Poll: Exploration in games...

Recommended Videos

Azure-Supernova

La-li-lu-le-lo!
Aug 5, 2009
3,024
0
0
So all the talk about RPGs has got me reflecting on some of my favourite RPGs and in a wider scope some of my favourite games which share a common theme: Exploration.

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Fallout (series)
Shadow of the Colossus
The Elder Scrolls (series)
Minecraft

They all feature exploration quite predominantly and it's always enjoyable.

Exploration is one of the driving forces behind Minecraft. Though admittedly sometimes it's simply exploration for the sake of exploration, it's always a pleasure to hit a cavern in your search for ore and coal.

Whilst I might not have liked the art style of Wind Waker; sailing the open world more than made up for it. Having the freedomg to just sail around, hit islands and find treasure and for it to have meaning. There was something magical about the game for me that no game has managed to replicate.

But here's the discussion value:

Which game do you think does exploration best? Do you like it to be encouraged or entirely optional?

Edit: The poster below reminded me of the 100+ hours I put into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas exploring every last inch of that map inside and out. Every easter egg and extra out there was found. Hell in my younger years when I believed anything my elder cousin told me I spent hours hunting for Big Foot and sharks in San Andreas.

It just feels like more games could benefit from a more open world.
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
8,365
3
43
Red Dead Redemption for me, just because I love the scenery and horse-riding in the game. There may not be as much to discover as in a Fallout 3 or New Vegas, but I genuinely just enjoyed riding around and exploring the terrain.
 

darth.pixie

New member
Jan 20, 2011
1,449
0
0
For some games yes. I love horses and the whole horse implementation in games so I often explore just for the hell of it (referring to Oblivion mostly).

So that's why I say Oblivion...since it's the only game where I actively walked around without a specific purpose just because of the amusing clop sounds of the horses and the taking screenshots of my badass character on a horse with a nice night sky as background.

It depends on how the area is made. If it's a dungeon crawl...urgh. Or endless terrain with tonnes of bandits attacking but nothing else. It should be optional. Sometimes it's annoying, other times entertaining. While I tend to do all the quests in a game (it made Baldur a time sinker...) going around in a wasteland without a particular purpose can get old, fast.

And the random encounters are usually broken so I end up fighting someone every 20 feet.
 

WillCourt

New member
May 1, 2009
62
0
0
I love the concept, but most games don't execute it well.

Like your mention of Big Foot and sharks in GTA. Games don't have that anymore, a random discoverey that blows your mind and you will keep attempting to find it; no matter how weird or insignificant it may be.

Pokémon does it with it's random encounters of legendarys now and again. I kind of wish there was a free roaming 3D Pokémon.. Like Monster Hunter. But not mind bogglingly annoying and filled with terrible ideas.
 

DanielBrown

Dangerzone!
Dec 3, 2010
3,838
0
0
Hard to say which game I enjoy exploring in the most, but I really do love when games give you an open world to run around in. If I had to name one game for having the best exploration I'd say LOTRO. An MMO, sure, but the atmosphere is just amazing and every zone feels special. I bet if I had read the books I'd love it even more since then you'd actually know the places your running around in.
Finding Gandalf's hat, along with the bridge he ruined, at the bottom of Foundations of Stone was an awesome easter egg for me.

I also prefer encouraged exploration. It's always more fun if there's actually someone to do in the huge areas. Collectables doesn't count though. I hate them!
 

The Funslinger

Corporate Splooge
Sep 12, 2010
6,150
0
0
DustyDrB said:
Red Dead Redemption for me, just because I love the scenery and horse-riding in the game. There may not be as much to discover as in a Fallout 3 or New Vegas, but I genuinely just enjoyed riding around and exploring the terrain.
Damn you!

(I got this game a few days ago, finally.) I just got off that game, and now I'm being inexorably pulled back.

So yeah, Red Dead Redemption. Also, the multiplayer is awesome.