>>39127088>What would it take for an open world game to have this "soul" thing that's been thrown around everywhere?Not being open world.
Or at least to have an actual script of events over a list of fetch quest.
Take a look at the Yakuza series for a proper way to do a small sandbox packed full of stuff to do.
Honestly I think Yakuza is the most soulful sandbox experience, it's so fucking good it kinda made the other games look bad when I think about it.
Another proper aspect sandboxes in openworld games tend to miss is satisfying mechanic progression and a crafted mechanic experience on the enjoyment loop.
They basically fail the gaming Pavlov test, think of how satisfying it is to fire a double barrel shotgun on an FPS, gaining that one move in an RPG or getting your first evolution in Pokémon, it makes you want to do it more.
However open world games often miss the proper craft to make their weapons feel ridiculously satisfying to use, I mean in BoTW I have to fucking guide lynels into explosions while performing a burning grass jump and shooting them in free fall to get my gameplay rocks off, parrying and triggering mounting arrow loops just don't feel as rewarding and the game creates a negative feedback loop to use your best weapons unless you have maxed your master sword.
Then the action of wailing in enemies wears thin given how boring most of the arenas actually are, the environments are top notch but you don't get the crafted arenas you get in shit like the oracle of seasons series a link between worlds/past nor the satisfying puzzle shit like tower of spirits and oracle of ages.
I played BoTW because the shrines felt a bit like the exploration in the original however it lacked crafting in it's gameplay, a trap most open world fall into, you do the fetch quests or combat because it rewards you instead of doing it because it's fucking fun.
To make an allegory, they give you a huge ballpit but they forbid you from throwing the balls around.
