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[The_Hitcher89]

GTA3

What an introduction. Watched my brothers play Driver and the 2D GTAs, but 3 was the first one I played

 

[Fancy Clown]

Jak 2. Fuckin loved it

 

[petran79]

Little Big Adventure

 

[pablito]

Zelda 1

Morrowind for a modern open world.

 

[hampig]

Probably Morrowind?

 

[archreaper93]

Prototype

 

[E92 M3]

I think it was GTA 3 or Jak and Daxter 1 (whichever came first).

Hell, I forgot about Shenmue lol.

 

[Pusherman]

One of the Commander Keen games had an overworld but I guess that's not really an open-world. So I think it was either Jurassic Park for the SNES if that counts or it was GTA 2.

Also, I googled Keen and just now found out it was Commander and not Captain. Been saying it wrong for over 20 years.

 

[NoKisum]

 

[momshotdad]

I messed around with Morrowind but i didn't really "get" them until the Wind Waker.

 

[WilsonX100]

Had dabbled in GTA3/Vice City when i was young at a neighbors, however i believe JAK 2 was my first open world game. Loved that game, need to give it a replay soon.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I guess either Zelda or Dragon Warrior. Can't really recall anything on the 2600.

 

[Nyx]

Sid Meier's Pirates!

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Grand Theft Auto III

edit: Oh, snap. I forgot about Shenmue. That is totally the first.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Might and Magic 2 for the Sega Genesis. I'm not sure I enjoyed it much but it did come with a really big strategy guide with maps and info. Even with that I found the game to be incredibly difficult and overwhelming. I did get to explore some of the elemental planes and other far away places. But each adventure from town to a dungeon or quest would often end up a suicide run when I realized I didn't have the understanding of the gameplay to finish them.

While I didn't enjoy a lot of it I definitely appreciated it's scope. Music was utterly vile though.

 

[djtiesto]

Zelda, DQ1, Ultima 3, in that order.

 

[AdmiralMikey]

I vote for the original Legend of Zelda counting, as it provides you with very little clear direction and its dungeons can be finished out of order. So mine would be Zelda.

 

[More_Badass]

It was either Mercenaries, Spiderman 2, or The Getaway Black Monday on PS2

 

[1upsuper]

Legend Of Zelda on NES.

Yep.

 

[Vitacat]

Superman on Atari 2600. No, seriously.

 

[TimeEffect]

San Andreas

 

[Slythe]

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. Still one of my favorite games of all time.

And before that was Ocarina of Time, which is open world, but for some reason I don't think of it that way.

 

[sprinkles]

Trespasser: Jurassic Park. What a beautiful mess that game was..

 

[cooldawn]

Midwinter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwinter_(video_game)

Such a good game.

 

[Bending_Unit_22]

Depends on whether Zelda is considered one. I personally don't, I'd call it non-linear. You're doing one thing, the same thing each game, just you can do it various ways.

With that I would say Uncharted Waters II on the SNES. I loved that game, trading on the high seas, heading off to terrorize some shipping lanes as a pirate, exploring, expanding an empire, learning about the world, bah so much fun to bounce around while playing.

Midwinter.

The [/url] is inside the link's parentheses causing it to go to the wrong page.

That game does sound pretty cool but that story is so 1980's I feel like it would reach through the 320x240 CRT and punch me if I weren't wearing a Member's Only Jacket, downing Shasta by the 3-liter, had a Reagan poster hanging next to me, and was jamming to some Megadeth. Good thing I'm not female, wouldn't even want to think about what I'd have to look like then.

 

[Gnome Scat]

Pokémon Ruby.

 

[Slythe]

Pokémon Ruby.

I forgot about Pokemon... Yellow might've predated Ocarina of Time for me because I got my N64 after the start of the sixth gen.

 

[psyfi]

Zelda. First one that came to mind was Body Harvest though, which I bloody hated.

How is Pokémon open world?

 

[MegaSackman]

The side scrolling photo here isn't from the NES game but the Genesis one.

Make sense, I thought it looked too good when I posted it.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Probably Star Raiders? If that doesn't count, then Elite.

Hunter (Amiga)

Groundbreaking game.

Awesome game. That and the two Midwinters were enthralling.

EDIT:

Midwinter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwinter_(video_game)

Such a good game.

My man!

 

[dr guildo]

GTA3, unforgettable experience. Maybe my strongest mindblowing experience in my gaming lifetime.

 

[Dark-VIII]

Alundra,Don't know if it count though

 

[Unknown?]

Driver. Was so cool I could drive all over the city and not be limited to a track. Driver 2 was even better. Ironically I dislike most open world racers and games now.

 

[compo]

I originally said Morrowind, but I just realized that Roger Rabbit on NES is actually the first open world game I played.

 

[Summer Haze]

GTA

 

[allintospace]

Probably the original GTA.

This. Was my first PC game as well. I can't recall anything I played earlier that would be classified as open world.

 

[BajiBoxer]

Not sure exaftly what counts, but the earliest I recall were Zelda and Dick Tracy for the NES. First modern GTA style open world game I owned was Crackdown.

 

[Baroquemantic]

GTA3, I believe. That was mindblowing back then.

Edit: Wait, nevermind! It was Driver. That was open world, right? Loved those games.

Edit: Huh, never considered Pokemon open world. Guess that could be it then.

 

[The Stig]

Ultima 8

 

[clevbrowns94]

Zelda 1 but I always played the dungeons in order. GTA III was the first open world game I played that felt truly open world and stunned me with all the things you could do and see.

 

[adj_noun]

Darklands. It's the first one I really remember being the way I think of open world "you can go to that mountain" now.

 

[Firebrand]

Hunter on the Amiga. I don't really knew what I was supposed to be doing, but it was fun driving various vehicles in a polygonal open world.

Or well, Zelda 1 probably, if that counts as open world.

 

[DavionStriker]

Journey to the Planets on the Atari 800. I had no idea what was going on. Still though, for a game published in 1983, it is surprisingly open.

 

[Magnus]

Zelda I or ALttP if we're counting those.

FFVI if that counts instead?

GTA3 if we're going by more modern definitions.

I don't know. How are we defining this?

Edit- I'm seeing people mention Pokémon and Driver so those'd be mine too if we're not counting Zelda/FF titles.

 

[Rezae]

If we're not counting any MUDs....

Technically: Zelda NES
True realization: GTAIII
Lost in a world: Morrowind

 

[Spaghetti]

Shenmue, I guess.

Although to be honest, Shenmue II is more fitting for the open world moniker than the original. It's still kinda nuts how much II opens up compared to the original, while at the same time probably tripling in size.

 

[sora87]

So bloody immersive

 

[MrS]

GTA 3

Still the best I've played too

 

[Ace Harding]

Games that felt like open worlds at the time:

* Final Fantasy (I, IV and VI for me)
* Zelda
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit on NES (so random but being able to drive around the city felt cool to me when I was like 10 or whatever, even though I knew it was a terrible game)
* Police Quest

First "modern" open world game was probably GTA III (and I owned and played GTA2). Then Morrowind which blew my fucking mind.

 

[Gulz1992]

Probably Lego Island. Seems really basic now, but as a kid, I remember being blown away by all the things you could freely do in that game.