Originally posted by Quirhid

Originally posted by robert4818

Originally posted by Quirhid

Drastically transforming the gameplay mid-way would be a huge mistake imo. Not only people who have been playing up until that point will feel like you've butt-f***ed them, but the people who could potentially enjoy your "end-game" would never get there.

I disagree.

 

There are a number of reasons.

First, As I've said in an earlier post, its been done before.  There are many SRPG's that take this route.  The key is to make the gameplay shift feel natural.  We aren't going from RIFT to Ultima Online.  We are going from "Focused RIFT to Open RIFT", so to speak.

You've not really changed the gameplay, so much as you've gone from focused story line, and transitioned into, now you have your freedom.   So, to continue using RIFT as a basis.  You've gone from following a trail of breadcrumbs that introduce you to the world, the war, the rifts, etc.  To a point where all of these things now exist, but you are now free to chase them as you feel fit.  You can explore the world, maybe set up some towns, close rifts, etc.  Only the breadcrumbs stopped at the Sanctum.  

There is no "natural shift" from concentrated, condenced fun to scarce and scattered make-your-own-fun. Most people don't want sandbox. If they would, they would play one. Sneaking a sandbox in would be butt-f***ing them.

Your wrong SWTOR proved one thing , more people wanted sandbox than themepark .  That is why the game is now dead

I agree a short theampark exp could work but you would have to have a choice.

What i would love to see in a game like Rift is  theampark servers and sandbox servers but that would probly be too much work

Originally posted by minime2

Originally posted by Quirhid

Your wrong SWTOR proved one thing , more people wanted sandbox than themepark .  That is why the game is now dead

 

I must secretly love sandboxes too because I didn't care for SWTOR either, huh? -No.

The game is far from dead. Looking at MMOData.net, SWTOR is still bigger than any sandbox out there. It is the 10th most played game (among all games not just MMOs) on XFire too. Darkfall, Xsyon, Mortal Online and almost every other sandbox is dead by comparison.

Originally posted by Quirhid

Originally posted by minime2

Originally posted by Quirhid

Your wrong SWTOR proved one thing , more people wanted sandbox than themepark .  That is why the game is now dead

 

I must secretly love sandboxes too because I didn't care for SWTOR either, huh? -No.

The game is far from dead. Looking at MMOData.net, SWTOR is still bigger than any sandbox out there. It is the 10th most played game (among all games not just MMOs) on XFire too. Darkfall, Xsyon, Mortal Online and almost every other sandbox is dead by comparison.

You're comparing road kill to horse sheet to the starving masses?

Originally posted by Amaranthar

Originally posted by Quirhid

Originally posted by minime2

Originally posted by Quirhid

Your wrong SWTOR proved one thing , more people wanted sandbox than themepark .  That is why the game is now dead

 

I must secretly love sandboxes too because I didn't care for SWTOR either, huh? -No.

The game is far from dead. Looking at MMOData.net, SWTOR is still bigger than any sandbox out there. It is the 10th most played game (among all games not just MMOs) on XFire too. Darkfall, Xsyon, Mortal Online and almost every other sandbox is dead by comparison.

You're comparing road kill to horse sheet to the starving masses?

He (minime2) did. Not me.

Cut-scenes does not an mmo make.

Originally posted by Quirhid

Originally posted by robert4818

Originally posted by Quirhid
 

I'm using An existing Game as a common ground concept.  This is NOT a proposal to change an existing game.

So, I have no idea what you mean by "Sneaking a sandbox in".  As it would be  a new game, its not like this is a "hidden" or "surprise" feature.

I'm not talking about changing an existing game either. I'm talking about a new game that starts out one way and transforms into something people didn't sign up for. The way you're presenting it sounds awfully like a bait and switch. You don't introduce players to sandbox with themepark. Just like you don't introduce players to PvP by applying "unsafe PvE" - for goodness sake many have tried and failed.

If you want to make sandboxes more popular, which is the ulterior motive I'm guessing you have, you do it by making hybrid from the get-go and all the way through. Not by changing the game half-way through. Like Larsa already mentioned, you'd have sandbox players racing through the "tutorial" to get to the endgame and themepark players quitting once they reach it.

 

EDIT: And its not only the themepark to sandbox transition but any dramatic transision in any game thats bad.

Of course, what you are missing is that this ALREADY HAPPENS in many single player games.  The Final Fantasy Franchise, and other RPG's have a tendency to do this already.

In the final fantasy games, the world progresses fairly linearly, right up to the point where you get the airship.  Once that happens, you suddenly get the ability to do whatever you want in the world.

Imagine Fallout 3, or Red Dead redemtion.  These do them as well to a lesser extent.  They leave you stuck in an area (Vault/Farm) for a little bit of time before they set you off into the sandbox world.  The general difference is that they keep their opening linear part fairly short.  However, had they extended the farm/vault sequence for another few hours with more story, it wouldn't have changed the fact that they transitioned to something Sandboxy afterwards.   YES they are single player games, but that doesn't mean that this concept doesn't already happen.