Postby croissant » Wed Mar 01, 2017 4:44 pm
I haven't come across any of these kind of views myself, but as you bring the subject to my attention, I can definitely see a potential for mixed perceptions regarding the final game. You can already tell quite a bit from the game's multiple release trailers, and different people seem to respond to different aspects. A recurring statement I've noticed more recently is about the game feeling empty. Many seem to resort to the notion that the worlds are too big with nothing in them, and I do feel a bit concerned about the possibility of being left with the same kind of impression.
Some say the answer is to simply add objects to fill the space. But I feel there are other more subtle nuances to the experience that would require attention. After all, things didn't really look all that different design-wise back in the days of Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64. So what could then be the missing factor? As the thread's title suggests, I feel this is a matter of what defines quality—which then leads us to the question: do we understand what defines the attribute of quality in any man-made creation? I will make a claim and say that it's always about passion, integrity and satisfaction. If you want to create something that is a product of quality, it has to be something that you really do enjoy to do. It has to be something that you do for the satisfaction of it. It has to be something that you do with passion and desire. If either of those two factors are missing in the creative process, where is then the integrity?
Some people say they feel that the game is lacking a sense of polish. It's hard to nail it down to any exact points, because it's really scattered out all over the place. When you are in the process of designing something like a video game, there are a myriad of different factors that together compose what renders the final gameplay experience. It's therefore important to acknowledge that the composition of each little element, be it a 3D model, an instrument in a song, or a piece of code, optimally requires a sufficient level of attention to its detail, until the artisan who is composing that element truly feels satisfied with the result. If the artisan is not feeling passion and sheer enjoyment in the creative process, the result is going to feel stillborn. In particular, any artists working with music, words or paint should be familiar with this. But when the subject is as complex as a video game, it's easier to dismiss this understanding and just fabricate something for the purpose of providing a piece of content to the whole.
If this were to be the case with a significant amount of the many pieces that compose the entirety of the game, those specific elements collectively are probably going to feel like they are sucking life out of you. Most people seem to not notice what those specific elements would be, perhaps because they haven't finetuned their awareness to be observant of these subtle nuances. And so, their general impression is just that "it feels empty". Then there are others who are more easily distracted by other specifics, who will have a different perception of the game, perhaps with a more biased attitude than objective.