130°

When Did Linearity Become a Bad Thing?

There’s a fine line between using the word linear to describe a narrative-focused game and using it to degrade or devalue the merits of a game. Not every game has to be open world; it’s time to embrace the closed world.

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thegamefanatics.com
Jdoki3588d ago

"When Did Linearity Become a Bad Thing?"

When gaming 'journalists' ran out of news to report and positive things to say...

NextLevel3588d ago

Naughty Dog cleaned up on the GOTY awards with the Last Of Us and Uncharted 2.

JohnJ3588d ago

The negative element of a games linearity is that it can hamper the replayability - the longevity of a game can suffer if a second playthrough garners a near identical experience to the first.
A linear game isn't necessarily bad, just easier to get bored of as there's generally less variation in gameplay.

WickedLester3588d ago

@ JohnJ

I hear what you're saying but why do we suddenly need game companies to give us reasons to replay a game other than because it's a fun game? If a game is fun to play, it's fun to play. I beat The Last of Us 3 times, once on normal and twice on hard. Why did I play it over and over? Because I freaking loved it and I plan on doing it again with the PS4 version (along with the multiplayer). Did we not play games like Sonic and Mario, Castelvania, Super Metroid, etc back in the day over and over because we loved playing them? Those games weren't open world or had multiplayer.

Sevir3588d ago

I'm sorry but there are some open world games which are DEAD after completing the main story since the side content sucks! being open world doesn't automatically mean it has replayability that is worth it.

There are plenty of Games which are praised to no end for their linear presentation. Unchartded, Gears of War, Halo, The Last of US, Call of Duty, Bioshock.

The ire most people have for this game is simply funny.

I'll take a very well done linear progression game with intelligent AI, great set pieces that advance the story, great narrative and gameplay,over an open world populated by some crappy side content just to pad out its main story offerings.

levian3588d ago

I agree with JohnJ, that is part of it. The other part is that linear games all seem to be 8-15 hours long which is way too short IMO for a full $70 price tag.

Linear games are the type of game I'd rent, or buy when it drops down to $20

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Dark113588d ago

I don't mind linear games like GOW and Metro
my problem is with linear movie games , there is almost no gameplay at all.. half the game is just cutscenes

unacceptable.

Sevir3588d ago

REALLY, Half the game is MOVIE!? Did you play this game to know or have you been fooled to thinking that simply because of how seemly the game transitions from Cinematics to gameplay?

Bigpappy3588d ago

There are different levels of linear. Some games are so linear, I feel like I am being pull through the corridors while the story is being fed to me. An interactive Movie is not a game for me.

I like to feel like I am influencing something in the game, even if it is just strapping on a piece of armor and choosing a weapon. The move I am involved, the better I feel playing the game.

user56695103588d ago

I truthfully Dont get the reason for the hate or hype. Hardly anything was shown to give you how this game will play. I can't wait to play it because of the concept of the story. All of the gameplay vids looked dull tho. The lycon was unimpressive. It thought it was going to look like the Lyons in the movie underworld not a bald man with whiskers . Its also too early to tell how its going to be with little gameplay vids . I'll wait for more info. I'll let the fanboys fight over games with barely any footage. They'll hype or hate anything even without seeing a clear picture of it

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TGF_Zero3588d ago

It became a bad thing when we saw games like rage and dishonored pretend to be open world when they really werent and it hurt them. I do agree not evry game has to be skyrim.

zeal0us3588d ago

I knew from the get-go when I brought Dishonored, that it was not open world. How does it pretend to be open world?

Mr Pumblechook3588d ago

OPEN WORLD DOESNT MEAN GOOD. Fallout and GTA are fantastic examples of open world games. However open world doesn't guarantee a better game that will be more fun. Some open world games are just an empty 3D map that you go anywhere on but are lacking in things to do or well thought out involving missions.

LINEAR DOESNT MEAN BAD. Games like Uncharted, The Last of Us and Gears of War have been criticised for being linear. So what! They have great characters, story, drama and playability. There isn't a map that you can just move across but that doesn't suit these games. They have strong narrative, plenty of action and are FUN to play.

There are all kinds of genre to play from puzzles to platformers. For a person or website to label linear games is to not understand the wonderful interactive contribution they bring to gaming.

morganfell3588d ago

The titles where I was most engrossed, where I stayed up all night, most often were those considered to be linear and I was intent upon finding out what happened in the story.

Yes I have stayed up wandering around some open world game - Skyrim is a good example of that - but usually it occurs because a great story entices me to see what happens in the next scene.

Sloth-Eater3588d ago

Logically intelligent. Bubble UP!

End.

Christopher3588d ago

Not getting your Dishonored reference. They said areas were open to allow player freedom in how they handled each mission. And they were.

They didn't say it was "open world" a la Skyrim or the like.

randomass1713588d ago

That didn't really guarantee the quality of Dishonored. While it is a good game, it did have a few bugs here and there, and the story felt a little derivative IMO. With some improvements Dishonored could have been a great game, rather than the "decent but flawed" experience it was.

uth113588d ago

Like it or not, exclusives of one console are going to be criticized by the die-hard fans of the other.

And these people will latch onto any perceived weakness to criticize something even if it seems hypocritical.

So in this case, there isn't much you can criticize The Order for: graphics are stunning, and we haven't seen much gameplay. The only thing they can latch onto is criticizing it for being linear.

TGF_Carlitos3588d ago

But why does linear get bashed so much even regardless of platform exclusivity?

aragon3588d ago

because of fanboys, i dont think multiplat linear games get criticised as much as exclusive linear games

Spotie3588d ago

It really started with Uncharted as part of the graphics debate. In an effort to downplay just how good Uncharted 2 looked, Xbox fanboys said it was only because the game was linear. Same thing happened to Heavy Rain.

Of course, it won't matter when it comes to any Xbox game with any level of linearity. But hey, fanboys never use any sort of equality, only false equivalencies.

user56695103588d ago (Edited 3588d ago )

Oh llinear( I'm sure you mean corridor= closed spaces, tunnel direction . Linear is story not gfx) games do graphically benefit ffrom in a closed environment and I'm not sure but gears came out before uncharted it was just as linear . I'm not seeing your point. PS do the same bsbe. Stop try to spin ps exclusives looked better than xb360 and multi plats on console sowhats the case, they had no comeback so the spread bs or deflect.

What I do find funny is PS fanboy doing more of what xb fanboys did last gen and ththey is on another level . Completely took over this site and if you Dont think PS is perfect oh boy

Oh and gears had split screen coop. It takes up processing power to do. It wouldn't had help if it didn't have this feature most unreal engine games looked horrible last gen.

lunatic00013588d ago

Because we always have to bitch about something...human nature

MasterCornholio3588d ago

The Uncharted series are very linear games but I had a ton of fun with them. Same goes for Gears 1 and 2 (never played 3 or Judgement)

Anyone saying that linear= bad are just pathetic trolls. Sometimes you need a very linear experience to deliver an incredible story.

I'm going to play Valiant Hearts tonight which is an extremely linear game but it tells a great story.

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50°

Why MW 2019 is still the best looking Call of Duty to date

MW 2019 is five years old at this point and on previous gen hardware, but it is still the best looking Call of Duty game to date.

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videogamer.com
EazyC5d ago

MW was an excellent videogame. They messed up Spec Ops big time, but aside from this it was a huge step in the right direction initially. Most notably, at launch it seemed to come from a very cohesive creative vision that was felt across gameplay, to story to art style/visual direction. It was also very notably written by prominent ex-Naughty Dog guys that quit almost immediately before release.

That COMPLETELY dissolved through post-launch content and the full pivot to a "cross-mode" narrative that completely obliterated the cohesion in overall story direction. Warzone then "became" the new face of Call of Duty and the franchise completely removed itself from anything remotely creatively "good". It is a pure money machine, so I kinda get why they're doing it....but I personally completely lost interest.

I would love to see Infinity Ward move off CoD and get to make their own product with full control. They clearly have some massive talent in their ranks but it's perverted by Activision's corporate interests.

70°

The 7 Best Final Fantasy Characters: Unveiling the Legends

While FFVII ranks highly, there's more to the series than one game. Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best Final Fantasy characters.

220°

The older it gets, the more I respect Final Fantasy XIII

Alex Donaldson: "Hindsight is a hell of a thing, however, and in the years since Final Fantasy XIII, my respect for the decisions its developers made has skyrocketed. In the two Final Fantasy titles since we see both the brilliance and the folly in alternative approaches - and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, we get a more nuanced understanding of what FF13 was trying to accomplish from many of the same development leads."

Einhander1972123d ago

FFXIII is actually one of the best Final Fantasy games.

I also sort of was disappointed at the time, never as much as the bandwagon. But really all the fantastic 3D rendered cutscenes and I actually liked the characters and the story though convoluted was actually fantastic and the ending was extremely emotional. So much budget and time were put into that game Square had such big plans, I actually have always felt kind of bad for how things played out.

I have been thinking for years how great it would be to get all three games on one disk for PS4 or 5.

Nyxus123d ago

I always liked this game, and I agree, a rerelease for current gen would be nice.

Shane Kim122d ago (Edited 122d ago )

Gotta take off the nostalgia glasses. It's the worst FF. Shiva as a bike, I mean come on.

Elda122d ago

Shiva as a bike is strange but saying FFXIII is the worst FF is not at all a fact, that's simply your opinion.

Terry_B121d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125122d ago (Edited 122d ago )

When I got my series X a year ago, I bought FF13 for nostalgia reasons but ended up being disappointed. When I first played it around the time it launched, I didn't have a lot of experience with final fantasy games, so I enjoyed it. Fast forward to when I played it again, I found that the game had many unnecessary filler moments instead of just giving us meaningful content.

The game is also very linear and a quote on the article said it best. "It is like a sewage pipe that leads to the ocean until it opens up on Grand Pulse."

The story didn't make much sense either and I believe it is my mistake as I played the FF7 remake on PS5 prior which is a night and day difference in terms of pacing, storytelling and likeable characters even though cloud is aloof.

FinalFantasyFanatic122d ago (Edited 122d ago )

Probably was a mistake to play any of the golden era FFs first (e.g. FF6 through FF10), it makes it harder to enjoy some of the FFs that aren't as good. I think FF12 was where major issues with the series started becoming apparent, and it just got worse from there.

FinalFantasyFanatic122d ago (Edited 122d ago )

I didn't really care for it that much, the only saving grace was that it had a better story than 15 (overall it was better than 15) and possibly 12, and even then, you had to read some of it through primers, like reading a book. Plus the battle system was reasonably fun for what it was, even if it was more the spectacle that was exciting for me (e.g. summoning). And to be fair, the 13 trilogy got better with every games, I still don't like Snow though.

Gamingsince1981121d ago

Ff13 is only good if you haven't played a ff before, or any other games that are decent for that matter.

-Foxtrot121d ago

It is in fact no way the best Final Fantasy game, it's one of the worst

Linear corridors, Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene...rinse and repeat

Dialogue and characters are pretty bad, especially Lightning as the main FF hero, they literally said they tried to make a "Female Cloud" and they failed.

Story was pretty awful

I could go on

I think the only alright thing that came from the game was the music.

Elda121d ago

That's not a fact that's your personal opinion. The game sold 11 million copies between its 2009 release up until 2014 including critically reviewed as an 8 out of 10 or an 80 out of 100. The game does have some issues but it's not at all a fact as one of the worst FF games.

-Foxtrot121d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy121d ago

N4G commenters such as yourself aren't the majority. The game was well received.

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gold_drake123d ago (Edited 123d ago )

i liked the game alot but i didnt like how they handled the terminology.

i dont mind reading data logs but it had soo many.

but i always loved the music and how it looked. the battle system wasnt too bad either.

but i like 13-2 more :)

i still dont understand why we never got a remaster of the trilogy

Eonjay121d ago

Xbox kinda did. Besides the video files of course which are still best on PS3 due to bluray.

Snookies12123d ago

XIII is a pretty solid game, but XIII-2 is WAY better. XIII-2 was one of the few games I decided to go for a Platinum trophy in, early on. Had so much fun the entire way through getting it too!

Eonjay121d ago

Totally agree. FF 13 was okay but 13-2 is my favorite FF game ever.

shinoff2183123d ago (Edited 123d ago )

I hated this to when it released. I haven't much liked a ff game since ff10 as much , aside from ff7remake. I decided to give it another shot on my series x since it's not on a current ps and was liking it quite a bit(just takes me some time to get over things ) until star ocean 2 remake came out I was all over that.

Square should definitely remaster it or something for ps4 ps5

KillerB122d ago

my favorite jrpg trilogy ever

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