Why do so many games punish exploration?

[Internet Kraken]

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

No, I don't remember how you could explore old SNES games because most of them are incredibly linear due to technology limitations.

Seriously, what the hell are you talking about? I know some people have this crazy idea that everything about video games was better in the past, but the exploration in most old games is almost nonexistent.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

the grand theft auto series beginning with san andreas punished you for crossing the water to explore the map but using a cheat code the cops fucked off but in gta4 there is no code but there is the health cheat that fixes ur car , they shouldn't call it a sandbox if ya can't explore

Exactly, it's just less linear.

 

[McMarbles]

I've been playing Avalon Code, which is pretty cool about exploration... in fact, itr rewards you for going out of your way to explore every part of the environment.

 

[Kiutu]

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.

Zelda is very pro-exploration.

 

[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.

Zelda is very pro-exploration.

Scratch Zelda, I didn't notice it on the list.

 

[high_castle]

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.

Seconded. While Oblivion (and Fallout 3) should have encouraged exploration, everything was stagnant and repetitive. Who would want to explore it? The older Elder Scroll games, Morrowind especially, and the original Fallout games were better in that regard. The landscapes were varied, the quests were fun and different, and the characters more appealing. And Baldur's Gate takes the cake. There is so much to see and do in that series, it deserves a medal.

BioWare in general is good about games that encourage exploration. Neverwinter Nights did the same. You could stick to the main quest, but there was so much else to be seen and learned just by walking around and talking to people. More recently, I think Mass Effect did a good job with this also. Yes, some of the actual locales were pretty similar, but the quests were all different, and the stories behind them interesting enough to make me want to keep poking around.

Assassin's Creed did a good job with this too. The graphics were beautiful, which made me want to climb every vantage point even before I knew there was an achievement for it. The side quests were dull after a while, but there's still a lot to be gained just by walking through the streets.

 

[balimuzz]

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.

Actually, Modern Warfare 2 seems to do a little more to make the environments more wide open, so that you can approach them how you want to.

 

[keptsimple]

Seconded. While Oblivion (and Fallout 3) should have encouraged exploration, everything was stagnant and repetitive. Who would want to explore it? The older Elder Scroll games, Morrowind especially, and the original Fallout games were better in that regard. The landscapes were varied, the quests were fun and different, and the characters more appealing. And Baldur's Gate takes the cake. There is so much to see and do in that series, it deserves a medal.

BioWare in general is good about games that encourage exploration. Neverwinter Nights did the same. You could stick to the main quest, but there was so much else to be seen and learned just by walking around and talking to people. More recently, I think Mass Effect did a good job with this also. Yes, some of the actual locales were pretty similar, but the quests were all different, and the stories behind them interesting enough to make me want to keep poking around.

I thought Fallout 3 did a better job than Oblivion of at least providing somewhat varied quests with variable outcomes. However, the environments were still kind of bland (if at least a bit less cliched than in Oblivion).

Mass Effect's quests were a bit more interesting. But for me, this was more a function of Mass Effect having a better designed battle system. With respect to the sidequests, anyway, there was a ton of talk to person x, then fly to planet y, then infiltrate this base that looks exactly like half the other bases, then come back to x for your reward.

The main problem, I think, is that despite all the advancements in 3D graphics, 2D sprites are still able to offer a lot more in terms of variety. I don't think the huge variety of enemies and locales that you see in games like Baldur's Gate II would be possible in any 3D equivalent.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Not to troll but i didn't enjoy the sandbox of fallout3 as opposed to say oblivion.
Reason being in a post nuclear world, i'd like for it to center around melted cities, destroyed neighborhoods, and just bad bad things. F3 did a great job of faking this. But really to me it was hills a few trees, a subway system, and a couple towns. Meh. Exploration should be sifting through ruins or old safehouses, shelters and random homes on the street. Even if there isn't much to find.

 

[high_castle]

snip

I thought Fallout 3 did a better job than Oblivion of at least providing somewhat varied quests with variable outcomes. However, the environments were still kind of bland (if at least a bit less cliched than in Oblivion).

Mass Effect's quests were a bit more interesting. But for me, this was more a function of Mass Effect having a better designed battle system. With respect to the sidequests, anyway, there was a ton of talk to person x, then fly to planet y, then infiltrate this base that looks exactly like half the other bases, then come back to x for your reward.

The main problem, I think, is that despite all the advancements in 3D graphics, 2D sprites are still able to offer a lot more in terms of variety. I don't think the huge variety of enemies and locales that you see in games like Baldur's Gate II would be possible in any 3D equivalent.

Good point. Different, varied locations take up a lot more memory in 3D than 2D. I think we'll get there eventually, but not for a while. In the mean time, I think the games that try to vary it up should be rewarded. Mass Effect's buildings and interiors were pretty bland, but the worlds themselves were fairly decent as far as being different. And yeah, there was a lot of talking->infiltrating->talking, but the conversations were all different. And there are usually 4+ ways to resolve any given quest that it keeps things fresh enough for me.

I do have my eye on Dragon Age: Origins, though. It's supposed to be a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, and what I'm hearing so far is lots of different environments and a very sprawling open world. BioWare's at least better at varying things up than Bethesda has been lately, so it should be interesting to see what this looks like in fall. Until then, I retreat to the PC to play Baldur's Gate II and have fun exploring one of the richest worlds in gaming.

 

[keptsimple]

I do have my eye on Dragon Age: Origins, though. It's supposed to be a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, and what I'm hearing so far is lots of different environments and a very sprawling open world. BioWare's at least better at varying things up than Bethesda has been lately, so it should be interesting to see what this looks like in fall. Until then, I retreat to the PC to play Baldur's Gate II and have fun exploring one of the richest worlds in gaming.

Yeah. I'm looking forward to Dragon Age. The game has been in development for about 5 years. Sometimes, long development time can indicate a disaster, but I'm hoping that, in this case, it just means that they took the time to make a detailed, varied game.

 

[KamachoMcSagget]

i feel punished with silent hill 2. i looked around so much and found writing on the wall of an abandoned store, and examined the knife a lot because i thought it had some quest-related use. as a result i meat the criteria for the suicide ending D: