Will Rockstar always be the gold standard for Free roam/Sandbox games?

[BigMoneyGrip]

I think the crew 2 is up there with GTA in regards to free roam but in the crew’s case is driving free roam

 

[Nobodyknows]

If we're being real, Rockstar is GTA above all and then the Red Dead series. Those are their two flagships. It's one thing to enjoy the Max Payne series, Midnight Club, Bully, Manhunt, Warriors, or L.A Noire, but none of those games is why Rockstar is where it is now.

Bethesda has Doom, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, and The Evil Within, but Fallout and Elder Scrolls are their flagships. I'm comfortable saying the order of relevance is:
GTA
Fallout
Elder Scrolls
Red Dead

when it comes to cultural relevance and appeal. That's even with Fallout 76's dismal performance. RDR2 is a classic, but relatively short lived (culturally) game compared to those other series. Skyrim was ridiculously popular for years. The same for Fallout 3. Fans will more than embrace a return to form from Bethesda when it comes to those properties.

I don’t agree that fallout is more relevant(currently) than RDR2. Bethesda hasn’t even released the best game in the series. People been calling for Obsidian to take it back after they fukked fallout 4 up, which wasn’t a bad game but definitely didn’t match the standard you were expecting. Mods saved that game. BIG TIME. Then they dropped the ball completely with 76. The thing is, Rockstar, despite being money hoarding b*stards, consistently drop a big up date a few time’s a year with a bunch of little updates in between. They’re in it for the long run and I don’t think that half the people that own either current-gen fallout games have picked them up compared to people checking for the new red dead updates. 76 blew up and had its moment of controversy but it never stuck like it should’ve.

 

[The Mad Titan]

The gold standard for me now is Zelda breath of the wild. It was GTA


Honorable mention

Sleeping dogs
Spiderman games
Most wrpgs
Bethesda games

 

[obarth]

Naughty dog should try

I'd be down for any attempt of theirs. Guerilla Games would jump right up there with the release of a new open world game on par with Horizon Zero Dawn.

 

[ORDER_66]

A big pet peeve that irks me is that when playing GTAV is that the money you make in the single player game there's not much you can use the money on in the real world except buying businesses, clothes and stuff... but they should have had a full fleshed out economy and buying OTHER stuff like franklyn got that house but what if we could have hired an interior decorator to change the look or buying artwork or buying lottery tickets...just SMALL details they end up missing...

 

[Deuterion]

The gold standard for me now is Zelda breath of the wild. It was GTA


Honorable mention

Sleeping dogs
Spiderman games
Most wrpgs
Bethesda games

100%, Breath of the Wild shyts on GTA. It’s one of the few sandbox games where traversing from one place to another is an actual gameplay element. The stamina system + weather + terrain makes for really fun times and that’s before you add in the missions, combat mechanics, story, and etc. In GTA, traversing the world is a means to get to the mission, in BOTW, traversing the world is part of the mission.

 

[Red]

Budweiser is the gold standard of beers

 

[Deuterion]

It is sales wise but taste wise it is trash...that’s GTA when you compare it to a Breath of the Wild or Fallout New Vegas.

 

[Dushane Hill]

After the disappointment that was GTA V, the open world genre was for the taking - but then Rockstar dropped RDR2 and once again showed everyone that the open world genre belongs to them.

 

[Redguard]

Rockstar's problem is their game design. Sure technically and visually their games look good but the missions and gameplay are starting to fall off.

 

[Kairi Irving]

Project Red and Naughty Dog needs to create at least 3 more IPs and have them become hits.

I'm not impressed by Naughty Dog, all they have is Uncharted and TLOU

CD project Red has ONE good game and the other isn't out yet



Meanwhile, Rockstar churned out cult classics Bully, Manhunt, Midnight Club

the Mainstays GTA and Red Dead franchises which both have 3+ games in the series.

 

[gambinomakeitwrk]

Project Red and Naughty Dog needs to create at least 3 more IPs and have them become hits.

I'm not impressed by Naughty Dog, all they have is Uncharted and TLOU

CD project Red has ONE good game and the other isn't out yet



Meanwhile, Rockstar churned out cult classics Bully, Manhunt, Midnight Club

the Mainstays GTA and Red Dead franchises which both have 3+ games in the series.

Crash/Jak/Uncharted/Last of Us *

4 IPs, all very successful.

 

[Kairi Irving]

Crash/Jak/Uncharted/Last of Us *

4 IPs, all very successful.

They don't own Crash anymore so I don't count it.

 

[Nobodyknows]

Crash/Jak/Uncharted/Last of Us *

4 IPs, all very successful.

Are they relevant to this conversation though? Never played Uncharted or Jak but as far as I know they’re a different type of game

 

[The G.O.D II]

They haven’t been the good standard since San Andreas. GG, insomniac, and Ubisoft have all made better OW games in recent years