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[Accoun]

Daggerfall, to scare them off.

 

[tbd]

Ask me again in a week.

 

[EthanC]

GTA5, Red Dead, Saints Row the Third and the second game, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Dark Souls 1.

 

[Catvoca]

The way Rockstar's Bully eases you into the open world and the variety of activities you can do is just perfect. You start gated off in just the school, which is a small but detailed environment, and the game slowly opens up parts of its world later. It works really well, there's very little fluff in the side activities too and every part of the open world is detailed and full of character.

 

[True Fire]

My problem with Fallout 4 right now is the ridiculous lack of assets. Most of the game feels copypasted, so you don't really feel like you're discovering anything new after 50 hours. The Minutemen quests are the biggest offenders. "The settlers at Abernathy Farms could use your help! Go kill some ghouls and then come back in 5 hours to do it again."

Grand Theft Auto V uses different assets for each neighbourhood, and there's clear socioeconomic divides, which is amazing for a video game. I also like how my 5 star rampages are slightly different each time, so it never ends up getting old.

 

[Lorcain]

This is a recommendation for someone new to open world games. I'm thinking they would want an experience that is easy to access, fun, and not overwhelming.

The Ubisoft model for open world games with maps loaded up with markers and side activities would be too overwhelming imo. Games that copy that model (Shadows of Mordor) suffer from the same map overload.

I wish there was a modern version of Red Dead Redemption because I would recommend that in a heartbeat. Or just encourage them to play it on a 360. I never felt overwhelmed in RDR, and was drawn into the story right from the start.

Just Cause 2 is accessible and fun, encouraging exploration and goofing off in an open world setting.

Arkham City would be good too, since it is immediately accessible, it's a known license and fun.

I probably wouldn't lead off with Skyrim or FO4 unless they are already passionate about those settings.

 

[Matty77]

Just Cause 2 is accessible and fun, encouraging exploration and goofing off in an open world setting.

Forgot this, probably because of all the shit around 3 but it's great because while there is no handholding and map space with nothing, everything you do even goofing off is helping to accomplish something with its loose progression. Just causing a rampage like in a GTA game actually counts as progression.

Good call.

 

[Zukuu]

Nothing has come close to Gothic yet.

 

[CopperPuppy]

GTA 5's world feels so sterile to me.

It's the very definition of wide as ocean but shallow as a puddle. It's pretty and fairly large but there's very little meaningful interaction. It's far worse for that than Bethesdas games for example.


I'd say Bethesdas worlds are the best actually. They're large, beautiful and extremely detailed. But there's also loads to do and find in them. There's so much story and atmosphere told through the environment. Every little corner has something new and interesting in it. Quests to do, dungeons to clear, stuff to loot etc. I don't understand the bad rep they get.

I love GTA5, but you are mad if you don't think the map is too big for the amount of content in it, especially in the North.

Yeah, this.

GTAV is great, and I've logged a lot of hours on it over the PS3 and PS4 versions. That said, one thing it does not do great is strike a good balance between size of map and interesting things to do. For me, without deriding the quality of the game itself (which, for the record, I think is high), it's a bizarre response to this thread's specific question.

Los Santos and Blaine County are obviously thoughtfully crafted and deliberately interconnected in an organic way that shows how much attention was spent on the creation of the game world. Unfortunately, this is at the expense of interesting things to do. "Wide as an ocean, shallow as a puddle" really is the perfect way to describe it. At the end of the day, you're left with what amounts to meticulously placed window dressing. Yes, it is neat to drive through LS's industrial district, sunlight glinting off the water as you go, then into the city proper and out into Vinewood Hills, the sign perfectly placed for a great view, eventually winding out to Blaine County, seeing the wind farm in its most logical location, coming to little shantytowns and trailer parks that seem like they belong in the barren, rural space they occupy. It's fun to engage in the series' trademark police chases all over this huge map, making full use of its carefully planned interconnectivity.

Put simply, the map itself provides a nice façade to conduct the same GTA gameplay I've been engaging in for years, but offers little else. With all of the unused locations scattered throughout the map's gargantuan expanse, GTAV often pops up in my mind as the poster child for a well designed open world that does next to nothing gameplay-wise to take advantage of this strength. A regrettable thing, because all of the opportunities were placed there so painstakingly by the developers.

The limited interactivity and general sterility leave the whole thing feeling like one big, empty theme park. There are all of these rides, and no one is on them.

 

[TickleMeElbow]

Red Dead Redemption. The map is big, there's plenty to see (plains, desert, swamp, forest, mountain, all with unique towns and forts), and plenty to do outside of main missions (random events, gambling, side missions/stories, collecting bounties, treasure maps, hunting wildlife, etc).

 

[RoadHazard]

The Witcher 3. Beautiful, with events and sidequests everywhere (especially great to explore if you turn off POIs on the map).

I also really liked the world in Skyrim. Many of the quests you could find were shit for sure, but finding a deep cave and exploring it was great.

GTA5 comes to mind. They're the kings of open world games that feel alive. The amount of things to discover and details in this game are insane.

I agree that the world in GTA V is impressive as hell and great to take in, but... there's nothing to do in it. I mean, besides the various missions you get that happen to take place at various locations. Just randomly exploring is basically pointless beyond the fun of just seeing the world itself. There are very few collectables, barely any random events or sidequests, almost no buildings you can actually enter, etc. And some pretty noteworthy locations aren't even used for anything in the SP story. The world in GTA V is a sight to behold, but at the end of the day it feels like a barren, fake backdrop for the story. Unless you just want to wreak havoc, of course. That you can do all day long.

Just Cause 2 maybe. Who doesn't love blowing shit up and backflipping off a plane?

That world is just a huge playground for chaos and explosions though. It's completely uninteresting to explore.

 

[Denton]

The Witcher 3 of course, gifs courtesy of exentryk:

Also, Gothic 2 and Fallout New Vegas.

From nonRPG genre, Mafia 1, Sleeping Dogs, GTA V, Read Dead Redemption.

 

[Vex_]

Dragons dogma, Fallout.

Skyrim just fells to barren.

Just Cause (2) is not packed enough. :/ Havent played 3 yet.

 

[Steez]

Gothic 1, 2 and Witcher 3

Genuinely surprised by the GTA mentions. The stranger quests are few and far between and outside of that you can barely interact with anything in a meaningful way. It's just sightseeing.

 

[ScOULaris]

Any post-GTA3 Rockstar open-world game. They are the best at designing living, breathing worlds with meaningful content spread throughout them.

 

[Augemitbutter]

Dragon's Dogma. just needed a few more dungeons. what's there is amazing. also by far best combat in the open world rpg genre.

 

[Angel_DvA]

GTAV or The Witcher 3.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Dragon's Dogma. just needed a few more dungeons. what's there is amazing. also by far best combat in the open world rpg genre.

Yeah. It's pretty rare for an open world game to have mechanics that are as good, if not better, than quality linear games.

 

[stoff]

Gothic II is still unmatched. Replayed it a couple months ago and its still fantastic how much the world just draws you in.

 

[John Kowalski]

I remember GTA3 very positively, not very big but very focused and not a lot of repetitive or superfluous details. Rockstar's usually very good about that.

Otherwise i usually prefer things like Chulip, with relatively small world area but designed for slow travel and high density of unique content.

 

[iconoclast]

The whole Yakuza series.

 

[Trace]

The whole Yakuza series.

This.

It's not really open world, but it's open enough to ease you into the idea of an open world.

 

[Schweinehund]

Arkham City/Knight, a lot of nods to various Batman media over the years. Gotham feels like a real city.

Still have to dive into New Vegas & Skyrim, so maybe that will change my mind.

 

[Sulik2]

Saints Row 3, plenty to do but not a lot of filler. Perfect length open world game.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Arkham City/Knight. GTA is up there. Laughing heartily at anyone mentioning a Bethesda game.

 

[ANDS]

Dragon's Dogma and MGSV.

Also have some of the best core combat/gameplay ever.

You have got to be joking.

 

[FloatOn]

I very much enjoyed the world design of the original Risen

 

[TwEE-N-Toast]

GTA 5
Skyrim
Fallout games


It's ok to have down time and empty space. It's a good thing.

 

[lolosgolos]

This fits perfectly with the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt

 

[Mr Rivuz]

The Witcher 3
The world is huge and beautiful and after a hundred hours i still get to live new adventures, know new characters and see new beautiful places at every step i make.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

My answer is somewhere between those two.

Pretty much right there with you. My pick on the other side of none would be either New Vegas or Witcher 3.

GTA games do this fairly well, but they are mechanically a chore half the time even if they are full of things to do.

Bethesda games not called New Vegas vary from decent to the worst offenders.

Curious how I'll feel about Xenoblade X.

 

[CasualTR]

Recently?

Fallout 4 did a damn good job.

 

[Valkrai]

Burnout Paradise, best open world racing game ever released.

 

[Iva Demilcol]

I liked Sunset City.

Also, I think open world games work better when you use a license, like they did with Ultimate Spider-man and Naruto: The Broken Bond.

 

[SJRB]

With the onslaught of open world games recently, Arkham Knight is the first title that comes to mind.

Three islands connected by bridges, easily traversable with both Batmobile and Batman's gliding technique. Lots of verticality, something to see or thugs to beat up at every corner.

Loved that game.

 

[User 479360]

Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand theft Auto V
Saints Row IV
Saints Row: The Third
Just Cause 2
Sunset Overdrive

 

[Golden Slumbers]

I love how Bethesda games offer tons of things to do and interact with in their worlds but it's also nice to just aimlessly roam around the map and explore. Skyrim was my favorite game for this.

 

[pizzacat]

SImpsons Hit & Run. Ease them in with something that is likely familiar, even if only slightly, and let them get an idea for how it works. Then throw Oblivion at them and check back in a month.

That Lisa challenge is still pretty hard

 

[Robin64]

Not a single mention of LEGO City Undercover? Damn shame. The city is fairly hefty, but also every single small part of it has something to do. It's one of the most packed and fun open world cities I have had the pleasure of playing in.

 

[Emedan]

Dragon's Dogma and MGSV.

Also have some of the best core combat/gameplay ever.

Joke


Morrowind is the correct answer. There aren't many recent examples if any im afraid

 

[Basketball]

If you take Gta 5

and add the interactions of fallout , and crowd emotional reactions of fable,

day and night cycle, sleep and work schedules, enterable buildings

then boom = perfection

 

[BTM]

Sunset Overdrive & Witcher 3

 

[Reedirect]

Sunset Overdrive.

You always have something to do, but you never feel overwhelmed. A perfect balance.

 

[Jigorath]

Might & Magic VI without any doubt.
The map is probably tiny by today's standards(but it's not even full of water to enlarge the map like many recent games ) but it's:

1)VARIED, there are all kinds of environments, pyramids, snow lands, dead lands and so on.

2)FULL, every step you take you find an object, a place of interest, an army of enemies, a dungeon, a city or whatever, trust me it's a joy to wander in it.

3)OPEN and "unbalanced", you can go wherever you want from the beginning, even in the most difficult dungeons if you are able to reach them, enemies and dungeons difficulty isn't proportional to the distance from the starting point, in fact one of the most difficult dungeons is really close to the initial town, you can understand how hard is a dungeon only by entering in it at your own risk.

You.

I like you.

 

[decoyplatypus]

Might & Magic VI without any doubt.
The map is probably tiny by today's standards(but it's not even full of water to enlarge the map like many recent games ) but it's:

1)VARIED, there are all kinds of environments, pyramids, snow lands, dead lands and so on.

2)FULL, every step you take you find an object, a place of interest, an army of enemies, a dungeon, a city or whatever, trust me it's a joy to wander in it.

3)OPEN and "unbalanced", you can go wherever you want from the beginning, even in the most difficult dungeons if you are able to reach them, enemies and dungeons difficulty isn't proportional to the distance from the starting point, in fact one of the most difficult dungeons is really close to the initial town, you can understand how hard is a dungeon only by entering in it at your own risk.

I never played the older games, but this reminded me that I loved exploring the world of Might & Magic X. I can easily believe that in its heyday, Might & Magic featured some of the best open worlds out there.

 

[Spieler Eins]

Yakuza games. Although I guess the map isn't too large.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

http://www.file-extensions.org/imgs/app-picture/6966/might-and-magic-vi-the-mandate-of-heaven.jpg[IMG]
[IMG]http://www.mightandmagicwalkthrough.com/mightandmagic6/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/enroth.jpg[IMG]

Might & Magic VI without any doubt.
The map is probably tiny by today's standards(but it's not even full of water to enlarge the map like many recent games :P ) but it's:

1)VARIED, there are all kinds of environments, pyramids, snow lands, dead lands and so on.

2)FULL, every step you take you find an object, a place of interest, an army of enemies, a dungeon, a city or whatever, trust me it's a joy to wander in it.

3)OPEN and "unbalanced", you can go wherever you want from the beginning, even in the most difficult dungeons if you are able to reach them, enemies and dungeons difficulty isn't proportional to the distance from the starting point, in fact one of the most difficult dungeons is really close to the initial town, you can understand how hard is a dungeon only by entering in it at your own risk.[/QUOTE]

Goddamn you making me have to play this

 

[J-Spot]

Bethesda are the best at this but they've really outdone themselves with Fallout 4. There's so much to find beyond just the map markers and it makes simply traversing the map a wonderful experience. The downtown area is especially fun to navigate with all the danger it brings. It's fun to get on top of a building and snipe down at super mutants milling about on the other side of the block.

 

[Kadin]

Not a single mention of LEGO City Undercover? Damn shame. The city is fairly hefty, but also every single small part of it has something to do. It's one of the most packed and fun open world cities I have had the pleasure of playing in.

This is a game I own and really liked for a while. Sadly the terrible load times were what eventually put me off it. I really do need to go back and play more of it because it was really a great idea and worked well. I guess there's no hope of it landing on another system due to the way it was designed around the Wii U GamePad though...

 

[kavanf1]

Every square inch of the map is unique, everything looks like it was hand placed and the whole thing feels cohesive and logically structured.

I think I know what you mean but I would have said the opposite - GTA V rarely reuses any assets so no two areas - hell, no two buildings - look exactly alike. To me that makes it feel like everything is more natural, as opposed to being hand-placed. IYSWIM.

This is a game I own and really liked for a while. Sadly the terrible load times were what eventually put me off it. I really do need to go back and play more of it because it was really a great idea and worked well. I guess there's no hope of it landing on another system due to the way it was designed around the Wii U GamePad though...

At least the funky guitar riff makes the loading time enjoyable...