Open World done right

[Astrolode]

Stepping away from the technical issues for a moment, can we all just take a moment to appreciate the world that has been created here? The care and attention to the smallest details of Hogwarts and the extended environment is fantastic, and the map is huge.

Open World games can be notoriously difficult to make satisfying (looking at you, Ubisoft), but I'm 10 hours in and the gameplay loop here seems really well thought out. Good balance of story to keep you focused vs environmental puzzles that seem to be naturally discovered. The puzzles themselves are interesting, some easy, some harder, but nothing impossible. And I like how in the early game your progression is tied to learning new spells. It feels natural and ties nicely to the story.

This game feels like they really thought carefully about the lore, and tied it just the right amount to the core gameplay, making it one of the better open worlds of recent years. I'm not saying the best, but there was clearly a lot of thought put into the design of the progression and world.

Well done, devs.

[Shadow]

It's pretty awesome, reminds me of shadow of mordor/shadow of war. Wish it had the nemesis system tho.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by Astrolode:

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the world that has been created here? The care and attention to the smallest details of Hogwarts and the extended environment is fantastic, and the map is huge.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by Allwynd:

You can spot the Skysh*t kid easily. Ever played Morrowind? That's probably the only example of an open world done right. Too bad it was technologically limited at 2002. If that same ideology was used and the game released in 2023, it would blow everything else out of the water.

Morrowind looked terrible, even at the time.

[lnomsim]

What do we have in that game that make it a different open world?
-Fedex quests absolutely everywhere? Yes
-Can interact with NPCs outside of quests? No
-Generic dungeons that all look the same? Yes
-In-depth puzzles to progress through dungeons? No (most dungeons have 1 room with 1 very simple puzzle)
-NPCs with deep character development or background story? No (who are they, what did they do before arriving to Hogwarts, their relationships with other characters, their ambitions, their hobbies, are they relevant to the world setting? None of that.)
-Tons of useless collectables? Oh yes, it would make far cry blush in shame.
-Random events encounters that make the world feel more alive? Actually, yes, some, mostly in the Castle or Hogsmeade, but not that many.
-Branching choices with medium to long-term consequences? No
-Outside of quests activities? No

The game looks great, and there is some attention to detail in the level design, but as far as it goes for open-world games you'd have a hard time making it more generic.

[GAMING_Alligator]

It's very impressive. Having been to the Wizarding World in Universal, I feel like I'm back there, that's how thorough the attention to detail is. Knocks anything Ubisoft has ever done out of the park.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

there is ''some'' attention to detail in the level design

Understatement of the century.

[J-Russ]

Originally posted by KillSwitch:

It's pretty awesome, reminds me of shadow of mordor/shadow of war. Wish it had the nemesis system tho.

It got copyrighted, it would be almost impossible to make one now.

[lnomsim]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Originally posted by lnomsim:

there is ''some'' attention to detail in the level design

Understatement of the century.

If you quote me, quote me correctly.

I didn't say "some", I said some. And yes, it makes a difference.

[Swamp Fox]

I don't agree at all, it's very generic

[Swamp Fox]

Originally posted by J-Russ:

Originally posted by KillSwitch:

It's pretty awesome, reminds me of shadow of mordor/shadow of war. Wish it had the nemesis system tho.

It got copyrighted, it would be almost impossible to make one now.

You can't meaningfully copyright video game systems. It's not something you can own IP on. You can try, but you can't win in court. There is already precedent. Same company, anyway.

[The Tempted Man]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

What do we have in that game that make it a different open world?
-Fedex quests absolutely everywhere? Yes
-Can interact with NPCs outside of quests? No
-Generic dungeons that all look the same? Yes
-In-depth puzzles to progress through dungeons? No (most dungeons have 1 room with 1 very simple puzzle)
-NPCs with deep character development or background story? No (who are they, what did they do before arriving to Hogwarts, their relationships with other characters, their ambitions, their hobbies, are they relevant to the world setting? None of that.)
-Tons of useless collectables? Oh yes, it would make far cry blush in shame.
-Random events encounters that make the world feel more alive? Actually, yes, some, mostly in the Castle or Hogsmeade, but not that many.
-Branching choices with medium to long-term consequences? No
-Outside of quests activities? No

The game looks great, and there is some attention to detail in the level design, but as far as it goes for open-world games you'd have a hard time making it more generic.

Worth to add that this isn't even an RPG beyond level up system. The world doesn't react to naything the player does in a meaningful way, choosing a house at the beggining is a ripoff of cyberpunk intro where you simply choose a different 1st quest, nothing else matters. The game isn't even open worlded as RDR2 is. It's very linear with tons of invisible walls. If theg ame was 20-30$ it wouldn't be an issue, but it's a 60 $ game, like Elden Ring or Witcher 3. Way below average in it's current state. Feels more like AC clone, but witohout microtransactions. Althought the thought is here, because they already sell cosmetics at 1/3rd of the price of the base game... Denuvo was expensive lol.

[The_K00lDude]

Hogwarts is a great level design feat. Outside of the grounds though, it is pretty empty. Only reason it can feel compact, is due to flying around on the broom.

Idk it doesn't really stand out to me. But hey atleast the side mission caverns don't look the same, like Skyrim XD.

[The_K00lDude]

Originally posted by The Tempted Man:

Originally posted by lnomsim:

What do we have in that game that make it a different open world?
-Fedex quests absolutely everywhere? Yes
-Can interact with NPCs outside of quests? No
-Generic dungeons that all look the same? Yes
-In-depth puzzles to progress through dungeons? No (most dungeons have 1 room with 1 very simple puzzle)
-NPCs with deep character development or background story? No (who are they, what did they do before arriving to Hogwarts, their relationships with other characters, their ambitions, their hobbies, are they relevant to the world setting? None of that.)
-Tons of useless collectables? Oh yes, it would make far cry blush in shame.
-Random events encounters that make the world feel more alive? Actually, yes, some, mostly in the Castle or Hogsmeade, but not that many.
-Branching choices with medium to long-term consequences? No
-Outside of quests activities? No

The game looks great, and there is some attention to detail in the level design, but as far as it goes for open-world games you'd have a hard time making it more generic.

Worth to add that this isn't even an RPG beyond level up system. The world doesn't react to naything the player does in a meaningful way, choosing a house at the beggining is a ripoff of cyberpunk intro where you simply choose a different 1st quest, nothing else matters. The game isn't even open worlded as RDR2 is. It's very linear with tons of invisible walls. If theg ame was 20-30$ it wouldn't be an issue, but it's a 60 $ game, like Elden Ring or Witcher 3. Way below average in it's current state. Feels more like AC clone, but witohout microtransactions. Althought the thought is here, because they already sell cosmetics at 1/3rd of the price of the base game... Denuvo was expensive lol.

There is a few different quests, due to house choice. Hufflepuff can go to azkaban for instance.

[Astrolode]

It was also never marketed as a full RPG, or "choice matters" type game. They were very clear it was a story game. And I think they tied the story quite well to the environment they created - it gives focus to the open world, which is something I enjoy. If it gets too sandboxy, I lose interest.

My praise is very specifically about the way they have carefully thought about what they wanted to create, and done it. They never promised that the world would react or anything like that. You're exploring a story.

[Swamp Fox]

Originally posted by Astrolode:

It was also never marketed as a full RPG, or "choice matters" type game. They were very clear it was a story game.

This is revisionist history. The style and feature set of this game were pretty much unknown until relatively close to release.