linear stores or exploring adventures?

[idontknow]

which do u think is better..quests (or any games in general for that matter) that are relatively linear with a story or theme, where you pretty much have to beat the temples in a specific order, or a quest where you can roam freely and choose how you want to beat the game/what order you beat the temples in?...i'm still deciding in my quest...i'm not sure if i should have it so that you must find the secret item(s) in a temple so that you can enter the proceeding temple...what do you think?

[ShadowTiger]

Hmm.. I would have to say that being completely free to explore the overworld at will is fun. But only if you get to look at nice graphics on the way. (Because it makes all the difference between having a blank overworld with the occasional dungeon entrance, and a lush, beautiful overworld with rivers and waterfalls, butterflies and octorocks. And I have seen both. )

[Rose]

I kinda like both the linar and big lush overworld in rich colors thats seen when walking around and exploring..

[ShadowTiger]

Like Revenge 2? That was very linear, but let you see very beautiful overworlds at the same time. It was a great quest. :)

[DarkFlameWolf]

well I'm hoping to achieve a level of free exploration in my two overworlds in Hidden Duality, yet still have some linear playing when going from dungeon to dungeon.

[Jigglysaint]

For the quest I'm working on, it will be quite open-ended. The first part is linier, but when you exit the castle and reach the first town, you will soon see that the world is quite open. Like a good adventure, there will be many areas you will see that you need an item to find to pass. Each of the four major sections(yes, my quest will only have 4 triforce pieces, which will be somthing else, BTW) will require an item to get to. Those items are in other sections, guarded by special bosses, and will require other items to find. Above that, there will be special items that arn't on the inventory(will work around that), like jump boots, spells and other abilities. The game will feature 4 towns, each with someone who will take one of the items you have collected(one that doesn't appear in the inventory) and create a special item. There will be one main overworld, at least 4 sub areas, lots of interaction, and most of all, events that will make C-dawg's wang stand on end. The only thing it will be lacking is original graphics, perhaps a fudged assumption of character(so the King will look exactly like link, yet not actually be him), and other things. It does have a little intro, but so far, no title screen. My emphasis will be on events and such rather than being graphics. Don't worry, I'm using purezc tileset, so it won't look ugly as if I were to use classic tiles.