This mentality has mutated into a principle of doing anything other than main quest in open world games for me. In the latest zelda game I spent way too long trying to figure out how to unlock the map by traveling to different vantage points, climbing towers etc, before deciding to do a little bit of the main quest and the map is almost the first thing you do.
I used to do this too, but now I’ve realized that today’s games have way too much unnecessary crap and I end up way over powered. I’ve reverted to beelining the main story until it gets too hard and then exploring. This has it’s own pitfalls, like some games including key items in those side areas, but usually I would have had to explore the areas twice anyway due to needing a late game skill.
I’m sure it works for a lot of people, but for me it’s kind of ruined pacing in games. Either you end up overpowered for the main game by doing too much side content, or you end up finishing the main game too early and end up unable to experience the side content in the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Side content tends to be more fun if it is interspersed with the main game, so that there is a steady progression for both, and so that any time-gated side stuff doesn’t pile up and end up feeling tedious. But when it’s left to the player to manage that balance, they are unlikely to hit a sweet spot. At least, I usually fail to do so. Can’t plan an optimal route through the game without reading through a bunch of spoiler-packed guides ahead of time, which destroys organic exploration and feels like work anyway.
I’m like 100 hours deep in RDR2 because of this shit. I spent like 3 real life days trying to find a god damn badger. Now it wants me to win 3 hands of blackjack by hitting 3 times? Aghhhh!!
I do the same, but I just like exploring and wandering around. That’s where the fun lies in for me in open-world games: unlocking the full map, interacting with NPCs, doing random sidequests, finding hidden stuff, seeing cool locations. Going through dungeons and fighting bosses usually feel like a stressful chore that I have to get through if I want to advance the story.
Yeah, it’s the same for me, but I don’t mind the bosses and dungeons. It’s just that as soon as something is defined as the main quest I stay away. I had the full overworld and sky in Tears of the kingdom before fighting the first main boss just because of that. I also had close to maxed out gear. It made the main quest bosses quite underwhelming.
Funny that you mentioned Tears of the Kingdom, I actually spent a few weeks fully exploring the surface and the depths before doing the first temple. Zelda is one game where I think avoiding the main quest makes a lot of sense considering how the game just ends if you complete it.
