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Is there a game that doesn't discourage exploration by having an open and seamless world with no where you are not allowed to go with beautiful vista's and scenery?
Must have's:
good graphics, nothing too cartoony
seamless and open world, preferably large. meaning no load screens going between zones unless teleporting, but teleporting is not a necessity. some textures and effects can be bad, but if anything stands out too much then no ty.
beautiful scenery and vista's, up-to-date built in graphical effects would be great
the must have nots are simply anything that doesnt have one of the above.
Any sort of pvp is fine, preferably with some open world pvp, but not a must have.
Death penalties are cool, slow xp rates are fine too.
I remember exploring world of warcraft back in the day with some guildee's and finding the smiley face under karazhan, or the whole undeveloped zone that was in kalimdor west of redridge mountains or the floating islands and waterfalls in nagrand especially.
Idea's? give up hope? go for a hike up a mountain?
Comments
GW2-Beautiful vistas, exploration, very large zones, teleports, good graphics not cartoony, World PVE, optional PvP.
If you like exploration you will like GW2 as they give rewards to for discovery.
Is seems like the OPs biggest requirement is seamless world with no load screens everywhere....GW2 is one of the farthest things you can get to a seamless world...every single thing in the game, including every single zone, has a loading screen.
Its not out yet, but Elder scrolls online fits what you want pretty well, but it also has loading screens between areas. However its areas are going to be quite large.
Vanguard has lots of exploration, no loading screens, and nice vistas, but no pvp and its pretty old. Its F2P so you can try it out.
Lord of the Rings Online ticks all boxes
I currently have 365 screenshots of that game.
Character models are a little bleh but the environments are the best in the business when cranked up details
LOTRO no doubt about it, best looking vistas in any game. Couple this with great lore and storytelling, and you have a winner.
This isn't happening. People are actually seriously recommending Guild Wars 2 and Lotro when asked for a beautiful seamless world without loading screen and world open pvp.
The fact is there isn't one. Vanguard is closest, the world is beautiful, large, seamless (no loading screens even when entering dungons), however, there is no PvP. Fallen Earth has some form of open world PvP, but the world isnt all that beautiful. Darkfall is currently burdened by financial situation of the developer based on the recent leaked information. It's hard to recommend to anything from this category.
REALITY CHECK
Where did the OP mention open world pvp?
He asked for seamless open world and great vista's....both of which LOTRO has in spades
"Any sort of pvp is fine, preferably with some open world pvp" This is from the original post.
Lotro has no open world PvP (all pvp is limited to one instanced zone), the world isnt seamless -- NOT EVEN CLOSE -- the world of Lotro is made of loading screens, some areas are glued together, but everytime you enter a house or dungeon or sometimes even a different area (Mirkwood), there is a loading screen, plus all zones are somewhat connected with straigth corridor-like lines, it's not open in all directions, the world of Lotro is made of connecting corridors, with somewhat open but small areas. Definetly not seamless.
REALITY CHECK
i'm surprised at myself for saying this but Vanguard has everything you need other than the PVP.
the landscape art in VG is museum quality (the mob and character models.... not so much)
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Vanguard hands down is the only fully open world mmorpg with terrific vistas and scenery.
remember to enter the cmd in your chat box: /setfog 999999
that will clear all fog away so you can see for miles.
i would add that for a zoned world LotRO does have some pretty incredible scenery. when you're standing under a tree on a sunny day, look down and watch the shadows of the leaves above you move in the breeze.
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Thanks for the tips, im going to try out both lotro and vanguard.
Ya pvp isnt needed, but just would be nice. My favorite moments in mmo's were in world of warcraft during the end of the wotlk xpac when I was leading and main assisting multi raid world pvp groups that was start at like Splintertree Post in Ashenvale travel south through the barrens into duskwallow marsh take the keep from the alliance and attempt to kill Jaina but just get teleported out to sea and end up taking the boat to Menethil Harbor in Wetlands then north to arathi highlands across the bridge where you could tempt people near the edge to knock them off or take potshots at the townsmen and players afk'ing in that alliance town and into tarren mill.... Ya that was a long day.
Except VG still has to load zones or "chunks", just instead of a load screen your client hiccups for a bit even on a high end machine with an SSD you'll have to deal with a few seconds of loading every time you cross a grid on the map. This is especially annoying when you are looking for something near a line and have to cross more than once.
They recently made a post where they address that issue. I think in the next big update they will release a patch that should help with that.
About time.
Here's the link, see what you can make of it:
https://forums.station.sony.com/vg/index.php?threads/september-vanguard-roadmap.70532/
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Fallen Earth
Really huge world with realistic design with not screen loads. You need a horse or better a motorcycle to travel. Lots of hiden places and exploration.
your game is Age of Conan
it has everything you look for and more
OP said he wanted a seamless world with no loading screens. Unless the game has changed drastically since I last played, Age of Conan has plenty of loading screens when moving between zones.
It sounds like you're pretty much after the same as me!
Have you ever tried Lineage 2?
It's the closest i've ever found to the perfect MMO imo. It has a massive, seamless and beautifully made world. Totally open world PVP, loads to do etc...
Here's the World Map (i'm not sure this is complete even, but was the best one i could find) Link
Here's a Video of some Exploration with commentary Link
It's changed a lot recently with the Goddess of Destruction update - but i'm pretty sure it will still satisfy what you're after.
And finally a few trailers
Enjoy!
Goddess of Destruction Evolution Trailer
Latest Update Lindvior Trailer
Lindvior Raid
Edit - i just thought it was fair to mention that the game is unfortunately rife with corruption and botters etc, but that really shouldn't affect you until high level - if you ever choose to persue it. It is also running an aging engine which unfortunately doesn't play nice with newer GPU's - it's still playable but you may experience some poor performance occasionally.
OP,
I started a similar thread a while ago with almost exactly the same requirements, although I'm not fussed about PvP. The simple fact there isn't really anything. There's a lot of average MMOs out there, lots of bad ones, but very, very few great ones. They have one or two of the things you're looking for, but they fall down in at lest one of them and quite often have some kind of gamebreaker that will put you right off.
Some of the games you might be interested in based on your requirements:
Aion : Similar to WoW in terms of large seamless zones to travel. Open world PvP on the relevant servers. Beautiful world and some great views. Graphical style is not for everyone though and the leveling is quite linear.
Rift : Again, fairly large seamless zones. But the reason I mention Rift is there's loads of reasons to explore. Collectables and also the puzzles and secret stuff hidden in the world. Stashes hidden at the bottom of lakes, top of mountains etc. Other than that it's a fairly dull game imo. The game could have been great if the world was a bit more interesting instead of being just a giant stomping ground for Rifts. There's no charm to it. No NPCs doing anything. No villages or settlements of interest.
GW2 : Beautiful graphics imo, lots to explore and discover. Not really a seamless world due to portals etc. PvP and WvW is fun for a while.
Allods Online : Basically an almost exact WoW clone. Lovely graphic style and beautiful large world. If you played and liked WoW and just want more of the same but in a different world try this. Only problem is the customer service and the way the game is supported is the worst I've seen of any game. Truely shocking.
Personally I'm taking a break from MMOs until the next batch come along next year. Playing some single player RPGs instead. Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar and EQ Next all looking really good.