Which game world felt most "alive" ?

[111111111]

Stardew valley

 

[Silva]

What is the most immersive game world out there ?

STALKER.

Preferentially with some gfx overhaul mod like Misery 1, Autumn Aurora or Call of Misery.

 

[deama]

Kingdom Come deliverance

 

[Oracsbox]

I'm equating alive with believable or good atmosphere.Recent games I thought had this even if poppamole

Metro 2033/lastlight universe which is more or less a corridor shooter does however have a very intimate well done world which I enjoy.

Small hub games often have alive worlds like the Deus Ex games.

The assassin creed games feel or rather look alive with large villages,towns and cities with a staggering number of characters on-screen at times but the game world itself is empty with little to do but kill which is the main purpose of the game I know, but that initial sense of scale is great.The far cry games as well.

RDR again good scale but eventually kinda empty.

Dying Light had a sense of scale and an ever present sense of doom that I enjoyed and made a zombie apocalypse world very alive/undead despite some slightly mental dialogue.

A lot of games when the quests are flowing are immersive and alive as long as the game world is well designed but once done it's done.

A Bethesda world however which should have all these wonderful things to do has nothing.Bad writing, shit game engine,so called cities with nine people and twenty guards repeating retarded dialogue and then six feet away a bandit village bigger than the city you left WTF !.So no recent Bethesda game never ever.

Unfortunately I don't think we've had a genuinely living world that I could constantly visit and feel alive in,the tech just isn't up to it yet.

 

[LAO]

A Bethesda world however which should have all these wonderful things to do has nothing.Bad writing, shit game engine,so called cities with nine people and twenty guards repeating retarded dialogue and then six feet away a bandit village bigger than the city you left WTF !.So no recent Bethesda game never ever.

I don't know about the bestheda games but fallout new vegas has a pretty immersive world with good amount of C&C and rewarding exploration.

Another pretty immersive game is Everquest ! i played EQ in project 1999 server and unlike other mmorps in EQ there no map,no quest markers,you lose your loot when you die,enemies are tough(Everquest is extremely grinding),quests are hard to find and complete,there no dialog option you need to type certain commands to talk with npcs,towns are huge with alot of houses so you need to explore well to find the shops you need,overall the EQ world is well crafted ! very gerenic medieval fantasy yes...but well crafted.Everquest Is not a game that you start playing hoping to reach end game max level like in other mmorpgs you probably going to get bored of grinding before reach 1/10 of max level,you play Everquest just to get immersed in the world,interact with others players and testing new characters with different races/class until you get bored of grinding and uninstall(so basically just like every other MMorpg but unlike others MMos EQ gives you no hope to reach end game content right at the beginning).

But if you really want to reach end game and become a badass god-like warrior in Everquest you going to expent years of real life playing the game.The sense of accomplishment maybe worth it to some nerds but definitely not for me.

 

[Micormic]

Fallout 3 and Olivion felt alive, sadly nearly every character I spoke to seemed to be inflicted with cerebral palsy.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout New Vegas bitch!

 

[Beastro]

World of Warcraft

More like Everquest PvP servers and UO when they had decent populations.

Tons of shit going on in towns and areas besides people just running around towns selling crap or trying to kill stuff outside, especially outside of Freeport.

Had people running off through randomly, something trying to bum a SOW or port to do the opening run crossing the continent to Qeynos, good and neutral races sitting around the guard outposts, like the West Commonlands Toll Booth chatting while the medded up soloing getting a bit fo PK protection from the guards, PKs running through causing everyone to check their six when someone announced them in zone, Antis making a sweep looking for any lurking around, higher levels around the wizard and druid portals planning stuff while they waited for therest of their group to arrive and the traders in the East Commonlands tunnel hawking their wares the good old fashioned way.

Even in towns there was odd stuff going on, like the wait for the boats with evils races lurking around trying to avoid the guards and leap onboard before it left, PKs interacting with others peacefully and odd trades or fights happening in the little corners of town as people tried to do trades without drawing much attention, especially when doing so with PKs to avoid a tarnished server reputation.

That was the odd thing about the MMO climate before WoW-like quest farming and a mechanistic mindset towards raiding and "clearing content" predominated, lots of people played dicking around trying to create their own emergent fun and often went off doing a dungeon run in a new area as much to explore and blow some time off as to get some exp or loot.

Some underdogs and classics:
Yakuza series
Space Rangers 2
Starflight 1 + 2
Privateer
Jagged Alliance 2

Starfliht 1 for Genesis felt dead, but in a good way.

Give off a vibe of being in a desolated expanse with all sorts of creepy, dangerous shit out there waiting to kill you with its wonderful sound effects.

Never had a game get as close to the feel of the first Alien movie as it, and in some ways it did tension of the unknown better than that film.

Besthesda games don't feel alive at all btw, they're some of the loneliest feeling games out there

They're "alive", the problem is they're soulless, especially the later ones.

Oblivion and Skyrim constantly remind you you're in a world of programmed NPCs doing things to ape the hustle and bustle of life.

 

[SpoilVictor]

STALKER series (with Clear Sky feeling a bit too alive) - they nailed atmosphere of lost souls in the Zone. Major outposts, campfires, people listening to sad guitar music. Wherever I've met NPCs it was like "Yep, it could look like that". Packs of mutants roaming countryside. Big advantage of STALKER is that it only shows the Zone and does it perfectly. No need for shoebox sized cities filled with 20 NPCs blurting the same lines of diologue everytime (also in STALKER you never stayed too long in one place to really get bored of NPCs - the same with Metro).

Gothic I & II - with day/night circle, daily routines - sure it was very thin illusion but back in the day it really looked impresive. Especially Gothic I - whole Valle Of Mines is designed really smart: you have conflict of interests and every faction controls something that others want. Old Camp has supplies from outside, New Camp has magic ore, Swamp Camp got weed. It is bit simplistic but it could happen. Also Piranha Bytes cared to answer infamous question "But what do they eat?" - supplies from outside, rice grown near New Camp, in Gothic II there were farms outside Khorinis. They put thought and effort in worldbuilding and it shows.

Morrowind - while NPCs were rooted to the spot (mostly) and and world itself wasn't really responsive, it felt alive for me thanks to details. It is perfect mix of familliar and unknown and tension among various elements:

• Ethnical - natives vs. outsiders, "civilized" Dunmers vs. Ashlanders,
• Religious - Daedra cult vs. Tribunal vs. Nine Divines,
• Political struggle - imperial rule vs. Houses, rivalry among Houses,
• even architecture: imperial vs. native (plus Giant Crab city, mushroom houses etc.),
• Rivalry between guilds.

Again it's great worldbuilding, not only NPC count and paths they follow.

 

[forumvisitor#451]

The world of all 3 Thief games felt very much alive due to its consistency, writing and subtle stuff, like guards talking about things happening in previous missions. It felt like a real place with history.

 

[Shaewaroz]

I don't see any game beating BG2 in this category. Every area is designed audiovisually superbly, all the people who populate there areas are internally consistent and thus strengthen the experience of immersion. There's just so much depth to the D&D lore and it's utilized in BG2 to it's fullest potential to create a believable and rich world that you just love to explore.

Morrowind has been mentioned many times already, and for a good reason. Absolutely phenomenal worldbuilding through and through.

Nothing else I've played comes really close to these aforementioned two. Honorable mentions however go to Ultima 5: Lazarus, which has some of the most immersive dialogue with ordinary people I've seen in any game, and to Dex, which is a neat little RPG with a ton of atmosphere and a very immersive quest design.

 

[LAO]

I don't see any game beating BG2 in this category. Every area is designed audiovisually superbly, all the people who populate there areas are internally consistent and thus strengthen the experience of immersion. There's just so much depth to the D&D lore and it's utilized in BG2 to it's fullest potential to create a believable and rich world that you just love to explore.

Morrowind has been mentioned many times already, and for a good reason. Absolutely phenomenal worldbuilding through and through.

Nothing else I've played comes really close to these aforementioned two. Honorable mentions however go to Ultima 5: Lazarus, which has some of the most immersive dialogue with ordinary people I've seen in any game, and to Dex, which is a neat little RPG with a ton of atmosphere and a very immersive quest design.

this ! what make the infinity edge engine games so good is the ambient sounds ! every area has a unique ambient sound that fits perfectly with the theme,most of the time there no music so you run around hearing your footstep and ambient sounds.i think what helps to make the elder scrolls games world felt a bit sourceless: the poor execution between background sounds and music.

There are multiple things that make a game immersive,a good executed ambient sounds and music is one of them.

 

[hexer]

Witcher 3's world was detailed

 

[LAO]

Witcher 3's world was detailed

the witcher 3 is definitely top tier: the huge world,detailed npcs,the graphics,voice acting,the lore,the sex scenes...

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Planescape: Torment pulled me in like no other game ever has because of the setting and writing, but I have a thing for non-conventional fantasy...

 

[Oracsbox]

The world of all 3 Thief games felt very much alive due to its consistency, writing and subtle stuff, like guards talking about things happening in previous missions. It felt like a real place with history.

I agree

 

[Beastro]

The War in Donbass series (with the Annexation of the Crimea feeling a bit too alive) - they nailed atmosphere of lost souls in the Ukraine. Major outposts, campfires, people listening to sad guitar music. Wherever I've met NPCs it was like "Yep, it could look like that". Packs of mutants roaming countryside. Big advantage of the War in Donbass is that it only shows the Ukraine and does it perfectly. No need for shoebox sized cities filled with 20 NPCs blurting the same lines of diologue everytime (also in the War in Donbass you never stayed too long in one place to really get bored of NPCs - the same with the insurgency in Northern Caucasus).

~~~~

 

[Robespierre]

Arcanum. Loved the newspapers.

 

[baturinsky]

Most of Obsidian stuff.

Also, probably Dynasty/Samurai Warriors Empires - you can live as a Chinese noble doing pretty much anything - robbing or assassinating people, protecting people, swearing loyalty to some lord, raising through ranks and gaining yourself a dutchy, betraying your lord and seceding with part of her kingdom, making peace with her, marry her and reunite your kingdoms and have children together, etc.

 

[Micormic]

Most of Obsidian stuff.

Alpha protocol, kotor 2, nwn2, poe 1 felt 'alive'?


Because I played all those games and they were all as static and shit as you could get.

 

[Sacred82]

Ultima was going in the right direction. Just not far enough.

Settlements had a sense of community I've never, ever encountered again in a CRPG. Settlements just seem like a bunch of NPC's and buildings slapped together. Even the thematically dense and solid Fallout settlements suffered from this. You never really got why strange fellow X was living next to strange fellow Y, even though none of them stuck out like a sore thumb. It just didn't blend together.

What Ultima was lacking from was some realism in its settlements, it was far to fairy tale-y. Which of the inhabitants of town X built those buildings, and how and why. How do communities subsist (reflected in the gameworld by equipment/ manpower) and how do they survive next to threat center Y. Someone needs to pick up where Ultima left and give us some really organic towns and villages. The entire wilderness stuff, or rather its inner workings, are much less important when it comes to making a world feel alive.

 

[baturinsky]

Alpha protocol, kotor 2, nwn2, poe 1 felt 'alive'?
Because I played all those games and they were all as static and shit as you could get.

Playing Kotor2 now, it's great. NWN2 and POE1 seemed not too bad either. I could not play AP, because I do not want to roleplay a terrorist.

Game can be static, it can even be a book or film instead of game, and still be immersive and detailed. It's not about interactivity, it's about about having a consistent and relatable world writing.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I could not play AP, because I do not want to roleplay a terrorist.

 

[RK47]

Mount & Blade Warband is pretty lively.
Shit happens without you taking part.
5 Rival Kingdoms going at it and your band of mercs can play a part or just do freelance work at will. Or join a side or create your own kingdom.

I've done the following in game:
- Rescued a captured noble
- Ransom a noble after he barely escaped from a battle with a weak army
- Incite war between kingdoms by raiding caravan under false flag operation
- Play peacemaker by taking care of warmonger leaders. Bribe, capture, or persuade. The choice is yours.
- Raze villages to lure angry nobles into the open
- Tax village in a noble's name...and don't give it to him.
- Promise to rescue a noble by paying the ransom but keep the ransom money instead.
- Promise to collect a debt from a noble's friend, only to keep the gold to myself.

You can play honorably and not do scummy shit and there'd be nobles who appreciate that. The scummy ones don't care and would look down on that. It's alive.

 

[Vlajdermen]

You can't beat Arcanum in this aspect