In Praise of Prague (and other small worlds) | Game Maker's Toolkit
Added 2016-09-19 18:01:09 +0000 UTCI thought it was important to do an episode about Deus Ex Mankind Divided's Prague, not just because I loved the game and its city, but because it does a lot of the things I've talked about on other episodes.
Specifically the Arkham Knight and Little Dotted Line videos.
Now: I'm not saying that Eidos Montreal watches my stuff! Considering the time it takes to make games this big, the videos would probably be way too late anyway. But, it's just important to me to give credit to the games that I think are doing things well.
Hope you like the video.
P.S. Yeah, you were totally right about the boss doors and boss keys on the Zelda graph I shared yesterday. Thanks for the great feedback - I want to keep the red and blue colour scheme for keys and doors but I'll figure out a way to make them stand out as special.
Comments
Great episode! And it sparked a little thought in me about side quests being great when they're about characters and small stories. Both the two most recent Deus Ex games AND the Witcher 3 do side quests very very well, but the Witcher is able to get away with it despite having a large large world to populate at the same time. I suppose its a tribute to how much work went into that game. Oh!! Also congratulations! I've noticed a significant increase in how many names are at the end of your videos in the last 2 or so months i've been a Patron, woohoo! In fact you're getting so many that it might be time to go to 2 columns! Always love your stuff Mark, looking forwards to more.
2016-09-20 15:22:13 +0000 UTCHuman Revolution's hubs were great too. Mankind is just even better in this regard - possibly because of open world fatigue, as you say, but also improvements in fidelity and Eidos simply getting better
Game Maker's Toolkit
2016-09-20 06:27:19 +0000 UTCI havent played mankind divided, but if memory serves right, Human Revolution's hub also had a lot of neat "non quest" stories spread throughout. Do you think MD had more impact in that area because it does it that much better or just due to the influx of BIG open world games since HR's release?
dro
2016-09-20 06:25:42 +0000 UTCThat's a good point, yeah. I suppose the Strip in Fallout Vegas, for example, is a "hub" like Prague, splintering off to other locations
Game Maker's Toolkit
2016-09-20 06:09:18 +0000 UTC...also to use Oblivion as an example, I found it quite fascinating that many people treated their first town as "home" even though there wasn't a scripted location for players to hang their hat, as it were. I'm wondering if that's connected to players that start in a city/town and clear the missions from there, establishing it as a safe place to return to. Perhaps not, but interesting nevertheless.
Sean Noonan
2016-09-19 22:35:56 +0000 UTCExcellent video, and a good reminder for me to play Mankind Divided (it's been slipping down my Steam queue since launch). You slightly glossed over hubs that are featured within larger open worlds like the towns and cities of Elder Scrolls titles or the Fallout series. Some of these feel quite tightly packed with activities and scripted shenanigans even though they appear as a part of a larger (perhaps emptier) world.
Sean Noonan
2016-09-19 22:32:00 +0000 UTCMight be my favourite video of yours from the past 3 months. I haven't played Mankind Divided but this really makes me want to. I love a massive open-world like Skyrim or the Wasteland in Fallout but I also long for more games with hub worlds. I actually really appreciate how Star Wars KotOR did this. The planets themselves, outside the "mission areas" so to speak, aren't very big - like Deus Ex, you can run from one side to the other in a few minutes. But each one is chock full of stuff to do.
2016-09-19 19:09:25 +0000 UTCI love this video. Makes me think how great a game set in a Dredd style city-block could be!
Sam Morrison
2016-09-19 18:21:19 +0000 UTC
