Yeah I think it's because a lot of these games are on handhelds, like Dracula X Chronicles. Other side scrollers like Trine and Donkey Kong Country Returns look phenomenal.
I really have to get on Shovel Knight. The sprite work and character design is very good and it looks full of personality.
Sonic Mania too, but the only thing I have that it's on is PC, and I heard the port is poor.
I was disappointed that Samus Returns went with 3D model work, which makes most of these side scroller remakes, sequels, and spiritual successors look dull, grainy, and and cheap compared to their 2D counterparts. Just compare to the vibrance and style of Sonic Mania, X4 and Shovel Knight. Mega Man 11 and Bloodstained look like the next casuality of this pathological 3D obsession lol.
But with none of the perks, stimuli, or possible random occurences of traveling to places in real life.
Saints Row 2 had you do side missions to earn points to unlock the next story node. Strange way of doing things.
Hmm, I'm hesitant to claim it's borrowing from any games in particular. I think we too readily assume that when we see a similar mechanic or feature in a game that one game influenced the other. Even if so, how can we be sure what games? Nintendo has been around for a long time and there hasn't been any new features or mechanics in the action-adventure and RPG genres since the 90s. The only game I've seen Nintendo cite is Skyrim, so who knows.
Anyway, I just started fooling around with the game. The way I play is to just attack the main adventure. I don't really have time or interest for diversions. But I still like that the game overall isn't a guided affair. You can take whatever route you want through whatever adventure you decide to go on, whether the story or an adventure of your own.
Yeah, travel time in general - not a fan. I mean how annoying is it in Rockstar games. I quit Red Dead Redemption because of the long rides I had to undertake to get to a quest location. Was it scenic? Yes. But still tedious to do over and over again.
Thing about GW2 is it's not EVE Online. I love all the tech stuff and the detailed RPG and simulation systems, but questing is a drag.
Yeah, I was thinking of BotW as an example of not having to report to a quest giver constantly. I haven't played the game, so there might be some of that, but most of what I've seen has you pushing forward in your adventure.
Yeah, there are a lot of open-world, errand boy games out these days, and they do not benefit from novelty.
I haven't played Prey yet, but being influenced by the Shock games, I suspect it doesn't suffer from these problems. You had objectives in those games, but you didn't have to keep running back to an NPC. You moved on to the next quest/objective. Also the traversable space is smaller, although I don't know if this is true for Prey.
But games like Deus Ex, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and System Shock 2 supplanted the RPG for me. They offered the same character building and choices and consequences but in a more efficient package, more ambitious level design, more interactivity, etc.
THese 3D worlds are just too big for this mess. When games were top down affairs like Ultima 7, having to run back and forth was not the time sink it is now.
In a Legos game?! These are aimed at kids mostly. What kid enjoys running errands?
Old open world games like Ultima were the original immersive sims. But they're smaller world scale and focus on the main adventure meant they avoided the pitfalls of modern open world games. An open world used to be just that, a world. Not an amusement park, but something to heighten the sense of adventure and immersion.
