Exploration Versus Map Markers

[sXeth]

How is No Mans Sky, especially after the updates? I’ve always wanted to try it, because it seems like it could be a fun exploration/discovery type of game that would fit the RNG design aspect, and the planet hopping/looting with a specific purpose sounds fun. But then it got shit on for basically being boring and aimless I think?

It's an odd one to call really. In the end, the kind of basic gameplay to it is still largely the same (minus some of the vehicles and more recently mech suits), albeit significantly refined.


That said, the shift in focus from travelling to a vague distant goal to make-super-space base that you launch off on missions from suits the overall design better. The original game had a bunch of crafting that seemed to bog down the exploring, whereas now the crafting is more or less the goal, and nets you vast powerups for it.


There was also the general overhaul to make intersystem trading viable, and adding space missions proper, along with the multiplayer.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Yeah that is one thing I did like about GoT, using the wind as a travel guide, and the animals as indicators of interest. That was a nice, novel way to reskin a UI mechanic into something in world.

I just realized something....ha, for a second I thought you were referring to Game of Thrones lol.

 

[happyninja42]

I just realized something....ha, for a second I thought you were referring to Game of Thrones lol.

Yeah I had that same problem when I first started seeing people calling it GoT too xD

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Some kind of compromise would be ideal. I hate it when an NPC goes into minute detail describing who or what you're looking for like you're supposed to be taking notes, and then a marker just pops up on the minimap anyway.

 

[wings012]

The way I see it is that exploration requires some element of the unknown.

If the game very well needs me to get to somewhere specific, or find something specific - just give me a map marker. I don't want to be searching the entire second floor of a building when the item's on the bloody roof.

Exploration to me is more, I happen across some interesting locale. I can go in! There's enemies in there. Maybe there's items in there. There's no quest tied to it, but by searching around I can find notes, journals, or maybe assets placed in such a way that tells some sort of story. In this sense, I don't mind exploring. There's no specific goal, there's just a place.

I enjoy just searching and checking out random dungeons and whatnot in open world games like Fallout/Skyrim, this is where I enjoy exploration.

If a quest in those very same games need me to get to a specific person, just put a goddamn map marker on them. This is where I rather not have to 'explore'. Especially when certain NPCs roam about, have schedules or whatever. Or when items can otherwise be thrown about by in game physics.

It's more context sensitive I suppose?

I also really hate 'puzzle exploration' type quests, where there's some kinda fucking riddle or poem that's the answer to what you are looking for. I'm terrible at these and I am going to look it up online.

 

[dreng3]

I don't really mind generalized markers, like those that mark an area, and then, if you inquire with a nearby npc the marker updates to reflect more specific information.

I think the main issue is to ensure that there is gameplay beyond moving from marker to marker. Quests that pop up when you enter caves or dungeons, rare items, that actually influence gameplay, that you can hunt for, cool easter eggs, hidden merchants or quest givers. The main problems with markers is that the player tends to focus on the areas around markers, neglecting the rest of the landscape.