I just finished this, it was ok but I have one big question

I just finished this, it was ok but I have one big question.

Why is this "open world" game design so popular? Ubisoft has beat it to fucking death in a copy and paste fashion but this hasn't stopped other developers from copying it.

Just recent examples Horizon and BotW both obviously take heavy influence from this design, not saying either are bad games since I have obviously not played them. All the footage of both games I have seen its very easy to see they copied or took inspiration from Ubisoft's open world design.

While I really like the game even The Witcher 3 is guilty, but they always seem to devolve into following endless amounts of map markers to gather collectables and crafting materials.

I used to really like the idea of open world games when it really started to take off with GTA:VC/SA but now I only associate it with Ubisofts design of towers and endless map markers. I just want to avoid these type of games entirely now because they all feel so similar.

You didn't enjoy the story though? It was an amazing game just because of it.

The story was probably my favorite part of the game and what pushed me to finish it, but that does mean I'll ignore how monotonous the gameplay got after the first few hours.

>that does mean I'll ignore how monotonous the gameplay got after the first few hours.
Meant to say does not.

It's a marketing strategy. Ubisoft thrives off using open-world as a selling point. It's not worth it unless it's a content filled open-world game.

However, empty world aside, the game felt refreshing. Story was good, animals were awesome (I always went shark hunting).

this is the dumbest question.

Who actually WANTS less freedom and linear game play?

There's so many things that Ubisoft did right with Far Cry 3, but all of it is rendered moot when they include features and mechanics that dumb down the experience.
Example, the stealth mechanics are pretty damn good in an open world game (not the best, but very good). But what's the point if you become so powerful that you can't be taken down by enemies?

The real question is whether anyone will ever make an open world game as good as this again

The problem is open world games are beginning to feel linear themselves. When the open world consists of nothing but repeat missions, mindless collectathons, empty worlds where you spend most of your time just traveling somewhere, and pointless activities like climbing a tower or activating some point to see more of the surrounding area, it gets fucking boring. I would rather have more confined spaces with more variety than wide open spaces with repetitive gameplay.

Open world is OK in games like New Vegas where you can go exploring and are rewarded for it. But when the game becomes about opening up your map to remove map markers by doing mundane objectives, it ruins the open world aspect.

The Ubisoft brand of freedom is just the freedom to experience the same handful of encounters again, and again, and again in an entirely copypasted fashion. Open world games aren't necessarily bad but most are lazily done crap. Freedom in more limited and carefully designed areas like the Deus Ex games or Bloodlines gives the player more interesting things to do in general

>Open world is OK in games like New Vegas where you can go exploring and are rewarded for it. But when the game becomes about opening up your map to remove map markers by doing mundane objectives, it ruins the open world aspect.
This. The problem isn't really with open world but the ridiculous amount of handholding in them. And the fact that you can't turn the handholding off.
Open world should mean exploration at it's core, but in these days it just divulges into "follow the objective marker!"

There's no satisfaction gained from discovering anything because it was already shown on your map what's there. To further use New Vegas as an example, you'd come across quests, loot, bosses, w/e by just wandering the wastes. No markers needed, just go where you want.
Hell, there we're even areas not marked on the map like the deathclaw promontory. You'd just be wandering when all of a sudden you'd find yourself in a deathclaw nest which was satisfying to explore further because you had no idea what you've stumbled into.

Modern handholding just takes away the sense of adventure and the tension that comes with not knowing what's on the other side of that hill.

Besides valid points this user made, it's also very easy to design. Yeah, consistent open world (if there is such thing, closest I can think of is Witcher 3, Morrowind, GTA: SA or VC, Majora's Mask) is pretty hard to do and it consumes resources and time like an ogre. But shallow cry-tek style shit like FarCry, Just Cause etc are easy cause they are basically the same thing. You just slap some points of interest and hubs - you do not need to put effort in level design, you just do some kind of TERRAIN design.

On other hand there is game like MGSV - there is nice base designs in it while terrain desing was atrocious, basically we can se what developers was interested in.

this is the only ubisoft game i love. for some reason it was so emotional, i couldnt stop playing. they nailed almost every aspect

4 is meh though

New Vegas's world was shit because it just forced you along a predetermined route. You could only "stumble across" things in the precise way that they wanted you to stumble across them.

>Open world is OK in games like New Vegas

so the empty desert with the most uninteresting areas is great now? the good thing in nv is the story and the amount of choices at the end.

Exactly. I'm trying to play through Mad Max right now, and while it's decent (especially considering I got it for $3) it's already wearing me out how often I am just opening up my map and going from marker to marker doing whatever silly little activity. Pull down a scarecrow, kill a sniper, go up in a balloon and scout the area, loot a few scrap from an area, rinse and repeat. That isn't exploring or "open". I don't feel like the world is big and interesting. It feels claustrophobic with tacked on activities that are neither rewarding or fun. Open world games are just becoming massive landscapes full of repetitive mini games.

story was trash user
>yuppy hipster
>set into a hostage situation and watches his brother die
>no grief or fear
>instantly becomes a spec ops style mass murderer
>gets involved in some bullshit family politics
>chooses to abandon and kill his friends for some random woman he gets pussy whipped by despite only just meeting her and never even fucking her

story is trash tier garbage
worse of all is boss fights are just mini game tier segments

THIS omg. This is exactly how Ubisoft keeps fucking up. I'm so afraid I'll never get a good adventure again. And I hate to break genres but I'll never get that feel the first time I explored stranglethorn. Fbm.

I would rather travel the empty desert and randomly encounter stuff than have a map full of icons for boring, repetitive side stuff.

It's all about keeping players around as long as possible so they will buy the season passes and DLC. The only reason developers shove all this meaningless shit in their games is to keep people playing, not because these activities are a fun experience. I like getting my money's worth and I want replayability in my games. Games like Dark Souls, Terraria, Civilization, Binding of Isaac, they have good replay value. Games like Watch Dog are just artificially long to keep you from playing anything else.

open world allow the players to dick around and do random shit with the upgrades and weapons they bought and it allows them to get stronger and stronger in what feels like a persistent world.

basically it just allows the player to have space and room to fuck around without affecting story progression while making the player feel like he is doing something meaningful with side quests and exp gains from copy pasted garbage like climbing towers

in the case of assassins creed games, players want to explore the buildings amd sprint around and climb shit so it was good there, but in the division its pretty garbage tier and it pads the games like mad

Same user here.
I refunded Mad Max after 90 minutes because of what you said.
That and the game was just easy as fuck without difficulty options turning it into a complete snoozefest.

Not only Ubisoft. So many other devs just follow suit.
I get that they want to 'streamline' (read: dumb down) games to appeal to a larger audience. It's disgusting but capitalism and all that sweet profit make it a necessity. I only wish developers would wise the fuck up and make the handholding something entirely optional.

>Nv was an empty desert meme
Pic related.

>he still believes Nv 'forced' you along a predetermined route.
It didn't force you user. It suggested a safe path but it really didn't force you. The quests we're even designed to make it possible without breaking anything.
Had you explored the area around Goodsprings properly you can find the tools you need to make a straight line for New Vegas. It's challenging but far from impossible.
Or you could use the tools you found to cut corners from the suggested path.

I would prefer a linear game that's well thought out and each level has a lot of design and effort put into it rather than some game that's open world and linear that's empty and boring.

Nah man open world is shit.

Even back in the day GTA3 was a just a third person shooter with shitty controls and a "dude walk to the level lol" gimmick.

Open world games are just the games we all thought were gonna be dope when we dreamed about them as kids. They were dope too but only because they satisfied those dreams. The magic is long gone. I've got no issue with the idea of a giant world to explore but the current model is so flawed and boring.

There is an ending though where you dave your friends

The Witcher 3 is the best game of all time.

And the open world formula works best in games like these and is all the fans have been asking for since TW1.

>The Witcher 3 is the best game of all time
Why? I got bored after playin 2 hours

this