Concerns about too many distractions from main storyline

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Concerns about too many distractions from main storyline

  • Too many distractions? There is no such thing in an RPG.

    Votes: 51 44.3%
  • Yes the open world is going to ruin the story's narrative.

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • I am concerned but cautiously optimisitc.

    Votes: 12 10.4%
  • I think CDPR will get it just right.

    Votes: 42 36.5%
  • I have no idea ... ask me on June 1st.

    Votes: 8 7.0%

  • Total voters
    115
  • Poll closed .
I have no idea how that translates to fetch quests and I think it's already been mentioned those can be turned off and there's a lot of customizability in that regard.
Here's another possibility for you to consider - those areas have already been explored hence why they show up on map. Big monsters are territorial so their location won't keep changing obviously.

Also that's nowhere even near as comparable to a Ubi map collectathon
 
Well I'm glad to be wrong about the first point. That is most likely a discovered version of the map. Perhaps fetch quest was the wrong term, but when I see ' you have 30 of these to find/kill/loot' then that feels like filler to me. I think Madness described my concern better than I did.


edit- filler is a better term. Forget I ever said fetch quest. I'll never make that mistake again. Like, ever. :)
 
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For Melitele's sake, don't remind me...I just managed to erase that abomination from my memory...

Too bad TW3's map looks like it took A LOT of inspiration from Ubisoft's open world game, namely Far Cry and Assassin's Creed...


Ah, what happened to good ol' RPG maps...

View attachment 12387


And by the way, I heavily doubt that all the location of items on TW3's map shown here were "discovered". Take for example the hidden treasures in the water in the left part of the map. There is no reason why they are shown. If you find them naturally in the game you probably collect them and the item should never appear in the first place. It's much more likely that you're just able to turn everything on on the map - even "hidden" treasures" - just to appease the casual crowd that doesn't know anything else than the "modern" open world approach. Hell even having a glance at this MAP now has already destroyed the sense of exploration for that area. I hope I'll forget all that crap until release...

These items...Jesus how much I hate them. And yes, I really, REALLY hate the complete design approach that stands behind this. Casualization at its best.
 

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@Garrison72 exploration is exploration and has nothing to do with quest design. Gathering herbs for alchemy is also "Fetch Quest Design" for u? Sorry but this is ridiculous.
 
@Garrison72 exploration is exploration and has nothing to do with quest design. Gathering herbs for alchemy is also "Fetch Quest Design" for u? Sorry but this is ridiculous

It doesn't matter to which aspect of design you count it. If it's a boring drag it's bad, no matter if it's part of exploration or quest design.

In DAI collecting things is also not part of the quest design (most parts of it at least). Nevertheless it's easily one of the worst parts of the game, destroying game flow and the sense for meaningful exploration. Not even to mention that it's just boring and in the end, a huge waste of precious time. Of course one could say "just don't collect anything" but that's not as easy as it sounds because many RPG gamers have a feeling of missing something if doing so. "Can I brew that powerful potion later which I need for that special enemy if I don't collect that herb now?", "Do I miss the most powerful and most eye-candy gorgeous sword of the game if I don't dive in every sea, open every chest, collect everything that is to be collected?"

That's the problem. Modern open world design is made to distract with quantity, not with quality. Meciocrity and boredom by design imho.

And CDPR can tell me all they that they were inspired by Gothic and such. When I look at the map, I see Far Cry, Skyrim and Assassin's Creed and not Gothic. I see a world carefully seperated in points of interest, from the smallest collectible or chest to the biggest landmark. It looks like a world made to be "farmed" and not like a natural world made to be explored. Well, hope dies last. Maybe it's JUST the map and the exploration itself will be different and more meaningful, with a whole less boredom included. I doubt it. In the best case it's perhaps a hybrid between Gothic, Far Cry and Skyrim...
 
Too bad TW3's map looks like it took A LOT of inspiration from Ubisoft's open world game, namely Far Cry and Assassin's Creed...


Ah, what happened to good ol' RPG maps...

View attachment 12387


And by the way, I heavily doubt that all the location of items on TW3's map shown here were "discovered". Take for example the hidden treasures in the water in the left part of the map. There is no reason why they are shown. If you find them naturally in the game you probably collect them and the item should never appear in the first place. It's much more likely that you're just able to turn everything on on the map - even "hidden" treasures" - just to appease the casual crowd that doesn't know anything else than the "modern" open world approach. Hell even having a glance at this MAP now has already destroyed the sense of exploration for that area. I hope I'll forget all that crap until release...

These items...Jesus how much I hate them. And yes, I really, REALLY hate the complete design approach that stands behind this. Casualization at its best.

What? how can one map destroy all exploration for you just by one look? So you want the map to be just empty and show nothing? You don't know what those icons mean, it could be that those icons only appear when you go near them and then are added to your map. and besides look at some of those icons, most of them probably show side activities in which you can participate or places like ins or shops. I highly doubt it shows where all the treasures or collectibles are.

Compare it to thisView attachment 12388

EDIT: You can see in that image there are a lot less icons or "collectibles". Maybe they just turned it off but I can't see how you can condemn it just because of one image of a map where you don't know what the icons mean. And just for curiosity's sake how would you make the map?
 

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In terms of open world pacing vs story. I think a decent way to offset the disconnect would be to have some more important missions have a timer and if you don't hit that timer, you get a bad end to the mission, and enough of those will leave you with a bad end to the story.

Certainly balancing a meaningful story with an engaging open world environment will be a difficult task mainly because you have that third party variable. (Being player agency.) The player will set the pace of the story, so having subtle guide rails, or at least consequences to not taking it seriously will be helpful. Having these "guide rails" only effect important missions would allow for freedom in the more slow paced parts of the game to screw around and do sidequests.

At the very least the open world seems to be interesting and have a more natural flow to it in TW3, it feels real. In some open world games, for example two worlds two. The world doesn't feel natural, it doesn't seem to work nor does it make sense. It seems to flow somewhat realistically. CDPR seems to have put thought into how the world would function were it a real place, instead of just placing things around randomly because it looked neat.

Disagree, timers are a diabolical way to pace the game. You end up too stressful and in fact would cause me to rush the story as opposed to enjoying it at a good pace and immersing myself int the world CDProjekt has made.
 
@Scholdarr.452 With all due respect, those icons might be there simply because a developer opened the console and wrote "show everything". I don't think everything will be shown directly without exploring (And I'll toggle them off anyway)
 
CDPR doesn't need to feel bad about "spoiling" some icon-locations in a trailer for those who don't want to know, because,
A) It's a few seconds in a trailer. You don't need to analyze it.
B) Most people don't have eidetic memory and they'll forget this, even if they unfortunately catch a few images of it in a thread.

And since we can turn off the icons, what is the issue? Unless we're criticizing the mere option of turning the icons on for "casuals" (pftuuu!) who want to use them, there's no problem.



Ah, what happened to good ol' RPG maps...

View attachment 12387.
Come. On. You mean to tell me that once you turn off all the icons (an option which we have, god damn it), that map is different from this?


 
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What? how can one map destroy all exploration for you just by one look?
Not ALL. But it can destroy the parts that are shown. I don't know about you guys, but I have a pretty good memory. It's hard to forget what I've seen just in less than 2 months...

So you want the map to be just empty and show nothing?
Yes, exactly. The only things that should be shown are bigger places once you've visited them (e.g. for fast travel), like cities or town or "real" points of interest. Everything else should never ever appear on any map.

You don't know what those icons mean, it could be that those icons only appear when you go near them and then are added to your map.
Well, it's not too hard to guess what the icons mean. They have a pretty obvious symbol in most cases. And I don't see how it is better that they're added to my map if I'm near them. They shouldn't appear at all since they just destroy the sense of exploration, one of the few pros an open world in video games actually has.

and besides look at some of those icons, most of them probably show side activities in which you can participate or places like ins or shops. I highly doubt it shows where all the treasures or collectibles are.
Look at the icons again. They're really pretty obvious...

Compare it to thisView attachment 12388

EDIT: You can see in that image there are a lot less icons or "collectibles". Maybe they just turned it off but I can't see how you can condemn it just because of one image of a map where you don't know what the icons mean. And just for curiosity's sake how would you make the map?
It doesn't matter if it's all collectibles. In AC many icons aren't collectibles neither. The point is that the world is flooded with fluff and that all the fluff is even visible on the map as if the game was made for an average gamer who is dumb like a stone.

And in your map the icons are just disabled. Point is they shouldn't be there in the first place.

If you want to see how I'd make a map look at the one from Gothic 2 I've posted above. No 4th wall breaking, no exploration killing, no casualization. Just a map to help you in basic navigation while you have to do the "exploration work" yourself. Not a map that does the work for you that require the player to not even spent half of his concentration, focus and dedication for this game...
 
You can't please everybody because well nerds. People want open world- They don't want open world. They want a world packed like Paris right down to the caves,-They want empty Savannah lands. They want sidequests- They don't want sidequests. Developers would go crazy if they take on people. What sense is having an open world that is heavily populated to the point where people walk in and out of caves like they're malls?
 
also, some people have said it's an explored version of the map, which again makes more sense than the instant knee jerk reaction. really, that's just not needed in this atmosphere of abundant faux concerns already.
 
@Scholdarr.452 With all due respect, those icons might be there simply because a developer opened the console and wrote "show everything". I don't think everything will be shown directly without exploring (And I'll toggle them off anyway)

Could be. Nevertheless the option scares me. I don't want to see anything even with exploration and indeed, I don't even want the possibility. Death to all hand holding in RPGs... ;)
 
It doesn't matter to which aspect of design you count it. If it's a boring drag it's bad, no matter if it's part of exploration or quest design.

In DAI collecting things is also not part of the quest design (most parts of it at least). Nevertheless it's easily one of the worst parts of the game, destroying game flow and the sense for meaningful exploration. Not even to mention that it's just boring and in the end, a huge waste of precious time. Of course one could say "just don't collect anything" but that's not as easy as it sounds because many RPG gamers have a feeling of missing something if doing so. "Can I brew that powerful potion later which I need for that special enemy if I don't collect that herb now?", "Do I miss the most powerful and most eye-candy gorgeous sword of the game if I don't dive in every sea, open every chest, collect everything that is to be collected?"

Its actually really easy. I never run around collecting any of that frivilous crap, thats how Ive played every open world games since their inception. If I come across such an item while exploring I may pick it up, but I dont otherwise go out of my way to get anything. The problem with DA:I, AC, FC is that without those collectibles there is barely any game left. The main narrative of DA:I is only around 12 quests. However, you cant just do the main quests because they included some horrible mechanic called "Power" that forces you to engage in the side quests which are almost entirely fetch quests, collectibles, and shitty F2P style missions that take real time hours to complete.
 
Exploration and side activities like mini games, finding gear, gathering herbs for alchemy or just monster hunting are always fun for me if this is just addition for great main story line and interesting side quests. We can disable all markers and hints so i dont see any problem. I dont want empty, boring and lifeless world.
 
And in your map the icons are just disabled. Point is they shouldn't be there in the first place.

If you want to see how I'd make a map look at the one from Gothic 2 I've posted above. No 4th wall breaking, no exploration killing, no casualization. Just a map to help you in basic navigation while you have to do the "exploration work" yourself. Not a map that does the work for you that require the player to not even spent half of his concentration, focus and dedication for this game...
Let me get this straight - do you want for there to not even be an option to turn icons on? A feature that absolutely does not affect your personal experience, since you can toggle it off and ignore its existence? Something that others might enjoy? The mere existence of this option, for others, bothers you?
 
Its actually really easy. I never run around collecting any of that frivilous crap, thats how Ive played every open world games since their inception. If I come across such an item while exploring I may pick it up, but I dont otherwise go out of my way to get anything. The problem with DA:I, AC, FC is that without those collectibles there is barely any game left. The main narrative of DA:I is only around 12 quests. However, you cant just do the main quests because they included some horrible mechanic called "Power" that forces you to engage in the side quests which are almost entirely fetch quests, collectibles, and shitty F2P style missions that take real time hours to complete.

I'm really glad that you can restrict yourself like that (though I very much agree that there isn't much "game" left without all the fluff). As I've said, I can't do that on the same level since I always have the feeling of missing something. Differently said: I want to take out the "maximum" of a game for my money, even if it's boring, mediocre crap that doesn't really entertain me. But often I just do it anyway and only notice a few hours or days later that I wasted a lot of time for mediocre content just because of my stupid "completionist" behaviour. Maybe my mind is just fucked up, might very well be. But I can change that. That's why I hate modern open world and that's why I almost always completely lose interest in these games after some time which even includes the actually interesting, exciting parts. All the pointless, destracting and often only so-so content just nurtures my feeling that I'm fed up of the respective game.
 
Since markers and any help of that kind can be turned off, i don't see the fuss. I do not agree with the idea of "It shouldn't even exist". The person next to you might want to play with markers on, why should anyone forbid him to do that?
 
Since markers and any help of that kind can be turned off, i don't see the fuss. I do not agree with the idea of "It shouldn't even exist". The person next to you might want to play with markers on, why should anyone forbid him to do that?

Human beings "What i want should align with what you want". Ironic as gamers scream for options on obnoxious levels all the time.
 
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