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 I like these the most; they force the player to explore the world.

4 (40%)

They're pretty good. The exploration factor is definitely nice.

6 (60%)

Okay. I don't mind exploring the world.

0 (0%)

Not very good...I get way too lost and can't find my way.

0 (0%)

Super ridiculous! Where the hell am I supposed to go!?

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 10

[Koh]

Koh

Games That Just Dump You in the World.

How do you feel about these kinds of games? Obvious examples of this type of game are the first two Zelda games, the first Metroid, the first Final Fantasy, etc.

I definitely prefer this method actually. The story can still be present without it roadblocking you into single areas. And also, this lets you travel all over, find out where you can and can't go at the moment, and use your MIND. Because you have to THINK about which route you need to take to move on. Any game that railroads you the entire game doesn't require thinking about this, because they tell you exactly where to go, or lock you in that general direction where the other paths are blocked off by something ridiculous, like a sleeping old man. Why not just go around the old !@#$%?

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[BlazeBigBang]

BlazeBigBang

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

I kind of like this games. You have to make your own way through the world, though I sometimes get lost  . For example, in Chrono Trigger you have the map, and you can go wherever you want, but to proceed in the story, you must go to certain places. I prefer this kind of games, that make you explore for sidequests, like getting information about the past of some characters, or so. Games that make you go in a one-way trip, is kind of boring.

[Koh]

Koh

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

I kind of like this games. You have to make your own way through the world, though I sometimes get lost  . For example, in Chrono Trigger you have the map, and you can go wherever you want, but to proceed in the story, you must go to certain places. I prefer this kind of games, that make you explore for sidequests, like getting information about the past of some characters, or so. Games that make you go in a one-way trip, is kind of boring.

I agree with this.  When there's one way and only one way to complete a game that's supposed to be about exploration, it kinda defeats the purpose.

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[Wasabi]

Wasabi

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

I think it really depends on how much interaction you have with the world as a player. A game like minecraft or terraria where you build the world yourself (combined with other factors such as random world generation, lack of story objectives) is suited quite well to the whole dumping technique. Personally I wouldn't want it any other way.
Other games like the elder scrolls/fallout series, while having an initial introduction into the main quest basically thrust you out to explore and interact, although the interaction here is not so much with shaping the world but interacting with its inhabitants. The only thing that goes wrong here for me is I haven't completed the main quest for a single one of these games simply because I end up doing my own thing , and I guess I could be missing out on a great experience, or maybe what I make of the game myself is more rewarding.

I think too many games nowdays handhold the player for far too long, especially those that expect you to follow a linear story. I usually find myself getting less enjoyment out of these simply because most of the stories don't capture my attention and I find myself leaning towards games that aren't so restrictive. It definitely works for some games, but I don't think I can even think of one off the top of my head as an example of one that I played and enjoyed.

Your community is a bunch of stuck up turds.

[Zhello]

Zhello

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

I kind of like this games. You have to make your own way through the world, though I sometimes get lost  . For example, in Chrono Trigger you have the map, and you can go wherever you want, but to proceed in the story, you must go to certain places. I prefer this kind of games, that make you explore for sidequests, like getting information about the past of some characters, or so. Games that make you go in a one-way trip, is kind of boring.

Seconded. I like to figure stuff out myself, what I liked about the first Zelda was that you can go anywhere and do the dungeons in any order, and or get some items as well.

As for Chrono Trigger, I do think it is like that much, however, when I lost the time machine and the warps got sealed away, I did find myself kinda lost, that is when the finding things out part comes along

But in comparison to CT, FF3/6 was kinda like that.

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[hawthorneluke]

hawthorneluke

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

Like Dark光 said, with games like minecraft for example that just let you have fun in the fictional world, that don't require any story or anything, it works fine. As for games that do want a story, suddenly appearing in that world makes no sense to me. If that does happen, that game better play to why I'm suddenly in this world and so on. What am I? Some other being from another world suddenly appearing in this one with no memory? (Well, technically being the player of the game in control of the main character, I guess you are lol)
Again, with games like minecraft, this doesn't bother me one bit. It works fine like this. With games that do have a story though, this makes no sense to me and is a hole in the story, unless it is eventually filled in.

この世に悪があるとすれば、それは人の心だ

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[FISSURE]

FISSURE

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

Dark Souls?

[Kleaver]

Kleaver

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

The first time I played Elder Scrolls Oblivion really put me off. I was like...WTF this world is too big! What am I supposed to do O_o

But I love the concept now.

[Lunar]

Lunar

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

Dark Souls?

I just finished my third playthrough of Dark Souls and I was about to post this.

You really are just dropped into this strange world and left with only your own wits to figure out what to do.

sup

[Max.]

Max.

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

I think most people (particularly those people who like Zelda, which is... all of us.) like exploring and being allowed the freedom to do that. However, from a game design point of view and something that bothers me occasionally is this- when you're allowed to explore freely, you might immediately wander off to some obscure corner of the world to see what you can see, then realize you can't do anything there yet or are too weak to go there and it's actually boring because of this. You have to walk (and you walk slowly because this is the beginning of the game and you don't have a horse or car or teleport powers yet) all the way back to where you were to continue the story.

What is a way to remedy this? When I work on games, I want to allow a player to wander wherever they want, but some areas are obviously for later in the game, because they utilize mechanics from earlier. But how can you keep a player from walking a long way into one of these places, which is fun exploring, but then having a boring walk back after realizing they can't do anything over there yet?

[Starforsaken101]

Starforsaken101

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

I think most people (particularly those people who like Zelda, which is... all of us.) like exploring and being allowed the freedom to do that. However, from a game design point of view and something that bothers me occasionally is this- when you're allowed to explore freely, you might immediately wander off to some obscure corner of the world to see what you can see, then realize you can't do anything there yet or are too weak to go there and it's actually boring because of this. You have to walk (and you walk slowly because this is the beginning of the game and you don't have a horse or car or teleport powers yet) all the way back to where you were to continue the story.

What is a way to remedy this? When I work on games, I want to allow a player to wander wherever they want, but some areas are obviously for later in the game, because they utilize mechanics from earlier. But how can you keep a player from walking a long way into one of these places, which is fun exploring, but then having a boring walk back after realizing they can't do anything over there yet?

A waypoint system would work in this case. In Guild Wars 2, the player can discover waypoints all across the map and they usually pinpoint key areas in the game. You could do something like that. The player discovers an area that is either too high level or is blocked because you do not have an item, and can easily teleport back to a waypoint they discovered earlier.

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[thestig]

thestig

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

It definitely depends on the type of game in how much the player is just thrown into the environment. But even a game like Metroid introduces the story before throwing the player into gameplay. Anyone remember Super Metroid? There was a 3 or so minute long intro sequence before the game even starts.

I like the idea of throwing the player into an environment so they explore.. but I feel that there has to be dialogue with that.. otherwise the player will just get bored and frustrated because there's no sense of direction.

Getting into Star's point about the waypoint system, that's sort of like how Metroid prevents people from exploring into too deep areas by requiring certain abilities to get around. I think the compromise GuildWars 2 made is a decent approach, but does this make the game too easy at all or what? I'd say it isn't a bad idea.. hrm.

[Starforsaken101]

Starforsaken101

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

It definitely depends on the type of game in how much the player is just thrown into the environment. But even a game like Metroid introduces the story before throwing the player into gameplay. Anyone remember Super Metroid? There was a 3 or so minute long intro sequence before the game even starts.

I like the idea of throwing the player into an environment so they explore.. but I feel that there has to be dialogue with that.. otherwise the player will just get bored and frustrated because there's no sense of direction.

Getting into Star's point about the waypoint system, that's sort of like how Metroid prevents people from exploring into too deep areas by requiring certain abilities to get around. I think the compromise GuildWars 2 made is a decent approach, but does this make the game too easy at all or what? I'd say it isn't a bad idea.. hrm.

Well, you have to keep in mind that GW2 is an MMO and that the world is going to be accessed by everyone anyway. The thing preventing people from questing in certain areas is the level cap. So yeah, a waypoint system works in this case. There's fog of war in the areas you haven't discovered. Scouts usually help out in targeting what quests are around and you can check the level, but sometimes I just really like derping around and discovering the map. If I see mobs that are of higher level than me, I usually try and discover the waypoint around and then warp back to an earlier zone. But this is an MMO. Kingdoms of Amalur worked sort of the same way, and same with Skyrim's quick-travel feature. However, Skyrim mobs scale with your level so it's not entirely the end of the world; although if you bump into a dragon priest and you're like, level 5, then !@#$% that quick travel out of there asap.

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[thestig]

thestig

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

Very valid points!

Also I never played Skyrim, though that is interesting.. scaling-level mobs. How about quest-related mobs do they scale too or no?

[Moldrill]

Moldrill

Re: Games That Just Dump You in the World.

Love getting dumped into a world. Cave Story just has you waking up in a cave, there's a random cut-scene but it seems entirely unrelated to your little dude waking up in a cave. It's fun because you are wondering what's going on, the small cut-scene showed you there is a plot and main story, but at the moment you really aren't a part of it. Just a random guy waking up in a cave, and you explore until you're thrown more into the story.