I consider The Old Republic to not be one - it's universe is too divided up with instances and load screens.
I consider World of Warcraft to be one, just - it's pretty open and immersive.)
Seriously. WoW? WoW is almost completely instanced. Just because it has no loading screens doesn't make it a seamless open world. Every dungeon is instanced. There's phasing left and right. No.
The last fully open seamless world was Vanguard. Or Darkfall if you don't count having to load into dungeons.
I suppose on the spectrum of open-ness, SWG was more open than WoW. But you still had loading screens in SWG to go between planets. To be truly open, it would have to be something more like http://www.infinity-universe.com/ which has seamless flight transition from ground to space. I'm not sure if the last patch in SWG offered this seamless transition, though I know they added atmospheric flight right before going dark.
Because people interpret meaning of open / seamless world in different ways? there is not a universal definition for it. So to claim it is a FACT is just wrong.
Can't you try and explain how you interpret what i wrote so that i can understand WHY you don't agree?
Right now it looks like you are just putting your fingers in your ears and screaming LALALALALALA and ignoring what im saying.
Why do you think having loading screens between parts of the world means the world is seamless?
Why do you think having parts of the gameworld cut of and unable to interact with the rest to be open world?
And here is my previous post for your convenience:
"How can it be disputed that WoW is a not seamless world? Going from storwind into the stockades, tada loading screen, a seam in the world. Not seamless.
Open world? Going from stormwind into the stockade, you are now closed of from the rest of the world. Not open."
And just to add a little something, im not saying that a game sucks just because it's not seamless or an open world game. Im just saying that a game that has loading screens and instancing is not seamless or an openworld game.
In my mind loading screens aren't what makes or breaks "open world". Its the instancing or to be more precise the creating of an instance for every group that travels to that zone.
Guild Wars would be at my lowest end of open world scale. Every area is instanced just for you or your group outside of the quest/social "hub" area. AoC would be in the middle of that spectrum as you have open playfields to quest in with other random players, but the dungeons are created on the fly for each group. Vanguard is probably the most open I have played the dungeon is sitting right there on the playfield and anyone can enter it and play that wants to.
I consider The Old Republic to not be one - it's universe is too divided up with instances and load screens.
I consider World of Warcraft to be one, just - it's pretty open and immersive.
Seems to me the last few MMOs to come out haven't been all that open. What's the next one to come out?
(Correct me if I'm using 'seamless open world' in the wrong way, I'm not entirely familiar with it's meaning)
WoW was never an "open world" as its dungeons were instanced, and it wasn't "Seemless" as it had zones left & right.
"Seemless" and "Open World" are two different types of world design. Seemless means zoneless. "Open World" means you can go from one end to the other on foot without taking some instant form of transport like Pegasuses or Teleporting or w/e, AND NOTHING is instanced. THAT is "Open World". "Open World" is essentially something that describes a game in which nothing is instanced, and everything is public. It doesn't have anything to do with "zones".
Saying that they're BOTH in one game is a very hard order to fill.
-TERA is not one, its dungeons are instanced, and you have to take a hefty loading screen going from one continent to another. Additionally you cannot take a boat and ride from one continent to another yourself. You almost always have to take a form of on-rail transportation to get from point A to B in TERA unless you're already on a continent with quests on it.
-WoW is not one, as its dungeons are instanced, and like TERA you have to take a flying w/e on rails from point A to B. You also cannot swim from one continent to another.
-Everquest was NOT a "Seemless World", but it was indeed an "Open World". Nothing was instanced Pre-Planes of Power, and it forced people into social situations which is what made "Open World" design so popular.
-DAOC was NOT a "Seemless World", but it was indeed an "Open World". Nothing at all was instanced prior to I believe either Atlantis or Darkness Rising expansion.
-Dark & Light WAS both an "Open World" & a "Seemless World". It contained no zones, no instances, no loading screens except for fast travel like "gating" or loading in to the game world (obviously :P). You can go from one end of the world to the other, from one continent to the other, on foot or swimming or a flying mount YOU controlled. However, corporate mismanagement & theft occured internally & the game tanked due to zero content being developed. The CEO & CFO tried to steal tons of company money knowing the game was going to tank, and fired all their developers. They even tried to make a sub-company to transfer corporate funds to in order to get away with it too LOL.
-Shadowbane was both an "Open World" & a "Seemless World". It contained no zones, no instances, and no loading screens except for fast travel things like "Teleporting", but that was few and far between. Like D&L, you could go from one end to the other purely on your own power without loading screens etc. All dungeons, if any, were open & public.
-Mortal Online is also Open World & Seemless. Etc...
-Darkfall 1.0 is Open World & Seemless. I don't think I need to repeat myself regardless of how you feel about DF.
Etc etc..
Hope I helped !
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity: Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Comments
Ultima Online and Linkrealms are open worlds.
SWG was an open world.
WoW is not.
Seriously. WoW? WoW is almost completely instanced. Just because it has no loading screens doesn't make it a seamless open world. Every dungeon is instanced. There's phasing left and right. No.
The last fully open seamless world was Vanguard. Or Darkfall if you don't count having to load into dungeons.
Darkfall Travelogues!
I suppose on the spectrum of open-ness, SWG was more open than WoW. But you still had loading screens in SWG to go between planets. To be truly open, it would have to be something more like http://www.infinity-universe.com/ which has seamless flight transition from ground to space. I'm not sure if the last patch in SWG offered this seamless transition, though I know they added atmospheric flight right before going dark.
Can't you try and explain how you interpret what i wrote so that i can understand WHY you don't agree?
Right now it looks like you are just putting your fingers in your ears and screaming LALALALALALA and ignoring what im saying.
Why do you think having loading screens between parts of the world means the world is seamless?
Why do you think having parts of the gameworld cut of and unable to interact with the rest to be open world?
And here is my previous post for your convenience:
"How can it be disputed that WoW is a not seamless world? Going from storwind into the stockades, tada loading screen, a seam in the world. Not seamless.
Open world? Going from stormwind into the stockade, you are now closed of from the rest of the world. Not open."
And just to add a little something, im not saying that a game sucks just because it's not seamless or an open world game. Im just saying that a game that has loading screens and instancing is not seamless or an openworld game.
Lineage 2 was seemless open world. Since the Goddess Of Destruction update I am not sure if it still is though.
In my mind loading screens aren't what makes or breaks "open world". Its the instancing or to be more precise the creating of an instance for every group that travels to that zone.
Guild Wars would be at my lowest end of open world scale. Every area is instanced just for you or your group outside of the quest/social "hub" area. AoC would be in the middle of that spectrum as you have open playfields to quest in with other random players, but the dungeons are created on the fly for each group. Vanguard is probably the most open I have played the dungeon is sitting right there on the playfield and anyone can enter it and play that wants to.
As you say, it used to be but not anymore with god. ; (
WoW was never an "open world" as its dungeons were instanced, and it wasn't "Seemless" as it had zones left & right.
"Seemless" and "Open World" are two different types of world design. Seemless means zoneless. "Open World" means you can go from one end to the other on foot without taking some instant form of transport like Pegasuses or Teleporting or w/e, AND NOTHING is instanced. THAT is "Open World". "Open World" is essentially something that describes a game in which nothing is instanced, and everything is public. It doesn't have anything to do with "zones".
Saying that they're BOTH in one game is a very hard order to fill.
-TERA is not one, its dungeons are instanced, and you have to take a hefty loading screen going from one continent to another. Additionally you cannot take a boat and ride from one continent to another yourself. You almost always have to take a form of on-rail transportation to get from point A to B in TERA unless you're already on a continent with quests on it.
-WoW is not one, as its dungeons are instanced, and like TERA you have to take a flying w/e on rails from point A to B. You also cannot swim from one continent to another.
-Everquest was NOT a "Seemless World", but it was indeed an "Open World". Nothing was instanced Pre-Planes of Power, and it forced people into social situations which is what made "Open World" design so popular.
-DAOC was NOT a "Seemless World", but it was indeed an "Open World". Nothing at all was instanced prior to I believe either Atlantis or Darkness Rising expansion.
-Dark & Light WAS both an "Open World" & a "Seemless World". It contained no zones, no instances, no loading screens except for fast travel like "gating" or loading in to the game world (obviously :P). You can go from one end of the world to the other, from one continent to the other, on foot or swimming or a flying mount YOU controlled. However, corporate mismanagement & theft occured internally & the game tanked due to zero content being developed. The CEO & CFO tried to steal tons of company money knowing the game was going to tank, and fired all their developers. They even tried to make a sub-company to transfer corporate funds to in order to get away with it too LOL.
-Shadowbane was both an "Open World" & a "Seemless World". It contained no zones, no instances, and no loading screens except for fast travel things like "Teleporting", but that was few and far between. Like D&L, you could go from one end to the other purely on your own power without loading screens etc. All dungeons, if any, were open & public.
-Mortal Online is also Open World & Seemless. Etc...
-Darkfall 1.0 is Open World & Seemless. I don't think I need to repeat myself regardless of how you feel about DF.
Etc etc..
Hope I helped
!
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.