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In Praise of World Maps


On 03/12/2021 at 06:45 PM by Matt Snee

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I've moved on from Dragon Quest 11, and am ten hours into Tales of Vesperia now. I played it originally on the Xbox 360, but never finished it. When it came out for Switch, I bought a hard copy of it, but I only dabbled in it until now. It's really a great game, and I forgot how enchanting the stories and characters can be in Tales games. The combat is a little dated now, but I have no complaints with it. The banter between the characters however, is timeless. 

And the game looks great! Cel-shaded games always age best. There is so much detail to the graphics and the characters and locations. It's a feast for the eyes, really. 

I've noticed as I go through the game, I sometimes get lost on the world map, and wander around fighting monsters (they appear on the map rather than as random attacks), while I look for whatever I'm looking for. And I said to myself last night, as I was doing this: "This is really fun!"

Recent Tales games (that I've played), have gotten rid of the world map mechanic, as have a lot of other modern JRPGs. But I've always been a fan. Even with the sometimes ridiculous scale of worldmaps, I always feel the largeness of the world more. I don't know why - I just do.

I really enjoyed DQ11, and lord knows it's a large world with a lot of nooks and crannies with a lot of things to discover. But sometimes... I just want a world map to journey upon. 


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/12/2021 at 08:49 PM

Cel-shading definitely became one of my favorite art styles back in the GameCube days. 

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/13/2021 at 02:50 PM

Yeah, I really prefer it to realistic graphics most of the time. 

Machocruz

03/12/2021 at 10:08 PM

Always liked world maps, or "overworlds" as we also called them. More efficient travel without needing fast-travel. Developer doesn't have to worry about filling every square foot of map with content, art assets, etc. Although I'd take a best of both world approach with an overworld and a full scale world that you can switch between.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/13/2021 at 02:47 PM

Ah, yeah, overworld. Forgot about that. Laughing

KnightDriver

03/12/2021 at 11:05 PM

 I used to play anything that had cell-shaded graphics. There's this racing game Auto Modelista and I just saw a remastered version of XIII today. 

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/13/2021 at 02:47 PM

I remember that game. But I never played it. What system was that for?

KnightDriver

03/13/2021 at 10:55 PM

Both were on Xbox/PS2/Gamecube. The XIII remaster is on all current systems. 

Joaquim Mira Media Manager

03/12/2021 at 11:26 PM

I have to get back to Vesperia on game pass eventually. I was playing Rayman Legends recently, and it's so good.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/13/2021 at 02:48 PM

Vesperia is really great. 

SanAndreas

03/13/2021 at 03:45 AM

Tales of Vesperia was probably the only Xbox 360 game I cared to revisit, I was glad to see it get a Switch release. It is a beautiful game, and it has one of the best casts of playable characters with great voices to boot. 

I, too, miss world maps sometimes. Tales of Hearts, which came immediately after Vesperia, was the last Tales with a world map. A lot of games not only don't have a world map, but travel is accomplished just by selecting an icon to a number of disconnected areas. However, Dragon Quest VIII and DQXI did drawn-to-scale game worlds just right.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/13/2021 at 02:50 PM

I forgot how good it is. Tales games can be so great. 

Cary Woodham

03/13/2021 at 08:08 AM

I like world maps, too.  I also liked it when games came with instruction booklets and printed paper maps.  That was really helpful.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/13/2021 at 02:49 PM

Yeah, game booklets and maps are definitely a lost art. 

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