You can't go wherever you want in the real world. I can't go everywhere I want in AA either however I can go more places and in more ways than I can in real life. That's open enough for me...and far more open world than most of the MMOs I('ve) play(ed).
I feel it is very open in other words. WOW used to feel that way to me too until Cataclysm. Now it's this and LOTRO for open worlds imo.
R.I.P Vanguard
wrong.
lets take the starter zone for starters.
if it was as many 'open world' games are you could go north, south, west, or east and be able to travel a good distance.
As someone who commonly plays 'open world games' I can tell you this game is restrictive in this regard.
I was able to get from one zone to another zone without following the road but it took a shit ton of clever climbing.
its silly
Actually not... even Skyrim has the climbing bit... especially when trolls start cropping up and you do not have a good fire weapon. Tastes =/= facts.
what is funny about AA is that unless you are clever and willing to do some work you cant get to the next area without following the road. It is really funny to suggest that game is open world.
Can you only access the next part of the map by following the road to a specific entry/exit point....or can you climb or glide over mountains and other natural obstacles and appear in the next part of the map at any point you choose with no loading screen in between?
If the latter which is how i interpret even your own description then its open world.
being able to do it with great diffiuclty and cleverness and just being able to walk into a forest to do it ARE NOT THE SAME THING!
AA options are either follow the path or put in a lot of work and cleverness, its silly to equate that with an open world but hey if that is your idea of an open world then have fun bro
Have fun grinding levels in DF and then saying "Hey at least I am not wasting time like in EVE" brah ( grinding levels isn't natural progression just like how EVE's time based system isn't a natural progression but unlike EVE DF forces you to do something ad nauseum until you get to where you want, EVE makes you wait, both are vastly inferior to a system where you do what you want and levels come from that... oh look Archeage).
Also difficulty does not determine open world factor, if you believe otherwise I will drop your butt in Antarctica so you can argue with a penguin that Earth isn't open world because you are freezing your privates to a glacier.
despite the bizzare logic that Darkfall is like Eve because you have to spend time gaining skill, the reality is it doesnt even matter to this conversation.
So what if Darkfall is cheap carbon copy of Eve. Its still more of an open world than AA is. Oh and the housing is better too. At least you are not so close to your neighboor you are dry humping them just to get to your farm
I don't even have to play Darkfall to know your definition of "better" is flawed. I think most would define better based on functionality and features and looks/aesthetics would have NOTHING to do with it. Can you tell me how Darkfall housing is better based on function or purpose when compared to AA housing/farming? Better yet, tell me ANY game that has more functional/useful housing than AA?
IMHO AA has the most complex/fuctional/and rewarding housing system over ANY MMO.
to begin with 'good' is subjective but we have been throwing it around as a factual word.
second, aesthetics is extreemly importnat to me. This is my virtual world, if it wasnt important I would just play a MUD. For me the housing and farms in AA is extreemly tacky and distracting, I feel like I am playing a kids game
Part of playing a sandbox is personal and creative freedom. Players have the ability to make a mark on the world for good and bad. I always get a kick out of players who stand on this hill. What they are really asking for is creative freedom removed. Players must conform to the devs and not deviate from what they have built. Sorry my friend, this is what themeparks are about not sandbox games. So if you don't want your own personal vision of the world compromised by creative freedom, stick to themeparks.
As for me, I will take it all, the more freedom the better. I would prefer running through vast landscapes of creative,uniquely designed personal properties than the same boring fixed structures till the end of time. One of the coolest things about AA is seeing what players do with the tools they are given. Thank god there are plenty of fixed static themeparks out for exactly that purpose.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
To expand on my first post. I don't want to want to have each little area of the map (read: zones) separated by impassable mountains or walls that require exit or entrance to the zone through narrow pathways. This leads to silly zoned mentality where each zone is drastically different from the next as far as mobs/culture/eco-system/etc. My example of this is the WOW map.
This is not how things are in the real world, things flow together and lines get blurred, each state isn't surrounded by impassable mountains. I can go west until I hit the ocean, hop on a boat to asia, then continue west again. (I know...vidya games....but i play mmo's to immerse in a virtual world, and it's important to me.) To go back to my original example: in Asherons Call there wasn't areas, mob levels went up and down gradually but you could run for hours in a single direction only needing to change course for the occasional mountain that was too steep, or tree, or building or whatever.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the mountains aren't impassable, but I pulled up the world map and all I saw was a bunch of zones that appear to be separated by impassable terrain.
In other words,
The OP didn't play the game, he looked at the map and decided for himself how the game works.
Even when people have told him that it doesn't work know he's decided it works he still insists that it works how he decided.
Another poster has decided upon his own definition of open world. Apparently even Darkfall isn't an open world because the mobs get stronger as you move away from the starting areas. Just like they do in UO. Just like they do in saga of ryzom, just like they do in damn near every MMO ever made.
Basically this is where we come to bash the game by imposing our own definition of open world.
ACTUALLY.....
A) I didn't decide anything, I looked at the map, assumed that's probably how it worked, and then came here to ask.
The descriptions of what was actually happening in the game weren't super clear (to me), which is why in my second and third posts I expanded on my thought process and then asked for a clear and concise yes or no based on the responses I had been given.
C) By the time I had posted my responses there were exactly 4 people who agreed with my definition of open world and 4 people that disagreed with my definition. This isn't something made up and although it's clearly a small sample I am definitely not the only person who thought that open world meant something different.
D) I didn't bash the game, I stated what I saw, stated what I don't like about MMO's, then asked to clarify as to whether or not what I was seeing was true or not.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
Wow has boats... it's how you got from one continent to the next, sans Outland. Considering all this stuff is merely pixels in your computer, and typically is planned out on a square plane, there will always be an edge that you cannot cross at some point... unless you are suggesting that you could walk from one point all across the entire world and end up right back where you started. Don't know of any game that does that.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
Wow has boats... it's how you got from one continent to the next, sans Outland. Considering all this stuff is merely pixels in your computer, and typically is planned out on a square plane, there will always be an edge that you cannot cross at some point... unless you are suggesting that you could walk from one point all across the entire world and end up right back where you started. Don't know of any game that does that.
All wow boats were was an elaborate loading screen.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
Wow has boats... it's how you got from one continent to the next, sans Outland. Considering all this stuff is merely pixels in your computer, and typically is planned out on a square plane, there will always be an edge that you cannot cross at some point... unless you are suggesting that you could walk from one point all across the entire world and end up right back where you started. Don't know of any game that does that.
All wow boats were was an elaborate loading screen.
Never said they weren't... he said adding boats to WoW would make it an open world... it already has boats.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
How did you get that from what I stated?
Because the boats are what allow you to go from continent to continent without loading. If this feature were added to wow then it would be the same....
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
How did you get that from what I stated?
Because the boats are what allow you to go from continent to continent without loading. If this feature were added to wow then it would be the same....
Umm did you play wow? Because shortly after getting on a boat, you were preasented with a loading screen. Boats had nothing to do with eliminating loading screens. More than anything, it was a clever way of disguising the fact your were zoning (ie loading screen).
Even further, in Archeage you can even see future zones because it is open world. There are signs up at the edge of unopened zones saying to not enter. You still can, but it will port you out after a short while. So the open world aspect of AA prevents them from even hiding future zones from you.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
How did you get that from what I stated?
Because the boats are what allow you to go from continent to continent without loading. If this feature were added to wow then it would be the same....
Umm did you play wow? Because shortly after getting on a boat, you were preasented with a loading screen. Boats had nothing to do with eliminating loading screens. More than anything, it was a clever way of disguising the fact your were zoning (ie loading screen).
Even further, in Archeage you can even see future zones because it is open world. There are signs up at the edge of unopened zones saying to not enter. You still can, but it will port you out after a short while. So the open world aspect of AA prevents them from even hiding future zones from you.
The boats in AA allow you to go from continent to continent without loading.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
How did you get that from what I stated?
Because the boats are what allow you to go from continent to continent without loading. If this feature were added to wow then it would be the same....
Umm did you play wow? Because shortly after getting on a boat, you were preasented with a loading screen. Boats had nothing to do with eliminating loading screens. More than anything, it was a clever way of disguising the fact your were zoning (ie loading screen).
Even further, in Archeage you can even see future zones because it is open world. There are signs up at the edge of unopened zones saying to not enter. You still can, but it will port you out after a short while. So the open world aspect of AA prevents them from even hiding future zones from you.
The boats in AA allow you to go from continent to continent without loading.
Lol! I'll just wait for someone else to correct you then....
Those are some powerful/high tech boats to bypass engine and design limitations. If I eat a banana, will that improve my fps?
I think we are getting to the core of the issue here, you seem to have no clue what "open world" means.
You can't go wherever you want in the real world. I can't go everywhere I want in AA either however I can go more places and in more ways than I can in real life. That's open enough for me...and far more open world than most of the MMOs I('ve) play(ed).
I feel it is very open in other words. WOW used to feel that way to me too until Cataclysm. Now it's this and LOTRO for open worlds imo.
R.I.P Vanguard
wrong.
lets take the starter zone for starters.
if it was as many 'open world' games are you could go north, south, west, or east and be able to travel a good distance.
As someone who commonly plays 'open world games' I can tell you this game is restrictive in this regard.
I was able to get from one zone to another zone without following the road but it took a shit ton of clever climbing.
its silly
Actually not... even Skyrim has the climbing bit... especially when trolls start cropping up and you do not have a good fire weapon. Tastes =/= facts.
what is funny about AA is that unless you are clever and willing to do some work you cant get to the next area without following the road. It is really funny to suggest that game is open world.
Can you only access the next part of the map by following the road to a specific entry/exit point....or can you climb or glide over mountains and other natural obstacles and appear in the next part of the map at any point you choose with no loading screen in between?
If the latter which is how i interpret even your own description then its open world.
being able to do it with great diffiuclty and cleverness and just being able to walk into a forest to do it ARE NOT THE SAME THING!
AA options are either follow the path or put in a lot of work and cleverness, its silly to equate that with an open world but hey if that is your idea of an open world then have fun bro
Lol....you accuse others of obfuscation and then drop vague, meaningless statements such as "great difficulty and cleverness"
Do you have to access the next map section via roads and specific choke or exit points or can you, in fact access the next section of the map from any point on the ajoining section by climing up over mountain ranges or flying over them.....
We both know it's the latter, which clearly makes the game open world.....your use of fuzzy phrases and excuses does not change the fact.
Originally posted by rojoArcueid can you climb a high point and glide over the mountains to another map?
Awesomeness.
As for the rest of this thread, it's an argument where half the people seem to be confusing seamless world design with open world gameplay. Painful to read, really.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
With all the cool things you can eventually do in Archeage, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some way to pull that off.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
a rat is always gonna be a rat no matter what zone you're in it's always going to be the same difficulty.. a bear is going to be a bear no matter what zone you're in always the same difficulty... it's up to you to find the mobs that present the best challenge / reward for yourself...
this is what i imagined a openworldgame would be like.
It seems to me that the center of this thread has become how people define "open world".
We can disagree with what the definition is and some people can argue "THERE'S NO LOADING SCREENS SO IT'S OPEN WORLD" or "YOU CAN GET PAST THOSE MOUNTAINS SO IT'S OPEN WORLD"
I don't agree with this and it's apparent that many don't.
I've been playing MMORPG's since MUDs and i have always been lead to believe that "No Loading Screens" meant that a game was "Seamless"
I have also been lead to believe that a game either was "Open world" or "Zoned" meaning that you have a world without regions broken up into small areas surrounded by relatively impassable mountains or terrain that separated parts of the game into partitions, or you didn't.
I used asheron's call as my first example as to what "open-world" was and would agree with the posters who used pre-cu SWG. In our opinions, and from what we have been lead to believe, open world means that there aren't partitioned out areas of the map. It's obvious that some people don't agree with this, and to each their own. Your definition of open world is never going to change my opinion and just because I can sail between continents on my own steam without a loading screen and just because there are things to do out there doesn't mean it's going to change my definition or my opinion as to what's open world. In your eyes that makes me stubborn and wrong, in my eyes (and others) this makes the opposite opinion stubborn and wrong.
What we can however gain from this post, which was the original intent, was to find out whether or not the game is partitioned into areas that are separated by some sort of terrain that is passable with only some sort of "cleverness". Some posters have stated it is, some have stated it isn't and mostly this has been a pissing match about who's definition of "open-world" is correct. At this point I don't even care I just want to know whether or not you can pass over these artificial barriers, which apparently you can with ease.
I still, however, don't enjoy the map setup to this.
And to the people talking about how the real world has mountains and stuff that are impassable, yes, but you're totally missing the point. In the real world each 4 square mile region of earth is not separated by a ring of mountains that is relatively impassable, if it would the world would look much more like WOW's world and not, well, what it does look like, which happens to be a lot more like the world of Asheron's Call or SWG.
You can't go wherever you want in the real world. I can't go everywhere I want in AA either however I can go more places and in more ways than I can in real life. That's open enough for me...and far more open world than most of the MMOs I('ve) play(ed).
I feel it is very open in other words. WOW used to feel that way to me too until Cataclysm. Now it's this and LOTRO for open worlds imo.
R.I.P Vanguard
wrong.
lets take the starter zone for starters.
if it was as many 'open world' games are you could go north, south, west, or east and be able to travel a good distance.
As someone who commonly plays 'open world games' I can tell you this game is restrictive in this regard.
I was able to get from one zone to another zone without following the road but it took a shit ton of clever climbing.
its silly
My post had "I"' and "me". Hence...my experience and impression. So..no , my experience is not "wrong" as you say. It is my experience and opinion as compared to my other experiences with many other MMOs.
Unless you're talking about the dawn of mmos (as they are generally perceived) ..UO...EQ...DAOC...WOW....there are not too many starter areas I can recall that are as open as you remember. Granted...some could be swapped about or left early without having to "hub around" ..I miss those I admit and I do hate the trend of the "instanced" starting areas that can not be avoided. Neverwinter is a good example of this...but definitely a bad example of an "open world",lol.
Is Archeage a vast endless horizon of freedom and fun?
..no...but it's better than most I've tried lately. Again..imo.
My "open" world experience in this game was due to abusive climbing and gliding. Climb until you start to slide down a mountain, then find a slightly less vertical section and hop to it. When you're out of sections to jump to, look for one just out of jump distance above you and open your glider - it "floats" you up about 20 feet or so, far enough to reach the mountain tops from the sides.
This is a really piss-poor excuse for an open world experience. I did the same type of thing in WoW frequently, which was in no way, shape, or form an open world game.
My "open" world experience in this game was due to abusive climbing and gliding. Climb until you start to slide down a mountain, then find a slightly less vertical section and hop to it. When you're out of sections to jump to, look for one just out of jump distance above you and open your glider - it "floats" you up about 20 feet or so, far enough to reach the mountain tops from the sides.
This is a really piss-poor excuse for an open world experience. I did the same type of thing in WoW frequently, which was in no way, shape, or form an open world game.
You should go out in the sea and experience open world, you can reach everywhere in the map with no loading screen. Or are you saying that open world means only flat plains everywhere with no mountains at all? I'm not sure that's considered open world..
I hate having to use a portal to switch zones. I hate getting a loading screen. But if switching zones means running down a narrow valley to get to the next zone, no big deal for me.
Comments
Part of playing a sandbox is personal and creative freedom. Players have the ability to make a mark on the world for good and bad. I always get a kick out of players who stand on this hill. What they are really asking for is creative freedom removed. Players must conform to the devs and not deviate from what they have built. Sorry my friend, this is what themeparks are about not sandbox games. So if you don't want your own personal vision of the world compromised by creative freedom, stick to themeparks.
As for me, I will take it all, the more freedom the better. I would prefer running through vast landscapes of creative,uniquely designed personal properties than the same boring fixed structures till the end of time. One of the coolest things about AA is seeing what players do with the tools they are given. Thank god there are plenty of fixed static themeparks out for exactly that purpose.
If ArcheAge is an open world MMORPG...then that means WoW is too.
I can spend hours figuring out how to climb a mountain in WoW...and go down the other side...no loading screen or following a path to get to it. Just take a lot of time to do so. Which some have done, me included.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Umm no. Even in vanilla, you had to zone between and east and west continents not to mention you need to zone to most the expansion zones. So no, not really....
ACTUALLY.....
A) I didn't decide anything, I looked at the map, assumed that's probably how it worked, and then came here to ask.
C) By the time I had posted my responses there were exactly 4 people who agreed with my definition of open world and 4 people that disagreed with my definition. This isn't something made up and although it's clearly a small sample I am definitely not the only person who thought that open world meant something different.
D) I didn't bash the game, I stated what I saw, stated what I don't like about MMO's, then asked to clarify as to whether or not what I was seeing was true or not.
So it's wow with boats? So adding boats would make wow an open world?
How did you get that from what I stated?
Wow has boats... it's how you got from one continent to the next, sans Outland. Considering all this stuff is merely pixels in your computer, and typically is planned out on a square plane, there will always be an edge that you cannot cross at some point... unless you are suggesting that you could walk from one point all across the entire world and end up right back where you started. Don't know of any game that does that.
All wow boats were was an elaborate loading screen.
Never said they weren't... he said adding boats to WoW would make it an open world... it already has boats.
Because the boats are what allow you to go from continent to continent without loading. If this feature were added to wow then it would be the same....
Umm did you play wow? Because shortly after getting on a boat, you were preasented with a loading screen. Boats had nothing to do with eliminating loading screens. More than anything, it was a clever way of disguising the fact your were zoning (ie loading screen).
Even further, in Archeage you can even see future zones because it is open world. There are signs up at the edge of unopened zones saying to not enter. You still can, but it will port you out after a short while. So the open world aspect of AA prevents them from even hiding future zones from you.
The boats in AA allow you to go from continent to continent without loading.
Lol! I'll just wait for someone else to correct you then....
Those are some powerful/high tech boats to bypass engine and design limitations. If I eat a banana, will that improve my fps?
I think we are getting to the core of the issue here, you seem to have no clue what "open world" means.
No, what allows it to happen is there's actual sea in the game (with monsters and stuff, even an entire world under the sea).
WoW would have to add more than just boats, they'd have to add all of the ocean.
Pretty sure you can swim in AA from one continent to the next but it would take forever.
In any case, WoW is pretty open world compared to most MMOs, just not as much as AA.
Lol....you accuse others of obfuscation and then drop vague, meaningless statements such as "great difficulty and cleverness"
Do you have to access the next map section via roads and specific choke or exit points or can you, in fact access the next section of the map from any point on the ajoining section by climing up over mountain ranges or flying over them.....
We both know it's the latter, which clearly makes the game open world.....your use of fuzzy phrases and excuses does not change the fact.
Awesomeness.
As for the rest of this thread, it's an argument where half the people seem to be confusing seamless world design with open world gameplay. Painful to read, really.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Don't expect open world from a character level based game. Like was said before, you are zoned and guided where to go for your level.
If you want something more akin to open world then play a game where it's based on skill levels not character level.
Examples - Ultima Online, DarkFall would be two examples of an open world game.
Dude. You can ride seals?
Originally posted by Arskaaa
"when players learned tacticks in dungeon/raids, its bread".
With all the cool things you can eventually do in Archeage, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some way to pull that off.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
this is what i imagined a openworldgame would be like.
Herald of innovation, Vanquisher of the old! - Awake a few hours almost everyday!
It seems to me that the center of this thread has become how people define "open world".
We can disagree with what the definition is and some people can argue "THERE'S NO LOADING SCREENS SO IT'S OPEN WORLD" or "YOU CAN GET PAST THOSE MOUNTAINS SO IT'S OPEN WORLD"
I don't agree with this and it's apparent that many don't.
I've been playing MMORPG's since MUDs and i have always been lead to believe that "No Loading Screens" meant that a game was "Seamless"
I have also been lead to believe that a game either was "Open world" or "Zoned" meaning that you have a world without regions broken up into small areas surrounded by relatively impassable mountains or terrain that separated parts of the game into partitions, or you didn't.
I used asheron's call as my first example as to what "open-world" was and would agree with the posters who used pre-cu SWG. In our opinions, and from what we have been lead to believe, open world means that there aren't partitioned out areas of the map. It's obvious that some people don't agree with this, and to each their own. Your definition of open world is never going to change my opinion and just because I can sail between continents on my own steam without a loading screen and just because there are things to do out there doesn't mean it's going to change my definition or my opinion as to what's open world. In your eyes that makes me stubborn and wrong, in my eyes (and others) this makes the opposite opinion stubborn and wrong.
What we can however gain from this post, which was the original intent, was to find out whether or not the game is partitioned into areas that are separated by some sort of terrain that is passable with only some sort of "cleverness". Some posters have stated it is, some have stated it isn't and mostly this has been a pissing match about who's definition of "open-world" is correct. At this point I don't even care I just want to know whether or not you can pass over these artificial barriers, which apparently you can with ease.
I still, however, don't enjoy the map setup to this.
And to the people talking about how the real world has mountains and stuff that are impassable, yes, but you're totally missing the point. In the real world each 4 square mile region of earth is not separated by a ring of mountains that is relatively impassable, if it would the world would look much more like WOW's world and not, well, what it does look like, which happens to be a lot more like the world of Asheron's Call or SWG.
My post had "I"' and "me". Hence...my experience and impression. So..no , my experience is not "wrong" as you say. It is my experience and opinion as compared to my other experiences with many other MMOs.
Unless you're talking about the dawn of mmos (as they are generally perceived) ..UO...EQ...DAOC...WOW....there are not too many starter areas I can recall that are as open as you remember. Granted...some could be swapped about or left early without having to "hub around" ..I miss those I admit and I do hate the trend of the "instanced" starting areas that can not be avoided. Neverwinter is a good example of this...but definitely a bad example of an "open world",lol.
Is Archeage a vast endless horizon of freedom and fun?
..no...but it's better than most I've tried lately. Again..imo.
My "open" world experience in this game was due to abusive climbing and gliding. Climb until you start to slide down a mountain, then find a slightly less vertical section and hop to it. When you're out of sections to jump to, look for one just out of jump distance above you and open your glider - it "floats" you up about 20 feet or so, far enough to reach the mountain tops from the sides.
This is a really piss-poor excuse for an open world experience. I did the same type of thing in WoW frequently, which was in no way, shape, or form an open world game.
You should go out in the sea and experience open world, you can reach everywhere in the map with no loading screen. Or are you saying that open world means only flat plains everywhere with no mountains at all? I'm not sure that's considered open world..
I hate having to use a portal to switch zones. I hate getting a loading screen. But if switching zones means running down a narrow valley to get to the next zone, no big deal for me.
But don't give me a loading screen.
http://gnomophobia.com