What is immersion to you?
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Immersion for me is when you can interact with the world in a realistic or internally consistent way.
This sounds dumb, but if you can walk into a bar and order a drink, that's a level of immersion. If you can steal the beer off the shelf so ths bartender can't serve you, that's even more immersive because even the NPCs are bound to world logic.
That's great immersion to me.
I would add to this that any interaction that happens in the world (as opposed to some kind of a menu) is an instant immersion boost.
For example Vintage Story has ruined crafting for me, at least in other games. Most games crafting is something that happens in a menu: you get the resources, you press craft and you get what you wanted to craft. In vintage story a lot of crafting happens in the game. For example I just finished smithing out my bronze chains for the chain armor and to do that I had to take 2 bronze ingots to a forge, fill the forge with coal, light it on fire, heat up the ingots, take one ingot to an anvil and then voxel by voxel start hammering the ingot into chain. When I run out of the metal from the first ingot (which you will because one ingot is not enough to make one piece of chain) I take the second ingot and place it ontop of the half-shaped chain and finish it up. That entire process uses only two menus, both at the anvil. The first menu lets you pick what you want to make from ingot so the game could show the shape you have to hammer out. The second menu isn't really even a crafting menu, it's just so you could choose what kind operation you want your hammer to do (which way to hammer voxels or to remove voxels from the ingot). I feel like I'm not doing the process proper service so I found a Youtube short that shows the same process but with shears instead of chains.
It's so immersive for two reasons. First reason is that you literally shape the metal into the tool and the second reason is that the process takes actual time. I had to make 20 chains for my chain armor and it took me multiple in game days to make them because chains are very time consuming to make.
Now compare that to what that crafting would look like in most games. You'd have a smithing station, you take your 40 ingots to the station, you choose chains, pick 20 for the amount, press craft and maybe you have to wait a few seconds until all 20 chains are ready. Not only do you not actually make anything, making all that stuff also takes no time in the game because the crafting process is almost completely detached from the rest of the game world.
I no longer find that kind of crafting enjoyable because I've drank the forbidden immersion fruit and now a basic menu just doesn't cut it. I want to see the thing get made. I want to see the effort and time that goes into making those things. It's like you've had a taste of the best coffee ever and then you go to your friends place and they offer you instant coffee. You don't want that cheap swill, you want the coffee Gale made in Breaking Bad.
EDIT: I will add that I'm not saying all games should have complex immersive crafting minigames. I'm completely fine with menu crafting in games where crafting is just a means to an end, but when crafting is supposed to be a core concept of the game why reduce it to a simple menu? It's like having exploration a core concept of the game but then all travel happens in a menu.
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Stalker is great, I have some good stories in EFP with some rando NPC have a journey together, but he died to a Monolith trap in The Red Forest meat grinder, that was one of the most terrifying battles I've had when there are mutants from the south, they are advancing from the North, seemingly shooting from every direction, I hop from a tree to another desperately looking for cover, found a pile of corpses around the campfire in the forest, I barely got out alive, only then I realized my companion did not follow me. The AI can really range from stupid to insanely good.
I didn't realise you were an Anomaly enjoyer! I love that game too, between the mood and the atmosphere, the hunger/thirst/sleep system along with the FDDA animations and of course Alife I think Anomaly is one of the most immersive games for me.
I've actually been working on a mod lately that uses AI to produce dynamic dialogue for NPCs in Anomaly, which leads to even more immersion.
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
Don't get me wrong, I am currently playing planescape torment and love it but seeing everyone else's response is actually blowing my mind a bit. I mean like, I love me my disco elysium's and factorio-like games, but the thing that really sucks me in and gives me a shit ton of adrenaline are fps and boomershooters.
Something about chasing people down, watching all corners, and/or running for cover is just addicting.
I really wish I could get the same level of immersion with rpg's but I guess I'm not that type of person ;_;
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
You can objectively measure it by asking a person playing for a fixed amount of time how much time has passed and measuring the discrepancy. Games that lately immersed me the most are Intravenous (1/2) and Riftbreaker. Also, Streets of Rogue coop with kids.
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The soundtrack of Caves of Qud really does it for me, so alien and immersive, the graphics weren't much of a problem.
Haven't played that one but am intrigued now.
And yes, gfx are indeed the least important factor of a great game. Yet it seems like the one most money is pumped into
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
When the digital world is cohesive and interesting, it becomes a believable world to exist in. It requires excellent writing and good visual/sound design. Some games I've gotten immersed in: World of Warcraft, Skyrim, SOMA, System Shock 2, Prey, Outer Wilds, Breath of the Wild, No Man's Sky
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Don't get me wrong, I am currently playing planescape torment and love it but seeing everyone else's response is actually blowing my mind a bit. I mean like, I love me my disco elysium's and factorio-like games, but the thing that really sucks me in and gives me a shit ton of adrenaline are fps and boomershooters.
Something about chasing people down, watching all corners, and/or running for cover is just addicting.
I really wish I could get the same level of immersion with rpg's but I guess I'm not that type of person ;_;
They could make shooters better again but don't really care to do so.
The bigger franchises are so that you need less skill and easier entry for casual players.A thing that annoys me a lot is the soundscape in modern FPS that somehow makes it impossible to hear if someone is right behind you.
You need more indie titles to hear footsteps in tactical FPS.
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I didn't realise you were an Anomaly enjoyer! I love that game too, between the mood and the atmosphere, the hunger/thirst/sleep system along with the FDDA animations and of course Alife I think Anomaly is one of the most immersive games for me.
I've actually been working on a mod lately that uses AI to produce dynamic dialogue for NPCs in Anomaly, which leads to even more immersion.
Yeah, old stalker here, I stopped playing just before GAMMA came out. Still biding my time to return to the zone someday, still waiting for GSC to fix the second game. Meanwhile, I will miss my hunting trips at Darkscape until a blowout starts when I am in the middle of nowhere and crap my pants.
The mod sounds nice, sounds like it will give more flavour to companions, will Hip get more dialogue? xD
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Don't get me wrong, I am currently playing planescape torment and love it but seeing everyone else's response is actually blowing my mind a bit. I mean like, I love me my disco elysium's and factorio-like games, but the thing that really sucks me in and gives me a shit ton of adrenaline are fps and boomershooters.
Something about chasing people down, watching all corners, and/or running for cover is just addicting.
I really wish I could get the same level of immersion with rpg's but I guess I'm not that type of person ;_;
I am actually surprised that shooters and chill game people are not in this thread. You are the first one to bring up shooters. The rest are quite within my guess.
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Zomboid, for me personally, is one of the most immersive games. It's a life sim with such in depth mechanics i feel like my character is an actual person growing
I kinda know what you mean, but I come from Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, not Zomboid. I lost my first character when I was happily siphoning gas from cars. At the same time, I was too relaxed and bumped headfirst into a gang of giant wasps, can't fight or run because I was carrying a steel jerrycan, RIP. That was a month of work with this character. xD
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Yeah, old stalker here, I stopped playing just before GAMMA came out. Still biding my time to return to the zone someday, still waiting for GSC to fix the second game. Meanwhile, I will miss my hunting trips at Darkscape until a blowout starts when I am in the middle of nowhere and crap my pants.
The mod sounds nice, sounds like it will give more flavour to companions, will Hip get more dialogue? xD
Well, that's the nice thing about using AI for this, she can have unlimited dialogue - as can anyone else in the game. You can talk to anyone and have full conversations with them, and they have a working memory too. Your companions have unique personalities and unique random backstories and even some character development.
Well, I guess Hip is a named character so she will have a fixed, lore-accurate backstory.
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
Nothing takes me out of immersion more than pointless exposition. Stop talking to me, the player, and keep the conversation normal for my character.
Probably why I love soulslikes, especially the mainstays by From. They only give you terms of the world and don't explain anything to you because you are part of that world and should know this shit.
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You can objectively measure it by asking a person playing for a fixed amount of time how much time has passed and measuring the discrepancy. Games that lately immersed me the most are Intravenous (1/2) and Riftbreaker. Also, Streets of Rogue coop with kids.
how much time has passed and measuring the discrepancy
By this metric, Oblivion was right in the top 3 slot for me. Started playing Friday straight after work, and ended up being late for work Monday morning, no sleep.
In that period also nearly burned my house down - got hungry, put noodles on pot, went back to play for 5 minutes while they cooked. Got hungry, went to put noodles on, saw that I already did that and they were on fire.
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I kinda know what you mean, but I come from Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, not Zomboid. I lost my first character when I was happily siphoning gas from cars. At the same time, I was too relaxed and bumped headfirst into a gang of giant wasps, can't fight or run because I was carrying a steel jerrycan, RIP. That was a month of work with this character. xD
I keep meaning to get into CDDA, but never get around to it. All I know is it’s highly suggested in the Zomboid community
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
I think a big one to me is when the world doesn't revovle around me, when things happen without player input because the player isn't the centre of the universe. Every NPC just wating in stasis or walking on a preset loop forever until I hit the next event trigger really kills immersion.
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I think a big one to me is when the world doesn't revovle around me, when things happen without player input because the player isn't the centre of the universe. Every NPC just wating in stasis or walking on a preset loop forever until I hit the next event trigger really kills immersion.
I only know a couple of games that do this:
Stalker: Anomaly
X4: Foundations
Dwarf FortressEdit: Forgot Saelig.
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
"I like to pick them off at a distance, gimme the GEP gun"
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"I like to pick them off at a distance, gimme the GEP gun"
"The Gep Gun is the most silent way to eliminate Manderley."
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I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
Immersion for me is a captivating story, Relatable or interesting characters, The world also plays a very important role to me.
Cyberpunk nails this in every department but games like Rimworld can also be very immersive in a different way that only graphics do not provide.
I think its a very subjective and personal thing some games are more immersive than others and that can differ person to person. -
I only know a couple of games that do this:
Stalker: Anomaly
X4: Foundations
Dwarf FortressEdit: Forgot Saelig.
Off the top of my head:
- Rainworld
- Thrive (the npc cells undergo independant evolution and competition)
To a much lesser degree cyberpunk (and I would suspect fallout 4) with the correct mod sets can have the NPC factions carry out battles and limited warfare without any player intervention.
