Favourite Free-Roaming Game(s)

[Ady]

Majora's Mask and Shenmue II.

[Concept]

Most of what other people have already listed...

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Shenmue I and II
Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City
Phantasy Star Online (the first few months when the game was pleasurable)
Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future
Elite
Super Mario 64
Jak & Daxter
Soul Calibur (the wealth of single player options and mission mode)
Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver
The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
Final Fantasy VII (when the world map is fully open, with all the secrets/easter eggs waiting to be found)
Crazy Taxi
Animal Crossing (this isn't a huge personal fave of mine not and I've only played it a few hours, yet I still value the fact it's a significant top-notch free roaming title).
Gran Turismo, Gran Turismo 2, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (lots of choices in what races you want or don't want to enter)

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I think the thing to ask here is what definition are we considering free-roaming games in this thread?

If it's a do-anything-you-want-in-a-single-continous-world form, then obviously some of those titles above don't count.

But I think in terms of what a game is trying to achieve in relevance of its genre ot narrative... Well, free-roaming games could be thought of in different ways through that point of view. For example, Gran Turismo and Soul Calibur are what I consider to be games with a lot of freedom within themselves. Yes, the extent of choice isn't entirely situated within one GUI framework, but the menu systems and gameplay modes available account for what I believe to be significant free roaming elements.

[androo]

I didnt know there was a free roam mode in PGR? Is there one in PGR2?

[Ady]

Oh yeah.

Mercenary on the C64. I had lots of fun with that.

Winding up the two warring factions. 8)

[squid]

Ultima Online of course!

[Grey Area]

Nights!

Not as the main charcter, but the kids could walk around wherever they wanted in the levels.

[[NeO]]

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask
GTA series
Final Fantasy VII
...

[Fragmaster]

Nope, none in PGR2

And I think there is a difference in games that are not linear and that give you a choice where to go whenever?

What do you think?

[Razz]

Final Fantasy 7 wasn't non-linear, but it was free roaming at a certain point in the game (world map), there's a difference between the two.

[Magnakai]

Just to mention one that nobbody else has: Hardwar.
It was actually quite a small world, at least compared to the Elite style games, or Morrowind, but it followed the Elite style of gameplay.
You were lead along the main plot quite tightly, with very specific missions, but you could stop at (almost) any point, and break off and do whatever you wanted. It had a great economic system, where depending on how many of each resource you sold to each industry, they'd make different things. You could actually get the Moth (spaceshipy things) manufacturers to make different ships by supplying them with better components.
Then you could buy your own hanger, and make it into a shop, so people could come in and buy and sell their goods, similar to yourself.
Sure, it's not as deep as Frontier and not as big as Morrowind, but sometimes that bit of restriction can help it be more entertaining.

Oh, and I can't forget the CD Audio soundtrack full of Warp artists.
Track 12, only a minute long, and (I think) by the developers is one of my favourite pieces of music... like... ever.

Dayamn, I loved this game...

[TheForce]

Mario64 and Zelda Oot

[Ady]

Not to criticise other people's choices but FFVII!? Free roaming!?



Anyone care to explain in detail?

[Concept]

Final Fantasy 7 wasn't non-linear, but it was free roaming at a certain point in the game (world map), there's a difference between the two.

I agree. But those of us who mentioned FFVII before didn't claim it to be non-linear. We posted in a thread about free-roaming games that we thought it could possibly be considered as such.

Yes. The way in which FFVII's (main) narrative unfolds is set in stone, but with regards to gameplay completion, there is non-essential stuff to be found that can be picked off how the player mostly wants. Hence the fact that later on, the game can be thought of (to a degree) within a free-roaming framework.

Not to criticise other people's choices but FFVII!? Free roaming!?



Anyone care to explain in detail?

It's to do with the world map when virtually all of the game is complete. There are a hell a lot of secrets (side-quests/a whole themepark/ weapons/materia/spells/locations/baddies to fight if you want to find them.

FFVII can be completed in around 40 hours. But if you add together all the stuff you can find on the world map after most of it's been unlocked, then you can quite easily add another 20 or so onto that total.

That's why I think some of us might consider FFVII (the later stages in particular) to be free-roaming.

[Ady]

Yeah, fair enough. I do recall doing a bit of that later in the game.

[df0notfound]

Hunter and mercenary 3 on amiga, never seen a game since to compete with merc 3's scale i mean you can walk up and down floors of a building, walk outside, get in a car, fly off the planet to another one and go in another building, get taxis, busses, space flights, 8 i think possible ways to win, become president, take out your own bill boards. AMAZING