Game Franchises you want to be given the "Open World Sandbox" Treatment

[A BigCup of Tea]

Mirror's Edge.

I often don't like sandboxes because most of your time is spent commuting between the interesting bits. However, in a game where movement is the central mechanic, that could actually be fun.

Luckily, I think I'm actually getting my wish with this one.

do you mean mirror's edge 2?

pokemon plain and simple with added multiplayer!! if this existed i would play it non-stop!

 

[Verlander]

Pokemon is the obvious one, Ghostbusters would be incredible. I don't know about existing franchises, but I think that the "sandbox" is totally just tacked on to most games, and should be expanded more. I'd love to see some survival style sandbox games - a jew trying to escape WW2 Germany would be intense for example.

 

[LadyLightning]

I'm not sure if it would count as "sandbox," but I'd love to finally see an official Pokemon MMO release. Something with every region, and travel between them - each with its own Pokemon League, starter Pokemon, gym leaders, and wild pokemon available.

On character creation, you would name your Trainer, customize their appearance from selected options for gender, face, hair, outfit pieces and the colors of everything. You should be able to create any trainer archetype from any of the previous games with the options available, from Lass to Bug Catcher to Medium to Ranger, or something entirely your own.

MMO functions like friends lists and chat could be reflected in-world by your character's C-Gear, and you should be able to form parties of two or three to participate in Double and Triple Battles. In fact, being in a party would change all random encounters in tall grass to match your party size.

Larger groups could be required for high-level content, and would probably involve splitting up to accomplish separate but linked objectives to do things like shut down Team Rocket HQ, or explore an expansive, procedurally-generated ruins complex filled with inanimate, mystic-flavoured Pokemon like Unown or Sigilyph or Chandelure. Of course, anything wild should be catchable, except legendary Pokemon - these should be treated as boss encounters, such as three trainers teaming up to fight Mewtwo, who is three times their level, and making him faint so he can safely be put back in his capsule at the lab before he destroys Cinnabar Island and sinks it into the ocean.

You should be able to trade and battle with any trainer you meet in the world, and use the PC in your character's room to trade and battle with friends who started in different regions, even if neither of you has the means to travel to the other.

Beloved characters from the anime should populate the world alongside normal NPCs, with each city, in Kanto at least, having its own Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy. Team Rocket should actually have Jessie & James, and Butch & Cassidy, etc. Ash should be the current champion in the Kanto League at release day, and Gary should still be an asshole.

The world should be rendered in full 3D and traversed in real-time like most other MMOs, and a player who encounters a wild Pokemon should enter a turn-based battle scene visible to other players nearby - their character controls are locked, their first Pokemon is sent out, and the battle proceeds turn by turn, just like in the single-player Pokemon games. Anyone nearby would be able to watch the action, and this would extend to trainer battles. Events like the Pokemon League or Nintendo-sponsored tournament events could take place in an arena with bleachers where players can log in, buy a ticket from an in-game counter (with game currency, not microtransactions!), and sit with their favourite Pokemon and watch the tournament like a sports event. Doing so could even raise the Pokemon's happiness. Pokemon shows/talent competitions should be treated similarly but in a more fitting venue like a theatre.

Classic game systems such as gyms, breeding, egg moves, TMs&HMs, etc should all be present, though Pokemon should be allowed to forget HM moves when learning something new. No-one likes retiring a Pokemon to the box because you needed to cut a shrub down and cut is a bad move.

The Pokemon League tournament should be held at regular intervals, where anyone with all the badges in a region can enter. The winner would be granted the right to challenge an NPC of the current Champion, and if the challenger is victorious, their character becomes the new Champion - their character model, name and current team are created as an NPC and fighting that NPC becomes the prize for next season's Challenger. Nothing happens to the new Champion's progress, no Pokemon are gained or lost, though prize money and items for the winner are totally a thing. Throughout their term as Champion, the player can visit Victory Road to update the levels and move sets of their championship team, should they level up or learn new moves after winning the championship. The current Champion should have a special title display on their name, and all previous champions should have one too. There could even be a Hall of Fame on Victory Road where players can go to see a list of all the champions in chronological order since release day, select one from the list and view their championship team they used to win, as well as the potentially updated championship team they used to defend their title. Each region would have its own League and its own Champion, and after each season, the Champions of each region would battle in a round-robin style tournament to determine the World Champion. Champions who are unable to be present for their matches would be replaced seamlessly with their NPC counterparts, in order to allow the tournament to go on.

If a full-featured MMORPG like this were released, I would pay $15/month to play it.

Wouldn't you, Escapists?

 

[Traveling Hero]

I'd like to see the Prince of Persia done this way. And yes, I know that Assassin's Creed started out with this idea. But the Prince's more fluid wall-running/jumping and time control powers would be better than the Assassin's slow crawl n' climb they do. Plus, the Prince's personality is better than Altair's or Connor's nearly complete lack thereof (Ezio still better, though).

Oh, and Prince of Persia's more fluid combat would be a step up from Assassin's Creed "stand in the middle and push the counter button".

 

[Pseudoboss]

Portal. Give me a city filled with puzzles, random goals, and the opportunity to fly like a bird with a portal gun. If done right, countless hours of fun would be just from flying around. More if there're Cave Johnson quotes to collect.

Mirror's Edge would similarly awesome.

 

[Tahaneira]

THIS! you sir/madam deserve a cookie.

Whenever i played i always felt the 'playground' was a bit small, that wacky world screams for more exposure.

COOKIE! This guy likes cookies. *nom*

Hmm... I had another idea. I don't have any specific examples, and I'd like to know if this has already been done, but I must admit curiosity as to what an RTS/sandbox hybrid game would be like.

 

[Evonisia]

And it wasn't told much at all, it's rare to see anything to indicates the plot besides the 10 or so cutscenes in the game, and the fact that you're supporting characters says things like "Run, they've framed you". They could have at least done the Left4Dead thing and had graffiti or papers or posters everywhere telling you what's going on and what's happened.

The game benefit from minimal storytelling. I think developers (and gamers) really need to learn that games don't become more engaging if you throw extra dialog and plot at them.

I'm not saying Mirror's Edge is perfect, because it's not, neither from a gameplay perspective, or plot, but the plot was justice enough. The game was made to be a rollercoaster ride. This is ultimately why the game even feels almost like on rails at the time.

And this is why open-world is worrying. That rollercoaster ride feeling will likely be gone, as the pace is likely toned down.

Not only that, Mirror's Edge was the kind of game you played for repeated playthroughs, rather than an open-worlds 'completely it once, after 50hours of screwing around, and likely not play through it again' style of gameplay.

Of course, the sequel is said to be wider in scope, and it remains to be seen whether the concept will benefit from this.

I agree, a game like Mirror's Edge benefits from minimal storytelling. The problem is that it's quite obvious that the plot was supposed to be larger than it actually was. If Mirror's Edge had a basic plot which could be conveyed through gameplay it would be much more pleasant an experience. I'm divided on the subject of "it should go open world". I didn't like the original because it was aggressively linear and the controls were frustrating, and it puts me in the mindset of "if it allowed me to choose how I get around places, it would be better". However Mirror's Edge could perhaps lose some of it's flow by going open world.

 

[Dragonbums]

I'm not sure if it would count as "sandbox," but I'd love to finally see an official Pokemon MMO release. Something with every region, and travel between them - each with its own Pokemon League, starter Pokemon, gym leaders, and wild pokemon available.

On character creation, you would name your Trainer, customize their appearance from selected options for gender, face, hair, outfit pieces and the colors of everything. You should be able to create any trainer archetype from any of the previous games with the options available, from Lass to Bug Catcher to Medium to Ranger, or something entirely your own.

MMO functions like friends lists and chat could be reflected in-world by your character's C-Gear, and you should be able to form parties of two or three to participate in Double and Triple Battles. In fact, being in a party would change all random encounters in tall grass to match your party size.

Larger groups could be required for high-level content, and would probably involve splitting up to accomplish separate but linked objectives to do things like shut down Team Rocket HQ, or explore an expansive, procedurally-generated ruins complex filled with inanimate, mystic-flavoured Pokemon like Unown or Sigilyph or Chandelure. Of course, anything wild should be catchable, except legendary Pokemon - these should be treated as boss encounters, such as three trainers teaming up to fight Mewtwo, who is three times their level, and making him faint so he can safely be put back in his capsule at the lab before he destroys Cinnabar Island and sinks it into the ocean.

You should be able to trade and battle with any trainer you meet in the world, and use the PC in your character's room to trade and battle with friends who started in different regions, even if neither of you has the means to travel to the other.

Beloved characters from the anime should populate the world alongside normal NPCs, with each city, in Kanto at least, having its own Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy. Team Rocket should actually have Jessie & James, and Butch & Cassidy, etc. Ash should be the current champion in the Kanto League at release day, and Gary should still be an asshole.

The world should be rendered in full 3D and traversed in real-time like most other MMOs, and a player who encounters a wild Pokemon should enter a turn-based battle scene visible to other players nearby - their character controls are locked, their first Pokemon is sent out, and the battle proceeds turn by turn, just like in the single-player Pokemon games. Anyone nearby would be able to watch the action, and this would extend to trainer battles. Events like the Pokemon League or Nintendo-sponsored tournament events could take place in an arena with bleachers where players can log in, buy a ticket from an in-game counter (with game currency, not microtransactions!), and sit with their favourite Pokemon and watch the tournament like a sports event. Doing so could even raise the Pokemon's happiness. Pokemon shows/talent competitions should be treated similarly but in a more fitting venue like a theatre.

Classic game systems such as gyms, breeding, egg moves, TMs&HMs, etc should all be present, though Pokemon should be allowed to forget HM moves when learning something new. No-one likes retiring a Pokemon to the box because you needed to cut a shrub down and cut is a bad move.

The Pokemon League tournament should be held at regular intervals, where anyone with all the badges in a region can enter. The winner would be granted the right to challenge an NPC of the current Champion, and if the challenger is victorious, their character becomes the new Champion - their character model, name and current team are created as an NPC and fighting that NPC becomes the prize for next season's Challenger. Nothing happens to the new Champion's progress, no Pokemon are gained or lost, though prize money and items for the winner are totally a thing. Throughout their term as Champion, the player can visit Victory Road to update the levels and move sets of their championship team, should they level up or learn new moves after winning the championship. The current Champion should have a special title display on their name, and all previous champions should have one too. There could even be a Hall of Fame on Victory Road where players can go to see a list of all the champions in chronological order since release day, select one from the list and view their championship team they used to win, as well as the potentially updated championship team they used to defend their title. Each region would have its own League and its own Champion, and after each season, the Champions of each region would battle in a round-robin style tournament to determine the World Champion. Champions who are unable to be present for their matches would be replaced seamlessly with their NPC counterparts, in order to allow the tournament to go on.

If a full-featured MMORPG like this were released, I would pay $15/month to play it.

Wouldn't you, Escapists?

That sounds really thought out. Pretty neat if you ask me.

Only thing I'm worried about is segregating the trainers of different levels. Believe me when I say there are plenty of people within the Pokemon fandom that would love nothing more than to wreak new players for the hell of it.

 

[LadyLightning]

In order to challenge another player they would have to accept your challenge, and would be allowed to see the average level of your team, the size of your team, and the level of the highest level Pokemon on your team, but would NOT be shown specifics about your team.

 

[Terramax]

I agree, a game like Mirror's Edge benefits from minimal storytelling. The problem is that it's quite obvious that the plot was supposed to be larger than it actually was. If Mirror's Edge had a basic plot which could be conveyed through gameplay it would be much more pleasant an experience. I'm divided on the subject of "it should go open world". I didn't like the original because it was aggressively linear and the controls were frustrating, and it puts me in the mindset of "if it allowed me to choose how I get around places, it would be better". However Mirror's Edge could perhaps lose some of it's flow by going open world.

I'm also in full agreement with you. They originally planned for 3 games, which is why the story is actually fairly light. I get the feeling the game began production before an actual story was written for it, and Ms Pratchett was brought in later on to quickly write a cohesive plot for it. What Pratchett wrote was something that did the job, and they realised there was a potential for expanding the story. That's my guess anyways.

I get what you mean about it being too linear. There were some levels which I felt would've benefit from more than one route, or a larger playing field to makes things such as battles and chases longer and more intense. But open-world feels like too much a big step. Like I think I mentioned to begin without, something in between: linear maps, but larger in variety and routes, would be the best way for the sequel.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

A Spiderman game in a full blown city, with the Mirror's Edge perspective throughout would be pretty cool.

OCULOS, HOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[Strazdas]

Does "all" work? no, really, id love all games to be openworld and allow me to do my own choices how to go about the gameplay.
since that probably wont work, i actually sat here thinking about it and decided to open up the list of games i palyed to make a better choice, because i keltp coming up with games that already were openworld.

Well lets see what i can come up with:

Bioshock
Deus Ex
Metro
Red faction (they had guerilla, which was the best one in the series IMO), except this time maybe actual buildigns and not sheets of pastic put together and destructibel terrain please?
PayDay (altrough i guess we already got openworld Pay Day and its called GTA 5)

So yeah i just realized over half of my list of games i played/would like to play actually are open world sandboxes. oh my.