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Anyone else feel they've outgrown linear experiences?

Spades said:
Absolutely not. If anything, I'm tired of huge open-world experiences that require more time to explore than I'm willing to invest.
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Yeah, as I get older, my biggest issue is with games that have no respect for my time. This means any MMO, Destiny, maybe stuff like Dragon Age Inquisition, and even stuff like AC and Watch Dogs to an extent in which an inordinate amount of time is sometimes spent moving between objective markers.
 
Alex_Mexico said:
At what point did the term "linear game" became an unspeakable sin?
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It hasn't? Not on gaf anyway. I'm always seeing threads pop up about how barren and empty and shallow open-world games are. Gaf users seems to favor linear games. Just read through this thread.
 
Finding your preference doesn't invalidate other modes OP. There's nothing to outgrow and open worlds aren't somehow more mature.

It's all about how well the mechanics are executed and how they matter and each individuals preference.

Half Life 2 is very linear for example yet remains for me better than most open world games as an experience.

I do like choice, and I can see where you're coming from as I think a strong choice of options combined with emergent gameplay is hugely engrossing as an experience, but don't diss other people's preferences vs your own (which is what you're doing with that wording intentionally or not).
 
Basileus777 said:
No, because there is nothing inherently superior or more grown up about non-linear games.


I actually find open world games to often suffer from being shallow, padded-out experiences.
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Same. There's linear, and then there's corridor-like level designs (even those that appear somewhat open). Those don't have to be the same thing at all. I find most linear games have way better character development and stories as far as RPGs go. With Action/Adventure or Action/RPG, it just really depends on the pacing. I care absolutely nothing at all about fedex padding shit just so a developer can claim "100+ hours!!!" though.

Give me a linear game with a bunch of compelling things to do and places to see. Open world can be okay, but too often the areas or dungeons or whatever all become too "samey" just to make the game feel bigger than it really is.
 
Alex_Mexico said:
At what point did the term "linear game" became an unspeakable sin?
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When the 'value' of a game became judged on its length. In the past decade, I'd say since the 6th gen but definitely the 7th, games were being routinely criticized if they're 'only 10' hours. To me that's an ideal length for the typical story-driven game outside the RPG genre, but modern tech has given birth to a series of 'me-too' open world games which offer 50 hours of gameplay even though you're only doing something of note to the main story for about 10 of them. The rest is fetch this, fetch that bloated scenarios to stretch out the gameplay.
 
No, but I'm feeling increasingly tired of mostly empty open-world games. I like when I have some direction because my time is limited.
 
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared said:
No cos I'm not that pretentious and high minded. I can enjoy any kind of game, linear, open world, forking paths in the road, whatever.
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First post does it again.

I feel the same. It's funny how linear game play is bad all of a sudden. We need more of them. The open world settings are getting boring.

For all the complaining people do about graphics and performance issues on consoles, half of those wouldn't be problem in a closed linear environment.
 
Linear games are generally higher quality than their open world counterparts. Also an open world isn't automatically a good thing, they are often tacked on because their is this weird stigma for linear games.
 
I feel like going in the opposite direction. I love open world RPGs but as I have less and less time for games it can be overwhelming and it's hard to accomplish anything in 1 hour gaming bites. In linear games it's easier to see a progress.
 
I agree a lot with op. Maybe if someone manages to start making game stories as good and captivating as good movies or tv series, I can start playing linear games again. Played roughly half of TLOU before getting too bored with it, and I'd say in raw storytelling and acting terms it's below B tier (compared to movies/tvseries).
 
Considering that my game of the generation was The Last of Us I pray that we never cease to get linear games.

Open world games are great and all but no game of that type could ever deliver the kind of experience that TLoU gave me.
 
No, just grabbed Ruse on the cheap and totally appreciated it and enjoyed the story.

Open world games are what I dread these days.
 
Outgrown? No.

I can understand getting tired of a certain style of game, but I like a good guided experience every once in a while. Just like I like to play own world games sometimes but wouldn't want all games to play like that.
 
Just because a game has a linear progression doesn't mean that there's only one way to play through it. Good encounter design should include multiple ways past an obstacle and the game being linear doesn't prevent that being the case and thus renders the "might as well watch it on YouTube" argument void. And I still find open world on average to have worse design with individual encounters, their just spaced out more and encountered in a none fixed order.

Even if you ignore all story and skip cut scenes there are linear games that are fun to play again and again.
 
Horp said:
I agree a lot with op. Maybe if someone manages to start making game stories as good and captivating as good movies or tv series, I can start playing linear games again. Played roughly half of TLOU before getting too bored with it, and I'd say in raw storytelling and acting terms it's below B tier (compared to movies/tvseries).
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Now that's just factually incorrect.

If that's B tier in storytelling and acting I'd love to hear what videogame is an A tier for you.
 
Horp said:
I agree a lot with op. Maybe if someone manages to start making game stories as good and captivating as good movies or tv series, I can start playing linear games again. Played roughly half of TLOU before getting too bored with it, and I'd say in raw storytelling and acting terms it's below B tier (compared to movies/tvseries).
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I think this is maybe what my issue is (not TLoU commentary as I haven't played it, just the general notion). I don't mind linear games that are either gameplay-focused or at least don't force huge story segments at you. Something like Bioshock:Infinite was about as much story as I wanted at any time, and it still had room for some emergent gameplay scenarios with a good mixture of enemy types, skills and occasionally the rails.
 
dragonyeuw said:
When the 'value' of a game became judged on its length. In the past decade, I'd say since the 6th gen but definitely the 7th, games were being routinely criticized if they're 'only 10' hours. To me that's an ideal length for the typical story-driven game outside the RPG genre, but modern tech has given birth to a series of 'me-too' open world games which offer 50 hours of gameplay even though you're only doing something of note to the main story for about 10 of them. The rest is fetch this, fetch that bloated scenarios to stretch out the gameplay.
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Yeah, that kind of logic is completely baffling to me. I'd much play a tight and exciting game like Vanquish than a padded forgettable try-hard open world like Watch Dogs, despite one having more perceived value than the other.
 
I still really enjoy linear experiences. I don't think I've played an open world game that had story engagement on the level of the best linear games.
 
Dictator93 said:
Linear is fine to me (although it has to be special otherwise). Hand holding, QTE, overly "cinematic" stuff bothers me though... something that people have come to conflate with "linear" games due to the last gen.
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Exactly this.

This hand holding, QTE and cinematic shit has got to stop, its rubbish.
 
No, definitely not. A good story is a good story, regardless of whether it's deliberate and linear or unexpected and emergent.

How else could I enjoy both books and games?
 
Naw. Doing a job and exercising make me pretty tired at the end of the day. I'm ok with straightforward games.

I like open world if I don't have to make my own damn fun. These outdoor zombie games seem like the fun is what you make of it, and they require interacting with others which I don't do. If you want me to show me a good time, I don't care how wide or narrow the tracks are.
 
I've outgrown open world games in the sense that i don't have the time to plough through all the goddamn filler those games mostly consist of.
 
Depends. I pace myself when I play games and some of the environment that I get to explore are so beautiful that I just have that game on while I do something else. (Halo 4 comes to mind immediately)

But if it's fast-action oriented and doesn't give me enough time to explore then I'd get tired of it very quick. If I were a kid, I would've loved this type of linear experience since I'm always on-the-go.

So I've outgrown this pushy, "hurry-up" type of linear experience, but not the more "explorative" linear experience. This is actually a very good question.
 
If well designed (this really is important guys) then it doesn't matter what style of game it is (see Last of Us). It's shitty linear games that suck. Open world games like Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs are absolutely dreadful experiences as well. It's all in the design, or lack thereof.
 
If you count TLoU as linear, than definitely not. But other than that, regardless of context and setting, I enjoy good games. That's all.
 
No, not if it's done right.... Sometimes it's a joy to just experience a game vs running around aimlessly trying to find the right path or be bombarded with meaningless side quests. A lot of open world games these days have a lot of filler content.
 
daninthemix said:
I mean any game nowadays that has you going down a corridor, more or less (and I include stuff like TLOU here), I feel like my presence is no longer required. I can simply watch someone else play the game and it'll be largely the same. Frequently, I can't even be bothered to do that. Sure, if you really dig the setting, story or characters of a particular game then that can be a catalyst for interest (I still like the Crystal Tomb Raider trilogy for these reasons).
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I notice you mention digging setting, story, or characters, but not challenge.
Generally, I'd expect the point of a linear action game to be the challenge of mastering the action skills, which you can't experience by watching someone else play.
It sounds like your interest lies in the direction of exploration games (which I also like, myself) so it's probably just a taste thing. Reminds me a bit of this topic.
 
Opposite actually. While I still love a well done open world, as more and more games come out are open world I find myself appreciating well crafted guided experiences more and more.
 
I feel like I've grown *into* linear games. I used to value length of games much more highly, and would feel cheated if I didn't get at least 20+ hours from a game. Over the last few years though, I've had more fun than I ever expected from tight, well scripted linear games like Uncharted, TLOU, Batman, Modern Warfare (original) etc etc.
 
Nope. I enjoy well-designed linear games just as much now as I used to. If anything, I enjoy them more because I've become more cognizant of what it takes to build these effectively, with good, thoughtful enemy encounters.

I like open-world games too, but that format has gotten a little stale and played out.
 
Definitely the opposite, I've grown more into them.
While I love an Open World game as much as the next person, more linear games are definitely more suitable for me right now, when time to play is a lot more limited right now. I can beat it reasonably quickly and have an excellent time while I'm at it.

A weird complaint that I have is that some Open World games to me are just too big, and I never thought that could be a problem to me. ACIV and GTAV definitely stand out for this.

Whynotboth.
 
Horp said:
I agree a lot with op. Maybe if someone manages to start making game stories as good and captivating as good movies or tv series, I can start playing linear games again. Played roughly half of TLOU before getting too bored with it, and I'd say in raw storytelling and acting terms it's below B tier (compared to movies/tvseries).
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I'm not sure if I can take anything you type seriously now.

You have somehow backed yourself into multiple corners with just two sentences.


*Eagerly anticipating your clarification statement.
 
I don't know if "outgrow" is the right terminology for it, but I've found that more and more I feel myself getting bored by games that go too far in either direction. A game like Skyrim whose ENTIRE selling point is "Do anything, go anywhere" is incredibly boring to me, and likewise a game that feels too much like a spectacle tunnel just leaves me rolling my eyes and wanting to just play the damn game. There needs to be some level of focus.

I'm playing Crysis (2007) right now, and it just about hits the sweet spot for what devs want to do nowadays. It's "open" in the sense that I could technically (AFAIK) go anywhere I want, but there's a very clear progression with well designed encounters that steadily get more complex. And so far the cinematics have been related to about every 20 or 30 minutes, instead of every fucking time I do anything. I feel like it could be a LITTLE bit more focused, but it certainly isn't annoying me with anything, and in fact I'm quite enjoying it.
 
Toki767 said:
To a certain extent I might feel like I've outgrown open world games. No real time to sink into those.
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Yup sounds like me. Burnt out on those style of games that have you doing basically nothing for an hour at a time. I'm sure I'll come around on them but at this point I have zero interest in them.
 
The really weird thing about me is that as I'm having less and less overall time to play games, I find myself just funnelling it all into a few games. So while I have this big huge pile of games, I pretty much only play Monster Hunter 4 and Smash Bros, with other games there as just variety or to play with friends when they aren't feeling the other two.
 
No. My favorite games I´ve ever played are all linear, narrative driven experiences, and when done correctly they can be something really special.

I do enjoy open-world games every now and then, but it just seems to be all about bigger and bigger maps, with less and less interesting things to do in it.
 
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