"Open World" Games - Name Your Favorites

[Via]

LOL carebear!

Just kidding, I played on Morningthaw.

I agree whole-heartedly. Asheron's Call still had the best story / landscape of any game I've ever played. It was virtually impossible to get bored in that game, unlike so many of the other treadmill games out there today.

Other than that, Skyrim, Oblivion, STALKER: SOC, Crysis (although it felt too small), and Just Cause 2 (just for the sheer jackassery that can be had).

Every character I made for Darktide got mauled within minutes of leaving the training dungeon by some roving hoard of dicks. I remember trying to make a mage with one of those desert characters (I can't remember what they were called) and there were 7 or 8 people camped around the spawn point blowing away every new player that appeared. I was like "What the Fuck, man?!?!?!".

I finally did persevere and level an archer up to around 10 or so, but most of the memories I have of that place are of being threatened by powerful characters and having to kiss ass so they wouldn't kill me.

 

[loddie]

Elder Scrolls and Fallout games stand above the rest for me as far as huge open worlds go. Morrowind especially, as it was the first one I had played, and blew my mind.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Kerbal Space Program

However, it's not just "open world", it's "Open Solar System"

 

[Nemesis13]

Day Z

 

[Grimbones]

So many options here. The obvious is Morrowind, Skyrim, Fallout 3, New Vegas, EQ1, Red Dead Redemption (Best console game i ever played), I'm not sure if Skies of Arcadia counts, but i loved that game and the exploration that was possible (i know it's not a PC game).

That's really what draws me to open world games, the exploration and the ability to do just about whatever you wanted.

Probably the most breataking open world games for me were EQ1, Morrowind, RDR, Skies of Arcadia...they just kind of all hit me at different points in my life that really struck me as awesome.

It won't be popular, but i think vanilla World of Warcraft could also be pretty good in this category, what before they oversimplified the game and made exploration obsolete. It really was a strong MMO at the start, and had a simply gorgeous art style.

I'm sure i am leaving out other games. On a side note, i heard EQ Next (3?) was aimed at being the biggest sandbox game out there, and i am really looking forward to it, and hoping they are bringing back hardcore to the MMO genre--tired of the whole everyone can do everything, a billion quests that tell you exactly where to go and what to do, and all the classes feel the same thing!

I'll cut short my MMO rant short though, because i am really bothered by the current direction they are heading.

Edit: I'm throwing in Vanguard as an honorable mention, that game could have done a lot for the genre, too bad it was such a mess when it released--world was pretty cool though.

 

[Oyeve]

GTA:SA. I still play it.