Sandboxes: How big is TOO big?

[Yugeky20]

Well I like sandbox games and JC2 had forests, small cities and snowy mountains and yet I still wanted a bigger enviroment. So too big is a hard one, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm *Insert thinking face here* Rosie O'donald's ass???

 

[Medimorpho]

Well, it depends on the main and easiest form of travel.

In inFamous, the world was just big enough cause you could zip along on wires.
Prototype can run REALLY fast and FLY, so NYC was good for that.

 

[korblborp]

depends on the game. if there's actually something to do -clear out groups of enemiesand making the area safer, collections to do, popsicle stands to rob- so, GTA IV is too big, since there's nothing to do besides wander and . Don't even have enemies that attack you, besides cops that come straight to your location when you do something, even if it was a random citizen instead. Saints Row 2 is much better this way -minigames, takeovers, gas stations and stores to rob... random shootouts between little old ladies and the cops that DON'T involve you automatically...

I love just wandering around JC2; I once spent 40 minutes just doing that grappling-hook/paraglide thing along a road! Got a third of the way around the main island... Also, it sounds like a lot of you don't know about the helicopter insertion quicktravel. Granted, you have to go to a place first before it becomes insertable, but since the game's so beautiful, and worth exploring...

 

[sgt. soap mctavish]

probably the size of oblivion. And the horses don't help much either.

 

[Nazulu]

No such thing as too big to me, as long as they lay it out well so it's all filled with stuff and your not traveling for freakin' ages to complete objectives (unless they make it interesting a long the way).

 

[Whoatemysupper]

Daggerfall.

Never played a game with a map so bloody big.

Two times the size of Great Britain, specifically. It holds a nigh-unbeatable world record.

I loved the map size of JC2, actually. Then again, I have an epic computer that lets me play it with maximum settings, so the act of flying a helicopter for twenty minutes is an exercise in containing my graphics whore drool.

Minecraft can load up to 8 times the earth.

 

[Joccaren]

There is no size too big, so long as the area is filled with content instead of just travel time.
A reasonably small area for story quests (Walking it would take 30 mins to 1 hour to get from side to side, but you have cars and such too so...), but with side quests in there too. Then, the further out you go from that central area, the more sidequests there are, and those sidequests should lead you in long arcs past other side quests and objectives for those sidequests.
There will be an eventual limit to size due to filesize, but so long as there is enough content to fill the world, there is no size too big.

 

[pyrokin]

It's not so much it's too large of a sandbox, I think it's the fact that it wasn't filled with stuff to do on the way. For instance, Prototype, there was something to do on the way. Whether it was taking out a military base, infected hive, or helicopters, there was always something to do on the way to important missions.

 

[DSK-]

If anything, sandboxes are way too small for my liking.

 

[Gitty101]

I'd say GTA: San Andreas is a near perfect example of how a sandbox game should be. It's massive, but not too massive and the missions take you around the entire map, without being too far apart from one another.

 

[Zeema]

as long as its fun i don't mind

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Big....but not overwhelming like Just Cause 2...

Also it should have cardboard buildings ALA Red Faction


If you want to control those buildings...keep em in tact...dont go crazy and drive a tank thru your whorehouse...

 

[Smeggs]

I rented Just Cause 2 awhile back because I heard that it's game world was colossal and until I played the game, I never thought a huge game world could ever be a bad thing.

Needless to say I returned the game after playing it for a couple of house, most of that time being spent traveling between mission objectives. The size of the world in that game is just insane, and not in a good way. I swear, even in a helicopter it took me over 15 minutes to get over that one big mountain.

So, what in your opinion is the perfect size for a sandbox?

I heard to walk to the edge of the map in Minecraft (no hax) it'd take you about...8 months to reach it? I'm fine with that. I want a world to explore, as long as there's new things to see I'm fine with it.

 

[Sparcrypt]

There is no such thing as 'too big'. There is 'too big for this game' though.

If you have a MASSIVE world that is full of content and fun to travel? Well it's fine. If it's big, sparse, repetitive, boring and moving through it is unfun? Yeah shrink it down.

 

[lacktheknack]

Daggerfall.

Never played a game with a map so bloody big.

Two times the size of Great Britain, specifically. It holds a nigh-unbeatable world record.

I loved the map size of JC2, actually. Then again, I have an epic computer that lets me play it with maximum settings, so the act of flying a helicopter for twenty minutes is an exercise in containing my graphics whore drool.

Minecraft can load up to 8 times the earth.

It wasn't predesigned. Procedurally generated maps aren't eligible for the world record.

 

[Tharwen]

Everyone saying Just Cause 2 needs to get that little $30000 jet thing from the arms dealer more often. No journey takes longer than a couple of minutes in it

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

dont do the missions in JC2. theyre shit. just blow shit up.

OT: bigger than GTA4, smaller than JC2 (yeah it is a bit too massives. i spent most of my time on the roads.)

I wish my friend told me that. I borrowed the game from him, trying to beat it and fucking hated it. Then one day I thought screw it, I'll do it my way. Went around blowing everything up, I even found the Island from Lost.

OT:I have yet to play a game that is too big. Just Cause 2 just had shit missions. Red Dead is huge, but its missions are fun.

 

[Right Hook]

The sandbox should be as big as possible in my opinion but as soon as fine detail is sacrificed, like interesting locations, decent npc's, the ability to go into a lot of the building, etc. that is when the scale needs to be reduced, every area should be an important aspect of the world, as soon as you start throwing in long roads and forests just to increase size, you've got a problem and should shrink your world till every section just shines, it makes the world easier to familiarize with and makes it worthy of spending more time in.

 

[Ragnarok185]

anything that will get you lost is too big. nothing is worse than backtracking to find out what you were supposed to do.