Polygon's open-letter to BioWare regarding their open-world-like games.

As someone who likes Open World games, i agree with the article. We saw the same thing when GTA got popular and people started copying that without any success.Then WoW. Now it's Skyrim's turn.

The problem is that devs that choose/need to(they feel they need to keep up with the market/expectations from new players) to copy these games don't look more at the surface or don't really "get" what makes them special(I don't really blame them for that, if i worked 10-12h a day on videogames, playing them would be the last thing i'd want to do).

I mean, Skyrim really is a game with a shallow forgettable story/ies and a bunch of meaningless quests, but what makes it so popular is the world. It's how exploring the map,going into random caves and getting side tracked with interesting locations is an integral part of the game. It's a sandbox where your own adventure builds over time where the Main Quest is just a small part of it.

That's pretty much the opposite of a Bioware game. Fine, if they want to keep trying to get in on the open world pie i think they need to make it an integral part of the story and gameplay. That might have been the case for Andromeda earlier in development and was scrapped for some reason, but i really hope they learn from this, this time. Creating a pretty map and dumping a sack of isolated quests in it that fills up some bar that isn't even that important isn't really exciting.

I mean, you are the Pathfinder, and that's super important for some reason. I mean, why!? The path has already been found and the only important bit is you and your SAM, not a pathfinder position in general. People are already living on the planets for god's sake, not exactly blazing any trails here, more like janatorial duties.

But they make better games than that... why do you want them to regress to TW3 levels?

You really sound like TW3 killed all your puppies and that one stray cat you had.

I detest the game. It is the typical dark fantasy dreck flooding shelves in book stores... cliched beyond belief, smothered in juvenile angst and suffering, religion is teh evilz, politics is scummy, and the characters are mostly one dimensional cutouts that never get close to engaging. Mix that with one of the most generic worlds, a shit protagonist, a story ripped out of mario, and a terrible combat system... you have one of the worst gaming experiences ever in my opinion.

And I am sick of hearing people cream over that game and demand Bioware ruin itself by aping its awfulness. Seriously, this is a board for Bioware games and we here as much about that franchise as anything Bioware. It's ridiculous.

If Skyrim or any other Bethesda had to stand on its own they would utterly fail.  However Bethesda not only allows modding but they encourage it which completely changed how that game is viewed.  Really who plays Skyrim for the main quest?  If we the players could mod MEA that would be a game changer for sure because the players will find all kinds of ways to fill all the empty voids.  I have heard that we actually might get the tools to mod this game and I really hope so.

you really call the situation on Elaaden,Havarl, or Kadara 'living'? The Pathfinders job is to find a new home and then make it habitable. And they do it by blazing trails and going where no one has been in centuries. This is stated multiple times in the narrative...but nope...the Pathfinder is a janitor because people are 'living there'

yeah, but it's better than starting at a bottom lower corner of each map, and proceeding doing concentric circles towards its middle to "clear" up the map, aka BG1 vaccuming strategy.

I detest the game. It is the typical dark fantasy dreck flooding shelves in book stores... cliched beyond belief, smothered in juvenile angst and suffering, religion is teh evilz, politics is scummy, and the characters are mostly one dimensional cutouts that never get close to engaging. Mix that with one of the most generic worlds, a shit protagonist, a story ripped out of mario, and a terrible combat system... you have one of the worst gaming experiences ever in my opinion.