Coming Around on Open-World Gaming

by Christopher Quach, COMMUNITY WRITER

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Editor's note: While I'm glad to see Christopher coming around on the open-world genre, I almost feel like developers need to change their approach and give us a reason to play through the main story. I've talked with so many people who had tons of fun with the side missions in Grand Theft Auto IV but couldn't bring themselves to actually advance the story -- the disconnect between the side missions and Niko's tale was just too great. -Fitch

I wasn't always a big fan of open-world gaming; I mistakenly felt the open-world experience was about little distractions that stretched a game out to make it feel "bigger" than it actually was.

I've always been partial to story-driven titles instead. In my eyes, the "open world" took the story and cut it into thousands of tiny pieces, scattering it randomly across the vast space of the game -- simply prolonging the experience instead of actually adding to it.

I got frustrated with having to track great distances to advance the main story. Go To town A, complete mission -- discover the next puzzle piece is in Town B, which happens to be on the other side of the map.

Worst-case scenario? Entering a world where you could just go...but go where? I kept getting frustrated by the lack of pacing and story progress, and I didn't understand how all the missions fit into the plot. I interpreted the open-world genre as stretching a game to make it seem "bigger" and "better" than it really was. What I failed to see was how a good-open world mechanic added depth to the experience.

What I've come to realize with open-world gaming is that I needed to change my mindset from "Where do I go now?" to "I wonder where that will take me to..."

In light of this new mindset, I've recently purchased a few games with open-world mechanics -- Far Cry 2, Oblivion, and Fallout 3, to name a few. And I've learned that by exploring open-world games -- and getting sidetracked by the missions -- is really the whole point. It adds context to the world and overall story, immersing me in the experience.

GTA IV's side missions gave me a broader glimpse into the fictional world of Liberty City.

By helping out individuals in Oblivion, I made allies and gained special items I would never have found in the main plot. More importantly, it took me into a "world" within the world of Oblivion.

In the end, I realize I don't have to do any of the missions. But what do I gain by saying no?

Sure, it took me a while to appreciate open-world gaming, but now that I'm starting to understand it, I've come to relish the opportunity of prolonging my gaming experience by moving off the beaten path.

Tags: Open World, side missions

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Rachel Jagielski

October 26, 2009

I felt the same way about open world games, I couldn't see how I could get immersed in a story without a clear path. Then I started playing Oblivion, which like you, I still haven't finish but don't feel that I've really missed anything.

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Lance Darnell

October 27, 2009

Open-world games are da bomb!!! ;D Seriously though, I am playing Fallout 3 right now - literally, the game is paused - and it is like visiting another planet in its depth. I find myself just wandering in different directions, looking for things to find. I still have not found the UFO in Fallout 3!!! Oh, and Oblivion is amazing as well. And I am glad open-world games have turned you to the dark side, Christopher!!!

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Christopher Quach

October 27, 2009

@ Rachel, you know exactly how I feel! It's a wonderful moment to feel a sense of enjoyment that that comes from exploring the world rather than the story :) @ Lance, I know what you mean about fallout 3 - I walk around wanting to talk to people to find out more about them and the place - I've also found a place where the slaves are brought to and sold (I think it's called paradise falls). I tried to go in busting them out but got my butt served back to me on a plate! so I've decided to level up and get some kick ass weapons so I can go back to give them a big dose of pain! I can't believe there's a ufo to be found?!!! Awesome! :D

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Chris "Cosmo" Ross

November 05, 2009

I think it really depends on the game, actually. If you're given a ton of stuff to do [i]on top of[/i] a strong narrative, then the freedom can be really fun. Dabble in this, check out that, then on with the main story! Of course, this is my own personal opinion. :) Glad you figured out a different approach to enjoying those type of games. Good write-up!

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Tom Heistuman

November 06, 2009

@Christopher Yes, there's a UFO, but it was a more special discovery before they put out the Mothership Zeta DLC. I haven't played the game in a year but it was on my way to that one town where the crazy guy created his own "Union" with his followers holding an election that you kinda participate in. While walking along the road your radio picks up a faint alien-static signal and you triangulate it to the source.

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Nathan Andrews

November 07, 2009

I felt a bit overwhelmed when I left the prison at the beginning of Oblivion. My mind was literally like this: "Should I head into town and meet some people? Maybe pick up some quests? No, I should go find a cave and see what I can find. But what if I die? No, I need to go find some armor. Perhaps I should do the main quest to advance in the story. But wait, if I do that, I might get caught up in it and go through the game too quickly! AGH!"

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Tom Heistuman

November 07, 2009

@Nathan I had the same problem. I eventually just started wandering around doing everything BUT the main quest. I was given a horse by some monk and told to go find some prince to advance the story and instead I said, "free horse!" and off I went!

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Christopher Quach

November 07, 2009

@ Tom, thanks for the heads up on the UFO, I'll have a search and hopefully I'll find it ;D I know where the crazy 'union' guy is so I can't be too far @ nathan, I know exactly what you mean! I still haven't finished Oblivion and when I look at the open world games, I can see Fitch's point - all these goodies on the side may actually pull the player away from the story. Certainly in regards to Oblivion, I have found that the side missions helped me level up and acquire special items that would help me with the the missions in the main plot. @ Cosmo I agree with you completely - I found some open world games used the side plots to help the player achieve missions in the main plot, whilst others were simply thrown in to make the game "bigger". what blows my mind away is how much work the developers must have put into a good Open world game to make every element relevant and cohesive.

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Tom Heistuman

November 07, 2009

@Christopher To be clear (it was a long time ago) I think I was heading North of Minefield. I might've passed or been heading to a Vault (that turned out to be deserted?) on the way to that settlement. The crash site has an alien blaster that is BAD! ASS! So hold on to it. Good luck!

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Jonathan Betonio

November 07, 2009

First off, I love open world elements, and heck even a nice open environment makes a good toy even if it doesn't have much gameplay. @christopher, nathan: I think the main issue from Bethesda's open world rpgs are they put maybe *too* much freedom to move within them, to the point of needing a little getting used to by gamers not used to Bethesda's design. It's really a game genre issue, because few other game genres let you literally go anywhere from the get-go, let alone an RPG! With people possibly used to traveling zone to zone penned in by mob levels and quest pre-requirements, Bethesda's design to intentionally scale mobs everywhere according to player level gives the player freedom to explore without fearing much for their virtual lives. The problem there is 1) players have to learn to accept that, yes, the usual mob level prison bars are gone, 2) players have to either accept the freedom to go wherever or manage their own experience of the game and the order they do quests (especially with Bethesda's quest rewards scaled to the character level they were done at, and 3) if you think beyond the 4th wall, and seeing the metagame as a player instead of as the player character, Bethesda's design seems too fantastic to be believable in that wherever you go you always encounter enemies appropriate to your level. Possibly another "problem" with Bethesda's design: if you actually do all the side quests first, like I did, you end up hitting level cap early (Fallout anyway), and the game turns into a near FPS, but hey, that's what the console setlevel command was for, to keep that leveling mechanic alive for me, hehe. With Oblivion, the problem was the fairly unusual leveling through skill use mechanic, which also had some complicated rules to game if you're a min-maxer who didn't want to outright cheat. So I guess I would sum up that Bethesda's open-world RPG "problems" don't come from the open-worldness itself, but in how they implement them, especially since Bethesda's designers like to experiment with the real guts of a gameplay genre.

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Jonathan Betonio

November 07, 2009

@christopher: Some games that I've played and really liked for at least the open-worldness: -Oblivion, Fallout 3 -GTA San Andreas (I still cannot get into GTA IV, but I suppose San Andreas is probably too fantastically random in the side missions for someone who much preferred the narrative drama of GTA IV, which I was not looking for at all actually, although I haven't multiplayered yet) -Mercenaries (1) (haven't played 2 yet, but both titles are probably rentals if I remember how long it took to really do and see everything) -Assassin's Creed (really looking forward to 2; a lot of reviews talk about repetitiveness, and I can see that, but the game could at least be rentable just to experience the visual design and the parkour/freerunning movement through the city streets, rooftops, and through people on the street and enemies) -Dead Rising (waiting for 2 also): the game may not strike as an open world design, but it's actually pretty big and freeform to explore. -Borderlands: low priority for open-worldness, the mission structure is more linear, but it's a fun timewaster to just go all over the world at the highest levels and just murderize anything that moves, especially since mobs respawn.

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Jonathan Betonio

November 07, 2009

@christopher: I just realized I should probably qualify my definition of open-world game design, because I get the feeling mine is different from what I see tossed about online. I think of games in terms of genres, or collections of medium product design decisions that show up frequently enough together that it'd be worth giving them a name. "Open world" would be such a name that I can tag the games I listed with (although the tag only informs a portion, but not the whole of the games' designs). My open world game list share the following qualities: 1) expansive level layouts compared to your avatar's ability to explore them 2) gameplay that typically encourages exploration of the levels by sending you from one place and its vistas to another (and the well-thought out open-world game will put a lot of emphasis on graphical art detail) 3) gameplay that gives your avatar an interesting way to traverse the environment (by car, freerunning, etc) 4) and obstacles, both statically built into the levels, passive moving obstacles like passerby citizens/cars, and actively moving obstacles like enemies that pursue you or that you have to pursue or otherwise maneuver around. It's a pretty short list, and I suppose that pretty much includes good 3d platformers like Mario 64, and probably even early prototypes like the 2d Metroid games, which I also love probably for the same reason.

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Brian Shirk

November 08, 2009

I actually felt that same way about open world games. I plan on giving Oblivion another chance, and I would still like to try out Fallout 3, but so far I haven't been that impressed with open world games. Anyway, I think I could benefit from changing my mindset towards these types of games as well. Nice piece, Christopher. @Andrew- I can't believe you didn't like the main story of GTAIV. That was my favorite part, and the only reason I spent a significant amount of time with it unlike the previous Grand Theft Autos.

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Christopher Quach

November 08, 2009

@ jon, thanks for your insights - I didn't even consider looking at how open world games dealt with transport etc. I really like the comments - you should consider turning these ideas into a post! @ brian, thanks for the comment :D definitely revisit Oblivion and any other open world games you might have in the collection, you never know what you mind find ;)

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Jonathan Betonio

November 10, 2009

@christopher: I'm a reluctant long-format writer, I tangent when I can and haven't built up a discipline to clean things up. I'd refer you to my first bitmob post, but I don't want to put that experience on anyone... Anyway, as for open world travel: I actually don't like fast travel too much. I like having it as an option, but I think you get a little more mileage and believability from a game if you slog from the farthest point of the map to another and fight, evade, or do any encounters on the way. The only reason I'd use it for Bethesda games is that I'm also a pack rat scavenger and end up with way more stuff than I can carry even if 90% is junk. Which is why I console modded my Fallout PC version to let me have ridiculous carrying capacity, so I can simply slow-travel from location to location, and really wander the wastes without returning to my game house for weeks or months of game time. Although, Borderlands fast travel does make sense in-game, and the story is so casual next to the action and loot-seeking, and enemies become too easy to beat, that to not fast travel feels like a betrayal of the game's design (spoiler: until level cap, when all enemies everywhere (and their loot drops) scale to your level). Maybe it's part of a habit learned from GTA games too, of the enjoyment of simply traveling around, even if it's to redo a failed mission the 10th time.