You can change a lot more and have it be more manageable this way, have that complex plot that wiggles with the player. I'm thinking of the overworlds of games like Super Mario World or Star Fox 64, but more modern and involved. With this basic containment comes a lot more creative control over the experiences. Maybe determining whether you go back to a chunk later to see it changed by what you did both when you were in it and after, or end up passing it completely for something else. Hell, wanna talk player choice? Choices in one chunk might totally alter another chunk. Might even leave room for detail otherwise taken up by other game elements. Cut the fat that appears for the sake of having that typical open world and channel a steady stream of substance to the gameplay experience. Give me a more focused look at the different parts of this world you are trying to convince me of by giving me a clearer more definitive experience in each part of it. Focus on packing those tight as fully discreet elements, like fully games with the game. What I'm saying is to forget about the 'going there' part and make each smaller region that would normally be on a shared map, a level all on its own.
And you usually go there by literally going there in the open world. As you grow, you get to go to the tougher places without getting your shit run up on. Your typical open world has regions that you 'unlock' as you play, right? That's the de-facto way to scale the game with character progression. Something where you could spend a whole evening on each chunk.īasically what I'm describing is a play on the open-world concept. a couple classic Halo flood levels or something. A little bit like how some shooter campaigns used to be done, but with bigger, less linear levels, and a bit fewer of them. Have it still be a 40-60 hour open-world game, but just break it into levels. What if the big story was just the premise for an anthology of several smaller ones that would actually be the focal point? Spend personal time with a character, or different characters in different places and try to join it within the otherwise isolated story experiences. Most games seem to go for one big story with a couple of side ones. 5-8 "Sam's Story" style adventures with the different characters would be cool.
If I am media literate at all, this suggests to me that these are stories the creators of this series will try to tell us at some point. At some point in ME, Anna points out everyone being on this journey together only to further allude, with this almost spiritual certainty, that everyone will eventually go their own way to their own destinations. and I've been thinking this over for a bit. I did enjoy the story and the little world they built. For someone into the mechanics of this game, they're really enjoyable. The actual missions you find yourself on are typical for the game at this point. Satisfying amount of exploration but it's obvious there's only one main focal point.
It's not quite a full level and is more linear than ME was overall. I got it on the first fight, and they never got harder. You know the whole dance routine, so you basically can't lose. Once you know the trick it's like beating that first boss of the Zelda game on your 5th playthrough. I was gonna until I learned of the upcoming Stalker release this coming spring. For as big of a Metro fan as I've been, I never got to Sam's Story.