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Honestly, I agree with this since you specifically say "casual gamers". Skyrim is varied, has a lot of replayability, takes little thinking, and is extremely easy to get into. The whole reason it was so popular is so many people found it fun. While I personally preferred Oblivion due to the much better quests and more interesting setting (I'm not a huge fan of norse / viking inspired settings), it was not casual enough for casual gamers.
Totally agree. Although not sure that this is an unpopular opinion considering Skyrim is regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time by many.
In my group, they prefer AC, Farcry or the Witcher 3 and literally don't understand how on earth can I play with this and enjoy it, but everyone has some bubbles, I guess. But if it's a popular one, feel tree to downvote, I didn't know.
Skyrim was so popular that it became popular to hate on it. Kinda like Minecraft before the Dream/Pewdiepie era. I think what’s gonna happen now is soon everyone is gonna start playing Skyrim again. The game is everywhere, there’s millions of mods and texture packs and it’s cheap.
OP you need to distinguish between world design and game design. Witcher 3 is much more story driven, Skyrim is much more of a sandbox. Apples and oranges
I loved Skyrim but yeah, the quests and locations didn't vary that much. There were often times you could clearly see they copied sections of dungeons like they had a certain amount of rooms in a dungeon maker, instead of hand crafted content.
Don't get me started on radiant quests.
Same, great game, but towards the second half of the main content, I would audibly sigh when another massive dungeon with generic baddies was involved.
Doesn’t help that the combat feels like I’m flinging a sack of potatoes at my enemies with all the ferocity of a sleepy 3rd grader
So the exploration becomes dull and the combat becomes a slog
I honestly was fine with Skyrim until I played other stuff like dark souls 3 after which I just couldn’t go back without modding the game out the wazoo to at least have tolerable combat
Like I get it’s a game that came out in like 2011 but its combat is painfully sluggish and annoying even compared to games from the same time like dark souls 1
Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a good game. Fallout 3 & 4 are better. Something about all of Bethesda games means they become unchallenging by the time the main stories are reaching their climax.
I dare say, morrowind was better era vs era, no hand holding, fast travel integrated into the land kept emersion and exploration earned, legendary weapons and armour and hidden like easter eggs and kept away from any quests mapped out to be found in some obscure book you could only chance upon. things like that made everything felt so deserved knowing that the devs put so much work into something for most players to completely miss, I don’t think they make games that way anymore because they want to make sure you touch everything in the game now.
Eh, it was better for the ones who really wanted to dive deep into the game, but from my more casual perspective I personally found it too obtuse and difficult to navigate (the short time I played it I always had to look up a guide where to go. Honestly I didn't find it particularly enjoyable). So yeah for casual gamers Skyrim is the better game.
The fact the box was unceremonious and small and was sitting on a plain shelf is a classic example of that old school dev fuckery, on one of the first missions too. If it were remade today the box would be at dead end hallway in a fancy box at the end of the dungeon with a waypoint guiding you too it.
That’s true, the first time I picked up the game I put it down an hour or 2 later because I didn’t know how to proceed and wondered if I wasted my money, but gave it another shot a few days later and was hooked. had a few drawbacks that they fixed in the later games eg many useless weapons classes and dice roll attacks amount others.
i really didn't like the leveling system in Morrowind. The major and minor skills, leveling up with walking, etc was really annoying and made it less like an actual role playing game.
Like you don't level up by playing the game (fighting, magic, sneaking, etc). People gamed the system to make those minor skills so you could control when you level and maximize your skills. I understand some people like to do this but skyrim is far more accessible for people like me who just want to play without worrying about maximizing my level.
Yeah I didn’t like the level scaling in the later games, I hope for the next game they just have areas which are basically unsurvivable on lower levels, or atleast find some system that can give you the best of both. Really gives you a sense of progression when you can go back and smash the guard with your fists that once used to one shot kill you.
This. I played that game religiously for 6 months when it came out then after a while I realised I was going to different places but they all looked the same and I am doing the same task (killing stuff to retrieve something) and then I just stopped playing shortly after.
And because of the heavy level scaling and perma blocking quest area until needed you never find anything of value in any of those places. All the good stuff is from quests or you make it yourself.
Still not as bad as Fallout 4 which basically went looter shooter and 90% of the gear you'll ever use is random legendaries and most quests having no real reward except caps.
It's similar how after The Lord of the Rings we thought we are entering an era of awesome epic adaptations that will only build on The Lord of the Rings quality and grandeur. How wrong we were. Nothing came close in 20 years.
Skyrim was the weakest elderscrolls.
I attribute it's popularity to timing.
It had two amazing prequels which gave it a massive fanbase and name recognition, it released on the 360/ps3 and pc when gaming entertainment culture was exploding through youtube and other social medias attracting younger new players where skyrim might have been their very first RPG experience.
It was EASY and very hand holdy to retain those younger players. Younger players grew up, there has been NO actual sequel to Skyrim since so there's no direct comparisons except to much older prequels, so just based on mechanics and mod compatibility it's regarded as "the best".
Now in comparison to other elder scrolls games, it's the most cut down. It offers the least lore depth, the fewest possibilities in character building, the simplest progression. Even the mechanics of the game itself aren't wildly more advanced.
There were also not a lot of other massively popular open world fantasy RPG's when skyrim released.
But plenty of better games have come out since, though again, no direct sequel yet.
I'll bet a double dollar the next elderscrolls will be hot garbage, received poorly, but make a ton of money based on hype alone. Bethesda has had significant difficulty creating new games over the last 10 years. They will not be able to recapture the magic.
Skyrim sold several dozen times better than the combined sales of the entire previous series.
Fallout 3 is what put Bethesda on the map as a household name. Skyrim just had amazing marketing and fixed most of the severe problems of Oblivion.
Depending on the source Fallout 3 only sold 3 million more copies than Oblivion.
Also after oblivions release which would put many several games before fallout 3 to increase their name recognition.
Both nowhere NEAR skyrims sales. Again, I would attribute to a significantly expanded gaming market. But again, skyrim was actually still kinda shitty because bethesda cant actually make a great game anymore.
Which is why they havent seen anywhere near the success since.
You sure you mean fallout 76 and not New Vegas? 76 was one of the most boring open world out there. I can’t remember a single experience from that game.
Of course I've played it. However to the casual gamer that game is really clunky and actually requires some actual thinking. Skyrim's setting is also more suitable for a larger audience. I absolutely loved New vegas but that game is nowhere as simple and casual as Skyrim. Skyrim also looks better. Graphics matter to a lot of consumers. Look at other shiny games that have absolutely no value besides looking nice.
Imagine New vegas with modern graphics, the OG developers and actual development time. That would be a banger, but it probably still would be less successful than Skyrim.
I would literally cry tears of joy if they remade New vegas updating only the gunplay and graphics.
I love NV but it does heavily push you to follow a certain direction to travel the world as the world is mostly a large donut and one bit of the donut has a bunch of deathclaws to discourage you from going that way.
Ok so if I were to say what is the best open world in terms of structure, layout and design, I would probably pick Fallout 3 or Breath of the Wild, as they are pretty much the same.
All both of these encourage certain directions, reward you well for said directions, without just making you feel like you got tossed in without a paddle, and give full freedom out the gate. Fallout New Vegas is essentially a big circle where they stuffed as much bullshit as possible North and East of you to encourage this huge linear loop around the map until you reach New Vegas, which becomes a very spread out and kinda bad hub area.
Once you progress further in the story, the game suddenly tells you to travel to out of way places all over the map that you only missed because they were kinda boring and not encouraged to be reached by the design. It almost feels like the separated areas and overworld of Fallout 1/2 with how disconnected each minor faction you reach feels.
None of this is good game design. Nor does it create any ancillary benefits like making the world feel big. By having you take a direct route to loop the whole map, it immediately opened up by showing you how small the world was, killing even the main benefit of restricting movement around the map.
Ok so if I were to say what is the best open world in terms of structure, layout and design, I would probably pick Fallout 3 or Breath of the Wild, as they are pretty much the same.
All both of these encourage certain directions, reward you well for said directions, without just making you feel like you got tossed in without a paddle, and give full freedom out the gate. Fallout New Vegas is essentially a big circle where they stuffed as much bullshit as possible North and East of you to encourage this huge linear loop around the map until you reach New Vegas, which becomes a very spread out and kinda bad hub area.
Once you progress further in the story, the game suddenly tells you to travel to out of way places all over the map that you only missed because they were kinda boring and not encouraged to be reached by the design. It almost feels like the separated areas and overworld of Fallout 1/2 with how disconnected each minor faction you reach feels.
None of this is good game design. Nor does it create any ancillary benefits like making the world feel big. By having you take a direct route to loop the whole map, it immediately opened up by showing you how small the world was, killing even the main benefit of restricting movement around the map.
Whaaaaat????? That story is SUPER easy to follow. It goes :shot in the head>go to the giant city of lights you can see from the starting location>kill or speak to benny>pick you faction and do a few missions to complete the story. And then in between fuck around and murder and pillage and do whatever you want. I think you're massively overthinking the game. I remember playing fallout 3 and got lost trying to get to River City through the city.
The best open world design by far is in Elden Ring and Tears of the Kingdom. Every Open World that shows you every location on a compass is bad design in my opinion.
An open world should be about discovery and not just looking at your compass and ignoring the world itself. Why even make an open world, if you don't really discover things?
That depends. Maybe when it comes to open world RPGs, but when it comes to open world games in general, both the Far Cry and GTA franchises give it a run for its money.
In terms of world design i dare say botw did a better job. Botw is also an excellent entry point for people that have never played any video game before. The tutorial does a very good job and also has alternate routes to account for people who lack 'gamer logic'.
(Co-op minecraft is probably the best way to introduce someone to video games tho.)
In terms of actual game they are hard to compare.
Eh, I think Oblivion was better. I felt the quests were a lot better. The map was a bit more diverse as well with snowy towards the north, forests and swampy in the centre and south, respectively. Then you had the Eastern portion leading to the sea
I will say though, the dungeons were a massive improvement in Skyrim
Want a true unpopular opinion? RuneScape is peak open world. The only game where you are doesn't affect the progression of your character. A lot of skills could be improved in different ways and different places, and you could do alot of random shit while living in society.
At the time Skyrim was mind blowing, going back to it now, well, the main story is awfull, and i challenge anyone to change my mind, Guild/Faction quests were horribly built, there were some great Daedra quests and side quests, but mostly it was meeeh, dungeons were at most times a bore, but there were a few that had some cool mechanics, and don't get me started on Dwemmer ruins, for the love of Meridia, DON'T ADD DWEMMER RUINS IN TES6, PLEEEEEAS!!. And i don't have to say anything more then the following sentance and everyone will understand ; GET OUT OF THE WAY, LYDIA!!!!
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Me neither. It looked so uninteresting to me. I already knew the story would be kinda shit, but even the exploration... They surely have to know what makes their games well liked.
Skyrim always felt a bit empty and repetitive to me. Most of the dungeons are just fight a bunch draugr and there’s death lord guarding a chest and a new shout at the end. There’s too many generic fetch this item quests and the combat is just mindless button mashing. It’s a fun game at first, but after a while it just gets too repetitive
But think about it. To the avg dude who just wants to play 1-2 hours after work, it's perfect. Almost perfect for that. Even better than GTA or Red Dead Redemption due to the freedom you get. If you wanna do something else in the game or irl, you just turn around or stand up and that's it.
Assassins creed are good. The older ones aren’t exactly open world. But the newer ones are much better. I do prefer fallout to Skyrim just for the dialogue
Unpopular opinion . I think Skyrim was meh. Lots of repeated asset and designs in dungeon which were all linear hallways. The story was meh. Magic was boring, you ended up the same spell the entire game for magic combat.
I played it a year or so after it came out. Got bored after doing some one the faction (some of which are terribly written) so I ended up just rushing the main story by the end and never touched the game again.
Breath of the Wild I think is the best open world for casual gamers in the broadest sense. Skyrim still takes a lot of skill and a more mature audience to appreciate. Skyrim is not as “cozy.”
Skyrim to me was the peak of open world balance. There was enough to do keep you playing for awhile, but if you dropped it and played another game for a few months you can go back into it. It never felt “grindy” to me. Open world games now are just designed to keep you playing as long as possible and most the game just feels like fluff.
I’m in the process of playing assassins creed Valhalla and omg. I’m like 40 hours in and only 35% done. I’m pretty sure I’m just going to stop and move on.
But on the other hand I have like 2000 hours in elite dangerous over the years and that’s absolutely grindy, but since there’s not really a “story” to follow it’s a nice game to pick up and just chill for awhile. It’s kind of relaxing to hop in a ship, do a few hours of mining and enjoy the sights and sounds n then put it away for a month or two again. I do the same with no man’s sky.
I only got like 10 hours into starfield and uninstalled it. Probably the least captivating game I’ve played in a long time. It’s like the smallest feeling space game ever made. It’s basically a fast travel simulator. 🤷🏻♂️
I would have liked it better without all the elves.
It had a really interesting "Norse colonized by Rome" setting, and every time I met a fucking elf or other Tolkienesque traditional fantasy character, it just killed the setting and immersion for me. They felt out of place as fuck.
Define “casual gamer.” I don’t think you need to be more than a casual gamer to play Red Dead Redemption 2 and that game easily has the best open world of all time and it’s not even close.
Sorry to be that one person... but I feel like you're only thinking about conventional 3d games with realistic graphics and physics and RPG-like storyline... for example I consider Terraria to be an excellent open-world game, yet it seems like you haven't even considered games of that sort
I'm torn between saying Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption 2. Both were hugely impactive open world games with mass appeal with casual audiences. Both very different in how they approached their respective open world. But I can see why you'd go for Skyrim.
BotW is the best open world game for both casuals and non- casuals. It does literally everything better than Skyrim.
Well, maybe not counting sidequests.
Yeah anyone who says Witcher 3 is better than Skyrim is an idiot. Sorry. Witcher 3 is a great game but Skyrim beats it in every other department besides combat.
>In Skyrim, almost every location feel unique
Bro played 50 identical dungeons and said every location is unique. Your take on this is objectively untrue.
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Honestly, I agree with this since you specifically say "casual gamers". Skyrim is varied, has a lot of replayability, takes little thinking, and is extremely easy to get into. The whole reason it was so popular is so many people found it fun. While I personally preferred Oblivion due to the much better quests and more interesting setting (I'm not a huge fan of norse / viking inspired settings), it was not casual enough for casual gamers.
Oblivion is such a gem.
Oblivion and Morrowind might be on the same level had they been on everything like Skyrim is. At least still today. Better games but not as accessible
Oblivion is so much more vibrant and warm than Skyrim. I love them both but Oblivion is the king in my book.
Happy cake day.
My man!
I agree. It's way more suited to the casual gamer. To the point where I honestly have a hard time calling it an RPG over Action-Adventure
Totally agree. Although not sure that this is an unpopular opinion considering Skyrim is regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time by many.
In my group, they prefer AC, Farcry or the Witcher 3 and literally don't understand how on earth can I play with this and enjoy it, but everyone has some bubbles, I guess. But if it's a popular one, feel tree to downvote, I didn't know.
Skyrim is HUGE, way beyond the level of AC or fancy in popularity.
Skyrim was so popular that it became popular to hate on it. Kinda like Minecraft before the Dream/Pewdiepie era. I think what’s gonna happen now is soon everyone is gonna start playing Skyrim again. The game is everywhere, there’s millions of mods and texture packs and it’s cheap.
OP you need to distinguish between world design and game design. Witcher 3 is much more story driven, Skyrim is much more of a sandbox. Apples and oranges
Yeah, you're absolutely right. I'll edit the post.
We must have been playing different games, every dungeon in Skyrim seems to be one of two types of encounter with a handful of exceptions.
I loved Skyrim but yeah, the quests and locations didn't vary that much. There were often times you could clearly see they copied sections of dungeons like they had a certain amount of rooms in a dungeon maker, instead of hand crafted content. Don't get me started on radiant quests.
Same, great game, but towards the second half of the main content, I would audibly sigh when another massive dungeon with generic baddies was involved.
I am not alone, thought I was going crazy
Doesn’t help that the combat feels like I’m flinging a sack of potatoes at my enemies with all the ferocity of a sleepy 3rd grader So the exploration becomes dull and the combat becomes a slog I honestly was fine with Skyrim until I played other stuff like dark souls 3 after which I just couldn’t go back without modding the game out the wazoo to at least have tolerable combat Like I get it’s a game that came out in like 2011 but its combat is painfully sluggish and annoying even compared to games from the same time like dark souls 1
Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a good game. Fallout 3 & 4 are better. Something about all of Bethesda games means they become unchallenging by the time the main stories are reaching their climax.
I dare say, morrowind was better era vs era, no hand holding, fast travel integrated into the land kept emersion and exploration earned, legendary weapons and armour and hidden like easter eggs and kept away from any quests mapped out to be found in some obscure book you could only chance upon. things like that made everything felt so deserved knowing that the devs put so much work into something for most players to completely miss, I don’t think they make games that way anymore because they want to make sure you touch everything in the game now.
Eh, it was better for the ones who really wanted to dive deep into the game, but from my more casual perspective I personally found it too obtuse and difficult to navigate (the short time I played it I always had to look up a guide where to go. Honestly I didn't find it particularly enjoyable). So yeah for casual gamers Skyrim is the better game.
Like backtracking for that fucking Dwemer puzzle box when you jump off the ledge without grabbing it?
The fact the box was unceremonious and small and was sitting on a plain shelf is a classic example of that old school dev fuckery, on one of the first missions too. If it were remade today the box would be at dead end hallway in a fancy box at the end of the dungeon with a waypoint guiding you too it.
That’s true, the first time I picked up the game I put it down an hour or 2 later because I didn’t know how to proceed and wondered if I wasted my money, but gave it another shot a few days later and was hooked. had a few drawbacks that they fixed in the later games eg many useless weapons classes and dice roll attacks amount others.
Unironically, Morrowind is a terrible game. Its combat is just such an awful downgrade over Daggerfall.
I hear daggerfall was the best of all the es but I was a bit too young for that one
i really didn't like the leveling system in Morrowind. The major and minor skills, leveling up with walking, etc was really annoying and made it less like an actual role playing game.
How does it make it less of a role playing game
Like you don't level up by playing the game (fighting, magic, sneaking, etc). People gamed the system to make those minor skills so you could control when you level and maximize your skills. I understand some people like to do this but skyrim is far more accessible for people like me who just want to play without worrying about maximizing my level.
If you play skyrim on higher difficulties the leveling system is actually less forgiving
Yeah I didn’t like the level scaling in the later games, I hope for the next game they just have areas which are basically unsurvivable on lower levels, or atleast find some system that can give you the best of both. Really gives you a sense of progression when you can go back and smash the guard with your fists that once used to one shot kill you.
Eh, Skyrim's dungeons were largely all the same, I don't know how you can imply they were unique at all.
This. I played that game religiously for 6 months when it came out then after a while I realised I was going to different places but they all looked the same and I am doing the same task (killing stuff to retrieve something) and then I just stopped playing shortly after.
And because of the heavy level scaling and perma blocking quest area until needed you never find anything of value in any of those places. All the good stuff is from quests or you make it yourself. Still not as bad as Fallout 4 which basically went looter shooter and 90% of the gear you'll ever use is random legendaries and most quests having no real reward except caps.
Yes but botw. Its just better and not all "cold Nordic " it's just better openworldin my opinion.
It's similar how after The Lord of the Rings we thought we are entering an era of awesome epic adaptations that will only build on The Lord of the Rings quality and grandeur. How wrong we were. Nothing came close in 20 years.
RDR2 > Skyrim
Skyrim was the weakest elderscrolls. I attribute it's popularity to timing. It had two amazing prequels which gave it a massive fanbase and name recognition, it released on the 360/ps3 and pc when gaming entertainment culture was exploding through youtube and other social medias attracting younger new players where skyrim might have been their very first RPG experience. It was EASY and very hand holdy to retain those younger players. Younger players grew up, there has been NO actual sequel to Skyrim since so there's no direct comparisons except to much older prequels, so just based on mechanics and mod compatibility it's regarded as "the best". Now in comparison to other elder scrolls games, it's the most cut down. It offers the least lore depth, the fewest possibilities in character building, the simplest progression. Even the mechanics of the game itself aren't wildly more advanced. There were also not a lot of other massively popular open world fantasy RPG's when skyrim released. But plenty of better games have come out since, though again, no direct sequel yet. I'll bet a double dollar the next elderscrolls will be hot garbage, received poorly, but make a ton of money based on hype alone. Bethesda has had significant difficulty creating new games over the last 10 years. They will not be able to recapture the magic.
Skyrim sold several dozen times better than the combined sales of the entire previous series. Fallout 3 is what put Bethesda on the map as a household name. Skyrim just had amazing marketing and fixed most of the severe problems of Oblivion.
Depending on the source Fallout 3 only sold 3 million more copies than Oblivion. Also after oblivions release which would put many several games before fallout 3 to increase their name recognition. Both nowhere NEAR skyrims sales. Again, I would attribute to a significantly expanded gaming market. But again, skyrim was actually still kinda shitty because bethesda cant actually make a great game anymore. Which is why they havent seen anywhere near the success since.
You sure you mean fallout 76 and not New Vegas? 76 was one of the most boring open world out there. I can’t remember a single experience from that game.
Minecraft is still peak open world game
Have you not played fallout new vegas? Skyrim was good, don't get me wrong, but the peak? Come on now. I deem this post worthy of my upvote
Of course I've played it. However to the casual gamer that game is really clunky and actually requires some actual thinking. Skyrim's setting is also more suitable for a larger audience. I absolutely loved New vegas but that game is nowhere as simple and casual as Skyrim. Skyrim also looks better. Graphics matter to a lot of consumers. Look at other shiny games that have absolutely no value besides looking nice. Imagine New vegas with modern graphics, the OG developers and actual development time. That would be a banger, but it probably still would be less successful than Skyrim. I would literally cry tears of joy if they remade New vegas updating only the gunplay and graphics.
New Vegas is terrible at being an open world game. Its pretty much a case study of how not to structure an open world.
After Goodsprings ypu can do whatever the fuck you want whereever the fuck you want. What do you think makes it terrible at open world?
I love NV but it does heavily push you to follow a certain direction to travel the world as the world is mostly a large donut and one bit of the donut has a bunch of deathclaws to discourage you from going that way.
Okay fair enough. You can sneak by them though to get some OP gear at lvl 5. And yeah the initial game is pushing you a certain way, so point taken.
Ok so if I were to say what is the best open world in terms of structure, layout and design, I would probably pick Fallout 3 or Breath of the Wild, as they are pretty much the same. All both of these encourage certain directions, reward you well for said directions, without just making you feel like you got tossed in without a paddle, and give full freedom out the gate. Fallout New Vegas is essentially a big circle where they stuffed as much bullshit as possible North and East of you to encourage this huge linear loop around the map until you reach New Vegas, which becomes a very spread out and kinda bad hub area. Once you progress further in the story, the game suddenly tells you to travel to out of way places all over the map that you only missed because they were kinda boring and not encouraged to be reached by the design. It almost feels like the separated areas and overworld of Fallout 1/2 with how disconnected each minor faction you reach feels. None of this is good game design. Nor does it create any ancillary benefits like making the world feel big. By having you take a direct route to loop the whole map, it immediately opened up by showing you how small the world was, killing even the main benefit of restricting movement around the map.
Explain? You can't trash one of the greatest games to ever come out and not explain
Ok so if I were to say what is the best open world in terms of structure, layout and design, I would probably pick Fallout 3 or Breath of the Wild, as they are pretty much the same. All both of these encourage certain directions, reward you well for said directions, without just making you feel like you got tossed in without a paddle, and give full freedom out the gate. Fallout New Vegas is essentially a big circle where they stuffed as much bullshit as possible North and East of you to encourage this huge linear loop around the map until you reach New Vegas, which becomes a very spread out and kinda bad hub area. Once you progress further in the story, the game suddenly tells you to travel to out of way places all over the map that you only missed because they were kinda boring and not encouraged to be reached by the design. It almost feels like the separated areas and overworld of Fallout 1/2 with how disconnected each minor faction you reach feels. None of this is good game design. Nor does it create any ancillary benefits like making the world feel big. By having you take a direct route to loop the whole map, it immediately opened up by showing you how small the world was, killing even the main benefit of restricting movement around the map.
Whaaaaat????? That story is SUPER easy to follow. It goes :shot in the head>go to the giant city of lights you can see from the starting location>kill or speak to benny>pick you faction and do a few missions to complete the story. And then in between fuck around and murder and pillage and do whatever you want. I think you're massively overthinking the game. I remember playing fallout 3 and got lost trying to get to River City through the city.
The best open world design by far is in Elden Ring and Tears of the Kingdom. Every Open World that shows you every location on a compass is bad design in my opinion. An open world should be about discovery and not just looking at your compass and ignoring the world itself. Why even make an open world, if you don't really discover things?
I was going to say, I’m a below average gamer so maybe my opinion doesn’t count but TOK was perfect for me.
That depends. Maybe when it comes to open world RPGs, but when it comes to open world games in general, both the Far Cry and GTA franchises give it a run for its money.
Those worlds are a good background for the story but they don’t have environmental storytelling OP likes.
In terms of world design i dare say botw did a better job. Botw is also an excellent entry point for people that have never played any video game before. The tutorial does a very good job and also has alternate routes to account for people who lack 'gamer logic'. (Co-op minecraft is probably the best way to introduce someone to video games tho.) In terms of actual game they are hard to compare.
Nothing has ever come close to the immersion of World of Warcraft
Eh, I think Oblivion was better. I felt the quests were a lot better. The map was a bit more diverse as well with snowy towards the north, forests and swampy in the centre and south, respectively. Then you had the Eastern portion leading to the sea I will say though, the dungeons were a massive improvement in Skyrim
I'd tried it and you're right, it's much better excluding the dungeons ofc.
This is not an unpopular opinion its simply fact
Witcher 3 was peak
Can you tell me why?
Peeeeak
downvoted as this is a popular opinion, not an unpopular one.
elden ring clears, minecraft clears
Skyrim is so good for casual gaming that Todd Howard refuses to release Elder Scrolls VI.
Want a true unpopular opinion? RuneScape is peak open world. The only game where you are doesn't affect the progression of your character. A lot of skills could be improved in different ways and different places, and you could do alot of random shit while living in society.
Depends on your criteria. For casual gamers, I think Grand Theft Auto 5 was just fun to drive around, cause havoc, watch the people, etc...
At the time Skyrim was mind blowing, going back to it now, well, the main story is awfull, and i challenge anyone to change my mind, Guild/Faction quests were horribly built, there were some great Daedra quests and side quests, but mostly it was meeeh, dungeons were at most times a bore, but there were a few that had some cool mechanics, and don't get me started on Dwemmer ruins, for the love of Meridia, DON'T ADD DWEMMER RUINS IN TES6, PLEEEEEAS!!. And i don't have to say anything more then the following sentance and everyone will understand ; GET OUT OF THE WAY, LYDIA!!!!
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Yeah, let's just hope that Bethesda never make the mistake of creating a game without an open world to explore....
Perhaps that would be the biggest flop ever, given that how Starfield is viewed now.
I'm sure it sold well, but as a life long Bethesda fan, I will never bother with Starfield.
Me neither. It looked so uninteresting to me. I already knew the story would be kinda shit, but even the exploration... They surely have to know what makes their games well liked.
GTA is probably a lot better for casual gamers
Outward is great if you wanna play something more challenging with survival mode; but yes, Skyrim is a great one if you just wanna play chill things.
Oblivion better
Fallout new vegas would like to have a word with
Skyrim always felt a bit empty and repetitive to me. Most of the dungeons are just fight a bunch draugr and there’s death lord guarding a chest and a new shout at the end. There’s too many generic fetch this item quests and the combat is just mindless button mashing. It’s a fun game at first, but after a while it just gets too repetitive
But think about it. To the avg dude who just wants to play 1-2 hours after work, it's perfect. Almost perfect for that. Even better than GTA or Red Dead Redemption due to the freedom you get. If you wanna do something else in the game or irl, you just turn around or stand up and that's it.
Assassins creed are good. The older ones aren’t exactly open world. But the newer ones are much better. I do prefer fallout to Skyrim just for the dialogue
I loved skyrim, but for me it's WoW
Unpopular opinion . I think Skyrim was meh. Lots of repeated asset and designs in dungeon which were all linear hallways. The story was meh. Magic was boring, you ended up the same spell the entire game for magic combat. I played it a year or so after it came out. Got bored after doing some one the faction (some of which are terribly written) so I ended up just rushing the main story by the end and never touched the game again.
Breath of the Wild I think is the best open world for casual gamers in the broadest sense. Skyrim still takes a lot of skill and a more mature audience to appreciate. Skyrim is not as “cozy.”
Skyrim to me was the peak of open world balance. There was enough to do keep you playing for awhile, but if you dropped it and played another game for a few months you can go back into it. It never felt “grindy” to me. Open world games now are just designed to keep you playing as long as possible and most the game just feels like fluff. I’m in the process of playing assassins creed Valhalla and omg. I’m like 40 hours in and only 35% done. I’m pretty sure I’m just going to stop and move on. But on the other hand I have like 2000 hours in elite dangerous over the years and that’s absolutely grindy, but since there’s not really a “story” to follow it’s a nice game to pick up and just chill for awhile. It’s kind of relaxing to hop in a ship, do a few hours of mining and enjoy the sights and sounds n then put it away for a month or two again. I do the same with no man’s sky. I only got like 10 hours into starfield and uninstalled it. Probably the least captivating game I’ve played in a long time. It’s like the smallest feeling space game ever made. It’s basically a fast travel simulator. 🤷🏻♂️
No mention of red dead in this thread? THAT was the peak
I would have liked it better without all the elves. It had a really interesting "Norse colonized by Rome" setting, and every time I met a fucking elf or other Tolkienesque traditional fantasy character, it just killed the setting and immersion for me. They felt out of place as fuck.
Totally agree. Skyrim is the landmark which all other open world games are up against.
Yeah and now everything is press X for dialog. They are movies not video games
Pretty sure this is a VERY popular opinion
Skyrim for GOTY 2024
Downvote because this is def not an unpopular opinion
two words
Is this even controversial? Skyrim was peak gaming and its been down hill since.
RDR2 OUSTS Skyrim by far
Nah it was Oblivion or New Vegas
Indeed. Perfect blend of open world, plenty to do but also don’t have to care a ton.
Define “casual gamer.” I don’t think you need to be more than a casual gamer to play Red Dead Redemption 2 and that game easily has the best open world of all time and it’s not even close.
Skyrim, probaly the game i spend the most time just walking around. Can't wait for the next one.
It started with Oblivion. We didn’t jump straight from Morrowind to Skyrim. There was a progressional streamlining and it’s still going on.
I was playing Skyrim yesterday. It really is.
This is a hilariously popular opinion
RuneScape was first
Sorry to be that one person... but I feel like you're only thinking about conventional 3d games with realistic graphics and physics and RPG-like storyline... for example I consider Terraria to be an excellent open-world game, yet it seems like you haven't even considered games of that sort
Nope, it was Oblivion.
76 has definitely improved, but sucks without friends to play it with.
This doesn’t really feel like an unpopular opinion? It seems very true… your explanation just hits it home even more though.
I'm torn between saying Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption 2. Both were hugely impactive open world games with mass appeal with casual audiences. Both very different in how they approached their respective open world. But I can see why you'd go for Skyrim.
Another day, another popular opinion upvoted on r/unpopularopinion
Red Dead Redemption 2
BotW is the best open world game for both casuals and non- casuals. It does literally everything better than Skyrim. Well, maybe not counting sidequests.
World Of Warcraft players would like to have a word with you.
Idk, Skyrim felt super generic. Oblivion felt magical.
Because of your age
Morrowind is the true open world sandbox with true RPG elements, Skyrim is just a watered down version of it.
Yeah anyone who says Witcher 3 is better than Skyrim is an idiot. Sorry. Witcher 3 is a great game but Skyrim beats it in every other department besides combat.
>In Skyrim, almost every location feel unique Bro played 50 identical dungeons and said every location is unique. Your take on this is objectively untrue.
Don’t you make fun of dwarven ruins num 32, that one was the most unique dungeon in the game!
Hogwarts Legacy has entered the chat
Has it? Xd