I think BW's main goal should be to get rid of the map which connects all their locations. Here are some thoughts on that.
I am a fan of the open world concept, but that does not work very well for DA. It looks like the DA world is a collection of custom made stages. Each location is a stage on which a single story plays. The cool thing about that is that the stages can be tailored to the specific needs of the story.
However, the approach of custom made stages also has its disadvantages. You can only travel using a map or a story event to go from one place to another. Random encounters are relatively expensive to create, because they too have to use a similar technique. Even a day/night cycle has to be simulated by using a day and night map. Also, the stages are usually closed when their story ends. All this gives an artificial impression to those who are more used to an open world. It also prevents the illusion of exploration.
Exploration works best in a huge open world. But to create an open world, it has to have benefits to the game. It also requires a different kind of dedication. To implement an open world properly it has to have more advantages than just exploration. In TES games, where NPCs live their little lives in the world that world needs houses with beds, tables, chairs and food to allow them to sleep and eat. It needs chests and treasure to loot from. The world needs roads to allow them to travel. The world needs inns to allow them to gossip. The world also needs villages, but also space outside that in which creatures live. Those creatures have schedules themselves. Etc. That is not only designed to make the world feel alive, but it allows the player to be a thief, an assassin or a hunter and so on. In short, TES games implement that huge world to allow the player to have more freedom.
I am not sure if that is going to work for DA. That is because DA is centered around stories. It is not designed to do whatever the player wants. The stages on which the stories play are designed to accommodate the stories and nothing else. And that's fine, because great stories is what the players expect from BW games.
In BW games NPCs are rather static. They do what they have to do and nothing more. An NPC that gossips on the street can only do that and does nothing more. A merchant doesn't leave the counter. A soldier fights and is gone after the battle. Monsters are only there for the purpose of a fight as part of a specific story. Again, that's fine. After all, the story is the main focus.
But I can understand that people who are also used to open world games feel that a lot of that is artificial. Whether you like it or not games are becoming more realistic. BW games do that by focusing on acting, facial animations, dialogue, etc., and they make progress in those areas. I think they should not forget those areas, but at the same time they should not close the door for exploration.
In a DA game players expect more unique locations and I think that is a result of the game playing in a closed world. In DA2 not only were the locations reused, the locations were changed a bit. At one time a room was inaccessible, the other time a hallway was closed off, etc. That gave me a constant feeling of dèjá vu and I was disorientated.
To improve on that one can either create unique locations and go on like BW always have done, or they can connect all those locations together and get rid of the map. That is more in reach than BW thinks. Look at a single location in the open air. Only a part is accessible. Nature at the border there still needs to be created, even though you cannot walk there. That's just to give the illusion that it is part of the world. Now imagine that you position two of those locations together. Not only can you move from one location to the other, but you can get rid of the space in between, because the space used to give the illusion of being part of the world is not required there any more. The more of those locations you join, the more effective that becomes. It also avoids loading screens. It does mean that loading has to be done in the background. A lot of games manage to do background loading very effectively - even on the consoles.
So I think that can be a compromise. TW1 and TW2 are not true open world games either. They give the illusion of being one, by gluing the locations into something that fakes an open world. You still cannot do everything you want, like in a Gothic or TES game, but it got rid of BW's map used to visit the locations. You feel you can go anywhere. Random encounters do not occur because you picked another location on the map. These occur because they are part of the world that you've just visited. The NPCs do not live their little lives as complete as in TES games, but they at least walk, talk, or perform some kind of craft, etc. TW2 is still not a true seamless world because new chapters of the story open up new (large) areas. However, it feels like one and it feel more natural. If you see something you can go there. Such a world can give the player the illusion of exploration.
Modifié par AngryFrozenWater, 12 avril 2012 - 12:19 .
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