It is likely only zone based because of computer capabilities of the 90s. Only in the 00s for pcs and algorithms were used smart enough to have a full map while rendering only what is in sight.
ultima 7 came out in 92 and it was able to have you explore the whole map. so it was not pc limitations.
Games can be considered open world even if the area transitions aren't seamless and the game has story-locked areas. The "open" in the name is more in reference to the game featuring open exploration (exploration involving a lot of player choice), as opposed to linear exploration (exploration involving little player choice). In that sense, BG1 easily qualifies as an open world game.
It's more that in bg2 the bulk of the quests is in the city and that the number of wilderness areas is much less (but there are more challenging "wilderness" areas)
In bg1 there may be less to do but you cannot fill all maps with encounters if you consider the party level is low; it would become unbalanced. Bg1 also has all maps connect making an exact large worldmap if you joined them all. So yes, it really is an open world. Travel times are just to simulate between far away areas but they probably could not make it dynamic (0 time to any adjacent and x hours to the next, etc).
Bg2 could benefit from some "on the road" wilderness areas between the main locations, even if they would be more sparsely populated with npcs or quests. To me it would be more realistic. I mean, if you walk everywhere you might as well meet some people before you get there. Bg2 is more location based world and not a full open world(map).
I do think it's true that BG2 would have benefited from a few "throwback" areas. And I think they did even want to make these -- the three empty-ish forest areas you can explore post Underdark. However, I think some of that content was cut due to deadlines.
However, I still don't think having random forest areas is what makes a game "open world". And I still think BG2 is just as non-linear or "open world" as its predecessor. In fact, I'd argue it's more so. Since, again, the chapter 2, chapter 3 content is a lot deeper than the original's pre-cloakwood areas.
At the detail of bg with shadowing/dithering and everything?
Then I stand corrected.
More importantly, the audio files. Ultima 7 could make everything one zone because it had almost no spoken audio. The tech wasn't there to have BG's wealth of spoken dialogue and not have a bunch of CD's.
At the detail of bg with shadowing/dithering and everything?
Then I stand corrected.
More importantly, the audio files. Ultima 7 could make everything one zone because it had almost no spoken audio. The tech wasn't there to have BG's wealth of spoken dialogue and not have a bunch of CD's.
Wealth of spoken dialogue? You mean the one line per character?
Loading required audio from the disc when needed was not a huge technical problem even back then. Look at something like Redguard released at roughly the same time.
Having a large seamless world with BG level technology was perfectly feasible back then.
I do not think BG is the kind of game that would have profited much from it, but the audio files would definitely not have been the issue. You just need a sophisticated resource manager making sure everything gets loaded when needed.
yeah the ie were not full voiced. they had lines for important dialogue but thats it. crpg would not have full voice acting like say adventure games did until kotor in 2003.
At the detail of bg with shadowing/dithering and everything?
Then I stand corrected.
More importantly, the audio files. Ultima 7 could make everything one zone because it had almost no spoken audio. The tech wasn't there to have BG's wealth of spoken dialogue and not have a bunch of CD's.
Wealth of spoken dialogue? You mean the one line per character?
Loading required audio from the disc when needed was not a huge technical problem even back then. Look at something like Redguard released at roughly the same time.
Having a large seamless world with BG level technology was perfectly feasible back then.
I do not think BG is the kind of game that would have profited much from it, but the audio files would definitely not have been the issue. You just need a sophisticated resource manager making sure everything gets loaded when needed.
I don't think this is true without it occupying a huge amount of space on the hard drive. And consumers did not have large hard drives back then compared to today. And there's an enormous amount of audio on the disks, not just dialogue, but music and background noise.
Yes, the tech literally existed to create a game, but consumers did not possess machines to make the game commercially viable.
Audio aside. In most of the old games the map was a grid with a preset texture of a few kb with sprites placed over them, so it would just be a repeatfest of pointers to the same memory address taking almost no memory at all... Those large maps were nothing close to the multiple mb of data per map that is background, walkable map, light map, animation doodats and whatever else of the instance type games.
Bg2 certainly is open world but for reasons I listed before, some people find it less open world than bg1. Just personal perception.
I don't think this is true without it occupying a huge amount of space on the hard drive. And consumers did not have large hard drives back then compared to today. And there's an enormous amount of audio on the disks, not just dialogue, but music and background noise.
Yes, the tech literally existed to create a game, but consumers did not possess machines to make the game commercially viable.
Sounds like you never played Lands of Lore on DOS back in 1993, I take it?
All of the game's voice, audio, music and graphic files were literally stored on 3.5 floppy disks (in addition to CD's). It was an age where you had to have a whopping 5MB of free space on your HDD to play this critically acclaimed, fully voiced cRPG masterpiece. Good times, good times. Gosh, do I feel old now...
It was never a question of storage limitations in the first place. It all comes down to development funds as thorough voice acting is helluva expensive. Which is probably why most of the early fully voiced games were Point & Click adventure games.
2) I figured this would be a good place to find information regarding BG3. I’m glad to see that I’m right. Thanks, @JuliusBorisov! The possibility of it being turn based, with 3rd person camera has me intrigued. As I thought about it, I was reminded of another game I played as a kid that was a lot of fun, and I can’t help wondering if it might end up being similar to that, but with DnD rules implemented. That would possibly make it my personal GotY, no matter which year it comes out. The whole ‘missing is bad’ thing isn’t something I agree with, but I’m not about to let that ruin the game for me. There’s no such thing as a perfect game.
Why even bother asking that question AGAIN when we don't know anything about it? Do you honestly need another framework to sneer at Larian? Surely you got your fill at the Codex with that question.
Am pleased to hear BGIII is on the way. I hope my PC from 2008 can handle it with full graphics scaleabilty options. Most of my games are old budget titles, for cost and accessibility reasons, which is why I still playNWN I&II all these years on, plus mostly point and click.
There is the Games Con 20-24 August 2019 in Cologne. Larian has a stand there. Maybe they have something in BG3, but I think they are going to advertise Divinity Fallen Heroes instead.
I've moved on (for now). My expectations are very low for this game, therefore my interest as well. And especially as there are so many other games in the works that I can be genuinely excited about: Realms Beyond, Black Geyser, Solasta, the next Pathfinder game, the next Obsidian game (after TOW), heck even Dragon Age 4 and Starfield.
@kanisatha reading up on Dragon Age 4 i am probably just as fearful of that as i am for BG3...
Yes I have my concerns too, especially because of the (perceived?) link with Anthem and the recent expose' on Bioware's internal dysfunctions. But I, unlike some others, (a) actually liked DA3 (except for the too-open world littered with trash mob combat, and (b) did not care much for the original concept for DA4 before the recent changeover. So I am cautiously hopeful.
@kanisatha reading up on Dragon Age 4 i am probably just as fearful of that as i am for BG3...
Yes I have my concerns too, especially because of the (perceived?) link with Anthem and the recent expose' on Bioware's internal dysfunctions. But I, unlike some others, (a) actually liked DA3 (except for the too-open world littered with trash mob combat, and (b) did not care much for the original concept for DA4 before the recent changeover. So I am cautiously hopeful.
That, and EA pushing multiplayer (or "online integration") and microtransactions. I do not want to be forced to do multiplayer to get the full DA exxperience. I'm still salty about the multiplayer-only keep decorations lol
I hadnt even heard that there was gonna be a Dragon Age 4 until now. Apparently I had missed both the news of it's presentation, cancellation, and reuptakening.
The impression I got from reading about it now was that all chances of it not being another flop went out with the first cancellation unfortunately.
We're all waiting for more information on the game. For now we only know what was informed when it was announced.
This - but also there are a few people who would rather argue against any opinion about the game, good or bad, rather than dissipationately discuss what it will take to make it a good game, such that it's not really than enjoyable to talk about it here.
We're all waiting for more information on the game. For now we only know what was informed when it was announced.
This - but also there are a few people who would rather argue against any opinion about the game, good or bad, rather than dissipationately discuss what it will take to make it a good game, such that it's not really than enjoyable to talk about it here.
Well, there's also what Larian has in interviews. They have said that the way BG2 adapted D&D rules doesn't work for video games, that they aren't thinking about the expectations of fans of the original games, that BG3 isn't continuing the story of the previous games, that Abdel Adrian is now the canon bhallspawn (because the novels are SOOOO popular), Larian refuses to comment on the combat system that they claim they have a definite plan for.
Well, there's also what Larian has in interviews. They have said that the way BG2 adapted D&D rules doesn't work for video games, that they aren't thinking about the expectations of fans of the original games, that BG3 isn't continuing the story of the previous games, that Abdel Adrian is now the canon bhallspawn (because the novels are SOOOO popular), Larian refuses to comment on the combat system that they claim they have a definite plan for.
There's LOT red flags here.
Some people think those are red flags. Others dont. Unfortunately, a constructive conversation about them ends up getting endlessly derailed by those who's believe the only way to contribute is to repeat themselves ad-nauseum with an ever increasing number of all capitalized words.
Maybe some people like Abdel.
I am sure I remember playing him from the TotSC mission pack. I like the portrait and that party was awesome to play for once.
Abdel Adrian makes Saemon Havarian seem like a cuddly teddy bear you can't help but hug while speaking in cutesy baby language and giggle like a toddler to boot.
Comments
ultima 7 came out in 92 and it was able to have you explore the whole map. so it was not pc limitations.
Then I stand corrected.
I do think it's true that BG2 would have benefited from a few "throwback" areas. And I think they did even want to make these -- the three empty-ish forest areas you can explore post Underdark. However, I think some of that content was cut due to deadlines.
However, I still don't think having random forest areas is what makes a game "open world". And I still think BG2 is just as non-linear or "open world" as its predecessor. In fact, I'd argue it's more so. Since, again, the chapter 2, chapter 3 content is a lot deeper than the original's pre-cloakwood areas.
More importantly, the audio files. Ultima 7 could make everything one zone because it had almost no spoken audio. The tech wasn't there to have BG's wealth of spoken dialogue and not have a bunch of CD's.
Wealth of spoken dialogue? You mean the one line per character?
Loading required audio from the disc when needed was not a huge technical problem even back then. Look at something like Redguard released at roughly the same time.
Having a large seamless world with BG level technology was perfectly feasible back then.
I do not think BG is the kind of game that would have profited much from it, but the audio files would definitely not have been the issue. You just need a sophisticated resource manager making sure everything gets loaded when needed.
I don't think this is true without it occupying a huge amount of space on the hard drive. And consumers did not have large hard drives back then compared to today. And there's an enormous amount of audio on the disks, not just dialogue, but music and background noise.
Yes, the tech literally existed to create a game, but consumers did not possess machines to make the game commercially viable.
Bg2 certainly is open world but for reasons I listed before, some people find it less open world than bg1. Just personal perception.
All of the game's voice, audio, music and graphic files were literally stored on 3.5 floppy disks (in addition to CD's). It was an age where you had to have a whopping 5MB of free space on your HDD to play this critically acclaimed, fully voiced cRPG masterpiece. Good times, good times. Gosh, do I feel old now...
It was never a question of storage limitations in the first place. It all comes down to development funds as thorough voice acting is helluva expensive. Which is probably why most of the early fully voiced games were Point & Click adventure games.
1) Hello.
2) I figured this would be a good place to find information regarding BG3. I’m glad to see that I’m right. Thanks, @JuliusBorisov! The possibility of it being turn based, with 3rd person camera has me intrigued. As I thought about it, I was reminded of another game I played as a kid that was a lot of fun, and I can’t help wondering if it might end up being similar to that, but with DnD rules implemented. That would possibly make it my personal GotY, no matter which year it comes out. The whole ‘missing is bad’ thing isn’t something I agree with, but I’m not about to let that ruin the game for me. There’s no such thing as a perfect game.
We're all waiting for more information on the game. For now we only know what was informed when it was announced.
There is a Stadia Connect on August 19 maybe there?
I've moved on (for now). My expectations are very low for this game, therefore my interest as well. And especially as there are so many other games in the works that I can be genuinely excited about: Realms Beyond, Black Geyser, Solasta, the next Pathfinder game, the next Obsidian game (after TOW), heck even Dragon Age 4 and Starfield.
That, and EA pushing multiplayer (or "online integration") and microtransactions. I do not want to be forced to do multiplayer to get the full DA exxperience. I'm still salty about the multiplayer-only keep decorations lol
The impression I got from reading about it now was that all chances of it not being another flop went out with the first cancellation unfortunately.
This - but also there are a few people who would rather argue against any opinion about the game, good or bad, rather than dissipationately discuss what it will take to make it a good game, such that it's not really than enjoyable to talk about it here.
Well, there's also what Larian has in interviews. They have said that the way BG2 adapted D&D rules doesn't work for video games, that they aren't thinking about the expectations of fans of the original games, that BG3 isn't continuing the story of the previous games, that Abdel Adrian is now the canon bhallspawn (because the novels are SOOOO popular), Larian refuses to comment on the combat system that they claim they have a definite plan for.
There's LOT red flags here.
Some people think those are red flags. Others dont. Unfortunately, a constructive conversation about them ends up getting endlessly derailed by those who's believe the only way to contribute is to repeat themselves ad-nauseum with an ever increasing number of all capitalized words.
I am sure I remember playing him from the TotSC mission pack. I like the portrait and that party was awesome to play for once.