Fully open world games?

[Togath]

So I got to wondering.. How many of this sort are there?
By "fully open world" I don't necessarily mean "can traverse seas".. But I do mean fully explorable/climbable/fly-over-able landmasses, not separated internally by loading screens or invisible walls.

So far I'm at(from games I've played);
Minecraft
World of Warcraft
Modded Skyrim
Modded Oblivion

and possibly(games I haven't played, but fit this category from my understanding);
Terraria
Starbound
Rust
Saints Row series
GTA series
Morrowind

However.. 2-4 games seems improbably few, so I figured I'd ask here: do any other games come to mind that fall under this category?

[Antonok]

So I got to wondering.. How many of this sort are there?
By "fully open world" I don't necessarily mean "can traverse seas".. But I do mean fully explorable/climbable/fly-over-able landmasses, not separated internally by loading screens or invisible walls.

So far I'm at(from games I've played);
Minecraft
World of Warcraft

and possibly(games I haven't played, but fit this category from my understanding);
Terraria
Starbound
Rust

However.. 2-4 games seems improbably few, so I figured I'd ask here: do any other games come to mind that fall under this category?

Any of the GTA or Saints Row games, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (unless you count the caves and towns).

Thats all that I can think of off the top of my head

Edit: Fallout 3/NV, Legend of Zelda, Dark souls, Metroid Prime, LoZ Wind Waker (don't know how I didn't think of that one)

[Starwulf]

So I got to wondering.. How many of this sort are there?
By "fully open world" I don't necessarily mean "can traverse seas".. But I do mean fully explorable/climbable/fly-over-able landmasses, not separated internally by loading screens or invisible walls.

So far I'm at(from games I've played);
Minecraft
World of Warcraft

and possibly(games I haven't played, but fit this category from my understanding);
Terraria
Starbound
Rust

However.. 2-4 games seems improbably few, so I figured I'd ask here: do any other games come to mind that fall under this category?

You're definitely missing the obvious: Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim. Note that really only in Morrowind can you "Fly" over the entire continent. I can't really classify Arena as truly Open world, though it's very close.

Though, technically, there are loading screens for Oblivion and Skyrim when entering towns/caves. Not for Morrowind though :)

[Togath]

You're definitely missing the obvious: Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim. Note that really only in Morrowind can you "Fly" over the entire continent. I can't really classify Arena as truly Open world, though it's very close.

Though, technically, there are loading screens for Oblivion and Skyrim when entering towns/caves. Not for Morrowind though :)

I'll add Morrowwind to my list then:smallsmile:
And aye, the instanced towns of Skyrim/Oblivion would put them out of the category..
I'd also forgotten about GTA and Saints Row

[Starwulf]

I'll add Morrowwind to my list then:smallsmile:
And aye, the instanced towns of Skyrim/Oblivion would put them out of the category..
I'd also forgotten about GTA and Saints Row

I may be wrong, but I am fairly positive that there was a rather large mod done for Oblivion(and by now, likely for Skyrim as well) that removed the loading screens for the cities. So if you could find the mod, that would certainly add another game to your list to give a try :)

[Togath]

I may be wrong, but I am fairly positive that there was a rather large mod done for Oblivion(and by now, likely for Skyrim as well) that removed the loading screens for the cities. So if you could find the mod, that would certainly add another game to your list to give a try :)

a few minutes of searching.. and there is indeed :D
I'm always impressed by the level of modding the series has:smallsmile:
The caves never bothered me much.. but the instanced cities always sort of felt immersion breaking, especially since it was only three of them.

[Thiel]

Kerbal Space Program is about as open as you can get. Walk, drive, swim, dive or fly anywhere you wnat in an entire solar system :smallbiggrin:

[Balain]

Sacred was mostly open. Something like 96% open. The very last bit wasn't open until a certain point in main quest line. I remember playing and being low level and figured I take a left and explore over there. The fights were tougher but I managed to survive...Then a dragon....That I didn't survive.

Can't really fly in the game though

[factotum]

Any of the GTA or Saints Row games

Point of order--that wouldn't include GTA3 or GTA: Vice City because they both had loading screens when changing islands. San Andreas was the first 3D GTA that was truly seamless.

There's a GTA clone I can think of that fit the bill--Scarface: The World is Yours. There's also Mercenaries 2 and Just Cause 2 (never played the original game in either series so don't know if they also apply).

[Starwulf]

a few minutes of searching.. and there is indeed :D
I'm always impressed by the level of modding the series has:smallsmile:
The caves never bothered me much.. but the instanced cities always sort of felt immersion breaking, especially since it was only three of them.

I'm glad I was right, since that adds an extra game to your list to enjoy :) Im pretty sure that Two Worlds and Two Worlds 2 are both open world except for caves/dungeons as well, though I could be wrong, it's been a while since I played either.

[Werekat]

Lord of the Rings Online, excepting the PVP area, Moria, and some instanced areas.

[Brother Oni]

FlyFF is completely open world (one of the main selling points is that you can fly anywhere once you hit level 20), but as an old school Korean MMO, there's not much to do in that world unless you like grind.

The Saboteur was much like GTA except that you could climb buildings (and needed to, to hit the lookout points or AAA batteries).

[Grinner]

Does Dwarf Fortress count?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I feel like this description applies to most flight simulators, but I dunno if that's what the OP is looking for.

[warty goblin]

There is exactly one loading screen in Far Cry 2.

[Qwertystop]

Xenoblade Chronicles is an odd one. There are a few loading screens for transitions between large areas, but said areas are really large. In a few cases (Bionis' Leg is the only one I've found so far - got the game late and have been sidequesting, there might be more later on), there's a loading screen to go from the lower level to the upper one, but if you're on the upper one you can jump down a hole to the lower with no loading screen, and if you're on the lower you can see the upper just fine, so it seems like more of the developers not modeling the road up.

Also, if you can see a terrain feature, you can walk/climb/swim to it, usually without area transitions.

It's not quite completely open, but it's pretty close, and the loading screens aren't very long.

EDIT: Found a video of a dummied-out area (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l86GCaqZuxY), to give an idea of what I mean without spoilers (tiny spoiler for a bit of the ending cutscene, but it won't give anything away unless you read Japanese, and if you do, just cover the captions until 50 seconds in.