Linear, linear, linear

[Ayer2015]

Dang it, this why all my friends invite me for hikes. I thought they just enjoyed my company, but no just for bear fodder.

Ok, that made me laugh.

[NanaWiloh]

The easiest way to avoid getting mauled by a bear is to bring a slower friend along who's prone to tripping.

Elderly people are good for such a use. Oh did I say that...oops.

[Taralyne]

Elderly people are good for such a use. Oh did I say that...oops.

Now you know what your life purpose is.Since you will get old,I hope you get the respect you deserve and the bear toys with you for a bit and then mauls you to death .You POS

[Irenia]

I'd argue linear vs. nonlinear is merely a choice, one not over the other, and there are strengths and weaknesses to both. But the game needs to be built with that in mind.

From the issues people have with exploration, after removing things that can be chalked up to simple preference, I have seen some criticisms about how the game seems more open than it actually is. Which is an interesting one that I've really only heard about these issues in more modern games.

Perhaps, although linear and nonlinear are both valid choices, presenting as nonlinear is more profitable for a game. I dunno though, just spitballing really.

[Thurmnmurmn]

Funny enough, I remember the exact same thing being complained with ff13. Which to be fair, it's totally warranted. Gone are the days of exploration in JRPGs apparently

[Renalt]

Probably because every "alternate" path would usually be a dead end with a dinky ahh potion or straigjt up vendor trash for a reward.

No extra bosses, no hidden objectives that gives extra rewards when fulfilled (gil, minions, orchestrion rolls, glamours, something), is it any wonder players started taking the path of least resistance? If anyone is to blame, it's SE being SE and throwing the baby out with the bath water instead of finding a way to feasibly accomodate both players that are willing to explore the dungeon they're in, and the ones trying to set an any% world record speedrun in Sastasha.

Hauke Manor comes to mind. Forget getting all the keys, don't explore upstairs. Just kill the final boss and be done with it.

People use to for extra gear...but we level soooo fast now that the effort and time to get it is dwarfed by just doing the dungeon and reaching the next dungeon in what feels like a couple of moments.

[Catwho]

Fine Wax used to be quite valuable and a reason to farm Haukke Manor. Not sure it is any more.

FFX16 has some fairly open areas once you get deeper in the game. I am about 7-8 hours in and just hit [REDACTED] which feels about as open as the XIV overworld areas. There are side quests, and lots of obvious items and slightly more hidden chests scattered around the towns and landscapes to explore. Sure, if you mainline MSQ you can just keep going in a straight line forever, but where's the fun in that? So I've been poking around, taking wrong turns, trying to see if I can go up ladders or fall off cliffs into rivers.

[TheDecay]

which feels about as open as the XIV overworld areas

Are you sure that's a good thing? FF14 is an MMO. A single player game's open world elements should be far more organic and open than that of an MMO, which has constraints due to technology and the need for multiplayer.

[Catwho]

Are you sure that's a good thing? FF14 is an MMO. A single player game's open world elements should be far more organic and open than that of an MMO, which has constraints due to technology and the need for multiplayer.

Open worlds are only fun if there's a sandbox element to them, and XVI does not have that. The reason TotK has been a blast has been because the open world does have those necessary tools for just derping around. They made a deliberately conscious decision with XVI to not have that, in favor of Serious Narrative.

[MonsutaMan]

It looks increasingly clear, with the release of FF16 and the current design trend of FF14, that CBU3 is only capable of creating linear corridors.

Maybe they need to hire some interns from Bethesda.

Beth, like SE, used to be great.......

...Now its Fromsoft & Take-Two.

SE is still riding the XIV-WoW wave, which is dangerous because the majority of them went back to WoW.

WoW doing what it did for XIV only solidifies it as the best MMO ever, because it made XIV the "Best" mmo ever for a moment (WoW still trash tho....to me....).