Thank you Hero! But our plot is in another direction!

[Jiro]

Exploration is sublime. It's why I love Morrowind.

I played Morrowind for something like 80 hours before I even went to see Cassius Coscades. I actually forgot there was a main quest by that point.

[Flying Arrow]

Exploration is sublime. It's why I love Morrowind.

I played Morrowind for something like 80 hours before I even went to see Cassius Coscades. I actually forgot there was a main quest by that point.

No kidding. Morrowind is one of the few games I've ever played that made me feel like I was four years-old again and playing through (and getting lost in) the original Legend of Zelda. I'm huge on exploration. Nothing turns me off of a game faster than being handheld or teased with a minimal amount of freedom. Oh, and plots be damned. If I want a plot I'll read a good novel instead of sit through cliched and juvenile cutscenes and dialogue. Exploration (actual gameplay) will trump plot for me at an almost 100% rate.

I find too few games offer any kind of real freedom, and it's one of the reasons I find the newer Zelda games (for example) to be unplayably tedious. The worlds are bigger, but they are completely predictable and, as a result, painfully uninteresting. Stick me on a desert island for a year with only Morrowind/Oblivion and Fallout 3 and I'll be a perfectly content camper.

[Momiji]

I love being able to explore in adventure games/RPGs. I don't like it when they're linear.

[Psychotic]

Exploration and getting into shenanigans of my own making is infinitely more enjoyable than saving the world.

[Iceglow]

Heh on Oblivion I worked my hardest from the get go to find a character what "broke" the game. In the end I came out with:

race: Argonian (lizard race)
birthsign: Thief
job skillset: Assassin

Now with the natural underwater breathing, the marksmanship of a thief/assassin and the lockpicking skill along with poison making and dagger use and the natural resist poison I had a character which when faced with difficult fights could simply run over to the nearest pond/lake/moat/river and dive in. Eventually the enemy follows you in due to stupidity (haha) when they follow you in you simply swim underneath them and poison your dagger with a paralysis poison and drown the sod in the water you can simply swim back underneath the water to go get the items if needs be at your leisure. Whilst surface fighting can be done with poisoned arrows from long range giving you the opportunity to strike down enemies before they close and you can stab them with a dagger if they do so.

[Bolivar]

Depends.

[Wolf Kanno]

I always enjoyed exploring in RPGs so its one of my favorite elements that has been slowly being weened out of the JRPG genre. I just like finding places that are off the beaten path like in FFIV when you find castle Eblan way too early or even just the Mythril town that served no purpose beyond being simply fun and getting access to a few excellent weapons when your party could use a little more "oomph".

Suikoden, Breath of Fire, Dragon Quest, and old school FF rock cause of all the odd shenanigans you can get into sometimes. I simply find that discovering cool little secrets like the island of Giant Monsters in BoF2 or some of the obscure locations for the 108 stars in Suikoden, or even the Gil Snapper Cave in FFV are rewarding in themselves. I still want a story but I don't necessarily feel a strong narrative requires the player has to wait until the end before they can really get a good sense of the world. I feel games that allow the player to see the world at their own pace genuinely have stronger world design and I feel more compelled to save the god forsaken place than the games that simply try to use the story as the only medium to garner sympathy for the place.

[qwertysaur]

I like exploring enough to forget the plot of the game sometimes

[Mercen-X]

I usually like to explore. Most of the time I've been the type of person that wants to do every possible optional thing before progressing the story anymore.

This actually plagued me with Zelda: Spirit Tracks. The game was... fun... but nothing spectacular and certainly not a couldn't put it down thing. I ran through most of the game in a day or two, you can see that with the "stamps" you collect. Suddenly, there will be a gap of a few days, then a week, then 2 weeks... and that's when I forced myself to finally beat it. I didn't bother with any of the sidequests for the first time in a Zelda game. I have the default size bomb bags and arrows... and only like half of the bottom row of hearts. That's unheard of for me... but it's just what's going on these days!

THE JACKAL

I actually never thought I was like this, but it suddenly explains why I have so many unfinished games. How long does it actually take to get all of your party members to level 100 in Final Fantasy VII?

I tend to have mixed feelings about save points. I love them because I hate the idea of dying and having to reacquire all the levels and items I just frickin got. On the other hand, I feel an excuse to be kinda lazy about the game as soon as I reach a save point. SAVE POINTS I hate are those right in the middle in a place where proceeding forthright or backtracking will cost you the same price.

I like to explore each nook and cranny of a dungeon for treasures, I dislike it when the correct path isnt clearly outlined and I go the wrong way (that is to say the right way) and I have to back track if i want all the treasures.

I especially dislike it in games such as suikoden where there is an anti grinding system so I dont even get to say atleast im getting extra levels.

yep. At least Suikoden makes up for it in other ways with all the extra characters you can recruit and such. I really need to play those games again.

My biggest pet peeve is timed dungeons that don't give you enough time to explore the whole thing. That was one of the most irritating elements of FFV for me; it's infuriating to my OC gaming tendencies.

Anti-Grinding System: .hack
What sucked for me was that .hack didn't have a lot to offer. I mostly wanted to get the story done and over with. Then I went back for the sidestuff afterward (after completing the other discs that would eventually come out) and I'd be complaining to myself that I didn't beat this dungeon boss earlier so I could have this neat extra gear saved to the next installment. Stupid game designers should have programmed in a system which you could transfer gear after you've already started the next game.

I'm not sure how many timed dungeons I've ever been in, but I've tried to make through the final dungeon in .hack//QUARANTINE to get Mia... let's just say I failed.

The opposite occurred with Xenosaga. I was so obsessed with getting stuff that I wouldn't finish the game till after I started the sequels. Then there'd be all this stuff I couldn't unlock because I never want to bother creating a new game.

plots be damned. If I want a plot I'll read a good novel instead of sit through cliched and juvenile cutscenes and dialogue. Exploration (actual gameplay) will trump plot for me at an almost 100% rate.

There's nothing to gather up and keep but there's plenty to see and a good enough plot for me: Shadow of the Colossus.

I still want a story but I don't necessarily feel a strong narrative requires the player to wait until the end before they can really get a good sense of the world. I feel games that allow the player to see the world at their own pace genuinely have stronger world design and I feel more compelled to save the godforsaken place than the games that simply try to use the story as the only medium to garner sympathy for the place.

Yes. There should be an option at the beginning of the game that lets you choose your style of play: Just Business to restrict your movement and give you advice on what to do next; Action to allow you to engage in more battles and view more action-themed cutscenes (which you can also skip); and even Adventure which would let you explore without too much restriction. Obviously, if the plot of the game details some kind of war going on, someone's going to get in your way, but as long as most of the other roads are open, who cares?