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GTA 5 is still the king and still the best open world ever created!

I've been playing Watch Dogs Legion. As a world, it's... not bad. Good to great even. I'd go as far as to say it's one of UbiSoft's best. There's a lot of texture variety on the go with it, loads of different architectures, loads of one off buildings, and a metric shit ton of graffiti and detritus everywhere. It does a good job of conveying London IMO. It has bizarre, comical accents, but that's not new.

That's the world. As for the game: it's the usual fare, with some interesting one off missions with drones. I do wonder how much of the preceding was down to Clint Hocking though.
 

Marvel14

Banned
Red Dead 2 has some flaws, but it really is one of the greatest games I've ever played. And that includes its great open world:

Go fishing ("you, sir, are a fish!" 😂 Goddamn, Arthur Morgan is really awesome)
Go hunting for any wildlife - deer, bears (!), etc
Go have a drink at a saloon
Play five finger fillet, dominoes, and other such mini games,
Cards, of course - poker, blackjack, etc
Bounty hunter missions
Camp and craft/cook/etc
Day/night and weather cycles
Locational variety (snowy mountains/swamps/Western towns/a big city/etc)
Honor system that actually matters in how NPCs respond to you, how stores sell to you, etc
Interact with any NPC in any way you want to. Want to be nice and say hello? Sure. Want to beat them up or even shoot them for no good reason? You can do that too
You can go to the barber and tailor
Etc etc etc...
You need to invest a lot of time to get really into RDR2's systems. Maybe when I retire I'll have the time and patience for it but after 5-7 hours I was bored to tears by its plodding pacing. Even its hunting mechanics had me thinking " I don't wanna do this again "...
 
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nkarafo

Member
I do agree that GTA5's open world is the most convincing. GTA IV is also still very good. They just feel so much more alive and real than others.
 
Whoops, just did

raf,360x360,075,t,fafafa:ca443f4786.jpg
You cheated, there's more words after that lol


200.gif
 

Warablo

Member
Yup. During the business sales they want u in public servers to decrease the chances of u making money. Not only u have to deal with NPCs that will try to kill u, you also have to deal with other players trying to kill u as well.

The players behaviors are the total opposite in a game like FF14 where everyone is helping eachother, in GTAO everyone acts like a dick to eachother and that is also reflected in co-op missions where u notice the players without they rocket launcher vehicles, they just dont know how to play.
Doing heists with ramdom ppl in GTAO now is almost impossible and frustating.

Luckly thers a thing called Cayo Perico. All the content can be done in private servers and the Heist can be done solo. The cherry on top is that the Cayo Perico heist is actually the best and fastest way to make money in GTAO.

Just save and buy the big submarine to be able to start the heist and enjoy getting ritch. The heist is also pretty fun to do as you will travel to an island in south america.

If you buy an agency you will also start a chain quest involving Dr Dre that can also be done solo and pays u 1 million at the end. Can be repeated too.

Purchasing a Tunning shop will also unlock a series of mini heists, and other sorces of income and can also be done solo in private servers.

For me, i will just keep doing the network trick to stay solo in public servers to be able to enjoy the game content without tryhards.

Hopefully GTA6 online will have servers that are not focused in being a dick to eachother,
You can join peaceful crews (PeacefulCEO) through Discord that create their own private servers. Greatly increases your money making ability and fun. Not making excuses for Rockstar, but greatly increased my fun when I finally joined that crew.
 
Cmon…not even a counter argument?
I agree it has the best living breathing world in a game. The city feels more ALIVE than any other game with a city setting. Thats a fact.
Checks out
I haven't played GTAV but BotW is better.
What🤣
I totally disagree with the OP. GTA V has been in my opinion the weakest chapter in the whole series. It's the only one I have never finished cause it was plain boring, not to mention the online segment which took a deep dive. GTA IV online was much more fun.

And no, the city does not feel alive at all. Just drive around in the city center and you're gonna see a couple of pedestrians and so little traffic you might think LS has been evacuated. Watch Dogs 2 is FAR superior. Game was bad but Ubisoft managed to make the city feel much more alive.
How is the world WD2 alive but you say it’s a bad game?
 
has the worst third person controls ever.

i've never finished a game so frustratingly because it it's one of the most beautiful games ever. and that's on my PS4 regular.
I haven't finished RDR2. Not because of the shitty controls. I find the story pretty boring and all this people in your Camp are not my cup of tea. I'm more the Red Dead Revolver/Remption guy. The lonely gunslinger.
 
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R6Rider

Gold Member
For me, WD2 has the best open world city sandbox in awhile. GTA V isn't horrible in terms of its world, and it's better than IV.
 
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The biggest problem I have with GTAV and RDR2 is how static the world is. RDR2 does a good job of hiding that behind some random yet scripted but the facade wears off after a few hours. I also apreciate the somewhat even if slightly changing world throughout RDR2 as the timeline progresses.

But the worlds are still extremely static, and I think that is the part that needs to chance in the next iteration of GTA.
 

ZoukGalaxy

Member
The world is awesome for its time, for sure, but this is getting old, too old, the PS5/XSX re-release was really too much, we're reaching the SKYRIM line: the game REALLY needs to die ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Die Season 3 GIF by The Office
 
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Stamps1646

Member
I would agree with OP if these titles below did not exist.

A handful of open world games I've enjoyed, I could never truly have a favorite.


>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
>AC IV: Black Flag, AC: Brotherhood, AC II, AC: Odyssey, AC: Unity
>Elden Ring
>TES: Morrowind, TES: Oblivion, TES: Skyrim
>Kingdom Come: Deliverance
>Sleeping Dogs
>Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout: 3
>GTA: San Andreas, GTA: Vice City, GTA: IV
>Dying Light, Dying Light 2: Stay Human
>Dragon's Dogma
>Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2
>Marvel's Spider-man
>Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Knight
>Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry 3, Far Cry: 4
>Mad Max
>Yakuza 0, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Yakuza 6: Song of Life
>Saints Row IV
>Horizon Forbidden West
>Subnautica, Subnautica: Below Zero
>Death Stranding
>Ghost of Tsushima
>The Division
>Sunset Overdrive
>MGSV: The Phantom Pain
>Watchdogs 2
>Days Gone
 

kiphalfton

Member
The way cars handle and car damage are both garbage. Since that’s what you do for 3/4 of the game, not sure how it can be the best.

Not sure how you go backwards in a sequentially numbered title in a series…
 
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Mozzarella

Member
That would be RDR2.

Fight me.

At high noon.
Cowboy Yeehaw Agenda GIF
What would you say that RDR2 open world does better than GTA V?
If i remember correctly you can skin animals, camp and it has better npc A.I.
But in GTA you have way more options to traverse the world, through the boats, bikes, airplanes, helicopters..etc. You can also take a parachute down, i used to steal an airplane and go high in the sky at night then drop down with a parachute, it was fun to do that. Also i think it has more minigames, right? in RDR2 its basically Blackjack, Poker and knife game. In GTA you have racing, golf, tennis, darts and pool. Also you can swim, i dont get why Arthur cannot swim for more than 10 seconds.
RDR2 has the weather effect though, but i dont know if it would make it better and i think Zelda handled that better.
 

Xenon

Member
GTA is like Madden to me. Sure it looks prettier, there are more options, and lots more to do, yet I still see feel the original template when I play them. I Played GTA 3 till there was nothing left. I played 50 % of Vice City, and much less of GTA:SA, GTA IV, and GTA 5. The world in GTA has never been remotely interesting to me beyond a sandbox for gunfights and vehicular mayhem. I just feel like I have to actually care about the the world to say it's the best. I mean 99% of the people are just fodder and have no real impact.

Bethesda is the current king of open worlds for me.
 

sertopico

Member
How is the world WD2 alive but you say it’s a bad game?
I'm strictly referring to the AI routines and what happens around you when free roaming. It also had some nice gameplay mechanics but it was ruined by an embarassing story and cringey characters. I really couldn't go on, it was too much for me.
 

GymWolf

Member
Open world needs to be believable and that means npcs and how they react to the world around them including the player.

For this reason Watch Dogs 2 IMO is one of the most believable. You can literally start a riot by calling in to law enforcement and there are tons of videos on YouTube to showcase their behaviour to various situations.

I've played the game and even came across a boyfriend/girlfriend argument on the roadside where she's bashing in his cars windows for whatever reason. It's these things that make an open world game amazing.

In saying all that the pinnacle of open world games right now is Red Dead 2.
What wd2 lacks is a convincing animation system like euphoria, npc are rigid and unnatural in that game when they react to external forces.

Wd2 with rockstar animation system would be one of fhe best in terms of believable open world.
 
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I know it’s still very fresh but I’d say Elden Ring is the best open world I’ve ever played in. Great use of space and almost every corner has something interesting to find.
 

Aenima

Member
Im having too much fun doing Cayo Perico Heists solo, trying different aproaches. This is the best mission level design made by Rockstar in a long time, compared to the linear mission failed if you not follow what the game tells you to do. This Heist is pretty much MGS5 inside GTAO. There are many ways to enter the island, there are many ways to leave the island, there are many ways to enter the compound where the main objective is and there are still some different ways you can enter the basement where the main objective is. Also every time you repeat this Heist the location of certain items changes like tools to help u infiltrate the compound and the loot also chages, depending of the vehicle you choose to enter the island some guard positions also change and you can also choose to do the mission during day time, or night time. Really hope GTA6 will have a bunch of missions designed like this.

I leave here 2 videos of me doing the heist in 2 completely different ways with the Elite bonus (No retries, under 15 minutes, bag full of optional loot)

1st video is the way i usually do the Heist, fully stealth. 2nd video is a good alternative if the truck and disguise is in the airstrip zone (Is not always there)



 

Excess

Member
Wasted countless hours of my life back when this game first came out, and I will never forget what an absolute buggy mess it all was, but I grinded through the worst of times. I can probably still do Rooftop Rumble in my sleep; shit is like riding a bike. Ranked up two characters to like rank 700 when put together.

Unfortunately, the issues with the economy were never addressed, and it became very clear as to why. Selling Shark Cards became Rockstar's priority. And when that was ever-more apparent, I started to say "fuck it". I glitched a few million, something I swore I would never do, and eventually stopped playing. Life became more important.

Fuck this game, and fuck Rockstar.
 

NT80

Member
GTAV still had to cater for systems without a hard drive since one of the Xbox 360 models had no hard drive. How much did that limit them when they developed the game?
 
What would you say that RDR2 open world does better than GTA V?
If i remember correctly you can skin animals, camp and it has better npc A.I.
But in GTA you have way more options to traverse the world, through the boats, bikes, airplanes, helicopters..etc. You can also take a parachute down, i used to steal an airplane and go high in the sky at night then drop down with a parachute, it was fun to do that. Also i think it has more minigames, right? in RDR2 its basically Blackjack, Poker and knife game. In GTA you have racing, golf, tennis, darts and pool. Also you can swim, i dont get why Arthur cannot swim for more than 10 seconds.
RDR2 has the weather effect though, but i dont know if it would make it better and i think Zelda handled that better.

For me it’s the attention to detail in stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily think about. Like riding around Rhodes and going past a butcher and a dog starts barking at the butcher while he’s working, once the dog starts barking you can hear every other dog in the distance start joining in. They capture the behaviour perfectly, and it’s something they clearly spent quite a bit of time and effort on getting right when no other game would have bothered or even thought about.
 
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dezzy8

Member
Playing through this again on my ps5(been 6 years since I played it on my ps4) and every open world game just doesn't live up to the Massive scale of GTA5

-Hundreds of different vehicles and machinery to use: Hunderds of cars, Fire Trucks, Jumbo Jets, Construction equipment, Boats, bicycles, etc. etc.
-So many interactive events and things to do in the world: From Golf, Homicide, Racing, Flying, Shooting, PIcking up hookers, strip club, Gambling the list goes on and on and on
-Locations within the world feel dramatically different: From the ghetto's, to the rich area's, to the beach side, to the woods, to the boonies, waterways, etc
-The city feels alive. Npcs walking around living out their lives, having converstations, doing chores, etc. Reactions sometimes are spot on as well.
-A very smartly done and interesting storyline: Lots of twist and turns and a very good story that keeps most interested
-An online opponent still attracting others almost a decade later. Still ranks in the top 10 at times even to this day. GTA online is a monster!

I remember when rockstar caught a ton of shit for spending $250 million dollars making this game. The billions they have made later still proves this is the best open world game created. In fact, no open world game can hold it's Jock strap as far as diversity and the scale of GTA 5. If one were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one game, it would be hard to argue GTA 5 is a bad choice.
I agree until it comes to the online portion. I couldn’t stand it. GTA 5 is definitely the goat. I hope 6 is even better.
 
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