Lord did I ever write a lot without realizing… this relatively small text input box does me no favors, I really ought to draft things in a word processor or something (by which I mean I really ought to do that more consistently)
Anyway I only have one more thought that I neglected to cram in before I had to go to the store, one recommendation and one response to perhaps the only statement so far I definitely don’t agree with.
JoJoestar I love trivial, low stakes, mundane game experiences, in fact I come from having a great time driving a truck with barely functional controls in Mundaun.
Can’t remember if we’re possibly had this conversation before based on you expressing a similar or adjacent thought, but have you ever played Elite: Dangerous? My favourite way to play that game was basically just space truckin’ (come on!!) along long routes between star systems, in order to afford a better ship, in order to go space truckin’ (come on!!) better.
The experience is also greatly improved with, based on my experience, even the cheapest HOTAS controller you can find.
Kez I don’t know, horse riding is like “hold x to follow path”
Counterpoint: have you considered that Miss New Booty, my American Thoroughbred with crazy stats who I stole off a particularly unlucky but equally as dead sonofagun among a pack of yellerbellied cowards who tried to jump me randomly, is big, and strong, is my friend, and I can brush her to keep her beautiful brindle coat all nice and shiny, and feed her oats, and pat her neck?
Half kidding (mainly the half about actually disagreeing and being confrontational about this statement, I definitely do love Miss New Booty), but you know, I actually think there is lots to offer in horse riding so long as you’re not just using the Cinematic Camera option like that. It’s not nearly as interesting as, say, Death Stranding’s everything, but there is some at least moderately interesting friction in the act of horse riding just as a mode of traversal There’s enough variance in contour to the terrain itself that just getting from point A to point B can be somewhat involved, especially if you want to go as fast as your horse can take you, or go offroading. There is at least some strand-type gameplay in figuring out how fast you can get your horse to go down a steeper slope without your poor loyal companion going ass over head, or weaving through boulders or fences or wagons at a full gallop, or hunting medium sized game on horseback with a lasso.
I’ve made other overly long posts on the forums before about what I feel is missing from a lot of open world games, one thing I come back to often is that unless the methods and modes of traversal in your game are one of the core gameplay elements, or at least embedded within another of the core gameplay elements, there is basically no point in having a game world that is any bigger. I’m a big subscriber to the idea that fast travel is somewhat of an admission of failure in that regard. While playing Red Dead Redemption 2, I first thought the Cinematic Camera was a neat touch (for those who haven’t played, you can activate a mode that will switch dynamically between cinematic shots while just holding X, which will cause your horse to follow the road you’re on automatically as well as follow and keep pace with any NPCs you’re riding with), but I also realized somewhat quickly that I just wasn’t using it that much, I’d usually rather control the horse manually.