The open world of the game

[Silktree]

I'm very much in favor of the region feeling as fresh as possible, but if there are barely any NPCs around, I may find it hard to retain my interest.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I know this is an old thread but, it feels relevant to put this here. How do people feel about the fact that the game seems to be less full BOTW open world and more, Multiple Open areas that you still have to progress through in a specific order.
Honestly this is what i was expecting the game to be like from the start, open world seems complicated with things like level scaling. And Gamefreak seem to prefer smaller steps than huge leaps, and going straight to full open world is definitely more on the leap side.

 

[Greninjaman]

I know this is an old thread but, it feels relevant to put this here. How do people feel about the fact that the game seems to be less full BOTW open world and more, Multiple Open areas that you still have to progress through in a specific order.
Honestly this is what i was expecting the game to be like from the start, open world seems complicated with things like level scaling. And Gamefreak seem to prefer smaller steps than huge leaps, and going straight to full open world is definitely more on the leap side.

I think it makes sense to have it like this. Having multiple open-world type areas as opposed to one massive connected world like Breath of the Wild. Level Scaling would have been a problem, I agree.

 

[Joker901]

I think it's too soon to declare dead the open world of Pokemon. I don't see how flying with Braviary would work with just an open map, expecially with Braviary being able to fly and not only to glide like in BOTW. I mean, invisible walls would really destroy the immersion of the game.
On the other hand, yes, several news point to the direction of restricted areas through the game to articulate its progression. However, this doesn't necessarily result in an open map instead of an open world.
Let's say you are exploring Area 1, you cannot access other areas (3-6) because you need Basculegion or the Climbing pokemon or Braviary, but at some point you find a small ravine that separates you from Area 2. The map is still open but you cannot access it until the end of the exploration of the first area when you will get a Wyrdeer that will allow you to jump over that ravine and access to another area. To access area 3 you will need Basculegion etc. etc.
At the end of the game the various areas will result in an open world that you can explore, because you have all the tools and pokemon needed to pass from one area to the other.

P.s. Level scaling guys is not a problem. They simply need to program wild encounters to match your level or scale according to it.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I think it's too soon to declare dead the open world of Pokemon. I don't see how flying with Braviary would work with just an open map, expecially with Braviary being able to fly and not only to glide like in BOTW. I mean, invisible walls would really destroy the immersion of the game.
On the other hand, yes, several news point to the direction of restricted areas through the game to articulate its progression. However, this doesn't necessarily result in an open map instead of an open world.
Let's say you are exploring Area 1, you cannot access other areas (3-6) because you need Basculegion or the Climbing pokemon or Braviary, but at some point you find a small ravine that separates you from Area 2. The map is still open but you cannot access it until the end of the exploration of the first area when you will get a Wyrdeer that will allow you to jump over that ravine and access to another area. To access area 3 you will need Basculegion etc. etc.
At the end of the game the various areas will result in an open world that you can explore, because you have all the tools and pokemon needed to pass from one area to the other.

P.s. Level scaling guys is not a problem. They simply need to program wild encounters to match your level or scale according to it.

The way the closer view map looks definitely strikes me as not open world, but I suppose it could still work if it wasn't

Also, there doesn't necessarily have to be invisible walls, there's a decent chance Braviary can only fly so high up, so they just need mountains or cliffs that are higher up than that. Or just empty open ocean like some areas have. (If you notice, the entirety of the outside of the map is surrounded be either cliff/mountain or ocean.)
P.s: That is very true, however evolving might be an issue, sense they cant have Pokemon evolve with their level as that would lock you out of completing the pokedex, although I suppose they could just have certain ones of the Pokemon be unable to evolve. But I'm not sure how i feel about level 50 first stage route 1 bugs like SW/SH had.

 

[Esiouqrut]

The way the closer view map looks definitely strikes me as not open world, but I suppose it could still work if it wasn't

IDK, to me that just look like the other area are not displayed because of various possible reasons.

I know this is an old thread but, it feels relevant to put this here. How do people feel about the fact that the game seems to be less full BOTW open world and more, Multiple Open areas that you still have to progress through in a specific order.
Honestly this is what i was expecting the game to be like from the start, open world seems complicated with things like level scaling. And Gamefreak seem to prefer smaller steps than huge leaps, and going straight to full open world is definitely more on the leap side.

Honest thought? BotW is an awesome game, but not every game needs to be like that. There are multiple factor to consider when designing a game (concept, developer's experience, resource, etc.). I'd rather play a good open area game than an awkward game because it forces itself to be full open world.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I know this is an old thread but, it feels relevant to put this here. How do people feel about the fact that the game seems to be less full BOTW open world and more, Multiple Open areas that you still have to progress through in a specific order.
Honestly this is what i was expecting the game to be like from the start, open world seems complicated with things like level scaling. And Gamefreak seem to prefer smaller steps than huge leaps, and going straight to full open world is definitely more on the leap side.

I would've preferred full open world but I'm not that bothered by them doing it this way. The areas are still reasonably large to play around with and has the feel and design philosophy of an open world game, so it will probably play fairly similarly.

 

[Joker901]

Given the size of the game (13 gigabytes), I assume that it'll be open world, or at least open-area. I think level scaling will be fixed to player progression. You can go anywhere you want, but the Pokémon encountered will be lower-levelled depending on your strength/game progression.

Well, I don't think the file size can be taken under consideration while trying to understand if the game is open world or not. The game has 300-400 creatures with HD models and animations and, most important, GF is known for not being able to compress or optimize properly.

 

[Joker901]

Sadly, this confirms the game to be open maps rather than full open world:
https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/1446711350776958977

 

[Silktree]

It's silly that this wasn't clarified from the get-go. Anyway, I have no experience with open maps of any sort, so I have no preference for now.

 

[Daren]

That's what I expected after the last trailer. Not BOTW but more like Mosnter Hunter or some older RPGs.

 

[colours]

i don't feel that bothered? imo i think some people are hyping up "open-world" to be a standard when it shouldn't be. if it's just an extremely large (but not open-world) map, then i'm not sure if this is a bad thing, to be honest.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Yeah, this isn't a huge deal. The game still has the look and design philosophy of an open world game, they just dripfeed the different parts of the map to you. It'll probably still feel a lot like an open world.

 

[nickdt]

Sadly, this confirms the game to be open maps rather than full open world:
https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/1446711350776958977

tbh, Pokemon is never going to be Full Open World anyways.
Like, Pokemon is a lore and story based game, which doesn't fit in well with Full Open World. Then you have the issue of the lvl scaling as well.

And i don't know what the fuss is about anyways. It has been confirmed from the first or second trailer on the website that the game wouldn't even be full Open World due to this on the website: Completing these research tasks will also contribute to your work with the Galaxy Expedition Team and raise your rank as a team member, granting you access to new areas.

So in order to progress to new areas, you need to rank up your reseacher level, but i don't think this will be the only contributing factor, as i suspect your research rank can only be so high in a particular area and not progress at all until in the next area, since i think you also need to defeat/catch the Noble Boss Pokemon from that area to be able to progress (Which will work just like Gym badges/Trials).

Semi-Open World is all that we can get from a Pokemon game (Have Open World section, but still have a level of progression needed for the lore and story to make sense and to defeat Gym Leaders/Bosses to reach another area, but then you can explore said area to your hearts delight), which is the case with Legends Area.

Like, lets look at the Pokemon plots/storylines.
Galar - is based on the lore
Alola - is based on the lore (If Mohn never fell through a Wormhole, Lusamine wouldn't have gone crazy, meaning no plot)
Kalos - based on the lore
Unova - based on the lore
Sinnoh - based on the lore
Hoenn - based on the lore
Johto - based on the Kanto lore about Team Rocket.

Without having natural progression, you cannot have the stories based on the lore anymore.

 

[Daren]

Without having natural progression, you cannot have the stories based on the lore anymore.

Morrowind pulled it off back in 2002.
Edit: Honestly, I suspect the story has less to do with this not being open world and more to do with full open world being very hard to make and GameFreak has minimal at best experience with that type of design.

 

[nickdt]

Morrowind pulled it off back in 2002.
Edit: Honestly, I suspect the story has less to do with this not being open world and more to do with full open world being very hard to make and GameFreak has minimal at best experience with that type of design.

Morrowind is semi-open world, exactly because it has a story (You cannot complete it without being directed to some place, which means its not Fully open, cuz you cannot do what YOU want to complete the game).

Look at Minecraft as an example. Its fully open, but at the same time, there is no story. You can reach the endgame or completion of the game to the players own choice.

But in story based games, you are directed to a certain area by a quest or NPC, rather than going there on your own merit, to do a quest for the storyline. This is also why most games with a storyline that are classed fully open world or are regarded as such, are not fully Open world cuz you cannot complete it without being directed or sent to certain areas. Taking as examples here Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption. Both are being regarded as fully open, but they aren't, since there is a natural progression in completion due to the storyline and if you don't follow the story, it means the game becomes a sandbox (And as such full open world, but also results in the player not being able to complete the game, which contradicts it being full open world).

 

[Daren]

Morrowind is semi-open world, exactly because it has a story (You cannot complete it without being directed to some place, which means its not Fully open, cuz you cannot do what YOU want to complete the game).

Look at Minecraft as an example. Its fully open, but at the same time, there is no story. You can reach the endgame or completion of the game to the players own choice.

But in story based games, you are directed to a certain area by a quest or NPC, rather than going there on your own merit, to do a quest for the storyline. This is also why most games with a storyline that are classed fully open world or are regarded as such, are not fully Open world cuz you cannot complete it without being directed or sent to certain areas. Taking as examples here Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption. Both are being regarded as fully open, but they aren't, since there is a natural progression in completion due to the storyline and if you don't follow the story, it means the game becomes a sandbox (And as such full open world, but also results in the player not being able to complete the game, which contradicts it being full open world).

I think I just have a different definition of open world. My perspective is that a game counts as open world as long as it's nonlinear and the great majority of the game world isn't locked behind plot progression.

 

[nickdt]

I think I just have a different definition of open world. My perspective is that a game counts as open world as long as it's nonlinear and the great majority of the game world isn't locked behind plot progression.

Problem is that every game with a story (No matter how open the world is), is linear.

Especially Pokemon will remain linear, due to lore and story reasons, but also due to the lvl scaling and as a result, Pokemon will always remain semi-open (Which it technically already was from the start anyways).

 

[techitisJ]

I'm not really bothered by the fact it's not open world, but I kind of suspected it wasn't when we saw the map and learned about Survey Outings in the August Presents. I mean, it was Pokemon fans in the first place who called it open-world, but it's clear it functions more like Monster Hunter with different missions. It still has some qualities of open-world games. You're still exploring a vast area, and finding different things on your exploration that can help you in your adventure. You're just limited to a certain area while you roam.

 

[nickdt]

I'm not really bothered by the fact it's not open world, but I kind of suspected it wasn't when we saw the map and learned about Survey Outings in the August Presents. I mean, it was Pokemon fans in the first place who called it open-world, but it's clear it functions more like Monster Hunter with different missions. It still has some qualities of open-world games. You're still exploring a vast area, and finding different things on your exploration that can help you in your adventure. You're just limited to a certain area while you roam.

Which will be the case for every Pokemon game. Technically, SWSH was Semi-Open World due to the wild area.