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Why Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild Are the New Standard for Open World Games

Open-world games are becoming more and more common, but many game studios misunderstand the true appeal of the genre and end up missing the mark.

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Ezio204878d ago

I still think RDR2 is the best open world game but Elden Ring and BoTW is close second for me.

Vits78d ago

Personally, I see RDR2 as the best realized Open world map. One where you could find new things at every corner and be full of secrets to discover. However, both ER and especially BoTW where more open in structure.

Ezio204878d ago

Ofcourse they are more open in structure. RDR2 and for the same fact TW3 are heavy story focused games and to deliver such a cohesive and amazing story, you can't expect as open gameplay structure as ER or BoTW.

I consider RDR2 as the best because the world itself is unmatched, the detailing in this game is unmatched. Combine that with top level story, voice acting, music and sound design, and still one of the best looking games. Yes the gameplay and controls could've been better but the other aspects are god tier so I can ignore it.

neutralgamer199277d ago

This is subjective IMO. BOTW is the most overrated Zelda game in the series. Only if those reviewing could do a fair job and take off their nostalgic tinted glasses. If BOTW was a game for playstation or Xbox it would receive harsh criticism for it's shortcomings

Weapons break too easily
Story is next to non existent
Performance is all over the place
Unimaginative Boss Fights
Boring Towns & Settlements
Breath Of The Wild's Lack Of Traditional Dungeons

But since Nintendo only gets credit and Sony deserve any criticism we have to see articles like this

But this isn't the platform to have discussions like this because Nintendo fans will now become keyboard warriors

77d ago
Sciurus_vulgaris78d ago

Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 5, and The Witcher 3 have more interactive, dynamic worlds than Elden Ring with easier to track quests. Elden Ring open world is far from perfect. At times it’s confusing. Boss are repeated with questionable balancing and a lot of the dungeons are redundant.

lucian22978d ago

The bosses do not not repeat, only some of the mini bosses, and if you remove the very few mini boss repeats, the game still has way more bosses than any other game anyway

Crows9078d ago

Guess you didn't 100% it
Main bosses don't repeat...but there's a ton of mini bosses and the whole appeal of the open world is finding this bosses...those bosses repeat like crazy.

Snookies1278d ago

"only some of the mini bosses"

My guy, what? Did we play the same game? I loved Elden Ring, put about 110 hours into it. There were so many repeat bosses in those side dungeons. Even I had to start admitting that they really could have done better in that regard.

lucian22977d ago

@Crows, no i didnt 100% it but i beat majority of it; beat malenia, beat everything else. yes the centipedes and erd trees repeated, but like i said, this was only mini bosses; normal bosses themselves especially are more numerous than other games period anyway.

take skyrim for example......nearly all the enemies are the same as well as bosses ...yet no complaints.

-Foxtrot78d ago

Elden Ring I can see it

BotW no

Inverno78d ago

BoTW has gliding and climbing, the more traversal options an open world game has the better.

-Foxtrot78d ago

By that logic Far Cry 3 is better because it had gliding and climbing....

badz14978d ago

So Just Cause is the best open world games hands down, then?

FinalFantasyFanatic77d ago

I actually think that BoTW influenced alot of games from it's release onwards, it definitely set a new standard, I could argue the same for Horizon Zero Dawn which released around the same time if I remember right.

DankSinatra78d ago (Edited 78d ago )

I mean, BOTW world is highly interactive to the point that damn near anything can be used as weapons to make combat incredibly creative. Everything from simply cutting a tree down and having it drop onto an enemy to utilizing the weather (wind, lightning or rain), you can even use grass in combat. Hell I keep seeing newer and newer ways to fight something every day based on the environment alone. I’ve never seen a game so free with its open world to allow this.

Does this mean the games open world is on par with others? No. It’s pretty dead and basic. But it definitely has the most interactive open world.

Crows9078d ago

Here are some tools and go have fun isn't good open world game design for me. I don't find that very engaging....especially you don't need 90% of it for the game.

DankSinatra78d ago (Edited 78d ago )

@crows90 your want for what makes an open world enjoyable is subjective. What you look for is not what everyone else looks for. Some people are tired of the same old systems used in open world combat. Hell what you’re saying can be said about Elden ring as it’s a tired combat system that’s been mimicked to death and back where as the mechanics in BOTW are literally a breath of fresh air as no other game has mimicked this much freedom for its combat. I find it fun that I can time a thunderstorm and throw my metal weapon when a lightning bolt hits to cause lightning to hit my opponent, or use grass fire to clear out an area and then use that same fire to make an updraft to fly up and attack from the sky. You say it’s not necessary means you’re used to having game mechanics hold your hand and rely on them where as breath of the wild is literally about utilizing your freedom to its fullest and experiment.

FinalFantasyFanatic77d ago

The interactivity is pretty impressive, that and you can complete tasks in multiple ways, I beat some shrines in ways I don't think I was suppose to beat them. I also thought it was pretty cool that you could create drafts of air by making big ass fires and riding upstream via gliding.

Imalwaysright77d ago

It's not just its interactivity that makes it impressive. It's also the logic based reaction between the interaction of the player, the objects in the world, the elements such as fire or wind and qualities of hot, cold, dry and moist. What BoTW physics system is doing is a simulation of the real world. A simplistic simulation but a simulation nonetheless.

shinoff218377d ago

Sounds a bit like minecraft

shinoff218377d ago

Danksinatra

' I find it fun that I can time a thunderstorm and throw my metal weapon when a lightning bolt hits to cause lightning to hit my opponent'

Classic jrpg have done elemental damage from damn near day one

DankSinatra77d ago (Edited 77d ago )

@shinoff2183

Cool, that JRPG doesn’t let you weaponize lightning in real time by planning and timing an actual lightning bolt while doing real time combat. JRPG and ARPG are like apples and oranges. Real time Vs turn based. One is achieved through nothing more than a menu selection and one is achieved through random chance ( storms in BOTW are random) and planning (you’re not even told you can weaponize lightning in BOTW, you figure it out by complete chance).

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CS778d ago (Edited 78d ago )

BOTW detractors really have me puzzled.

I get that everyone has an opinion but how can you not see the BOTW is objectively a leapfrog in open world design?

The physics based open world is filled with interactive objects creates phenomenal gameplay moments. Lightning strikes you if you wear metal or use a bow and arrow to set fire to grass and trees which then creates and updraft for the glider. Bomb arrows explode in hot areas. These are things not seen even in current-gen games with much more powerful systems.

Tell me which current-gen game has comparable physics and interactive systems?

There was a moment I solved a puzzle in BOTW and after looking on the internet I’ve never found someone who solved the puzzle like I did.

Compare to GOW:R and Horizon FW (both are some of my favorite games) the puzzle must be solved one specific, limited way the developers thought of. It feels unimmersive.

To this day, very little game have as an immersive and interactive world.

The game also allows players to go anywhere they want from the very beginning of the game. This gives players the freedom to explore the world and discover new locations on their own terms. And it treats discovery as a core gameplay mechanic. Elden ring borrows this same discovery as a core gameplay mechanic and *surprise* its winning game of the year left right and center.

Past open world design is dated imo. The free open worlds of BOTW and Elden are the future.

Even if your game is narrative heavy, open up the physics and use discovery as a core gameplay mechanic instead of vomiting markers all over the map.

Crows9078d ago

No real dungeons, no enemy variety, but combat design.

Sure you have creative tools, sure there is this freedom thing but all of that is pointless if i don't enjoy the package.

Breath of the wild is the 1st Zelda i didn't beat.

FinalFantasyFanatic77d ago

I don't really get why people downplay it either, I prefer traditional Zelda, and BotW has it's flaws, but to say it's mechanics and design hasn't been influential or somewhat revolutionary compared to alot of boring, dead, open world games is baffling at best.

At this point, I think people just hate it for the popularity and not what it actually is, I don't like or enjoy the majority of open world games, so I was surprised I enjoyed this and played it right through, it was breath of fresh air.

It has had a noticeable influence on open world games since it's release.

Imalwaysright77d ago

Don't worry about those people. I engaged in conversations with some of them and when they start discussing the game all they're doing is telling me that they never played it. Those people are just trolls and the majority of them are well known PS fanboys that are upset because Nintendo creates masterpieces that are the anithesis of Sony's formulaic games.

Inverno78d ago

Well in terms of traversal then yeah Farcry is better than Elden Ring. I would say Just Cause is better than all cause of how freely you can launch yourself into the air and glide. My point is that neither BoTW nor ER should be the standards cause they don't do everything, or certain things better than other games. Game devs should look at those games, but they needa look at others for things those 2 don't do at all.

Crows9078d ago (Edited 78d ago )

So you want a game that does everything...basically bend over backwards for traversal options ...how does that make an open world good exactly?

Imalwaysright77d ago

Better? No, they do things differently from other open world games. Whereas other open world games are constantly telling you where to go, what to do, what you can't do and have maps filled with icons, BoTW and Elden Ring put you in their world and basically tell you to do what you want and tell you that you have to discover things on your own. This gives BoTW and Elden Ring a level of player agency, freedom and a sense of discovery and adventure that other open world games just don't have.

shinoff218377d ago

Thats how im feeling, botw and elden ring shouldnt be Standard but parts were good. Both games felt empty to me. I still like botw, and by far to this day majoras mask is my least favorite. To this day its ocarina of time, I had my n64 before I even owned a ps. Elden ring I put about 20 hours in and it just isnt my cup of tea. Not do to difficulty I just didn tlike it.

Inverno77d ago

Can't reply directly. I don't want a game that does everything. I'm pointing out that these two games don't do everything and that devs should look at other games for mechanics that may be better than what BoTW and ER do. Also imagine a world as big as BoTW and being forced to walk, then ask yourself how traversal options make an open world game better. Also people keep forgetting Elder Scrolls 3 and 4 basically did most of what people praise these two games for. Aside from the physics from BoTW which it does better than most games.

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PitbullMonster78d ago

Empty and lifeless should be the new standard?

CS778d ago

No.

Open ended gameplay allowing you to go where you want.

Deep physics system that interacts with all levels of gameplay.

Discovery as a core gameplay mechanic instead of a map filled with markers and errands.

That should be the new standard.

Crows9078d ago

I can go anywhere...but there's nowhere interesting to go.

Deep physics? So you gave me tools to play with...but not much to use it against.

Discovery as core mechanic...but nothing to discover...

No thanks

BrainSyphoned78d ago

Ah yes, BotW, the game that invented all genres.

badz14978d ago

The be all an end all of all gaming. You playedBoTW, you've played it all as they said.