Oooh goodie, my first post on this forum is about a subject I've been ranting about for... god, years now!
I've been dying to see an open world sci-fi game of some repute. It never even had to be cyberpunk in particular (though I did prefer if it were that), as long as it had the classic sci-fi tropes I could play around with.
Yet after playing through the Saints Row series, I realized that I also desired an actual living world rather than one where I might be able to go wherever I please.
Compare Saints Row 2 to Saints Row 4. The first had what I like to call a "stock city"— otherwise not very original, with the world generally playing by the numbers. But it worked because the world itself felt so damn alive. There was so much character to Stilwater, and it never felt like any one district of the city was the same as another. The NPCs felt like real people (as far as 7th gen NPCs could, I mean), and the game world was fleshed out with so many interior environments and hidden locations. Not to mention that there were a few myths hidden around the map. It was the spiritual sequel to GTA: San Andreas in all forms.
Now look at Saints Row 4, which is the ultimate case of style over substance going wrong. It's great to pick up and play after you've let it sit for a few weeks, and there's endless joy to be had leaping over buildings and outrunning every vehicle in the game. However, I'm one of those "emergent gameplay" types, as well as an amateur writer. I love nothing more than just being able to put away my weapons and walk around game worlds, taking in the sights, imagining little plots, going down alleyways to discover treats. SR4's Steelport was not conducive to that at all. The city was a big blog of post-industrial hipster/gangsta blandness, which was sad because I felt that Saints Row the Third introduced a potentially neat city-character if only it could move past those problems. Unlike Stilwater, Steelport had character by design; a down-and-out rust belt city that had taken to debaucherous sex, drugs, and rap 'n roll to ease the pain. But it dropped the ball everywhere else, and they made it worse in the sequel by further removing any interiors and secrets for the sake of instant gratification.
"This isn't the Saints Row forums, Yuli."
No, no, listen. It's the same thing regardless of the series; it was just in Saints Row where I first truly realized it. I've noticed the same thing in games like Watch_Dogs (the first one, at least), where there's no color or variety to the gameworld.
And here's the thing— if you're making a wide-open world sandbox game, the last thing your gameworld should be is "boring." I eventually got around to playing No More Heroes, which I had been dying to play because I always wanted a cel-shaded sandbox game after playing Jet Set Radio Future, and it made me double down on my opinions— if the gameworld is worthlessly empty, the game had no reason being open world in the first place.
And then came that awfully mediocre Mirror's Edge: Catalyst. An open world cyberpunk parkour game? I've been drooling for such a thing ever since 2010. Did it deliver? Absolutely not. Despite being "open world", I'd argue that it was more linear than the first game in the end.
I trust CD Projekt Red to not make these same mistakes for Cyberpunk 2077. Though I have many desires for a "perfect" sandbox cy-fi game, desires I know for a fact they won't be able to deliver upon (they're rather specific desires!), I know I'll enjoy the game too much to care.
I've been dying to see an open world sci-fi game of some repute. It never even had to be cyberpunk in particular (though I did prefer if it were that), as long as it had the classic sci-fi tropes I could play around with.
Yet after playing through the Saints Row series, I realized that I also desired an actual living world rather than one where I might be able to go wherever I please.
Compare Saints Row 2 to Saints Row 4. The first had what I like to call a "stock city"— otherwise not very original, with the world generally playing by the numbers. But it worked because the world itself felt so damn alive. There was so much character to Stilwater, and it never felt like any one district of the city was the same as another. The NPCs felt like real people (as far as 7th gen NPCs could, I mean), and the game world was fleshed out with so many interior environments and hidden locations. Not to mention that there were a few myths hidden around the map. It was the spiritual sequel to GTA: San Andreas in all forms.
Now look at Saints Row 4, which is the ultimate case of style over substance going wrong. It's great to pick up and play after you've let it sit for a few weeks, and there's endless joy to be had leaping over buildings and outrunning every vehicle in the game. However, I'm one of those "emergent gameplay" types, as well as an amateur writer. I love nothing more than just being able to put away my weapons and walk around game worlds, taking in the sights, imagining little plots, going down alleyways to discover treats. SR4's Steelport was not conducive to that at all. The city was a big blog of post-industrial hipster/gangsta blandness, which was sad because I felt that Saints Row the Third introduced a potentially neat city-character if only it could move past those problems. Unlike Stilwater, Steelport had character by design; a down-and-out rust belt city that had taken to debaucherous sex, drugs, and rap 'n roll to ease the pain. But it dropped the ball everywhere else, and they made it worse in the sequel by further removing any interiors and secrets for the sake of instant gratification.
"This isn't the Saints Row forums, Yuli."
No, no, listen. It's the same thing regardless of the series; it was just in Saints Row where I first truly realized it. I've noticed the same thing in games like Watch_Dogs (the first one, at least), where there's no color or variety to the gameworld.
And here's the thing— if you're making a wide-open world sandbox game, the last thing your gameworld should be is "boring." I eventually got around to playing No More Heroes, which I had been dying to play because I always wanted a cel-shaded sandbox game after playing Jet Set Radio Future, and it made me double down on my opinions— if the gameworld is worthlessly empty, the game had no reason being open world in the first place.
And then came that awfully mediocre Mirror's Edge: Catalyst. An open world cyberpunk parkour game? I've been drooling for such a thing ever since 2010. Did it deliver? Absolutely not. Despite being "open world", I'd argue that it was more linear than the first game in the end.
I trust CD Projekt Red to not make these same mistakes for Cyberpunk 2077. Though I have many desires for a "perfect" sandbox cy-fi game, desires I know for a fact they won't be able to deliver upon (they're rather specific desires!), I know I'll enjoy the game too much to care.
