A Quest That Became Legend - gridless open world blobber

[Darth Canoli]

One thing that triggers me is how parkinson's monsters is now the norm, they won't stand still trying to find an opening, no, they have to mark the beat, dance like in Jackson's Thriller.

 

[Bad Sector]

In general a small motion to indicate breathing or eye darting to find opening, etc would make sense.

But in the video it is the skeleton that dances around when it would be the monster that have the least need to have any motion.

 

[Abu Antar]

I was wondering about this.

The word consists of 8 countries, traveling between countries, is done by simply walking to the border of one and you will arrive at the border of the neighbor country. You can also use a teleport.

 

[V_K]

So MM7 style. Pity.

 

[fantadomat]

So MM7 style. Pity.

TB is inferior combat style for blobbers.

 

[Bad Sector]

So MM7 style. Pity.

What is the reason to call "pity"? Judging from the video the areas look big enough to give a sense of wilderness but not too big to become annoying slogs. The alternative is how we get these modern """"open"""" world environments with pointless randomly pregenerated empty spaces whose purpose is mainly to pad game length so developers can claim 1893129 hours of gameplay.

 

[V_K]

What is the reason to call "pity"?

Abstracting parts of the world is fine for mission-based games. In a supposedly open-world game, I'd rather have at least an explorable worldmap connecting the locations, if not a fully continuous map like Wiz7 or MM6.

 

[Bad Sector]

Abstracting parts of the world is fine for mission-based games. In a supposedly open-world game, I'd rather have at least an explorable worldmap connecting the locations, if not a fully continuous map like Wiz7 or MM6.

Well, this is exactly how you get the """"open"""" world environments i mentioned previously :-P.

IMO if the world itself and traversing it isn't a significant part of the gameplay (like in, e.g., Morrowind - and TBH i can't really think of any other game right now) i'd rather have open world games with the insignificant bits abstracted (like in, e.g., Fallout 1 and 2).

 

[V_K]

i'd rather have open world games with the insignificant bits abstracted (like in, e.g., Fallout 1 and 2).

Abstracting to a worldmap is fine, as I have previously written.

Well, this is exactly how you get the """"open"""" world environments i mentioned previously :-P.

Wiz7 doesn't have any padding. Nor do Grimrock 2 or Lords of Xulima for example.
On the other hand, the aforementioned MM7 or Dragon Age abstract parts of the gameworld, but it doesn't save them from bloat because bloat is these series whole philosophy.

 

[Bad Sector]

Wiz7 doesn't have any padding. Nor do Grimrock 2 or Lords of Xulima for example.

I haven't played these games to judge that (i've played a bit of Wiz7 but not enough to tell), however my point isn't that there aren't games that aren't padded (e.g. i do not think Gothic 1 is padded either) but that asking for big seamless worlds leads to games that focus on having big seamless worlds even when that doesn't make sense or isn't necessarily (because PR is usually like "big number > not-big number" regardless of what that implies) - which ends up with modern games having overly padded worlds.

On the other hand [..] Dragon Age abstract parts of the gameworld, but it doesn't save them from bloat

Perhaps we refer to different things? I never found the world in Dragon Age to be bloated. The only thing i remember being annoyed with when it came to the world locations is that the (IIRC) Redcliffe entry point was too far from the village.

Also FWIW padding isn't the only issue, i also personally simply do not like just "walking" through the worlds unless they are both interesting and have interesting traversal options (which boils down "unless they are Morrowind" since that is the only game i can think of which was like that and the only game i had fun locating some random cave in the middle of nowhere because i had to ask for directions, follow routes and plan for how to travel using in-game means).

Even with something like New Vegas that i consider one of my favorite RPGs of all time, i like it despite its (mostly) seamless world and i'd prefer it if it had abstracted the overworld like in the classic Fallout games.

 

[V_K]

Perhaps we refer to different things? I never found the world in Dragon Age to be bloated. The only thing i remember being annoyed with when it came to the world locations is that the (IIRC) Redcliffe entry point was too far from the village.

Most DAO levels are heavily bloated in the sense 90% of their space doesn't contain anything other than trash combats and trash loot. I haven't played the sequels, but from what I hear they're even worse in that regard.

i do not think Gothic 1 is padded either

I do. Precisely because its world is too small, the plot makes you run in circles around the same three locations over and over again.

sking for big seamless worlds

I didn't say anything about big.
Although IMO a sense of scale enhances immersion. You have zero need to access 99,9% of Daggerfall's space, but knowing that it's there adds to the fun.

 

[Bad Sector]

Most DAO levels are heavily bloated in the sense 90% of their space doesn't contain anything other than trash combats and trash loot. I haven't played the sequels, but from what I hear they're even worse in that regard.

Yes they are, but i wasn't referring to the encounters, but to how the locations are designed. I never felt that any of the locations was bigger than they should be - some quests do have you going back and forward (similar with Gothic) but i'd blame the quest design here, not the world design. Similarly for encounters - encounter design vs the world design.

Although IMO a sense of scale enhances immersion. You have zero need to access 99,9% of Daggerfall's space, but knowing that it's there adds to the fun.

Well, i guess we simply have different preferences here, personally i do not find scale increasing immersion - if anything since i like to learn the areas the game takes place in, i find it annoying when they're made up with irrelevant stuff.

Daggerfall though is kind of a special case because everything is randomly generated and you never really have to travel the world "by foot" so it doesn't really make sense to even worry about the world much.

 

[V_K]

Daggerfall though is kind of a special case because everything is randomly generated

It is a common misconception. The only thing randomly generated in DF are sidequests. Side dungeons, most cities, and the main landmass are procedurally generated, but not randomly (they use a fixed seed). And then main quest dungeons and capital cities are hand-designed.

you never really have to travel the world "by foot"

Witch covens are located in the overworld, so there is this one exception.

Yes they are, but i wasn't referring to the encounters, but to how the locations are designed. I never felt that any of the locations was bigger than they should be - some quests do have you going back and forward (similar with Gothic) but i'd blame the quest design here, not the world design. Similarly for encounters - encounter design vs the world design.

My point is, they are about as fun to explore as Skyrim's wilderness.
Even less fun, I would say, because the trash encounter frequency is lower in Skyrim's wilderness, and you do have a chance to stumble over something interesting.

 

[Bad Sector]

It is a common misconception. The only thing randomly generated in DF are sidequests. Side dungeons, most cities, and the main landmass are procedurally generated, but not randomly (they use a fixed seed).

No, they are randomly generated but as you wrote the random generator has a fixed seed - however their placement, contents and overall setup is random, even if it remains the same across runs. Procedural generation is orthogonal to that, something that is procedurally generated can still be designed by hand (by providing inputs that drive the procedural generation) but Daggerfall's world wasn't designed by hand (i intentionally ignored the few hand-made parts because we are discussing about the world in general and those are only a very tiny part of the overall world).

As a simple example, the textures in Q1K3 are procedurally generated, but not randomly generated, instead they are designed with a dedicated tool that defines the steps to create the texture (the numbers at the top). If those steps were instead randomly chosen, the textures would be randomly generated too - regardless of if a random or fixed seed was used.

My point is, they are about as fun to explore as Skyrim's wilderness.

I guess it depends if you consider combat as part of exploration, personally i see these as separate. E.g. i only find Morrowind's combat "fine" but its exploration to be excellent and the former doesn't affect the latter for me.

 

[V_K]

random, even if it remains the same across runs

My brain just exploded.

 

[Bad Sector]

random, even if it remains the same across runs

My brain just exploded.

Perhaps an easier to way to describe it is that the object placement, setup, etc are the output of a random number generator, thus they are randomly generated. Their placement, setup, etc can be fixed with a fixed seed that causes them to be the same across runs, but they still is the result of randomness.

 

[Infinitron]

Working on optimization lately and made it so that LOD distance can be adjusted by the player. This and many other options ensure that you don’t need a high-end PC to run A Quest That Became Legend

 

[Infinitron]

Rasunda is 1 of the 8 main worlds in A Quest That Became Legend. It's a vast jungle with valleys and rivers. Here's a little peek of the level, there is still some work to be done but it should be finished soon.

 

[Darth Canoli]

If their goal is to make a party based walking simulator, they're on the right track.
2min30 without a single enemy or interaction of any kind...

Also, M&M 6-8 have enemies move simultaneously, I'm not sure it's the case here, it might get tedious fast if we're facing a lot of them.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I really wanted to see a plunge into the deep water.

Is there an itchio demo?

 

[Abu Antar]

Btw, enemies are disabled in these environmental video showcases.

 

[Atlantico]

I didn't see a thread yet for in development game A Quest That Became Legend (twitter updates only so far https://twitter.com/quest_that)



6 classes so far, party of 4, doesn't look too complex but probably of interest for people who liked the M&M 6 and onward or Wiz 8 hopefully

So even thought this plays exactly like a third rate Skyrim clone, it's a "blobber" because it is "party based"?

This despite the "party" is nothing more than skill-trees with portraits.

So basically: "party based Skyrim" is blobber. Gotcha.

 

[Infinitron]

Almost done with the jungle so here's another look. This time from one of the river systems ending up in some old ruins - once inhabited by a great evil, wonder if it's still there deep down in the dark?

 

[Bad Sector]

So even thought this plays exactly like a third rate Skyrim clone, it's a "blobber" because it is "party based"?

This despite the "party" is nothing more than skill-trees with portraits.

Have you played games like Might & Magic 6 or Wizards & Warriors? Here is Wizards & Warriors where your party of 6, including an elephant man, is carried by a single horse:

These games always took some liberties with the whole "party of <number>" aspect, hence the term "blobber" (they act as a single entity).

 

[Atlantico]

These games always took some liberties with the whole "party of <number>" aspect, hence the term "blobber" (they act as a single entity).

Quite so, they act as a single entity, which makes it mechanically identical to a game with a single entity.