Importance of Good Scenery in a Game

[L.B. Jeffries]

I've been enjoying the reverse compatibility on the Wii recently and playing a 2005 Activision game called 'Gun'. It's fun, I get the hardcorists who were mad about the difficulty but it's delivering a solid Western experience for me and it was only ten bucks anyways.

Flipping through the metacritics though...one of the weirdest complaints about the game are reviewers bitching that there isn't anything to do in the giant sandbox area. Which is true...it's mostly just traveling across terrain from one spot to another. But that seems like the point itself. It's a huge, gorgeous recreation of the Northern Rockies that really makes you feel like you're there (take that with a grain of salt). I like riding around the landscape, looking out over the plains, and jumping around in the mountains. It's part of what I wanted when I got the game looking for a good Western. I'm glad the tension lets up long enough for me to soak up some scenery and really get the experience of the West, I wish they'd done more honestly.

It isn't just with this game. One of the harshest reviews of 'Shadow of the Colossus' was that the landscape is desolate and empty. Which, again, was the point of the game. You're supposed to feel lonely in this big empty wilderness. At what point do you appreciate the scenery of a game and how it enriches the experience rather than just wishing that you were shooting/collecting stuff?

 

[boyitsme95]

I don't think graphics are that important in a game if it has good gameplay. Otherwise good graphics can help a bad game be a little better personaly. As for landscape, it's almost a third of what makes the game good. Period.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hrrm... Graphics make a good experience, but they really don't add to gameplay. I've sat in the North Commonlands(EQ) loving the sunset but I wasn't really playing. A flickering candle gives off far more fear than the most horrific visage.

Sound? Definitely.

 

[sammyfreak]

As a general rule it has an enormus affect on how i enjoy the game. Infact it can totally forgive shitty story and characters. The best example of this is FFXII, most of the game was rather uninteresting, but the mixture between Turkish arcitecture and Jules Verne'ish steam punk made my heart melt.

In the same way i look forward to FarCry 2 almost only for the chance to play on the Savanah, butchering mercenaries while listening to The Lion King soundtrack.

By the same merit i dispised Gears of War for looking about as interesting as a rock.

Jade Empire, Psychonauts, parts of WoW and Oblivion all are shining examples of great scenery also. Overall the scenery needs to make me wish i was there.

 

[Minhef]

Scenery and graphics are a whole different thing entirely; bad level design can and will ruin a game, while graphics can be lived with.

 

[ayoama]

For me scenery is tremendously important; I tend to enjoy games that succeed in creating a peculiar atmosphere more than anything else, and scenery plays a fundamental role into such creation. That's why I loved Ico so much: the landscapes were just right for that game, just like Shadow of the Colossus' ones are, I think (never had the chance to actually play it, but knowing Ueda...).

The best example of this is FFXII, most of the game was rather uninteresting, but the mixture between Turkish arcitecture and Jules Verne'ish steam punk made my heart melt.

FFXII level of detail in architecture is amazing. I loved Barheim so much.

 

[stompy]

Scenery isn't really that important to me. I might notice it, and say "That's nice". But, scenery isn't going to make or break a game for me... it's just there.

Though, these wide-open plains you speak of... sounds interesting.

 

[Pessimitastic]

It's less of an issue of scenery but the experience as a whole.

The musical score and context of the plot are just as important to feeling involved in the game.

I like games that push boundries.

Fuck conventioal expectations, it would be nice to see game show some original combinations without necessarily any of that gratuitous LOL SO RANDOM ECKS DEE bull shit.

 

[ThaBenMan]

I think it's pretty important. The environment in a game has to be *somewhat* interesting.
Half-Life 2 has incredible scenery. City 17 and it's surroundings amaze me because they look real, like in the sense that it's a real place that the devs went to and modeled their game after.
And then there's something like Mass Effect. Love the game, but I'm sure a lot of you can agree about the sidequest planets - boring as hell to look at. Just plains and mountains in different colors. Maybe the devs were aiming for realism, like most planets in reality are just barren rocks like that, but it's still boring scenery.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

It's less of an issue of scenery but the experience as a whole.

The musical score and context of the plot are just as important to feeling involved in the game.

I like games that push boundries.

Fuck conventioal expectations, it would be nice to see game show some original combinations without necessarily any of that gratuitous LOL SO RANDOM ECKS DEE bull shit.

Exactly. The whole reason those reviews annoyed me was they were missing the point of making your character walk in the desert. It's a freaking Western. Half the experience is where I'm walking around, watching Buffalo, maybe worried about those Indians off in the distance, and just being in a huge open space. It's not so much whether it's pretty as the scenery actually contributes to the experience as a whole.

If anything, the game isn't big enough. I love games that let me genuinely travel, like QFG 3 where you have to build a campfire to keep away monsters, maintain rations, and avoid dangerous areas. (yeah, it's still a random encounter fest, but you get the idea)

I just wish games would let their surroundings and the environment itself be the experience, like 'Shadow of the Colossus' or this game. Instead they're constantly making me butcher animals for EXP or collecting random crap.

 

[second only to The One]

scenery is really important but it can be the most detailed landscape the world has ever seen and still have flaws. i feel like if i playing something and 8 hours later i feel like the scenery has hardly changed, then its as if the developers got lazy and just repeated the one good background. i dont want to see the same futuristic buildings and the same forest, as i progress in the game id like to see something else... or at least have changing weather patterns like snow and deserty.

another that makes scenery either good or bad is lighting. unless an enemy AI is meant to camouflage into the surroundings, they SHOULD stand a out. i remember playing Lost Planet and getting annoyed because in some cases in the middle of a snowy ground and broad daylight i couldnt see the enemy (dressed in black) when i zoomed in. i guess the lighting applies to both scenery and AI because there isnt always enough contrast in a game to make it seem realistic

 

[ayoama]

Exactly. The whole reason those reviews annoyed me was they were missing the point of making your character walk in the desert. It's a freaking Western. Half the experience is where I'm walking around, watching Buffalo, maybe worried about those Indians off in the distance, and just being in a huge open space. It's not so much whether it's pretty as the scenery actually contributes to the experience as a whole.

If anything, the game isn't big enough. I love games that let me genuinely travel, like QFG 3 where you have to build a campfire to keep away monsters, maintain rations, and avoid dangerous areas. (yeah, it's still a random encounter fest, but you get the idea)

I just wish games would let their surroundings and the environment itself be the experience, like 'Shadow of the Colossus' or this game. Instead they're constantly making me butcher animals for EXP or collecting random crap.

I feel your disappointment. I think the problem resides in the underestimation or rejection by "purists" of the video part of videogames. Now that we have nice graphics, nice sounds and everything we need to create beautiful, compelling worlds, the spectatorial part of videogaming has become fairly important; many gamers out there play games not just for action-reaction fun, but to live an experience made of interactive moments and "passive" sensorial appreciation of the context surrounding the gameplay elements. I feel that those gamers, sadly, are frequently looked down upon by the community.