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[MidGenRefresh]

For me it's San Francisco in Watch Dogs 2.

 

[Bkdk]

OP is the first I heard calling gta4 the best open world city in a video game. I remember gta4's reception is not very good and quite a lot of people are disappointed during its release.

 

[Griffon]

Yes, the city map in GTA4 is cool. But you can't do much of anything in it, apart from doing linear missions or going on violent rampages on the extremely basic NPC AI, it's pretty much a dead backdrop with no substance.

People treating GTA like it's some amazing simulation are weird to me, did we even play the same game?!

 

[NeverYouMind]

Mafia III had so much potential to be something really awesome, but it was repetitive unfortunately with no varied missions at all.

I don't really play Mafia III for the story or the scripted events. I just plug away at conquest and cruise.

P.S. Though Rockstar's Bully only has a small town in its background, I also really enjoy exploring it.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Yes, the city map in GTA4 is cool. But you can't do much of anything in it, apart from doing linear missions or going on violent rampages on the extremely basic NPC AI, it's pretty much a dead backdrop with nothing in it.

I enjoyed that the 6 star NPC's didn't auto kill you in 2 seconds in IV. Made rampages actually fun.

 

[MikeM]

Night City for me. On my second playthrough and man… stunning. PC obviously

 

[Kerotan]

GTA IV was amazing. If it doesn't get a remaster release in the next 4 years R* should be imprisoned.

 

[Warablo]

In terms of world it's Cyberpunk and GTA V. The Division 1 and 2 deserves a mention in upper echelon of cities too.

Mafia 3 and Watch Dogs is decent. Witcher 3 and RDR 2 for older timeline cities.

 

[Mr Branding]

Yes, the city map in GTA4 is cool. But you can't do much of anything in it, apart from doing linear missions or going on violent rampages on the extremely basic NPC AI, it's pretty much a dead backdrop with no substance.

People treating GTA like it's some amazing simulation are weird to me, did we even play the same game?!

Name a game where you can hop on a motorcycle and have fun in a skatepark (with actual working life like physics) and then bully some random passerby until it escalates into a full blown shoot out, escape a 4 star wanted level with skillful driving and then go play freaking darts . All this in the most atmospheric recreation of NY and blasting some seriously good music.

So yeah, we played the same game but obviously not in the same way..

 

[fatmarco]

GTA IV was amazing. If it doesn't get a remaster release in the next 4 years R* should be imprisoned.

You really want them to butcher it like they did the GTA Trilogy?

If it can't be done cheaply and quickly they won't bother, so it's not worth it.

That being said, it's insane to think that GTA IV can't be played on a PS4 or PS5.

 

[TVexperto]

 

[Kerotan]

You really want them to butcher it like they did the GTA Trilogy?

If it can't be done cheaply and quickly they won't bother, so it's not worth it.

That being said, it's insane to think that GTA IV can't be played on a PS4 or PS5.

A lazy remaster of gta IV would sell 10M over a few years. Keep it mechanically the same and keep the textures. Render it in 60fps and 4k with better draw distance. That's all it needs. I'm surprised they don't let people stream it through PS Premium.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Surprised (but not really) to see no mention of the Mafia 1 remake . One of the most underrated non discussed remakes of recent years. And one of the prettiest cities. Really good countryside middle of nowhere areas too.

 

[Flabagast]

Surprised (but not really) to see no mention of the Mafia 1 remake . One of the most underrated non discussed remakes of recent years. And one of the prettiest cities. Really good countryside middle of nowhere areas too.

I found it awful as a game. Good graphics but everything else was terrible (yes, including the story and voice acting)

 

[Topher]

For me it's San Francisco in Watch Dogs 2.

Yeah, that open world was fantastic. Sucks they fucked up Legion. I was looking forward to exploring London like I did SF.

 

[Chuck Berry]

I found it awful as a game. Good graphics but everything else was terrible (yes, including the story and voice acting)

Complete opposite for me. And I played through the original on PC (and original Xbox) many times. Love the entire trilogy. Comfort food gaming.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Dubuita - Shenmue 1

200 residents with daily schedules, plenty of activities to perform, and personal stories.
There is an unemployed man who lies to his family every day about going to work and just sits on a bench.
There is an undercover policewoman who works at night in a local bar. She is investigating a local company that you can actually visit.

 

[AJUMP23]

Complete opposite for me. And I played through the original on PC (and original Xbox) many times. Love the entire trilogy. Comfort food gaming.

I think the world and setting are great. But outside the main missions I did not find much to enjoy.

 

[Chuck Berry]

I think the world and setting are great. But outside the main missions I did not find much to enjoy.

Well, there isnt anything to do outside of the main missions anyway. This series (at least the first two) has always been narrative focused with the city as the backdrop. You go from mission to mission and maybe run into a gas station to see if there's a Playboy lying around. That's the game.

 

[Toots]

So you are the only individual riding a bike in the whole city despite having bikes everywhere.

That's because canonically Cyberpunk is a continuation of Renegade.
Remember the voiceover at the beginning of each episode :

"He was a cop, and good at his job, but he committed the ultimate sin—and testified against other cops gone bad. Cops that tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved instead. Framed [for the] murder [of Saburo Arasaka], now he prowls the badlands... an outlaw hunting outlaws... a bounty hunter... a renegade."
Doesn't that ring a bell ?

ANyway Cyberpunk itself takes place a few years after the end of the series, and biking has been finally been outlawed by the newly appointed NUSA government, pushing Reno Raines to change his name to V and go on the run to Night City. He's the only one driving a bike because he's the only one with enough balls to do it. You never asked yourself why your character was so proficient in all types of martial arts and weapons ? It's because you're playing as Lorenzo Lamas of course.

You are right tho Night City is quite shallow but the presentation is unmatched. I tried the 2.0 version a few days ago to see what the fuss was about. I must have played 50 hours since then, and bought the expansion. If GTA 6 is as good visually, and has the usual liveliness of Rockstar's open worlds, it's gonna be absolutely wild.

There is an unemployed man who lies to his family every day about going to work and just sits on a bench.

I want to know the name of the genius dev who thought "im not gonna program my npc to do anything and pass it as social commentary"

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

I want to know the name of the genius dev who thought "im not gonna program my npc to do anything and pass it as social commentary"

maybe he was tired after the first 199 residents

 

[Toots]

maybe he was tired after the first 199 residents

Necessity is the mother of invention !
I hope it was his first idea and he milked it till the end of development, because it is really smart.

 

[Yonyx]

The Simpsons Hit & Run or Sleeping Dogs are much better for me.

 

[bender]

I always thought it was the worst of the 3D GTA maps as it lacks any kind of variety. San Andreas will always be the best. I don't like GTAV very much, but the map is fun.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

No, because it never was.

I vastly prefer exploration and immersion from Skyrim with the all gorgeous atmospheric musics from Jeremy Soule.

 

[Larxia]

Mafia III had so much potential to be something really awesome, but it was repetitive unfortunately with no varied missions at all.

Remove the ubisoft filler in Mafia III and it's a pretty amazing game. It's really a shame because it's not even like the filler is optional, you HAVE to do a lot of it to progress through the story, and it's always the same thing, over and over, absolutely awful. It's too bad because the world, story and characters were great.
This game needs the opposite of extended cut, like an "essential cut", remove all the useless.

 

[rofif]

Incredible game.
I got 360 with burnout paradise and gta 4 on gta 4 release day... IT BLEW MY FUCKING MIND!
And it still does. The physics, atmosphere, possibilities, actually perfect mix of humor and serious story where gta 5 was too much stupid jokes and unfocused characters.
niko is awesome, radio is(was) awesome. The graphics. The motion blur and depth of field back in the day. What a game.
one of my fav trailers. Remember seeing this on tv!!!


To visualize you how that game was perceived at the time, vids like these were very impressive


And the OT here back in the day was so different than OTs are now. Hype, sharing experiences of "wow I had this happen" and all that stuff. good times

 

[iHaunter]

Watch_Dogs’ Chicago is much better imo

I forgot this looks like a PS3 game. One of the biggest graphical downgrades in gaming history.

 

[Chuck Berry]

I forgot this looks like a PS3 game. One of the biggest graphical downgrades in gaming history.

Because it was a PS3 game?

Also, your mom is one of the biggest downgrades of all time.

 

[iHaunter]

Because it was a PS3 game?

Also, your mom is one of the biggest downgrades of all time.

Interesting, forgot about that. Still looks terrible.

 

[Soodanim]

I found the city to be a decent representation of the game as a whole's downgrade from the 3 trilogy. It might be bigger and shinier but it's a whole lot less fun and interesting to me. 3's LC alone beats 4's LC for me, let alone what we had in VC and SA.

 

[MarkMe2525]

I came across this thread last month and I think it planted a seed in my brain to revisit GTA IV sometime soon. I recently got a component input switcher so I could have my Wii, PS2, PS3, and 360 all hooked up with the best quality you could ask for on a 27" CRT. With my retro station complete, I went ahead and started a new save on my 360.

Obviously, I'm going to rehash many points that are already throughly discussed, but to this day, there still hasn't been a game to surpass GTA IV in many areas. The car physics are superb, and with their varied responsiveness, acceleration, and feeling of weight, every vehicle can feel drastically different. Which car you choose to jack can greatly impact the difficulty of many missions.

This extends to character control as well. You must be thoughtful with character movement. Momentum and angle of attack have to be taken into account if you want to smoothly traverse the city. Play with fire too many times, and undoubtedly you will find yourself falling over a ledge, or catching your foot on a obstruction and busting your ass. Great attention to detail in its physics model. *Side bar-I loved this aspect of RDR2 as well. I know many wouldn't agree with me here, but it allows these two games to avoid falling into the trap of playing like everything else on the market.

This game can kick your ass if you end up in a gunfight outmatched. Positioning and cover are essential to get through many missions. While some may attempt to play as a standard run and gun, you will find yourself starting many missions over.

While GTA V can capture the feeling of a bustling city, Liberty City feels gritty and alive. Time Square can be beautiful, and the amount of vehicles that can be on screen is still impressive. It's amazing that they pulled this off with their first major release on Gen 7 hardware.

I hope Rockstar brings this more realistic feel to GTA VI. I can not imagine what they could do with an enchanced physics engine, in the same vein as GTA IV and RDR2, on Xbox and PS5. Obviously, GTA V with it's more "gamey" approach, was much more successful, but can a guy dream?

 

[Codeblew]

Hopefully GTA VI will put everything before it to shame.

 

[sendit]

No, because it never was.

I vastly prefer exploration and immersion from Skyrim with the all gorgeous atmospheric musics from Jeremy Soule.

Right….going inside a building in a mini town required a loading screen.

 

[Rockondevil]

Right….going inside a building in a mini town required a loading screen.

Does GTA not have loading screens if you enter a building?
Elder Scrolls also has far more going on inside each building than GTA does. Items can be left all over the place and remain there forever to start with.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Does GTA not have loading screens if you enter a building?
Elder Scrolls also has far more going on inside each building than GTA does. Items can be left all over the place and remain there forever to start with.

Skyrim and GTA are so philosophically far apart, in the approach to their world building, that comparisons almost fell like a waste of time. I'm not saying this is the case completely, but I doubt the conversing would lead to anything productive.

 

[AGRacing]

I think anyone answering no to this just has not played it in too long.

There was attention to detail. Places you could walk inside and interact with (bars, bowling, restaurants, etc).

It was less interested in map size and more interested in map quality. My hope for 6 is that it combines this philosophy with the map size and landscape variety of 5.

 

[Nvzman]

City specific is Night City. It was the main character of Cyberpunk.

Yea was waiting to see this as an answer. I absolutely fucking love Night City and the amount of detail and accessible areas within it was staggering.

 

[systemr123]

Watch_Dogs’ Chicago is much better imo

Where’s all the people? Just that one thi by anlone already makes it much less convincing than the GTA cities.

 

[SimTourist]

For me, Night City it is.

The map is so packed with details and when I'm walking around there I'm constantly discovering new alleys, new paths, new levels, new POI's, the city feels like a real big city to me.
For me, night City is the most immersive and believable open world at the moment.
After that would be the map and inhabitantsof GTAIV

It looks good from a distance but it's all so wooden and solid that interacting with the world is boring as hell, if you poke around you just get janky shit when in GTA 4 you'll see a cool random moment of physics working as they should. Even in the latest version you'll see pedestrians teleporting, walking over benches, running into the walls, they're not even at Rockstar's PS2 level.

 

[Little Chicken]

Chicago and San Francisco (WatchDogs I & II respectively) don't get enough appreciation.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

RDR2 is much better. You don't need huge cities to have the best open world game in any way.

But this comes from me. GTAIV was always overrated since day one for me. (i know...not a popular opinion)

 

[MarkMe2525]

RDR2 is much better. You don't need huge cities to have the best open world game in any way.

But this comes from me. GTAIV was always overrated since day one for me. (i know...not a popular opinion)

The style that RDR2 was created in, feels like an iteration on the GTA IV formula. Specifically, in the way the game "feels" to play (if that makes any sense). Problem for us, that appreciate the feeling of weight in our actions, is GTA V (with it's more gamey feeling mechanics) was vastly more successful than both of the games previously mentioned.

 

[Drew1440]

I still play LA Noire from time to time to get my 1940s Hollywood fix. And the San Francisco level from the original Driver game.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

gta5 sucks

 

[EverydayBeast]

GTA 4 set the stage for GTA 5 the controls were obnoxious nevertheless the tragic setting was well pronounced and was able to sell millions and was a focal point for the 7th generation of gaming

 

[Celcius]

For those of you playing GTA4 on PC, how is the PC port?
I haven’t played since ps3 and had kinda been thinking about it

 

[Kupfer]

For those of you playing GTA4 on PC, how is the PC port?
I haven’t played since ps3 and had kinda been thinking about it

Stick to this and you'll have a great time ahead

 

[amigastar]

For those of you playing GTA4 on PC, how is the PC port?
I haven’t played since ps3 and had kinda been thinking about it

I've read that GTA IV Vulkan API called DXVK makes the game much smoother with better framerate so it's to be enjoyed properly, but i haven't tried it myself

 

[ReBurn]

For those of you playing GTA4 on PC, how is the PC port?
I haven’t played since ps3 and had kinda been thinking about it

I played it on Steam Deck and it was solid. I had to limit frames to 30 fps to pass the final qte for some reason.