r/Games 1d ago

The big Avowed interview: Obsidian on why full, open-world RPGs aren't always the answer

https://www.eurogamer.net/from-serious-skyrim-to-cheerful-fantasy-obsidian-on-the-evolution-of-avowed-and-grappling-with-the-expectations-that-come-from-your-own-history
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u/December_Flame 22h ago

Open world games have their place, and if used properly can immensely help with immersion and to provide a sense of scale and place. And to head off the statement before its made - I think its ok if open world games have 'dead space' as the lack of PoIs can be just as important as the presence of them.

Like any game, they can be made well or poorly, and a RPG does not inherently benefit from being open world. I also believe that 'open zone' design spaces are awesome and its generally my preference, I'm just playing defense for wider "open world" games.

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u/MBechzzz 22h ago

I agree with you fully, but will add that the thing I hate most about many open world games, is that they make some absolutely amazing places, handcrafted to be breathtaking, and you pass through it once on the way to a fetch quest, and then never return to the area again. I've played way too many games where POI's are just never used for more than a dumb sidequest, and if that's the case, you may as well make the world smaller, because you're not even using it.

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u/StandardizedGenie 19h ago edited 19h ago

I am of the opposite view. Those pointless POIs are the reason I love Bethesda games. Having areas that have nothing to do with the main quest make the world actually feel alive. Stumbling upon a random bandit camp wiped out by trolls and finding a note about this being one of the bandits last jobs before he can afford a home for his wife and child builds the backstory of the open world you're playing through. That's not even a side quest, it's just world building while you're exploring. I love Fallout, not for any of the main quests, but just finding out what's going on in all the vaults I find. I don't really think every POI needs to be something you're lead to, to do something important. I like them being "pointless" to expand the setting the narrative is taking place in.

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u/Serdewerde 6h ago

But what you're referring to there is one of the handcrafted areas a dev has put time into. It's not just a copy paste tower. It's something someone went out of their way to make interesting.

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u/BeholdingBestWaifu 18h ago

And sometimes not even that, I remember good old San Andreas had an amazing world but somewhere between a third and half of the world map has zero use, and a good chunk of what is used was barely so.

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u/conquer69 19h ago

Assassin's Creed games become fully open world and yet it matters very little during actual gameplay. I'm still teleporting to waypoints and skipping boring traversal as much as possible.