im seeing a lot of pushback these days against how many game franchises are becoming open world these days and it makes me a little sad because i love open world games. im living right now. i love self-direction and exploring and finding things and making my own path and uncovering mysteries. i want more of that, and i wanna make games that are like that, and it makes me a little scared that people are gonna balk at them
@typhlosion Honestly, there's going to be people that balk at popular things no matter what. Please don't let them dissuade you; people like open world games, your own interest is proof of that (and don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
@typhlosion Generally, I like open world games, but I've seen a lot of series that _weren't_ open-world but were instead tightly-scripted fairly linear games that told a specific story and did so very well, and then when they became open-world the writing took a big hit alongside that shift in game focus, and when that happens it's hard not to see the transition to open-world gameplay as being at least partially the cause. And at the same time, the shift to an open world format almost always includes the addition of new mechanics, and I'd almost always rather have a game with three core mechanics polished to 95% than a game with six mechanics polished to 80%.
If a franchise wants to start as an open world and improve over time, I'm here for it. If a franchise starts as something else and evolves into an open world over its franchises, I'm usually gonna be disappointed.
@typhlosion
The problem is less about open world games and more about populating open world games, I think.
The thrill of exploration is downright amazing, but so many seem to forget that you need to have interesting things to find in the world to keep it interesting.
Zelda does this really well, but real world settings, stuff like GTA, Assassin's Creed, et cetera, just end up coming off as samey and boring. One city block is the same as another.
@typhlosion That's what people were saying years ago, especially around ghost recon wildlands
Despite loving them myself I actually agree that we've been oversaturated with shallow open world stuff
@typhlosion I think it's really more that people are mad about checklisting and 'open world' is proving to be an ideological casualty of the discussion.
@typhlosion I completely get that. I think my problem is mostly with how trend-following tends to metaphorically suck up all the air in the room and leave nothing else. Like... okay, the previous big trend was Souls-like games, which aren't really my thing but I'm happy for people who like them. But then you get games like Tunic coming out, which I would absolutely love if they DIDN'T include so much Souls-like stuff which made the experience way worse for me. I dunno.
@typhlosion I think it's a mixture of factors causing the fatigue; it's hard to make an open world & other parts of the game tend to suffer if not get removed. A lot of games get what would otherwise be enjoyable parts spread out & repeated ad nauseum. Also most people want to get through most of a game which is hard when it's all big and spread out & also you have a job & chores. I like open worlds if they're there for a reason and the game is made around then but that's often just not the case
@typhlosion yeah I'm with you, I want more mew
but you make what you wanna make mew