LogFAQs > #935470279

joe40001 posted...

The open world stuff isn't integrated into anything. If you are saying "yes it's a fun naughty dog story based game, and also it's a decent but unbalanced open world game with realism except for random inconvenient times when it doesn't have realism", then yes I agree. But that's why it's a game that doesn't know what it wants to be.

Another example: One could definitely say this game encourages you to want to be an outlaw, but outside the story missions, have you ever tried to be an outlaw? He covers this in the video but between the alert system, the flawed bounty system, and randomly spawning sheriffs it's basically impossible.

If you are like me you tried to have freeplay fun being an outlaw, until you quickly had a max debt of 350 in some town even though there was no real way to prevent that from happening. You can't rob a store or bank without getting spotted, you can't rob a train without instantly being ambushed, there are very few crimes you can do without being spotted and having to stop a witness during which you are often spotted again.

There might be a better way to play with disguises and masks and being careful with the wanted/bounty system, but like he breaks down in the video, the rules for this are pretty obtuse, not well communicated, and still inconsistent.

It is a game that promises a lot of freedom but doesn't really deliver that, unless you count going to preset locations to do preset mini-games or scripted missions. That plus it's inconsistent realism (and not in service of convenience as you imply) are why it is a messy game.

It's still good in many ways, but ultimately it does have an identity crisis and doesn't come together as a cohesive whole game.

the open-world is full of discovery and side-missions, and it has stages that you'll come across during the narrative.

you might lack freedom during the main story, and the gameplay would most likely be more interesting if you had more of it, but the developers never said that you'd be able to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. that doesn't make the open-world aspect "unbalanced". in most games, there are elements/mechanics that you don't always have access to, due to limitations, for example; maybe it sucks for some of the players, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the design is flawed.

and maybe R* wanted to have "Naughty Dog" linearity during its missions, and open-world gameplay outside of them. I felt that the balance was handled well, you didn't, and it is what it is.

I can't comment on the wanted/bounty stuff, though, since I've only ever encountered bounty hunters and not law enforcement, iirc, and I don't think that I've ever tried wearing a mask.

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