By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Slimebeast on 02 August 2009
Edit Thread
Grey21 said:

''           Cool. We need more open world gameplay fans on this site. (and more WRPG lovers too) ^^

What's your personal defintions of 'freeroaming' and open world then?

And what do you think about Lafiel's idea above that open world and sandbox should be used as different terms?                    ''

 

Freeroaming: Being able to do different things at once within a certain area. For example The Witcher,KOTOR and Fable let you do both the main quest, side quests, mini games and other 'stuff' within their gameworld (even if it isn't an openworld).

Openworld: a huge open space where your able to go in atleast 8 different directions all the time (unless your at the end of the map ofcourse). So Sacred 2 is an openworld even if there is a mountain to the north and a river to the south since there are still enough locations to go to.

Sandbox: an area where your given a set of tools to do whatever you want. So KOTOR isn't a sandbox since everything that happens during the quests is in the script. Fable is a sandbox game since your able to kill, marry or buy whatever your want.

Just for comparison:

KOTOR: Not an openworld RPG with average freeroaming and no sandbox.

Fable: Below average openworld RPG with great freeroaming and sandbox elements.

Oblivion: Fantastic openworld RPG with lots of freeroaming but little sandbox elements.

So yes, sandbox and openworld are two different terms.


It seems you have put some thought into this.

Those are great definitions. I seldom see game being analyzed from this perspective even in reviews, more than briefly hinting it (like 'the game is very linear' or 'it's a huge open world where you can go whereever you want'). Sadly it even seems like people, gamers, don't think very much about it these aspects that I find very important. They just react if a game is super linear and scripted (like Call of Duty), but they don't give the credit that the developers earn for making games with lots of freedom. Well, they don't give enough credit.

I'm not saying Im totally against linear gameplay, because obviously it often works and sometimes it's even needed in a game, or part of a game. It's just that developers seem to get away too easily by choosing the easy route by designing heavily scripted corridoors, compared to the devs who put so much hard work into freedom gameplay elements.