Human Shield
Augur
I hear some talk about if Elder Scroll games are "too open" and "too freeform".
The problem is lack of change and change requires an ending. Morrowind has an ending for the main quest but it doesn't effect much and is treated like a big side-quest.
Not having an ending makes the game static. Without an ending the world never changes.
RPGs can learn a lot from 4X games. 4X games can be considered the most open but they still have victory conditions, it would get too repetitive and would go on forever without them.
An RPG's story should be about the fate of something with an ending when the fate is decided. For this reason there should always be a time frame.
Most 4X games have a tech victory, the scope of the content should provide a natural limit. Once progress stops there should be an ending or else the sense of history fails.
A time limit is important. A fate will come about even if it is the character's death from old age. Without a limit the world would not change at all for 1,000's of years. The Fallout's were smart to have a hard year cap.
Playing the game after an ending can invalidate it. Ending for each area are great but going back and killing people messes things up. And solid endings projected into the future are important.
Endings are the victory conditions and set the outcome of the world for a time to come. Multiple endings are great things to have, it is similar to playing with different Civ styles in 4X games with the ending reflecting what you do to the world/universe.
So the problem isn't that the game is too open but that it isn't responsive. With a time limit and larger effects for every action, EVERYTHING IS THE MAIN QUEST. Doing nothing is effecting the main quest and changing the world.
That is what makes Fallout more gripping, the world moves without you instead of treating the player like a baby thinking that covering their eyes makes the world disappear. Or that the world is a spookhouse where the monsters take off their costumes and go smoke when the player isn't looking because the entire history of the world waits for the player.
Without a time limit the main quest is just an annoying thing to pick up and exists in a shitty vacuum. Morrowind is extremely static anyways and the lack of a time limit or real ending is only the final stamp on it.
The problem is lack of change and change requires an ending. Morrowind has an ending for the main quest but it doesn't effect much and is treated like a big side-quest.
Not having an ending makes the game static. Without an ending the world never changes.
RPGs can learn a lot from 4X games. 4X games can be considered the most open but they still have victory conditions, it would get too repetitive and would go on forever without them.
An RPG's story should be about the fate of something with an ending when the fate is decided. For this reason there should always be a time frame.
Most 4X games have a tech victory, the scope of the content should provide a natural limit. Once progress stops there should be an ending or else the sense of history fails.
A time limit is important. A fate will come about even if it is the character's death from old age. Without a limit the world would not change at all for 1,000's of years. The Fallout's were smart to have a hard year cap.
Playing the game after an ending can invalidate it. Ending for each area are great but going back and killing people messes things up. And solid endings projected into the future are important.
Endings are the victory conditions and set the outcome of the world for a time to come. Multiple endings are great things to have, it is similar to playing with different Civ styles in 4X games with the ending reflecting what you do to the world/universe.
So the problem isn't that the game is too open but that it isn't responsive. With a time limit and larger effects for every action, EVERYTHING IS THE MAIN QUEST. Doing nothing is effecting the main quest and changing the world.
That is what makes Fallout more gripping, the world moves without you instead of treating the player like a baby thinking that covering their eyes makes the world disappear. Or that the world is a spookhouse where the monsters take off their costumes and go smoke when the player isn't looking because the entire history of the world waits for the player.
Without a time limit the main quest is just an annoying thing to pick up and exists in a shitty vacuum. Morrowind is extremely static anyways and the lack of a time limit or real ending is only the final stamp on it.