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What is good exploration to you?

What is good exploration to you? Pick 5 most important aspects.


  • Total voters
    119

Darth Canoli

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First, something obvious but i have to say it.
Sense of danger in a cRPG = Arx Fatalis.

A fog of war that can be slowly unveiled. I want the sense of pioneers heading into uncharted territory.

I'm not sure how you mean it.
I would rather have some (very limited) areas where there is some natural or unnatural fog and you can't see very far unless you the Artifact lamp of true path (which you can only find off the beaten path, otherwise, your game design is garbage) or a rare spell.

If it's about visibility, like exploring a dense forest and not being able to see very far away, i agree, of course, if it's just having a fog of war for the sake of it, i don't find it very interesting.

I'd rather have a double or triple visibility radius, one for the obvious environment, and you can see it from afar, a second one for creatures, in that case, visibility depend on their size and movement (and object hiding them) and a third one for hidden objects and creatures.
Two layers if fine though.


Going by some recent and not that recent discussions, it occurred to me that what people mean by good exploration can vary greatly. So let's discuss - what do you value when exploring and what you don't care about? And what are the games that do it best?

Personally, exploration is most fun to me when it's the main driver of progression. Consider, for example, Grimrock 2: you only have one overarching objective - to escape from the island - there are no main or side quests beyond that. Instead narrative is structured through level design, in a kind of horseshoe loops: you explore freely until you come upon an obstacle that blocks your progress (a puzzle, a trap, a locked door), then you explore sideways to find a solution. Bonus points if the solution can be accomplished in several ways depending on your character build like in Quest for Glory or, more recently, Prey (although the latter two have more of a mixed, both plot- and exploration-driven progression). And you can contrast that with Morrowind or Gothic, which while having open worlds, progress through a linear succession of quests, largely depriving exploration of any importance.

On the other hand, I've recently found out that I don't care for multiple paths through the levels as much as I thought. Though in retrospect it's quite logical: if exploring a level is fun, then you'd want to explore all of it, leaving no stone unturned. And if it's not fun, even figuring out which path to take becomes a chore.

Many games nailed exploration with a different approach, Might & Magic series, the latest Wizardry trilogy (didn't play the earlier titles), Arx Fatalis, etc.
Didn't like KotOR one as much (multiple optional paths in most dungeons) for example.
Arcanum over-world exploration (Like Fallout but with some hidden/inaccessible locations) works fine too while its dungeon design is terrible.
 

Dorateen

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A fog of war that can be slowly unveiled. I want the sense of pioneers heading into uncharted territory.

I'm not sure how you mean it.
I would rather have some (very limited) areas where there is some natural or unnatural fog and you can't see very far unless you the Artifact lamp of true path (which you can only find off the beaten path, otherwise, your game design is garbage) or a rare spell.

In the grid-based blobber sense. Think of Isles of Terra, and uncovering the map square by square. Some games like Grimoire include a map completion percentage as you explore each tile. Very satisfying.
 

mondblut

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Are there actually 3d rpgs that have a 'vista' locations? One without enemies, without any writted word, no loot. Just a place that is something. Like an abandoned tower that you literally explore
for the sake of exploring it. And it maybe tells its story visually and structurally wihtout any payout at the end?

Kenshi. That's pretty much all there is. Minus the "one without enemies" part.
 

Citizen

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Exploring new poses with OP's mom lmao

actually deus ex is superior to all, with ho ourable mentions for morrowind and QfG
 

jac8awol

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Am I the only one that thought BG1 had good exploration? That pseudo-open world feeling you get at the beginning after Candlekeep being able to leave a map and choose 4 directions, I felt pretty spoiled. I even liked the fog of war, never knowing what could be hiding under the next bunch of black pixels.

So, if not open world, then at least big hubs with varied locations, NPCs, enemies, loot... basically just variety And movement not being constrained too much. I'm also playing a Final Fantasy at the moment and the walking is just a waste of time, your movement routes are so railroaded you might as well be on autopilot. That kind of thing could make sense in an RPG in a mine or dungeon maybe, but I think freedom of movement enhances exploration.

I guess perspective plays a role too. When I look at the options in the poll there's a lot of FPP, but when I think of games where exploration sticks out, my brain goes isometric BG, Fallout, Icewind Dale. Stuff like Deus Ex that gets credited for good exploration because of different paths just felt superfluous and phony to me when I'd shoot up a room of bad guys, then find the airvent that leads back outside the room for the stealth option.
 

Daedalos

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Multiple paths/ways through the story and content, with new rewards and options depending on your skill and character build, and uncovering hidden shit, seekrets, and cool shit that you normally wouldn't have thought of.

I like detective shit, or just travesing areas that has intersting lore or setting for you to uncover
 

JarlFrank

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Am I the only one that thought BG1 had good exploration?

I thought BG1 had trash exploration, the maps are way too empty, they're always rectangular in size, and exploring them is all about uncovering the RTS-style fog of war, so you can easily systemically comb them from top to bottom. Meh.
 
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Am I the only one that thought BG1 had good exploration?

Nope, same as Kingdom Come Deliverance it's a game that isn't afraid to let landscape is what landscape occasionally is -- landscape. Typical game worlds feel like theme parks, where everything is perfectly laid out and planned to entertain you in some way... gamey. The devs of KCD acknowledged though that it may bore some of their audience and took that gamble -- for Bioware it was likely merely an accident going by all their subequent games.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Am I the only one that thought BG1 had good exploration?

I thought BG1 had trash exploration, the maps are way too empty, they're always rectangular in size, and exploring them is all about uncovering the RTS-style fog of war, so you can easily systemically comb them from top to bottom. Meh.
I thought it was pretty and varied compared to RTS and besides there was enough stuff to see to keep it interesting for the 1st playthrough.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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The poll is missing an option for logistics, i.e. management of resources during exploration, whether due to inventory limitations, encumbrance, stamina/fatigue, hunger, thirst, sleep, realistic lighting and a day/night cycle, Vancian magical spell memorization, weapon/armor deterioration and repair, or any other similar factors.

Dungeon Master, for example, possessed for each player-character a limited number of inventory slots for equipping and storing items, encumbrance that resulted from the cumulative weight of items in inventory, stamina that was depleted by character actions, separate food and water meters that gradually diminished, and several increments of lighting depending on torches and spells in use (with near-total darkness in the absence of a light source).
 

V_K

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The poll is missing an option for logistics, i.e. management of resources during exploration, whether due to inventory limitations, encumbrance, stamina/fatigue, hunger, thirst, sleep, realistic lighting and a day/night cycle, Vancian magical spell memorization, weapon/armor deterioration and repair, or any other similar factors.
I'm all for resource management, but I've always considered it a separate gameplay system and not necessarily a part of exploration. I'll add the option to the poll though.
 

sullynathan

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Are there actually 3d rpgs that have a 'vista' locations? One without enemies, without any writted word, no loot. Just a place that is something. Like an abandoned tower that you literally explore
for the sake of exploring it. And it maybe tells its story visually and structurally wihtout any payout at the end?
Breath of the Wild has a few of these but people got butthurt and called it empty.
 

Bastardchops

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Any of those things can be good when done well. It's more things like quest markers that make exploration worse.
 

Shaewaroz

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Great poll options! Thanks OP.

One options is however missing:

- Exploring areas that are interconnected and logically consistent with the lore and overall artistic design of the world. Here the exploration and discovering the world is a reward in itself. Examples: Dark Souls, Wizardry 8.
 

Shaewaroz

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Danger shouldn't be seen only in the sense of survival, but also as something that seduces. It's related to the hero's inner quest. You can go deeper into it or turn back, but at some point you may get lost--that's when survival begins. There are unknown dangers lurking in the shadows, every shape comes alive. When you come back to safety, you'll feel different.

It's like that stuff Dr. Peterson talks about!
 

Ismaul

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Gothic and ELEX have the best exploration of all games I've ever played, RPG or not.

The sense of danger is key, that's true, but it's also a lot about the challenge that danger brings. You see some human-made structure from far away and want to get to it, or one guarded by very strong creatures. So you have to figure out a way to get to the place somehow, despite the danger and difficulty to get there. Be clever, use all available tools, run for your life, that's how you do it. And when you succeed in getting there, it's an accomplishment, just having done it is rewarding.

On top of that there might something interesting there. Some rare gear (if the challenge was great), a nice vista, sure, but one thing that is awesome is that what you find tell a story of what happened there, organically. You get a feel for the people that lived there, what the place is used for, how the guy died, etc. It all feels quite natural, it makes sense within the logic of the world and sometimes even deepens your understanding of it. Quite the contrast with what you see in too many games, where you just find an obvious path off the main one that leads to a dead-end with a chest.

Age of Decadence also deserves a mention, but it's a much different kind of exploration, where each playthrough gives you access to some other part of the lore and opens new paths. That's great too, but yeah I'm not so sure you'd call it "exploration".


Are there actually 3d rpgs that have a 'vista' locations? One without enemies, without any writted word, no loot. Just a place that is something. Like an abandoned tower that you literally explore for the sake of exploring it. And it maybe tells its story visually and structurally wihtout any payout at the end?
ELEX!
incline.png


There are many high ground spots you can find giving you a view overlooking a huge swath of land, many of them hard to get to. Sometimes there's even a chair for you to sit in, left by someone enjoying the vista before you, sometimes with cigs or beer bottles around, or even toilet paper.
 

V_K

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Personally, I've come to realize I don't give a rat's ass about the sense of danger - not the actual danger, that's mighty fine as long as it's reasonably telegraphed. But the stuff like jump scares, ambushes and other random encounters, one-hit-killers hiding just around the corner, Dark Souls-style trolling etc. actually ruins exploration for me forcing me to approach it conservatively instead of creatively. I've had this thing with Prey recently - while technically an explorefag's wet dream, all the jump scares just make it impossible to pause and think. I've basically resorted to a routine where I first clear the level of enemies and only then get to exploring it properly.
I vastly prefer slow and methodical exploration of something like Myst or Grimrock 2 - where the challenge lies in figuring out what this place's deal is and how to get through or out of it.
 

Darth Canoli

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  1. Hidden lore: Morrowind, Geneforge
    47 vote(s)
    54.0%

47 Lorefags and counting...
I'm all for an interesting lore as far as it's connected to the gameplay (meaning you gather some useful information for side-quests and/or the main quest) so it rewards the time you spend to read tons of average prose.
 

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