PigLick on 1/3/2017 at 13:27
i dont know if you ever played the original dayz mod, but something about it just hit this sweet spot of open world, emergent multiplayer gameplay, there has never been anything like it since. It was hard and unforgiving, you had to learn the map, plan accordingly.
Malf on 1/3/2017 at 13:31
Yeah, I played the original mod. It's testament to the mod that revisiting Chernarus in our ARMA 2 sessions, I know exactly where I am.
I remember cradling a dying Duck in a tent as some unseen dude outside popped the occasional round my way. I killed him with a randomly aimed 3-round burst from the AK I'd just found. Couldn't see him through the tent, just fired where I heard the gunfire coming from.
Good times.
PigLick on 1/3/2017 at 13:34
yes! and the thing is, thats nothing compared to what came after you guys played.
Mr.Duck on 2/3/2017 at 07:28
Quote Posted by Malf
I remember cradling a dying Duck in a tent..
You complete me.
<3
256 colors on 7/3/2017 at 10:38
Mercenary: Escape from Targ
Damocles
Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis
demagogue on 7/3/2017 at 13:17
The FireWatch world is pretty great in combination with its story. Not the most open ever, but pretty good.
For some reason Voxel Farm has inspired me with the promise of a Minecraft-like procedurally generated world that looks like Skyrim & is arbitrarily deformable.
Everquest Landmark used it, and people made some cool stuff on it. But it's the more general survival exploration game that would win me over & become my favorite open world if it came to pass.
In anticipation, I've been known to open up one of the free demos, especially the alien planet one, and run around with some techno playing. Really it's to give me something to do while I listen to the album since I'm taking notes on how to make electronic music. The kind of metagame I play is to find the highest peak off in the distance and see if I can find a route to scale it to the summit.
You can get the demos here. Granted it's not everyone's cup o' tea.
(
http://www.voxelfarm.com/demos.html)
PigLick on 7/3/2017 at 13:55
I found Firewatch, well I guess disappointing is the word. Not so much the story, but the promise of an open world which never eventuated. Especially when you started skipping days at a time and had no choice but to go where you were supposed to.
Also, Breath of the Wild is possibly shaping up to be one of my faves, its that good.
Sulphur on 7/3/2017 at 14:30
Firewatch could've been pretty grand from a purely exploratory standpoint if it had been really open-world. It's a shame, but understandable from a budget standpoint.
Also, I know it's not technically an open world, but Stalker: SoC stands as one of the most memorable experiences in terms of exploration for me. There's precious little that comes close to it in terms of atmosphere and sheer presence; it really feels like you're out hoofing it in an abandoned Eastern European city, all that crumbling brickwork and rusted metal sitting silent and abandoned as anomalies boil the air next to them. It's the combination of the mundane and the alien: you're walking down a lonely wooded road, and for a moment, you stop as the clouds blot out the sun, there's the sound of the wind in your ears, and then the echo of a distant pack of mutant dogs as it scents you; there's something about the way all of that comes together.
And then, of course, there's Pathologic, though I wouldn't call it a favourite open-world, it is definitely one of the most extraordinary and unpleasant ones ever made, and definitely something a hell of a lot more people should try experiencing.
PigLick on 7/3/2017 at 14:55
holy shit I totally forgot about SoC, absolutely agree with you there. The exploration in that was amazing, Call of Pripyat was also good, but didnt quite achieve the level of atmosphere that Chernobyl did.
heywood on 7/3/2017 at 19:58
I was going to put Shadow of Chernobyl on the top of my list, but I didn't think most people would consider it to be an open world game. You have the freedom to go anywhere, but it was meant to be played linearly, following the story. And I think most people played it that way, at least the first time.
I loved the atmosphere, especially with the graphical upgrades of the Complete mod. It is one of the most immersive games I've played. And it's great at combining the positive aspects of an open world game with the positive aspects of a story-driven game. I wish other studios had followed in their footsteps.
