Why do so many games punish exploration?

[Gyrefalcon]

Why do some games show you wonderful panoramic scenes and then punish you for wanting to explore the areas? Which games do you wish would allow you more freedom to explore the world they created for you? Alternatively, which games gave you the most satisfaction from being able to explore your environment?

My Favorites: Elder Scrolls Series
Fall Out Series
Silent Hill Series
Zelda Series
Eternal Darkness (loved the different environments)
Final Fantasy Series

Wish I could have explored more: Monster Rancher Series
The Sims Series
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Call of Cthulhu

 

[Curtmiester]

What do you mean by "punish" ?

 

[Radeonx]

Call of Duty 4.
If it was set up where I could take multiple routes from Point A to Point B, I feel it would be much more immersive.

 

[egwidalin]

well.... halo punishes me for attempting to "explore" the multiplayer maps. it usually ends in me randomly dieing or getting killed by various obstacles designed to prevent me from leaving (laser towers, turrets, mines, gaurdians, etc.)

 

[savandicus]

My Favorites: Final Fantasy Series

Wait, really? i found this series so unbelievably linear it annoyed me. Where exactly did the exploration come about?

Agreed there is no exploration in final fantasy, Great games but they are considerably linear.

On topic though, exploration means programmers need to program the place your exploring

Programmers dont like making more work for themselves ---> no exploration for the sake of exploration in some games.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Wait, which games punish you for exploration? Besides anything and everything made by Sierra *coughkingsquestcough*?

As for my favorite exploratory game...World of Warcraft, hands down. Really, exploration is a gigantic plus in my taste, so RPGs of any type tend to do it for me. Final Fantasy VI was fantastic in that regard, as are the Zelda games.

 

[Fightgarr]

Look, exploration is all well and good but I'd rather have a less exploratory experience that is well put-together. Games like Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth needed to be claustrophic with a generally linear path or they wouldn't have worked all that well. I don't know, I mean I liked exploring Shadow of the Colossus, Morrowind and Okami as much as the next guy but I feel like the ability to explore a sprawling area is overrated. I'd rather explore the one room I have and find it has a startling amount of detail. I'd rather discover that the design of the areas I'm going through, though linear, is very well done. To me it doesn't matter that I could find a secret room with maybe some kind of weapon or money or quest or whatever because when it comes to exploring environments that's not what I'm looking for. Let me summarize my thoughts in one sentence: You don't need a giant open world for exploration, simply applying attention to detail should be sufficient.
When are they going to come out with a game where you just walk around in pretty environments and look at shit... while being a dragon (I am aware of Endless Forest).

 

[keptsimple]

Wait, really? i found this series [Final Fantasy] so unbelievably linear it annoyed me. Where exactly did the exploration come about?

Most Final Fantasy games have an incredibly linear first half, followed by an open ended second half. As soon as you get to the point in the game where the world is open to you, there are usually 20-40 hours worth of optional quests to perform.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Look, exploration is all well and good but I'd rather have a less exploratory experience that is well put-together. Games like Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth needed to be claustrophic with a generally linear path or they wouldn't have worked all that well. I don't know, I mean I liked exploring Shadow of the Colossus, Morrowind and Okami as much as the next guy but I feel like the ability to explore a sprawling area is overrated. I'd rather explore the one room I have and find it has a startling amount of detail. I'd rather discover that the design of the areas I'm going through, though linear, is very well done. To me it doesn't matter that I could find a secret room with maybe some kind of weapon or money or quest or whatever because when it comes to exploring environments that's not what I'm looking for. Let me summarize my thoughts in one sentence: You don't need a giant open world for exploration, simply applying attention to detail should be sufficient.
When are they going to come out with a game where you just walk around in pretty environments and look at shit... while being a dragon (I am aware of Endless Forest).

Oh, I absolutely agree. Just because I love massive exploratory worlds doesn't mean I think small areas and linearity hurt games in the slightest.

 

[Nargleblarg]

Fallout punishes exploration???? I'm pretty sure it encourages it at least #3.

 

[Lazarus Long]

Bethesda is good at that. I've never been bored exploring anything post-Daggerfall, despite it seeming like endless empty forest/wasteland/crazy volcanic mushroom land.
But the perfect freeform gameplay, I think, was Deus Ex. Linear enough to not make you feel lost, but open enough to give you at least two or three ways to approach a situation.

 

[Internet Kraken]

My Favorites:
Silent Hill Series
Zelda Series
Eternal Darkness (loved the different environments)
Final Fantasy Series

What the hell. I'm pretty sure almost all of the games are linear and don't reward exploration.

Not that there is anything wrong with linear game play. Half-Life 2 is linear and it's a great game. Secondly, how do games punish you for trying to explore? By putting a wall in your way?

Not every game can be open world.

 

[keptsimple]

My Favorites: Elder Scrolls Series

My problem with Elder Scrolls (or Oblivion, anyway): the game is actually incredibly linear within each self-contained mission. The game appears open-ended at first glance, but after a few hours, I felt like I was just running around in this world of repetitive environments. Eventually, I would come to a mission, and that mission would set me on an incredibly linear path (go here, do X, then go here, do Y, then come back to me, etc.).

Anyway, my vote goes to the old Infinity Engine games, particularly Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate II. Not only did these games give you tons of stuff to explore, there were actually varied outcomes to most quests.

 

[LogicNProportion]

Because the character and environment programmers won't get good pay unless you look at what they spent months working on. It's very selfish, and I'm not being sarcastic.

Really, it's all about money nowadays, you don't actually see people working for that fact that they want to bring a quality experience.

That's my belief, anyways.

Does anyone remember how much you could explore for old SNES games? I miss it so.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Also, can someone explain to me how the Sims could have more exploration?

 

[The Hairminator]

Oblivion didn't really punish exploration, but most caves were so lame that you kinda though 'why?'.

 

[Ripshot]

if I may add Golden Sun 2 to the list of good exploration games, I will