World expansion only optional ??

[croissant]

[Pgcrooner]

I'm sure the worlds will be pretty big on there own without expanding them. You might decide to not expand worlds and still have a lengthy experience. There's just too much we don't know.

[Exaskryz]

Have you ever had that experience in a game where you would just love if there were more to do in the world? I know Banjo Kazooie had that for me when it came to Freezeezy Peak. I know Super Mario 64 had that for me in Shifting Sand Land. I would have loved to really play those worlds some more. I think for anyone who has no idea about the expandable worlds, they can be in for a very pleasant surprise after they beat the game.

Yeah, for a completionist to have to play more in a world they may not have liked, it's a drag. But that comes with the nature of being a completionist.

I think it's just fine that they're making expansion optional. Probably makes it easier to prevent softlocking as well.

[polomi]

Each world or expansion can have its own little story... The pirate in Treasure Cove Trove, the Bears in Freezeezy Peak or Gobi the Camel had nothing to do with the overall story of the game, yet those kind of things are awesome.

[Taylor]

The point of expanding worlds is to allow as much freedom as possible. Some people like to blitz through a game without collecting and doing absolutely everything; others enjoy the challenges in each world. I'm one of the latter -- I find exploring, collecting and solving puzzles fun, more so than getting to the final boss in fact.

[croissant]

It was not my intention to imply that every part of the game has to be completed before the final stage, but that the element of world expansion itself is given a purpose that ties to the red thread of the adventure. That is, presuming that the expended worlds have more than one objective each to offer, so that at least one objective gives the player a purpose to explore the expansion. Then the rest of the expanded world can be explore later, whenever the player may desire – be that before or after they have defeated the final boss.

[RareAware]

[TheHeartMan]

Well, the thing is that the game can be completed without expanding the worlds. The advantage in the expandable worlds being optional is that it allows for a more varied play experience as well as allowing people to complete the game in different ways based on their skills and frustrations.

The way they've made it sound is that the game can be completed via completing the base worlds, and can be expanded with Pagies. However, they've noted that the world expansions contain within them even more Pagies. Thus it's theoretically possible that the game could be completed with a player barely touching a particular world due to the option of expansion. If a player, for example, is too much of a novice/rusty and/or finds, let's say, an underwater level too frustrating to play, they can focus on the worlds they enjoy and are more comfortable playing to complete the game, and then will maybe come back to the "shunned" level to try again with more experience.

I'm excited for expandable levels, and I think the fact that they're optional really allows for a better gameplay experience for everybody. For the old school collect-a-thon thugs like myself, we'll happily toss our pagies to expand our worlds, even if they're not our favorite. That being said, a newer player or somebody who cares less for the exploration and collecting can skip the expandable worlds and have a good time without feeling bogged down by integers of items.

[Alph]

Also I'm sure completing the game 100% will still unlock something nice, not like certain other games where it just gives you a congratulations screen.

[croissant]

An idea that just came to mind, though: I think it could be cool if there would be like a secret room or something near the end of the game, that requires, say, a certain amount of Pagies or Playtonics to be unlocked. Perhaps there is something optional and fun behind the door, like a quiz, cheatcodes, minigames – a surprise. So in order to get there, you'll have to collect a certain amount of this collectible, that would require the player to expand the worlds in order to acquire what is needed. And if there is a certain stage that someone just doesn't want to play, maybe the player can acquire the amount that is needed from just a few of the expansions. In that sense, there would be something in the game that encourages the player to expand the worlds.

[Jellyfunk]

If Playtonic want to let people skip months of their work, who's stopping them?