"Open World" and "Exploration" Games

Any one else really dig this kind of game?

I'm talking about the kind of game that has a large area/world/galaxy that you can pretty much explore whenever you want to. There's usually interesting stuff to do like "sidequests" or alternate story arcs to persue. Or maybe you have fun exploring new areas, finding new items/vehichles/whatevers, or trying to steal everything you can from everyone. In some open world games, you can build your own stuff and have a lot of fun with that. These are what I call "Open World" games (some people have different definitions of what counts as an open world).

The GTA series and GTA clones are a great example of open world games. The Elder Scrolls RPG series and pretty much any MMORPG are good examples of huge open world fantasy games. Spore is another example of an extremely open world game.

Some of my favorite open world games:
-Fallout (I and II) - a great post-apocalyptic RPG with a main story arc, but a larg open world wherein you can go all over the place and cause a lot of trouble.
-Star Control II - an epic sci-fi-ish RPG that drops you in the middle of an open galaxy without a whole lot of guidance. You'll have to do some exploring and research to figure out how to defeat the Ur-Quan.
- Quarentine - you're a taxi driver in a post-apoc-style city. Feels sort of like GTA, only all the cars have guns mounted on them and they hover several feet off of the ground. Way fun, though it may be a stretch to call it "open world"; it's probably closer to "goal-driven exploration".
- Transcendence - a freeware game that's sort of a mix between Star Control II, Nethack, and Diablo. You fly a spaceship through various star systems possibly doing stuff like fighting aliens and pirates, trading goods at space stations, mining ore from asteroids, selling illegal stuff at black market stations, or joining the military or helping other factions. Your final objective is to reach the galactic core for some secret reason. The game's only half-way done but there's a lot of game in the current version.


Another type of game I enjoy, I'll call "Goal-driven Exploration" games. These games are almost, but not quite, open world because either they are too linear or there's just not much to do outside the main objective. There's still a lot of exploration, though, so they feel like an open world at times. Usually, the exploration is driven by your search for a specific item or something that will allow you to unlock the next area. Some of the best examples of this specific type of game are Mario 64, Zelda games, Metroid games, System Shock games, and Castlevania SotN (and the DS Castevanias). Also, most RPGs would fall into this category by my definition.

Sometimes, I'm really in the mood for a good wide open world game, but enjoying an open world game can be quite a time commitment (when compared with other, more linear games). At this time in life, I don't have as much time as I used to have to devote to video games, so "Goal-driven Exploration" games can be a nice compromise for when I want to explore, but I don't have the time to really enjoy a truly open world.

Any other games y'all want to talk about? Recommendations?

The Escape Velocity series (is it just for Mac or PC too?) is pretty awesome. You start off with just a small shuttle craft with no allegiance to anybody. You are kind of forced to start off as a trader/taxi cab ferrying passengers and cargo across the galaxy. But once you have enough money to buy your first new ship things really start picking up. You can do missions for different companies, government factions, rebel factions or pirates. Or you can be a pirate yourself, attack ships to steal them and their cargo. There is a huge variety in ships and how to upgrade them. You can even conquer planets so that they will give you a tribute to add to your income. A phenomenal series of games.

I *adore* these types of games. The kind of time commitment needed to play them is actually a big plus for me. I love it when I can spend dozens of hours with the same game.

Other than the ones you've mentioned:

Fallout 3: FO universe in Oblivion style. Playing through it again right now.
Mount & Blade: Completely open-ended. Great medieval combat. Best mounted combat ever. You owe it to yourself to check this game out.
Seven Cities of Gold: Terribly dated now, but one of my all-time favourites back on the C64.
Darklands: Also dated, but a wonderfully open-ended party-based RPG.
Far Cry 2: I'll forgive a lot of flaws in an open-ended game this fun.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl: Quirky, bleak FPS from Russia.
Freelancer: The last really good space combat sim. It kills me that this genre is currently dead.
Silent Hunter 3: I think this game falls into this category. Hunt down targets of opportunity in your WW2 U-boat. Very tense.
Sid Meier's Pirates!: Sid's a god. The best collection of minigames I've ever seen.
Source of the Nile: Board game. Discover deepest, darkest Africa. Can't think of another board game quite like it.

Those are the ones I've played recently enough to be in my mind right now. More, please! Especially if anyone knows of indie titles that might not have received a lot of press.

I love this kind of games, and my favorite has to be the sequel to the original Elite: Frontier. I can't say how many hours I spent exploring the galaxy on my old Amiga. I'm surprised no one mentioned Elite as it seems to be the first game of this type...

BTW, I also played the Escape Velocity games (still run the latest one from time to time) and although I do enjoy them, they can't be compared to the original Elite games. Everything is created beforehand, so that feeling of having a whole universe to explore is pretty much gone... (just think that Frontier, by using mathematical generation, had all the galaxy available, and you could visit any star and land on any planet and they would be generated real time, with realistic orbits and clouds/buildings/landmarks. Amazing that all that fitted on one 720kb disc...

Also, what about board games that work like this? For example, Magic Realm is a very open-ended game where you have a lot of freedom as to how to act and what to do. You can explore, loot treasure sites and fight monsters, but you can also hire natives and use them to fight other natives or go hunting players, or just maybe avoid everyone and look for magical places to learn spells, etc... Few boardgames I know have this feeling...

maka wrote:

I love this kind of games, and my favorite has to be the sequel to the original Elite: Frontier. I can't say how many hours I spent exploring the galaxy on my old Amiga. I'm surprised no one mentioned Elite as it seems to be the first game of this type...

BTW, I also played the Escape Velocity games (still run the latest one from time to time) and although I do enjoy them, they can't be compared to the original Elite games. Everything is created beforehand, so that feeling of having a whole universe to explore is pretty much gone... (just think that Frontier, by using mathematical generation, had all the galaxy available, and you could visit any star and land on any planet and they would be generated real time, with realistic orbits and clouds/buildings/landmarks. Amazing that all that fitted on one 720kb disc...

Also, what about board games that work like this? For example, Magic Realm is a very open-ended game where you have a lot of freedom as to how to act and what to do. You can explore, loot treasure sites and fight monsters, but you can also hire natives and use them to fight other natives or go hunting players, or just maybe avoid everyone and look for magical places to learn spells, etc... Few boardgames I know have this feeling...

That rocks about Magic Realm and makes me want to figure out how to play it even more. A real "open world" board game? Sounds like the holy grail of gaming to me (one of the grails, at least). I guess a lot of RPG-derivative games could be considered similar.

Your of Frontier reminds me Noctis , a freeware open world/galaxy simulator where you fly around the galaxy and can visit planets. I was impressed by Noctis; kind of makes me want to try out Frontier.

morrowind is my favourite pc game ever.

maka wrote:

I love this kind of games, and my favorite has to be the sequel to the original Elite: Frontier. I can't say how many hours I spent exploring the galaxy on my old Amiga.

man, me too. plus the first game in the X series, mostly because i was unemployed at the time. but those heady days of frontier, trying to get enough points to go up ranks with the imperial faction and all that. i think i got as far as the spying missions, and i think there is supposed to be plenty more after that.

BTW, I also played the Escape Velocity games

try space rangers II for an improvement on this formula. it's like a 2d elite.

i need to get back into fall out II, played it for a bunch of hours then something distracted me.

the gta IV world is incredible, even if the game doesn't live up to it.

i don't get mount & blade yet. i've given it a few chances. i always die horribly or wind up not knowing what i am supposed to be doing.

far cry II is the most revolutionary fps since half life II.

i don't touch MMORPGs. i can't abide people.

I was recently quite taken with Sacred, and am waiting on a patch to start Sacred 2 on the 360.

It is a Diablo clone. But in a fixed and huge non-random world, and with a quest system that screams World of Warcraft. So it plays a little like WoW using Diablo's interface and without all the people.

$10 on Steam or GOG for the first Sacred. And it does support online co-op.

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I also really liked Wasteland, which is basically Fallout 0, and an old, old game called Car Wars (based on the boardgame.)

Also, Ultima IV I adored, and I remember it being extremely open. Moreso than anything else in the series.

The other trippy old one is Sundog. A basic space trading with occasional combat jaunt. The trippy part is that your ship works a bit like Galaxy Trucker. You have to patch things, put in shunts to try and keep basic ship operations going (although at seriously reduced capability.)

Of these, Car Wars is the one that probably doesn't hold up. I bet the others would run fine in an Apple II emulator.

Wasteland!!! What fond memories!

I also had a lot of fun with the "Bards Tale Construction Kit"

You could use this software to create your own adventures. I remember constructing one adventure that eventually led to a me a character in thae game. I made myslef so powerful everone was slayed once they met me. Not a very balanced game but fun! HA!

moss_icon wrote:

morrowind is my favourite pc game ever.

I hear this a lot. I liked it less then both Daggerfall and Oblivion. I don't know exactly why; it's a great game. Just something didn't sit right.

i don't get mount & blade yet. i've given it a few chances. i always die horribly or wind up not knowing what i am supposed to be doing.

The game really does need a tutorial. The problem is that you start off very weak, and with really bad equipment to boot. Even with a few soldiers, you really can't take on anyone except for smaller bands of Looters until you gain a couple levels, and pick up some reasonable equipment. Once you get the hang of things, you start to get very powerful--but you can still get hammered if you're not careful. In a way, it feels much more realistic as a simulator than most other games I've played.

Plus, 200 vs. 200 battles with individual soldiers? Awesome.

i don't touch MMORPGs. i can't abide people.

Preach on, brother.

try space rangers II for an improvement on this formula. it's like a 2d elite.

Wow, that looks nice, but it's PC only isn't it?

BTW Is it by Cinemaware? The old Cinemaware was my favorite videogame company way back when they released stuff like Defender of the Crown and especially Rocket Ranger. That was a great game!

And the Ultima games, I never got very far but I remember them being really immersive even with their primitive graphics. I still have the original box and cloth map for my Ultima V copy for the Amiga...

Nethack...

Wasteland was fun and I haven't quite found a game that can compete. Fallout is close but I should have gotten the PC version apparently.

Good point. There are so, so many Roguelike games around now. I picked up one rather nice fixed world Roguelike from a local developer.

But---are there any multiplayer Roguelikes?

Yes, but not the computer ones, the older commercial PBM ones. I even designed one, though these days there's probably very little interest.

maka wrote:

try space rangers II for an improvement on this formula. it's like a 2d elite.

Wow, that looks nice, but it's PC only isn't it?

BTW Is it by Cinemaware?

yes, pc only. it's by these crazy soviet programmers who also made a game based on "heroes of might and magic", which is utter lunacy:

www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/10/02/king...wife-the-belt-odoom/

Bullwinkle wrote:

moss_icon wrote:

morrowind is my favourite pc game ever.

I hear this a lot. I liked it less then both Daggerfall and Oblivion. I don't know exactly why; it's a great game. Just something didn't sit right.

daggerfall - blew my mind when i got it, but i rarely progressed that far in it as it was a bit of a mess as a game. i loved wandering though, when i had the attention span to do such things, visiting the wilderness and different cities that although essentially the same were pretty fascinating. the snow music is my favourite music ever in computer games.

oblivion - too refined. i hated the leveling system where the enemies levelled up with you. great graphics and a neat enough game but although i started it about 10 times i don't think i ever got further than level 6.

morrowind - i feel offers a great balance of exploration and progression. the freedom to roam is incredible. i have played it about 2/3rds of the way through 3 or 4 times. i have never completed it. again, i don't know why but i never felt the need.

arena - like a demo for daggerfall