| Otakumegane said: Not all the time I want to explore a world, just when I get that itch after playing for a long time. Xenoblade and TWEWY let you switch between progression and exploration near seamlessly, and it's not like that hampered the battle system or anything like that. They also both feature totally different battle mechanics. That's why they can offer it in the way they do. A game like SMTIV, played the way Xenoblade or TWEWY is, would essentially be a different game and would not reflect the way SMT games are supposed to be. It really is an issue of "why can't we have both?" Super Paper Mario is a bad example of when too much world hopping and 3D moving hampered the depth of combat. This is mostly just an opinion thing as not everyone felt this way about Super Paper Mario, and I think regardless it's still a good example of a JRPG where its focus is exploration and it isn't necessary to fight every battle, and just get on with the game. It's like the developer gave me tools that I could work with, (impressive setting and enviornments) but also restricted my use of them. I think part of why WRPGs are so popular these days is the freedom they give you to work with the tools you have. A lot of JRPGs currently conflict in the sense as they provide but do not encourage their use. It's just a bit unsettling and I feel I'm not getting as much out of the game as I could. It's not like I have this problem when playing a more linear game like a VN or FE because I work within the tools they give and I can use them well. Exploration in SMTIV is just an example of "I have this tool, but why is it so heavy and hard to use?" The city and the environments are clearly meant to be explored with hidden relics and items. I just wish that stopping me every 30 steps just for me to hit the flee button didn't need discourage me from spending time finding them. I've gone through multiple areas in SMTIV without ever getting into combat and I have collected as much as I could from those areas. You simply just have to find the way to do it. The atmosphere of the game is that Tokyo is overridden with demons. If you could just walk around like there aren't any in a danger zone, it would severely conflict with the atmosphere of the game. Maybe what you really want is for there to be those larger open areas to be one of the safe zones or something, because I do not see this as a design flaw, but more of a design choice. |
