Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Teach me how to sandbox

eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
Kenshi.
Rimworld.
Mount and Blade.
Don't Starve.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead.

How are you playing these games? Or more precisely - WHY are you playing these games?

What drives you to continue? Making objectives for myself just doesn't make sense. There is always the feeling of wasting my time, that I could just play something with objectives and a clear goal.

Enlighten me. What is that thing that is eluding me and that you have discovered?
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
It's about the journey, not the destination. In Kenshi for example, story comes to you emergently. You just play to explore and adventure, not because someone told you to. Just play it loose and have fun. Quest givers are overrated.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
11,759
If you aren't the sort of person who explores a dungeon because it's there, then you shouldn't be playing RPGs.

LjgmAwc.png


H3P1aVd.png


hTxWDLX.png


The Masterless Knight, Salt & Sanctuary (2016)
 

user

Savant
Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
835
Haven't played Cataclysm but Rimworld and Don't Starve have actual goals. Don't Starve has the adventure mode and in Rimworld you can make a spaceship to escape the planet. Plus on both, continued survival becomes somewhat harder so it might be interesting to see how long you can survive. M&B also has viking conquest. But even if they don't have a clear goal, like Kenshi, the answer is to RP. And by RP I don't mean some kind of weird ritual or smth, but just do what you would do if you were in the game. For example, you can start as an escaped slave in Kenshi - wouldn't you want to really become a free man, be as strong as possible and live comfortably in the world of Kenshi by building a base/upgrading it, training your skills, researching, etc?
 
Last edited:

alyvain

Learned
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
376
Kenshi has exploration and subtle lore-faggotry or is it more like Mount & Blade in this aspect?
 

Serious_Business

Best Poster on the Codex
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
3,909
Location
Frown Town
What drives you to continue? Making objectives for myself just doesn't make sense. There is always the feeling of wasting my time, that I could just play something with objectives and a clear goal.

I'll give you a clear goal you fucking peon, come work in my factory. But first you have to cut off that dick, you know how it is
 

Drowed

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
1,676
Location
Core City
Enlighten me. What is that thing that is eluding me and that you have discovered?

Nothing. Essentially, this is the kind of thing that either you get right away, or you're never going to get it, I guess.

Thinking about what is the fun of games like the ones you quoted isn't very different from thinking about what would be the fun in playing a game like SimCity. You have to build a city, but how you will do this is something that is up to you to decide how to do it. In fact, in these games you do have a goal: either to survive, or to get stronger, or to build a city. What you usually don't have is a defined ending. Actually, I think that's the key point here, usually we play a game with the intention of reaching its end. Any quest, objective or goal that comes up is just another step towards the end of the story. What you want, then, is a direction, something that points you to what the condition for victory is.

So much so, that I'm pretty sure that if any of these games had a final goal (say, building a city with X inhabitants in Kenshi, or making a spaceship and going into space in Rimworld, or something like that) I'm sure that at that point, you could see the fun of these games. So it's not enough that the game offers you goals/quests/challenges, you want a finishing line. And if that's what you want, I'd say you'll never get to see the fun of games that are "just" sandboxes.
 

Kev Inkline

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
5,074
A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Just be obnoxious and disagree with everyone. Call names, make strawmen etc. A little racism won't hurt either.


Wait, how to sandbox...I read how to shoutbox...nvm
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
How you can't see clear goals in Cataclysm DDA? Survive, build a base, test every mechanic, find every book in the world. Make a halberd and kill shocker brute, explore every type of building on the map, kill fungaloids and blow up Fungal spire. Finish all NPC quests. Do something, nigger faggot!
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom