This is a seriously fantastic video. I loved the way you formatted it, exploring each subgenre historically and making a kind of composite impression of the whole genre. In under 13 minutes. With great, iconic game footage. I really don't know why I hadn't watched your videos up until, I'm totally blown away by what a charismatic, informative, well-paced, efficiently scripted and edited thing this is. You're fucking *Ace* at making gaming videos, almost 500 thousand people are really onto something.
Noah! I loved your Half-Life video, btw. It's fashionable to be cynical these days, so it's always refreshing to see a retrospective from someone with a genuinely positive outlook.
Ahoy You deserve a lot more subscribers.Your videos are really polished and smooth also your voice is really good.I don't really know if you are one guy or a group of people.Hey about the next video about guns i suggest to make it about flamethrowers.(Sorry for my bad english)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+Ahoy Okay, seriously? What about Adventure for Atari 2600? It was released a year before Ultima? What the heck? You already mentioned Legend Of Zelda, and Zelda is pretty much an extension of Adventure formula.
+Jonathan Taylor Thomas You sure keep having bizarre grudges about people that dared to disagree with you once on the internet. Doesn't exactly make you appear reasonable, I'm afraid.
+umageddon I was never a fan of that shit.. the fact that it's an accepted youtube formula is sad.. it's so annoying to see people introducing themselves like pewdiepie followed by a joke they know is horrible but are too conceded to care and make anyway and follow it with a second of silence and then an overly-obnoxious and generic transition to a new scene
+Keith Scull Exactly and what is more, thanks to those, anyone who speaks with a low calm voice and some fancy words thinks that he is some sophisticated game guru just because he is not doing that shouting thing. This guy is alright tho.
Yeah I suppose wherever there's a crowd that hates A there will be a crowd that fights back by swearing by B. But, in the process, create the same problem on the opposite end of the spectrum. Two wrongs don't make a right
When I'm reading anything and I'm having trouble concentrating, I read it in your voice, your voice has so much power, and a strong accent. The way you present information in your videos is absolutely spectacular, keep up the fantastic work Stuart Brown.
I think there's something to be said about a well-paced linear game with a good narrative and a bit of illusion of free-roaming these days (TloU for instance). Too many recent titles do the open-world thing and don't do it very well, i.e. a giant map with a bunch of repetitive busywork.
Same here. I grew up on cRPGs like Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Fallout 1/2, etc., where there was a sense of free roaming, but none of the busywork of walking there in real time. And content in maps was dense enough that it always felt like there was something genuinely interesting to do.
Honza Frýda in my current game, I am currently buying loads of nuclear missiles, ive spent all my uranium and gold on them but now i have 18 of them. so basically i can level and civ i want within a few turns :)
Nathan Shiels I always get bored by the industrial era and end up starting a new game :c how do you last that long without either getting conquered or getting bored?
Jacen Solo Uh, it’s called crashing, and if there’s a clear spot and you’re good at off airport landings more often than not you can go just about anywhere.
...then it didn't really work and they scaled it back down :) Same story as with Oblivion; AI was dumbed down because it kept breaking the game. Plus STALKER is not nearly as "open world"; especially Clear Sky is very linear; SoC is quite restricted too, CoP is actually pretty open though still split between "areas".
I would have said Ultima underworld. It's open-ish despite being in a sprawling multi-level dungeon; but what it really did right was that it was a being a first person immersive simulation; sort of like the RPG equivalent of a flight sim. Before Underworld, games just didn't do that kind of thing; a monster was a monster was a monster, not a faction that you could be friends or enemies with. You just didn't get games where you navigated a 3D space in first person with swiming and jumping etc; Wolfenstein 3D was out at almost the same time and it was a 2D maze depicted in 3D. It inspired among others, System shock, Thief, Half-life, the elderscrolls, Everquest and Deus ex. I'd also have mentioned some early non-space open world 3D games from the Amiga/ST/DOS. Such as hunter; an open world, third person shooter with vehicles and a quest structure; or midwinter, a weird open world post-apocalyptic ARPG/shooter/survival thingy.
I have to say, as far as 'Video Game Documentaries' go, this has to be one of the most enjoyable ones I've ever watched. I didn't expect to stay for the full runtime of the video, but wow, it was so well-made, and the narration was so good that I had to watch fully and click 'like' at the end. Thank you for making this video, I enjoyed every second.
Ever heard of Operation Flashpoint? A game from 2001 that features a boundless 60 square kilometer Island that takes several minutes to get across, IN A HELICOPTER.
+Jason Armstrong YES YES YES! I loved that game! I remember the bowling at the end between the 4 spidermans, and when you can just keep fighting that big guy in the cage all over again! I really loved when you fight the green goblin at the end, and he is flying around on his purple hovercraft, and you keep killing! And when you save mary janes purse, jesus i spent so much hours on that game, i miss that generation of games. im gonna cry in nostalgia now.
The unsung godfather of open-world gaming: Hydlide (1984) This was the first true open-world game, in the modern sense of the world. Unlike the early Ultima, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games where you walk around as a giant on a world map/hub (like Mario's world map/hub, but non-linear), Hydlide introduced a continuous open world, where you actually explore the entire game world on foot. This is essentially what we mean by open world today. Modern open-world games have their roots in Hydlide. It was the game that inspired Zelda. In turn, Zelda inspired the Ultima series to abandon the world map/hub of Ultima 1-5 with a Zelda-style continuous open world in Ultima 6 onwards. In turn, The Elder Scrolls series was inspired by the later Ultima games that came after Ultima 6. And Zelda itself went on to inspire the open-world design of the GTA series. All of these games can ultimately trace back their open-world roots to Hydlide. And yet, the irony of history is that Hydlide is now widely reviled in the West, because of how poorly it has aged, compared to later games that vastly improved on it and left it in the dust.
Red Dead Redemption is my number 1 exploration game, period. That includes Undead Nightmare, there was no other game I could get as lost in as I did in RDR.
superdudeman666 It generates once and then stays forever like that. Also, don't expect to walk the same distances like that IRL bumping into something new every 50 seconds
I'll be honest here, i came to this channel because of Totalbiscuit's recommendation, but after watching all the content here the only point that i have to give is that content is just not enough for how good it is. Basically, i wish you could produce more awesome videos like this, and i can't have enough of this channel :( Good job though
***** I guess my message got misunderstood. It was meant as a compliment. The only thing i said there was "This is very good, i just wish more could be produced at this quality". Simply put i WISH he could do it. Obviously he can't, but a man can wish >.>
I'm surprised he didn't talk more about text-based RPGs; MUDs were among my first computer game experiences, and being based on pen-and-paper RPGs their worlds were very open indeed.
+Keiya Bachhuber So? It just shows that RPGs share a commonality which in this case is exploration. Technically a Japan-made RPG is still a Japanese RPG, since you are so strict about genres. :P ;D
Except not. It's a western RPG in genre. It's about giving you a world in which to grow and conquer challenges, not a story which you work through involving characters. Extra Credits did a good video on this.
Yes. I agree that sometimes the games shows en to showcase do not juxtapose that well with the narration as in the Dark Souls case here. But I like the videos overall so I do not mind it that much. :) And as for genre. Well yeah genre is a bit iffy in games. Generally when we talk about Western RPG it actually a style rather then where the game was made. So there are a few Japanese games that fit the bill. And there quite a few western developed RPGs that are in a JRPG style to of course. It is a bit like how we do not generally call Portal a First Person Shooter even if it is mechanicly can be described as a First Person Shooter. But the defining game play Aesthetics are quite different game like Doom and Call of Duty. But again, genres are a mess when it comes to computer games. (Sometimes Aesthetics are the focus wile other times is the mechanics that defines it for example.)
I have no idea how I found this channel but I am so glad I did. I don't even play games often. This dude is just so damn good at making these videos that I'm absolutely captivating by something I don't have much interest in
A little disappointed that EVE Online didn't at least get a mention for its social dynamic and predominantly player-driven open-world environment, where the programmed open-world itself is little more than a backdrop, but overall a good summary of open-world evolution.
Fantastic video, well researched and superbly composed. Looking at the exhaustive list of games I wonder if the Amiga game 'Midwinter' deserves an honorable mention as an open world game of its era.
By far one of the greatest videos i watched on youtube. I love the way you approached the ending. Very creative and informative. The last minute gave me goosebumps! Keep it up!
7:36 A demo version of this game came with a Windows installation CD. I found it and installed it when I was young, but my computer's onboard video (from a PCChips M825G motherboard) was too slow to run this game. Then I didn't even remember the name of the game. I found out now, more than fifteen years later!
Great video. A comprehensive story of the Open World concept? Very cool. Surprised you didn't mention Wasteland but as you say, definitions ahoy. I just wish that the concept didn't get out of hand. The most recent example is Dragon Age Inquisition, for me. Okay, big world, lots of stuff to do, but if most of that stuff are fetch quests it's all wasted space.
I'm in a very knowledge hungry mood right now as I came across and am viewing this, and by god is it satisfying to watch. Extremely well made, goes over all the details needed in an extremely organized fashion, and clearly well researched. Bravo.
Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode is the best open world game at the moment. The graphics are extremely simple - being only ASCII based - but the world that is created is truly magnificent. It's what happens when you forgo visuals for mechanics. I believe that when it is completed it will be the closest to a Tabletop RPG on computer that we will have.
The way you made this video is just fantastic. You talk about games, as if they are a important part of humanities history, very serious and intriguing manner. Your editing, like when you say, and how you say, what you need to say, its just amazing dude. Its really interesting to watch your videos.
Your videos have helped me once again understand what I love about video games so much. The style of your videos make just playing the game for the game (as apposed to achievement hunting and 100% games on first playthroughs) as attractive as it used to be to me. Subscribed, my man.
Paramesh Subramoni and I bet that's the only one you have played ( no pun intended all the people in India seem to have one thing in common, they have played vice city). :D
Excellent breakdown of the miles-long net that is open world gaming. With all the frantic & erratic personalities on UA-cam nowadays, it's extremelyyyyy refreshing to watch/listen to this series. It's more reminiscent of professional & well-stated observations found in actual studios. Thanks for existing.
I look back, even just a few years at Oblivion and I realise how impressive it was at the time and how barren it looks now... What will we be seeing in another 10 years time?
No mention of Mercenary (1985)? That arguably has more in common with the modern 3D sandbox games we know today, even more than Elite and the Ultima series, despite them being earlier.
@Ben Bristow Welp that's when the Half Life's system comes in The Valve's tutorial to all the game Devs to teach em how to make a great game It didn't force me to walk down a single corridor,it made the environment lOOK and FEEL like that I was *supposed* to walk down *THAT exact* corridor
IN my oppinion, from that list the first open world game would be Ultima, since Akalabeth only have a map with points plotting the locations of cities and dungeons, and only the inside of dungeons have concrete representations.
games like grand theft auto, silent hill, mario, even call of duty, etc. have changed gaming as a whole. I aspire to become a pro game dev and plan on majoring in a graphics design course when I graduate highschool in 2020. If I do ever become a developer I can only dream to work on a game even a fraction as good as the ones I mentioned. I always enjoy your content because it reminds me what I'm working towards and brightens my day. Thank you
I've always loved your vids. Wanted to get nostalgic from your old Xbox Ahoy vids and realized that you are actually active again :o Your voice is easily one of the most soothing sounds in the known universe xD
"How open has a world to be before it's open?" This is a interessting question. Would you consider a game like Terraria a 2D open world, or is it "just" a big level?
See if you're gonna correct at least get it right otherwise you look foolish. He is saying the video is both great and needed which you would know if you read the intent rather than just looking for errors.
Hahaha as I was watching the video I always kept thinking to myself, "is he going to mention gta1?", "is he going to mention Elite?" but the most unlikely of these bets was about the PLATO rpg - I was absolutely certain it was way too obscure for you to regard it. I was really surprised to see them lovely orange letters. Kudos for excellency in research! A definitive series of videos.
I dont like the way most open world games do it by just dumping a fkton of unimaginative treadmill missions all over the map, with no thought behind them beside that guy who did the basic mission concept. And then if you follow only the side story, those games mostly fall flat quantity wise. But i guess im in the minority here.
Axonteer Same, I didn't like Skyrim. Then again, it was being made by only 100 people and they said it was like that because of the restrictions of last-gen. So maybe their next game will be complete? And maybe The Division won't have microtransactions. (sarcasm)
Maybe in future we wont get botched always online game releases or even better... games that work out of the box and dont require a day1 patch to even load... (hard sarcasm)
Axonteer Oh, we have...some of those. I know that Dying Light works, apparently. Final review copies were sent and it all works fine. Actually, there are still offline and/or working games, it's just that day one patches are becoming more of a thing.
It is a tasty and appealing view on the world of games, especially for me, because it is a daunting task nowadays finding people that do know the history that well and put it so on point; not for the merely benefit of dabbling into high regards but by edutaining and positively encourage people to digg deeper into it, without even saying it. Thanks. It is a pleasure to watch and listen to this. [ The shmoovness of your telltalez is astonishing. Keep up the (far more than good) work! ]
Shocked Atari's "Adventure" wasn't mentioned at all. While the world isn't exactly "open" it allowed for free movement and backtracking, something that wasn't really known of at the time
This is a seriously fantastic video. I loved the way you formatted it, exploring each subgenre historically and making a kind of composite impression of the whole genre. In under 13 minutes. With great, iconic game footage.
I really don't know why I hadn't watched your videos up until, I'm totally blown away by what a charismatic, informative, well-paced, efficiently scripted and edited thing this is. You're fucking *Ace* at making gaming videos, almost 500 thousand people are really onto something.
Noah! I loved your Half-Life video, btw. It's fashionable to be cynical these days, so it's always refreshing to see a retrospective from someone with a genuinely positive outlook.
Ahoy You deserve a lot more subscribers.Your videos are really polished and smooth also your voice is really good.I don't really know if you are one guy or a group of people.Hey about the next video about guns i suggest to make it about flamethrowers.(Sorry for my bad english)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Noah Caldwell-Gervais Your videos are great too.
+Ahoy Okay, seriously? What about Adventure for Atari 2600? It was released a year before Ultima? What the heck? You already mentioned Legend Of Zelda, and Zelda is pretty much an extension of Adventure formula.
+Jonathan Taylor Thomas
You sure keep having bizarre grudges about people that dared to disagree with you once on the internet. Doesn't exactly make you appear reasonable, I'm afraid.
God damn it he has the sexiest voice on youtube hands down
yes
He reminds me of this guy except this guy is Australian
ua-cam.com/video/2oN18gMaGhI/v-deo.html
what 😂
warowl?
@@rokano yeah I can see why
your videos are a refreshing break from the usual hyperactive, hipster-dufus, jump-cut edited, "Whats up UA-cam" crapola out there - subbed
+umageddon I was never a fan of that shit.. the fact that it's an accepted youtube formula is sad.. it's so annoying to see people introducing themselves like pewdiepie followed by a joke they know is horrible but are too conceded to care and make anyway and follow it with a second of silence and then an overly-obnoxious and generic transition to a new scene
+Keith Scull rofl this ^^
+Keith Scull Exactly and what is more, thanks to those, anyone who speaks with a low calm voice and some fancy words thinks that he is some sophisticated game guru just because he is not doing that shouting thing. This guy is alright tho.
Yeah I suppose wherever there's a crowd that hates A there will be a crowd that fights back by swearing by B. But, in the process, create the same problem on the opposite end of the spectrum. Two wrongs don't make a right
+umageddon Yeah, especially the types that say "HEY GUYS IT'S YA' BOY HERE!"
Ugh, that shit gets on my nerves almost too much.
You could narrate How It's Made fantastically
lol right?
I think he already does
or some guy who just sounds exactly like him
I wish I could have him narrate my life
Lewis Sowerby I swear he could narrate about taking a shit and he would make it sound interesting
I always wondered how uhh.. Plumbuses got made.
Big Rigs Over The Road Racing is the real open world game. It's so open, you can drive through all of the objects and even out of the level.
coolpatrickandryan and you can reverse at ludicrous speed ;)
Lol
Ah, those russians
big fuckin' trucks
BIG MOTHERF***IN' RIIIIIIIIIGS!!!
When I'm reading anything and I'm having trouble concentrating, I read it in your voice, your voice has so much power, and a strong accent. The way you present information in your videos is absolutely spectacular, keep up the fantastic work Stuart Brown.
I read you comment in his voice
I think there's something to be said about a well-paced linear game with a good narrative and a bit of illusion of free-roaming these days (TloU for instance). Too many recent titles do the open-world thing and don't do it very well, i.e. a giant map with a bunch of repetitive busywork.
***** Also, a lot of open world games tend to run out of things to do after you complete the main story and any side quests
Same here. I grew up on cRPGs like Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Fallout 1/2, etc., where there was a sense of free roaming, but none of the busywork of walking there in real time. And content in maps was dense enough that it always felt like there was something genuinely interesting to do.
Shadow of Mordor comes to mind.
Indeed, Shadow of Mordor, the more recent Assassins Creed games, and Destiny (a particularly bad offender of this) all come to mind.
Yeah, like all those terribly overrated Grand Theft Auto games. A collection of mini games.
If gaming needed a teacher, Ahoy would be the guy
I was really bored.
I saw this video
The thumbnail reminded me of Civilization V
so I launched Civ 5
and now i listen to the video while i play Civ 5
lol
Yeah I played Civ today because of the thumbnail
Honza Frýda in my current game, I am currently buying loads of nuclear missiles, ive spent all my uranium and gold on them but now i have 18 of them.
so basically i can level and civ i want within a few turns :)
Nathan Shiels I always get bored by the industrial era and end up starting a new game :c how do you last that long without either getting conquered or getting bored?
Garen Crownguard mods that make the game more interesting
Ahoy: is this the first open world game?
Ahoy: well yeah
Ahoy: *BUT*
the first open world game i played was Driver 2, i remember i was mind blown that you could leave your car and walk around.. in this ps1 world
Wasn't Driver 3 the first Driver where you could get out?
no it was the 2nd one :P i remember that !
there is another game worth mentioning: quarantine. A mid 90s dos game where you drive a taxi in an open world cyberpunk city!
Don't you dare to say that word... damn it!!
@@zaiux the horrors
Agustin Pérez Burgos
...
I've been playing that game for what seems like forever😐
quarantine, open world cyberpunk city... sounds familiar
Again, beautifully made as always Ahoy. I am SO thankful to TotalBiscuit for pointing you out, you definitely deserve the attention!
I love these. They're like mini-documentaries. Sounds like the guy from "How it's made" on those discovery channels.
lol, same thought as mine
Finally got a cameo in an XBoxAhoy video (9:39)
But seriously great stuff as always Stu.
Hey man
How's 2k19 going?
@@preetimalviya6730Them clones havent poped out yet and they'll still suck
You left out flight simulators. Flight Simulator 1.0 came out in 1979.
I don't think flight Sims really count since you can't stop moving and explore. Now space sims, they definately count.
Jacen Solo Uh, it’s called crashing, and if there’s a clear spot and you’re good at off airport landings more often than not you can go just about anywhere.
@@whackyjinak4978 "Crashing"
Well, that's one way of saying it lol
Probably should have said more about STALKER, as it is one of those games that pushed AI technology to its limits in service of its open world.
...then it didn't really work and they scaled it back down :) Same story as with Oblivion; AI was dumbed down because it kept breaking the game. Plus STALKER is not nearly as "open world"; especially Clear Sky is very linear; SoC is quite restricted too, CoP is actually pretty open though still split between "areas".
Stalker is an overrated bore of a game
I would have said Ultima underworld. It's open-ish despite being in a sprawling multi-level dungeon; but what it really did right was that it was a being a first person immersive simulation; sort of like the RPG equivalent of a flight sim. Before Underworld, games just didn't do that kind of thing; a monster was a monster was a monster, not a faction that you could be friends or enemies with. You just didn't get games where you navigated a 3D space in first person with swiming and jumping etc; Wolfenstein 3D was out at almost the same time and it was a 2D maze depicted in 3D.
It inspired among others, System shock, Thief, Half-life, the elderscrolls, Everquest and Deus ex.
I'd also have mentioned some early non-space open world 3D games from the Amiga/ST/DOS. Such as hunter; an open world, third person shooter with vehicles and a quest structure; or midwinter, a weird open world post-apocalyptic ARPG/shooter/survival thingy.
Dwarov 1 wrong
@@sharpfang I have one solution to present to you. Mods. Addons. Ever heard of STALKER: Last Day or Call of Chernobyl?
I have to say, as far as 'Video Game Documentaries' go, this has to be one of the most enjoyable ones I've ever watched. I didn't expect to stay for the full runtime of the video, but wow, it was so well-made, and the narration was so good that I had to watch fully and click 'like' at the end. Thank you for making this video, I enjoyed every second.
Your narrating voice should be on Top Gear. Good to have you back, sir.
bytex666 or perhaps the Blue Planet documentaries
The caliber of your videos is impeccable. Especially the eloquent script and excellent editing. This channel is a gift to gamers everywhere.
Ever heard of Operation Flashpoint? A game from 2001 that features a boundless 60 square kilometer Island that takes several minutes to get across, IN A HELICOPTER.
Operation Flashpoint? Sounds like something from swtor...
I always was more impressed by how World of Warcraft managed to achieve such an enormous, seamless map in 2004.
Dear mr Ahoy, please make a long episode of the elder scrolls series. that would make my day :)
That would be interesting.
So Happy that this channel starts to get attention. Ahoy is one of my favorite trivia channel and I love to see it grow!
Thank TB for that :)
the first time I played a truely open world game was with Spider-Man 2 back in 2004
+Jason Armstrong YES YES YES!
I loved that game! I remember the bowling at the end between the 4 spidermans, and when you can just keep fighting that big guy in the cage all over again!
I really loved when you fight the green goblin at the end, and he is flying around on his purple hovercraft, and you keep killing! And when you save mary janes purse, jesus i spent so much hours on that game, i miss that generation of games. im gonna cry in nostalgia now.
mine is GTA SA in 2008. It's my first ever experience on 3D games and PC games aswell!
Yer i had gta sa on original xbox, along with 3 and vice city
My first open world game has got to be Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past.
That game was perfection haha I sunk so many damn hours into that game.
GOD! I can't believe you didn't mention [INSERT GAME HERE]!
Unsubbed.
Blah Blahbitty I never played INSERT GAME HERE, how does it play?
@@theemperor-wh40k18 it's basically INSERT GAME HERE, but on steroids.
What about burnout paradise?
Is that a Percee P profile-pic?
Diablo II?
Even going back to your old stuff... such high quality. Consistently over the years. One of my favorites and I always look forward to new ones
The unsung godfather of open-world gaming:
Hydlide (1984)
This was the first true open-world game, in the modern sense of the world. Unlike the early Ultima, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games where you walk around as a giant on a world map/hub (like Mario's world map/hub, but non-linear), Hydlide introduced a continuous open world, where you actually explore the entire game world on foot. This is essentially what we mean by open world today.
Modern open-world games have their roots in Hydlide. It was the game that inspired Zelda. In turn, Zelda inspired the Ultima series to abandon the world map/hub of Ultima 1-5 with a Zelda-style continuous open world in Ultima 6 onwards. In turn, The Elder Scrolls series was inspired by the later Ultima games that came after Ultima 6. And Zelda itself went on to inspire the open-world design of the GTA series.
All of these games can ultimately trace back their open-world roots to Hydlide. And yet, the irony of history is that Hydlide is now widely reviled in the West, because of how poorly it has aged, compared to later games that vastly improved on it and left it in the dust.
Razor Edge mercenary came out in 83, and was even in 3d (albeit in wireframe). You were free to roam a planet on foot, car, or aircraft.
Fandango Brandango
Mercenary came out in 1985, not 1983, idiot
Mobygames is your friend
also:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary_%28video_game%29
Fandango Brandango
It was ENCOUNTER that came out in 1983, which was a precursor to the Mercenary series. Mercenary came out in 1985
"Star Citizen, 2016."
lol
OOOH, YOU ARE BACK! :D * sets quality to 1080p and turns off the lights *
I've watched the video and it was awesome! :D Great job again. :)
GRABS POPCORN
Every Ahoy video is perfect.
Same here :3
***** Text comes out bold like *this* if you have no spaces.
Doesn't get more open world than flight sims. Which literally have the entire world.
well then there's space games like starbound,Space engineers,no man's sky, etc.
Space engine is extremely open ended
Jake The Mario Fan yeah so i guess flight sims isn't that open world
Also it doesn't have detailed locations, and it's stuck to just flying. Outside of airports you really couldn't do much.
@@dudeguy8553 And how exactly is that different than most driving games that were included on the list?
You have a great talent to make videos like these. I'm so glad to see you work, and can't wait to see the next video. Amazing job!
Worth mentioning that The Elder Scrolls 1: Arena let you freely explore the entire continent of Tamriel in 1994.
Red Dead Redemption is my number 1 exploration game, period. That includes Undead Nightmare, there was no other game I could get as lost in as I did in RDR.
This man could narrate an orgo chem text book and make it entertaining
You didn't even mention Daggerfall did you? ;_;
Was also expecting it to be mentioned
Yeah, pretty much the largest map in any game.
John The majority of Daggerfall's map is barren, randomly generated crap.
superdudeman666 It generates once and then stays forever like that. Also, don't expect to walk the same distances like that IRL bumping into something new every 50 seconds
superdudeman666 I never said it was good, just large.
Thanks for the shout out for Rogue - which I do believe is one of the first random map generators (i.e. no single level was ever the same)
I'll be honest here, i came to this channel because of Totalbiscuit's recommendation, but after watching all the content here the only point that i have to give is that content is just not enough for how good it is. Basically, i wish you could produce more awesome videos like this, and i can't have enough of this channel :(
Good job though
I really wish that he would add some light music in the background. The videos border on boring because of the large silence between him speaking.
***** I guess my message got misunderstood. It was meant as a compliment. The only thing i said there was "This is very good, i just wish more could be produced at this quality".
Simply put i WISH he could do it. Obviously he can't, but a man can wish >.>
I'm surprised he didn't talk more about text-based RPGs; MUDs were among my first computer game experiences, and being based on pen-and-paper RPGs their worlds were very open indeed.
4:30 Big Smoke the Joke
You picked the WRONG BIKE FOOL!
That's why Smoke worked for C.R.A.S.H
There's a reason why he let us drive that motorcycle..
i’m clout af OOOOOOOHHHH
@@HungTran-of8zp Omfg
This channel is just too good. Congrats on the extremely high quality material! My favorite channel on yt now. So well researched and produced!
Kinda funny that Star Citizen still isn't out, even though this video is 8 years old :)
your videos are very much underrated. you deserve so much more views.
"Japanese RPGs are of a different breed" ... while showing Dark Souls 2, which is really more of a Japan-developed western-style RPG.
+Keiya Bachhuber
So? It just shows that RPGs share a commonality which in this case is exploration. Technically a Japan-made RPG is still a Japanese RPG, since you are so strict about genres. :P ;D
Except not. It's a western RPG in genre. It's about giving you a world in which to grow and conquer challenges, not a story which you work through involving characters. Extra Credits did a good video on this.
Yes. I agree that sometimes the games shows en to showcase do not juxtapose that well with the narration as in the Dark Souls case here. But I like the videos overall so I do not mind it that much. :)
And as for genre. Well yeah genre is a bit iffy in games. Generally when we talk about Western RPG it actually a style rather then where the game was made. So there are a few Japanese games that fit the bill. And there quite a few western developed RPGs that are in a JRPG style to of course. It is a bit like how we do not generally call Portal a First Person Shooter even if it is mechanicly can be described as a First Person Shooter. But the defining game play Aesthetics are quite different game like Doom and Call of Duty. But again, genres are a mess when it comes to computer games. (Sometimes Aesthetics are the focus wile other times is the mechanics that defines it for example.)
I have no idea how I found this channel but I am so glad I did. I don't even play games often. This dude is just so damn good at making these videos that I'm absolutely captivating by something I don't have much interest in
A little disappointed that EVE Online didn't at least get a mention for its social dynamic and predominantly player-driven open-world environment, where the programmed open-world itself is little more than a backdrop, but overall a good summary of open-world evolution.
fuck that creepy game
Fantastic video, well researched and superbly composed. Looking at the exhaustive list of games I wonder if the Amiga game 'Midwinter' deserves an honorable mention as an open world game of its era.
This truly feels like a TV show
By far one of the greatest videos i watched on youtube. I love the way you approached the ending. Very creative and informative. The last minute gave me goosebumps! Keep it up!
Woohoo! First vid of 2015 and I'm excited. Cheers, Stu. :)
Tom?!
Totally Not A Cylon Hello!
SHOUT OUT TO FREELANCER THE BEST GAME EVER MADE 100000/100000
Definitely one of my faves, even today.
NEVER FORGET!
so 1?
MrChosenone34 but seriously. nobody noticed.
"Freelancer alpha one dash one, mind if i take a peek in your cargo hold? Didn't think so."
7:36 A demo version of this game came with a Windows installation CD. I found it and installed it when I was young, but my computer's onboard video (from a PCChips M825G motherboard) was too slow to run this game. Then I didn't even remember the name of the game. I found out now, more than fifteen years later!
This is still a cool video but it is weird now watching it knowing how much has happened in the open world genre since it was uploaded.
Great video. A comprehensive story of the Open World concept? Very cool. Surprised you didn't mention Wasteland but as you say, definitions ahoy.
I just wish that the concept didn't get out of hand. The most recent example is Dragon Age Inquisition, for me. Okay, big world, lots of stuff to do, but if most of that stuff are fetch quests it's all wasted space.
I'm in a very knowledge hungry mood right now as I came across and am viewing this, and by god is it satisfying to watch. Extremely well made, goes over all the details needed in an extremely organized fashion, and clearly well researched. Bravo.
I walked across the map of Daggerfall. It took me 69 hours.
@Chrono yes
nice
nice.
@Chrono Procedural generation
@Chrono the size of the uk
So glad you mentioned Hunter on the Amiga.. I LOVED playing that game growing up.
Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode is the best open world game at the moment. The graphics are extremely simple - being only ASCII based - but the world that is created is truly magnificent. It's what happens when you forgo visuals for mechanics. I believe that when it is completed it will be the closest to a Tabletop RPG on computer that we will have.
RimWorld.
The way you made this video is just fantastic. You talk about games, as if they are a important part of humanities history, very serious and intriguing manner. Your editing, like when you say, and how you say, what you need to say, its just amazing dude. Its really interesting to watch your videos.
I love open world games but I hate most of the comments under this great video
Your videos have helped me once again understand what I love about video games so much. The style of your videos make just playing the game for the game (as apposed to achievement hunting and 100% games on first playthroughs) as attractive as it used to be to me. Subscribed, my man.
The first open world game I played was GTA vice city
that was more than 10 years ago
Ha! Just like me.
same
Paramesh Subramoni
and I bet that's the only one you have played ( no pun intended all the people in India seem to have one thing in common, they have played vice city). :D
Erwin Rommel that's how famous gta is
As for me I have played
1.Skyrim
2.fallout 4
And 3.Witcher 3
Not just gta
thats because its easy to make bootleg versions of gta vice city and san andreas
Excellent breakdown of the miles-long net that is open world gaming. With all the frantic & erratic personalities on UA-cam nowadays, it's extremelyyyyy refreshing to watch/listen to this series. It's more reminiscent of professional & well-stated observations found in actual studios. Thanks for existing.
I look back, even just a few years at Oblivion and I realise how impressive it was at the time and how barren it looks now...
What will we be seeing in another 10 years time?
I ended up watching most of you videos after I started on Doom and Quake. Please keep the quality up. You are awesome.
No mention of Mercenary (1985)? That arguably has more in common with the modern 3D sandbox games we know today, even more than Elite and the Ultima series, despite them being earlier.
This ↑↑↑
To this day, I’ve yet to find a video of yours that is anything less than great.
What good is a adventure if you're forced down a single path.
You just roasted every call of duty game made
wtf? that's not the point. look at Fallout 4.
@Ben Bristow Welp that's when the Half Life's system comes in
The Valve's tutorial to all the game Devs to teach em how to make a great game
It didn't force me to walk down a single corridor,it made the environment lOOK and FEEL like that I was *supposed* to walk down *THAT exact* corridor
Just stumbled on this video as a suggestion. Wow the quality of your vids are amazing. They're like a well narrated documentary
7:15 Just to give you some context.. this game was released the same year as the chernobyl disaster.
IN my oppinion, from that list the first open world game would be Ultima, since Akalabeth only have a map with points plotting the locations of cities and dungeons, and only the inside of dungeons have concrete representations.
3:29 I remember trying and failing this mission SO MANY TIMES!!!
games like grand theft auto, silent hill, mario, even call of duty, etc. have changed gaming as a whole. I aspire to become a pro game dev and plan on majoring in a graphics design course when I graduate highschool in 2020. If I do ever become a developer I can only dream to work on a game even a fraction as good as the ones I mentioned. I always enjoy your content because it reminds me what I'm working towards and brightens my day. Thank you
I really like the music at the beginning. Is there a full version I can listen to?
I've always loved your vids. Wanted to get nostalgic from your old Xbox Ahoy vids and realized that you are actually active again :o Your voice is easily one of the most soothing sounds in the known universe xD
The things I would do for a D&D video done by you
OMG!! So glad I fond this channel. I just love this guy's voice, its so relaxing. Its like a tv show of video games. This channel is amazing!!!
I could get lost for hours in these videos.
Surprised to see a section on open world space games, but no mention of Eve Online?
Nice video. Would be cool if you also mentioned Operation Flashpoint
Beautiful. I loved how you focused on the real really old stuff!
It's hilarious how old minecraft looks there at the end, compared to the other recent open world games XD
This is the kind of content which I think deserves subscription money, congratulations.
"How open has a world to be before it's open?"
This is a interessting question. Would you consider a game like Terraria a 2D open world, or is it "just" a big level?
The world size is quite small in Terraria its classified as more of a sandbox.
@@infernaldaedra a sandbox can be an open world (see minecraft)
this man makes the most entertaining and professional educational videos.
A great needed video on a subject I love
*a much needed
See if you're gonna correct at least get it right otherwise you look foolish. He is saying the video is both great and needed which you would know if you read the intent rather than just looking for errors.
elitelavamage You would need to put a comma between there, sorry for not conforming to your rules for comments.
FuckingFaggot At least I do *something* with my life, m9
FuckingFaggot cheers fam
great job as always - love the approach to expanding the subject, and the constant question. You have a style we all love.
4:29 HAHAHAH BIG SMOKE FELL OFF HIS BIKE!!!
Hahaha as I was watching the video I always kept thinking to myself, "is he going to mention gta1?", "is he going to mention Elite?" but the most unlikely of these bets was about the PLATO rpg - I was absolutely certain it was way too obscure for you to regard it. I was really surprised to see them lovely orange letters.
Kudos for excellency in research! A definitive series of videos.
A very interesting topic Stu!
The quality of your videos is far superior even than some big YT channeld. Keep it up!
Surprised you didn't talk about Omikron! It's a classic
Everyone of your videos is masterfully constructed. Well done again.
You forgot about Operation Flashpoint, it was quite remarkable and ground breaking when it was released!
He also forgot EvE Online and World of Warcrack.
This is the best video about Open World Games I have ever seen!!! So complete!!
I dont like the way most open world games do it by just dumping a fkton of unimaginative treadmill missions all over the map, with no thought behind them beside that guy who did the basic mission concept. And then if you follow only the side story, those games mostly fall flat quantity wise. But i guess im in the minority here.
Those are the bad ones. Though sometimes those games can also be made fun.
Thinking about how limited morrowind was, i had more fun exploring the world than in that shallow huge ocean skyrim was.
Axonteer Same, I didn't like Skyrim. Then again, it was being made by only 100 people and they said it was like that because of the restrictions of last-gen. So maybe their next game will be complete?
And maybe The Division won't have microtransactions.
(sarcasm)
Maybe in future we wont get botched always online game releases or even better... games that work out of the box and dont require a day1 patch to even load... (hard sarcasm)
Axonteer Oh, we have...some of those. I know that Dying Light works, apparently. Final review copies were sent and it all works fine.
Actually, there are still offline and/or working games, it's just that day one patches are becoming more of a thing.
You have a great channel and videos that bring back a lot of nostalgia. You've earned a sub Ahoy.
HOW DID YOU NOT COVER ADVENTURE FOR ATARI? It came out in 1979 and had the same basic gameplay concepts as Zelda!
It is a tasty and appealing view on the world of games, especially for me, because it is a daunting task nowadays finding people that do know the history that well and put it so on point; not for the merely benefit of dabbling into high regards but by edutaining and positively encourage people to digg deeper into it, without even saying it.
Thanks. It is a pleasure to watch and listen to this.
[ The shmoovness of your telltalez is astonishing. Keep up the (far more than good) work! ]
"what good is an adventure if you're forced down a single path?" you're very right sir
Shocked Atari's "Adventure" wasn't mentioned at all. While the world isn't exactly "open" it allowed for free movement and backtracking, something that wasn't really known of at the time