Ok guys, I just want to say before you read this, II started writing this when I was a bit loopy on some sleeping pills and my inhibitions were kinda out the window so if I said anything you’re not use to me saying, it’s the loopy me talking not the level headed me. And also I am counting this towards last nights post, so post a day can still count because I’ll be posting another blog later on today.
Today, or rather tonight, from hidden fortress in the rural underground of my room I bring you an age old question that has probably been over asked and over done. I’m talking about open world games with the main story line being something you can do when you feel the need to get around to it.
Games like Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Red Dead Redemption all allow the player to explore the vast expanses of the worlds in which the in game characters live. Giving away the standard no choice mission style, developers seem to favor filling the world with vast landscapes of wide up mountain ranges and country. There are so many things I admire about the guys that do this formula, let alone do the formula well with no mix ups or left over glitches (Looking at you Bethesda). Despite just how much I respect the games that pull this off I always wonder one simple thing.
Why the hell can I never once “beat” the game? I have always played these games in a vain attempt to make it across the finish line and say ” Wow, I can’t believe for once I beat this thing!” I will admit to you, that Fallout 3 is one of the only games I have ever really beaten the main story line in these open world games but never once have I completed all the side quest. I mean, I know it’s possible to do but I have never sat down long enough to tackle them all. That isn’t the saddest thing, the saddest thing really is I have never once beat a main story line else where, not in Red Dead not in Oblivion but I seem to keep coming right back to it just to stop 2 hours later thinking “Shit, I really wish I had made some actual progress than being stuck trying to “level” while I could be better off down an already beaten path.”
I understand that doing something new and different is the way the world should be and that the path less traveled makes for a more enjoyable movement but I just can’t get into games like this. I can, at first, but every time I try to jump back in I just get slapped in the face by something more powerful than me, or in relating to Oblivion and Fallout, the game freezes and I realize that I hadn’t saved since 2 hours back and the last auto save was even farther. At that point I keep loading and loading and finally I just give up stating loud and proud that I am officially done with this game.
That is until 2 days later I’m going stir crazy because of the snow outside locking me in my room.
Maybe it’s just me, but to a degree open world games just bug the almighty living shit out of me. I like the idea of doing whatever the hell you want not being restricted by the main story line but when it comes down to it, I kinda like just the main story sometimes. The side quests aren’t bad, they just seem a minor distraction to me. Then again I also find some of the minor side quests more entertaining than the main quest so it’s a bit of conundrum for me.
All in all I guess what I’m asking is how much is too much freedom? If we downsized the game world would it be less of the game that we’ve come to know or am I just whining too much and not doing it right (amidoinitrite?).
Feel free to leave your comments and questions to me below, and tell me just what you think of these questions I threw at you guys.
