Originally posted by Benedikt

Originally posted by tyfon

Originally posted by Benedikt

add eve and wushu: i dont get it - how can anyone who actually read OP's post could recommend a game with open world pvp?

i say vanguard myself, or to lesser extent lotro

 

In EvE you can lolly about in high sec no problem either unless you have enemies of your corp or pirates wanting you for some reason. If you join a NPC corp you cannot be wardeced anyway.

well thats not quite true - unless you are mining or hauling in some really crappy ship, it does happen that you get suicide attack in high sec (not to mention things lika can flipping etc.)

Yes, it's not 100% security, it is EVE afterall :)

But you can minimize your risk of getting suicided or canflipped if you want. With the new mining ships you can even mine large amounts without resorting to cans.

I got into AoW and it looks amazing. The learning curve on that game though...I'm gonna need to get my head around that. It looks complex and interesting. But I'm not sure if I'm having trouble understanding because of the tutorial, the translation, or I'm just getting a little slow.

Vanguard. Wow. I entered the game in Khal. It was an amazing view from the top of hill where the lighthouse is. The world is huge. I looked down the cliff and the ocean was beautiful. I could see the rocks and choral formations under the surface. It was so expansive. It's all one seamless world? And I was surprised to see a few other new characters running around out there. Looking forward to logging in again tomorrow.

Originally posted by PWN_FACE

Vanguard. Wow. I entered the game in Khal. It was an amazing view from the top of hill where the lighthouse is. The world is huge. I looked down the cliff and the ocean was beautiful. I could see the rocks and choral formations under the surface. It was so expansive. It's all one seamless world? And I was surprised to see a few other new characters running around out there. Looking forward to logging in again tomorrow.

well it is more or less seamless - what you see is real, but you can still notice seams since usually your game freezes for a few seconds (or for A second on good computers) when you are crossing it as it does load next chunk :)

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

LOTRO and Age of Conan.

 

These are my picks as well

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

LOTRO and Age of Conan.

 

These are my picks as well

Except its all fake in those two games. They're FILLED with invisible walls and EXTREMELY exploration unfriendly.

Most beautiful explorable world goes to Vanguard, without a fucking doubt.

Originally posted by DavisFlight

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

LOTRO and Age of Conan.

 

These are my picks as well

Except its all fake in those two games. They're FILLED with invisible walls and EXTREMELY exploration unfriendly.

 

Most beautiful explorable world goes to Vanguard, without a fucking doubt.

Wasn't the OP's question see title:

"The most beautiful world".

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

Originally posted by DavisFlight

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

LOTRO and Age of Conan.

 

These are my picks as well

Except its all fake in those two games. They're FILLED with invisible walls and EXTREMELY exploration unfriendly.

 

Most beautiful explorable world goes to Vanguard, without a fucking doubt.

Wasn't the OP's question see title:

"The most beautiful world".

 

you should probaly read his post again , he aksed for several features that he could relax and spend time doing said activities in a beautiful world....   From his description i think Vanguard actually best fits his wants.

Originally posted by Benedikt

Originally posted by PWN_FACE

Vanguard. Wow. I entered the game in Khal. It was an amazing view from the top of hill where the lighthouse is. The world is huge. I looked down the cliff and the ocean was beautiful. I could see the rocks and choral formations under the surface. It was so expansive. It's all one seamless world? And I was surprised to see a few other new characters running around out there. Looking forward to logging in again tomorrow.

well it is more or less seamless - what you see is real, but you can still notice seams since usually your game freezes for a few seconds (or for A second on good computers) when you are crossing it as it does load next chunk :)

VG was the first game that I know of to feature an actually seamless world, where you can go anywhere. If you experience any freezing when crossing a chunk line, it's likely that the hard drive you have the game installed on is old or does not have particularly good read speed. With an SSD I hardly even notice chunk lines.

Originally posted by corpusc
 Darkfall

lol

Originally posted by PsyMike3d

Originally posted by corpusc
 Darkfall

lol

Why is that funny? Aside from Vanguard, Darkfall is the only MMO out there with a massive seamless hand crafted world.

Originally posted by Scorchien

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

Originally posted by DavisFlight

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by MMOGamer71

LOTRO and Age of Conan.

 

These are my picks as well

Except its all fake in those two games. They're FILLED with invisible walls and EXTREMELY exploration unfriendly.

 

Most beautiful explorable world goes to Vanguard, without a fucking doubt.

Wasn't the OP's question see title:

"The most beautiful world".

 

you should probaly read his post again , he aksed for several features that he could relax and spend time doing said activities in a beautiful world....   From his description i think Vanguard actually best fits his wants.

You should probably read the title of thread..............thanks for playing the game.

OP, I look for similar things in an MMO. To me, combat should be just another feature instead of being the feature (meaning, 70+ % of the game). Number one priority is just enjoying the world and immersion for me. I also love fishing and similar non-combat systems. With that, here's how I see things (that is, purely in terms of what you're looking for):

1) Vanguard

the good: World is impressing, plenty of non-combat stuff to do. Has some fun fishing. Has ship building and housing as well. Has flight. Has good crafting and Diplomacy which is like another game on its own. Not only is the world huge, but you can see huge stretches of distances as well, which makes it much easier to feel you're in a world instead of an all-too-conveniently built zone. Also, just beautiful sky and foliage (I don't know, I pay attention to this sort of thing!); along with the weather system, the world feels in motion. Though on a related note: it has much less mob density than modern MMOs, which might turn some players off, but is often good for an explorer - in games like TSW you get jumped on every second, which tends to get annoying.

the bad: Not many players at all. Still glitchy. The character models and animations look really bad, and the world textures are somewhat underwhelming. No open world PVP so lacking that "element of surprise".

2) LOTRO

the good: World is beautiful, looks really good and has plenty of atmosphere (scores higher on all this than Vanguard, in my opinion). Also not small or boxed-in, either. Add yet another plus if you're a Middle Earth fan. :) Has housing. Solid crafting system. Very good fishing (among the best) with some deeds tied to it. On a related note, as an explorer, chasing deeds becomes a good way of passing the time. LOTRO also has one of my favorite MMO systems: The music system. It's just a blast seeing (or even better, participating in) a jam in the middle of nowhere. :)

the bad: again, really bad character models and animations. The main game feels a bit too linear. To me, combat itself feels much too derivative and lacking oomph. Again, no open world PVP.

3) Rift

the good: Now, I haven't tried fishing much in this game, but from what I've seen, it looks good. Very good looking world. Dynamic events like rifts and invasions, which some explorers may enjoy, because it makes the world feel a bit more alive. Has a new housing system called Dimensions, which might be the most intreresting implementation of instanced housing system from what I've seen.

the bad - though, mind, this is before the expansion: The world felt much too small (they say it's much bigger now). Cities were also too small. Everything looked a bit too generic, with no strong feel of lore or story to it. The zone invasions might be an annoyance to some explorers.

4) Age of Wushu

(I won't do goods and bads here, because I haven't tried it enough.)

The world in AOW looks beautiful, and the setting is at least something different. It has a lot of out-of-the-box stuff like player kidnapping and jail time. It does have fishing, though I didn't dive deep enough into it to give meaningful feedback. Plus, the combat system also is a bit different and once you get the hang of it, fun. Really feels more like a living world than many MMOs out there.

P.S.: I know it's a whole different style of game, but as enjoying the "universe" goes, EVE Online should be up there with any game - if you're at all into space, that is. You can play it strictly non-combat, and mining has that soothing effect which is not dissimilar to fishing. :) Plus, it has killer economy. And plusplus, it has a history and stories of its own, forged by its community.

I forgot to add LOTRO ..so for me in no particular order.

AOC

LOTRO

EQ2

I can't recommend Vanguard to anyone, no matter how massive the underused world is. It is a beautiful place they have created, but there is nothing in it.

I will say Rift has been very beautiful since the beginning, and the new expansion tripled the size of the world. On near max settings this game is amazing.

EQ2 is very pretty as well, but unless you have a a really good machine it lags, poorly optimized maybe?

I'm sure there are others out there I can't think of right now.

Originally posted by Aeonblades

I can't recommend Vanguard to anyone, no matter how massive the underused world is. It is a beautiful place they have created, but there is nothing in it.

I will say Rift has been very beautiful since the beginning, and the new expansion tripled the size of the world. On near max settings this game is amazing.

EQ2 is very pretty as well, but unless you have a a really good machine it lags, poorly optimized maybe?

 

I'm sure there are others out there I can't think of right now.

Yes EQ has always been very taxing on systems. However, still ti is one of the msot beautiful and varied world in MMOS. it is huge and has some great visuals and vistas. I am actually surprised more people didn't mention EQ2. it is gem of a game with a very expansive and immersive game world.  And has some of the best music to go with it.

Originally posted by DavisFlight

Originally posted by PsyMike3d

Originally posted by corpusc
 Darkfall

lol

Why is that funny? Aside from Vanguard, Darkfall is the only MMO out there with a massive seamless hand crafted world.

I get seamless... but other games have massive worlds.  And what does hand crafted mean?  Do other games use world generators?  I'm confused by the buzzwords.