What crpg has the best exploration aspect?

[I'm Big Into Anal]

new vegas

stalker soc

rogue survivor

 

[Lhynn]

Fallout 1&2, New vegas, Morrowind and Exile. cant think others, but its late.

 

[Lilura]

Not the best but since it hasn't been mentioned: Storm of Zehir's overland map facilitated fairly interesting exploration.

 

[Sceptic]

Might and Magic series obviously.
Ultima 4 to 7 (and Lazarus)
Wizardry 7
Morrowind

Assuming you're talking about outworld exploration, nothing else really compares to any of these. Though Pool of Radiance, SoZ, Dark Sun and others I can't think of right now are good contenders too I guess. If you include dungeon crawlers then the list is MUCH longer, though I'd probably pick Ultima Underworld as my favourite.

 

[octavius]

Ultima 4 to 7 (and Lazarus)

That reminds me: Ultima 6 Project.

Also, first person view is generally more immersive than a top down or isometric view.

 

[Xathrodox86]

VTM: Redemption
VTM: Bloodlines
Skyrim (don't hit)
Every single Fallout (yes, even F3)
Baldur's Gate
Deus Ex

 

[dryan]

VTM: Bloodlines

Wat?

As a huge fan of VtMB I have to ask: Wat?

What kind of exploration does VtMB feature? It's hub based game, with most quest locations locked until you reach the right plot section to access them. Then, once the quest is over you can't go back. How do you explore in a such a game?

 

[Ivan]

Stalker COP Misery

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Ultima 7
Wizardry 7
Might & Magic 7

 

[DraQ]

Morrowind is beyond all or most competition.
I don't know how Wiz7 compares to it, but Wiz8, while not bad, certainly isn't quite there.

Deus Ex is also p. good.
System Shock 2 isn't quite bad but it's a bit too constrained.

Divinity 2 hasn't been mentioned, even though it's quite nice in this regard.

STALKERs and original System Shocks are not RPGs, otherwise they would figure prominently.

Skyrim (don't hit)
Baldur's Gate

Skyrim - when modded. Unmodded it's merely serviceable.
BG1 has no actual exploration.

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

Morrowind is beyond all or most competition.

Have you played Gothic 2:NoTR?

Every single Fallout (yes, even F3)

 

[DraQ]

Morrowind is beyond all or most competition.

Have you played Gothic 2:NoTR?

I still need to.
I tried playing G1 for a moment, but the controls threw me off.

 

[V_K]

Divine Divinity - huge-ass world, go anywhere from the get go and get your ass kicked by non-scaled mobs;

A gameworld with roughly three towns in it is anything but huge. It's also very unrealistically designed, there's never even a hint of a feeling of being in a real place. Same problem with all Divinity games, really.

Have you tried roaming the countryside? You know, Gothics didn't have many 'city locations' either - I don't think this is an important factor to exploration at all.

It's a good indication of the world size. Like one early quest where you have to deliver a letter to a location that is roughly 3 screens away.
Just compare this:

Spoiler

to this:

Spoiler

(I know I miss the Dark Forest map, but even combined they don't come close to being even a third of MM6 world size)
Of course, Larian filled their tiny world with content to the brim, must give them that. But at the same time it also made it feel extremely artificial.

Considering Gothics, I could never understand why people praise exploration in them. The only things you could hope to discover were some generic caves with generic loot guarded by generic enemies.

 

[subotaiy]

Because any region of the map has its own charm/personality. It contrasts the genericness(?) of Bethesda titles, everything being handcrafted. The only other game similar in feeling, wich is arguable open world though, is the first Dark Souls.

 

[SirSingAlot]

Wizardry 7 and Realms of Arcania 1&2
(also i personally enjoyed exploring Baldurs Gate 1 to some extent too)

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

...

M&M6 is bigger than any other RPG out there, no contest. However, the Gothics beat M&M6 in exploration quality. I'd take content-packed maps with hand-placed loot that encourage you to leave no crevice untouched (tm) to huge but mostly desolate landscapes and sprawling but mostly same-ish dungeons with random treasure. Don't take me for a M&M6 hater, I liked it what it was (though never finished it), which is why I put it in my first post.

Oblivion with the right mods

This reminds me, the Nehrim mod for Oblivion made it into a game worth playing. Praise the Germans.

 

[Lilura]

This reminds me, the Nehrim mod for Oblivion made it into a game worth playing. Praise the Germans.

This was a great total conversion mod, the world felt larger and exploration was more immersive because it didn't have to load a new cel just to enter a town (similar to Gothic 1/2/3). Gothic and Gothic 2 are far superior to Morrowind in many respects, I always laugh when people can't play Gothic 1 because of the controls, so casul.

 

[Muty]

Stalker COP Misery

Is that playable? I've heard that the mod is full of the usual modder crap like changing crap just because they can and that the end result is quite bad. Because of that I avoided it for my latest playthrough of COP.

 

[Riel]

To me Morrowid is the apex of exploration in games, the lack of navigation help other than compass and map, geting written directions in very humane way to know where to go and the fantasy and art direction of the different regions made me really feel awed at several discoveries in the game like no other game has ever, not even remotely, made me do so.

 

[SCO]

Age of Wonders

 

[Akratus]

I don't consider stalker a crpg, but the best stalker exploration is in Narodnaya solyanka.

Spoiler

CoP, CS and vanilla, all in SoC.

 

[Scroo]

- Fate: Gates of Dawn
- Avernum (Yes I loved the exploration in the Avernum 1 remake, never played the others

)
- Albion is fun to explore too but it's not really open world.

 

[TigerKnee]

Crusaders of Khazan? The Tunnels and Trolls game?

Anyone want to expand on this? I skipped it because I heard the combat wasn't stellar.

 

[Xathrodox86]

Morrowind is beyond all or most competition.

Have you played Gothic 2:NoTR?

Every single Fallout (yes, even F3)

Forgot about that one. Whelp.

Wat?

As a huge fan of VtMB I have to ask: Wat?

What kind of exploration does VtMB feature? It's hub based game, with most quest locations locked until you reach the right plot section to access them. Then, once the quest is over you can't go back. How do you explore in a such a game?

Well... It worked for me. Sorry, I guess.

 

[himmy]

Gothic 1, 2 and 3. - for reasons that were already given. After hour of clearing areas of monsters you happen to meet upon some NPC, usually a lumberjack or miner or down-on-his-luck mercenary and you really feel like hanging out for a while.
Morrowind - while it lacks some of Gothic's unique locations, going over a hill to find a cave entrance that turns out to be a massive dungeon or seeing the tip of a Daedric ruin in the distance is amazing.
Fallout: New Vegas - could have been at the same level as the two above, but fast travel makes it less likely to just wander around aimlessly over an area you already passed through.