Has there ever been a BIG open world RPG that was also QUALITY?

[JarlFrank]

And back to the original point, it wouldn't be interesting the second time around if I knew the zombie and goblins etc. were all going to be there and it was the obvious thing to do. It's cool and memorable because it was unique.

Eh, I tried to get into that mindset regarding procedural content, but it just doesn't do it for me. I've played lots of games with procedural content and lots of games with hand-made content. The hand-made content is always of much higher quality than the procedural content. Procedural content never feels unique to me but like a bunch of copypasted stuff that I've seen in a similar variation before - not exactly the same, of course, but similar enough. And the fact that it's not even half as interesting as a hand-made dungeon with hand-placed encounters makes it even more meh.

I'd rather play a dozen really, really good dungeons than an infinite variety of slightly different but thoroughly mediocre ones.

 

[hoothoot]

AC odyssey and origins any good? maps look nice

 

[wahrk]

I think the main issue is that open world games will inherently become tedious if traveling from point A to point B isn’t compelling in and of itself. If the open world is just scenery in between gameplay locations, then why not just fast travel everywhere? Especially if the game makes you constantly retread familiar areas to get to these places.

I’d like to see an open world game where the journey from point A to point B is actually the whole objective. No radiant quests or bullshit like that, just “how do I get from here to x location in one piece?”.

 

[urmom]

Is Fallout 1 considered an open world? I mean, you can travel just about anywhere unrestricted if you can survive the random encounters.

 

[DalekFlay]

Is Fallout 1 considered an open world? I mean, you can travel just about anywhere unrestricted if you can survive the random encounters.

These terms are semantics, but it doesn't fit for the purposes of this thread. It's a collection of "zones" for all intents and purposes, like Baldur's Gate. Arcanum is even more technically "open world" but I'd say the same about it. New Vegas is an actual open world that feels designed based around the feel of those games, IMO.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Is Fallout 1 considered an open world? I mean, you can travel just about anywhere unrestricted if you can survive the random encounters.

In an Open World game, the player can seamlessly travel across the overworld, without using a separate travel map as in Fallout. Arcanum technically allows this but would require the player to spend such a prolonged time passing through a vast amount of procedurally-generated nothingness that in practice the player is forced to rely on the separate world map for transportation.

 

[Butter]

Is Fallout 1 considered an open world? I mean, you can travel just about anywhere unrestricted if you can survive the random encounters.

In an Open World game, the player can seamlessly travel across the overworld, without using a separate travel map as in Fallout. Arcanum technically allows this but would require the player to spend such a prolonged time passing through a vast amount of procedurally-generated nothingness that in practice the player is forced to rely on the separate world map for transportation.

I would go further and say that an open world is one that the player can feasibly cross with regular movement, or has been designed that way. Arcanum and Daggerfall wouldn't qualify.

 

[Skdursh]

I was really kinda hoping this gif was gonna end in a dick joke.

 

[Carrion]

I think the main issue is that open world games will inherently become tedious if traveling from point A to point B isn’t compelling in and of itself. If the open world is just scenery in between gameplay locations, then why not just fast travel everywhere? Especially if the game makes you constantly retread familiar areas to get to these places.

I’d like to see an open world game where the journey from point A to point B is actually the whole objective. No radiant quests or bullshit like that, just “how do I get from here to x location in one piece?”.

One thing Morrowind does will is giving you a real sense of progression in this, as you discover more effective ways of getting around the game world: learning the in-game "bus schedules" by heart, gaining access to new spells like levitation and waterwalking, finding or crafting items specifically intended to make travelling easier, getting familiar with the geography to make it easier to find a way to your destination, and so on. Mastering all that makes you feel like a demigod, which pretty much is what you are by the end of the game. When you remove all that stuff, like open-world games generally do nowadays with their quest compasses, unlimited fast travel options and console limitations (no levitation, for example), you'll most likely end up with a lot of tedium and filler "content".