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Exploration, Games, and Writing a Setting
2 years ago
Sometimes you just need a microscope
Let's take a look at two recently released games and their views on exploration and storytelling and the difference between them and what separates fascinating and rewarding exploration from insulting exploration.
Baldurs Gate 3 - Being the nosiest fuck in the sword coast gets you flung to bizarre places by petulant outsiders, the SUN BEAM, and story relevant puzzles / story adjacent lore areas where being said nosy fuck pays off with cinematic cutscene, relevant to location and story item rewards, or greatly expanding on companion stories. An aggressive take of Show do not Tell. This is exploration at near it's zenith, beautiful, enticing, rewarding, and expands on everything going on in the background. It comes off as a love letter to being said nosiest fuck on the Sword Coast even with it's flaws and for a game about fighting off your imminent death man does it scratch the right itches even with it's bug-tacular and incomplete 3'rd act.
Starfield - Being the nosiest fuck in the milky way gets you.... randomly color coded gear at most hand crafted sites (There are exceptions, but blue, purple, orange unrelated garbage is the usual reward) maybe a ship if you're lucky that is in no way story relevant, and companion story quests that do not expand on the setting itself or the companion themselves. The storytelling quickly becomes an iteration of "Join the army / become a cop /debt collector, it's good for you!," "An alien did it," and "Academics are all hyper-individualistic ego maniacs," themes that pair poorly with a story that's theoretically about space explorers, a mechanic Bethesda's made both boring and unpleasant to do. It's a mechanic that's there to be there, not a mechanic that's integral to the story itself. There are good parts but it comes with baggage that makes it a septic slog to trudge through.
Personally love exploration focused games - Subnautica, Red Dead, Horizon Zero, and Hollow Knight all do it so incredibly well as it's an integral part of what makes those games tick. Yes, there is combat in them, but large portions of it are avoidable if you chose to do so and when it is mandated, the writers make it story relevant. A thought process that Bethesda hasn't thought about since the Shimmering Isles at the latest.
Baldurs Gate 3 - Being the nosiest fuck in the sword coast gets you flung to bizarre places by petulant outsiders, the SUN BEAM, and story relevant puzzles / story adjacent lore areas where being said nosy fuck pays off with cinematic cutscene, relevant to location and story item rewards, or greatly expanding on companion stories. An aggressive take of Show do not Tell. This is exploration at near it's zenith, beautiful, enticing, rewarding, and expands on everything going on in the background. It comes off as a love letter to being said nosiest fuck on the Sword Coast even with it's flaws and for a game about fighting off your imminent death man does it scratch the right itches even with it's bug-tacular and incomplete 3'rd act.
Starfield - Being the nosiest fuck in the milky way gets you.... randomly color coded gear at most hand crafted sites (There are exceptions, but blue, purple, orange unrelated garbage is the usual reward) maybe a ship if you're lucky that is in no way story relevant, and companion story quests that do not expand on the setting itself or the companion themselves. The storytelling quickly becomes an iteration of "Join the army / become a cop /debt collector, it's good for you!," "An alien did it," and "Academics are all hyper-individualistic ego maniacs," themes that pair poorly with a story that's theoretically about space explorers, a mechanic Bethesda's made both boring and unpleasant to do. It's a mechanic that's there to be there, not a mechanic that's integral to the story itself. There are good parts but it comes with baggage that makes it a septic slog to trudge through.
Personally love exploration focused games - Subnautica, Red Dead, Horizon Zero, and Hollow Knight all do it so incredibly well as it's an integral part of what makes those games tick. Yes, there is combat in them, but large portions of it are avoidable if you chose to do so and when it is mandated, the writers make it story relevant. A thought process that Bethesda hasn't thought about since the Shimmering Isles at the latest.
