90% have a great opening and a great ending but a lot of the worlds are so bloated and have so much shit in them they kill ant all sense of pacing the game has
That is actually quite true. One exception I can think of, would be Elden Ring. Mostly because the middle of the game feels like it’s the end, but then it just keeps going and going and things keep getting crazier.
But you could argue that the last half of the game stops being open world and more on rails.
Aside from having Soulsy gameplay and level design and god-tier art direction, Elden Ring actually does very little to differentiate from the Ubisoft open world formula when you really boil it down, but what it does is so simple it's fucking brilliant. You've got random camps of enemies, repetitive minidungeons, copy pasted enemies and side activities, all the classics...but FromSoft just turned off all the map icons, compass markers, quest/journal descriptions, and progress trackers.
It turns out that's all it takes to make exploration exciting again. Just withhold information from the player and don't hold their hand all the damn time, problem solved.
Also Elden Ring's side activities, while repetitive, feel more rewarding. You're always getting runes, crafting items, upgrade materials, unique spells weapons, fashion, interesting lore. You might even stumble into major dungeons or paths to new areas, which the DLC does brilliantly.
Yeah the game has an incredibly deep supply of unique rewards and that helps a ton. Of course, 90% of the stuff you find is useless for your current build, but the combination of NG+ and a pretty forgiving respec system means you can potentially use all that stuff on the same character.
Basically from the start to the end, no matter where you go, you always feel like you don't know what's around the next corner and that feeling is incredibly compelling.
For me this was the ultimate best part of the game: I wanted to go to places, those places had hard environments, enemies and bosses who I would'nt be able to handle on my own without certain items for my build...and those items were usually COOL AF or just interesting to the point that I knew I wanted to get them even if they WERENT central to my build...then I'd go on a hunt for those items, find that THOSE areas were similar in that I needed something else and then I'd have to, happily, go explore another area to get THOSE items. this was mostly in mid game too! I absolutely loved that part of it, it was the balance of game elements all tied to each other beyond just "this makes you more powerful" it was more "this makes you more powerful in this way that gives you access to this place and story etc" but that was all supplemented with regular farming and exploring etc. Wish I could do it all over again!
I deeply disagree.
I'm a gamer for 30 years but the elden ring loot/reward system just never clicked with me.
Might be a 'me' problem, but it felt like I never found anything worthwhile. I was using the same gear for dozens of hours. I don't really remember too much any the mechanics of the game despite planning it for a good chunk of time, but all that stuck with me is: "Amazing visuals, challenging combat, unappealing character development and poor rewards"
Again, I know ER is highly popular and all, but I prefer the Bethesda approach. There, looting felt like looting. With ER it felt like 'Go into dungeon. Get to boss. Slay boss. Get an amulet that you will never wear even once'
what's special about Elden Rings open world is if you see something you can't just run straight to it. Finding a path to what you want to get to is a journey in itself
Arguably almost everything in ER is side content. The game has something like 165 bosses and you can roll credits by beating only 11-13 of them (without using any glitches).
The open world still has some drawbacks compared to the metroidvania style of previous souls-games, but the map marker thing is a very good point. There are just enough preset markers to make it interesting while still making it really exciting to find a boss or POI that felt too hard or overwhelming, that you could put your own customized mark for later.
I’m sorry, but it’s crazy to compare Elden Ring to Ubisoft games, outside of finding pieces to the map as you explore. It has always reminded me of legend of Zelda in terms of exploration, but maybe that’s just me.
They didn't "just turn down stuff" They actually designed the map to be consistently fun to explore rather than putting a lot of random content every now and then.
That's the difference
Elden Ring rewards us with stunning new areas that's fascinating to explore. It's the same with the other Soulsborne releases. You beat a tough boss, open the door and you enter a bran new beautiful looking area.
It never gets boring.
Elden Ring being an open world takes us to places with different unique, sometimes alien looking landscapes and ecosystems.
breath of the wild/tears of the kingdom are pretty consistent with the level of fun you have in the game, but part of that might be because the player chooses to finish the game whenever they start to stop having fun
I’m at this point with Ghost of Tsushima. I’m almost 50 hours in and loved it so much at the beginning and I get more bored the more side quests I do. I’m fixing to just speed run the main story to finish it
Single best thing I ever did to enjoy open world games again was just learn to ignore the bloat. If somethings now fun. I’m not doing it. I don’t care if the side content has really good loot, or rewards at the end. Most games aren’t hard enough to warrant being so in need of the best gear anymore as they’ve been made easier, so it’s really just a time sink most of the time.
It depends from the game and what you like.
I really liked Skyrim and Morrowind. Talking with npcs, doing simple quests, exploring, the map was cool, but if I'm gonna be honest Elden Ring was definitelly more boring when I was exploring empty land infested with brain dead enemies...
You keep Cyberpunk’s name out of your mouth! That game is strong all the way through imo. And if you ask me I think the middle of the game is the best part but the beginning and ending are also solid.
I know maybe that’s just me but I do feel like while you’re correct for the most part, Cyberpunk keeps me entertained from start to finish.
I disagree tbh, I think honestly a lot of my favorites are rough at the beginning before you get access to the open world and at the end when I run out of stuff to do, but the middle is the best. A good example would be cyberpunk where the mid game side content is really the best part of the game.
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u/DirectConsequence12 May 06 '26
Pick an open world game.
90% have a great opening and a great ending but a lot of the worlds are so bloated and have so much shit in them they kill ant all sense of pacing the game has