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Trouble with immersion?
Hardanger
Member Posts: 226
in Guild Wars 2
I'll keep it brief.
My biggest and most immediate issue that I had with GW2 on release when I tried to play it was that I felt it lacked immersion. Strangely, despite the polish and detail, I had rarely felt so un-immersed in a game. I think it may have had something to do with world design, character models, UI... something that I can't quite place.
Anyways, I haven't played since launch.
I'm wondering if others have had a similar experience, and can help me understand why I feel so much less connected to this game than to its prequel, for example.
Comments
You make me like charity
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
I can see how this would not be the ideal game for those looking for immersion.
It's really more of an action game (jumping puzzles, no mana, no cast times, dodging) with RPG elements, than a full blown immersive RPG. I like where the game is at personally, but it does feel like I'm running a toon around from the outside, rather than living a character.
The story is pretty uninspired too which probably doesn't help. "We're all heroes fighting the dragons", is a little...blah.
Completely claustrofobic and artificial.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
heh yea while the zones aren't seamless they are the most immersive zones I ever played in a themepark MMO.. not only are they huge and amazing to look at the way the asethetics and the event system is setup the game feels more alive than any MMO i have ever played.. one of the #1 reasons I enjoy it so much
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I tend to think that when I see comments like that, those people only have a level 20 and haven't fully traversed the world. The examles shown in those pictures are actually minor to some of the sights and areas in the game. It's hard for me not to be immersed in the game when I don't think about immersion. The only thing that makes few feel like it's a game are the first couple areas of each starting zone. Then it just opens up, or the game's cities just draw me in with all the conversations and actions NPCs make among themselves.
Though I guess it's how one approaches the game, and how long they play it (or how much they explore) in addition to differing opinions and experiences.
What anoyed me most was the events popping up all over the place not letting you explore tho world without interfearin and the bad fight targeting system.
yea i LOVE this event here:) The Great Oouo
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
just great scenary love it:)
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
While undoubtedly beautiful eyecandy, scenic =/= immersive.
It is a beautiful game, but it does feel a little prefabricated at times, its still a great game and amazing the first and second time around which is more than can be said of a lot of mmo's. But I can see where the op is coming from, it does feel systematic when you delve into the game beyond PVE leveling.
i can see that but I compare this to other themeparks and when the standard themepark is filled with static npcs everywhere and a world that doesn't move/change at all I really can't see how people can complain gw2 feels less immersive than most other themeparks
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
i can see that as well.. each zone is almost a little "world" inside itself in a way(but you could say that about most zoned games even ones with "seamless" zoning).. while as a whole I can see it killing immersion for some when actually in a zone and running around it's still the most immersive PVE experience I have had in a MMO in a very very long time
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
^^^This. I have the exact same issue when playing AoC or TSW, heck even EQ2. It's that stupid non seamless world design, it just ruins the immersion. Only one game ever broke that mold and that was FFXI, for some reason, those instanced zones were almost overly immersive, lol(not really, but you get the gist).
Every "zone" is basically a filled square/rectangle of content. The content is fine, but the layout makes it feel confined and fake. Of course another horrible way would have been the WAR way, 2 linear paths running perpendicular to each other with a big space in the middle for PVP. Crappy world/zone design there as well. Gotta have crap cross over and in and out and be more geographically sound. In other words more haphazard and non shape specific. I think Lotro and WoW handle this fairly well.
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
even in wow though what does it matter if it was seamless or zoned with loading screen? everything that happens PVE wise is contained to that specific zone things didn't spill over and effect multiple zones(at least during vanilla didn't play much after that) I didn't play lotro much so can't comment on that... overall i never found it mattered if the games seamless zones or not as everything was contained within the zone anyway so it didn't make a whole lot of difference overall in that aspect.. now what goes on in the zone is another matter.. are there battles going on are there constant skirmishes between npcs and faction wars going on inside each zone that makes them feel alive.. to me this is where gw2 nailed the immersion feeling for me
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Sorry, if you can't use your imagination while waiting between zones then you are probably playing the wrong type of game. You should be able to connect one area with the other in that 10-15 seconds it takes.
As far as teleporting from one area to another, all I can say is if bothers you, don't do it. /shrug
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
My biggest immersion breaker is the instant travel. I installed the game again after months of pause, made new char and went for it. Everything was great and fun, until at around lvl6 I realized that I had been just running around and forgot about the main story, this was not the problem, it's actually cool such a thing can happen in themepark, but what followed afterwards dropped me into the state of meh again.
I opened map to check on where the story location was, and then clicked on the nearest waypoint and: boom - the immersion switch got turned off. I begun to pick up on the story and just blinked around the map to get to the story locations. Blink, blink, blink, I just traveled from point to point with tons of land in betweem, it took few seconds and nobody even saw me on the road. Having to actually travel (even after the first time) to places that you want to visit makes it feel more meaningful and adventurous (immersive).
Just give me a shard where there isnt waypoints at all (or maybe like 6 in the whole world?) and where I can run just a little bit faster (since there obviously wont be mounts ever). If you cant travel in 3 seconds to everywhere in the world, the world stops feeling so damn small and artificial, at least in theory that should help but who knows.
Currently there arent any far away lands that I have to travel to, there are just maps and places where I can get in 3 seconds regardless of my destination or current location... Meh. Want to farm at some distant cool spot? Click you're already there. Need to sell trash? Click you're at the vendor. Need to get to the other side of the whole world? You're already there.
Cant argue I had a blast and still visit GW2 now and then, Im still searching though for a totally immersive game experience, if only AV knew what to do the original DF.
Note my comment above. Don't use that waypoints if it is making the game bad for you. They put them there for our convenience, not so you HAVE to use them. If they weren't there, folks would complain that it was to hard to get around. Can't make everyone happy.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
I too would enjoy a MMO where huge events went on that effected the entire "world" and such and felt everything was connected as everything could have an effect on anything type setup. but overall i still find playing around in gw2 zones far more immersive than any other recent themepark in how npcs react and behave and how the event system plays out.. but obviouslly its all personal preference.. obviouslly instant ports kill it for some others can overlook this or not even notice because of how the zones draw you in when you are actually playing in them.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg