PixlBit

It's not for everyone. It's definitely quite gruesome and dark, but it's so original and atmospheric that I had to tell people about it.

Yeah, and it feels like the game was built from the ground up around the combat system. It's definitely not tacked on which is awesome.

Yep, though not for a while. Should get back into it.

Yup. And wii-u.

I think for an open world, it has to either have deep systems that encourage experimentation, have a well designed map that is fun to explore, or have something else that pulls you along.

 Metal Gear Solid V and Far Cry games fall under the first category. MGSV's stealth mechanics are so engaging and deep that you just want to try all sorts of crazy things, and the open world allows you to. Want to slide down a hill in your cardboard box? Go for it. Want to see if you can knock guards out by remotely inflating a balloon version of yourself? Knock yourself out. Same goes for Far Cry. Those systems overlap in crazy and unpredictable ways and the open world exists as a sandbox to test them.

 Games that are fun to explore are ones that are super detailed or ones where traversal is fun. Skate 3 has a really fun world to traverse, where every single thing in the world exists to further gameplay. Just getting from A to B is a blast, same as Spiderman 2 or Burnout Paradise. Fun to explore ones have to be super detailed. I love Metroid Prime's Semi open world because the fauna and flora feel believable because of the amount of detail put in. Skyrim is the same, you could just take in the sights if you want.

 The Witcher 3 pulled me along because there was an engaging story everywhere I looked. The sidequests and even odd jobs all had amazing writing so nothing ever got old. Dragon Age Inquisition was the opposite. I loved the story and the story missions and wished I could solely focus on them, instead of having to collect fucking plants. And open worlds that exist as glorified menu screens can go the fuck to hell.

 Xeno is mainly pulling me along for progression and world design I think. I want a Skell. I want to see what's over the next hill. I want to see what new powers there are, and what the classes do, and what different divisions offer. Because there's fuck all of a tutorial system and the game fails to explain anything unless it's something incredibly basic, I find I'm constantly discovering new things. I found the combat tedious and boring until I unlocked a class all about buffing attacks and attacking from the right side to give you boosts and activate combos that would regain health. I have a lot of issues with the game, but at the same time, I can't put the damn thing down.

 Damn this comment is long. Sorry about that.

Man, that's awesome. I want to thank you and everyone at this site for fostering such an amazing and welcoming community!

It really does depend on what you want I guess. The story is garbage, and it took a long time for me to grow on the combat system (which I now find fantastic), but the world is so fascinating and huge. I don't mean huge like the way AAA game devs market their games, but this game does scale like few others I've seen. I feel tiny in this world, and like I really don't belong. I love surveying the area and just seeing what insane thing I see next!

Yeah N++ was great. I read your review on it too and thought it was pretty great but was too out of it to comment. Better than my flu ridden review was going to be anyway haha.

 Dark Souls 1 is my all time favourite game, so I am at once super bias and super nitpicky. I'm one of those weird fans who doesn't think difficulty is the be all and end all, so I find some of the obvious attempts at difficulty in the sequels to be a bit on the nose. Also, some of the charm was lost with the budget, as I think quite a few of the weird quirks I love about DS1 were a result of work arounds and odd fixes. Also, the super connected world is gone. And after the gloriousness of Bloodborne's setting, this feels a bit safe.

 I'm going to stop now, because I feel like I could talk about the Dark Souls series for at least another 7 paragraphs.

I, uh, had to google what you were referring to there haha.

And thanks.

What was it that turned you off? I haven't played the original, so maybe it's just not as good. It took me a while before I was truly hooked, but once the game opened up and I realised what it was I was playing I loved it. The world is so interesting to explore!