4 ms·

I hear this criticism a lot, I imagine it is different for everyone but what do you think is missing in comparison to other games? For me it feels alive but li

by ehnto 4y ago

I hear this criticism a lot, I imagine it is different for everyone but what do you think is missing in comparison to other games? For me it feels alive but like a diorama. You can't really interact with much, so once you stray from quests you really haven't got much to do. Obligatory mention to check if you have "HDD Mode" disabled, with it enabled it reduces the NPC and vehicle count and variety. The game is also huge with day/night cycles, so there are times and places that have few NPCs.

magicalhippo 4y ago
> For me it feels alive but like a diorama. This is one of the things that Oblivion and Skyrim did really well. You're just walking around randomly in a forest, see a small cabin, go to investigate, oh hmm some notes mentions a basement, but where? Oh there's a hidden door? Wut? A giant cave system, full with backstory notes of some guys trying to revive some old monster?! This happened to me like 15 minutes into the game, and I spent a good hour or more (lost track of time) exploring the caves and fought the monster at the end. You'd just stumble over these non-trivial quest locations, and for me that's something I've not really felt in other games. Almost all just confine you to the narrow path.
- selimthegrim 4y ago
  Many many shareware 90s games would like a word with you.
  - genewitch 4y ago
    which ones? I probably have a bunch of them on those "WAREZ" cds you could buy at trade shows.
- genewitch 4y ago
  Red Dead Redemption 2, at least single player, has this sort of vibe. you control the seasons by where you are on the main quest line; you can spend as long as you want exploring each area - multiple times over the seasons if you want. Very reminiscent of oblivion, if memory serves.
- ehnto 4y ago
  Fallout isn't quite as good as Skyrim was at it, but that is what I loved from those games too. Cyberpunk actually has a lot of good environmental storytelling moments just wandering the city, but they don't capitalize and turn them into self driven exploration, the stories don't go anywhere. An example might be the homeless thief living under the underpass near North Oak, there are two story beats, you find the first note suggesting where they live, then you find the spot and there is a second note, and that's it.
  - red-iron-pine 4y ago
    > Cyberpunk actually has a lot of good environmental storytelling moments just wandering the city, but they don't capitalize and turn them into self driven exploration, the stories don't go anywhere. One day I see GPT or the like running with this. Dream up a couple themes for the game, region, NPCs, all of which are unique to your game, and then let the AI take you for a ride based on those. Kinda like a DM of a D&D game running with a fun idea that wasn't planned but could be cool.
- trafficante 4y ago
  > You'd just stumble over these non-trivial quest locations, and for me that's something I've not really felt in other games. Almost all just confine you to the narrow path. It seems to be a casualty of the ever increasing time and expense needed to create a modern AAA game. Bethesda themselves are clearly suffering from this trap; their games are taking longer and longer to get released and get further “dumbed down” in each new title. I suspect this is one of the bigger contributing reasons for all the AAA studios going “games as a service”. One bright spot: the, uh, upcoming Zelda title will absolutely scratch some of this itch. Somebody at Big N really took that “huge beautiful world, but mostly empty” BotW criticism to heart and sunk six years into addressing it. It’s honestly unbelievable.
- pixelfarmer 4y ago
  I find it difficult to compare Oblivion or Skyrim to CP2077. I mean look even at the cities in Skyrim: It is a couple houses, maybe a palace, sewers and you are done. A single megabuilding in CP2077 houses more people than either game has in its entirety if you think about it. Also, I find it absolutely funny how people think "oh there is a door I want to go through it!" Then you notice that these doors are something like maintenance access doors, which are in the real world accessible and open to everyone ... not. So why would anyone with half a brain expect to go through every single door like that? That is just unrealistic on multiple levels. Now, about detail ... for example, you have various people playing guitar in that game and players looked at it more closely and they are really playing what you hear, i.e. it is just not random animation. The game is filled with this sort of detail that, unfortunately, quite a lot of players miss / don't recognize. Which also means a lot of work went into these things.
  - magicalhippo 4y ago
    Fair enough. I do recall some of those encounters in CP2077. But somehow the world still felt... sterile? Unengaging? For whatever reason, it wasn't feeling I got from Oblivion and Skyrim.
aflag 4y ago
I thought Zelda BoTW nailed it pretty well. Everywhere you go there's always something exciting to find.

by ehnto 4y ago

magicalhippo 4y ago

> For me it feels alive but like a diorama. This is one of the things that Oblivion and Skyrim did really well. You're just walking around randomly in a forest, see a small cabin, go to investigate, oh hmm some notes mentions a basement, but where? Oh there's a hidden door? Wut? A giant cave system, full with backstory notes of some guys trying to revive some old monster?! This happened to me like 15 minutes into the game, and I spent a good hour or more (lost track of time) exploring the caves and fought the monster at the end. You'd just stumble over these non-trivial quest locations, and for me that's something I've not really felt in other games. Almost all just confine you to the narrow path.

selimthegrim 4y ago
Many many shareware 90s games would like a word with you.
- genewitch 4y ago
  which ones? I probably have a bunch of them on those "WAREZ" cds you could buy at trade shows.
genewitch 4y ago
Red Dead Redemption 2, at least single player, has this sort of vibe. you control the seasons by where you are on the main quest line; you can spend as long as you want exploring each area - multiple times over the seasons if you want. Very reminiscent of oblivion, if memory serves.
ehnto 4y ago
Fallout isn't quite as good as Skyrim was at it, but that is what I loved from those games too. Cyberpunk actually has a lot of good environmental storytelling moments just wandering the city, but they don't capitalize and turn them into self driven exploration, the stories don't go anywhere. An example might be the homeless thief living under the underpass near North Oak, there are two story beats, you find the first note suggesting where they live, then you find the spot and there is a second note, and that's it.
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  > Cyberpunk actually has a lot of good environmental storytelling moments just wandering the city, but they don't capitalize and turn them into self driven exploration, the stories don't go anywhere. One day I see GPT or the like running with this. Dream up a couple themes for the game, region, NPCs, all of which are unique to your game, and then let the AI take you for a ride based on those. Kinda like a DM of a D&D game running with a fun idea that wasn't planned but could be cool.
trafficante 4y ago
> You'd just stumble over these non-trivial quest locations, and for me that's something I've not really felt in other games. Almost all just confine you to the narrow path. It seems to be a casualty of the ever increasing time and expense needed to create a modern AAA game. Bethesda themselves are clearly suffering from this trap; their games are taking longer and longer to get released and get further “dumbed down” in each new title. I suspect this is one of the bigger contributing reasons for all the AAA studios going “games as a service”. One bright spot: the, uh, upcoming Zelda title will absolutely scratch some of this itch. Somebody at Big N really took that “huge beautiful world, but mostly empty” BotW criticism to heart and sunk six years into addressing it. It’s honestly unbelievable.
pixelfarmer 4y ago
I find it difficult to compare Oblivion or Skyrim to CP2077. I mean look even at the cities in Skyrim: It is a couple houses, maybe a palace, sewers and you are done. A single megabuilding in CP2077 houses more people than either game has in its entirety if you think about it. Also, I find it absolutely funny how people think "oh there is a door I want to go through it!" Then you notice that these doors are something like maintenance access doors, which are in the real world accessible and open to everyone ... not. So why would anyone with half a brain expect to go through every single door like that? That is just unrealistic on multiple levels. Now, about detail ... for example, you have various people playing guitar in that game and players looked at it more closely and they are really playing what you hear, i.e. it is just not random animation. The game is filled with this sort of detail that, unfortunately, quite a lot of players miss / don't recognize. Which also means a lot of work went into these things.
- magicalhippo 4y ago
  Fair enough. I do recall some of those encounters in CP2077. But somehow the world still felt... sterile? Unengaging? For whatever reason, it wasn't feeling I got from Oblivion and Skyrim.

aflag 4y ago

I thought Zelda BoTW nailed it pretty well. Everywhere you go there's always something exciting to find.