Open World Games Need to Ditch Story Quests

From the article, "Open world games are a big part of AAA development at this point. The Assassin’s Creed series makes a point of delivering one every year. Major franchises like Borderlands have built digital empires on delivering quirky worlds for you to explore and side-quest in. But open world games have also struggled with a big problem; namely, the main quest tends to be the least fun thing about it."

[smolinsk]

This article is absolutely right. I always tent to get the main story over with so I can get the real fun going.

[LightningMokey]

Thats probably because the Story isnt compelling enough. I also dont like how theres no sense of urgencey in quests anymore either.

[LightningMokey]

I disagree, I think they need more interesting stories and certain game mechanics should be changed, but without the story there is no context. Why are you there?, What are you trying to achieve etc.Without a Story your just wandering around which is fine, But, its there regardless of the story.

[sdozzo]

Dark Souls. Rebuttal!

[tamarkovia1]

There's room for both I don't think stifling a good writer from telling a story through the medium of games sends a good message to our youth or the general public just at a time when we're trying to cement it as an art form imo.

[Testfire]

Games just like any good art should not follow a cookie cutter pattern. Your protest sounds to me like you would rather have one set of standards the video game industry should follow and not deviate from in order to appease the snobs of the art world who couldn't think outside of a box if they slapped with it. The best art in the world is the art that didn't conform to rules, but rather bent the rules to confirm to the artist. That's what youth should learn, "don't be just another brick in the wall."

Having said that, I personally enjoy a storyline in my open world games, but if a dev wants to try something different I won't turn it down. I'll try it and if I like it I'll praise it.

[smolinsk]

Yea but something has to be done, the main story is always so boring for open world games.

[GiantFriendlyCrab]

not in gta 3 series

[tamarkovia1]

@testfire I guess I'm just not articulate enough I agree with what you said freedom of expression, that's the point I was trying to make. I love a good story line and side quests which brings me to thief why are there so many haters out there I love it.

[Testfire]

No worries, hope I didn't come off as a jerk lol. There's plenty of games I love that have had horrible reviews. At the end of the day we play games WE enjoy, that's what matters. The only time I hate on a game is when the game is released in a sloppy state and is obviously a money grab. I haven't played Thief, but it does look interesting.

[lazyboyblue]

An open worlder with no story quests is all kinds of stupid.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

I'm sorry but this is he dumbest thing in have ever read on N4G !

[TripleXuLtiMaTe]

I disagree. The Skyrim storyline, the Assassin's Creed storyline, and more are really the backbone of the games. Assassin's creed would not have reached these heights if it weren't for the gripping storyline it had, for example. Plus, the main quests introduce you to things in the game you might have not noticed otherwise. I personally like to finish both main and side quests, and I don't think letting go of the main quests is a good thing.

[Warghoul71]

Far Cry 3's story was kinda cliche but it was fun as hell.

[smolinsk]

Yea but assasins greed, gta,skyrim,far cry all have a little boring maine storys, not bad but not great, just a little boring, i am all for The Last of Us storys lines, in that category would be nice:)

[ScottyHoss]

Sorry bud that's not an open world game

[Skate-AK]

I disagree. I enjoy the story of most sandbox games.

[KinjoTakemura]

Casual gamers masquerading as real gamers. Stories add to the experience of playing games. Perhaps people who don't enjoy stories with their games should spend time searching for books with lots of pretty pictures.

[urwifeminder]

I climbed a tower in farcry 3 went through a cave and just played co op never went back to single player, been gaming since they came on the scene and I get sick of game stories I guess I played too many now I just want to skip.

[cellur111]

No, they just need to make them more interesting. Multiplayer is boring, i just skip it in basically every single game.