Come on, are you going to say that the open world part of Far Cry 3 was well done? The island is uninteresting, you need to climb those radio tower to reaveal the map because reasons, freeing the outposts is a 5 minute deal and it's still boring, side missions are all the same (and those "stab this guy, don't shoot him because that against the tradition" are just... Awful). Hunting is neat but after a bit you have all you equipment maxed out and it loses all its meaning. There are some nice views but that's about it.
It would have worked better as a tighter experience imho. But that would have meant investing more on the main campaing, because if you just power through the main campaing skipping all the side content you're left with maybe 6 hours of playing time?
While I won't call it an amazing open world, if fact I dare say most open world games don't fully utilise such a feature, I quite enjoyed it being present in this game.
I took to the game and decided to focus and bring out the idea it was supposed to be a living set of islands, where rather than just being "Rambo" and go guns ablazing and simply climbing every tower I could instantly, clearing out every outpost as fast as possible, trying to get through the story as much as possible, to get every single upgrade right away, I treated it as a journey of a hunter where the bow and arrow were key.
These were my recommendations for the game in a previous thread.
Find out how to lose the user interfaces, which means all the menus and health and what have you. Moding allow this, ini. editing can do it I believe.
Get the bow and arrow as soon as possible.
Be stealthy when possible, use the stone to lure enemies into traps.
Only take out enemy camps when you really need to, otherwise leave as many as possible so the world is constantly filled with patrolling enemies and reinforcements so they can arrive often. It just becomes very empty without them. Taking out one to ensure you have a place to quick travel to is fine, but keep the others around it open.
Hunt. Hunt not just for improved items, but for the fun of a chase without abusing or spamming bullets and rocket launchers and the like. If you can really get into it, you can get a lot of fun around stalking a tiger and killing it without it ever noticing you, or using a turtle with a mine as a trap for a komodo dragon.
Take a moment to enjoy the visual scenery as you glide around places or just drive around. Learn that is actually is a place with landmarks and well laid out road systems and bridges.
To me the hunting was made special because I didn't make use of any of the powers to avoid being seen or to quickly kill them. I tried to track them down via normal sight, the oft unnoticed sound, the moving foliage, and noticing the remains of enemies before I ever got to a section. It was a mini-game unto itself for me especially when it could be a wild animal that comes out of nowhere.
The combat when taken with just the bow and arrow and a few other small weapons allowed me to play with more planing, with more stealth when it came to the few camps I took out for story mode or just to have a quick travel. Aye I could easily just destroy a camp once again like Rambo, but that would have made it boring and dry to me right quickly. Sneaking in and taking the guards out one by one, unlocking an animal cage for hilarity, or using the services of a turtle I guide in using rocks thrown at it so it walks into the camp with C4 was rewarding enough the two times I did it.
Beyond the camps, the story mode, I got more out of the world by having a constant flow of patrolling enemies so the world never felt empty. Leading them into certain paths, taking them from afar with the bow and arrow (rewarding when you mastered the arc of it's firing), or quickly killing several of them in row with the advance takedowns were rather keen.
The "use a knife only" assasinations I enjoyed for similar reasons to the camp above. I understand why it might be boring to some, but I liked the puzzle aspect of figuring out who to take out first. Though I do admit one time I took a boat to one of them on the island, ran aground, had it flip over and smash through four of them just for me to quickly assassinate the target from above in spectacular fashion and only in an open world of my own choices does that happen without it feeling contrived.
I also do appreciate a game that allows me to stop and just look around, to enjoy the views or have an enjoyable way to travel around. While it's no Dirt 2 or Motorstorm, the game was designed well enough to make use of those off-road sections to race on, explore different paths away from the main roads, jump off small leaps or hills, and so forth. Gliding down on a high peak always gave me a sense of relaxation as well.
I would not have gotten any of that out of a short, linear, confined experience like that of Killzone or Call of Duty or Far Cry Instincts and others are even if the experience might have still been enjoyable for some.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of open world games I wish weren't open world as I feel it does nothing to help those games or would be far better suited for linear focus (L.A. Noire) or simple stage selection (Iron Man), and so the reasoning doesn't escape me for why you would want it in Far Cry 3.
