Recommend me a retro open-world game to explore

[Supersquirrels7]

I still think Shenmue is one of the most intricately detailed open world life sims there is.

 

[Снегопад]

The PS1 Harry Potter games gives you a huge castle to explore.
The platforming is atrocious, however.

 

[MasterEn]

The PS1 Harry Potter games gives you a huge castle to explore.
The platforming is atrocious, however.

i tired replaying that game a few years ago. the platforming physics are non-sensical. the castle, is an ice level; everything is smeared and coated in butter and grease it's so slippery. the flying is slippery.
HOW DO YOU DO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and the bank area was somehow even more slippery. i stopped at that point.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Perhaps the Metal Max series? The Repo has Metal Max Returns, Metal Max 2 Reloaded and Metal Max 3. It does have more than that, but one is untranslated and the other is the NES version of Returns, not the cooler remake. It's a post-apocalyptic series that's open and you battle on foot and in customizable tanks. Lots of weird enemies too, that shit is my bag.

 

[bjork]

Any version of Sid Meier's Pirates!, maybe? The 2004 version has an in-game map, earlier ones had physical, but you can immediately go anywhere and explore the entire Spanish Main.

 

[throughdarkness]

Drakan: The Ancients' Gate, on PS2, has a pretty impressive open world.

 

[Teberu]

Metal Max is a really open ended JRPG that takes place in a Fallout-esque wasteland and has a focus on tanks and other vehicles with a bunch o customization options and a lot of stuff to explore

Try out Metal Max Returns for the SNES, it's a remake of the first game and, after the tutorial, it basically just lets you roam the entire map freely and do whatever you want, if you want you can even head straight to the end of the game! but you can also do side quests or bounty hunting and find more party members and stronger vehicles and just... have fun! i guess
It's pretty cool

 

[miguk miguk]

Depends on how you measure non-linearity, but here's some possible choices:

• The original Legend of Zelda doesn't really require you to defeat or enter dungeons in any order. Only the final one is completely roped off until the end.
• Similar gameplay can be found in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, though with slightly more linearity at some points.
• Squaresoft/SquareEnix's SaGa series (also titled Final Fantasy Legend on GB in the US) tends to have much less linearity than others games from the company.
• Speaking of Final Fantasy, the first FF game becomes non-linear after you get the canoe (and moreso after getting the airship shortly thereafter), and FFVI also does after you get the second airship.

 

[cjl8336]

inb4 Ultima VII

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

If you can, let me know a game that you would emulate if you just wanted to explore. Sure, there can still be tasks or missions, but you're also allowed to move freely throughout the game and find new things in the game world. I guess you would call this sandbox-style games today?

Shin Megami Tensei...kind of. They aren't open world in the traditional sense (free roam) but they are first person dungeon crawlers with a huge map to explore, Shin Megami Tensei 2 ESPECIALLY. Shin Megami Tensei if is a mixed bag though because that game sometimes has some sadistic dungeon design (the World of Sloth is quite infamous for good reason).

 

[Darklink]

While I haven't played them yet, I've heard the Metal Max games are pretty open-ended and non-linear. You , your customizable tank(s), and your party members going around doing missions, and hunting bounties. Seems like a chill time.

 

[trickybus]

Actual retro games or retro-style? The indie scene has quite a few open-world games with Ye Olde graphics if that's the look you're pining for. My recent adventures were in Dread Delusion, an open-world RPG, and Northern Journey, a medieval FPS.

Fair warning on that second game: the combat is atrocious imo, but I've encountered more than a few people who enjoy the exploration enough that it's not a big issue. At best, it takes some getting used to.

 

[HTBandicoot]

Actual retro games or retro-style? The indie scene has quite a few open-world games with Ye Olde graphics if that's the look you're pining for. My recent adventures were in Dread Delusion, an open-world RPG, and Northern Journey, a medieval FPS.

Fair warning on that second game: the combat is atrocious imo, but I've encountered more than a few people who enjoy the exploration enough that it's not a big issue. At best, it takes some getting used to.

Retro games that I would be able to emulate, for example.

 

[Deleted member 231262]

i recommend Ultima underworld 1 on the PS1, its a first person dungeon crawler, kinda like The Elder scrolls 1 or 2, its a lot of fun once you get used to the controls, its you against the abyss in 8 big maps.

 

[SLEDGE_DOG]

Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but I thought Thief 1 and 2 had some of the coolest exploration I've seen in a long time.
It's has closed, non-linear levels. A lot of them are just huge buildings and it's all up to you to figure out how to get in and then navigate whatever you find inside while searching every nook for things to steal.

 

[hazys]

If you're in the mood for something really experimental, give Aquanaut's Holiday or Tail of the Sun a try.

 

[DorfleFlorp]

Revenant (1999) is a strange kind of ARPG with an overly complicated magic system.
Ultima IX also (1999) also an ARPG with an overly complicated magic system that are both open world.

 

[_Lorenzo_]

I don't have any experience in today's open world games, but if I can recommend an exploration-based, nonlinear game that hasn't already been mentioned by friends above and that I was very involved with I would immediately think of the fantastic Vagrant Story on ps1...

 

[TheWanderer]

Oblivion
Caribbean legend

 

[Krazy Kat]

might and magic VII
Torchlight
Ur-Quan Masters

 

[GardeniaSky's icon GardeniaSky GardeniaSky]

Morrowind and Daggerfall for sure. Daggerfall definitely needs mods for some QOL updates and stability. Daggerfall Unity is a current build and has a ton of content to flesh out the already massive world, and it helps make it a little more accessible to a newer player base.

Morrowind also has a bunch of QOL mods as well as just graphics enhancements. Morrowind is absolutely playable vanilla. Daggerfall you will want to mod for quest bug fixes.

 

[thanonyx thanonyx]

Just commented this in another thread looking for open world retro games so I'll post it here too.

The Guardian Legend

 

[HTBandicoot]

Morrowind and Daggerfall for sure. Daggerfall definitely needs mods for some QOL updates and stability. Daggerfall Unity is a current build and has a ton of content to flesh out the already massive world, and it helps make it a little more accessible to a newer player base.

Morrowind also has a bunch of QOL mods as well as just graphics enhancements. Morrowind is absolutely playable vanilla. Daggerfall you will want to mod for quest bug fixes.

Are both pretty straightforward to install and will they work on MacBooks? Do they require a lot of memory?

I’ve seen these titles multiple times through the thread.

 

[GardeniaSky's icon GardeniaSky GardeniaSky]

Are both pretty straightforward to install and will they work on MacBooks? Do they require a lot of memory?

I’ve seen these titles multiple times through the thread.

Daggerfall doesn't require much...I think the minimum requirements are a GTX 660 era GPU, 4th gen i5 era CPU, and 2GB ram minimum. Anything relatively new should have no issues. It's a DOS era game just running on Unity now for stability and mods.

The installation process is the same for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Most mods have versions for all 3. You can find mods on the Nexus. It's all just unzipping and placing stuff where you want it.

☼Official DFU Installation Instruction Page

For Morrowind, there is native support for OpenMW, which is a modern engine for the game. It's more stable. Keep in mind, any mods that need the Script Extender aren't going to be compatible, but there are still plenty out there that are.

I don't think the requirements for Open MW are too crazy. I can't currently find a definitive requirements list.

☼Open MW FAQ Page

 

[HTBandicoot]

Daggerfall doesn't require much...I think the minimum requirements are a GTX 660 era GPU, 4th gen i5 era CPU, and 2GB ram minimum. Anything relatively new should have no issues. It's a DOS era game just running on Unity now for stability and mods.

The installation process is the same for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Most mods have versions for all 3. You can find mods on the Nexus. It's all just unzipping and placing stuff where you want it.

☼Official DFU Installation Instruction Page

For Morrowind, there is native support for OpenMW, which is a modern engine for the game. It's more stable. Keep in mind, any mods that need the Script Extender aren't going to be compatible, but there are still plenty out there that are.

I don't think the requirements for Open MW are too crazy. I can't currently find a definitive requirements list.

☼Open MW FAQ Page

Great, thanks for all the info!