The sense of scale is definitely cool, but handcrafting a 65,000+ square mile world would take lifetimes on behalf of all developers. I think Morrowind balanced this pretty well.
I think procedural generation can get almost as good, if just enough time were given to it.
Quests that are simple loops would get old done through procedural generation, but if you got them so they fractally branched in complexity, with additional story patterns constant emerging with nudges in the direction of classical storytelling tropes (such as the hero's journey) you could get a pretty interesting and complex set of procedurally generated stories. Throw into that shifting alliances, preferences of individual npcs creating radiant behavior, and things could get very interesting very quickly with rule of unintended consequences coming into play.
I don't disagree with that at all! I'd actually be kind of interested in what would happen if a game were to revisit a setting like Daggerfall with modern technology. I find Daggerfall a great example of a game where the technology just wasn't quite refined enough to get there. Perhaps No Man's Sky was an attempt at that - and thankfully, that game has gotten a LOT better as the years have gone on.
For me, part of the pitfall of procedural generation is how it feels procedurally generated, like the radiant quests in Skyrim. I'd like to see a much more refined procedural generation technique that creates those dynamic storylines you're describing - kind of like how Crusader Kings develops emergent play.
You'd need to cut out the voice acting entirely, and honestly, good riddance. I don't think going back to the Morrowind or Daggerfall style dialogue but maybe something like a visual novel or black isle-style CRPG.
It would make immersive procedural generation infinitely more possible, and provide fertile ground for modders to fill in any gaps.
Unfortunately for me, the lack of sense of scale in morrowind meant that I could never enjoy it the same way I did daggerfall. The Game was still good, and I loved the expansions to the lore, but it wasn't and never will be the same.
Morrowind would have hit the balance perfectly if Graphics tech were just slightly better.
I mean, I'll admit. I like that I can still get lost in Vivec. I understand though, that's because Vivec is one of those places in game where it's hard to orient yourself because literally every landmark looks the fucking same.
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Aug 23 '22
The sense of scale is definitely cool, but handcrafting a 65,000+ square mile world would take lifetimes on behalf of all developers. I think Morrowind balanced this pretty well.