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Playing BotW feels like my first real next gen experience. What was your own?

Yeah sure.

well?

Like some others you've missed the point of the OP. This isn't about the actual technical merits of a game if you compare them to other current games, it's about /you/ getting a certain feeling from a game.

It's difficult enough to explain this feeling to others who've felt it, but if you haven't felt it I'm not sure how I could convey it in a way you'd understand.

technical aspects are implicit with "next gen"
its just a confusing use of the term especially when its being used to describe a game that also ran on wiiu almost identically
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Nintendoland with a full five players felt like a game changer. Unfortunately Nintendo forgot about asynchronous gameplay shortly afterward.
 

Peltz

Member
In this "generation" for lack of a better term.... Both Pikmin 3 and BotW gave me that feeling on the Wii U and Switch respectively. (Switch is probably new-gen, but you catch my drift).

Rocket League gave me that feeling on PS4 and SM3DL gave me that feeling on 3DS. On Vita, I suppose Persona 4 gave me that feeling but I only spent like 20 minutes with it. The intro was cool but I plan to play it more fully someday.

I don't have an Xbox One so can't comment on that one.

The entire generation has had some excellent games but these moments were a bit rarer than in previous gens.
 

Jamix012

Member
Gravity Rush = Open World beauty on a handheld really opened my eyes.

Ratchet and Clank = On PS4 Pro this feels graphically like the first time I was able to see a true "generational" difference in graphics, and it was amazing.

Zelda: BotW = Maybe not actually, but it gets a mention for being the best game this gen so far for me. The way you interact with the world does feel next gen, but it'd be disingenuous to say that, since MGSV did similar things...but MGSV wasn't actually that good though.

Oh Yeah, RE7 was cool. Next gen for sure.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Zelda blew my mind in certain ways, for example I dropped some wood, followed by flint. Struck the flint with a metal weapon and it simply ignited into a fireplace.

Small touches like that felt really next gen, at least in terms of gameplay mechanics.

If You Think It Will Work It Probably WIll: The Game. My friend and I were playing yesterday and at least a half dozen times in our first couple of hours we had moments where we thought "I wonder if I do this..." and it worked out.

Lighting fires by striking flint, throwing something on an open flame to cook it, lighting a torch to keep you warm in the cold, etc... It's so much fun trying out stuff just to see if it will work.

This is probably the game with the densest amount of these moments that I've personally played, but these kinds of DIY mechanics have been in games for a long time. Still, it's definitely a part of the reaoson for the felling it gives.

For me it as the quality of the writing and the narrative and the graphics and world design. They completely sucked me into the world and, as I said in my previous post, those are the main reasons I love gaming these days.

Zelda is a good game. I've put over 70 hours in it so it obviously does a lot right. But it's like a 8/10 type game for me as I don't care for the art style, lack of story, lack of dungeons and as someone who isn't big on exploring and just fast travels a ton and follows objective markers in open world games the huge world and focus on exploration left me bored a lot of the time.

My bad for my contribution to it, but this is getting a little off-topic now.
 

big_erk

Member
Reading this thread I get the impression that a lot of people equate next gen to "Damn, i can see every freckle on Aloy's face"

That is in no way a dig at Zero Dawn. I think the OP is addressing games that present a new way of looking at open world systems and quest structure. You can poo poo BOTW all you want, but that game has changed what will be expected of the open world genre going forward, and it did it without 4k graphics and 6 teraflops of processing power.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Even tho I havent played Phantom Pain yet, Ground Zeroes did it for me.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Reading this thread I get the impression that a lot of people equate next gen to "Damn, i can see every freckle on Aloy's face"

That is in no way a dig at Zero Dawn. I think the OP is addressing games that present a new way of looking at open world systems and quest structure. You can poo poo BOTW all you want, but that game has changed what will be expected of the open world genre going forward, and it did it without 4k graphics and 6 teraflops of processing power.

I mean "anything" that made you feel it. This could be a HD freckle, for sure.

well?
technical aspects are implicit with "next gen"
its just a confusing use of the term especially when its being used to describe a game that also ran on wiiu almost identically

Other people are getting what I mean, so I guess you need to actually feel it to understand it.

Still hoping someone can do a better job of articulating this.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
I've yet to really play a game that feel like that to me. The closest feeling so far has been MGSV and that is stretching it.

Last gen though it was Dead Rising 1. That was definitely the game that really cemented we were in something new.
 
I mean "anything" that made you feel it. This could be a HD freckle, for sure.



Other people are getting what I mean, so I guess you need to actually feel it to understand it.

Still hoping someone can do a better job of articulating this.

im guessing you just mean a fresh or comprehensive new take on a genre, I guess?
next gen....re

in that case Half Life 1 for sure changed FPS, as well as telling a story in a game without cutscenes among other things
 

NahaNago

Member
It would have to be killzone for me this gen it just looked amazing. That game got me really hopeful for this gen , just to see what developers could make on the PS4.

edit: if were just talking about the next generation of gameplay then i haven't come across it yet but I also don't have a switch to play Zelda ( I refuse to get it for my Wii U).
 

Duxxy3

Member
Infamous Second Son.

It was a disappointment, but it was the first time that I was genuinely wowed with this generation.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Reading this thread I get the impression that a lot of people equate next gen to "Damn, i can see every freckle on Aloy's face"

That is in no way a dig at Zero Dawn. I think the OP is addressing games that present a new way of looking at open world systems and quest structure. You can poo poo BOTW all you want, but that game has changed what will be expected of the open world genre going forward, and it did it without 4k graphics and 6 teraflops of processing power.

Yeah, there's no doubt Zelda will have a huge impact on open world games going forward.

It will probably be the final push for me to start avoiding most open world games as I'm just sick of all the traversal and exploration and just at a point where I prefer more linear, narrative driven experiences.

I can tolerate open world still if it's like Horizon where it's pretty compact, has a TON of fast travel points, linear main story and side story paths with a good navigation system to minimize wander/traversal. But I still prefer games more in the Mass Effect 2 and 3 type of design where it's mostly linear area with some player agency in making decisions, what order to do side quests etc.
 
But most of all, it approaches the thing in a simple and easy to understand way. Unlike other open world games where crafting and too many options scare a lot of people. In Zelda, almost anyone can play and be immersed, even my wife who's not a big gamer and certainly not an rpg gamer loves Zelda because exactly that, simple to play yet very deep. I'm in love with Zelda BOTW and it's easily one of my favorite games of all time.

I can agree with this, although the "next gen feels" is pretty arbitrary to me.

A few simple things impressed me though with BOTW. The first is when I was showing the Switch to my 7 year old nephew. He games sometimes, but still doesn't understand the limitations of a lot of video games. He asks a ton of questions... like in Mario 3D World, he asked if he could set fire to enemies or trees with fireballs, or if cat Mario could dig a hold to the other side of a level. This time, he was asking if I could cut down a tree, roll the rock down the hill, etc. and this was a game that I could answer "yeah you can!" to most of his questions.

The other thing was just extremely simple... but going to Kakariko and going into a house. Without loading. I know it's a small thing, but after playing Witcher, or Skyrim, or whatever... the fact that this was so seamless was completely unexpected but really impressive to me.
 

Kurdel

Banned
Games have wowed me before. I've owned high-end gaming PCs in the past and some games on a purely visual experience alone have been amazing, but in my 30 years of gaming I can't remember having that defining "next gen experience".

You've been doing it wrong?

Off the top of my head these games all blew my mind: Super Mario World, Mario 64, GTA 3, Castlevania Circle of the Moon, GTA4, Bioshock Infinite on my first gaming PC, Crysis 3 maxxed out, RE7 in VR.
 
Metal Gear Solid V, even if I came away from that game feeling mostly disappointed. The gameplay definitely did it for me and I enjoyed my first 35 hours or so with that game -- it really just started to die for me once I felt a bit too familiar with its two maps.

Zelda did feel better in every way for me, though. Much better-crafted game all around, though it seems both games had overlapping design goals.
 

neeksleep

Member
I'd agree with Zelda, but the earliest time I could recall thinking "this is just the future" was playing Mass Effect.

It was the first game I'd played from the 360/ps3 era, and the scale, graphics and amount of options were far beyond anything I had played before (I didn't have a good PC so its possible there were similar games of that scale that I wasn't aware of). At the time, I must have not been aware of the jank and flaws because that game hooked me. I'd even spend quite a bit of time driving around those barren planets/moon just because I could.
 

Winthorpe

Banned
Horizon Zero Dawn, first thunderjaw fight.

I disagree.

I've been very underwhelmed by Horizon. The world is beautiful but soulless. The inventory is clunky and the need to craft items and switch weapons far more intrusive than the degradation in Zelda. I do like Aloy as a character though and I think the second installment could be excellent.

To the OP’s original point, I don’t feel like Zelda is next gen. If anything, it wonderfully recalls my love of game’s like Morrowind and early WoW. It’s joined the very upper echelons of game that define a period in my life, so I can remember exactly where I was when I played the game; titles like Half Life 2, Bioshock, OoT etc.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
You've been doing it wrong?

Off the top of my head these games all blew my mind: Super Mario World, Mario 64, GTA 3, Castlevania Circle of the Moon, GTA4, Bioshock Infinite on my first gaming PC, Crysis 3 maxxed out, RE7 in VR.

Maybe you're just more easily amazed than other people. ;)

I
I've been very underwhelmed by Horizon. The world is beautiful but soulless. The inventory is clunky and the need to craft items and switch weapons far more intrusive than the degradation in Zelda. I do like Aloy as a character though and I think the second installment could be excellent

Can we please try to avoid commentary on why you think a game isn't good.

Please, feel free to try to unpick/explain the feeling in the OP better, and part of that might be critiquing things, but let's avoid straight up telling everyone why you think a game is bad in general.

Third please.
 

Melchiah

Member
There's been a variety of next gen experiences, big and small... Driveclub, Bloodborne, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and What Remains of Edith Finch. All of them made an impression on me, one way or the other.
 
The other thing was just extremely simple... but going to Kakariko and going into a house. Without loading. I know it's a small thing, but after playing Witcher, or Skyrim, or whatever... the fact that this was so seamless was completely unexpected but really impressive to me.

Witcher 3 actually does do that, in much bigger towns
i think quite a few games have done this
 

big_erk

Member
Yeah, there's no doubt Zelda will have a huge impact on open world games going forward.

It will probably be the final push for me to start avoiding most open world games as I'm just sick of all the traversal and exploration and just at a point where I prefer more linear, narrative driven experiences.

I can tolerate open world still if it's like Horizon where it's pretty compact, has a TON of fast travel points, linear main story and side story paths with a good navigation system to minimize wander/traversal. But I still prefer games more in the Mass Effect 2 and 3 type of design where it's mostly linear area with some player agency in making decisions, what order to do side quests etc.

I guess I just feel the opposite of the way you do. I enjoy exploring every corner of a games map. It's what makes completing games like the Fallout series so challenging for me. Main quest be damned, I'm going to search every building and every square inch of land for something interesting to do. BOTW has this type of gameplay down pat and I love it.
 

boiled goose

good with gravy
Mario 64
Rogue leader on GC.
Gears of war and fight night on 360

Mario Kart 8 on Wiiu (Nintendo finally entering hd era)

Played Botw on wiiu and felt wiiu gen to me.

Haven't played anything on ps4 or xbox1, so haven't had that leap yet
 

killatopak

Member
Undertale and NieR Automata IS the next gen experience. Amazing story telling that fully incorporates the possibilities of gaming to it. It's genius in every way. Something unexpected is what next gen feels like.

Botw in comparison feels like a gen ps3/360. Everything feels doable last gen.

While NieR and Undertale doesn't LOOK next gen, the other parts are more advance or better implemented so much that they aren't seen before these games were released. Botw feels like a combination of all the better parts of open world gaming so it feels more solid and enjoyable than standard games but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's definitely an evolution to the Zelda formula so I can see people feel that it is the next gen experience.

As for first parties, the only game I felt that it was next gen is Tearaway. The way it fully incorporate things like the camera into the game is impressive. I hope dreams impress me as well. Other first party games are just the same old with just better graphics. PC has me covered there so anything with just better graphics definitely is not a next-gen experience. Something more drastic like gameplay changes or story telling is what I'm looking for.
 

Rodin

Member
Witcher 3 actually does do that, in much bigger towns
i think quite a few games have done this

On much more powerful hardware.

Maybe you don't remember devs boasting how they managed to make interiors without loading screens (Witcher 3, Batman) thanks to current gen consoles, Nintendo managed that on a game born on ~PS360 level of hardware. But that's certainly not impressive, nor are those physics in an open world game.

Undertale and NieR Automata IS the next gen experience. Amazing story telling that fully incorporates the possibilities of gaming to it. It's genius in every way. Something unexpected is what next gen feels like.

Botw in comparison feels like a gen ps3/360. Everything feels doable last gen.

While NieR and Undertale doesn't LOOK next gen, the other parts are more advance or better implemented so much that they aren't seen before these games were released. Botw feels like a combination of all the better parts of open world gaming so it feels more solid and enjoyable than standard games but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's definitely an evolution to the Zelda formula so I can see people feel that it is the next gen experience.

As for first parties, the only game I felt that it was next gen is Tearaway. The way it fully incorporate things like the camera into the game is impressive. I hope dreams impress me as well. Other first party games are just the same old with just better graphics. PC has me covered there so anything with just better graphics definitely is not a next-gen experience. Something more drastic like gameplay changes or story telling is what I'm looking for.
Totally, that's why no game on last gen or even current gen consoles even tried to do what Zelda does.

Now i'm expecting a list of open world games that heavily rely on physics interactions for traversing, interaction and gameplay possibilities in general since Zelda isn't doing anything new.
 
I only got the "this is next gen" feeling twice in my life, and both of them were relatively close to eachother. One was Dead Rising on the xbox 360. It was so densely packed with enemies and interactive objects, a clock that governed everything, and tons cool little things absolutely everywhere. Many games during that generation I thought could have their fidelity scaled down, and they'd still work pretty much the same. As the Chop Til You Drop port proved however, once you scale this game back, you end up with something very different, and a lot worse.

The other game for me was Assassin's Creed. The way everything moved, and Altaïr found his paths throughout the massive game world was so impressive to me. You just pointed him into a direction, and he would just try to go, regardless of the obstacles in his way. They refined it a lot in the sequels, but I remember being so immensely impressed at how far this technology advanced compared to the Prince of Persias that came before. This type of pathfinding made it possible to integrate your possible routes so much more seamlessly into the environment than before. Heck, many games after it still don't do it as well as the first Assassin's Creed. I see games all the time where you can where designers clearly carved out a route, and it often is your one and only approach. Breath of the Wild's climb anywhere philosophy isn't as elegant looking at this, but it certainly scratches a similar itch. It feels very liberating to not have your routes spelled out, because you can rely on the traversal mechanics being consistent throughout the entire game. None of this "you can climb this thing now, but not this other identical thing later" noise here.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
I guess I just feel the opposite of the way you do. I enjoy exploring every corner of a games map. It's what makes completing games like the Fallout series so challenging for me. Main quest be damned, I'm going to search every building and every square inch of land for something interesting to do. BOTW has this type of gameplay down pat and I love it.

I used to be that way, but my interest in gaming in general is down and I've just gotten burnt out and lost patience for exploring, traversal etc. I either want to be playing something like Uncharted, Mass Effect 2/3 etc. where there's a strong story that you can keep moving forward briskly with maybe some optional exploration if you want to do it thrown in, or just pure gameplay things these days.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Undertale and NieR Automata IS the next gen experience. Amazing story telling that fully incorporates the possibilities of gaming to it. It's genius in every way. Something unexpected is what next gen feels like.

Botw in comparison feels like a gen ps3/360. Everything feels doable last gen.

While NieR and Undertale doesn't LOOK next gen, the other parts are more advance or better implemented so much that they aren't seen before these games were released. Botw feels like a combination of all the better parts of open world gaming so it feels more solid and enjoyable than standard games but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's definitely an evolution to the Zelda formula so I can see people feel that it is the next gen experience.

As for first parties, the only game I felt that it was next gen is Tearaway. The way it fully incorporate things like the camera into the game is impressive. I hope dreams impress me as well. Other first party games are just the same old with just better graphics. PC has me covered there so anything with just better graphics definitely is not a next-gen experience. Something more drastic like gameplay changes or story telling is what I'm looking for.

I'm not going to argue with your feelings because that would be dumb, but I'm not at all connived by your argument that the games you've chosen "bring new things to the table" while Zelda does not.

I only got the "this is next gen" feeling twice in my life, and both of them were relatively close to eachother. One was Dead Rising on the xbox 360. It was so densely packed with enemies and interactive objects, it a clock that governed everything, and tons cool little things absolutely everywhere. Many games during that generation I thought could have their fidelity scaled down, and they'd still work pretty much the same. As the Chop Til You Drop port proved however, once you scale this game back, you end up with something very different, and a lot worse.

The other game for me was Assassin's Creed. The way everything moved, and Altaïr found his paths throughout the massive game world was so impressive to me. You just pointed him into a direction, and he would just try to go, regardless of the obstacles in his way. They refined it a lot in the sequels, but I remember being so immensely impressed at how far this technology advanced compared to the Prince of Persias that came before. This type of pathfinding made it possible to integrate your possible routes so much more seamlessly into the environment than before. Heck, many games after it still don't do it as well as the first Assassin's Creed. I see games all the time where you can where designers clearly carved out a route, and it often is your one and only approach. Breath of the Wild's climb anywhere philosophy isn't as elegant looking at this, but it certainly scratches a similar itch. It feels very liberating to not have your routes spelled out, because you can rely on the traversal mechanics being consistent throughout the entire game. None of this "you can climb this thing now, but not this other identical thing later" noise here.

Yep, this post definitely gets what I'm talking about.
 

big_erk

Member
I used to be that way, but my interest in gaming in general is down and I've just gotten burnt out and lost patience for exploring, traversal etc. I either want to be playing something like Uncharted, Mass Effect 2/3 etc. where there's a strong story that you can keep moving forward briskly with maybe some optional exploration if you want to do it thrown in, or just pure gameplay things these days.

I understand that. Mass Effect is one of my favorite game series. Haven't jumped into Andromeda yet. I'm afraid it will taint my memories of the original trilogy. I also love tradition story driven RPGs.
 

Winthorpe

Banned
I don't think Zelda will necessarily have an impact on Open World games in general, but I think it will challenge certain titles within the genre.

For example, Elder Scrolls will find itself in a strange situation. How odd that a game as broad as Skyrim should, post Zelda, suddenly feel restrictive. I feel like Bethesda might have to make a choice, either embrace the more story driven framework of a title like Witcher, allowing for a linearity and lack of complete freedom, or go all in, and make sure you can climb every single point on the map.
 

black070

Member
Knack was my first next gen game (came bundled with my PS4) and visually, it blew me away at the time, it was the Pixar-esque game until Ratchet & Clank eclipsed it.
 
On much more powerful hardware.

Maybe you don't remember devs boasting how they managed to make interiors without loading screens (Witcher 3, Batman) thanks to current gen consoles, Nintendo managed that on a game born on ~PS360 level of hardware. But that's certainly not impressive, nor are those physics in an open world game.


Totally, that's why no game on last gen or even current gen consoles even tried to do what Zelda does.

Now i'm expecting a list of open world games that heavily rely on physics interactions for traversing, interaction and gameplay possibilities in general since Zelda isn't doing anything new.

yeah they "managed" it, and it ran like ass on my Wiiu
id rather they made it load so the village actually ran smoothly
 

pantsmith

Member
The Witcher 3 was the first time I was like "Yeah, okay, this is a big jump."

Not so much the size of the world as it was the amount of detail and life they were able to pack into it. Little details that made the world and my agency there feel like it just wouldn't be possible on previous hardware. I think BotW captures the same vibe that won me over in the Witcher, so totally get your point of reference.

Previously jumps, for me, were: Donkey Kong Country, Final Fantasy VII, Grand Theft Auto III, and Grand Theft Auto IV.
 

Melchiah

Member
I can tolerate open world still if it's like Horizon where it's pretty compact, has a TON of fast travel points, linear main story and side story paths with a good navigation system to minimize wander/traversal. But I still prefer games more in the Mass Effect 2 and 3 type of design where it's mostly linear area with some player agency in making decisions, what order to do side quests etc.

I'm the same, and that's one of the reasons why I enjoyed HZD, and Infamous:SS+FL to a lesser extent. I also hate how Mass Effect and Batman series have moved to open world structure.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
For example, Elder Scrolls will find itself in a strange situation. How odd that a game as broad as Skyrim should, post Zelda, suddenly feel restrictive. I feel like Bethesda might have to make a choice, either embrace the more story driven framework of a title like Witcher, allowing for a linearity and lack of complete freedom, or go all in, and make sure you can climb every single point on the map.

God I hope they do the former. Lack of compelling story has always been my gripe with the Elder Scrolls games, where often the guild quest lines have better stories than the main plot line. I don't care about exploring everywhere on the map, as I'm going to follow the objective marker (used the shit out of the clairvoyance or whatever it was called spell that further outlined the path to objective) and fast travel all i can when I play those type of games. I don't care about physics, being able to chop down trees etc. etc. as I'm not part of the Minecraft generation and don't like messing around with sandbox gameplay.

Just give me a good story, solid combat/gameplay and minimial "game doesn't respect my time" padding in the form of boring traversal over huge, mostly empty open worlds that bore me to death.

I'm the same, and that's one of the reasons why I enjoyed HZD, and Infamous:SS+FL to a lesser extent. I also hate how Mass Effect and Batman series have moved to open world structure.

Same. I enjoyed Mass Effect Andromeda but HATED the open world planets. Those bothered me far more than the jank, writing etc. that others bitch about.

Also loved Arkham Asylum, though City was still ok but lesser from being open and couldn't finish Arkham Knight (skipped Orgins).
 
Dead Rising back on the Xbox 360. There was a game that felt like it could not be done previously. Everything else was nicer looking and higher res but it was still the same stuff. Dead Rising on the other hand, that many characters on screen with that kinda physics and interactivity just seemed bonkers.
 

Mathieran

Banned
Zelda doesn't feel next gen to me. So far every game of this generation has just felt like a bigger and better version of last gen, which is fine. There's been some amazing games that I love dearly. It's been more like an evolution than a revolution.

VR has been the only next gen feeling I've gotten so far. I've only played a couple games but there has been so many holy shit, this is amazing moments that it's hard to keep track.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
God I hope they do the former. Lack of compelling story has always been my gripe with the Elder Scrolls games, where often the guild quest lines have better stories than the main plot line. I don't care about exploring everywhere on the map, as I'm going to follow the objective marker (used the shit out of the clairvoyance or whatever it was called spell that further outlined the path to objective) and fast travel all i can when I play those type of games. I don't care about physics, being able to chop down trees etc. etc. as I'm not part of the Minecraft generation and don't like messing around with sandbox gameplay.

Just give me a good story, solid combat/gameplay and minimial "game doesn't respect my time" padding in the form of boring traversal over huge, mostly empty open worlds that bore me to death.

Elder Scrolls has always been about freedom over a tight narrative structure, if you want that /in place of/ the style of open world it is you should probably look elsewhere (and you'll find plenty to choose from, too). Of course, best of both worlds would be preferable...

This is OT, though. :p
 
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