Skyrim will be better than Dragon Age 2

Ihsahn wrote:

Free roam =/= linear. It's not like linear is a bad thing because, you know, nearly every game ever made is linear.

Well if you break it down to the smallest details, yes, it could be considered linear, but on a grand scale it's far from linear.

TRF wrote:

Ihsahn wrote:

Free roam =/= linear. It's not like linear is a bad thing because, you know, nearly every game ever made is linear.

Well if you break it down to the smallest details, yes, it could be considered linear

But it's still linear.

Tron Cat wrote:

TRF wrote:

Ihsahn wrote:

Free roam =/= linear. It's not like linear is a bad thing because, you know, nearly every game ever made is linear.

Well if you break it down to the smallest details, yes, it could be considered linear

But it's still linear.

Explain to me what you find linear in the game, because we might be looking at the game in two different ways.

TRF wrote:

Tron Cat wrote:

TRF wrote:

Ihsahn wrote:

Free roam =/= linear. It's not like linear is a bad thing because, you know, nearly every game ever made is linear.

Well if you break it down to the smallest details, yes, it could be considered linear

But it's still linear.

Explain to me what you find linear in the game, because we might be looking at the game in two different ways.

You're still going from quest A to quest B.

Sure, you could go to quest A then to quest C and THEN to B, but it's still the same path.

Tron Cat wrote:

TRF wrote:

Tron Cat wrote:

TRF wrote:

Ihsahn wrote:

Free roam =/= linear. It's not like linear is a bad thing because, you know, nearly every game ever made is linear.

Well if you break it down to the smallest details, yes, it could be considered linear

But it's still linear.

Explain to me what you find linear in the game, because we might be looking at the game in two different ways.

You're still going from quest A to quest B.

Sure, you could go to quest A then to quest C and THEN to B, but it's still the same path.

Fair enough, although I wouldn't consider that to be linear. Dragon Age II, on the other hand, makes you travel in a straight line.

You could call that linear as well.

TRF wrote:

Tron Cat wrote:

TRF wrote:

Tron Cat wrote:

TRF wrote:

Ihsahn wrote:

Free roam =/= linear. It's not like linear is a bad thing because, you know, nearly every game ever made is linear.

Well if you break it down to the smallest details, yes, it could be considered linear

But it's still linear.

Explain to me what you find linear in the game, because we might be looking at the game in two different ways.

You're still going from quest A to quest B.

Sure, you could go to quest A then to quest C and THEN to B, but it's still the same path.

Fair enough, although I wouldn't consider that to be linear. Dragon Age II, on the other hand, makes you travel in a straight line.

Even in terms of doing strictly just the main quest, The Elder Scrolls is less linear than Dragon Age by a mile.
But as a whole package, Oblivion is incredibly open! Seriously. Go anywhere in a massive world whenever you like, enter any building, do whatever shit you like.

OR OR OR. You can do quest A, do a bunch of other random quests, explore the vast open world, kill some retards and steal their shit, then do quest B. Maybe you're just playing the game wrong.

That's still a linear game. What you're describing is free roam.

Sure, you can dick around, but that doesn't change Quest A unlocking Quest B then Quest B unlocking Quest C and so on. It's a straight line and it won't change the next time you play the game, or 10 years from now.

Ihsahn wrote:

That's still a linear game. What you're describing is free roam.

Sure, you can dick around, but that doesn't change Quest A unlocking Quest B then Quest B unlocking Quest C and so on. It's a straight line and it won't change the next time you play the game, or 10 years from now.

W
hat would you consider non-linear?

My example would be Oblivion, Fallout = non-linear. Uncharted, Gears, God of War = linear.

I don't know a non-linear game because, to my knowledge, one doesn't exist. Hell, it might not even be possible because a game is limited by its code.

Giving choices to player (i.e. killing this guy -> leads to questline A; not killing this guy -> leads to questline B) is what we have and that's a good thing. What we can do is give the players so many choices that its linearity is essentially non-existent.

The only true non-linear games are Pen and Paper RPGs.

Which are fucking awesome by the way.

Ihsahn wrote:

I don't know a non-linear game because, to my knowledge, one doesn't exist. Hell, it might not even be possible because a game is limited by its code.

Giving choices to player (i.e. killing this guy -> leads to questline A; not killing this guy -> leads to questline B) is what we have and that's a good thing. What we can do is give the players so many choices that its linearity is essentially non-existent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_gameplay

Pretty much what I thought, but to be fair, we've been getting really technical here (what TRF said at the top of the page).

To use your Wiki article:

Quote :

A truly nonlinear story would be written entirely by the actions of the player, and thus remains a difficult design challenge

Just apply this to gameplay. Video games can get close, but there are still set pieces designed by the developer which will take you on the same path every time. Ideally, a true nonlinear game would work similar to P&P RPGs.

Ihsahn wrote:

Pretty much what I thought, but to be fair, we've been getting really technical here (what TRF said at the top of the page).

To use your Wiki article:

Quote :

A truly nonlinear story would be written entirely by the actions of the player, and thus remains a difficult design challenge

Just apply this to gameplay. Video games can get close, but there are still set pieces designed by the developer which will take you on the same path every time. Ideally, a true nonlinear game would work similar to P&P RPGs.

I would agree with that there truly is no non-linear game but Oblivion, Fallout, Mass Effect, ect are pretty much as close as you are gonna get.

Well, I think we can get closer, but yes those games are nonlinear in realistic terms.