It absolutely was. I wasn't surprised at all, as SSM has always demonstrated masterful level design with the God of War series. I'm glad it's getting noticed now.
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God of War's Lake of Nine is genius level design
- Thread starter Memento
- Start date
I agree with this. It served as a really cool open hub area, but nothing really comparable to the Primes. More like Hyrule Field from OoT
"Genius"
Hah, it was pretty common level design that got used a lot in the early 2000s/late 90s. Very Zelda like.
The only reason it receives a lot of attention is because nobody really used it recently due to the open world obsession.
To be fair, it was good design back then and It is good design now.
Also, people being confused about it being "interconnected" are right. It was pretty much pure hub and spoke design with almost no connectivity between the different spokes. Everything connects to the lake and not to each other.
Hah, it was pretty common level design that got used a lot in the early 2000s/late 90s. Very Zelda like.
The only reason it receives a lot of attention is because nobody really used it recently due to the open world obsession.
To be fair, it was good design back then and It is good design now.
Also, people being confused about it being "interconnected" are right. It was pretty much pure hub and spoke design with almost no connectivity between the different spokes. Everything connects to the lake and not to each other.
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The added layer of proper context and cohesion is definitely nice, but otherwise it's a pretty standard hub and spoke. It's good though. It's nice to see a AAA game designed this way. And if people want to say it's genius and encourage more AAA devs to incorporate this kind of classic design into their games I'm all for it.
God, I love how each group on Reset uses terms and automatically associate them with a negative.
Group A: Ugh open world. Guess I'll be doing a lot of busy work. I'm fatigued.
Group B: Ugh shit's linear, that means bad in Webster's Dictionary.
Group A: Ugh open world. Guess I'll be doing a lot of busy work. I'm fatigued.
Group B: Ugh shit's linear, that means bad in Webster's Dictionary.
This isn't entirely accurate, some areas connect to each other when the lake rises.
It's the first western AAA game that genuinely made we wonder ''Is the level design guy Japanese?'' because of how good it is.
Usually we don't see level design like this in western games, it's either just point A to point B or straight up open world.
Usually we don't see level design like this in western games, it's either just point A to point B or straight up open world.
Huh. Guess I don't remember it too well. I stand by my saying in that it doesn't FEEL connected.
The game basically does that as it is (how far it takes that concept is debatable).
What you're suggesting just sounds like an extra step.
You and me both, man.
I just finished GoW in December and it was great. The wide linear approach kept me going waaay past the story end point, and the combat made me come back for more.
I'm currently playing Horizon, and while it's a great achievement, I just can't take open-worlds any longer. I feel I played too many at this point and it feels like I'm wasting my time.
Gates are definitely a loading screen replacement in God of War. After they run out of things to talk, you just run awkwardly on the path until the next world is loaded. Swimming across the lake feels just like going through the gates, so for me it is also a loading screen. Loading screen while looks great, just introduces pacing problems. Especially once Mimir runs out of stories to tell.
I really liked it, and loved the game - but it absolutely didn't give me the 'holy shit' feeling that I got from Dark Souls and the way areas in Lordran linked together. Now that was genius level design.
I liked that it gave the player some down time with some stories to listen to, but I'm not sure if I'd count it as genius, or even level design. The area itself is not especially novel or interesting to interact with. The area's biggest strengths lie in its art and voice direction.
Initially when I first arrived at the lake and saw the top of the statues and islands scattered around the lake, I thought I would need to activate things to rise those islands out of the water.
Then the cutscene with the world serpent came on and the water level went down revealing many islands and my mind was blown.
Then the cutscene with the world serpent came on and the water level went down revealing many islands and my mind was blown.
This is a negative in 2019?
What is "necessary design" in a video game?
Apparently non-linear also means bad.
What amazes me the most is that in the lake, apparently just a hub, you progress through the story, you complete secondary missions and you explore. Really really a well put together and designed space.
When the World Serpent moved and revealed new layers of heights in the lake, that blew my mind