Writing Fanction based on an open world game (like Breath of the Wild and Skyrim)

[Greninjaman]

How does one go about doing this? I am interested in doing a story at some point based on such a game.
The problem I see is that since the player can go literally anywhere, there is really no defined path to follow for your story, unlike with non-open world games. So, how does one get around this problem?

 

[LightningTopaz]

If there is a main questline, you can use that as your baseline, with some of the more interesting/memorable sidequests mixed in

 

[Greninjaman]

If there is a main questline, you can use that as your baseline, with some of the more interesting/memorable sidequests mixed in

If there was a facepalm emoji to use when hitting the like button, I would use it. WHY did I not think of that?
Of course, one of the games I am interested in, is Skyrim, which has multiple Faction Quest lines (15 in fact which are joinable), which I feel count as semi-main quest lines due to being factions and not really sidequests.

 

[Welkamo]

You could also do a subversion: maybe at the start, say, Link sets off to fight Ganon, but then he realizes his true calling is cooking, and he becomes a chef or something. Sure, Ganon's still a threat, but Link doesn't care (or maybe he eventually cares and uses his cooking skills to best Ganon). I can't say anything about Skyrim as I've never played it, but I'm guessing it would be a similar situation.

 

[LightningTopaz]

@Greninjaman

Do you plan on featuring all the factions, or just a few specific ones? Featuring all the joinable factions would be possible, but challenging.

@more than a torchic

Or you could take the Toriko approach--have the story be about Link battling monsters for specific ingredients to make delicious food, and cut the story we all know and love entirely.

 

[Greninjaman]

@Greninjaman
Do you plan on featuring all the factions, or just a few specific ones? Featuring all the joinable factions would be possible, but challenging.

I was thinking of doing the Skyrim Civil War quest, doing the Dragon Crisis (which is the main quest) as a second arc after the Skyrim Civil War.
Also, I noted in your reply to Torchic, you mentioned the "Toriko Approach". What did you mean by that?

 

[LightningTopaz]

@Greninjaman

Have you ever read the manga (or seen the anime "Toriko" before? That series revolved around fighting whimsical animals for exotic ingredients--why not Zelda-fy that?

 

[Greninjaman]

@Greninjaman

Have you ever read the manga (or seen the anime "Toriko" before? That series revolved around fighting whimsical animals for exotic ingredients--why not Zelda-fy that?

I will have to think about it.
Also, what other issues will one encounter while writing a story based on an open-world game?

 

[Greninjaman]

Sorry for the double post

I was just thinking about this and realized that I don't need to have one character experience all the quest lines. I could just segment it and have each quest line have its own story and characters.

That is the pro that Skyrim has over Breath of the Wild. There are multiple quest lines to do in Skyrim whereas in Breath of the Wild, there is only really one (technically there are 4, but they are connected to the main quest which is to defeat Ganon).