I hear from everyone that Skyrim is the god of open world games. From some of my friends it's daggerfall, and to me, it's the first fable game. What I like about Fable 1 is that the areas are controlled and they are their own environments. While I like the Bethesda game (every game from bethesda is the same with changed textures and an engine update), I think it is the most effective for a game to have a controlled environment in each area that the feel of the game is based on what the mind set of the game is what it is supposed to be. What I mean by that is that you can go to Winterhold in Skyrim and for some reason a WhiteRun gaurd is there because of a bug. He probably walked there in the load time while you either walked there or while you quick traveled to arrest you and whatever. The time in the game speeds up in these quick travels. In Fable each area has it's own variables, versus the entire world having the exact same variables except caves and houses, and because of that there are less bugs at the price of loading time. Though on a core 2 duo or i7 or WHATEVER you have, those load times are limited by your hardware. Opinions?
At the moment, I am playing Skyrim and as far as I have played, I can say, that it is a very good game. I really like the freedom you have. For example, my current save state hase 24 hours of playtime and regarding the main story line, I am still at chapter 1 because there is so much else to do. Unfortunately, there is slowly building up a feel of repetitiveness, because the dungeons follows the very same structure, especially the sidequests ones. But the art design is great and it also has a great variety, so the dungeons don't look the same. Skyrim isn't the first open world game I have played and it isn't the first Elder Scrolls game either. For me, Oblivion has a better and more immersive main story and overall I like it more than Skyrim, although Skyrim is a great game and the world has more to offer. Morrowind is also very good and I like its complexity but I have barely played it. Another open world game I really like, is Might & Magic 6. This game is one of the best open world games I have come across. Gothic 1 + 2 NotR + 3 are my all time favorite RPGs but I think they don't count as open world games besides the third installment. Besides typical RPGs, Mount & Blade Warband is also one of my favorite open world games. It combines RPG elements with RTS attributes and it is unique in its gameplay and style. Overall, I think it is the freedom of choice you have in open world games, which makes me play them so often. Deciding how you want to complete this mission/quest or what quest you like to do next is really great! Also in terms of character development.
