The open world of the game

[Joker901]

The problem I see is that, according to TPCi statement, we will reach the 5 areas of the game to accomplish several tasks. If this means that the only way to reach those areas are tasks, I will be pretty bored. I want to access the areas whenever I want without being forced to find a task to do.
Also, now we know the game is not open world, I don't know if I can forgive those graphics. I also see no reason for the world to be so empty, considering the size of the different areas. If the Switch could handle BOTW, I think it could have handled more pokemon, trees etc. in each area.

 

[Esiouqrut]

The problem I see is that, according to TPCi statement, we will reach the 5 areas of the game to accomplish several tasks. If this means that the only way to reach those areas are tasks, I will be pretty bored. I want to access the areas whenever I want without being forced to find a task to do.
Also, now we know the game is not open world, I don't know if I can forgive those graphics. I also see no reason for the world to be so empty, considering the size of the different areas. If the Switch could handle BOTW, I think it could have handled more pokemon, trees etc. in each area.

Reminder that one of our task is to create the first Pokédex, so I'd assume we can travel anywhere anytime without that kind of restriction.

I don't want to get into debate about the graphics, but I find it baffling that people is using another game made by another company as a comparison and get disappointed all by themself. I mean GameFreak is not known for their technical expertise, has a limited human resource, only developed for a home console since Switch, etc. On the contrary, Zelda is made by a first party developer with more human resource and experience in developing a home console game, XC is developed by Monolith who is known for their technical expertise.
Also side note, most of the area we saw was called Obsidian Fieldlands, so I think it's natural to not have that many trees. We did see a more dense tree in the latest trailer though.

 

[Joker901]

Reminder that one of our task is to create the first Pokédex, so I'd assume we can travel anywhere anytime without that kind of restriction.

I don't want to get into debate about the graphics, but I find it baffling that people is using another game made by another company as a comparison and get disappointed all by themself. I mean GameFreak is not known for their technical expertise, has a limited human resource, only developed for a home console since Switch, etc. On the contrary, Zelda is made by a first party developer with more human resource and experience in developing a home console game, XC is developed by Monolith who is known for their technical expertise.
Also side note, most of the area we saw was called Obsidian Fieldlands, so I think it's natural to not have that many trees. We did see a more dense tree in the latest trailer though.

Honestly I don't like that kind of excuse. GF can hire more people with experience or simply invest more money and time in their games. If they want to remain a small company and make games that look worse than a PS3 game it's ok but since I buy and play games, I judge what I see. And what I see doesn't look good.

 

[Esiouqrut]

Honestly I don't like that kind of excuse. GF can hire more people with experience or simply invest more money and time in their games. If they want to remain a small company and make games that look worse than a PS3 game it's ok but since I buy and play games, I judge what I see. And what I see doesn't look good.

Oh, no. I never intended to give an excuse nor do I want to defend GF. What I wanted to say is that people are comparing Legends to another game with less limitation and expect the same quality, when the know it's GF that developed it. It's like the perfect recipe for disappointment. We have SwSh with it's graphics and they won't make a huge improvement from that in such a short amount of time.

I completely agree with you that GF should up their game. But as long as Masuda is in control (which, from my understanding, his ideal is one of the factor hindering the growth they could have), I don't think it's going to happen soon, if at all.

 

[Joker901]

Oh, no. I never intended to give an excuse nor do I want to defend GF. What I wanted to say is that people are comparing Legends to another game with less limitation and expect the same quality, when the know it's GF that developed it. It's like the perfect recipe for disappointment. We have SwSh with it's graphics and they won't make a huge improvement from that in such a short amount of time.

I completely agree with you that GF should up their game. But as long as Masuda is in control (which, from my understanding, his ideal is one of the factor hindering the growth they could have), I don't think it's going to happen soon, if at all.

The reason why people are comparing Legends to BOTW is because TPCi in the past 7 months has really made an effort to make customers believe this game was inspired by BOTW. I mean, they letterally copied shots from Zelda. So it's natural people expected this game to be another open world game like that. Clearly people should wait and see and never trust marketing 100% but the fact that it took 7 months for TPCi to points out that this game is actually not open world is insane. Every professional journalist in the last 7 months wrote about Legends as the open world game of pokemon, TPCi could have pointed out earlier this year this was not the case instead of waiting for someone to write to them for confirmation.
But yeah, TPCi showed several times they're struggling with games' comunication.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

The reason why people are comparing Legends to BOTW is because TPCi in the past 7 months has really made an effort to make customers believe this game was inspired by BOTW. I mean, they letterally copied shots from Zelda. So it's natural people expected this game to be another open world game like that. Clearly people should wait and see and never trust marketing 100% but the fact that it took 7 months for TPCi to points out that this game is actually not open world is insane. Every professional journalist in the last 7 months wrote about Legends as the open world game of pokemon, TPCi could have pointed out earlier this year this was not the case instead of waiting for someone to write to them for confirmation.
But yeah, TPCi showed several times they're struggling with games' comunication.

I mean, a few things on the website that we saw after the second trailer suggested not open world imo.

 

[colours]

not to defend Game Freak in the slightest (because there's absolutely more they can improve on), but considering that 200+ people worked on Sword & Shield's development, and making the safe bet that the number of staff involved in L:A is larger since it seems more involved than SwSh, it seems pretty safe to say "hiring more staff" or any variation of "getting more help" is absolutely what they are doing (i mean, not that this belongs in this thread, but if you were told a half-decade ago that another company altogether was going to be in charge of one of the remakes, would you believe it?).

of course, quality can always be criticised in a game; i think it's important for players to point out where companies can make improvements on. but it's also important to give out more useful criticisms beyond expansion of staff in this case which seems to be something Game Freak has been doing for quite a while, now.

 

[TheElderKing]

I don’t think that the fact the the game isn’t fully open world implies that the areas aren’t going to be quite big, and the the overall map would still be quite bigger then anything Pokémon offered at this point. It doesn’t make the world building process that much easier, either, expecially for a software house not used to do this kind to game.

Dragon Age Inquisition wasn’t a fully open world game and it was still a complex game to develop for a software house that wasn’t used to do that kind to game (among other issues). Same goes for The Witcher 3, which is also, technically, not fully open world.

 

[blitzle stan]

Yeah, large open areas is not too different from fully open world. Like honestly, how many players traveled on-foot between far apart areas in BotW once they had the tower unlocked for fast travel? I imagine it will feel quite similar to that, at least once we're solidly in the game.

My only big question is if the order we can access the areas is locked, or if there will be some choice (whether an actual question, or unlocking different areas by filling certain criteria in quests)? I imagine the order will be locked, knowing Gamefreak and their insistence on linear story telling and map progression, which would in fact be a bummer and a key difference in the way Legends will be played VS the way a game like BotW can be played.