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Open World or Linear, Which Do You Prefer?

Which do you prefer?


  • Total voters
    24
Joined
Oct 30, 2018
Personally I have nothing against Open World games, but there's a 99.9% chance that I will never beat one.

As far as Linear goes, it depends on how Linear the game is and the type of game. Mario games definitely get a Plus on Linearity, but Zelda games should definitely have some wiggle room. *cough* Skyward Sword *cough*.

Then there's the option of Metroidvania's, which I usually think strikes the perfect balance of Exploration and Linearity.

But what are your stances on the matter?
 
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Joined
Oct 20, 2008
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Generally prefer open world, though execution is a big part of it. A well executed linear game that allows some room for exploration and options about how to complete tasks can be just as fun and satisfying as open world. If the linearity is too forward and that's all you really notice, then I think that's poor design and execution. On the other hand, open world can just feel empty and boring if not done right, but when done well is probably my favorite style of game as I like to just get lost in the world and do things at my own pace.
 

Castle

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I prefer a degree of freedom in my video games, whichever the case. I find that the metroidvania structure strikes a nice balance between the two.

Linear games can often feel too stifling while open world games can suffer from not having enough structure. Plus, both designs fall prey to lazy conventions. Enemy camps, collect-a-thons and Ubisoft towers in open world games - and a narrow gauntlet of corridor shooting galleries and QTEs in linear games.

But the metroidvania structure takes players along linear routes through a complex, interlocking environment that gradually becomes more and more open as players progress. This allows designers to guide the experience without inhibiting player freedom and still lets players ultimately crawl all over an increasingly massive game space that opens up more as they clear it. I find the sense of progression more satisfying in metroidvania games than in open world games. In open world games all you usually have to indicate progress are a list of statistics and a bunch of icons on a map. In metroidvania games the whole game world itself is your measure of progress as you chart new courses and become increasingly familiar with the paths that become open to you.

Purely open world games work particularly well as sandboxes where players are free to go anywhere and do anything while freely interacting with the game's various systems (weather, economy, physics, faction standing, farming and crafting, etc.) Games like The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon/Themepark, Fallout 1&2, and New Vegas, Minecraft and BotW are good examples of games that have the best sandbox. Games like Red Dead Redemption (pretty much any Rockstar game), the Batman: Arkham games, Assassins Creed/Far Cry and yes, even Ocarina of Time have open worlds but they're not sandboxes. It's not that these games aren't necessarily as good, it's just that usually once you've done everything there is to do in an area there isn't much reason to do anything else there.
 
I like both.

Zelda games befor BotW were mostly linear and I loved those.

I also love metroivania games and a good one is usually non-linear.

I also love aimlessly wandering around the open Hyrule of BotW.

So both good.
 

Sheikah_Witch

I just really like botw
Joined
Apr 8, 2019
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Sweden
Open world I think. I love being in a world in a game. Just being. I've never been bothered too much about the drawbacks of the genre, like cluttering, busywork, filler etc.

Though majority of my favorite games are linear, I prefer open world as a template more. (And I do think some of my favorite games actually would've benefited from being open world.)
 

GrooseIsLoose

Slickest pompadour in town
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I voted for both. LoZ is mostly linear. I've played 3 of it's linear games and loved all of em.
I like Skyrim too, which is an open-world.

Hence we can conclude that the narrative of the game makes decide the fate of the game.
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

CHIMer Dragonborn
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I voted both. I think if executed well, I can get the same enjoyment from a game whether it's linear or open-world.

Here's a great example that happened recently; a friend of mine wanted me to try out Spiderman on PS4. I've heard a lot of great things about the game, so I went ahead and played it for about an hour; but by time I was finished, I wasn't very impressed. A part of me thinks it was because I didn't start a new game, I just began to run around in my friend's game where he was about halfway through it. Using webs to swing across the city, and pulling off some cool feats of athleticism that only Spiderman could was fun for awhile, but I grew tired of it after 15 minutes: proof that I didn't get immersed in the world at any point. So then I went down to the streets thinking there would be NPCs there I could interact with to get a sidequest from - I couldn't interact with any of them. Finally, I found a combat mission where I was in a warehouse fighting waves of enemies, but I had no idea what I should be doing really. I'm the type of player that needs to play a game from the start, that way I know how to best use all assets available to me.

I walked away feeling like I would probably get bored with the game if I bought it for myself: it was a huge miss for me, and after this experience I don't know if I'll ever buy the game for myself.

Later that day, I started to play Metroid: Samus Returns and I enjoyed every minute of playing it.

On the otherhand, earlier this year I started a playthrough of The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, and I managed to get immersed into the game. Every aspect of it that I've played I have enjoyed, whether it's doing a side quest, tackling the main quest, or aimlessly exploring the world - I've loved every bit of it so far.

To conclude, there are many factors that go into how I recieve any type of game. Perhaps if I started a new game of Spiderman I would have gotten involved with some aspect of the game, but because I didn't, I never managed to get that hooked feeling that I've gotten with other games.
 

~Kilza~

The Resting Sun
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Both definitely have their merits, but in general I prefer open world games over more linear games. There's just something about being able to explore an open world, interact with it, discover its little secrets and in general just goof around in the middle of nowhere on the map that really speaks to me.
 

Siphonix

Eater of Worlds
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Now this may sound cheesy, but I’m more of an independent individual, so Open World is amazing to me. I think my first open world game was OOT, second being Minecraft. But yeah, I’m a kinetic learner, I like being able to make my own decisions.
 
Joined
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As long I know where I'm supposed to go, it doesn't really matter.

Open world games are a very delicate art; I think I can count the good ones on two hands. Linearity however, is what it is; as far as I can tell, there's no way to either fail or succeed at it. The game always able to speak for itself.

Linear.
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
My two cents.

Open world does not mean a large world. An open world can be large but it does not have to. A good example of a small open world game is River City Ransom (Street Gangs PAL) on the NES. In that game you can go anywhere apart from the final High School from the start of the game. You can also upgrade your stats and get more moves whenever you want to. 90% of the game is open to you from the begin of the game.

Of cause to access the High School you have to beat all the outside bosses in order but you can still access their areas whenever you want to. You can run from the start of the game to the front gate of the high school in around 5 minutes if you avoid all the gangs in each area.

*********

As an aside, open world does not have anything to do with what you can or can't do in the area. It just means accessing each area. Metroidvania is not open world because it's most linear how you explore those games. You have to find X item to access Y region.
However if you can access every area from the start but you need X item to accomplish Y in a region, that's still open world. It just means the story or how you do stuff might be linear.
 

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