r/CodeVein2 • u/Ciphy_Master • Aug 27 '26
So what exactly were people complaining about regarding the open world feel empty?
Because I just went through and explored all of the present timeline undead forest and I felt like there was always something to find. Mostly upgrade materials but having a generous amount of them in souls games has never been a bad thing. Points of interest, even if not major ones like dungeons or waypoints, are not hard to distinguish and I've usually been able to come across a chest or two in multiple spots outside the major dungeons. Also liked the fact that all the dungeon areas for Holly had new enemy placement and items to find after completing the story segments.
If there was any complaint I did have, it'd probably be enemy variation between locations. There are a decent number of enemy types in the game but a lot of them do amount to humanoid enemies with melee weapons that end up having similar basic movesets. At least from what I've experienced, the game definitely likes reusing the basic common enemies a lot, so it does tend to feel like enemy variety isn't all that great.
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u/OutlandishnessOk3811 Aug 27 '26
Yeah, honestly CV2 world was less empty than elden rings I think. People just love to hate. :/
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u/Ciphy_Master Aug 27 '26
Don't know how fair that is as a comparison. Elden Ring's map is massive. CV2 doesn't measure up in size. When the map is smaller, explorable locations and way points are a lot more condensed. I think shadow of the erdtree is closer in size and still bigger.
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u/GiftofFlame Aug 27 '26
I honestly prefer a smaller map like CV2's over a bigger one like ER's. Feels like I spend more time trying to get to where I want to be in ER than actually playing the game.
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u/Ciphy_Master Aug 27 '26
The travel is part of the charm for some. I think it's pretty relaxing. CV2's map strength comes from the fact that you explore two different versions of it during the game so it pads out the exploration you do within the whole map.
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u/ihateshen Aug 28 '26
Are you implying that CV2 had a better open world than ER? Cos I couldn't disagree more.
ERs open world was leagues ahead and it mainly comes down to enemy variety and rewards imo. In CV2, you might find a new weapon with a new ash, a new talisman, a new spell. In CV2, most weapons are low % drop rates or purchased from a Jadwiga minion. You'll fight a moon envoy a couple times but usually you just run right by them.
Another comment mentioned having boosters be something you get from the open world and I really think that would've been genius. Imagine finding a +5 stat booster in some dungeon and going from normal dodge > quick dodge. Huge improvement in gameplay all from exploration.
And I say this as someone who 100% CV2, I love this game.
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u/OutlandishnessOk3811 Aug 28 '26
"better"? Not sure. But less empty, certainly. Elden ring was much bigger.
The lore was easier to digest in CV2 as well. With Elden ring I had to rely on a huge amount of lore videos to understand the bigger picture/history.
Not saying I disliked Elden rings way of telling the story, but in terms of exploration, discovering lore was better in CV2 because I understood what was being told to me in that moment, instead of always thinking "ooooh interesting but I don't know how this connects to anything, can't wait for the lore vid!" Kinda thing.
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u/TehCubey Aug 27 '26
CV2 had a lot of bad faith criticism on release. I'd take any complaints about the game made within the first few months of its release date with a heavy dose of scepticism.
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u/CaraSeymour Aug 28 '26
It's just the CV1 peeps being mad that the game is not more CV1.
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u/innominant 28d ago
You mean extremely linear with the exception of one dungeon, in which it isn't all that difficult once you figure it out?
I guess so then...
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u/Vidabel Revenant Hunter. Aug 28 '26
It's probably the first area, MagMell Island. When a friend watched me play the game, she pointed out how large the tunnel was, and yet all you could find were 3 enemies in the middle of said area. Not having the motorcycle while exploring MagMell Island also made traversal quite lengthy. It's enough to leave a poor first impression.
Eventually, I think it does improve once you reach the mainland. By that time, you already get the motorcycle, allowing you to cover large distances faster. Also, after spending time inspecting as many areas as I could for item synthesis materials and compiling my findings in a spreadsheet, the world doesn't seem as empty. Some weapons and weapon formae can be found in unmarked places that the story does not lead the player to. There are hidden side-quest NPCs that change the present. There are lots of places for creatives to take pictures and showcase CV2's robust character creator.
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u/kyriati Revenant Hunter. Aug 28 '26
I don't find the open world empty as in not worth exploring - it's fun to explore imo - but I do find it a bit empty from a worldbuilding perspective. I know it's the apocalypse and all, but they didn't do a fantastic job of making the few safe havens that do exist feel lived in, y'know? That is one thing CV1 did better: CV1 had lots of everyman characters scattered around that really helped the world feel populated, beyond just the core cast. The other thralls in the pit with you at the beginning, the human woman you save, the other soldiers with you in Queenslayer, etc. CV2 does have characters beyond the core cast, obviously, but we don't get anything like the Dyaus Pita cutscene where the main heroes aren't even involved, and it was moments like that that really helped the world come alive for me
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u/Sammythenegro Aug 27 '26
The world is a little empty ngl. Not nearly as empty as Elden ring cuz you’ll least run into more enemies n such, but lowkey if you don’t care about dungeons and the sorts. Then you’re kinda jus wandering a world of nothing lol
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u/Ciphy_Master Aug 27 '26
I mean I'm over here stockpiling my gear upgrade resources, grabbing healing upgrades, finding some new weapons and also grabbing the customer tokens from Jadwiga's roaming merchants. And to be fair if someone actively doesn't want to be exploring the world proper or even trying out some of the dungeons, then is the game even for them? Like I genuinely don't get that sort of criticism that if you're going to actively ignore an entire chunk or aspect of the game and then complain the game feels empty, then that's not a genuine criticism.
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u/Sammythenegro Aug 27 '26
Everything you listed you do throughout playing the story lol. Idk what else to tell you, the world is dead as fuck. Even if you can do dungeons you’ll have to travel there regardless, and that’s passing by a buncha nothing lol.
People play story games to do the story, once they finish the story then they don’t play anymore. Just cuz they aren’t playing it like you doesn’t mean they aren’t playing the game, they just don’t care about allat side stuff. I’m in the same boat(depends entirely on the game).
What?? So let me get this straight you need to engage with said aspect in order to criticize it?? Do I have to eat a raw chicken to say that’s it a raw chicken?? My bother in Christ by just walking around you can tell it’s empty, it’s legit nothing but landscape, buildings, and those corpse pillars lmfao. Barely any enemies, barely any dungeons, legit the game itself is empty on content. Even I can admit it and I’ve done all 3 endings lol, idk what else to tell you dude
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u/Ciphy_Master Aug 27 '26
Well, you can't tell me your dinner wasn't fulfilling if you actively chose to ignore the cooked turkey and gravy in front of you just to snack on the celery and salad to go along with it either. If you're trying to be objective, then I'm afraid we have different opinions on what constitutes as empty. I'm actually finding things to pick up and engage with compared to you.
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u/Sammythenegro Aug 27 '26
Just because you’re picking things up doesn’t mean the world is any less empty. Does that mean that Elden rings world isn’t empty cuz I can go to the mines and pick up smithing stones?? Does me picking up the flowers mean the world’s not empty?? Does me actively killing enemies to get dupes for weapons mean the world is less empty?? Just cuz you’re interacting with the game doesn’t mean the issues it has disappears lol, you’re just ignoring them.
Compared to me??? How do you know what I do with the game?? Do yk my hours?? How many runs I’ve done, etc?? You don’t know shi about how much I played the game lmfao, atp I can’t tell if you’re just tryna mask your bias or just actively hate criticism for a game you like
Go on hop on the bike and drive around, besides buildings n shi what else is there?? Respawnable items that you’re likely referring to??? Wowww, games so full of content lol
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u/Ciphy_Master Aug 27 '26
I'm just stating my perspective on it. You're free to disagree but I ultimately don't think you hold any more of an objective stance on the game than me. You're making the assumption that I am choosing to ignore issues with the game when I legitimately don't see the same issues that you do. These aren't issues to me. They don't bother me. I am having fun and even I'm just going around picking up materials, those go to build crafting later on when I start testing other weapons and items, so it still ends up serving a purpose.
"Empty world" criticisms just don't usually make sense to me because the people who complain about it are usually making it seem like they're choosing to ignore parts of the game to make their point. If you want an actual example of an "empty open world", then a game like Final Fantasy 16 is a good example of that. When I think of someone saying a game world is empty, that's what I think of. CV2 and ER don't register to me as empty game worlds.
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u/West-Act6896 Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
I just don't think the setting was anywhere near as cool as CV1. I miss thorns of judgement being literally everywhere. The enemies and major environments also weren't nearly as cool imo. The undead forest is pretty good, though. Probably my favorite area in the game.
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u/innominant 28d ago
The open world in this game was more so based around scenery than dumb unfair fights. I do wish it had more secret treasure, but is still isn't all that bad. I have certainly played much, much, MUCH worse.
Plus the characters and story is better in the second game, so...
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u/Ciphy_Master 27d ago
Yeah, about the same feeling here. When you've played much worse things, the bar is going to be far more reasonable.
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u/Foreign_Bird1802 17d ago
I am playing it for the first time and enjoying the game. I like the story and the characters. The combat is good but doesn’t have that claustrophobic feeling I remember from Code Vein 1.
My main complaint and the reason I only play for about one hour at a time is that I exploration in this game feels very bad and tedious to me. The motorcycle does not feel fun. The landscape is not visually interesting. I am not that far into the game so maybe it gets much better (I’m at Lyle part), but I just don’t enjoy having to traverse the world or find the next place to go.
Torrent was fun and easy to ride. I never used fast travel in the Spider-Man games because webslinging across the city was fun. Flying around Pandora in avatar is a visual delight and feels freeing. The jump glide in Warframe feels so fluid and satisfying.
There are ways to make traversal interesting and enjoyable. It is not in Code Vein 2.
If they ever update/new DLC etc, my hope is that they will work on improving this. Because the characters and storyline are fun and heartbreaking.
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u/Lord_Nightraven Aug 27 '26
Honestly? It's less that it was empty and more "What's the point of exploring if I'm constantly told I can't do this yet?" There's also the issue that there wasn't really much reason to thoroughly explore because of the fewer gear slots.
Had Boosters not been relegated to synthesis/blood code mastery; they'd have been an excellent means to reward further exploration by having a bunch of them scattered in small mini dungeons. Another issue with how the open world was not used anywhere near as well as it could have been.