Quest for an Open-World Part 1
Ā Ā So, with the advent of the summer (hey, once it hits 75-80 everyday, itās summer) Iām freed from the shackles of my two Spring time-sinks: Bloodborne and Fire Emblem: Awakening. Both were great, but Iām happy to start something new after being married to those games since March. Ā Ā Naturally, I wanted to move onto my backlog. Something about all this talk ofĀ āThe Witcher 3ā³ andĀ āOpen Worldā made me develop a bit of an appetite for an open-world game. I usually prefer non-open world games because theyāre better designed, are more focused, have tighter gameplay (taaaaaight!) and have better art. Ā Ā But I have the time now for a monstrous world, and itās good to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while (Iām looking at you Bayonetta <3).Ā Doesnāt matter what type of open-world game: RPG, Action; as long as itās wide-open, Iām all in. Ahem. So began these last few days my experimentation with Bethesda.
FallOut 3 GOTY Edition (PS3): I really, really wanted to like this one. I do. But the character models look like theyāre made of wet-carboard. Graphics arenāt important, but art very much is. But hey, itās so revered, what the hell. Ā Ā So just about when I was starting to feel immersed in this world after choosing to kill an NPC in secret, I entered a base to find every NPC hostile. There was no way they could have physically known that I had killed their ally at the entrance. No. Just, no. I can forgive the shitty art style. I can overlook the bugginess. But whatās the point ofĀ āfreedomā if I canāt approach a quest in a different way than what was intended?
Skyrim (PS3): Ah, Skyrim. Played it for 15 hours in 2011, and couldn't play the other 50 hours until a year later. Needless to say, my journey felt slightly disconnected, but it was great nonetheless. But itās 2015 now, and itās a post Dark Souls world I live in. Being smarter than three years ago, I made a new character. Itās still a great game, but the frame rateās worse than I remembered. Did some update fuck things up? Or did I just not notice the first time around? The game is great fun, but if my vision gets shaky everyone few seconds, I canāt quite get immersed. Itās a contender for sure, though. I mean, Dark Souls was laggy but I was absolutely enthralled in that world. Oblivion (PS3): Popped it in, opened the character menu screen, shifted between sub-screens, major lag, quite the game, never touching that again. Alright, so it likely I willĀ not be playing a Bethesda RPG this summer unless Iām willing to put up with Skyrimās delicate framerate. Those games were optimized for XBOX and PC anyway, so I donāt feel too bad.Ā Ā Ā Luckily, there are still some other titles in my library worth trying out to see if they stick this time. Red Dead Redemption: didnāt like it last summer, but maybe it just wasnāt the right time. I still had GTA V fresh in my mind, so Red Deadās characters looked hideous by comparison. Great landscapes and voice acting, though. But still, every dialog is just someone spouting crazy nonsense while the protagonist judges. Thatās like every Rockstar game Iāve played, except GTA V. And that was because I got to play as three people, two of them being crazy nut jobs. Ā Xenoblade Chronicles:Ā First time, played 50 hours and stopped. Second time, I got right up to the end of that monstrous 70+ hour main quest and stopped. That was two years ago, and maybe the third timeās the charm? The environments and Mechon look great, but my GOD the Homs character models are hideous. Like distractingly hideous. Plus, it suffers from a lot of inventory/looting bloat, something I loath in any RPG. I hate having to dedicate hours playing dress-up with my party to make sure everyone is at optimal armor/weapons/gems. GTA IV or GTA V: I group these two together because, while very different in tone, they share many similarities. I feel like I canāt go wrong with either of them. Problem is: Iām not really in the mood for that kind of story and setting. Honestly, I just want a solid RPG to lose myself inā¦ God, Iām gonna end up playing a Souls game again, arenāt I? No - No. Focus, FistĆ©. Focus.
