I hate linear games..

[Ultrasuede]

I feel like this is a step backwards for the series. My favourite part of inquisition was the exploring. All this game gives me is the sweet narrs I can get while extreme zip lining in the cities.

[MGB | Screaming Internally]

Tough. Play a Bethesda game then.

The open world was one of the most heavily criticized aspects of Inquisition because Bioware have no idea how to make open worlds interesting. Making Veilguard more linear was a fantastic decision.

[Robbaz]

Originally posted by MGB | Screaming Internally:

Tough. Play a Bethesda game then.

The open world was one of the most heavily criticized aspects of Inquisition because Bioware have no idea how to make open worlds interesting. Making Veilguard more linear was a fantastic decision.

Dungeons in previous games are less linear.

Doubt people excepted this squeal to be this linear, it's mass effect levels of linear and even that is more open-ended.

[jtiller]

Yeah, they definitely made a big shift away from the open-world feel of Inquisition. This is much more like DA2 in that sense. Not to everyone's taste, I know. I also know that a lot of people quit Inquisition after trying to "complete" the Hinterlands before even getting to the real main questline.

[BaTHoRy]

Originally posted by MGB | Screaming Internally:

Making Veilguard more linear was a fantastic decision.

Look at how that worked out for them ROFLOL.

[Ffabbia]

Originally posted by Ultrasuede:

I feel like this is a step backwards for the series. My favourite part of inquisition was the exploring. All this game gives me is the sweet narrs I can get while extreme zip lining in the cities.

You'll hate Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect trilogy, and KotoR then. Best avoid those games and stick to Far Cry or Bethesda games.

[Iceqert]

Calling this game linear is probably the dumbest thing I've heard.
It's not linear. The main quests are linear, the game itself isn't. It allows you to go to the previous locations, they usually open up way more outside of the main quests. You can complete bunch of side quests and explore them.
It's not a linear game. Uncharted is a linear game.

[Ignis Imperia]

I actually came to quite like the semi-open world design this game took. The issue with straight up open world in the sense of MMO worlds or Witcher 3 world for me is the fact you get hit with a giant map from the start and HAVE to explore for like 20 hours to get anywhere at all and it results in a lot of filler content (Skellige sea question marks). I much prefer the more condensed "open world clusters" that this kind of game uses, where you do get quite open world, akin to Monster Hunter World, in the sense that it's one big level with interconnected paths and tons of exploration, that is more condensed so that the content can be more creatively put together and consistent.

It does lose a bit of the sense of wonder you have for instance in Fallout games or Elder Scrolls, but I believe it is definitely a competitive alternative to proper open world.

At the end of the day it's all about tastes, some people love linear experiences, some love open world, I view this approach as an attempt to take strengths from both, it's not ideal, but it works pretty well for people like me who like open world games but are getting a bit weary having to spend 50 hours doing repetitive crap everytime they start a new game just so they get value out of the world because in those 50 hours you find 2 hours of good creatively put together content.

[warrickbartley]

Also agree i prefer open world my self, that being said after the first 20 hours the maps do really open up and some of them are really big and you can revisit them and enemies do respawn so its not that bad.

[Quacksalber]

The biggest complaint about DAI was the open world exploration, which back then was what made it "not a dragon age game", same as DA2 wasn't one because you had to be human. Now, ofc, they were all DA games and only this one isn't. Same as BG3 isn't woke anymore.

[Ignis Imperia]

Originally posted by EH!:

The biggest complaint about DAI was the open world exploration, which back then was what made it "not a dragon age game", same as DA2 wasn't one because you had to be human. Now, ofc, they were all DA games and only this one isn't. Same as BG3 isn't woke anymore.

Tbf "Not a dragon age game" is a hilarious complaint to me because this franchise's identity is going through a crisis since its inception. Dragon Age 2 took completely different approach to DAO, Inquisition took a different approach to both of them too, Veilguard... well, let's just say it took VERY different approach to everything. If anything, the most "Dragon age game" is to do things completely differently again. :D

[Ignis Imperia]

Originally posted by Skywalker:

A empty open world is also no fun to explore. So yes, at the beginning it is very linear. But when you have access to the crossways and enter the bigger cities, there are many things to explore left and right.

One thing I hate about the unlocking of areas of the open world hubs during main quests is like, I can literally see what's behind some of the doors, I could easily explore that now, but sometimes you have to do absolute bs amount of quests to just unlock that one door. That is the part I wish was more open world school of design than what Veilguard does.