Watch Dogs open world - immersive city or open sandbox?

[exyia]

I'm sort of picky on open world games - I want open worlds that are interesting to explore and wander around in. I am NOT interested in open worlds that are built more for the sake of a sandbox that are copy/pasted with activities.

 

examples of ones I like

skyrim (obviously)

AC series, especially Unity

Deus Ex HR

GTAIV (haven't got V, waiting for sale)

 

examples of ones that I hate (to the point where I just lose interest within a few hours and never come back)

Far Cry 4

Saints Row series

Batman Arkham Origins

 

So which one is Watch Dogs more like?

[PlayStation 2]

more like gta and asscreed more than anything else

[Aytex]

more like farcry/saintsrow/and/batman

you lsoe intrest after finishing the game? yea watchdog is like that

[McHox]

a bit of both,i'd say more interesting than fc4 but not even close to tes worlds

[onVacation]

Watch Dogs is pretty much like Far Cry when it comes to exploring and open world design. You have a city spiked with those Ctos towers similar to Far Cry's radio towers and Ctos centres similar to Far Cry's outposts.

[Guest]

Watch_Dogs' world is amazingly detailed and feels alive, probably the best thing about the game.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

its a open world sandbox with filler things to do. nothing immersive about it. 

 

if you didnt like FC 4, you wont like watch dogs, moving on.....

[typographie]

examples of ones I like

skyrim (obviously)

AC series, especially Unity

Deus Ex HR

GTAIV (haven't got V, waiting for sale)

 

examples of ones that I hate (to the point where I just lose interest within a few hours and never come back)

Far Cry 4

Saints Row series

Batman Arkham Origins

 

I'm surprised you liked the Assassin's Creed method of doing open world, but hated the way Far Cry 4 did it. In my opinion it's the same method. Both franchises (and Watch Dogs as well) are basically Ubisoft copy-paste open world games packed with meaningless, repetitive busy work.

 

If you haven't played Shadow of Mordor or The Witcher 3, I'd recommend those to an open world fan over Watch Dogs any day.

[exyia]

I'm surprised you liked the Assassin's Creed method of doing open world, but hated the way Far Cry 4 did it. In my opinion it's the same method. Both franchises (and Watch Dogs as well) are basically Ubisoft copy-paste open world games packed with meaningless, repetitive busy work.

 

If you haven't played Shadow of Mordor or The Witcher 3, I'd recommend those to an open world fan over Watch Dogs any day.

 

yeahhhh, but the setting and world that they build in AC games are all interesting to explore. that's what I appreciate about that

 

Far Cry is literally built to be a sandbox game - the landscape is just landscape to put things on, the NPC's are deliberate copies of each other to make it easier for players to identify, nobody/nothing in the world exists other than for the player to shoot/blowup/etc, etc etc. it all feels muted and artificial - never like an actual world to explore, just a sandbox to play in

 

Witcher 3 I'm saving for when I have more free time and a sale, and Shadows just looks like a sandbox rather than an open world to me - every video I see it's just more fighting crowds and nothing else. I just don't see this "open world" that people keep saying, because it all looks the same old brown

[Tycho]

give fallout a try, with loads of mods ofcourse

[Remilia]

The Witcher 3, I see you're looking at it and I guarantee you'll not be disappointed.

I'd go as far as saying it's one of the best open world games or even the best one made so far.

Even the worst stuff has some weight to it, such as simple bandit camps often have letters that tells you a little story about them.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

After playing both GTA 5 and Watch_Dogs. I feel that the City in watch dogs is more alive as compared to GTA 5. The developers really designed the player to be a part of the city rather than playing god in gta 5. Though GTA 5 has a massive variety of different people, it feels more of a carnival than an actual city. Watch_Dogs doesn't have much for you to fiddle with in the City. No car customization like in GTA 5, but the blandness of the city, the coldness of the rain. And the warmth that a car can let you feel when you hide from the rain. 

 

I don't know how but Watch_Dogs gave me a whole lot of different feelings just driving around the city than GTA 5 ever did. So if you're looking at closer to life(possibly?) experience. Give watch_dogs a try. GTA 5 is definitely very different from Watch_Dogs. 

[typographie]

yeahhhh, but the setting and world that they build in AC games are all interesting to explore. that's what I appreciate about that

 

Far Cry is literally built to be a sandbox game - the landscape is just landscape to put things on, the NPC's are deliberate copies of each other to make it easier for players to identify, nobody/nothing in the world exists other than for the player to shoot/blowup/etc, etc etc. it all feels muted and artificial - never like an actual world to explore, just a sandbox to play in

 

Witcher 3 I'm saving for when I have more free time and a sale, and Shadows just looks like a sandbox rather than an open world to me - every video I see it's just more fighting crowds and nothing else. I just don't see this "open world" that people keep saying, because it all looks the same old brown

 

Shadow of Mordor does have an open world, and it does have "open world style activities" dotting the map. It's just a fairly small open world, which I think is why I appreciate it. There isn't an overwhelming amount to do, it's actually very manageable for a completionist run, and it doesn't feel as repetitive as grinding through a hundred hours in Far Cry or something. The real value of Shadow of Mordor isn't really the open world aspects or the [in my opinion, too easy] combat, it's the Nemesis system and the social engineering angle that the game offers. I suggested it because it's a very good game that happens to have an open-world, not so much because it's a "good open-world game" per se.

 

If you're really in love with the setting in Watch Dogs, it may be just the thing for you. It certainly models a believable Chicago very well, but I personally found that it pushes "believable" so far that it becomes dull.

[Guest]

Well it's not immersive, and open is a strong word.