Question of the Day, April 19, 2010

[The Escapist Staff]

Question of the Day, April 19, 2010



Going along with the theme of today's quiz, let's talk videogame landscapes. Are distinctive and vibrant environments essential to your gaming experience? What are some of your favorite videogame environments?

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[Katherine Kerensky]

I would not say they are essential to the gaming experience.
Just look at games like Fallout 3. Brown-on-grey-on-brown. Yet that was still a great, addictive game.

 

[Swaki]

they are a plus and a big one, machinarium is one of my favorite games, and to be honest the game part isnt that good.

 

[AboveUp]

Absolutely. If I can get lost in a video game world, the game has done it's job.

I know a lot of people are going to give me flack for this, but the only real gaming world that ever had me lost in it's vastness to the point it almost felt real was Morrowind. I still remember being shocked when I first headed to the northern parts of the island and saw how dead the lands were there, the volcanic center of the island scared me, the eastern parts made me feel like I was exploring something magical and larger than myself. I haven't felt anything like it during the current generation. Although Mass Effect 2 came close to getting certain areas just right.

I would not say they are essential to the gaming experience.
Just look at games like Fallout 3. Brown-on-grey-on-brown. Yet that was still a great, addictive game.

I could argue with that, saying that Fallout 3 got the post apocalyptic feel just right. I went did a run avoiding all the towns and such once, just try to stay alive by fighting for survival. I was completely drawn into its world.

 

[Swaki]

I would not say they are essential to the gaming experience.
Just look at games like Fallout 3. Brown-on-grey-on-brown. Yet that was still a great, addictive game.

you don't think the ruined city of Washington struggling to survive, with mutants and humans on the edge of their physic isn't a distinctive background?, would fallout 3 have been a equally fun game if you ran around in a plain field/dessert.

i would say the fallout series is great mainly because of its great background of a ruined society.

 

[AkJay]

In Fallout 3, the environment around you felt like a living, breathing character in its own right.

 

[JoJo Bizzaro 7]

They help me get immersed in the experience. Why wouldn't I want large, vivid landscape to explore/appreciate from a distance?

 

[Irridium]

I would say absolutely. I remember playing Dreamfall... holy crap was it amazing. Each area was unique and awesome...

And it is probably why I love the game so much.

 

[oppp7]

I can play depressing, colorless hellscapes but I prefer vibrant landscapes.

 

[Arcticflame]

Clearly, it depends entirely upon the game.

Generally a sandbox game requires lush environments, or there is no point to it being a sandbox game.

Conversely, an RTS or FPS doesn't need amazing, vibrant environments, although they can help to immerse you in the atmosphere.

My favourite environment's would be threefold. Oblivion - Amazingly beautiful. Braid - Somehow poignant. And san andreas - Cartoony and fun.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Oh yes.

A huge part of why I thought PoP 2008 superior to the Sand of Time Trilogy.

 

[Benj17]

Only if theyre done gradually e.g. i don't want to be in a summer paradise and after walking through a gate enter a winter wonderland, I'd prefer if you could see slight change before the major change

as for the the colours i really don't mind playing with dirt smothered across my screen, i don't usually take setting as a deciding factor. If a developer can make me feel something about the enviroment then congrats to them, but if the games good anyway i'd play a game set in a white box and be happy with it

 

[erbkaiser]

Gameplay is more important. The world's best looking game can be absolutely worthless to play (hello Avatar the game!) whereas games that look like they were made on a budget of five dollars and a sixpack of beer can be immense fun (hello Time Gentlemen, Please!).

 

[Flames66]

I like big open environments. As long as they have lots of cover in them I'm not really bothered what they look like, though a forest is nice. If I wan't to see beautiful landscapes I can just walk for about 10 minutes from my house.

 

[Warrior Irme]

Gameplay is needed more than anything, but if I don't like what I am looking at then I won't be wanting to play for a period more than say 20 minutes. I don't need HD graphics, but I do need everything to look well put together. N64 has some of the worst 34 models, but I love playing the games I kept because everything looks nicely put together. Worst game I played in recent history was the beta of Fallen Earth. Could have been a great game, if I didn't keep falling through floors, clipped into stairways, or be halted by tiny pebbles. Fix problems that break immersion and even the most simplistic of backgrounds can be great.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

I take distinctive to mean something that stands out from all the rest. An environment that enhances the game, rather than just being a backdrop. For that reason, I think such a thing is very important to the game's immersive qualities. Whether it's colorful or not or or uniquely animated (think the backdrop of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet) doesn't matter, as long as it suits the game itself.

 

[Rafe]

I'd say yes. The environment influences the music, the character's moods and the feel of the Game.

I can't think of one of my favorite games that doesn't have a distinctive background.

 

[Rogue 9]

I guess I'd say they're nice when you have them, but they aren't make or break. A lot of space games, for example, will have your flashy city, your slum, your fire world, your ice world and some other more generic ones. That doesn't mean I hold it against them as long as the levels are laid out alright, the NPCs are interesting and the gameplay's fun.

But then you get the rare game like Metroid Prime where it takes those standards and just blows them out of the water. I still think the first Metroid Prime is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. The first time you step out into the main Phendrana Drifts area... breath taking.

And I guess other honourable mentions would go to Chrono Trigger for the variety (65000000BC to 2300AD) and Mirror's Edge (Sure it was mostly either shiny rooftops, back alleys or subway tunnels but the city was just realised so perfectly).

 

[De Ronneman]

It's just as important as a character or a physicsengine.

If I don't believe the realm I'm in, I cannot enjoy a game.

Take a game about spacemarines shooting aliens, and place it in 7th century Rome. It might still look awesome, but it doesn't fit.

Also, if your world is ugly, I don't feel like walking in it a lot., thus severly cutting down the time I'll play a game.

In the pollresults I've seen a lot of people deemed surroundings not so important to be gamebreaking. Those people are obviously unreal, because environment can certainly make or break a game.