February 20th, 2012 at 5:55PM
NO GOD it’s not a fear, dingus, it’s a gameplay style! open worlds leave themselves shallow on narrative. bioware games offer a degree of nonlinearity, through both player choice and quest systems, but what makes them special from sandbox/open worlds is their sense of pacing. by restricting the player to a linear course of events, they’re able to use basic literary techniques like suspense and foreshadowing and moving conflict in a way that open worlds just logically can’t do. in the history of gaming so far it has proved impossible to offer both an open world and a coherent, paced story. the closest you can get is a rockstar game, but even still that’s just a bioware-style story with an open world mode. you may prefer bethesda-style games, but that is not (nor hopefully will it ever be) the aim of bioware.

NO GOD it’s not a fear, dingus, it’s a gameplay style!

open worlds leave themselves shallow on narrative. bioware games offer a degree of nonlinearity, through both player choice and quest systems, but what makes them special from sandbox/open worlds is their sense of pacing. by restricting the player to a linear course of events, they’re able to use basic literary techniques like suspense and foreshadowing and moving conflict in a way that open worlds just logically can’t do. in the history of gaming so far it has proved impossible to offer both an open world and a coherent, paced story. the closest you can get is a rockstar game, but even still that’s just a bioware-style story with an open world mode.

you may prefer bethesda-style games, but that is not (nor hopefully will it ever be) the aim of bioware.

  1. ziyoxis reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    I agree with this, so much.
  2. embersalamander reblogged this from dragonageconfessions
  3. nowayscarlite reblogged this from dragonageconfessions
  4. hey-its-tsai reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    when i first bought origins, i thought it would be an open-world game. i was pretty disappointed when i found out it...
  5. theoriginalcemeterygirl reblogged this from dragonageconfessions
  6. pretzelquatyl reblogged this from tohmas-hat
  7. tohmas-hat reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    Look. I get it. I want to see Orlais, Antiva, Rivain, Tevinter, and the Anderfels too. There’s nothing wrong with that....
  8. aggiepunbot reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    I would approve of this if I thought BioWare were capable of doing such a thing. Sadly, I expect that they would fuck it...
  9. reanimatrix reblogged this from lifeisacollage40 and added:
    I don’t know. Some of us like linear. My favorite games are linear— Bioshock, Portal, Half-Life. I prefer DA2 to DAO...
  10. gentlefantasy reblogged this from high0castle
  11. missmokushiroku reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    OP, do you really, honestly think that Dragon Age would be better as an open-world game? Or are you just another person...
  12. lifeisacollage40 reblogged this from whitethornwolf and added:
    I understand what you’re saying. I love Skyrim but I am a wanderer. Origins and DA:2 were both linear games. It was just...
  13. high0castle reblogged this from ademska and added:
    Here, here. Sandboxes are fun for exploration,...have you noticed
  14. whitethornwolf reblogged this from lifeisacollage40 and added:
    weird that I don’t want this to happen? This is the reason why Morrowind & Oblivion put me off, cause the
  15. missl0nelyhearts reblogged this from ademska and added:
    oh ademska. don’t you know...narrow, story-driven development that’s RUINING GAMES?! i,...
  16. vengerturtle reblogged this from ademska and added:
    god this. I really loved Skyrim...srsly there’s absolutely no reason for Bioware
  17. ademska reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    NO GOD it’s not a fear, dingus, it’s a gameplay style! open worlds leave themselves shallow on narrative. bioware games...
  18. weirdoqueen reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    that’s not Dragon Age, that’s The Elder Scrolls. If they spent all that time making a beautiful open world, we wouldn’t...
  19. vodkaetlebeat reblogged this from dragonageconfessions
  20. lucien-fairfax reblogged this from dragonageconfessions and added:
    Seriously, if Skyrim and Dragon Age had a baby it would be the most beautiful and fascinating and LIFE-RUINING THING...
  21. odetosebastiana reblogged this from dragonageconfessions
  22. dragonageconfessions posted this
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