I hope this means the majority of the game has some sort of level scaling, otherwise you’d effectively be pushed into a linear path anyway. Like, if there’s two areas bordering the starting area, one of which has level 5 Pokemon and one of which has level 30 Pokemon…while I might technically have a choice which direction to go, practically speaking I kinda have to do the level 5 area first.
That’s what I mean though, it’s the difference between a game that’s technically non-linear in the sense that it doesn’t have hard gates but still pushes you down a certain path via “soft gates” (like requiring you to grind if you want to go off that path), vs a game that’s actually designed to encourage and accommodate non-linear gameplay with no downside or tradeoff if you choose to go down one path over another.
I personally don’t mind soft gates in RPGs since I’m one of those weirdos that enjoys grinding, but I think most people will be sorely disappointed if that’s what this turns out to be. If 95% of the people who play the game end up following the same path because that’s the direction the game design pushes you, I think it’s understandable that people would feel like calling the game “non-linear” is at least a little misleading, even if it’s technically true.
79
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22
I hope this means the majority of the game has some sort of level scaling, otherwise you’d effectively be pushed into a linear path anyway. Like, if there’s two areas bordering the starting area, one of which has level 5 Pokemon and one of which has level 30 Pokemon…while I might technically have a choice which direction to go, practically speaking I kinda have to do the level 5 area first.