I think I’m done with open world games

[bystander36]

To add some thoughts to my last post.

The old school RPG taught us to explore everything, and to do every side quest you found. This allowed for some surprises and added game play. Those side quests added good flavor to the game.

The new open world RPG has taught me that I need to stay focused on the quests that sound interesting and focused towards my goals. Those side quests are distractions that add flavor to the game only when you feel you want some added side quests.

There are people who want to play RPG's with a single character for hundreds of hours. Those side quests are for them. For those who are not interested in that, you simply have to train yourself to not follow every lead as you did 10-20 years ago in those old school RPG's.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Nonsense. I’m not talking about OCD “find 1000 trinkets and get a free sticker for the side of your house”. I don’t care about that.

I’m talking about not visiting any city outside Whiterun and not experiencing Thief/Mage/Dark Brotherhood/Daedric quest lines.

That’s not a “strange mental quirk”, that’s a vast percentage of the game. It’s not even Skyrim without it.

I checked and people are routinely putting 200-500 hours with one character and no mods into the game. Again, that’s MMO territory and it's unreasonable.

First of all, as I said before you can complete the game 100% that is doing the main story and every side quest including all of the main quest lines for the guilds in about 80-100 hours, I know because I did that and obsessively did complete all the side quests and max out a character with all the skills and whatnot.

People that are taking 500 hours to do that are extremely slow or inefficient at playing, and it's typically a choice on their part to extend the gameplay out to 500 hours when it can easily be done in 100. Some people role play and will never use fast travel for example, or they'll put the game on hardest and keep replaying dungeons trying to do them in 1 life, or whatever.

2nd of all the landmass is not an issue, the only issue is the time it takes for you to get from any one point in the map to any other point, which is incredibly fast in skyrim because you have fast travel which is instant, for places you cannot fast travel to because you've not discovered yet you can simply use the transport system built into the game world where you pay a small fee to travel to the nearest city which instantly puts you no more than a few minutes travel from anywhere and lastly there's a horse you can buy and ride to make traveling on foot faster.

And yes, it's a strange mental quirk because you're saying the game ought to be 25-30 hours for your convenience because that's a more manageable size. But in order to do that the devs would have to cut out vast swaths of content that would affect both you and everyone else, and some of us like having 100 hours or 500 hours worth of content, why should we get less just to suit you? That's incredibly selfish. lastly you can get just 25-30 hours out of skyrim, just stick to the main quest line and ignore all side quests and that's an easy 30 hour game. The strange mental quirk comes from the fact that you're clearly unable to manage that and be happy with the result, that you have to go back and complete some arbitrary amount of the game, like as you say the Thief/mage, whatever guilds. There's no rules saying you have to do that content other than the mental ones you construct in your own insane world.

Yeah definitely one of my all time favourite RPGs. Of course I seem to be the only person who loved Dragon Age 2. It was obviously way more on the rails than the first one, but I loved every minute of it. Inquisition just never really did much for me. I've tried multiple times to get back into it, but unfortunately I just keep getting bored after about 30 minutes.

I think the hate for the sequels comes from EA buying out Bioware and then changing the fundamentals of the game, much of the love for DA:O came from the fact that it was kind of a spiritual success to RPGs of old like Baldur's gate and alike, and that means some very specific things when it comes to gameplay, levels of micro management, etc. For many such as myself this was a big attractive point for DA:O and the destruction of that for the sequels in the name of dumbing it down for a broader audience which is essentially EAs mantra, was a real kick in the nuts.

That's more of a self control issue. The bigger the landmass, the more quests, but you simply have to decide that not everyone needs help. Stick to the primary quests, unless you need to gain some extra gold or experience to complete them. In Skyrim, I typically make a choice on the primary quest lines I want, and stick to them. If I want to do a little extra, I do, but you do have to treat these ever open worlds differently than standard linear RPG's.

While I like Skyrim and its open world, I also don't like it that most RPG's have decided that they need to be open world. Both types of games should exist, and fill a different niche. I was a bit disappointed when DA:I decided to go open world, but I still enjoyed it. I just ignored most the side quests.

Right exactly, this is what I'm saying. How much of the side content you optionally do is completely up to the gamer in Skyrim, there's very little in the way of the main story quest requiring you to be high level or needing to grind in any way. Nor are any of the main side quest story lines for example the mages guild really tied into the main story at all, they're just schools to teach your chosen archetype how to do combat effectively and grow in strength.

As I said it's really just a mental quirk of people that they set some arbitrary goal in their mind like I'll do all of quests type X and none of the quests type Y and whatever else they dream up. And then when the game doesn't meet their expectations they complain about the game, rather than simply analyzing their own neurotic behaviour and altering their expectations.

 

[bystander36]

I think these "strange mental quirks" are a result of how old school RPG's trained us to complete every quest, or at least most of them. Open world games should teach you that you should focus your efforts on the meaty quests, the old school method of play is not applicable anymore.

 

[WhiteNoise]

I voted yesterday that I would like to see the worlds become larger. I enjoy open world games and IMO (since skyrim seems to be the topic) Skyrim is actually small. Even back when it came out I was thinking it should have been larger. I beat the main story in skyrim (along with a healthy amount of side quests) in about 35 hours of game play. I have over 200 hours in skyrim from just enjoying the game and having fun in the world. There are still a good amount of quests I have not done. That is a decision I made because I want to prolong the experience.

 

[desura]

Eh, open world RPGs generally feel kind of empty to me. Sky rim I only played a little and it is a lot like real life hiking except you don't breath fresh air while playing it.

Lot of times open world means watching some guy with a sword run around in fields.

Then again, I'm kinda tired of QuickTime events too and games where you have to do a little predetermined combat dance before you get fed that next bit of story.

What I wish were out there was a mount and blade like game where you have physics-based arrow drop and sword deflect and parry combined with an open world that was unscripted and where you could figure out how to do things instead of being coerced.

 

[Igo69]

I like it at least most of them Skyrim, Borderlands series, Dead Island, Dying Light, Stalker, and Witcher 3. It is fun to explore and fight

 

[WhiteNoise]

Yes...exploring is my favorite thing to do in open world games. I love finding something off the beaten track,,,behind a waterfall etc....

 

[BFG10K]

First of all, as I said before you can complete the game 100% that is doing the main story and every side quest including all of the main quest lines for the guilds in about 80-100 hours, I know because I did that and obsessively did complete all the side quests and max out a character with all the skills and whatnot.

Yeah, gonna seriously call into question the bolded parts:

• https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=14996

61 people polled with an average of 253 hours for completionist. Even rushed was over 156 hours.

So please post screenshot proof of your character time, all skills maxed, and your entire finished quest log entries so we can make sure you’ve completed every quest in the game. Thanks.

People that are taking 500 hours to do that are extremely slow or inefficient at playing, and it's typically a choice on their part to extend the gameplay out to 500 hours when it can easily be done in 100. Some people role play and will never use fast travel for example, or they'll put the game on hardest and keep replaying dungeons trying to do them in 1 life, or whatever.

Cool story, bro. But none of that applies to me. It also doesn't apply to the rushed time above since by definition your description isn't rushed.

2nd of all the landmass is not an issue, the only issue is the time it takes for you to get from any one point in the map to any other point, which is incredibly fast in skyrim because you have fast travel which is instant, for places you cannot fast travel to because you've not discovered yet you can simply use the transport system built into the game world where you pay a small fee to travel to the nearest city which instantly puts you no more than a few minutes travel from anywhere and lastly there's a horse you can buy and ride to make traveling on foot faster.

What utter nonsense. Landmass is an issue because it’s directly tied to how much content they can put into the game. You need a minimum amount of physical space between towns, buildings, fast-travel points, and dungeon/cave/ruin entrances.

If they’d made the total landmass as big as Riverwood (exaggerating to make a point), they obviously couldn’t fit all of Skyrim’s content into it. Here, let me draw you a picture:

Go ahead, try fitting all those icons into the red square.

To say nothing of the significant landmass Dawnguard and Dragonborne added to the base game that's not even on that map.

And yes, it's a strange mental quirk because you're saying the game ought to be 25-30 hours for your convenience because that's a more manageable size. But in order to do that the devs would have to cut out vast swaths of content that would affect both you and everyone else, and some of us like having 100 hours or 500 hours worth of content, why should we get less just to suit you? That's incredibly selfish. lastly you can get just 25-30 hours out of skyrim, just stick to the main quest line and ignore all side quests and that's an easy 30 hour game. The strange mental quirk comes from the fact that you're clearly unable to manage that and be happy with the result, that you have to go back and complete some arbitrary amount of the game, like as you say the Thief/mage, whatever guilds. There's no rules saying you have to do that content other than the mental ones you construct in your own insane world.

You appear to be suffering from extreme confusion. Nobody's telling you to cut your “my precious” content. In fact you’re the one running around telling people to skip significant parts of the game and claiming they have mental issues if they don’t.

I’m saying these games are unreasonable time sinks and I won’t be playing them, and that they'd be better with less content like semi-open 30 hour games. You on the other hand appear to be experiencing some kind of personal affront to your open-world masculinity.

 

[sweenish]

Is it time for this topic to appear again already?

 

[bystander36]

Yeah, gonna seriously call into question the bolded parts:

• https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=14996

61 people polled with an average of 253 hours for completionist. Even rushed was over 156 hours.

So please post screenshot proof of your character time, all skills maxed, and your entire finished quest log entries so we can make sure you’ve completed every quest in the game. Thanks.


Cool story, bro. But none of that applies to me. It also doesn't apply to the rushed time above since by definition your description isn't rushed.


What utter nonsense. Landmass is an issue because it’s directly tied to how much content they can put into the game. You need a minimum amount of physical space between towns, buildings, fast-travel points, and dungeon/cave/ruin entrances.

If they’d made the total landmass as big as Riverwood (exaggerating to make a point), they obviously couldn’t fit all of Skyrim’s content into it. Here, let me draw you a picture:

Go ahead, try fitting all those icons into the red square.

To say nothing of the significant landmass Dawnguard and Dragonborne added to the base game that's not even on that map.


You appear to be suffering from extreme confusion. Nobody's telling you to cut your “my precious” content. In fact you’re the one running around telling people to skip significant parts of the game and claiming they have mental issues if they don’t.

I’m saying these games are unreasonable time sinks and I won’t be playing them, and that they'd be better with less content like semi-open 30 hour games. You on the other hand appear to be experiencing some kind of personal affront to your open-world masculinity.

Landmass is not an issue if you have self control and not feel obligated to do all the side quests. Open world games are not made with the idea that most people will finish every quest. They are made with the idea of "you can do as many quests as you like." Just stop being a completionist. These games were not made with that in mind. They are more like MMO's. The quests never end, just do what you feel is fun.

 

[thejunglegod]

I don't mind open world games with side quests. I just hope that the main story has a better story than all the side-quest stories. For eg. I loved the Oblivion storyline, it was bigger and fleshed out, but IMO Skyrim's main story was the most horribly short main story of any RPG.
Now, if you compare it with the Witcher 3's main story, Skyrim seems like it was made by kids.

 

[Headfoot]

Nonsense. I’m not talking about OCD “find 1000 trinkets and get a free sticker for the side of your house”. I don’t care about that.

I’m talking about not visiting any city outside Whiterun and not experiencing Thief/Mage/Dark Brotherhood/Daedric quest lines.

That’s not a “strange mental quirk”, that’s a vast percentage of the game. It’s not even Skyrim without it.

I checked and people are routinely putting 200-500 hours with one character and no mods into the game. Again, that’s MMO territory and it's unreasonable.

This isn’t just Bethesda games, Skyrim was just the tipping point that made me realize all open world games have the same problem. Their ever-expanding landmasses directly tie into game length. Fallout 4’s map is bigger than Fallout 3 and Skyrim. The Assassin’s Creed, GTA, and Far Cry games also keep increasing their map sizes.

When you have quests spread out like a shotgun blast over a large landmass, that artificially bloats game time even if you can fast travel. And when traveling, if the game's giving too many new quest lines along the way, the total content gets out of control.

To go back to Skyrim, it would’ve been far better if they cut the landmass to be just one of the holds, like Rift (south-east) for example. One major city, three towns, and about two dozen dungeons/mines/towers/ruins in total, each with a unique look to make them significantly different. Then cut all the side-quests that don't matter and just leave the main quest along with the factions, so the whole game can be fully experienced in 25-30 hours.

That sounds awful. I think Skyrim is the perfect sized landmass, big enough that if you actually walk places it takes time but not so big that you never run into anything interesting. If ES6 is a Skyrim sized place with better quests and a few better gameplay systems, it will be a wild success

 

[aigomorla]

find skyrim teleporter mod...

then u dont need to walk all over the place and can just teleport star trek style.

Thats what i loved about skyrim, was the ability to be modable on almost every level.

 

[futurefields]

I like both linear or level-based games and open world games pretty equally. I think they both offer something the other doesn't. Linear games usually a little more polished and goal oriented, open world games give you more freedom to just fart around, which I also dig.

 

[Elfear]

I voted yesterday that I would like to see the worlds become larger. I enjoy open world games and IMO (since skyrim seems to be the topic) Skyrim is actually small. Even back when it came out I was thinking it should have been larger. I beat the main story in skyrim (along with a healthy amount of side quests) in about 35 hours of game play. I have over 200 hours in skyrim from just enjoying the game and having fun in the world. There are still a good amount of quests I have not done. That is a decision I made because I want to prolong the experience.

So much this. Skyrim is great because you can tailor the experience to fit your tastes. I played all the way through the game completing most of the side quests with two different characters and had about 200hrs invested. Playing through the Special Edition now and have around 40-50hrs so far with maybe 20% of the main quest completed. The third time around I'm going slower and having a blast doing it. With some mods added in, Skyrim is a gorgeous game to get lost in.

 

[bystander36]

So much this. Skyrim is great because you can tailor the experience to fit your tastes. I played all the way through the game completing most of the side quests with two different characters and had about 200hrs invested. Playing through the Special Edition now and have around 40-50hrs so far with maybe 20% of the main quest completed. The third time around I'm going slower and having a blast doing it. With some mods added in, Skyrim is a gorgeous game to get lost in.

My approach is a little different than most, I'd guess. I've played through all the various big quest lines, but I limit myself to 2, maybe 3 quest lines per character. I find the game becomes boring once you get to level 50+, so I limit each character to one guild quest line, and one of the main quests (vanilla, and expansions). I might do a few side quests too, but the idea is not to play past the 50's and to play different characters to complete the various quest lines.

I may also choose to limit myself on skill selections, or crafting to make the game more interesting.

 

[werepossum]

I really don't get the "too much content" complaint. Or the bit about finishing with a weak character. It's an imaginary character in an imaginary world populated only by you. If you need, use the console to make thyself a demigod and give yourself a hearty pat on the back.

On the other hand, I can totally appreciate wanting to be led by the nose on a very entertaining trip down a narrow, exquisitely scripted corridor over a short period of time. Both experiences can be good. Personally I want even bigger worlds to explore, but I also enjoy a short, well-written linear adventure. But for value, my 1,400 hours of Fallout 4 for $90 sure beats my ~10 hours of Call of Duty X for $60.

 

[Thump553]

I pretty much play MMO games but 99.9% of the time as a solo. I haven't really explored any of these open world stand alone games but they might be just what I'm looking for.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

The whole point of the game is to be able to play it for several hundred hours on a single character. It's to get in to the game, deeply, to feel connected to your character (based on what you've experienced) and GSD (get shit done) in a variety of locales and difficulty levels. Explore, interact, and do as much as you want to do in whatever parts you want to do it in. It's what separates an open world game from the trash pile of 'meh' games that you bore through in 12 hours and call it gravy (which is exactly what you'd have if you made Skyrim just 'The Rift'). A perfect example was Shadow of Mordor, which was more of a big circular arena you play around in for about 10 hours, doing the exact same 4 things (derp challenges, derp fighting, like two half-assed interesting quests, and non-exploration due to forced march from a -> b -> c). I like plenty of non-open world games mind you, if they're done well. I just happen to think Bethesda does it great (or at least better than others).

Not every game has to be an open-world one, but if you don't like the style then don't play them.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Skyrim is great the way it is. I have 200+ hours and I've never completed the main quest or even started any of the major side quests (Fighter, Thief, Dark Brotherhood...etc.). Actually that's not true, I did a couple of the Mage Guild quests and I think two for the Companions (Fighters). That was all I could stand.

I absolutely hate the canned major quest lines in Elder Scrolls games. They are a total, complete bore. I would rather watch paint dry than sit through that nonsense... just awful. However I thoroughly enjoy creating specific characters that use specific skills and tactics while wandering around picking up random quests where ever I go. Speaking of where ever I go, I had never been to Riften or Solitude in 200+ hours across the probably 5 or so characters I've created... until my most recent character in the Special Edition. I play until I get to around level 20-25 and then get bored because the character has become over-powered and everything's a cakewalk. So I take a break (sometimes for over a year) and come back with an all new character using all new skills and methods to play the game. Most recently, I made the first character I've used in any ES game that fights with conjured weapons. I've never done that before and I realized I've been missing out because they're awesome.

To me, that's what makes Elder Scrolls great. Tons of variety in ways to play, and tons of content that doesn't involve heavy scripting. Bethesda is awful at crafting interesting stories, but they let the player create their own stories effectively which is important because as soon as I see one of their ai characters running around with me it ruins the entire experience because of how braindead they are. I never have a follower or companion with me because they just block doorways and destroy the immersion with their horrible pathing. Oh, my precious immersion...!!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Skyrim is great the way it is. I have 200+ hours and I've never completed the main quest or even started any of the major side quests (Fighter, Thief, Dark Brotherhood...etc.). Actually that's not true, I did a couple of the Mage Guild quests and I think two for the Companions (Fighters). That was all I could stand.

I absolutely hate the canned major quest lines in Elder Scrolls games. They are a total, complete bore. I would rather watch paint dry than sit through that nonsense... just awful. However I thoroughly enjoy creating specific characters that use specific skills and tactics while wandering around picking up random quests where ever I go. Speaking of where ever I go, I had never been to Riften or Solitude in 200+ hours across the probably 5 or so characters I've created... until my most recent character in the Special Edition. I play until I get to around level 20-25 and then get bored because the character has become over-powered and everything's a cakewalk. So I take a break (sometimes for over a year) and come back with an all new character using all new skills and methods to play the game. Most recently, I made the first character I've used in any ES game that fights with conjured weapons. I've never done that before and I realized I've been missing out because they're awesome.

To me, that's what makes Elder Scrolls great. Tons of variety in ways to play, and tons of content that doesn't involve heavy scripting. Bethesda is awful at crafting interesting stories, but they let the player create their own stories effectively which is important because as soon as I see one of their ai characters running around with me it ruins the entire experience because of how braindead they are. I never have a follower or companion with me because they just block doorways and destroy the immersion with their horrible pathing. Oh, my precious immersion...!!

You should try some modding. There's some fairly extensive difficulty/rebalance mods which can help out the whole 'I dominate the game with my fireballs or sword+board' aspect. Smilodon is a great start, as well as some creature mods/bandit mods, etc.

I agree on writing, TES games have never really been peak when it comes to storyline writing. Still fun for a lark though, or just getting into a brawl with the town guards

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Yeah, gonna seriously call into question the bolded parts:

• https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=14996

61 people polled with an average of 253 hours for completionist. Even rushed was over 156 hours.

So average is 253 hours yet you're complaining there's too much content, sound an awful lot like people are actually enjoying the fact that there's a lot of content. Yes I'm 33 I've been gaming since I old enough to pick up a controller, I can blow through a game like Skyrim picking up all the quests and do them in 100 hours because I know how to effectively grind and play a character and min/max what I need. If you can't take another persons word for it then posting a screenshot isn't going to prove any more. And you can cut out the hyperbole, no one is going to max every trait out because a mage isn't going to need sword training and rogues don't need to carry around plate armour.

The point of the game is that you can pick an archetype and there's content relevent to you, for example mages are enocurages to do the mages guild but there's no real need or value in doing the fighters guild or thieves guild. The point is there's enough content to appeal to different play styles individually and give a more tailored experience.

Land mass is not an issue because 99% of the games content in terms of quests, persons of interest, objectives, tools, etc. These are all instanced inside separate areas which aren't constrained by the size of the map, in fact the game obviously suffers from scaling issues where the insides of some places are bigger than their outside, notably houses and town footprints. The actual distance is completely irrelevent because there's several mechanims in the game that literally allow you to teleport right across the map and I highlighted those, the actual travel distance between any 2 arbitrary points is extremely small meaning not a huge amount of your time is actually spent traversing the land (unless you're naive and choose to walk rather than use a quicker method)

You appear to be suffering from extreme confusion. Nobody's telling you to cut your “my precious” content. In fact you’re the one running around telling people to skip significant parts of the game and claiming they have mental issues if they don’t.

Are you actually just trolling now?

I said skip parts of the game IF you don't want to spend as much time on the game. Yeah you do have mental issues if you don't. That's like buying a 2 litre bottle of soda and then drinking it all, and then complaining 2l of soda is too much. You know you can just put the bottle down at any time and stop, there's no cosmic rule that states you have to finish the entire thing in one go, you can actually just stop and then finish the rest later or not even have the rest. Yes actually that does make you mental because it means that you're impulsive and you lack self control.

here's what a normal person with a healthy mind does:
1) Plays Skyrim
2) Does a bunch of quests and has fun
3) Has enough
4) Stops playing

I’m saying these games are unreasonable time sinks and I won’t be playing them, and that they'd be better with less content like semi-open 30 hour games. You on the other hand appear to be experiencing some kind of personal affront to your open-world masculinity.

Which is a load of nonsense because the amount of time you actually spend on the game is completely up to the player, you can follow the main story and be done in like 10-20 hours or you can stretch the game out to be hundreds of hours. You do know that you can actually choose what you want to do? It seems stupid that this has to be pointed out. If you want 30 hours then just play the main story and 10 hours of side quests, boom, done.

Yeah there's no such thing as open world masculinity, I like open, closed, short and long. But then I have self control, if I want to only play 30 hours of something I'll pick it up and play 30 hours. And then when I put it down I'm not bothered that I didn't complete the other content, that it's OK, the universe won't implode, there's no gremlins coming to kill me in my sleep. It's just part of the game I didn't play because I was satisfied with what I had.

 

[bystander36]

So average is 253 hours yet you're complaining there's too much content, sound an awful lot like people are actually enjoying the fact that there's a lot of content. Yes I'm 33 I've been gaming since I old enough to pick up a controller, I can blow through a game like Skyrim picking up all the quests and do them in 100 hours because I know how to effectively grind and play a character and min/max what I need. If you can't take another persons word for it then posting a screenshot isn't going to prove any more. And you can cut out the hyperbole, no one is going to max every trait out because a mage isn't going to need sword training and rogues don't need to carry around plate armour.

The point of the game is that you can pick an archetype and there's content relevent to you, for example mages are enocurages to do the mages guild but there's no real need or value in doing the fighters guild or thieves guild. The point is there's enough content to appeal to different play styles individually and give a more tailored experience.

Land mass is not an issue because 99% of the games content in terms of quests, persons of interest, objectives, tools, etc. These are all instanced inside separate areas which aren't constrained by the size of the map, in fact the game obviously suffers from scaling issues where the insides of some places are bigger than their outside, notably houses and town footprints. The actual distance is completely irrelevent because there's several mechanims in the game that literally allow you to teleport right across the map and I highlighted those, the actual travel distance between any 2 arbitrary points is extremely small meaning not a huge amount of your time is actually spent traversing the land (unless you're naive and choose to walk rather than use a quicker method)



Are you actually just trolling now?

I said skip parts of the game IF you don't want to spend as much time on the game. Yeah you do have mental issues if you don't. That's like buying a 2 litre bottle of soda and then drinking it all, and then complaining 2l of soda is too much. You know you can just put the bottle down at any time and stop, there's no cosmic rule that states you have to finish the entire thing in one go, you can actually just stop and then finish the rest later or not even have the rest. Yes actually that does make you mental because it means that you're impulsive and you lack self control.

here's what a normal person with a healthy mind does:
1) Plays Skyrim
2) Does a bunch of quests and has fun
3) Has enough
4) Stops playing



Which is a load of nonsense because the amount of time you actually spend on the game is completely up to the player, you can follow the main story and be done in like 10-20 hours or you can stretch the game out to be hundreds of hours. You do know that you can actually choose what you want to do? It seems stupid that this has to be pointed out. If you want 30 hours then just play the main story and 10 hours of side quests, boom, done.

Yeah there's no such thing as open world masculinity, I like open, closed, short and long. But then I have self control, if I want to only play 30 hours of something I'll pick it up and play 30 hours. And then when I put it down I'm not bothered that I didn't complete the other content, that it's OK, the universe won't implode, there's no gremlins coming to kill me in my sleep. It's just part of the game I didn't play because I was satisfied with what I had.

Slightly off topic, but most my family, when they go out to eat, feels obligated to eat everything served. This seems to be taught, or perhaps it's genetic, to most people. Meanwhile, restaurants serve larger and larger portions, because they are making sure enough food is there for anyone who comes in the door and cost of the food extra food is a fraction of the overall cost. The result is that 80% of the USA is over weight.

There is nothing wrong with leaving food on the table. There is nothing wrong with leaving unfinished quests. There is nothing wrong with lowering a few details so the game runs well (some people won't play a game that they can't play maxed out). You get the same enjoyment out of the game whether the continent exists and was not completed, or didn't exist at all. The only difference is that the person who wants that extra continent, food, beverage or what ever it is, can't have it, because you couldn't control yourself when you got more than needed.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Slightly off topic, but most my family, when they go out to eat, feels obligated to eat everything served. This seems to be taught, or perhaps it's genetic, to most people. Meanwhile, restaurants serve larger and larger portions, because they are making sure enough food is there for anyone who comes in the door and cost of the food extra food is a fraction of the overall cost. The result is that 80% of the USA is over weight.

There is nothing wrong with leaving food on the table. There is nothing wrong with leaving unfinished quests. There is nothing wrong with lowering a few details so the game runs well (some people won't play a game that they can't play maxed out). You get the same enjoyment out of the game whether the continent exists and was not completed, or didn't exist at all. The only difference is that the person who wants that extra continent, food, beverage or what ever it is, can't have it, because you couldn't control yourself when you got more than needed.

I'd argue that your premise is flawed from a few standpoints, namely that extra food on plates at restaurants is the cause of obesity in the US, and that there's a correlation between the drive to eat what's provided (survival tactic) and complete game content provided (probably an aspect of OCD, even a minor case). I actually feel the latter when it comes to achievements, and enjoy games without achievements more than those with because I don't feel obligated to complete them (which I do, again, probably because of minor OCD).

Some may feel the same, that because within an hour of playing Skyrim you can get 35 quests that each lead to areas giving you another 35 quests, you end up in a mire of quest hell leading you all over a continent with no real direction, no serious rewards (for most quests), and generally 'whack things til they die and stare at pretty flowers' gameplay. I don't agree with it, but I get it.

 

[shortylickens]

I dont care if they get bigger or smaller. I want more stuff in them.
I want the world of GTA 5 with the goodies of Fallout 4.