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I hope that western devs will be inspired by Elden Ring's success to make their open world games not suck

you cant copy art.... why do you think in all this years western films and animations have never reached the stories and creations of japanese manga nad anime.. you just cant copy art like that.. it takes natural talent to do that
theres countless fantastic western stories and creations lol. this is a weird comment.

as far as open worlds go, western games overall have done a better job. BoTW and ER are fantastic games in their own right but thats two examples and two examples where the actual openess of the world wasnt what made them great.

Red Dead Redemption 2
GTA
The Witcher
Skyrim
Cyberpunk 2077
Assassin Creed
Dragon Age Inquisition
Fallout
Eve Online

theres so many examples of top tier western open world games
 
Neither Breath of the Wild nor Elden Ring surpassed the open-world benchmark set by The Witcher 3. I love both of those games and think each surpasses TW3 in plenty of areas, but not in open-world design. The sense of discovery in TW3 and the immersiveness of the world blow BotW and Elden Ring out of the water.
Shame about that combat though.

Is this video from Endimiyon or whoever? That guy’s videos suck. It’s always “woke r bad” this or “western developers mad at x game”. More to the point tho, I think something like Elden Ring has a better chance of being adopted and influencing open world games than Zelda. It’s accessible(relative to other souls games), doesn’t rigorously limit player freedom, and attempts to bridge the divide between the legacy of JRPGs and WRPGs. I have my own issues with the game at large(lack of balance, dominant strategy, repeat dungeons and bosses, so-so graphics) but, it’s an admirable step forward for games.

That aside, what’s with this disingenuous, pretentious japanophilia shit in the comments section? So much unearned snobbery of “y-you guys just don’t understand game design!!! Japan just emphasizes creativity over money-making!!!” 🤣🤣🤣.

I’m not even a hater of games anymore, I hate fanbases now. Y’all suck.
 
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kevm3

Member
There's nothing that Elden Ring did with 'open world' to make it more interesting. In fact, I felt open world made the series worse compared to Souls. It had the same problems most open worlds do, which is that feeling of travelling through huge spaces where nothing is going on. There were some gorgeous environments in Elden Ring, but I didn't feel like it really did anything with them... and you could see the 'template' they were going for with each new zone.
 
There's nothing that Elden Ring did with 'open world' to make it more interesting. In fact, I felt open world made the series worse compared to Souls. It had the same problems most open worlds do, which is that feeling of travelling through huge spaces where nothing is going on. There were some gorgeous environments in Elden Ring, but I didn't feel like it really did anything with them... and you could see the 'template' they were going for with each new zone.
Agreed, and I love elden ring. Botw did the open world really well, but it's combat was complete ass. Elden ring didn't have much going on in the open world (though the legacy dungeons were fantastic)

Would be cool to see a from/Nintendo crossover lmao

Legend of zeldin: breath of the ring
 

Arsic

Member
I also think one of the most slept on open world games I really enjoyed is Ghost of Tsushima . It takes a lot of what works in other open worlds, and polished it. Great combat, upgrades, gear to find, unique quests, lived in world, gorgeous visuals , and well told story.

It gets a bit long in the tooth for pacing, but it’s still a high quality open world. I’m excited to see what sucker punch will do next if they do a #2 or try a different era like Vikings.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
I also think one of the most slept on open world games I really enjoyed is Ghost of Tsushima . It takes a lot of what works in other open worlds, and polished it. Great combat, upgrades, gear to find, unique quests, lived in world, gorgeous visuals , and well told story.

It gets a bit long in the tooth for pacing, but it’s still a high quality open world. I’m excited to see what sucker punch will do next if they do a #2 or try a different era like Vikings.
Agreed. It also had the brilliant idea to get rid of those annoying HUD markers and replaced it with those great looking gusts of wind. Very functional and immersive, and it fits with the game's overall aesthetic.
 

anthraticus

Banned
AAA gaming is about trying to appeal to the widest possible audience, so....

...not gonna happen.

Enjoy playing games of 'follow the directions'....or self eject, like I did years ago...lol
 
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Drizzlehell

Banned
AAA gaming is about trying to appeal to the widest possible audience, so....

...not gonna happen.

Enjoy playing games of 'follow the directions'....or self eject, like I did years ago...lol
This comes more and more naturally as I get older tbh.

Once you start feeling that your ass has an expiry date, you start to treat your own free time with more respect and quit wasting it on trash, lol.
 

AJUMP23

Member
I think all developers are capable of making great open world games. East or west, both make variations of a similar formula. I want everyone to make good games. I want them to do it in half the time though.
 
Agree. Cave #83. Amazing! Catacomb #56. Mesmerising! Evergaol #32. Heavenly! Everyone should take inspiration from this game, especially ubisoft as their games are too light on the meaningful content like this.






What reward you received in 50 previous randomly generated caves before you found Patches in 51st?
So lemme get this straight having a multiple types of caves is an issue? You really find Elden ring to lack variety in enemies, weapons and location?
 
Japan is mostly known for their linear games while Western games are becoming more and more open world.

But it's funny that some newer Japanese games are open world, like Elden Ring and Zelda, and doing it better than western developers and games.
 
Agreed, and I love elden ring. Botw did the open world really well, but it's combat was complete ass. Elden ring didn't have much going on in the open world (though the legacy dungeons were fantastic)

Would be cool to see a from/Nintendo crossover lmao

Legend of zeldin: breath of the ring
I gotta ask what does “didn’t have much going on in the open world” mean here? The amount of optional content and unique shit you can stumble upon is staggering in that game - are you saying since it’s all combat based? Or that the rewards are restricted to magic and weapons and stuff? No like towns to chill in and do mini games?
 
I gotta ask what does “didn’t have much going on in the open world” mean here? The amount of optional content and unique shit you can stumble upon is staggering in that game - are you saying since it’s all combat based? Or that the rewards are restricted to magic and weapons and stuff? No like towns to chill in and do mini games?
Sorry, I was unclear. Specifically I was referring to traversal options and maneuvering from place to place. What I like best about botw is its sense of three dimensional movement. You can climb and fly, and so the Z axis matters quite a bit. In Elden Ring you move along the x and y axis and up the z axis, but really movement along the Z axis is still two dimensional in nature and oftentimes serves the same purpose as a wall.

To be fair, BoTW didnt have that much going on in the world, lol. I do like the fact that there were towns, Elden Ring has that isolated end of the world vibe of of the souls games but it didnt make as much sense thematically, in that your character is fighting to more or less rule the world. Roundtable hold is more or less disconnected from the primary world.

What BoTW did have was some sort of weird feedback loop where I wanted to see what was on the other side of the hill/mountain all the time. It was literally climbing and seeing what was on the other side that did it for me. In Elden Ring, I was mostly just searching for dungeons or caves rather than being excited for the landscape itself. It was definitely better to find a new weapon with a new moveset that is an entirely new way to play the game instead of Korok Seed #385

Elden Ring actually does rewards MUCH better than BoTW imho.

Basically, BOTW had this awesome intrinsic feedback loop where I wanted to see the world and I attribute that to Z axis movement. Elden Ring had unparalleled extrinsic motivators and rewards for proper exploration that I didnt even come close to properly using while I played the game. Botw was my fav game I beat last year and ER was my fav game I beat this year.

Thank you for asking, because the way I phrased things previously was basically saying nothing and you pried some more clear thought out of me with your question.
 
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Sorry, I was unclear. Specifically I was referring to traversal options and maneuvering from place to place. What I like best about botw is its sense of three dimensional movement. You can climb and fly, and so the Z axis matters quite a bit. In Elden Ring you move along the x and y axis and up the z axis, but really movement along the Z axis is still two dimensional in nature and oftentimes serves the same purpose as a wall.

To be fair, BoTW didnt have that much going on in the world, lol. I do like the fact that there were towns, Elden Ring has that isolated end of the world vibe of of the souls games but it didnt make as much sense thematically, in that your character is fighting to more or less rule the world. Roundtable hold is more or less disconnected from the primary world.

What BoTW did have was some sort of weird feedback loop where I wanted to see what was on the other side of the hill/mountain all the time. It was literally climbing and seeing what was on the other side that did it for me. In Elden Ring, I was mostly just searching for dungeons or caves rather than being excited for the landscape itself. It was definitely better to find a new weapon with a new moveset that is an entirely new way to play the game instead of Korok Seed #385

Elden Ring actually does rewards MUCH better than BoTW imho.

Basically, BOTW had this awesome intrinsic feedback loop where I wanted to see the world and I attribute that to Z axis movement. Elden Ring had unparalleled extrinsic motivators and rewards for proper exploration that I didnt even come close to properly using while I played the game. Botw was my fav game I beat last year and ER was my fav game I beat this year.

Thank you for asking, because the way I phrased things previously was basically saying nothing and you pried some more clear thought out of me with your question.
Ok yeah thanks for explaining - cus this I understand a bit more. I personally got a similar like “what’s over the hill?” Vibe from both games (Botw/Elden ring) but obviously the interactivity and verticality with the 3D world as a whole is a lot deeper in BOTW - even moreso with TOTK so I definitely understand that as a preference. I wonder what a TOTK/Elden Ring combo would look like or if that would even be possible
 
Agree. Cave #83. Amazing! Catacomb #56. Mesmerising! Evergaol #32. Heavenly! Everyone should take inspiration from this game, especially ubisoft as their games are too light on the meaningful content like this.






What reward you received in 50 previous randomly generated caves before you found Patches in 51st?
I found your mother in the 52nd
 
You're actually spot on about elden rings world design. It's not good. Big open fields with some classic Souls style dungeons on the perimeter.

Give me dark Souls, bb, sekiro, dark Souls 2/ds 3 design over elden ring too.

It's cool to have one From soft open world game ...but still, elden ring could've been better if there was a more interesting layout. The open world trivializes the gameplay too because it's populated by easy, trash mob enemies. No doubt this was done so that the casuals could finally get their easy mode they're always begging for.

Like you said it takes more effort and is more interesting to have wide linear design than an open world like ER. Maybe it took a lot of work because of the sheer size tho i dunno. I'm really worried that From will be "forced" to make their next Souls game open world due to how successful ER was.
 

tusharngf

Member
you cant copy art.... why do you think in all this years western films and animations have never reached the stories and creations of japanese manga nad anime.. you just cant copy art like that.. it takes natural talent to do that
my point exactly...
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
The handwringing over openworlds not ER or BOTW and now TOTK is fucking amazing and it's always the dumbest, entirely on the user, reasons. It's that "Ubification of Elden Rings" meme image turned into a person, a person who doesn't know that accessibility options exist and that you can turn off much of the "braindead" features you think Ubisoft mandates into their UI as the default experience. ACO and ACV in particular are incredibly easy to do this on, as - iirc - most of the quests in both games specifically force you to find the exact locations of things by the information you receive WITHIN the games narrative (like "The Cultist was last seen east of JibJab. . .") so that you aren't being led by the nose with a waypoint (which you can) and that you aren't just completely lost.

And that is if you want to stay on the beaten path. There is just as much world to explore in these games (or not explore) as there is in ER and the new ZELDA's in these open worlds, with some really interesting locations, but somehow we just nose-thumb them because you can't set a bush on fire and use "real physics" to lift yourself up into the sky using nothing but a kite to reach them. I've spent just as much time in the last two AC's looking out over the horizon (or just peeking at the map with no icons on it) and saying "I wonder what is over there. . ." as I have in ZELDA or ER, and more often than not there is something there as expected. . .just like in ZELDA/ER.

You'll note I've said nothing about the quality of what is there as that is largely subjective. Personally, I am not finding the reward of MOST of my exploration in TOTK to be interesting. It is cute and whimsical to come across another Korok with another seed (which is like, totally NOT part of a collectathon because, like, these games have evolved past mindless "collecting as gameplay" and that tracker on the loading screen is just like a running tally and NOT AT ALL the same kind of collectathon gameplay in Ubi-Openworlds) but is that really any more or less rewarding than coming across some lonely island that has a legendary beast or Viking encounter or any of the other bits Ubisoft shoved into Europe for ACV? Guess it all depends on your tastes, whether you see any difference in the two.

The ONLY thing that I find that sets your ZELDA's specifically apart from other open worlds is the "physics" system and the emergent solutions to exploration it gives. That is it.

. . .like if we really want to talk about open worlds who were able to nail exploration, "hand holding" and the reward of accomplishment. . .NONE of these games even touches OUTWARD a game that if it weren't Eurojank or actually had a budget (advertising or otherwise) for it, would have gotten the proper attention from the 'streams, that it should have and would have actually inspired developers to take chances with gameplay.
 

GymWolf

Member
Lol tsushima was quintessential ubisoft formula but with a decent combat and pleasing artstyle.

Story was good for the first 3-4 hours, the whole honor thing was cringe as fuck and the khan was a little bitch after such a great introduction.
 
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