>>40559751Top one certainly has more character and better direction, the impression I get from the wild areas in Sword & Shield is that GF wants them to be big open plains like a Hyrule Field sort of affair, thing is though that Hyrule Field is usually the worst location in a Zelda game because it's a big, empty timesink.
I think this really exemplifies the difference between good and bad environmental design in open-world, the edited version shows clear direction and pathing however allows for the player to deviate giving freedom but also allowing for more precise design and environmental storytelling whilst the original version is just a simple plain open area, I don't doubt that there are areas like the edit actually in Sword & Shield but this clearly isn't one of them when it could be.
Also I mean environmental storytelling in a very basic sense obviously you're not getting some rich detailed history about the region from the location but it's stuff like the brush they've added showing that there is a clearly commonly walked on path, the fence suggests potential former farmland and the damage to said fence as well as the nearby wooden sign shows aging, gives the environment more character than the simple dusty ground, sandstorm and dead trees which together say badlands-desert but nothing beyond that.
I think this is an issue GF has with all the games though you look at the deserts in each region they're all not really telling much aside from being a desert, there was potential in Unova's one with the Relic Castle and they did rectify it to a degree in B2W2 although at the same time basically destroyed the original identity, Kalos' Route 13 Badlands were also a good opportunity that was squandered, could've really capitalized on the area being the energy powerhouse/grid of the region.
