Holy shit I just understood what bothered me about pokemon scarlet violet being open world, it doesn't give a recommended path the developer pulls you along, I had to open guides to play the game as intended because I hit a boss horribly underleveled. Super insightful as usual, thank you!
Without a doubt, you are making videos in a way that's more captivating than most. Covering interesting topics from a new perspective, your videos have me captivated. **plz continue popping up in my feed**
This video is particularly interesting for me because half a year ago I came up with the same observation. the game is open world by engine or genre, but it presents you this open world by giving you points of interest to lure you to places where the story takes you by the hand and guides you through the open terrain. This actually is the best way to present an open world, since the game gives you a path to follow but invites you to explore the world as you please while at it. This is what makes BotW and TotK stand out from boring open world titles.
I think that the one place that TOTK slipped up was that they didn't account for the possibility that someone would find all the geoglyphs (which are some of the most obvious things you see from the skyview towers) before finishing the first 4 dungeons. I did so by accident and desynced the story. Some alternate dialog for this case would have really contributed to immersion.
this reminds me of a quote from portal 2 that lampshades this very thing, fairly near the begining of the game your robot companion frees themself from their pathing rail and says something to the effect of 'this is great! no rail to tell us where to go, actually, where do we need to go? um, well, let's just follow the rail and see where it takes us' you might be able to go anywhere, but how much of a benefit is that actually providing you? and how many will just end up following the 'intended path' anyway...
I honestly love your vids! I love watching stuff about game design and you look at the games in such a different way than I have ever seen them which makes it so amazing and refreshing to watch :)
I would say that a lot of what you're saying with "You walk because you have legs, you run because you have stamina" is kinda sophistry. Like, that's ultimately true of life. Nothing can ever be truly, ultimately free. We are always bound by something or other. What you said after that was great though, it's great how the game has these kinds of linear adventures made into it. And in the event you do go off the beaten path, you'll actually run into the seams sometimes, as you approach an enemy encampment from the wrong side, and see a bunch of enemies looking the other way. or, if they're coded to look at you, they're looking at you from really weird, disadvantageous positions of what was clearly meant to be an ambush of some kind. It's rare but it does happen. That said, I do think that you are ultimately free. A suggestion of "hey maybe go this way" is just that, a suggestion. You are at any time free to go the other way, and many players do. Hell, it took me several hours to get the paraglider because I just... Went somewhere else. I think I went to hateno? The point is, you absolutely do have the freedom to carve out your own adventure. But at the same time, there will always be some linearity involved. You can't do the temples without the sages, you can't get autobuild without fighting khoga, so on and so forth. And that's ultimately a limitation we just accept because everything leading up to those linear parts are truly open.
Sophistry in what way? Yeah, it's pretty writing, but the point I am making *Is* that you are always restricted no matter what. You are unknowingly guided by the systems that dictate how you are allowed to engage with the world, just like in real life. Those systems might feel natural, like they couldn't have ever been any other way, but they are still placed there intentionally to serve some sort of outcome, in this case, to narrow down the probability of you doing something that would lead to you having an experience that the devs don't want you to have. Like I said in the video, it might feel like an asinine point to make, but it's important to recognize. Too often I see people talking about deliberate design choices as if they were inherent facts of the world, when they're intentional restrictions in service of an intentional experience. I wanted to sidestep that. Sorry for the long paragraphs, just wanted to clear up what i was trying to say with that, lol.
i've never had a proverbial mushroom; are they tasty? (the answer will be no, all mushrooms are disgusting) Also, you make making good, interesting, thought provoking videos look effortless. I am in genuine awe of your skill and hope you make lots and lots and lots of videos. Also, BOTW is better, don't @ me
This, and also, open world games make it more linear by difficulty, lets say you go straight to the castle (in botw haven't played totk) after the tutorial. you die. and fast. this is good, this early on, you will probably remember how hard the enemy's are, and so you will probably go somewhere else to get stronger, starting to playing the easier path, the intended one. and, when you do get stronger, it will feel good to defeat those enemies wich gave you trouble earlier.
Holy shit I just understood what bothered me about pokemon scarlet violet being open world, it doesn't give a recommended path the developer pulls you along, I had to open guides to play the game as intended because I hit a boss horribly underleveled.
Super insightful as usual, thank you!
Without a doubt, you are making videos in a way that's more captivating than most. Covering interesting topics from a new perspective, your videos have me captivated. **plz continue popping up in my feed**
This video is particularly interesting for me because half a year ago I came up with the same observation. the game is open world by engine or genre, but it presents you this open world by giving you points of interest to lure you to places where the story takes you by the hand and guides you through the open terrain. This actually is the best way to present an open world, since the game gives you a path to follow but invites you to explore the world as you please while at it. This is what makes BotW and TotK stand out from boring open world titles.
I think that the one place that TOTK slipped up was that they didn't account for the possibility that someone would find all the geoglyphs (which are some of the most obvious things you see from the skyview towers) before finishing the first 4 dungeons. I did so by accident and desynced the story. Some alternate dialog for this case would have really contributed to immersion.
this reminds me of a quote from portal 2 that lampshades this very thing, fairly near the begining of the game your robot companion frees themself from their pathing rail and says something to the effect of 'this is great! no rail to tell us where to go, actually, where do we need to go? um, well, let's just follow the rail and see where it takes us'
you might be able to go anywhere, but how much of a benefit is that actually providing you? and how many will just end up following the 'intended path' anyway...
I honestly love your vids! I love watching stuff about game design and you look at the games in such a different way than I have ever seen them which makes it so amazing and refreshing to watch :)
i came from the video that blew up
Such a fantastic episode, very happy I stumbled apon your channel, love your stuff keep on keeping on :)
I would say that a lot of what you're saying with "You walk because you have legs, you run because you have stamina" is kinda sophistry. Like, that's ultimately true of life. Nothing can ever be truly, ultimately free. We are always bound by something or other. What you said after that was great though, it's great how the game has these kinds of linear adventures made into it. And in the event you do go off the beaten path, you'll actually run into the seams sometimes, as you approach an enemy encampment from the wrong side, and see a bunch of enemies looking the other way. or, if they're coded to look at you, they're looking at you from really weird, disadvantageous positions of what was clearly meant to be an ambush of some kind. It's rare but it does happen.
That said, I do think that you are ultimately free. A suggestion of "hey maybe go this way" is just that, a suggestion. You are at any time free to go the other way, and many players do. Hell, it took me several hours to get the paraglider because I just... Went somewhere else. I think I went to hateno? The point is, you absolutely do have the freedom to carve out your own adventure. But at the same time, there will always be some linearity involved. You can't do the temples without the sages, you can't get autobuild without fighting khoga, so on and so forth. And that's ultimately a limitation we just accept because everything leading up to those linear parts are truly open.
Sophistry in what way? Yeah, it's pretty writing, but the point I am making *Is* that you are always restricted no matter what. You are unknowingly guided by the systems that dictate how you are allowed to engage with the world, just like in real life.
Those systems might feel natural, like they couldn't have ever been any other way, but they are still placed there intentionally to serve some sort of outcome, in this case, to narrow down the probability of you doing something that would lead to you having an experience that the devs don't want you to have.
Like I said in the video, it might feel like an asinine point to make, but it's important to recognize. Too often I see people talking about deliberate design choices as if they were inherent facts of the world, when they're intentional restrictions in service of an intentional experience. I wanted to sidestep that.
Sorry for the long paragraphs, just wanted to clear up what i was trying to say with that, lol.
i've never had a proverbial mushroom; are they tasty? (the answer will be no, all mushrooms are disgusting)
Also, you make making good, interesting, thought provoking videos look effortless. I am in genuine awe of your skill and hope you make lots and lots and lots of videos.
Also, BOTW is better, don't @ me
This,
and also, open world games make it more linear by difficulty,
lets say you go straight to the castle (in botw haven't played totk) after the tutorial.
you die.
and fast.
this is good,
this early on, you will probably remember how hard the enemy's are,
and so you will probably go somewhere else to get stronger,
starting to playing the easier path, the intended one.
and, when you do get stronger, it will feel good to defeat those enemies wich gave you trouble earlier.
your videos are amazing, please keep making them🖤
I like game design, I like the way you make the videos, just thought I'd tell u
Great video! I'm subscribed :)
pikmin!!!!!
Buy a steam deck and you can play elden ring on it!