Another Completely Random And Pointless poll! It's been a while since
we had one.

So, welcome to your newest video game, "Super Open World Adventure
XII: The Opening World of Ultimate Openess"! You've been waiting to
play it for months and now here it is!

You've dutifully gone through the character generation and tutorial,
and now the game's vast virtual world has opened up in front of you.
So here's the question: What Do You Do?!?

a) Follow the main quest! That's what I'm here for; I've
got to save the world! Sub-quests are for low-tier
betas who Can't Get Things Done.

b) Follow the main quest as far as I can until I get
stuck by the difficulty, then grind away at the filler
material to get the gear needed to kill the Boss
monster blocking my way.

c) Dutifully seek out all the sub-quests, helping all the
pitiful villagers (and collecting all that phat lewt!)
I can until I get to the point of the game where I /have/
to take a main-quest to proceed

d) I'm a happy butterfly, flitting to and fro! Whatever
adventure I encounter first - be it main quest or side
quest - that's the one I'll do first, and then its back
to the random wandering until some new shiny quest
attracts my attention.

e) Aieeee! Quests! Run away, run away! I'm just here for
the random encounters/exploring/crafting, and anything
that smacks of Questiness I avoid whenever possible.

f) Open-world games? I wouldn't soil my RAM with such
filth. I'm sticking with Pac-Man! ;-P

Of course, all methods are (or should be) equally valid, so whichever
makes you enjoy the game the most are acceptable. But which one do you
fall into?

AS for myself, I definitely fall into Category C (with a touch of
Category D). There's a variety of reasons for this; because of a fear
of missing out (since main quest adventures often lock you out of
missed side-quests), or because side-quests are often more interesting
than the main adventures (the former tend to be very black-n-white;
side quests often have more shades of grey), and simply because I get
joy from wandering and encountering what the world has to throw at me.
Very rarely do I side-quest solely to level up or acquire better gear.
But it's only after I do most or all of the side-quests that I even
start thinking about the main quest adventures.

So how are you going to finish this game?

On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 8:44:27 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Another Completely Random And Pointless poll! It's been a while since
> we had one.
>
> So, welcome to your newest video game, "Super Open World Adventure
> XII: The Opening World of Ultimate Openess"! You've been waiting to
> play it for months and now here it is!
>
> You've dutifully gone through the character generation and tutorial,
> and now the game's vast virtual world has opened up in front of you.
> So here's the question: What Do You Do?!?
>
> a) Follow the main quest! That's what I'm here for; I've
> got to save the world! Sub-quests are for low-tier
> betas who Can't Get Things Done.
>
> b) Follow the main quest as far as I can until I get
> stuck by the difficulty, then grind away at the filler
> material to get the gear needed to kill the Boss
> monster blocking my way.
>
> c) Dutifully seek out all the sub-quests, helping all the
> pitiful villagers (and collecting all that phat lewt!)
> I can until I get to the point of the game where I /have/
> to take a main-quest to proceed
>
> d) I'm a happy butterfly, flitting to and fro! Whatever
> adventure I encounter first - be it main quest or side
> quest - that's the one I'll do first, and then its back
> to the random wandering until some new shiny quest
> attracts my attention.
>
> e) Aieeee! Quests! Run away, run away! I'm just here for
> the random encounters/exploring/crafting, and anything
> that smacks of Questiness I avoid whenever possible.
>
> f) Open-world games? I wouldn't soil my RAM with such
> filth. I'm sticking with Pac-Man! ;-P
>
>
> Of course, all methods are (or should be) equally valid, so whichever
> makes you enjoy the game the most are acceptable. But which one do you
> fall into?
>
> AS for myself, I definitely fall into Category C (with a touch of
> Category D). There's a variety of reasons for this; because of a fear
> of missing out (since main quest adventures often lock you out of
> missed side-quests), or because side-quests are often more interesting
> than the main adventures (the former tend to be very black-n-white;
> side quests often have more shades of grey), and simply because I get
> joy from wandering and encountering what the world has to throw at me.
> Very rarely do I side-quest solely to level up or acquire better gear.
> But it's only after I do most or all of the side-quests that I even
> start thinking about the main quest adventures.
>
> So how are you going to finish this game?

Either C or F. I HAVE to do it all. Elden Ring is definitely a downgrade to
me from DS3. Far too much junk and retreads, and far too long if you
do/collect everything. I didn't really realize I didn't like open world games
until I played it. I tried to get through it again, but I just chucked it
again yesterday at the 10 yard line at like 160 hours, I couldn't stomach
another 3rd person platforming moment.

Meanwhile I see glitchless speedrunners finishing the game in somewhere
around an hour, but they don't touch the majority of the game.

I've come to realize I like having a definite path, and tend to start looking
up walkthroughs when games give me multiple possible paths.
Though that may also be because it's so easy to either miss or screw
up questlines in From Games.

I also generally don't like crafting which tends to go with "open world."

H:ZD about 3/4ths of the way through I stopped collecting things,
and I never really did the 'hunter challenge' areas either as I found
them too finicky. I don't like games telling me I have to solve problems
exactly the way they want me to (i.e. take down 10 razorbacks with
electric traps) or whatever. I like to figure out what works for me.

- Justisaur

On 27/03/2023 16:44, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Another Completely Random And Pointless poll! It's been a while since
> we had one.
>
> So, welcome to your newest video game, "Super Open World Adventure
> XII: The Opening World of Ultimate Openess"! You've been waiting to
> play it for months and now here it is!
>
> You've dutifully gone through the character generation and tutorial,
> and now the game's vast virtual world has opened up in front of you.
> So here's the question: What Do You Do?!?
>
> a) Follow the main quest! That's what I'm here for; I've
> got to save the world! Sub-quests are for low-tier
> betas who Can't Get Things Done.
>
> b) Follow the main quest as far as I can until I get
> stuck by the difficulty, then grind away at the filler
> material to get the gear needed to kill the Boss
> monster blocking my way.
>
> c) Dutifully seek out all the sub-quests, helping all the
> pitiful villagers (and collecting all that phat lewt!)
> I can until I get to the point of the game where I /have/
> to take a main-quest to proceed
>
> d) I'm a happy butterfly, flitting to and fro! Whatever
> adventure I encounter first - be it main quest or side
> quest - that's the one I'll do first, and then its back
> to the random wandering until some new shiny quest
> attracts my attention.
>
> e) Aieeee! Quests! Run away, run away! I'm just here for
> the random encounters/exploring/crafting, and anything
> that smacks of Questiness I avoid whenever possible.
>
> f) Open-world games? I wouldn't soil my RAM with such
> filth. I'm sticking with Pac-Man! ;-P
>
>
> Of course, all methods are (or should be) equally valid, so whichever
> makes you enjoy the game the most are acceptable. But which one do you
> fall into?
>
> AS for myself, I definitely fall into Category C (with a touch of
> Category D). There's a variety of reasons for this; because of a fear
> of missing out (since main quest adventures often lock you out of
> missed side-quests), or because side-quests are often more interesting
> than the main adventures (the former tend to be very black-n-white;
> side quests often have more shades of grey), and simply because I get
> joy from wandering and encountering what the world has to throw at me.
> Very rarely do I side-quest solely to level up or acquire better gear.
> But it's only after I do most or all of the side-quests that I even
> start thinking about the main quest adventures.
>
> So how are you going to finish this game?
>
>

Like you I'm mainly c) with some d) and also for similar reasons. With
side quests you never quite know what you're getting and they are also
short enough that they don't overstay their welcome.

On 3/27/2023 8:44 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Another Completely Random And Pointless poll! It's been a while since
> we had one.
>
> So, welcome to your newest video game, "Super Open World Adventure
> XII: The Opening World of Ultimate Openess"! You've been waiting to
> play it for months and now here it is!
>
> You've dutifully gone through the character generation and tutorial,
> and now the game's vast virtual world has opened up in front of you.
> So here's the question: What Do You Do?!?
>
> a) Follow the main quest! That's what I'm here for; I've
> got to save the world! Sub-quests are for low-tier
> betas who Can't Get Things Done.
>
> b) Follow the main quest as far as I can until I get
> stuck by the difficulty, then grind away at the filler
> material to get the gear needed to kill the Boss
> monster blocking my way.
>
> c) Dutifully seek out all the sub-quests, helping all the
> pitiful villagers (and collecting all that phat lewt!)
> I can until I get to the point of the game where I /have/
> to take a main-quest to proceed
>
> d) I'm a happy butterfly, flitting to and fro! Whatever
> adventure I encounter first - be it main quest or side
> quest - that's the one I'll do first, and then its back
> to the random wandering until some new shiny quest
> attracts my attention.
>
> e) Aieeee! Quests! Run away, run away! I'm just here for
> the random encounters/exploring/crafting, and anything
> that smacks of Questiness I avoid whenever possible.
>
> f) Open-world games? I wouldn't soil my RAM with such
> filth. I'm sticking with Pac-Man! ;-P
>
>
> Of course, all methods are (or should be) equally valid, so whichever
> makes you enjoy the game the most are acceptable. But which one do you
> fall into?
>
> AS for myself, I definitely fall into Category C (with a touch of
> Category D). There's a variety of reasons for this; because of a fear
> of missing out (since main quest adventures often lock you out of
> missed side-quests), or because side-quests are often more interesting
> than the main adventures (the former tend to be very black-n-white;
> side quests often have more shades of grey), and simply because I get
> joy from wandering and encountering what the world has to throw at me.
> Very rarely do I side-quest solely to level up or acquire better gear.
> But it's only after I do most or all of the side-quests that I even
> start thinking about the main quest adventures.
>
> So how are you going to finish this game?
>
D with a willingness to simply drop a quest and do something else if it
turns out I'm not powerful enough currently for it. I (usually,
depending on the game) can come back and finish it when I'm ready.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 27/03/2023 20:07, Justisaur wrote:
> On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 8:44:27 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> Another Completely Random And Pointless poll! It's been a while since
>> we had one.
>>
>> So, welcome to your newest video game, "Super Open World Adventure
>> XII: The Opening World of Ultimate Openess"! You've been waiting to
>> play it for months and now here it is!
>>
>> You've dutifully gone through the character generation and tutorial,
>> and now the game's vast virtual world has opened up in front of you.
>> So here's the question: What Do You Do?!?
>>
>> a) Follow the main quest! That's what I'm here for; I've
>> got to save the world! Sub-quests are for low-tier
>> betas who Can't Get Things Done.
>>
>> b) Follow the main quest as far as I can until I get
>> stuck by the difficulty, then grind away at the filler
>> material to get the gear needed to kill the Boss
>> monster blocking my way.
>>
>> c) Dutifully seek out all the sub-quests, helping all the
>> pitiful villagers (and collecting all that phat lewt!)
>> I can until I get to the point of the game where I /have/
>> to take a main-quest to proceed
>>
>> d) I'm a happy butterfly, flitting to and fro! Whatever
>> adventure I encounter first - be it main quest or side
>> quest - that's the one I'll do first, and then its back
>> to the random wandering until some new shiny quest
>> attracts my attention.
>>
>> e) Aieeee! Quests! Run away, run away! I'm just here for
>> the random encounters/exploring/crafting, and anything
>> that smacks of Questiness I avoid whenever possible.
>>
>> f) Open-world games? I wouldn't soil my RAM with such
>> filth. I'm sticking with Pac-Man! ;-P
>>
>>
>> Of course, all methods are (or should be) equally valid, so whichever
>> makes you enjoy the game the most are acceptable. But which one do you
>> fall into?
>>
>> AS for myself, I definitely fall into Category C (with a touch of
>> Category D). There's a variety of reasons for this; because of a fear
>> of missing out (since main quest adventures often lock you out of
>> missed side-quests), or because side-quests are often more interesting
>> than the main adventures (the former tend to be very black-n-white;
>> side quests often have more shades of grey), and simply because I get
>> joy from wandering and encountering what the world has to throw at me.
>> Very rarely do I side-quest solely to level up or acquire better gear.
>> But it's only after I do most or all of the side-quests that I even
>> start thinking about the main quest adventures.
>>
>> So how are you going to finish this game?
>
> Either C or F. I HAVE to do it all. Elden Ring is definitely a downgrade to
> me from DS3. Far too much junk and retreads, and far too long if you
> do/collect everything. I didn't really realize I didn't like open world games
> until I played it. I tried to get through it again, but I just chucked it
> again yesterday at the 10 yard line at like 160 hours, I couldn't stomach
> another 3rd person platforming moment.
>
> Meanwhile I see glitchless speedrunners finishing the game in somewhere
> around an hour, but they don't touch the majority of the game.
>
> I've come to realize I like having a definite path, and tend to start looking
> up walkthroughs when games give me multiple possible paths.
> Though that may also be because it's so easy to either miss or screw
> up questlines in From Games.
>

Well horses for courses and all that but I try and avoid walk-throughs
unless I'm really, really stuck. Does that mean I miss out on side
quests, oh absolutely but for me the big draw of open world games is
just finding something without knowing what it's going to be beforehand.
Even guides in general I tend to avoid unless they are one of those the
basics for beginners ones. It may mean I don't have the most optimal
character build but that's what the difficult slider is for!

Then again I did know someone many years ago who wouldn't play a game
unless there was some sort of god mode patch.

> I also generally don't like crafting which tends to go with "open world."
>

Very much agree on that as I don't find it really adds anything to the
game beyond a time filler. It would be like playing D&D and enforcing
the need for spell materials even if they are mundane.

> H:ZD about 3/4ths of the way through I stopped collecting things,
> and I never really did the 'hunter challenge' areas either as I found
> them too finicky. I don't like games telling me I have to solve problems
> exactly the way they want me to (i.e. take down 10 razorbacks with
> electric traps) or whatever. I like to figure out what works for me.
>
> - Justisaur

On Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:36:30 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 27/03/2023 20:07, Justisaur wrote:
>> On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 8:44:27?AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>>> So how are you going to finish this game?
>>
>> Either C or F. I HAVE to do it all. Elden Ring is definitely a downgrade to
>> me from DS3. Far too much junk and retreads, and far too long if you
>> do/collect everything. I didn't really realize I didn't like open world games
>> until I played it. I tried to get through it again, but I just chucked it
>> again yesterday at the 10 yard line at like 160 hours, I couldn't stomach
>> another 3rd person platforming moment.

Oh yah, that's definitely an advantage to side-quests; they tend to be
short. While some are awesome, some are sub-par, but who cares if
they're done in ten minutes? This doesn't lead me to want to do the
sub-quests first (again, FOMO is more of an issue) but it makes the
pain of subquesting less.

>> Meanwhile I see glitchless speedrunners finishing the game in somewhere
>> around an hour, but they don't touch the majority of the game.

I don't want to say I don't respect speedrunners unless they do 100%
speedruns, because I recognize the skill it takes to finish a game
that quickly. They've got skills and usually a lot more love and
knowledge of a game than I will ever have. But I definitely have more
/interest/ in those who 100% a game more than those who wall-hack
right to the end of a level.

Which isn't to say I have /a lot/ of interest in the 100% speedruns
either. Just more interest in them than those who do the minimum
effort to get to the end. ;-)

>> I also generally don't like crafting which tends to go with "open world."

>Very much agree on that as I don't find it really adds anything to the
>game beyond a time filler. It would be like playing D&D and enforcing
>the need for spell materials even if they are mundane.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Well, within reason. For common material components, I just allowed
the magic-user to spend some time searching the wilds (or shoppes) for
the necessary weeds and knicknacks. I only really enforced the rule
for spells that required expensive components (e.g., 100gp diamond
dust for Greater Restoration spell), and even then I went on the
player easy if the price seemed a bit high. Still, the player did have
to make /some/ effort to ensure he had material components - mundane
or otherwise - or I'd forbid the spell.

I also made them take into consideration things like food and shelter
when travelling overland, but then I always preferred outdoor
adventuring to dungeon crawls. Rarely did the players just get to
travel several days without, you know, actually playing out that
journey. You missed out on too many role-playing and world-building
opportunities otherwise.

(that's right, even when GMing a tabletop game I put the side-quests
ahead of the main quest ;-)

On 3/28/2023 7:34 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:36:30 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>> On 27/03/2023 20:07, Justisaur wrote:
>>> On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 8:44:27?AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>>>> So how are you going to finish this game?
>>>
>>> Either C or F. I HAVE to do it all. Elden Ring is definitely a downgrade to
>>> me from DS3. Far too much junk and retreads, and far too long if you
>>> do/collect everything. I didn't really realize I didn't like open world games
>>> until I played it. I tried to get through it again, but I just chucked it
>>> again yesterday at the 10 yard line at like 160 hours, I couldn't stomach
>>> another 3rd person platforming moment.
>
> Oh yah, that's definitely an advantage to side-quests; they tend to be
> short. While some are awesome, some are sub-par, but who cares if
> they're done in ten minutes? This doesn't lead me to want to do the
> sub-quests first (again, FOMO is more of an issue) but it makes the
> pain of subquesting less.
>
>>> Meanwhile I see glitchless speedrunners finishing the game in somewhere
>>> around an hour, but they don't touch the majority of the game.
>
> I don't want to say I don't respect speedrunners unless they do 100%
> speedruns, because I recognize the skill it takes to finish a game
> that quickly. They've got skills and usually a lot more love and
> knowledge of a game than I will ever have. But I definitely have more
> /interest/ in those who 100% a game more than those who wall-hack
> right to the end of a level.
>
I'd personally be more impressed if they did those speed runs the very
first time they ever played the game.... *evil grin*

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> So how are you going to finish this game?

It depends a little on the preceding Super Open World Adventures
I-XI. But assuming the series got into a bad place somewhere around
incarnation VIII and back on track after incarnation X... But it might
also be I got bored by III already and can hardly believe it's still
going on but taking a look at XII because it had favorable reviews.

For me it might well be A. If I need to level up then grinding side
missions is fine so possibly B too. Or if there's delicious l00t and XP
available. Possibly even low hanging fruit from DLC (looking at HZD
here.)

Likely not C unless I'm replaying and skipped most or all of the side
missions because the main quest was so interesting. Or even D if main
and side quests are all available then I might pick whatever seems
interesting.

On 29/03/2023 03:34, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> Very much agree on that as I don't find it really adds anything to the
>> game beyond a time filler. It would be like playing D&D and enforcing
>> the need for spell materials even if they are mundane.
> Hey! I resemble that remark!
>
> Well, within reason. For common material components, I just allowed
> the magic-user to spend some time searching the wilds (or shoppes) for
> the necessary weeds and knicknacks. I only really enforced the rule
> for spells that required expensive components (e.g., 100gp diamond
> dust for Greater Restoration spell), and even then I went on the
> player easy if the price seemed a bit high. Still, the player did have
> to make/some/ effort to ensure he had material components - mundane
> or otherwise - or I'd forbid the spell.
>
> I also made them take into consideration things like food and shelter
> when travelling overland, but then I always preferred outdoor
> adventuring to dungeon crawls. Rarely did the players just get to
> travel several days without, you know, actually playing out that
> journey. You missed out on too many role-playing and world-building
> opportunities otherwise.
>
> (that's right, even when GMing a tabletop game I put the side-quests
> ahead of the main quest 😉
>

I'm more of the type that thinks it's best to just abstract away the
mundane unless it adds to the game. So food, unless there's some sort of
constraint from say time or location then just assume that yes you do
get to eat.

Something I like about Call of Cthulhu is that it streamlines a
character's inventory into only listing the unusual and not items you'd
just expect to have. So no going to investigate a house late at night
and everybody says, but I thought you'd bring a torch.

Even money is abstracted into an overall credit rating which gives you
am idea of purchasing power so you don't have to worry about keeping
track of it.