Incline What if flying was unlimited in open worlds from the start?

[Bastardchops]

There is no game or vehicle which isn't objectively better when jetpacks are included. The only mode of transport which would surpass jetpacks is a complicated series of winches, wherein you have to winch your character/characters around the level.

 

[Fowyr]

There is no game or vehicle which isn't objectively better when jetpacks are included. The only mode of transport which would surpass jetpacks is a complicated series of winches, wherein you have to winch your character/characters around the level.

So, Wizardry 7 or Grimoire mountains with assembling vine ropes and constant climbing skillchecks.

 

[gurugeorge]

Sure, but it would have to be designed around that, and that would be a rod for developers' backs - they'd just have to make the world so much more massive in terms of distances, and fill it with more crap.

It's part of the reason you don't see more superhero MMOs and games: if you have "travel powers" it psychologically shrinks the game world. (Classic example: the main city in Champions Online, the successor MMO to City of Heroes made by Cryptic, called Paragon City - someone on the MMO's discussion board was complaining about how small and cramped the city felt. Someone else then pointed out that walking across it takes about the same time as walking across one of the two main continents in WoW (forget which one).)

So it's a trade-off between coolness and work needed to counter-act that psychological shrinkage.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

As recent experience shows.

Jetpacks and open world from the very start lets The People skip any and all shit they don't like.

But not if they run out of fuel in 3 seconds! Fully upgraded gives you 30 seconds? Not enough.

The People don't wanna bunny hop better. The People wanna fly. They wanna keep flying, never set foot on the ground again if they don't feel like it.

I think that's why jetpack-chan ain't selling better.

They don't know what they want.
Slowly growing in power from sucking to being great is one of the feelings in video games that players subconsciously crave.

Starting with a small extra boost to help jump gaps slowly advancing to gliding then to full on flying is much more interesting than just handing the player flying. They will remember all the things you put just out of reach.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

In FS you play the role of the pilot.

 

[Not.AI]

But it does.
All you need is good design choices and decent graphics in order not to rebuke the graphic whores.
And if you manage a good art direction and sound ambient, you'll hit the jackpot.

"Graphics whores raise their hands."

I raise my hand. Me, me, me.

Gothic 1, Gothic 2 had pretty great graphics for the time. Deus Ex was not bad when it came out.

Morrowind only had a better looking water effect. The larger look-ahead and density of Gothic it comparable with Morrowind.

Yeah, open ended immersion requires good graphics. More interactivity and flexibility etc raises all other expectations. Including the graphical expectations.

A stock that performs well but better than expected often sees its price decrease. Same basic issue.

Games that have lots of branching coded in and something interesting (Undertale, Nier) but limited interactivity besides a few (possibly big) choices can make do with less "pretty" graphics.

Good Old Fashioned Role Playing Game (GOFRPG) can work if graphics excellent, sound excellent, art excellent, but that means the challenge is making tools that reduce the cost of making something far larger than Cyberpunk. (Deus Ex Mankind Divided was too short for the cost.)

 

[Cool name]

Sure, but it would have to be designed around that, and that would be a rod for developers' backs - they'd just have to make the world so much more massive in terms of distances, and fill it with more crap.

It's part of the reason you don't see more superhero MMOs and games: if you have "travel powers" it psychologically shrinks the game world. (Classic example: the main city in Champions Online, the successor MMO to City of Heroes made by Cryptic, called Paragon City - someone on the MMO's discussion board was complaining about how small and cramped the city felt. Someone else then pointed out that walking across it takes about the same time as walking across one of the two main continents in WoW (forget which one).)

So it's a trade-off between coolness and work needed to counter-act that psychological shrinkage.

Yeah, it's a big challenge. Aside from this perceived shrinkage issue, you also need to make sure your game world looks good not just from ground level but from the sky as well. Plus, in most games which aren't flight sims, flying is just boring. You get from A to B fast, in a mostly straight line, with fewer things happening in between. There's not much else above ground level to interact with. It becomes what amounts to ''fast travel, but slower" if that makes sense. In those cases I can't help but feel it'd be better to have more fleshed-out hubs and a Fallout-style overworld map instead of an open world you'll mostly just fly over.

The most recent game I can think of which managed to dodge these issues is—forgive me for bringing up not just a console-exclusive but a capeshit console exclusive—the PS4 Spiderman game. Swinging around wasn't quite flight, but it was very close, and there were no limits on it forcing you to touch the ground. The game didn't feel too small, and also managed to force different heights and prevent there always being a straight-line path by varying on how tall or spaced apart buildings were in a given neighborhood. Critically, it actually gave you stuff to do or pay attention to while flying, especially as the game progressed and flying enemies or rooftop bases showed up. The 'flying' traversal becomes actual gameplay rather than 'point in straight line and hold W key until destination is reached'. You could tell the game was designed with the traversal method as a core mechanic, probably the core mechanic. Unlimited flight requires the same attention and care, I think.

 

[PanickedTushkano]

If you want to just fly around some open world you could just play "Bokida - Heartfelt Reunion". Not quite unlimited, but it's close.

Could you make an RPG around unlimited flying? No clue, but just take a look at Divinity II and how that one had to basically implement a bunch of special rules to limit what the player could do in dragon form.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

You can do this almost immediately in Morrowind.