Really? I thought that there was an awful lot of hiking through trackless wilderness with nothing really going on. And then you'd find something that was definitely cool, but do you really think that the game world couldn't have been trimmed by 20-30% and created a tighter overall experience with more moments of…

@TRT-X: Waaaah! But if it isn't nearly identical to everything that I've already played, it is incompetent!

But that's a perfect example of the tradeoffs of a giant world. The gianter the world gets, the less interesting stuff there is to do in it (in general). I'd definitely rather get 5 planets worth of worthwhile experience instead of 7 planets with the same amount of content spread thin between them. Like butter…

I guess that my standards for big-world games are just rising, and it feels like a lot of them are failing my expectations. I'm not willing to take a 60% quality hit (compared to a well-made more linear game) on narrative presentation and gameplay pacing in order to get the 'wandering the world' experience. The…

Most manmade devices don't have anywhere near the durability inside of a living system that living organs do. Perhaps that's a surmountable issue.

Heck yes there is. At minimum, someone who is fitted with one of these and then afflicted with total paralysis. EMTs check him, find no pulse, bodybag and send to the morgue.

@InsertCoiner: I just couldn't agree much less. I understand where you're going, as far as 'given infinite money and infinite developers, an open world game with comparable gameplay density and quality to a linear experience could be made.' But in practice, that isn't what happens. Is the action better in Mass…

@TheRealDoshu: Vibrant worlds, great. But if the story and gameplay pacing are utterly sabotaged by my accidentially dragging my feet or getting lost, have I gained something that is worth what I've traded off?

@Brodka: regrettably: Plus, GTA4 is mostly a big empty world with mostly nothing entertaining to do. So the 'open world' is pretty much 'choose next mission to go do'.

@merc-ai: The Starks are self-centered. They are just pridefully indulgent of a sense of justice. They come from the backwoods north and make no efforts to adapt.

@Lilikka: I think that the scene was intended to be discomforting. I thought the scene was actually pretty good at concisely revealing the ways in which Littlefinger is warped.

@Wolf_Dog: Aren't you just setting yourself up for fanboy zings here?

I like that the superpowers aren't overblown. If this were really being billed as "superheroes" then it would be kind of lame weak powers for that. But seeing people who are superhuman but not utterly ridiculous seems sort of interesting. None of these people seems like one that you couldn't get the drop on if you…

I think that when an author butchers a character in that sense, it is always in the name of plot, not of storytelling.

The point still stands though: as far as superpowered types that he'd be going toe-to-toe with, most of them ought to just be able to put him in some submission hold that doesn't let him use his claws.

@ddhboy: But isn't that back to degree of customization? San Andreas has lots more context because you're CJ. You have a predefined history with the place, with local gangs, with local law enforcement, etc. etc. etc.

Yeah. I was going to say tempura.

Gwen is great. Don't understand Gwen-bashing at all.

I can't quite get the circle to disappear. I see a little bit of the rim of it. I might just be holding my head wrong. Either way, spooky.

@AOClaus: Some people seem to have a lot of problems with games that have large game worlds like the games mentioned. Dirty optics on the disc drive would lower read speeds and cause an issue like that. Or some other shoddy manufacturing issue.