honestly, I think that with fast travel it is not so different from a mega man game, if at all. all of the feeling of exploration comes from within the specific level you're in, not how it interconnects with others - as at any time you can simply teleport to a different area. either by finding a new bonfire, returning to an old one, or homeward boning out. there is no interconnectivity of areas post lord vessel.Squire Grooktook wrote:Very insightful post Immyr.
The "non-linearity" of the post Lordvessel part of the game might be as much if you only care about pure action, but the interconnectedness of the world is essential for the sense of adventure and exploration of a large world. Without it, you're essentially playing a Mega Man game with choose your robot master and fight your way through.
anor londo leads to dukes archives, then crystal cave then a big boss and a dead end. firelink leads to new londo and the abyss then a boss and a dead end. it also goes to the catacombs then the tomb of giants, a big boss and a dead end - but again these are paths branching from firelink rather than interconnected areas. quelaag's domain leads to the demon ruins then lost izalith, a big boss and a dead end.
this is basically the same design as demon's souls (which I'm not saying is a bad thing). really I think that the painted world of ariamis exemplifies what dark souls level design is all about on a micro level, that is to say within one, self contained area, but I think it would be next to impossible to create a game with the scope of dark souls which maintains this kind of level design on a "micro" level while being as interconnected as the first half of dark souls 1 on a more macro level.
