I just finished the Elden Ring DLC and the Tomb Raider remastered trilogy. These games are 30 years apart but share the same mostly quiet protagonists.

Lara is alone, doesn't try to solve the puzzle for the player in the first 5 seconds, let's the player explore and figure things out and soak in the atmosphere. Aloy is as chatty as Nathan Drake but she's just muttering to herself in the wild, she even narrates her actions like an audiobook

The constant hud and text over every in world item also ruins the immersion. Yes I get that you don't see items in Fromsoft games, you get that streak of light. But Horizon firstly hides the item in their busy environment design then forces you to press a button to prompt that streak of light, for immersion!

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[–] simple@lemm.ee 40 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (17 children)

I had exactly the same experience. I played Ghosts of Tsushima after Elden Ring and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, I was surprised how shallow the mainstream open world games are. I don't hate them, but the gameplay really boils down to:

Walk slowly while characters talk to eachother for 5 minutes
Open the map, click on where you need to go, then walk in a straight line to your objective
Trail an enemy without being seen
Liberate an enemy camp (kill the same 3 enemies and collect the 5000 twinkly useless items in the area)

The Elden Ring withdrawal is really hitting me. Most AAA games are trying so hard to be cinematic and movie-like that it's boring me to tears.

[–] odium@programming.dev 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (11 children)

If you want good exploration, I would recommend:

witcher 3: good exploration and incredible quests
hollow Knight: 2d metroidvania so very different genre, but great exploration with no hints. Souls like fights, so similar there to some games you've played and liked. Metroidvanias in general are good at exploration.
genshin impact: most varied biomes I've ever seen. Will hold your hand first time you see a mechanic, but won't tell you anything subsequent times. Cons: starting areas have the blandest exploration and quests. You need good willpower to not swipe. Combat is often very easy.

[–] zenharbinger@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I think Witcher 3 falls into the same problems listed.

Witcher Sense
Busy HUD
Fetch Quests
Given direction to go w/ mini-map
Talks to self

I mean, I loved the game, but it's not minimalist. It's like playing a movie.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Geralts talking to self never bothered me. The characters, story and world were really interesting for me. The side quests were definitely all filler. I found a few that were amusing but most were the same thing: go kill this over here.

[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The winds are howling

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago

Looks like it's about to rain

[–] filister@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Actually this is what I liked about the Witcher 3 is that the side quests were really great. Of course there were generic ones that felt like doing chores but a surprisingly big amount of quests were actually unique with great stories.

This for me was the best thing about the game. Combat was kind of meh, especially the oils, etc. but the world was very well crafted and not only the main story but also a big chunk of side quests were really engaging.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

The chores ones are what I mean. Boring. But there were some really good ones for sure. I really liked finding all the Witcher gear too. The world is incredibly vast and detailed, packed with stuff in every nook and cranny. Same with elden ring. Though I felt the dlc lacked in that regard.

The blood and wine dlc was amazing. I loved the main story/mission. There was a lot to love in the Witcher 3. I'll have to play it again some day.

[–] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I mean a Witcher getting paid to kill monsters...

I understand though

[–] Xenny@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You're right. The witcher 3 never grabbed me because of these reasons. It's got such phenomenal quests and storytelling but in between feels like a chore since im just staring at the minimap the whole time. I installed mods to remove HUD elements to help fix it but I still needed a toggle for them to show me direction occasionally since the games design relies on those HUD elements to drive the player.

It's such lazy design in an otherwise rich experience. It boggles my mind.

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