Agreed, but its just a cool place to hang out in
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Your Favourite Exploration Games
- Thread starter Darkstorne
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SatoAilDarko
Member
Xenoblade Chronicles X is number one for me.
I also enjoyed the Metroid Prime series and Fragile Dreams for exploration as well. From the alien to the ruins of civilization.
I also enjoyed the Metroid Prime series and Fragile Dreams for exploration as well. From the alien to the ruins of civilization.
Some screens I took from my No. 1 pick.
Impossible to do it justice in screens, though. Maybe panoramas would work better? Animated panoramas? Wonder if that's even possible...
Also:
A writeup on why I love it so!
Impossible to do it justice in screens, though. Maybe panoramas would work better? Animated panoramas? Wonder if that's even possible...
Also:
A writeup on why I love it so!
Terareflection
Member
Final Fantasy XII's world is too big for it own good, but damn if it didn't have gorgeous and varied areas to explore.
Lots of secret areas too!
Lots of secret areas too!
Woo Bias time!
Mega Man Legends is my favorite GOAT. Exploring the ruins on Katalox Island was a very fun time. So much stuff to find and upgrades would unlock new areas. Another fun aspect of the game was that the entire ruin system was interconnected so any entrance would lead you to anywhere on the island.
Mega Man Legends is my favorite GOAT. Exploring the ruins on Katalox Island was a very fun time. So much stuff to find and upgrades would unlock new areas. Another fun aspect of the game was that the entire ruin system was interconnected so any entrance would lead you to anywhere on the island.
I get lost in the exploration aspects of The Souls series, Morrowind, Skyrim, Fallout 3/NV/4. These all rank among some of my favorite games and to say they don't have level design is insulting and shoe horns the concept of designing a space to merely a point A to B concept, i.e. a traditional level.
Morrowind. A huge dense world with no hand holding, no compass, extremely limited fast travel, that didn't scale its enemies or items to the player. Pretty much all Beth. RPGs are a joy to explore but Morrowind had a treasure hunting and adventuring aspect to it that hasn't been matched or replicated by the studio since. Often times just completing a journey felt like an accomplishment. And, who knows, it might be real world weeks or months before you saw the place you started again.
I loved the exploration aspect of Xenoblade X, how it feels so insanely overwhelming at first but the world shrinks more and more as you discover more waypoints, gain a skell and skell flight... the verticality and layered environments, the strange alien architecture (was awesome to fly up to the top of the large ring in Oblivia), the otherworldly environments... it's so much more exciting to explore than a generic American city or medieval Lord of the Rings land so common in open world games. I wish the cave/dungeon design was a tad more interesting though.
Skulduggery
Banned
My favorite period of game exploration is the beginning of every Civ 5 game.
Woo Bias time!
Mega Man Legends is my favorite GOAT. Exploring the ruins on Katalox Island was a very fun time. So much stuff to find and upgrades would unlock new areas. Another fun aspect of the game was that the entire ruin system was interconnected so any entrance would lead you to anywhere on the island.
One of my favorite games. Has just about everything I want in a game.
Final Fantasy XI. I started playing when I would have been... 15 or so. I'd never played an MMO before so the scale of the world was completely lost on me.
I spent about 2 hours walking from San D'Oria to Jueno at about level 10 just because I had no concept of progressively more difficult zones. After spending all that time walking I looked at the map:
Sorry it's not a great quality one - but I was amazed that the world was so ENORMOUS and, even after a couple of thousand hours of playing, I probably never even saw some of the zones.
I spent about 2 hours walking from San D'Oria to Jueno at about level 10 just because I had no concept of progressively more difficult zones. After spending all that time walking I looked at the map:
Sorry it's not a great quality one - but I was amazed that the world was so ENORMOUS and, even after a couple of thousand hours of playing, I probably never even saw some of the zones.
mrmickfran
Member
Xenoblade was amazing until I got my Skell.
It made exploration so trivial for me.
It made exploration so trivial for me.
bati
Member
I clicked on this thread in hope that I'll pick up some new titles to feed my exploration addiction but I only see the usual suspects - Skyrim (and other Bethesda titles) and Souls games 
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I've recently played UnderRail, it's a post-apocalyptic isometric rpg without any kind of map and a ridiculous amount of sectors (maps) that feature everything from caves to cities and secret underground research laboratories. The feel of exploration was off the charts, second to none in my opinion. The game has many other qualities but this one really stands out if that's what you're looking for.
Honorable mention goes to STALKER games, exploring the underground labs never gets old.
.I've recently played UnderRail, it's a post-apocalyptic isometric rpg without any kind of map and a ridiculous amount of sectors (maps) that feature everything from caves to cities and secret underground research laboratories. The feel of exploration was off the charts, second to none in my opinion. The game has many other qualities but this one really stands out if that's what you're looking for.
Honorable mention goes to STALKER games, exploring the underground labs never gets old.
80s Bad Guy
Banned
Does Portal 2 count? Wandering/warping around the old aperture science labs underground was amazing.
Final Fantasy XI. I started playing when I would have been... 15 or so. I'd never played an MMO before so the scale of the world was completely lost on me.
I spent about 2 hours walking from San D'Oria to Jueno at about level 10 just because I had no concept of progressively more difficult zones. After spending all that time walking I looked at the map:
Sorry it's not a great quality one - but I was amazed that the world was so ENORMOUS and, even after a couple of thousand hours of playing, I probably never even saw some of the zones.
I remember that journey to Jueno. It was a nail-biting experience for me and my friend as we slowly trekked through higher level areas and avoided aggro only to crest a hill and see the massive city before us. And this was all at level 20.
I loved the size and scale of FFXI at launch and how huge the world felt from your own home town to the farthest reaches of Xarcabard and Sky. There are seriously days where I just think about going back for one last time, exploring the dungeons, chilling in a city and taking on gods.
DOT DASH DOT
Member
Has to be the Fallout games, so much fun.
The Lamonster
Member
Fallout 4 right now
other games:
Halo 2 (yes really)
GTA Vice City
Zelda Wind Waker
A Boy and His Blob (NES)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
other games:
Halo 2 (yes really)
GTA Vice City
Zelda Wind Waker
A Boy and His Blob (NES)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Pretty much any Bethesda game (sans like... Daggerfall, where 95% of the game was procedurally generated).
Also Dragon's Dogma. The open world isn't that big, but there are a surprising lot of secrets tucked away into corners or in hidden away places. Same thing with dungeons. Abilities like hover and double jump, along with the universal ledge grab make clambering around the environment very fun. I really like that there are pretty much no invisible walls, and almost any place is accessible with the right approach. I was finding new hidden corners in Gran Soren 30 hours in. It helped that, despite the graphics, the environments were very naturalistic and beautiful. Some folks called it bland, but those folks probably wouldn't enjoy nature hikes either. I liked that the biome never drastically changed (like desert jumping to forest jumping to tundra, all in like 3 miles), but still showed a range of distinct environments.
The loot might not always match the struggle, but the sense of discovery is enough for me. Any sort of reward on top of that is sweet.
The Dead Rising series is also good about this. If you look beyond the obvious locations and engage in a bit of platforming, you can find some really cool secrets and powerful weapons.
Also Dragon's Dogma. The open world isn't that big, but there are a surprising lot of secrets tucked away into corners or in hidden away places. Same thing with dungeons. Abilities like hover and double jump, along with the universal ledge grab make clambering around the environment very fun. I really like that there are pretty much no invisible walls, and almost any place is accessible with the right approach. I was finding new hidden corners in Gran Soren 30 hours in. It helped that, despite the graphics, the environments were very naturalistic and beautiful. Some folks called it bland, but those folks probably wouldn't enjoy nature hikes either. I liked that the biome never drastically changed (like desert jumping to forest jumping to tundra, all in like 3 miles), but still showed a range of distinct environments.
The loot might not always match the struggle, but the sense of discovery is enough for me. Any sort of reward on top of that is sweet.
The Dead Rising series is also good about this. If you look beyond the obvious locations and engage in a bit of platforming, you can find some really cool secrets and powerful weapons.
Final Fantasy XI. I started playing when I would have been... 15 or so. I'd never played an MMO before so the scale of the world was completely lost on me.
I spent about 2 hours walking from San D'Oria to Jueno at about level 10 just because I had no concept of progressively more difficult zones. After spending all that time walking I looked at the map:
Sorry it's not a great quality one - but I was amazed that the world was so ENORMOUS and, even after a couple of thousand hours of playing, I probably never even saw some of the zones.
My vote goes to this one as well. There's all kinds of environments with the FF touch, as well as towns, cities, ships, airships, floating islands, and even traveling to the past.
The map you posted is missing areas and two more continents added in future expansions.
No game has come close to the feeling of journey, discovery, and amazement as this game for me.
Sadly, the game feels a bit outdated now, and MMO sub might be a barrier for some.
Superb environment design.
Hunter is a great game and was way ahead of its time. Also, I don't think that any other game lets you run away from a bull on a bicycle.
I love just cruising around and sightseeing in The Crew.
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