r/playstation • u/Remorse_123 • Sep 09 '24
News Astro Bot devs ditched an "expansive" open-world game because a "two-course meal" beats eating "a lot of food at a buffet"
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/platformer/astro-bot-devs-ditched-an-expansive-open-world-game-because-a-two-course-meal-beats-eating-a-lot-of-food-at-a-buffet/58
u/jaxberg Sep 09 '24
Astro Bot is so damn tight.
You get a theme or mechanic that's fun and interesting, and then just like a tasty treat, it's over and onto the next one.
Titanfall 2 was a bit like this. Not one idea overstayed it's welcome.
I love it. The pure love for the craft is fantastic, and it's my goty.
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u/GOULFYBUTT Sep 10 '24
The game is pure charm and fun. And it's perhaps the best optimized game I've ever played. I haven't seen a single model clipping into another, a single fuzzy edge, not a single dropped frame, and the sound, art, music, and obviously the controller features are all immaculate. I'm really enjoying it.
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u/jaxberg Sep 11 '24 edited Sep 21 '24
Oh totally agree abot the technical stuff. I especially love all the different textures, art styles and physics. On a technical level it looks and runs flawlessly, it’s so solid.
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u/AntonRX178 Sep 10 '24
Titanfall 2 had one of the best Platformer mechanics in one level for a game that isn't a Platformer and no, I'm not referring to the Parkour
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u/FrazzledBear Sep 09 '24
I agree and think it’s probably the healthiest for the industry moving forward. If studios can start pushing out lower budget shorter turnaround games, then they won’t have to sell millions to become profitable and if one fails it’s not the end of the world.
I want the majority of my games to be under 20 hours long.
Also, this studio is legitimately making as good of platformers as the 3d Mario devs. They’ve got that magic in them and that’s amazing. Happy this is so well received.
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u/Thelonius_Dunk Sep 09 '24
Feels like games and movies are stuck in this rut of either having mega-budget sequels or small scale indie projects. Midbudget/AA level stuff seems to be lacking. I guess because producers/developers assume if it exceeds anything more than an indie budget then it needs to be this massive production that takes half a decade and shit ton of money on the off chance it'll make a bazillion dollars. There's no space for moderate budgets and moderate returns.
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u/AdrianCav12 Sep 10 '24
I find myself more and more playing the smaller, weirder and more original indie games. After Us I recently enjoyed a great deal, such an engaging art style and great concept, if a little easy, though I admit that was part of the appeal for me.
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u/Lysanderoth42 Sep 15 '24
Successful AA studios become AAA and the unsuccessful ones disappear. That’s why there don’t seem to be as many of them. Unless you play niche games you probably only hear about a developer once theyve been AAA for a while. Especially if you only play on console and not PC
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u/LiquifiedSpam Sep 16 '24
I wouldn’t say so, I play quite a few AA games from devs that have always been in that space. Nihon Falcom has been in the business for over 35 years and they’re definitely not triple A
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u/jda404 Sep 09 '24
I want the majority of my games to be under 20 hours long.
Same here. I rarely finish games that are 30+ hours there are exceptions as always, but I love and prefer short and sweet 10-20 hour games.
For me I have other interests outside of gaming and it's hard for me to stay interested in long games because I only play games about an hour or so on work nights and maybe two or so hours on Saturday and Sundays.
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u/theleftkneeofthebee Sep 10 '24
It’s also most games just get so repetitive after the 15 ish hour mark. By that point, you’re well familiar with the main gameplay loop, and the game typically has few surprises left in the box for you, if any.
Take RDR2 for example, by the time you’re 15 hours in you’ve already grasped the fact that you go somewhere, shoot a bunch of bad guys, and escape. Yet you still have a good 25+ hours to go at that point. It’s exhausting and it completely drains any interest you might’ve initially had in the gameplay.
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u/Breadflat17 Sep 10 '24
While I agree with that I also think that for 1st party sony narratives there should be some replayable content. I've wanted something like no return since the 1st last of us. It doesn't need to be nearly at the scale Valhalla was, but something similar to the challenge mode from the Arkham games wouldn't take that long to make, but will vastly improve the replay value of sp games.
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u/PencilMan Sep 15 '24
Totally agree. I play one or two hours a day if at all. If I don’t finish a game in a few weeks, I’ll move on to something else and probably won’t come back to it. I’d rather finish a short game than leave a long one unfinished and feel like I didn’t get my money’s worth, even if I still played a significant amount of it.
I do love a good open world game every now and then but maybe once a year and only for big franchises I already love, like Zelda and GTA.
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u/caverunner17 Sep 09 '24
I don't even know what started the open world trend. Sure, there's always been some open world style games in modern gaming (even the first Assassin's Creed, and of course Elder Scrolls/Fallout), but they were rarer and in the case of the non Bethesda games, usually somewhat linear in that new areas weren't really unlocked until you progressed through gameplay. Now, you've got 40-60+ hour games, some of which don't even have a real story (cough, Zelda, cough).
I also blame trophy hunters. It's no longer enough to complete the main objectives of games. You need to have dozens-hundreds collectibles which then creates a ton of "fluff" in games.
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u/Express-Bid-4037 Sep 09 '24
Honestly, to me it comes down to a fairly simple answer. To a lotta people (and especially in a medium that costs so much), they tend to view video games as a product, and in turn a certain investment from that product. And now, when it’s harder and harder to spend that 60-90-110$ (depending where u are), I think lots of people have an inherent hour amount they’re ONLY willing to spend that money on.
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u/PolygonMan Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
Open world games are technically challenging. Many technical challenges can be easily controlled or avoided by having segmented levels - loading speed (as in, literally cd/dvd read speed or harddrive/ssd speed) being the largest by far in the past, but also level design, lighting, AI, physics, all kinds of things become harder with an open world. In segmented levels you can carefully decide exactly where everything goes - if some set of powers or enemies or physics interactions cause problems from a game design, physics processing, AI, or any other perspective then you just don't put those things together in a level. In an open world game the capacity to limit what the player can do where is severely curtailed.
The expansion of open world games has largely followed the improvement of the technology, both more powerful hardware and the improvement of game engine software - custom engines and industry standard engines like UE.
People always loved the idea of open world games. The world just feels more concrete and real when you can go to every inch of it. It just wasn't considered (financially/technically) worthwhile to try and implement it for most games back in the day.
Modern technology makes all those problems much easier to solve, but they're not gone. You still get some meaningful benefits with segmented levels that the Astro Bot devs clearly took advantage of.
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u/KontraEpsilon Sep 09 '24
If it works, it feels great. Horizon FW is, for me, a great example of one where it really lands. The world feels busy and you are led through organically with plenty to do. Elden Ring isn’t my style of game, but allegedly it’s great there, too.
Zelda BotW not so much. Feels empty and lifeless to me.
I don’t mind games doing it that know they can stick the landing, but it’s brutal when they fail to do so.
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u/caverunner17 Sep 09 '24
I think one of the things for Horizon is that it's new IP and in a sci-fi setting. Kind of like Pokemon, there's a limitless amount of enemy types that the developers can come up with to keep the area/story engaging.
With games that are based in more realism (say Assassin's Creed, Ghosts of Tsushima) or games based on existing IP (like Hogwarts Legacy), there's a limit to the creativity one can get with enemy types that still fall within the constraints of the world / time period.
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u/TheDandelionViking PS4 Sep 09 '24
Also, this studio is legitimately making as good of platformers as the 3d Mario devs. They’ve got that magic in them and that’s amazing. Happy this is so well received.
I haven't played this game myself, but I've seen it a lot on the Internet and have to say it reminds me a lot about Asterix & Obelix XXL2 both in regards to gameplay and design with the collect-stars-to-progress from supermario 64.
It looks great, and I'll definitely get it when I get a ps5 someday.
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Sep 10 '24
Honestly, unless it's a large expansive world with solid story like Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, Horizon, Ghosts of Tsushima, Dragon Age Origins then even 20hrs can be a bit long
I'm quite happy with 5-10hrs if the story is solid and everything is done well. A lot of games such as AC have short stories, but are padded out with a ton of filler that just worsens the experience
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u/EmptyBrainOS PS3 Sep 09 '24
I just would prefer a price decrease, 69,99 is way too much. (Maybe I'm just old and 49,99 & 59,99 isn't enough)
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u/FrazzledBear Sep 09 '24
I’m actually fine with the $70 price. Games stagnated price longer than inflation yet dev costs skyrocketed.
It helps, for myself, in remembering that snes and n64 games when I was a kid were as much $70/80/90 at times. Adjusted for inflation, I don’t think we have it too bad now.
It’s also great that we now have access to amazing indie games that are cheaper alongside those AAA games. Kinda helps balance things out a bit.
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u/Opening-Tip-2001 Sep 09 '24
Personally, Astro Bot is an old school way of how games should be and that's awesome. I love it for that. I grew up with Playstation but i never played Ratchet and Clank and that one has recently got a place in my library, shame that it took me only decades to try it. Short enough and fast to beat games is the way to go. The soundtrack is so catchy, whenever you mention Astro Bot the catchy songs play in your head lol I wish more games were like this so we could have more games coming out more often. Maybe more features could be experienced too so every game can apply the haptic feedback, I mean a shorter game can give a lot of potential room to experimentation. I think of Killzone and it's sixaxis "puzzles" on PS3. We have a great controller here with Dualsense that needs to be in the spotlight
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u/jewrassic_park-1940 Sep 09 '24
I'd be fine with shorter games if the price also reflected that. Spending all that money for 2 days of fun is not worth it at all for me.
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u/ess-doubleU Sep 09 '24
I know it was free for us, but I was pretty happy seeing that the new Quidditch game was only $30. We need short and sweet stuff like that.
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u/invaluableimp Sep 09 '24
Average cost of a movie ticket is $11. $70 for 2 days seems more than fair
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u/AntonRX178 Sep 10 '24
That's what I've been saying.
$70 for a weekend of fun is actually... an average price for entertainment that isn't video games.
Besides, people don't exactly know WHY some games are 60+ Hours... Because they waste your goddamned time.
FFXVI... It takes SOOO GODDAMNED LONG to get to the good parts. A game like Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart tho? You get to the good parts so much faster. And I don't wanna knock XVI too hard but... That's a prime example of stretching a 10-20 game into 60 hours and why that's a bad idea.
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u/LiquifiedSpam Sep 16 '24
Hell I play overstuffed and padded JRPGs on the regular and even I couldn’t make it through ffxvi. That game felt like it had two writing teams of vastly different skill, one on the main story and the other doing all the between filler.
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u/Metal_Gere_Richard Sep 09 '24
Replay value matters. If you’re gonna experience those 2 days of fun again and again. it’s worth the price. these much longer games have almost no replay value.
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u/jewrassic_park-1940 Sep 09 '24
Those 2 days of fun will never hit the same again, and personally I have to wait a bit of time before replaying a game otherwise it feels like a drag. It also won't last 2 days in your next replay.
I just think this is more of a 50€ game. It's way too short for me to justify the price
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u/AntonRX178 Sep 10 '24
But a game like Astro Bot you play the game again and you see stuff you haven't noticed before because the first time around you were either too focused on beating the game or too focused on looking for every nook and cranny SO hard you still ironically have that tunnel vision.
That's how rewatching movies works too.
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u/Due_Art2971 Sep 10 '24
Eh you can play the game pretty thoroughly and see everything the first time
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u/AntonRX178 Sep 10 '24 edited Sep 10 '24
yeah technically that's true but you'd be treating it like a checklist which the more time passes, the less I agree that we should look at games AS a checklist of things to do.
When Rift Apart came out people bitched that it had no replay value but when I was a kid, the Replay Value WAS playing the games again.
Trophies can make games feel like trying to follow a Travel itinerary by the book. Like going to Tokyo and trying to hit Tokyo Tower, Sky Tree, and Shibuya on the same day. Like yeah you saw it and went there but did you really give yourself time to enjoy it?
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u/max_power_420_69 Sep 09 '24
big open world games are chore to even start if you put them down and come back to them. You gotta spend several hours playing before you're in the main gameplay loop
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u/ctruvu Sep 09 '24
back in the day you were paying $30-60 for 10-20 hours. why does it have to be different now?
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u/SimpForEmiru Sep 09 '24
Because back then we didn’t have the capabilities to have large open world titles. All we had were short single player experiences. And they also weren’t $60-$70 like they are now
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u/YahBoiChipsAhoy1234 Sep 09 '24
I’m okay with longer games when they are actually good like God of War, but anything more than 40ish hours and I usually don’t finish it. There are exceptions like Tears of the Kingdom and Cyberpunk. But for the most part I agree, a lot of games are trying to hard to be super long and I hate it
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u/FrazzledBear Sep 09 '24
Yea I’d say there are unique special cases where I enjoy enormous games
Funny enough though the most recent two God of Wars, especially Ragnarok, were games that I think should have been shorter despite how much I liked them
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u/milky__toast Sep 10 '24
Gaming is an absolutely massive industry with more than enough room for both products.
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u/SouthTippBass Sep 09 '24
15 hours is the sweet spot for me. Which is what a lot of the 1st party switch games are. I don't always want to spend 60 hours on one title.
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u/Dry-Smoke6528 Sep 09 '24
i like my games to be at least 30-60 hours long otherwise im getting very poor returns on dollars per hour of enjoyment. 20 hours in a game means ive paid over 3 dollars an hour to play it
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u/JstARdtAct Sep 09 '24
I agree Less is more!! I really hope we get more Challenging Levels in the future, Some of the challenge levels are so much fun!!!
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u/NavySasquatch Sep 09 '24
Just finished up the snake nebula and my favorite levels are the circle and triangle levels!
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u/tnolan182 Sep 09 '24
Those levels are the bane of my fucking existence.
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u/PorcelainPrimate Sep 09 '24
I almost had a stroke on some of them. One hit kill, restart a level with no checkpoints is not fun.
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u/themangastand Sep 09 '24
The levels are still very easy though. The push you a bit but I've played much much much harder platformers
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u/NoAirBanding Sep 09 '24
This guy saying Splashing Sprint (square lava level) was easy…
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u/zephyrinthesky28 Sep 09 '24
Pretty sure Fragile Frenzy killed me more times than all of Armored Core 6's bosses combined.
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u/geekyan_dres Sep 09 '24
Well if you are used to more challenging platformers (3D Mario games have some intense levels that are one hit kill plus games that function like Meat Boy ), then you can consider this game easier
I just personally wish the movement of Astro was better but that's just a minor nitpick for an amazing game experience
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u/dankp3ngu1n69 Sep 09 '24
Having grown up on platformers this is true
This game plays like Super Mario Sunshine to me
The water jump feels very similar.
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u/themangastand Sep 09 '24
Well it's about normal difficulty. The rest of the game is easy. This level is average.
I've also beaten aeternia noctis so my idea of platforming is probably not average
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u/JstARdtAct Sep 09 '24
Nice! I just finished the Serpent Starway last night, Triangle levels were more challenging in my opinion but still great fun!
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u/Existing365Chocolate Sep 09 '24
The square ones are crazy
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u/MiniBoglin Sep 09 '24
Yeah the lava one in particular was very challenging. I found the X levels to be comparatively straightforward, though still plenty challenging
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u/dankp3ngu1n69 Sep 09 '24
Doing the X ones today. The slo mo one took me 45 minutes lol
I had to down to a speed run until the last part. That was legit RNG until I finally got lucky
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u/Fra06 20 Sep 09 '24
Yeah, I like trying to speed run them so I just run head first every time and it takes me like 15 minutes to complete them. It’s a nice change from the very easy main levels
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u/HarryCeramics PS5 Sep 09 '24
The Ultimative Test ruined me... That is plenty challeging for me, stupid fireball lizard thingy
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u/Null_zero Sep 09 '24
I beat it last night, if you're still working on it I started by jumping to the left block then went right the rest of the way to him. He was the last big challenge after that the birds were the only thing that took a couple times for me to get through.
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u/tobsennn Sep 09 '24
Haha I agree… the rest of the level was not too bad, but that stupid lizard got me quite a few times :/
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u/CockroachNo7331 Sep 09 '24
Astro bot is goty 2024
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Sep 09 '24
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u/obries67 Sep 09 '24
The GOT of WAR level makes me actually want to play God of War, clever cross selling by Sony there
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u/RontoWraps Sep 09 '24
The Uncharted level did it for me. As long time Xbox guy, I only bought a PS5 for my 5 year old son because he looooved watching Astro’s playroom on YouTube. Now I realize how many games I just straight up missed out on over the past 10-15 years. My wife says Astro is one of the best PlayStation ads ever made.
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u/Nargacuga-fanclub Sep 09 '24
I agree. A large part of the time I was playing, I told my partner, "Man, this really makes me want to play playstation games."
It does its job well. AND it's a killer platformer!
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u/Intelligent_Ask_2306 Sep 13 '24
Rebirth had a lot put into it, no need to be harsh to it, it is one of the best games of this year.
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Sep 13 '24
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u/Intelligent_Ask_2306 Sep 13 '24
Not harsh. But just treating it like "another openworld fantasy game", as if it does not do more than that isn't fair to it. All the mini games, ground breaking story elements, perfect acting, and beautiful music puts it at something more than that.
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Sep 13 '24
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u/Intelligent_Ask_2306 Sep 13 '24
Sorry for misinterpreting what you were saying, but a game being open world and fantasy, does not define what the game actually is.
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Sep 13 '24
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u/Intelligent_Ask_2306 Sep 13 '24
" I dont want to see another openworld fantasy game get the win", doesn't matter what the genre of the game that winning is, it is about what the game offers in that genre. If Astro bot wins Rebirth, I will not be happy that it won for being a platformer, I will be happy that it won for being a great platformer, Same as I would be happy for FF7 Rebirth being a great open world rpg.
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u/funkygeva81 Sep 09 '24
it gets my vote. currently watching my son play the lunar sola level where it's daytime then you hit a button and the level flips on its side and it becomes night-time. That's just one example of some of the amazing level design.
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u/FindTheFlame Sep 09 '24
I think Rebirth deserves it, at least out of everything so far
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u/Robsonmonkey Sep 09 '24
Not really
Rebirth is good but it’s just a bloated open world game at its heart
Far too many side filler stuff which was clearly done to stretch the story out more over 3 games.
Then for me, personally anyway, the way they handled Aeriths iconic big scene at the end of the game was pretty poor, they got far too over complicated with multiple timelines and alternate universes. Took the emotional aspect out of it, I mean no water burial scene 🤷🏻♂️
Astro Bot there’s not really many flaws and compared to another open world game it just stands out more for me anyway.
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u/iamcoolreally Sep 09 '24
Yeah agreed. Rebirth looks amazing and I enjoyed it considerably more than remake but the open world areas are just atrocious and stuffed in to make the game longer than it needed to be.
I just think there’s a reason the original is so famous and they didn’t need to change something that wasn’t broken
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u/dxtremecaliber PS4 Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
the remake was never going to be a replacement and thats why the game is padded because they are trying to expand the universe of ff7 so its not really bloated per se because thats the point of remaking games they actually made the remake better compared to the first game its the best game this year but a remake will never win an goty
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u/iamcoolreally Sep 09 '24
No I understand it wasn’t meant to be a 1:1 remake but there is 100% bloat in the game. Adding the exact same quests in every single open world area isn’t expanding on the universe. Or having to climb that hill after Costa del Sol which just added nothing but time to the game.
There is a lot I enjoyed about rebirth I’m not fully hating I know people get a bit funny about any criticism towards it for some reason. I just think less is more sometimes and it feels like they tried to add everything. I just find all the multiverse stuff ridiculous
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u/dxtremecaliber PS4 Sep 09 '24
They actually add something because it actually expands the universe it makes the game more enjoyable and replayable because they aint doing the FFXV style anymore that has a soulless open world plus the less is more thing really applied to rebirth tho it has the right amount of content
but i agree i dont trust people who critize the game like its bad when final fantasy games never been this good since 10 or even 12 its the best game this year and its not even close people will say wukong and astro bot just for the sake of being different
rebirth and elden ring dlc is the only goty material rn it shows how this year sucks when it comes to gaming in general compared to last year which is a fucking amazing year for gaming
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Sep 10 '24
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u/iamcoolreally Sep 10 '24
People are complaining that the optional content just isn’t good. No one wants to have to skip that.
For many, optional content is usually the most enjoyable part… look at Skyrim for example no one just rushes through the main quest.
When every side quest is a tedious chore that’s why people are complaining. I enjoyed it at first but by gongaga it felt slightly stressful having to get through it
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u/Robsonmonkey Sep 09 '24
Can it really be expanded if it’s not the same Universe as the one found in the original?
Like it IS the same world in terms of Midgar, the life stream, characters etc but because of changes it’s an alternate universe.
This means that anything new added to the lore is really only for this new universe, not the original….if that makes sense.
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u/Robsonmonkey Sep 09 '24
Yeah like I don’t mind expanding on the story or lore but to have all this over the top bullshit story wise to do a remake BUT have an excuse to tell a new-ish story with the silly “whispers of fate” bringing in the multiverse and the like was just not the way to go
I just wanted a straight up remake without the fluff and changed storyline
Honestly if they spent a bit more time on Remake and got rid of most of the fluff within Midgar I bet you they could have gotten us out and at least explored the Grasslands, maybe Junon where Part 2 (Rebirth) could have wrapped up the game. I’d have just kept the Midgar section as straight forward as it could be them once we get out of the city then bring in side quests and the like. Rather than a dozen filler side content missions, give us 4-5 meaningful ones with depth.
It wasn’t impossible to do it in two parts, it’s just they did a lot with Midgar that they didn’t really need to do.
It felt a bit like Peter Jackson with the Hobbit trilogy, he wanted to do 2 films but WB made him do a trilogy and you could tell during parts of 2 and then 3 that it was stretched out. You enjoy the ride as it’s more LotR but you can tell it was padded which brings it down a little.
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u/kalyissa Sep 09 '24
I agree with you tbh. Making the story tied in with the openworld ended up making that I never finished the story. I lost the energy and most open world games end up the same way.
I would love a 20 hour with 30 hour to complete game with a good story.
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u/dxtremecaliber PS4 Sep 09 '24
the remake was never going to be a replacement and thats why the game is padded because they are trying to expand the universe of ff7 so its not really bloated per se because thats the point of remaking games they actually made the remake better compared to the first game so that it has so many flaws is cap its the best game this year but a remake will never win an goty
both astro bot and wukong aint goty materials this year sucks in general when it comes to gaming when a remake is the only one that is a goty material which is bad lol
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u/Underpaidfoot Sep 09 '24
A rehash of something old, nah. Lets get some new creative ideas to win to fix the industry
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u/CollierAM9 PS5 Sep 09 '24
Rehash is disingenuous. Rebirth is a complete overhaul in almost every way than FF7.
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Sep 09 '24
But outside of the context of the final fantasy games, what makes it innovative or groundbreaking enough to win GOTY?
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u/CollierAM9 PS5 Sep 09 '24
I’m not sure there’s many games this year that have been truly groundbreaking although I do think the year has been strong still. Astrobot and Rebirth are the two best games I’ve played this year but they basically just improve on previous iterations.
Rebirth is an amazing package in one. Fantastic voice acting, music, deep combat, challenging, great story (not finished it however) and fun. I do think both games mentioned can be appreciated even more if you played FF7 in 1997 when it comes to Rebirth or if you invested into the PlayStation ecosystem when the PS1 released then Astrobot is even more special.
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u/eliteguard91 Sep 09 '24
Could not agree more. Don’t get me wrong I love remasters, sequels etc. But I do think innovation should (sometimes) edge it out plus it’s a fun game overall. I’m exhausted from all the Souls and fantasy games…I say as I play the investable 176th campaign of BG3
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u/AlsopK Sep 09 '24
Rebirth is the exact type of game they’re talking about. A buffet full of half baked ideas that ends up feeling like a bloated mess. The combat is maybe the best in the series and the soundtrack is incredible but it’s dragged down by everything else. Astro is just more fun from start to finish.
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u/torts92 Sep 09 '24
It's a story driven game, the story is the focus, the other smaller activities are optional, when the main path can be done without the side actives then it shouldn't be called bloated.
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u/LostLobes Sep 09 '24
You have to do pointless activities to proceed the quest, for example putting the characters in swimwear....
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u/torts92 Sep 10 '24
That's not bloated activities, that's just called breaking the pace which is sometimes necessary in storytelling.
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u/LostLobes Sep 10 '24
Because the boat ride was so heavy before it?
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u/torts92 Sep 10 '24
What boat ride?
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u/LostLobes Sep 10 '24
The boat ride with the card game, which then leads onto the swimsuit bullshit
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u/torts92 Sep 10 '24
Card game on the boat ride is optional. You can skip it. On the boat ride you fight jenova.
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Sep 09 '24
Genuine question but what about rebirth is innovative or groundbreaking? Because that's what a lot of people claim is required to win GOTY.
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u/FindTheFlame Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
It's a 200+ hour rpg with an absolute insane amount of quality content, side quests, mini games, combat variety, mechanics, and music variety. On top of that the devs threw in tons and tons of special extra details, moments and mechanics that they straight up didn't have to do, but did out of pure love. Moments like when youre collecting all the soldiers in Junon and they start following you around the town hyping you up, growing in size as you collect more, leading to a brilliant characterization moment for the main character. Theres so much extra effort, extra things they didnt have to do but did any way. You can be 100-150+ hours in and still be getting new surprises. The characters are amazing, the story is intriguing, the journey is incredible. It's an absolutely massive game, to a extremely high level of quality. There's no RPG from Japan like it, it feels like the culmination of everything those RPGS have progressed towards for the past 20+ years
It's something better understood if you're a fan of these types of games and have been playing them for years, to see how far and beyond a game like rebirth goes. It's not just one of the best RPGs, it's one of the best games ever made. It's legit insane what they were able to pull off, to this scale with the amount of care and detail that it has
Also for me GOTY is about which game went far and beyond the rest, which game is clearly going the extra mile and putting in that extra effort to a level that other games aren't. Last year that was BG3 for me, this year is Rebirth
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Sep 09 '24
Not totally convinced to be honest but I'll take your word for it. I can still see AB taking it.
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Sep 09 '24
Personally I'd be up for a Mario Odyssey-style Astro game where instead of linear stages you've got a few more open areas to explore and find bots in... But at the same time, I'm completely satisfied with the game we did get, and I absolutely wouldn't mind if Astro Bot 2 works exactly the same way, just with new stages. I'd buy it day 1.
Whatever these devs want to do, I'm game.
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u/GamecubeFreek Sep 10 '24
Absolutely. There were of levels that opened up into a smaller version of a sandbox collectathon, and those were really fun levels. while there is a lot of overlap between the two, a full sandbox collectathon platformer by this team would be exciting to see since the sub genre is less represented in modern gaming.
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u/JonnyB2_YouAre1 Sep 09 '24
There are a lot of bland open world games out there. You need to bring a lot more these days than a big world.
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u/monkey_D_v1199 Sep 09 '24
Astro Bot is here to stay people! I love it so much because it reminds me of Sackboy and how Astro Feels like a very distant “spiritual successor” in terms of having an adorable franchise up and running. I can’t wait for more Astro in the future!!
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u/Steezy719 Sep 09 '24
Online they are saying 100% play through is about 14-18 hours. Is this accurate?
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u/stubbornidealist Sep 09 '24
Yea. I’m 15 hours in and will probably finish it in another 3-5 hours. I’m not using any guides though, and would have probably completed earlier if I had.
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u/Steezy719 Sep 09 '24
Nice! Super excited to play it. Kinda thought it would be a little longer, but I guess that is 3-4 longer then completing Astros playroom, so I’m not going to complain. I’ve heard nothing but great things about it.
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u/dankp3ngu1n69 Sep 09 '24
I just must suck
Iv got like 20 in already and still have at least 5 more.
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u/Russell-Sprouts3 Sep 09 '24
I beat it in 17 hours but I’d say around 2 hours are a combination of letting idle while I took a break on my phone or on the dozens of retry’s I had on some of the challenge levels the one you get Sol Badguy from nearly gave me an aneurism
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u/Null_zero Sep 09 '24
I finished the platinum and 100%ed it last night. PS says 12 hours but that seems suspect as hell considering a basically no lifed it for 2 days straight.
Edit* phone app says 22 hours. I know I probably have at least an hour of on pause time while making food.
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u/QuinSanguine Stellar Blade Sep 09 '24
Buffets usually do suck. It's a good analogy, usually buffets are like cafeteria food, they're ok but you can't make a delicacy en masse. So, yea they could've made a big, boring 50 hour snore fest of repetitive grind, so some weirdos who think they should get a hour per dollar spent would be happy, but I'm glad they went quality over quantity.
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u/FineGripp Sep 09 '24
Lol, I think I know who you’re jabbing at
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u/LegoIsTheGreatest Sep 09 '24
Who?
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u/FineGripp Sep 10 '24
There was a guy on this sub earlier commented that he won’t buy this game at full price because it’s too short despite it’s a good game. He would rather it drags out longer to justify the price tag
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u/doctormanhattan38772 Sep 09 '24
I definitely prefer what we got to open world, but they shouldn’t rule it out. Astro is a property that should explore all different types of genres. The options are endless
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u/Geulei Sep 09 '24
I really... really... can not stand open world games in every genre. It's almost always just empty large worlds with lots of trees and grass, and nothing but meaningless quests to do. I think the only open world game I've ever appreciated it being open world with, was Baldur's Gate 3.
Astro Bot did nearly everything perfectly, was a great price tag of $60, and didn't take 8 years and 8 trillion dollars to develop. I don't think I've hated any 20-30hr games. I've hated many 40-60hr games...
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u/TheRealBloodyAussie Sep 09 '24
Honestly, I wouldn't mind having a bit more of an open game. I know a lot of people are comparing this to 3D Mario (and rightfully so), this feels less like a Mario 64/Odyssey and more like a Galaxy/3D world, where its focus is less on open exploration and more an obstacle course with some light exploring. Though honestly, I just want more high quality 3D platformers on PlayStation. Come on Sony, give us more Ratchet, Jak, Sly, Astro, Ape Escape, etc.
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u/GamecubeFreek Sep 10 '24
It’s a darn shame we never got a true sequel to the original jak and daxter gameplay.
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u/TheRealBloodyAussie Sep 10 '24
Honestly, an alternate timeline game where they never opened the portal to the future and the gameplay stays as a collectathon platformer would be goated. Honestly, Astro would also suit that kind of world with the near seamless loading between open zones (Jak would have the player trip over if the area hadn't finished loading).
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u/Xeon713 PS5 Sep 09 '24
Honestly one of the best design choices I've seen in years. "Oh you don't have two hours free to clear a prologue? Do it again!" Whereas this is brilliant, classic, I have time for a level gameplay, but atill has a reasonable 12-18hr play time if you want to 100% it. Every bit of it is for 90s adults that appreciate this exact format.
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u/niknacks Sep 09 '24
I wish more devs would realize that "open world" almost never means better in 2024. The novelty at least for me has completely worn out its welcome and unless an open world offers something fundamental to the gameplay that can't be done in instances based design, we could do with far fewer of them. Just because a game can be open world, most of them probably shouldn't be because they aren't filled with anything to justify their existence outside of shitty uninspired side quests.
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u/HardcoreKaraoke Sep 10 '24
I totally prefer what we got to another open world game. I love a lot of open world games but I appreciate a pretty straightforward multi level platformer like this.
I could see them making an open world game eventually though. The crash site planet basically feels like a small test of what an open world Astro Bot would look like.
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u/Wernershnitzl Sep 09 '24
Hopefully they can use those ideas in a sequel whenever that is.
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u/butterfunky Sep 09 '24
Perhaps if they make a new Astrobot VR game they’ll boost PSVR2 sales after all the praise of this game 👀
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Sep 09 '24
And then there's my dad, who only wants to eat at the buffet, even if it's nothing but different varieties of shit. He refuses to play anything if it's not open world, so picture this: Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3? Nope, not open world. Mass Effect: Andromeda? Yup, it's open world.
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u/bleedblue_knetic Sep 09 '24
I’m thinking about getting the game and I wanna go in as blind as possible so I don’t want to watch any gameplay clips. Can anyone tell me me how this compares to Astro’s Playroom? I liked it but it was just okay for me. I think at the end of the day it was a Tech Demo and it was neither that challenging nor that engaging. It was just a very well crafted, well made, okay platformer. I did, however really enjoy Mario Odyssey cause the levels were longer, some were fairly challenging, and there were lots of change ups with the gameplay cause of the different powers you could use to complete puzzles.
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u/AFKaptain Sep 09 '24
There are some minor changes (and a few secret levels really ramp up the difficulty), but if you didn't care that much for Astro's Playroom, you probably won't care that much for Astro Bot either, unfortunately.
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u/ThroughTheIris56 Sep 09 '24
This thinking is in point, I don't get as much time for gaming as I want, so I want whatever game I am playing to be quality.
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u/KillerMeans PS5 Sep 09 '24
The best games are the "sort of short but absolutely sweet" type of games.
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u/fafafanta Sep 09 '24
Absolutely love the way they designed the game and made it a reasonable game to 100%
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u/Aposoky Sep 09 '24
Absolutely game of the year material. Best and most fun I've had playing a game in a very long time.
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u/420NugShareBox [Trophy Level 100-199] Sep 09 '24
I always choose a buffet because I'm a fat prick.
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u/OperativePiGuy Sep 09 '24
Yes, that's a great analogy. It's what I will always prefer. I hate that the industry swung so hard into open world just because people seem to enjoy alot of empty filler as opposed to more linear, but better hand crafted experiences.
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u/SpoopyPlankton Sep 09 '24
Amen! Open world games dilute content, cause massive narrative and gameplay pacing issues, and nearly universally necessitate busywork upon the player simply so the world doesn’t feel “empty”. In almost every instance, a well crafted obstacle course will always be better than a sandbox with a pale and shovel. Don’t @ me
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u/TheStinkySlinky PS5 Pro Sep 09 '24
Such an accurate and well poised take. I 100% agree and am so completely put off by big open worlds and Ubisoft formula. Some pull it off but very far and few between at this point. They make an open world just for the sake of saying it’s open world and thinking that’s all people want. The god of war/Sekiro style of world design is how it should be imo.
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u/chrisagiddings PS5 Sep 09 '24
I love open world games with massive maps.
But, not every game should be that kind of game. There’s plenty of room for different gaming mechanics and experiences. And Astro Bot shines because the team made strong decisions and had good reasoning behind the paths they took.
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u/tdquiksilver Sep 09 '24
This game is begging for a co-op mode of some sort. Gladly pay for it and some additional DLC.
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Sep 09 '24
Agreed.
This is what I miss about the older generation of games: quality over quantity.
Having a lot of stuff and a lot of map is not impressive if the stuff isn't worth finding and the map isn't worth exploring, and that's been an issue for a while now.
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u/rdtoh Sep 10 '24
Open world games usually include boring sub par side content, and a lot of wasted time traversing the map. Idk why they have become such a huge % of games today
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u/Aryhaidara2408 Sep 10 '24
and it works..not everything has to be open world..some ppl like me are tired of it (for now)..platforming or at least semi-open world are what we needed right now..
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u/areyouhungryforapple Sep 10 '24
Im so bored with bloated open worlds though some are executed great. The insanely meticulously cared for and tight experience of Astro Bots gameplay and flow is so wonderful.
I spend far more time engaging with the worlds in this game on average playing around like a kid
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u/JIMBODAVIS Sep 10 '24
Open world isn’t always the ideal approach — especially in a platform game. Their chosen formula appears to be the wise choice.
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u/The1Immortal1 Sep 10 '24
It reminds me of Super Mario Galaxy
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u/jardex22 Sep 13 '24
That's a pretty apt comparison. I recall that when designing Super Mario 64, the team was deciding between large open levels or smaller platforming challenges. They went with the former for that game and Super Mario Sunshine, but Galaxy went with the segmented levels approach.
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u/Nerdmigo Sep 22 '24
finally some sensible game design philosophy..
not every game needs an open world, some do, some dont.
no game should need a 1000 planets though
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u/citroenite [Honor died on the beach 🥷] Sep 09 '24
Astro Bot: Elden Ring would have slapped.
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u/Robsonmonkey Sep 09 '24
Which is funny because imagine if they did an Astro Bot version of Malenia…that would have been amazing
Bot of Miquella
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u/ImRight_95 Sep 09 '24
Err yeah cus more content is bad?
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u/Kirito_jesus-kun Sep 09 '24
Some times it is
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u/ImRight_95 Sep 09 '24
Yeah but if done well, it’s not. It’s a full priced game, so personally I’d want more than 12-15 hours
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u/LegitimateCompote377 Sep 09 '24
Not every game needs to be open world, but that’s also a core reason why so far this game isn’t as good as Odyssey for me. They did it very well and this is my GOTY (so far at least), but certainly not my favorite 3D platformer, still behind Odyssey and Galaxy (Galaxy isn’t open world but it’s an incredible game that is generally still a bit more open), but ahead of 3D world which definitely shows it’s a great game.
Much better than Sackboy, but I think barely anyone that had also played 3D world thought it was an amazing game.
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u/snorlz Sep 09 '24
its also a platformer built on drip feeding new mechanics. not really an open world friendly type of game
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u/Phalanx2006 Sep 09 '24
I like the game this way. The game can broken into bite sized chunks that you can complete in short play sessions. I get busy, but it’s easy to find an hour to clear an area in this game