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Favorite open world traversal this gen

C

ChouGoku

Member
Open world is one of my favorite types of games and this gen is full of them. However one of the shitty parts is traveling around in these games. Some games don't have this problem and offer better ways of getting around.

Dying Light. My favorite first person traversal period. The city is dense with buildings which are all easily salable, there are tons of zombies you can vault over to help you get around. With an item you can temporarily glide and once you get the
hookshot
you are damn near a super hero.

Infamous Second Son. While combat is inferior to infamous 2, I think the traversal is vastly superior. (Although I do miss Ice launches) It has 4 separate traversal options that all feel good. Smoke is the most limited in horizontal travel but with vents you can be at the top of a building in an instant. Video is great for flying and saying in the air. Neon is great for ground travel, and concrete is a good mix of air and ground travel. Possibly the best traversal I have used in a super hero game.

Batman Arkham Knight. You can really feel like Batman in more ways than on in this game. Batman can use the grappling hook to get anywhere. Glide boosters make traveling as Batman more efficient than the Batmobile. Divebombs are very exciting, and it all flows very well with combat. While the Batmobile has trash missions, its actually fun to traverse around the city. The Batmobile is fast, and very powerful. You feel so bad ass in the car, while everything around it crumbles with immense detail.

Any others from this gen?
 
B

BY2K

Membero Americo
I fear the day I will play another open-world game and I'll try to climb something but I can't.

In short, climbing + paragliding in BotW.

Oh hey the Skells in Xenoblade X are pretty fucking awesome, too.
 
R

ReplacementPelican

Member
I loved BOTW for the mechanics and the magic however the emptiness of the world in terms of people, villages, etc...

My outlier, however, was Black Flag. There was something magical about traversing the high seas, hearing the crew sing shanties and being able to drop off on islands or dock in ports. Very fun game and whilst not as good as the former, it really did envelop me for a good few weeks.

Second Son is a pretty obvious winner in terms of fun though, for me.
 
N

Neoleo2143

Member
I would say Sunset Overdrive. It's not overly simple and there's interactable objects everywhere along with several ways interacting with said objects. Plus it's tied into combat rather smoothly.

BoTW's traversal would be second because there's a lot of leeway for progression and the excellent emphasis on sightlines lends a great satisfaction to moving forward and the freedom to approach the game is in itself a bit puzzle like which is gratifying in its own right.

Gravity Rush 2 is third. The mechanical learning curve is satisfying in its own right but the game itself finds more problematic than the previous two games in exploiting this movement.

Edit: Dying Light's mechanics are also wonderful, dare I say it's actually the best of all these game at night.
 
P

Psychoward

Banned
opoth said:
Witcher 3 or BotW.
Click to expand...

I get enjoying the world itself of Witcher 3 but the on foot controls aren't anything amazing, the horse riding sucks and sailing is only confined to a small rowboat that goes slow as molasses.

For me it's easily Infamous Second Son. AC Black Flag probably comes up second.

Edit: I haven't played Xenoblade, Breath of the Wild or Horizon though
 
J

jett

D-Member
BOTW easy.

Being able to climb anything without any fuss or muss plus massive verticality and really great terrain variety gives it an easy win. It has to be the best designed open world out there.
 
B

Blackleg-sanji1

Banned
Jolly good time
Ffxv and infamous Ss
tumblr_o8dm61GODS1qgio5qo2_500.gif

28eeedbc37c0f6663a6c53a0daaed632.gif
 
O

Opa-Pa

Member
I rarely enjoy open world games, but BoTW has some of the most fun traversal methods I've seen in games. Getting to climb everything to satiate my curiosity and then be able to use that to soar away wherever I want to was the best.
 
R

Roubjon

Member
Easily Gravity Rush 2. I'd post some gifs but I'm sure someone else will. The different gravity styles feel amazing.
 
N

Naar

Member
Zelda easily.

The most fun I had traveling in a game since I can remember. It is so fun that sometimes I don't even use the fast travel option and just marvel at the beauty of the world as I walk/run/fly/ride around it
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
I definitely agree with Dying Light OP. That game did a great job with it's traversal mechanics and made an open world zombie game so much more fun because of them.
 
Nameless

Nameless

Member
Flying Falling around beautiful sky cities in the Gravity Rush games is the most exhilarating & intoxicating traversal mechanic in gaming IMO. Can't think of anything that comes close.
 
P

Psychoward

Banned
Oh shit wait how could I forget about Mirror's Edge Catalyst, the open world itself was mostly kinda boring but the free running mechanics never got old.
 
R

Radnom

Member
Zelda: Breath of the Wild for me - it's not even my favourite game so far this year, but its traversal is definitely the best. I want to be able to climb all over rocks and paraglide in just about every other open world game I play now.

Infamous Second Son is also a good pick. It's so fast!
 
A

arturo2666

Banned
Roubjon said:
Easily Gravity Rush 2. I'd post some gifs but I'm sure someone else will. The different gravity styles feel amazing.
Click to expand...

Haven't played 2, but having played the first I feel like this is definitely the correct answer.

I like the climb-anything in BotW, but the stamina meter and slow walk speed bring the traversal down a bit for me.
 
B

Breakaway

Member
Arkham Knight. Fully upgraded Grapnel boost and super ejecting from the Batmobile made it incredibly fun just to glide around the city versus strictly using the Batmobile to get around (which was also great).
 
O

ohlawd

Member
Xenoblade Chronicles X

traversing in your robot is really fun. Even on foot it's fun because how fast it can get due to how high your character jumps. everything else like BotW, Witcher 3, waaay too slow
 
L

LotusHD

Banned
Gravity Rush 2 easily beats everyone else for me. BoTW is great too with the paraglider and climbing, but nothing beats having gravity powers that lets you "fly".

Also Lunar Style is pretty damn cool as well.

2Wh5y4A.jpg
 
DeceptiveAlarm

DeceptiveAlarm

Gold Member
BY2K said:
I fear the day I will play another open-world game and I'll try to climb something but I can't.

In short, climbing + paragliding in BotW.

Oh hey the Skells in Xenoblade X are pretty fucking awesome, too.
Click to expand...
I'm playing Horizon now. Just beat Botw. You can climb but not everything. It's killing me.
 
KyanMehwulfe

KyanMehwulfe

Member
Deus Ex MD is an interesting mention because the first two-parts of the game are an example of great density benefiting location progression, and the last part being an example of poor backtracking design. If you time it wrong, between one of the side quests that call you back, one of the optional story vid calls that call you back, the main story mission that calls you back, and possibly the only 'vault' in the game calling you back, you could end up staring at that annoying subway loading screen 6-10 times lol. Which is especially emphasized because before that point the density of the game was a joy to progress through.

Unpopular choice for me is MGS V. A lot of folks here hate its open world, but I really enjoy taking the time to travel between each base, and using all the open space -- not needlessly filled with ?s and !s to ding -- simply to plan my approach and scout the enemy. Which isn't to say it couldn't use more enemy patrols and army 'life,' but just that I appreciated -- in the same way I would ARMA today or Delta Force and Ghost Recon back in the day -- empty space that was not needlessly filled up 'content.' It's the countryside. It's there for me sit undisturbed and scout enemy patrol patterns; it doesn't need an old lady that lost her frying pan (hhhh).

All that and as an aside, obviously there should have been a way to call in the heli/ACC and simply 'fly' to other LZs should you choose and not have to fully load out to the ACC interior mode, in the same way you can fly around Mother Base you should have been able to fly around Afghanistan or Angola and Zaire (at a GMP cost and maybe enemy alert price perhaps). But again, the world is not that big ... between jeeps and supply boxes you can still get around pretty quick. Either way, that's fine tuning and I don't think it detracts since I'd probably personally prefer on-foot anyhow. I just add/concede that to say it's far from fine tuned -- just that I don't see the open spaces as a flaw.
 
pr0cs

pr0cs

Member
Second son for variety, I really enjoyed Mordor though it's not as complex. I thought AC Black Flag was well done too but mostly due to the locations since it sticks with the AC formula
 
J

Jaymageck

Member
Breath of the Wild. Because traversal means nothing if I don't want to go somewhere. And in BotW, I want to go everywhere. And that makes the methods of getting around impact more.
 
Tripolygon

Tripolygon

Banned
Peltz said:
Gliding around in Zelda BotW is a joy umatched by pretty much anything else in gaming.
Click to expand...
RAWRferal said:
Surely this is BoTW the thread.

Paraglider + climb any surface is so simple, but so revelatory.
Click to expand...
Wtf are some of you smoking? I get that you enjoy BoTW but traversal in that game is not the best or that unique compared to other games

Gliding is better in Just Cause 3 and Arkham Knight

Horse Riding is better In Horizon Zero Dawn, MGS V.

Being able to climb anywhere is better in Grow Home.

Same applies to The Witcher 3 and autonomous clunky Roach riding.

There are games like Gravity Rush, InFamous SS, Mirrors Edge and Daylight parkour, Sunset Overdrive etc with truly unique excellent traversal.
 
O

OmegaZero

Member
Dying Light is probably the best if not near the top of those mentioned here. The traversal mechanics just feel good to utilize, and carving out routes that let you keep your momentum feels almost puzzle-like. Then you add the tension of night chases and the atmosphere and sound design and visuals...

It's a shame the grappling hook pretty much breaks the need to parkour unless they changed that in a later patch.
 
S

Squire

Banned
Sunset Overdrive. Movement is an art in that game. It's everything. It's honestly the number one reason Insomniac is such a great pick to be making Spider-man.
 
G

Godcannon

Member
+1 Xenoblade chronicles x Skells

I can drive around all day long,exploring, doing donuts, observing the beautiful open world and creatures that roam around it.

On top of that you can also transform and fly around, weaving through trees and vines in a jungle or fly up to the top of a giant monument.

There are also a handful of skells you can choose from that look and drive differently.

I can't say enough about it really, and expect Gifs soon.
 
S

Stencil

Member
BotW

See that mountain over there? You can go there.

edit:
danhese007 said:
Wtf are some of you smoking? I get that you enjoy BoTW but traversal in that game is not the best or that unique compared to other games

Gliding is better in Just Cause 3 and Arkham Knight

Horse Riding is better In Horizon Zero Dawn, MGS V.

Being able to climb anywhere is better in Grow Home.

Same applies to The Witcher 3 and autonomous clunky Roach riding.

There are games like Gravity Rush, InFamous SS, Daylight pakour, Sunset Overdrive etc etc.
Click to expand...

While I see your point, Grow Home is a game that is only about climbing. Think of how fucking annoying it would be to use Grow Home's control scheme everytime you encounter an 8ft wall.

Also, naming a bunch of games that, in your opinion, do the things BotW does but better is kind of a moot point. You could break down literally ANY game and list all the other games that have that mechanic or do it better. BotW is great because it has all those things, and they work well together.
 
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