Which game has the "best" world?

[JoetheLion]

I say that there are too many new games with too generic or sterile content present in this topic.

For me the world that I want to explore must have a special feeling -atmosphere about and some original and living believable content.

Albion is such a game. A forgotten RPG jewel from Blue Byte. I've played it again two years ago and it's still great - lush life on the tropical island of Nakiridaani, great Iskai city of Jirinaar. Celtic villages on the continent of Gratogel, Beloveno on Maini, little islands and a desert continent Umajo where the sun can burn you down and you'll die of thirst and hunger if you go wrong way without precautions.

Another one is Baldur's Gate 2, maybe a bit more linear that the first instalment, but Athkatla was THE perfect living city, with districts full of socially a racially diverse inhabitants. There are many little quests or small talk with NPCs unimportant to story, but enhancing the whole lore (something that modern RPGS are missing a lot) and the ambient sounds are great, you can hear drunkards at night near taverns, screams and shouts in the crowds, jabbering at marketplace mixed with the shouting of merchants or guards. Not to mention the music by Michael Hoenig that adds a lot to overall atmosphere.

Fallout 1 and 2 - this is similar case to BG 2.

Might and Magic VI and VII - big worlds to explore with many dungeons that are far from being linear or plainly stupid, in most cases the architecture is pretty logical and it sticks to the theme of the dungeon (a cave, temple, alchemist's castle, elemental forge, lair of bandits). It may seem like classic choices for RPG, which they are, but the content is unique, plus there are some nice and big towns, not just 5 to 10 houses like in many modern RPGs or jRPGs.

 

[agness]

If you like Skyrim and Morrowind world - check The Witcher 2. I think you'll like it

 

[pathos]

Yeah, one more vote for everquest here. I guess most mmo's would actually fit into the category. but, eq has the most nostalgia for me.

Sadly, most of the things I think back on fondly would be considered terrible game ideas in todays world (even by me).

Yeah, and my first character I played seriously was a barb shaman, so I did make the dash from qeynos to freeport as well. But, I had a friend lead me over (he was a level 30ish necro at the time).

The worst part of it though, was we hit highpass in the middle of the night. We started to just wait for morning to cross kithcor, but got bored, and was just going to run along the walls. One of us lagged. It appeared he suddenly ran off the wall down to the forest below, and I followed him.

I didn't even see what killed me. So, I got to start all over again

 

[DefDC]

To kick it really old school:

Alternate Reality on the 8-bit PCs.

This was an RPG who's charm, to this day, has not been replicated.

It has a primitive, but for the day, technologicly impressive, first person view. Your character could be varying degrees of hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, cursed, poisoned, encumbered, tired...

The magic system was truely unique. You joined a guild and were issued a ring which held your spell power. If you exhausted your ring's energy, you could still cast spells, but this would rapidly make you tired. If you continued casting after that, it would drain your HP. You could recharge the ring at your guild, or use crystals that were somewhat rare and valuable.

The variety of potions, spells, scrolls, weapons, and armor were amazing for the mid 80s!

There were small touches I just loved. Such has a day night cycle that really mattered. During the day, in the city, you'd encounter merchants, commoners, guards, and the like. During the night, undead, theives, gremlins, and other nasties. If there was rain during the day, you'd get a mix of both types. Nice touch!

It's truely a crime that has never been updated. The story had about a half dozen modules planned, but they only made two. Kickstarter fodder for sure!

Interesting fact: Much of the story of the Matix is eeriely simialar. I wouldn't doubt the Matrix was "inspired".

 

[zokudu]

Guild Wars 2 still feels very alive to me. Game is great fun and box price only for a decent mmo. It kind of faded from grace quickly after release because theres not a ton to do except enjoy the world but its always great to go in and run around just having fun.

 

[Markbnj]

Guild Wars 2 still feels very alive to me. Game is great fun and box price only for a decent mmo. It kind of faded from grace quickly after release because theres not a ton to do except enjoy the world but its always great to go in and run around just having fun.

I was wondering how that game was doing. Some friends of mine jumped in and played it at release, but it didn't really attract me.

 

[mazeroth]

Asheron's Call. My favorite MMO of all-time. I once ran around the entire world's shore and I forget how many hours it took me.

 

[zokudu]

I was wondering how that game was doing. Some friends of mine jumped in and played it at release, but it didn't really attract me.

It's settled down. Somewhere between 300k-700k players. Like most MMOs.

 

[videogames101]

It's settled down. Somewhere between 300k-700k players. Like most MMOs.

which is sad because if they had gotten end-game right it could've been "huge"

 

[Throckmorton]

The history I understand is that they had separate teams design different zones, helping them each have a 'different feel', that added something.

Instancing was created for a reason. EQ had big problems with the conflict between players fighting for the few dungeons - and some big guild in Australia who woke up before everyone else would regularly dominate them and 'cock block' all other players from advancing to keep their advantage. There'd be nothing for most guilds to do.

They should make the world bigger then

 

[Throckmorton]

Asheron's Call. My favorite MMO of all-time. I once ran around the entire world's shore and I forget how many hours it took me.

Asheron's Call did have a huge world that was fun to explore

 

[ViperXX]

World of Warcraft.

My brother had already been playing it for awhile and finally got me to give it a try in 2007. He took me from the Undercity across the ocean to Orgrimmar. Then he ran me to the barrens and then to Thunderbluff. I was blown away at how big and beautiful the world was.

 

[Qbah]

Sacred 2 - a perfect blend of fantasy and science fiction!

EDIT: Obviously The Elder Scrolls games too :awe: And all Warhammer 40k games... I love that universe too! Can't select just one

 

[Craig234]

World of Warcraft.

My brother had already been playing it for awhile and finally got me to give it a try in 2007. He took me from the Undercity across the ocean to Orgrimar. Then he ran me to the barrens and then to Thunderbluff. I was blown away at how big and beautiful the world was.

I agree.

The co-author of Zork said early after WoW was released that he could tell a lot of love went into the design of the world.

I know what he meant. It's great.

 

[Markbnj]

I agree.

The co-author of Zork said early after WoW was released that he could tell a lot of love went into the design of the world.

I know what he meant. It's great.

Yeah you have to give WoW a lot of credit. Played it at release for a year, and coming from EQ, and then DAoC, the WoW world was very magical. From the insects and small animals, to the flower petals falling from the trees, every aspect was totally atmospheric. It also ran well. They made masterful use of relatively few polys and low-res textures.

 

[wsaenotsock]

I'm going to have to go with WoW.

I haven't played for years now, and even though I don't think much of the game design, the art direction in terms of the zone design was absolutely fantastic for it's time. The designers were excellent about giving each zone it's own feel -- Textures, music, animations, creatures.

I still get a little nostalgic thinking about exploring those zones as a new player. It really was a like a drug addiction.

 

[ViperXX]

I'm going to have to go with WoW.

I haven't played for years now, and even though I don't think much of the game design, the art direction in terms of the zone design was absolutely fantastic for it's time. The designers were excellent about giving each zone it's own feel -- Textures, music, animations, creatures.

I still get a little nostalgic thinking about exploring those zones as a new player. It really was a like a drug addiction.

That's another thing, the music that was playing when I arrived in Orgrimmar made you feel the game. The beating of the drums, the grunting of the Orcs. Every zone you went into made you feel the game.

 

[Obsoleet]

Yeah you have to give WoW a lot of credit. Played it at release for a year, and coming from EQ, and then DAoC, the WoW world was very magical. From the insects and small animals, to the flower petals falling from the trees, every aspect was totally atmospheric. It also ran well. They made masterful use of relatively few polys and low-res textures.

I also played it from release for a year, though I was less impressed than you guys. I also played EQ before and a little daoc.

 

[JoetheLion]

Vanilla WoW had a really nice world, in The Burning Crusade, there was still some good content and atmosphere, but some regions felt a bit dull or stagnating (especially some parts of Shadowmoon Valley or Blade's Edge Mountain). Wrath of the Lich King was nice again, it has really variable and interesting content for a continent that is almost wholly covered in snow, but Cataclysm was a bit meh, I don't know what went wrong, but they just switched some environments and it felt overproduced, too many different things on a small area and nothing new, it felt too recycled.

 

[JDNIGHT]

...but Cataclysm was a bit meh, I don't know what went wrong, but they just switched some environments and it felt overproduced, too many different things on a small area and nothing new, it felt too recycled.

Agreed! And a whole zone underwater?!? After spending many hours underwater, being underwater no longer felt different or special. It was just slow and sluggish.

 

[Craig234]

Agreed! And a whole zone underwater?!? After spending many hours underwater, being underwater no longer felt different or special. It was just slow and sluggish.

Eh, I liked it. I know what you mean, but it was a fine compromise between not being totally annoying but being different. I'm glad they did it.

 

[M0RPH]

The topic is about the best world, and that is why Eve is awesome. No restrictions on what you can do. The world is truly open and beautiful.

I would say there's a pretty big restriction. You cannot actually leave space and explore any of the planets, right?

 

[Markbnj]

I would say there's a pretty big restriction. You cannot actually leave space and explore any of the planets, right?

I played Eve twice for a couple of months. Just couldn't get into it. The universe is visually appealing but ultimately there just isn't that much to it. It's like a giant, gorgeous skybox with a few objects here and there. But the thing that I really just couldn't get past was the tonka toy ship physics. Someday hopefully there will be a universe exploration and conquest game with ships you can actually inhabit and move around, and planets you can actually visit and move around. I could pretty much check out of real life if that comes along.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I would say there's a pretty big restriction. You cannot actually leave space and explore any of the planets, right?

No. Eve is more about interaction between players. Planets and moons are contested for their reasources. Moons and planets give fucktons of minerals that are worth alot. Giant wars between thousands of players are fought for control over these systems.

 

[you2]

Skyrim world started out amazing; but the problem I had with it is that it doesn't evolve with your character's actions. It pretty much stays the same. So at the start of the game it was stunning but by the end I was glad to leave. Divinity 2 world (while graphically no where close to Skyrim) evolves and holds more interest as the game progresses. Witcher 2 (for me) was somewhere in the middle. It has been a while since I played but I felt it was actually somewhat smaller (tiny?) and what portion you could see was graphically stunning I do not remember that global (huge world) impact that skyrim initially makes. Can't comment on any of the mmo (eve, wow, ...) but in some ways I felt witcher 1 was the better game (as far as world progression) but the controls and mechanics were so painful that witcher 2 was more fun to play.
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Other than those 4 games I can't really think of any other single player games worth mentionin (obvilion and morrowwind had little impression on me and they both suffer the same problems of skyrim with regards to progression). You know - if you kill the emperor and the mayor the town folks would act just a little differently when they see you strolling down the street.