Anonymous
6/30/2025, 12:50:24 AM No.714028546
The open world is an extra. It's a down time task, a bonus. The game itself is a Mario Kart game and is designed like a Mario Kart game. Gameplay involves you driving from A to B, sometimes in a circle. You have races and battle modes. These are the core of the game. They are the big colourful options on the main menu. The open world is not the crux of the appeal of the game, it is a canvas for the core gameplay to exist within and for you to explore outside of that. The Free Roam is intentionally not given a part of the main menu in the same way for exactly this reason.
It only exists as set dressing because that's literally what it is. It is set dressing. The design intentionally tells you this - this is why there is no open world story, why there is no extrinsic motivational element to open world exploration, and why the only time other than when you specifically choose to Free Roam (which the game intentionally visualizes as a side thing on the main menu, not a major option)
You bought a Mario Kart game, you got a Mario Kart game. The difference this time is that the tracks exist in a map you can explore in the down time between races and that's fine (which is literally the only time the game intentionally drops you in free roam). It's okay for a game to be designed like this. In fact frankly, I think it's an interesting form of game design you don't see often - an open world that truly exists to just be set dressing but is still fully explorable is fascinating from a game design perspective.
You are not required to compulsively engage with every single piece of content in every video game.
It only exists as set dressing because that's literally what it is. It is set dressing. The design intentionally tells you this - this is why there is no open world story, why there is no extrinsic motivational element to open world exploration, and why the only time other than when you specifically choose to Free Roam (which the game intentionally visualizes as a side thing on the main menu, not a major option)
You bought a Mario Kart game, you got a Mario Kart game. The difference this time is that the tracks exist in a map you can explore in the down time between races and that's fine (which is literally the only time the game intentionally drops you in free roam). It's okay for a game to be designed like this. In fact frankly, I think it's an interesting form of game design you don't see often - an open world that truly exists to just be set dressing but is still fully explorable is fascinating from a game design perspective.
You are not required to compulsively engage with every single piece of content in every video game.
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