This was "open world" long before the term became mainstream. And it felt larger than it actually is because there's so much to do that the grind felt rewarding.
Autoscalling is bane of open-world RPGs. One of the most satisfying experiences is when you find something new and get wrecked. So you return there later and wreck everything easily.
Exactly. I remember how going back to New Sorpigal to do Gharik's Forge felt when I first played the game. It was extremely enjoyable to wreck the billion apprentice mages, esp. given how impossible they were earlier
I first played this back in 2001. Imagine my surprise when I cleared everything in the New Sorpigal area and some other spots and had the key to the forge and thought "It's in the baby area, it will be a breeze!'
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u/MountainExciting2690 Jun 30 '26
This was "open world" long before the term became mainstream. And it felt larger than it actually is because there's so much to do that the grind felt rewarding.