Them visually all looking the same is what makes them so bland for me. They reuse enemies and mini-bosses too.
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What games don't reward exploration?
- Thread starter Blizz
- Start date
Them visually all looking the same is what makes them so bland for me. They reuse enemies and mini-bosses too.
Yeah that's the most rewarding game about exploration I've ever played (BOTW)
A lot of the first wave of open world games that came after GTA III suffered from this problem. Off the top of my head:
Driv3r
True Crime: Streets of LA
Jak 2
Jak 3 (to a lesser extent)
Scarface
These games didn't actually need to be sandboxes. They all could have been fun mission-based (or level-based on Jak's case) games instead of being open world.
Driv3r
True Crime: Streets of LA
Jak 2
Jak 3 (to a lesser extent)
Scarface
These games didn't actually need to be sandboxes. They all could have been fun mission-based (or level-based on Jak's case) games instead of being open world.
Uncharted 4 is very rewarding for a linear game. There are good optional conversations and interactions with companions. There are journal entries and notes to find and read that give a backstory to the place or treasure which can also trigger some dialog.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Since all of the items were available in the shop, there was nothing interesting to find in the overworld. Your reward for exploring was either a rupee or one of those octopus things. Exploring the world in ALTTP was so much more rewarding because you'd find interesting items hidden throughout.
AC Odyssey. The world is huge but is filled with the same things everywhere you go. The only thing pushing me forward was the loot and that just wasn't enough. I wasn't exploring the world to find cool things, I was completing check lists to get better loot.
I recently played Nier: Automata and every time I decided to explore areas not directly on my way to another fetch quest, I was met with either an invisible wall, a sand storm, the millionth low-level upgrade material you don't need or usually just nothing.
If you think L.A. Noire was bad...
This game was based on Los Angles in 1947 and hearing that alone would be fantastic for a open world game. We never got that and it's such a waste/missed opportunity. Very small amount of collectables but also an empty world to drive around in made it worse.
The original Mafia had a meticulously designed open city, populated by cars and pedestrians, and all you did was complete a set of linear missions.
The open world was a huge achievement for its time, but there was absolutely nothing to do in it
Gothic games have some of the most rewarding exploration. The Witcher 3 has rewarding exploration too because of the unique stories that you stumble upon that had a good amount of time and care put into them. Dark Souls 1 had good exploration as you could potentially find unique weapons and armor along with different shortcuts.
I'd say Mafia 2 does not have rewarding exploration but that's because the open world exists solely as a set piece for the story, in that way I think it works but I wouldn't want every open world game to be like that.
Was that the one where you could set your car to the speed limit to make things even more boring?
It's not unless you care about triophies. Going off the beaten path gave you nothing gameplay wise.
How could I forget about The Witcher? Omg.
And yes, I misread the title and thought it was about open world games.
No game does exploration better than Xenoblade, and Xenoblade X even more so in its' own series.
Also, Skies of Arcadia is a huge adventure and it's a, pardon the pun, treasure.
I don't care about trophies. I care about the story and characters. Exploration rewards that very well.
Unpopular opinion incoming but they should've stripped all the "open world" elements from FF7 Remake and given a very on-rails story-driven experience. The "open world" sections of the game are among its worst, especially the backtracking later in the game. I haven't finished it yet largely because I don't want to do the sidequests later in the game and can't get myself to skip them either.
Fallen Order is another one. There could have been so many cool rewards besides different poncho colors or lightsaber hilt variations.
For me the only thing I felt was really lacking in the shrine implementation was that they all used the same look. There are some really cool puzzles in them but if they just made the aesthetic match the zone a bit better with a few tilesets it would have pushed it over the top.
There are a decent number of unique world puzzles too, but of course more is always better. Let's just hope the next game finds a better balance between shrine/dungeon content and density.
Nailed it.
With that said, I still enjoyed wandering (which is impressive it its own right given the lacking rewards), but it definitely didn't live up to the excitement I had when finally departing the plateau to discover what awaited elsewhere.
Many if not all MMOs except for ESO.
Still a bit rewarding but with much potential: many open world games like recent Assassin's Creed games. Sure, you always get something, which is technically a reward. But it doesn't feel like that when I get another random item I don't need in 90% of the cases and just dismantle, or, if I don't, boosts my HP from 1303 to 1368. Thanks to the level gating it doesn't mean anything.
This applies only to gameplay-tied rewards, of course. For some the challenge or the journey or the scenery itself can be rewarding.
Still a bit rewarding but with much potential: many open world games like recent Assassin's Creed games. Sure, you always get something, which is technically a reward. But it doesn't feel like that when I get another random item I don't need in 90% of the cases and just dismantle, or, if I don't, boosts my HP from 1303 to 1368. Thanks to the level gating it doesn't mean anything.
This applies only to gameplay-tied rewards, of course. For some the challenge or the journey or the scenery itself can be rewarding.
Yep. Even the vendors all had the exact same inventory. I really did wish the regional ones had gear for that area (ice in the mountains, fire in the desert...). Then again gear as a whole was not a huge variety.
OP
OP
I do feel some consistent themes though, people definitely appreciate variety on the rewards and usually something that is linked to the mechanics to the game (you get a new power-up, or a new way of doing something fun) can make it much more interesting than just collectibles or cosmetic items.
Shadow of the Colossus. If you're lucky, you'll find a lizard, but otherwise you just explore for the scenery.
The game with some of the best items and cutscenes in the game only being accessible by breathing and getting off the beaten path?
The game with straight up barren dead ends down a lot of pathways and 90% just smashable boxes and useless chests lol
Final Fantasy 2 is actually really bad with this. Many dungeons will have a ton of doors in them that only lead to one screen rooms where you get plopped in the middle and there is an encounter every step on the way back out. It's infuriating.
Is it another case of being pressured by Disney to stick to the canon lore or something? Because I know that was a big thing in Battlefront 2. Having cooler outfits would really entice me to give Fallen Order another shot, like a Jedi Sentinel costume or more fan wanky ones like Starkiller.
Man, with a thread filled with so many wrong answers, the first post absolutely nails it. I don't remember how many years it's been since I've played it, but this aspect of the game is still disappointing to me.
All of L.A. to explore and they filled it with nothing interesting to do
It was really weird how some of the Tomb Raider games put a generic skill (unlocked usually in a skill tree or something)at the end of their Tombs.
It really made some moments oddly hollow.
Also FFXV didn't make good use of its space. Everything just ended up being weirdly empty.
It really made some moments oddly hollow.
Also FFXV didn't make good use of its space. Everything just ended up being weirdly empty.
Final Fantasy 2.
The game is littered with empty corridors that lead to dead ends, with the only benefit of exploring them being the often higher encounter rate in those corridors leading to more random battles.
Play that game with a guide, lol. It punishes exploration and is the definition of tedious.
The game is littered with empty corridors that lead to dead ends, with the only benefit of exploring them being the often higher encounter rate in those corridors leading to more random battles.
Play that game with a guide, lol. It punishes exploration and is the definition of tedious.
I was gonna say lmao. It is preposterous to think you could seriously answer Breath of the Wild for this question. It doesn't matter if you don't like it, it objectively does reward players for exploring lol.
Horizon Zero Dawn.
Remember how i was checking out all the rooms and find hidden paths only to get standard loot from a box.
climbing up the mountain only to find useless lot there aswell
Remember how i was checking out all the rooms and find hidden paths only to get standard loot from a box.
climbing up the mountain only to find useless lot there aswell
Definitely one of the most disappointing aspect of this game.
Well the question is also "what games do you think didn't do this well" so I think both types of answers are fine.
Which is immediately followed by "Games or instances in games where you explored but were never rewarded for it." I guess you can take that as still a person's opinion, but the framing is annoying and is bringing out the drive-bys.
XC2 in a way. I love the game, but when you explore and 80% of cool rewards are behind a skill-wall, it's not that the game didn't reward you, it blocks it... f*ck that. I will NOT remember all those places tens of hours later when I have those skills.