Linear vs. Open-World Gameplay

How about sandbox type games, like The Sims? Those games don't have any goals, so unlike open-world games, you're not likely to get stuck or something.

I like having goals. And a definite endpoint. That's why I could never get into Animal Crossing.

I prefer story above everything and open world tends to be more of a time sink rather than having a focused goal. Most other RPG's I played will give you some sidequests that only amount to experience, items like weapons/armor or Your Reward Is Clothes. That gives me a really empty feeling when I've reached the end and wonder what the point was. In addition if character choice really matters then the narrative can get really vague to accommodate all the possible options. That's the reason one of the few RPG's I've ever gotten into is Mass Effect, because it gives you the option of random exploring but all missions and everything you do, small or large, has some connection to the overall narrative. Plus they've accounted for just about every possible choice so that the only vague comments are regarding Shepard's gender.

I've grown to feel that open-world is incredibly overrated.

When I look back on most of the open-world games I think about:

• doing my darndest to escape from helicopters in GTA or Hulk
• getting boxed in with the Supreme Hunter in Prototype
• Collecting 200 feathers so that Ezio can get a useless "kick me" sign
• Collecting some 300 Blast Shards in Empire City just to collect another 100-200 more in New Marais
• The Capital Wasteland phasing in and out of existence because Betheseda goes for a 'quantity over quality' approach to game design
• Getting frustrated because I have to trek halfway across a damn map to find a bandit cave with an ancient book in it, or getting sidetracked because some ancient goddess's pearly beacon can randomly spawn in any Skyrim dungeon
• Missing the songs playing during Red Dead's most dramatic moments because a coyote attacked or because I got off my horse at the wrong time
• Aggravating level caps in Saints Row that forced me to do the side quests just to earn enough "respect" to continue with the main quests
• My mission wheel getting cluttered in Arkham Knight because somebody thought it'd be fun to make the missions "unlock" later on in the main quest
• Finding invisible barriers or parts of the city, forest, or post-apocalyptic wasteland where the game simply says "no you can't go there."

I don't fault people for seeking the kind of thrills I got out of flinging Hulk or Alex Mercer between skyscrapers, or shoulder-checking cars, or spraying sewage across Stilwater, or slipping through groups of monks and artisans in Assassin's Creed, or just flying around in a wingsuit and taking on leopards in Far Cry, or just the sense of power and progression that games like infamous allow for.

But every time someone requests an "open world experience" the first list outweighs the second.

The only time a game has been too linear for me was Final Fantasy 13. But that game had several other problems beyond 2/3 of the game being one long hallway.

Edited by Soble on Sep 28th 2019 at 12:14:11 PM

I think that one of the very few open-world experiences that I've really liked as an open-world was, of all things, Ultima IX. I replayed it not too long ago, and was a little surprised I think to find myself enjoying it so much.

The world felt large—but not so large that I felt adrift. There were side-things to discover—but few that took the form of explicit side-quests. And those side-things were nicely varied: ice-floes that could be explored to discover an ice-dragon; an lone and unusual tomb holding a nice sword; a village of giants; a tower with a levitating mage and a scroll to learn from; and so on.

I felt like at every few steps I came upon some new thing that might divert me—but that wouldn't outstay its welcome. Indeed, some things seemed to just be present to give texture to the world—like a set of carven stone faces for which I never found an explanation.

Ultima IX isn't a perfect game, not by a long shot, I'd say. But it has an implementation of an "open world" that I actually found enjoyable and rewarding to explore.