In terms of development, or consumer level presentation?Open world does have it's difficulties ....
It is a dirty word in my mind. The model that has worked fine for so long has lost its luster. The lack of lively world mechanics is not a product of poor design, but a physical limitation. You're only given so much to work with. Only so much memory to cram words, textures and personalities into the scene.I certainly like a good open world game, but it has its fair share of problems. It's incredibly difficult to create open worlds that feel like alive; most just feel like hollow, lifeless expanses. It becomes an albatross around the game's neck, an annoying slog that needlessly drags out the experience. Open worlds can also make it all the more difficult to maintain the cohesiveness, direction, and pacing of a story in check.
"Linear" is all too often thrown around as a dirty word, and I think that's a mistake. It isn't less advanced or interesting than the (sometimes hollow) freedom an open world provides. Would The Walking Dead or Spec Ops: The Line's stories have been improved if you had to wander around between important scenes? I don't think so.
If developers can create meaningful open worlds, more power to them. If they're arbitrarily expanding the map size because that's the hip thing to do, however, then they're just shooting themselves in the foot.
I certainly like a good open world game, but it has its fair share of problems. It's incredibly difficult to create open worlds that feel like alive; most just feel like hollow, lifeless expanses. It becomes an albatross around the game's neck, an annoying slog that needlessly drags out the experience. Open worlds can also make it all the more difficult to maintain the cohesiveness, direction, and pacing of a story in check.
"Linear" is all too often thrown around as a dirty word, and I think that's a mistake. It isn't less advanced or interesting than the (sometimes hollow) freedom an open world provides. Would The Walking Dead or Spec Ops: The Line's stories have been improved if you had to wander around between important scenes? I don't think so.
If developers can create meaningful open worlds, more power to them. If they're arbitrarily expanding the map size because that's the hip thing to do, however, then they're just shooting themselves in the foot.
It is a dirty word in my mind. The model that has worked fine for so long has lost its luster.
The lack of lively world mechanics is not a product of poor design, but a physical limitation. You're only given so much to work with. Only so much memory to cram words, textures and personalities into the scene.
I see your point. Perhaps this is just me then. I think I've been addicted to getting as much out of my games as an MMO. Spending a lot of money on a game that will last me ten hours at most seems like a waste compared to the games that give me two hundred or more. Linear is just a turn off at this point since the key word to me is 'replayability'.Again, I wouldn't say that. Linearity isn't just a gameplay model - it's a narrative choice, a choice of scope. If you want a tight, concise story, for example, an open world is a needless distraction.
Just because we can have games with wide, expansive worlds doesn't mean every game should.
Not necessarily. Those limitations can have an impact, sure, but they're not the end all, be all. You can work within your limitations and still deliver a world that's still fun to engage in. An open world doesn't have to look lifelike to feel alive .
Rockstar, for example, is a developer that understands this. Even the PS2 GTA games offered cities with personality and flavor, filled to the brim with fun activities to engage in. Hell, some of my best memories from the games were just parking in a quiet section of the city and listening to the radio.
I see your point. Perhaps this is just me then. I think I've been addicted to getting as much out of my games as an MMO. Spending a lot of money on a game that will last me ten hours at most seems like a waste compared to the games that give me two hundred or more. Linear is just a turn off at this point since the key word to me is 'replayability'.