Should all linear games become Open World games ?!

*Before i type anything...this is just my opinion.*

As we are in Ps4/Xboxone era it became clear that alot of developers want Open world games
and as result this gen open world games are flooding the gaming market
But how many of them are good ?!

When someone say :"i wish this game was open so i can do this or that...oh amazing game but what if it was open world ?! it would be even better"

and Developers who make linear games listen to them.

Gamers ask for more freedom while the truth is in my humble opinion that Open world games are as linear as the games some gamers complain about ...when it come to playing story or side missions
you have to go from point A to point B and you need to do what the game tells you or you won't progress in the story missions
but with even more reptitve gameplay than most linear games
I mean look at Assasin credd games
when you chase someone if you stay behing by just a sec...the whole mission fails and you have to try again.

There is not many open world games that don't have VERY reptitve gameplay..maybe Dragon Dogma and Batman Arkham games
Those games really had tons of gameplay options IMO

Very few open world games managed to be great in story too like RDR,Infamous1/2,Sleeping Dogs,Witcher 3(The gameplay need tons of work though),Dragon Dogma,Mafia .etc on top of my head.

Most of open world games don't have enough focus on Gameplay or an immersive narrative or how to make you enjoy the gameplay without feeling the repetitiveness of doing the same gameplay for 60+ hours or fun side quests (Where you don't feel that you are doing the same missions over and over and the dreadful fetch quests) or a map full of things to do (not just big map where do little to nothing)or story missions that isn't linear

I have seen games gone from being linear to open world...and the fans went wild on that ...only to get disappointed the moment they play it and see how much it woul have been better if it stayed linear
example of this is MGSV
Kojima is really great developer who make great stories we all fall in love with
and we all were very excited for MGSV:PP
but did it deliver ?!
For me it didn't
It had great gameplay but not soo great story
and repetitive weak side missions
Boss fights that were no where near as good as MGS4
Very little Cutscenes
Main characters are really underdeveloped
it's not the same without david

Since the first time i saw Uncharted 4 gameplay
i saw that ND is going for the same sandbox levels of the Last Of Us but bigger...without making the game full open world
For me i like that more as it doesn't take anything away from the immersive narrative and still give the player the options to do what he want in sandbox levels or big levels

So
As a gamer...Do you want all your favorite Linear games to become open world or become Wide-Linear or stay linear ?!

[Lukejrl]

I have been saying this for years. open world games are just linear games where you can go, instead of a-b, a-z with b-c or g-h being little quests. still linear. kinda like a choose your own story book from back in the day

[Ezz2013]

Very true
I have yet to play open world game that don't have linear missions in single player or story.

[DragonDDark]

No man's sky sounds like an open world game...

[AudioEppa]

I prefer linear or wide-ish linear.

I only like open world if it's something like gta or the division and maybe a arcade racer like burnout paradise was.

Any other kind of games that are open bore me to look at and I will never buy them.

[Ezz2013]

Same
I enjoy Linear/wide-linear games far more than Open Worl games.

[rainslacker]

I like linear with some larger areas to explore, or with additional stuff to do. Also like very linear if it has a good story and game play. Big open world is hit or miss for me. I don't like the one's that just have random stuff to collect and nothing much else to do but much of the world is available from the start, as I find all the side tasks rather boring and rarely pertinent to the plot. Not a big fan of sandbox unless the extra stuff is actually interesting...which is rare.

But no, not all linear games should be open world. Not everyone is into that kind of thing, and I'd rather devs focus on the games they want to make, and let the market decide if it's still a viable form of entertainment.

[Kingdomcome247]

I loved Deus Ex: Human Revolution's scale. It was open, but not overwhelming in any way. I also really like Wolfenstein The New Order/Old Blood. Semi-open environments, with multiple routes for exploration or approaching engagements, but they all still funnel you toward your destination. That type of game is what I tend to gravitate towards, as I love a compelling narrative. So rarely does an open world game tell a story that's anything other than average. RDR would be the best, I feel.

[ravinash]

Deus Ex had just the right mix of open and Linear.
If your trying to make a story flow and make sense, then that's a good way of doing it.

[DefenderOfDoom2]

Yeah me too .

Some of the best video game level design ever is in DOOM 1 and 2 by developers John Romero and Sandy Pederson . I hope the new DOOM has twisted , abstract ,puzzle like levels.

[-Foxtrot]

Well not all of them...it obviously didn't work for MGSV

It become the worst MGS game out of all the main games

[DarkOcelet]

Gameplay wise, Its the best MGS out there.

Story was the issue here.

[-Foxtrot]

Gameplay was good but you have like 1 or 2 better things over a dozen bad things

It's totally outnumbered

Gameplay can't cover up all the flaws

[awi5951]

Thats not MGS fault konami kept trying to shut it down or cut the budget and even half fired kojima in the middle of it.

[-Foxtrot]

Right I didn't like what Konami did to Kojima but I highly doubt that would of affected the outcome.

The games stricture had been set in stone for a long time, you have to plan something out long term so this would have been the plan at the beginning

It would have probably been just as repetitive except longer if the drama didn't happen. Besides more time would be able to include epic boss fights and good character development.

[awi5951]

Yes it did he had to convince his people to stay on the job. You must have never had to work for a ahole boss, you cant do you best when you know some jerk is just waiting for you to get done so they can let you go. People have families they were all were too busy looking for another job than worry about a game. The game is half finished and its noticeable.

[Fez]

The half-finished aspect was only part of the problem though... The problem was the repetitive mission structures, repetitive side missions, underwhelming bosses, dead play time where tens of minutes can be spent doing nothing, poor dialogue, poor storytelling... All of which would have been solved by a linear game.

Best gameplay but worst MGS. How good would have MGSV been with MGS3 style linearity, maybe slightly more open... but at least some linear progression throughout to enthuse the player along.

[rainslacker]

MGS problem in open world wasn't that it was bad, it was more that there was only so much variety. It was about the same 6-7 side op types, repeated 10 different times, in different areas of the maps. It got repetitive, and there was too much of a grinding nature which depleted resources to move between them quickly. The GMP aspect got better after the patch though. Even the main missions got repetative, and that doesn't even include the recycled ones which just made them harder in the 2nd chapter.

[MasterD919]

I think you hit the nail on the head there. It wasn't the fact that it was repetitive so much as it was literally replaying missions you've completed. That and the "open-world" was beyond empty. I would spend so much time riding around and seeing literally no NPCs or even animals.

It would have been nice to see some neutral NPCs and a city and not just a military outpost with enemies every few hundred yards.

[sullynathan]

no not at all. A lot of these open world games should have gone back to their less open formats

[nommers]

It really depends on the genre and the developer's past endeavors. MGS never made sense as an open world game, even if MGS5 did have amazing gameplay..it still wasn't as tight and satisfying as MGS 1-4. I'm worried if SE can really pull of a great open world game for FFXV. For FF it makes more sense to be open world, but FF was never this open world before, nor was it an action RPG. It can work if they get the difficulty balance, alt gameplay style (like they mentioned) and level up progression down. Especially the development of each character's stats and abilities..that will be the most important thing being as that seems to be the most RPG specific part of the game.

[julioDJ20]

In my top 10 games of all time,only 1 open world.

[Ezz2013]

I have like 3 open world games in my top 20 list too
"RDR/Dragon Dogma/Infamous1-2"...ever ything else is Linear/Wide-linear games or sandbox games
My top favorite game... is Wide-Linear "The last of us".

[julioDJ20]

In my top 10 is Grand Theft Auto San Andreas,Red Dead Redemption is top 15 and the Last of Us is my favorite game of all time.So +1 for you

[Ezz2013]

oh, you got some good taste there my friend :)

[GrimDragon]

No definitely not. Not all games benefit from this format. I'd cry like a baby if they ever made gears of war open world.

[Concertoine]

The obsession with open world games is driving me crazy.

"They should make _____ open world/co-op" is always my least favorite thing to see on here.

[Ezz2013]

Agreed on every word.

[rainslacker]

Open world Tetris would kick ass.

[Goldby]

with co-op so you both can choose which way the tile drops, just like this mic! /s

[Ezz2013]

Thank you guys for the replies
and i'm happy that you understand that bigger isn't always better....i also always hate articles about develops saying "The map will be 10 times bigger than xy game"....i don't care about that at all
i care about how good are the side missions and story and gameplay in that game.

[ninsigma]

Hell no. I want variety. It's the only way forward. The gaming world needs the likes of uncharted/halo with their linear level designs just as much as it needs the likes of GTA/Elder scrolls with their open worlds and side quests. If everything became open world, the state of gaming would be a lot more hollow.

[Christopher]

Open World? No.
Open design? Yes.

Two very different things.

Look at Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Its level design, whether in a building or outside, is open design. It doesn't give you the freedom to go from one city to another at any point, but it allows freedom in not only handling how you accomplish a task but also how to get there.

Now, I'm not saying every linear game needs to be Deus Ex, but I do believe that every linear game needs elements where the player determines a path towards A rather than just the one option at every point. Does Drake go through the dilapidated building to the left or does he decide to try out the sewers to get past those guys in his way? These are options players love to have and I believe incorporating them more into linear games would increase gamer enjoyment a lot, let alone potential for replayability.

[Ezz2013]

I like that
Keep it away from open world but make it open enough to give the player the choice in gameplay options.

[rainslacker]

True, but a fully linear game without much choice can provide some good focused content. Like it when there are areas to explore where it's reasonable to have it in an area. Branching areas or progression through linear content is a pretty good thing too. The whole game doesn't require a choice based branching scheme, but as many as is reasonably possible, and where it makes sense. Kind of like Until Dawn where you could take the short path or the long path in many places. While what you could do on those paths was limited, the same principal could be applied elsewhere.

[Kingdomcome247]

That's my go to example as well for what I feel was a game that displayed just about the perfect amount of scope and scale. Goodness, I cannot wait for Mankind Divided. *Drools*

[2pacalypsenow]

No it ruined MGS

[KwietStorm_BLM]

This really doesn't need an answer. There is a reason we have different genres. The same goes for linear vs open world, and also applies to single player only vs a mix of single player and multiplayer. Variety is a necessity.

[jb227]

Variety is an absolute necessity, but the sticking point for me lately is that there is a lot less of it in the AAA realm. Nearly every AAA game released in 2015 was either an open world rpg or an mp only (or strongly focused) shooter.

I'm hoping 2016 changes this, but we've hit open world saturation in my eyes. We have less variety than ever in gaming this gen so far for my tastes. The indie realm offers quite a bit but even that market is being overwhelmed w/ procedurally generated rogue likes, twin stick shooters & walking sims. I get that devs like to create games in popular genres, but eventually there needs to be some risks taken, even if those risks are actually well worn mechanics from yesteryear.

I love a good story & for my tastes this gen is nearly bereft of them. The open world format & mp only format are simply not conducive to good narrative & as a result, we've ended up with a lot of games that can be played for hundreds of hours but only truly enjoyed for a minuscule fraction of that.

Luckily 2016 seems to be bringing on the variety better than any year so far this gen. I know a lot of people were happy w/ the games released in the past couple years but this gen has been spinning its wheels for me & 2016 is hopefully the time when it finally takes off.

Great blog Ezz, I agree with you from top to bottom, right down to your idea of the open world games that nailed variety & narrative.

[Ezz2013]

**Great blog Ezz, I agree with you from top to bottom, right down to your idea of the open world games that nailed variety & narrative.**

Well thank you, my friend :)
i'm making another blog about my idea for Justice League game
hope to see your opinion on it when i'm done

[jb227]

@Ezz

Oh man, my favorite topic may be the intersection of comics & video games...The time is perfect for a next gen JL game & I think it is only a matter of time...can't wait to read that one, I'll definitely be looking out for it!

[Ezz2013]

Finished it
i was making up the story as i was typing the blog

[DragonDDark]

Naruto shippuden storm 4 is a game I have been playing recently and it has a Story mode and Adventure mode. Basically a free roam with lots of side quests. I would like seeing more games doing it like this. But yeah, these things don't go along with a lol of games so I can see a problem.

[victormarreta30]

I love MGSV,gameplay was nearly the perfection and world very well built,but the main story was terrible.

[Ezz2013]

Agreed, was huge let down.

[Picnic]

Some games have a few branches in route and dialogue, as Uncharted 4 is doing. And it is possible that there may be a DLC storyline (like Left behind in The Last of Us).

This already seems like a minimum rather than a great step foward (it was something I really expected more of in
Uncharted 2 and 3) but, with Uncharted 4, a lot of people regularly play the multiplayer after finishing the single player game and it is in the multiplayer that the periodic enhancements happen. Also, Naughty Dog like everyone to see more or less all of the game because they have a single story and so that people don't have to replay it just to see a few extra cutscenes, which they can see on YouTube anyway. But there's something to be said for a choose your own adventure choice in the same scene between, say, going down river on a boat or walking on foot along the side of the river. You still see much of the same scenery so you're not missing out on content but you're doing it in a different way.