LogFAQs > #979587548

PaperSplash posted...

So yes, open world games are harder to pull off well. And AAA game development is a race to the bottom, I am well aware. But why is the concept of closed worlds preferable to that of open worlds for so many? Is it just because the latter is easier to mess up?

No, it's just at a different point on the continuum between a puzzle and a sandbox. On the sandbox end, you're given more freedom, but your choices only have the meaning you give them. On the puzzle end, your options are more limited but you're rewarded for finding the solution.

Let me illustrate by comparing a similar encounter from three games from the same series: the tanks in Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid V, in order from most closed to most open.

MG1's single tank fight involves a tank moving forward and back down a hallway, firing alternately from machine guns on each side. There's really only one solution. You have to wait for it to roll back and start firing from the other gun, run around the corner, place some mines and retreat to safety. The mines are the only weapon that will damage it, and you cannot use them from a distance. You cannot strafe it because of the buildings. You can't even time it differently because of the guns. And it's a lot of fun, because the solution is interesting, because it still takes skill to implement, and because the challenge affords the solution.

In MGS1, the tank is no longer between buildings, so we can strafe it to avoid gunfire if we want. But we still have no anti-tank weaponry except what we will improvise, and leaving cover will get us shot by the main cannon. So we must disable the cannon with chaff grenades, causing the gunner to open the hatch and fire the machine gun and buying you a few seconds to throw frag grenades in the hatch. It's a little more open, as you can approach it from a couple of different directions, and if you remember the mine trick from MG1, that actually does slow it down. And it's still a lot of fun.

Then in MGSV, there are tanks everywhere. And you shoot them. Lame. Or hell, don't even fight them. Double lame. They did, at least, give you an option you can unlock later in the game where you can sneak up on them and capture them. Which is also lame, especially when you actually pull it off.