So last year I played probably one of the best games of recent years called Sable. What made that game amazing to me was its sense of exploration. You had this vast beautiful map without any indicators but the way you would discover sidequests or new areas were the visual ques, you would see something in the distant that looked interesting and when you approached a new sidquest would begin or you discovered a new area to explore. That sense of exploration has really been unmatched from games played in the last decade.
So why am I talking about Sable...well if we compare this to Cyberpunk it becomes quite clear why. The way sidequests or new areas were introduced were either getting phone spammed or by indicators, nothing visually was presented. The constant phonecalls about sidequests really made the experience feel on rails, impersonal and non-interactive, I constantly desperately wanted to bound with the city but I couldn't, at the end it just felt like a backdrop.
How amazing would it have been to actually stumble upon a sidequest, you see a shooting in the distant you approach and a new quest would begin. Or you see smoke in the distant you see a flying car has crashed and you need to figure out what the hell happened, I'm not a quest designer but these are just ideas off the top of my head. Surely something better than just getting a phonecall and getting a waypoint could have been implemented here. The most interactive quest in the game was when you met the braindance dealer and everything that followed after that I thought that was amazing. my fav sidequest in the whole game.
I have many gripes with this game as you most know since I've been quite vocal about them so this is just one of many. I would love to hear your thoughts about this.
So why am I talking about Sable...well if we compare this to Cyberpunk it becomes quite clear why. The way sidequests or new areas were introduced were either getting phone spammed or by indicators, nothing visually was presented. The constant phonecalls about sidequests really made the experience feel on rails, impersonal and non-interactive, I constantly desperately wanted to bound with the city but I couldn't, at the end it just felt like a backdrop.
How amazing would it have been to actually stumble upon a sidequest, you see a shooting in the distant you approach and a new quest would begin. Or you see smoke in the distant you see a flying car has crashed and you need to figure out what the hell happened, I'm not a quest designer but these are just ideas off the top of my head. Surely something better than just getting a phonecall and getting a waypoint could have been implemented here. The most interactive quest in the game was when you met the braindance dealer and everything that followed after that I thought that was amazing. my fav sidequest in the whole game.
I have many gripes with this game as you most know since I've been quite vocal about them so this is just one of many. I would love to hear your thoughts about this.