also lack of variety in enemies.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118552362#Comment_118552362

The litmus test for me will be BOTW2. I played BOTW before the other open world games I listed above so that might be given it an unfair advantage for me. Even so, I think it was magical. I even got the DLC.

In the meantime I'm stuck on some boss on Deaths Door ... I hate when you're enjoying a game and flying along and you hit a brick wall like this. Time to find some hints and tips.

First open world game for me was probably Vice City? Breath of the Wild was really the first for some of you?

quokula

I thought BOTW was hugely overrated. The weapons breaking every five minutes, and having to basically stop and wait for the rain to end whenever you were climbing were such utterly stupid mechanics. But mainly I found the world and characters utterly uninteresting. I grew up with Sega stuff so Zelda holds no nostalgia value for me and I wonder if that's what's doing the heavy lifting for most people, because the story and characters are utter crap and there's just nothing there to make you care about the world in the slightest. I completely cheesed the ending too kind of unintentionally by getting thrown past most of the stuff on the way into the final boss. I think the only thing I really enjoyed in BOTW were the shrine puzzles.

I much prefer Assassin's Creed games which give you far more interesting worlds to explore and feature vastly superior writing and characterisation, and to be honest I prefer the satisfaction of figuring out patrol routes and stealthily taking out a whole area over any gameplay in BOTW too, though that's something that has taken more of a back seat in recent AC games unfortunately.

Witcher 3 and San Andreas are probably the two best open world games of all time for me, though they are very different games from completely different eras so almost impossible to compare.

pixelburp

Litmus test for me is: is it fun and engrossing just exploring the world? I haven't played it but Death Stranding always looked like it made travelling a game in of itself. BOTW and Skyrim both had that, albeit for different reasons. The former had environmental puzzles and a properly curated world map, while Skyrim may have been more slapdash, still had that sense of "what's over there?", rewarding you with a town or some admittedly interesting quest). Ubisoft don't seem to understand or care about that X factor, more concerned with Content than an Experience. RDR2 meanwhile, sounds like an endurance test.

petes

I tried The Witcher 3 before but gave up on it, currently trying it again but still seems very over complicated clunky, even moving the camera about.

Combat is the same as I remember it so far...

I'll keep going anyway but all signs so far are the reason I stopped playing it it the first place 😂

johnny_ultimate

I profoundly dislike the generic Ubisoft take on the open world genre (‘content above quality’ game design), but they did quietly release two of the best examples of the genre: the underplayed Grow Home and Grow Up. Two tight, focused exploration games designed entirely around physics and mechanics. A joy to play in all their fumbling glory.

https://youtu.be/uR-4ZoDo_yg

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118552735#Comment_118552735

I actually liked the weapons breaking, it made discovering new weapons worthwhile and I quickly found myself having loads of weapons to choose from. The rain was annoying but luckily it didn't happen that often.

Started Hollow knight for the first time last night, played it till 4am, brilliant so far. I've had the mentality lately of you have to give a new game a chance to get into it etc I'd actually forgotten that sometimes a game can just click with you straight away.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118552634#Comment_118552634

Yep, stopped gaming for years and then Nintendo. Only got Xbox over lockdown.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118554286#Comment_118554286

Ok, I think I understand why you like it so much.

CastorTroy

I played Vice City but didn't get far. The remote control helicopter in multi storey car park was bad enough but having to drive to that place every time I failed was very tedious considering I failed a lot. Also started working a hotel bar so less time. Never went back to it.

Jordan 199

Did any of you ever go bowling with Roman Bellic?

johnny_ultimate

IMO the rain in Breath of the Wild is a study in developers pursuing a design philosophy to its fullest. It's all physics and a world that can be as much of a pain in the hole as they are liberating, exploitable tools. Is it annoying when it rains? Of course, but it's the only thing that makes sense in terms of the basic gameplay tools and mechanics. To me, that's a very different sort of annoyance than, say, mindless filler designed solely to artificially buff a running time. If a design choice ends up being hostile towards the player in some way, that's a perfectly valid choice as long as it enhances the overall vision of the piece.

I think having just one blacksmith who can repair weapons in Hyrule would have made a huge difference.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118554911#Comment_118554911

I did a couple of times.

Cousin let's go bowling...

Don't tell me your back playing GTA IV your addicted to that game.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118554972#Comment_118554972

You guys are reminding me why I didn't like BOTW. I have memories of hanging onto the side of a cliff waiting for the rain to stop and yes it never stopped. I still eventually managed to climb the cliff even though it was raining. I forget how I managed it but it wasn't fun at all.

Ah Valhalla, wt-actual-f

Spoiler Warning

<spoiler>put one last slog in to finish it, but nope there's still more and they are making me grind out another 60ish xp to finish it.</spoiler>

On the topic of BOTW, I had a debate here a while back where people were claiming that the game had no map markers, and when I pointed out that the Divine Beasts quests had map markers, the claim was that those were the only ones.

I just switched on the game just to see where my last save even was, and every quest has map markers. Shrine quests, side quests, the lot.

🤷‍♂️