Most fun game world to explore?

[M0rp43vs]

Simple question right there in the title.
I'm not looking for the "best", I'd rather hear what you find your favourite game world to explore is. As a little help, consider the scale, how beautiful and varied the scenery is, the general feeling you get while exploring and how memorable it is through landmarks, secrets and points of interest. As a bonus, what tools do you have to aid in exploration and what does it add to the experience?

For my first answer, I choose the game that spurred me to starting this thread: Okami.

From majestic forests and a bustling city to amazing oceans and dark dungeons to even the digestive systems of a couple of creatures, the variety of landscapes is wide, each of them insanely pretty looking with a lot of treasures to find. The huge sprawling brush-drawn world of Nippon is wondrous, unique looking place offering lots of vast open plains for you to run around it, trailing plants and generally making the place better as you go. Of course, there are also towns for you to have fun in, filled with interesting characters that are more so if you have a passing knowledge in Japanese Mythology.

Travel can be aided by the brush techniques you collect and the fact that they pause the screen as you use them allows you to take in the environment which I think is a clever design choice. Having more options than just running from place to place or teleporting to set locations might make long haul runs a bit more fun but hey, the flower trail run is pretty looking and I have to admit, hitting that "LvL3 dash" never gets old.

I'd write more, but I'd rather hear from you first. Hopefully the responses will reinvigorate the wanderlust in games that I love. So set course.

 

[Savagezion]

Currently, I would have to go with Guild Wars 2. It is a pretty shallow environment but man it is an amazing world. The scenery is beautiful, the landmarks, the hidden passages, the tucked away content in said passages. It seriously is the best world map I have seen in any game to date. Now, quests, events, combat, etc. make of that stuff what you will, but that world map is sexy.

 

[Zhukov]

Surprisingly enough, I'd probably have to say Dark Souls. At least, that's the first one that comes to mind.

It was fairly intricate and somewhat detailed without being an open world slog where everything looks the same. Plus there was actually stuff to find and a good chance that stuff would be useful. The message system made secrets easy to find, but still satisfying. For example, I was pretty amazed at finding the Fair Lady and Ash Lake, even though I only found them because someone wrote "secret path ahead" on the floor.

The danger made moving into previously unexplored areas a potentially exciting process as well.

I know I'm on record for bashing Dark Souls every chance I get, but I'm not above admitting that it got some things right.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I love exploring Okami, I make it a point of playing the game at least once a year. So much stuff to do that it's easy to pretend you're doing it for the first time.

 

[endtherapture]

Currently, I would have to go with Guild Wars 2. It is a pretty shallow environment but man it is an amazing world. The scenery is beautiful, the landmarks, the hidden passages, the tucked away content in said passages. It seriously is the best world map I have seen in any game to date. Now, quests, events, combat, etc. make of that stuff what you will, but that world map is sexy.

Oooh yeah U'd have to agree, the world map is beautiful, loads of varied terrain, stunning landscapes, beautiful architecture, a world that feels alive, all in a gorgeous stylised watercolour artstyle.

 

[go-10]

so far I know 3 games that I just loved walking/flying around
1. Batman Arkham City
2. Pokemon Black 1 & White 2 (I put them on the same spot, essentially they're the same region (Unova) just at different times)
3. Infamous 2 - I haven't played Second Son but I just loved running around collecting shards and blasting guys

 

[duwenbasden]

- Vice City "Cohesive" - I like how it feels like 1 city despite the differences between zones.
- Panau / Skyrim "Grand" - It is beautiful. All the zones feels different (cold, dry, wet, high, etc...)

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I would say Just Cause 2's island nation of...Panau I think? I spelled it incorrectly if I got the sound right anyhow. It's a huge island with lots of variety in what's there. Snow-capped mountains, deserts, dense forests and, a couple of cities. Aside from the variable scenery are all the ways you can get around: walking, running, cars, motorcycles, trucks, bigger trucks, Helicopters, boats, slower boats, bigger boats, jetskis, balloon, planes, jets...the best thing though is how just about anywhere you go will have multiple things that you are encouraged to destroy. It's not as destructable as Red Faction Guerrilla which is unfortunate but something to aim for in the sequel. Most things however, are destructable...and will explode...and that's awesome.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

To the utter shock of anybody who's read... well... ANY of my posts, I'd go for the Ken Levine games.

"System Shock", obviously. I mean, this was the game that made me realise what gaming was capable of; and it was all because of Citadel Station.

"System Shock 2" as well. I'd go for the Rec level of the Von Braun as the pinnacle of great design here.

And "Bioshock"... my favorite level would have to be Cohen's domain. But Rapture is just such a fantastic place to explore.

I would also add in "Minecraft", because you never quite know what you're going to get in that one.

 

[shrekfan246]

It was probably best when I my only character was a level 25 Warrior though, back when Mounts were level 30 - I ran from Barrens (level 15 zone) to Sithalus (level 60 end-game Zone), just visiting the 'quest hubs', avoiding the horrendously over-leveled monsters and just... seeing the world. It was really cool, and I kinda wanna do it again sometime with a low-level alt on a different server to my main one.

Hah, level 30... I remember when it was level 40, and doing an awesome (and expensive) questline to get my Warlock Dreadsteed at level 60. Oh, how far things have come.

OT: Shanicus got it right, though. World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XII both stand out as two games I loved for the aspects of exploration, mystery, and "new"-ness involved in every new area you come across. It's why I'd love to see Blizzard tackle a single-player RPG version of WoW, because I love the world, but got burnt out on the game itself.

Otherwise, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I love sailing around that map. Back in the day, I ended up completely filling up the sea chart and fished up every treasure I found a chart for (I don't know if I got all of the treasure charts, though).

 

[AntiChri5]

Every Bethesda game i have played since Morrowind. They deliver this shit so consistently.

 

[MysticSlayer]

In terms of enjoying the scenery and just seeing what the world has to offer, Xenoblade Chronicles definitely is number one. That games environments wowed me unlike any I've ever seen, and I absolutely loved finding where to get the perfect view of each area. The music also really helped bring out the environments, making them even more enjoyable to explore for the next great-looking landmark.

In terms of the act of exploring, Zelda and Metroid are easily my favorites. They've pretty much mastered the art of letting the world open up to the player as they acquire more items/power-ups, and I always enjoying trying to overcome the sometimes difficult puzzles to reach the secret areas.

I guess if I had to pick an absolute favorite for exploring, then Zelda would take it.

 

[Artina89]

I love exploring Hong Kong in Sleeping dogs. I love jumping in a car, cranking up the music and just driving around picking up collectables. When FUSE comes on the radio, it just adds a whole new dimension for me.


A truly underrated game in my view.

 

[nevarran]

Borderlands 2 has some pretty cool places to visit, and some interesting enemies to go along.

 

[F'Angus]

Minecraft sometimes. Especially the first ever time you go exploring. When I first found a temple I was confused and exited because I dint know they existed.

Also Thief. Some of my fondest memories are of exploring in the Thief series. Exploring the mines was terrifying, and avoiding the Hammers and searching for Aliens in the sewers.

 

[Black Reaper]

(as is my answer to everything) The Castlevania Ds trilogy
You know what the fastest way to get around before you get your speed powerups?
Divekicking

If you jump twice and press down+the jump button you get a dicekick, if you do these very low to the ground, they don't have landing recovery, so you can do them really fast
So just moving around the map is fun, the maps themselves are very good, there are many secret passages and high enemy variety, lots of unique sights per area, and just going around the map killing stuff is very fun for me

 

[Elfgore]

Skyrim has given me the best world to explore. 100+ hours and I haven't found all of the quest yet. Every time I play I find a new quest in some middle of nowhere dungeon. Though not as diverse as Oblivion world wise, I enjoyed the plains of Whiterun, the winter mountains of Winterhold, and the forests of Riften.

 

[RJ 17]

I'm going to pick a game that I haven't even played: Far Cry 3. =3

The reason I say that without having played it is because I'd imagine it must be loads of fun to be stalking up on an enemy encampment, plotting out how you're going to infiltrate it, which guards you're going to take out when and where, only to have your plans completely ruined by..........a random, wandering tiger strolling into the camp and clearing it for you.

 

[lacktheknack]

Myst Online, I'd say. Which is good, because the whole point of the game is to explore the game worlds.

Too bad it's stagnant, it could have been the best damn thing ever. As is, it's free and cool if you like puzzles, so give it a shot.