Gothic 1 was limited to a single prison colony. There was enough space to explore, but the area was definitely very finite. Gothic 2 seems larger, though, but I haven't played it much. I like Gothic for its plots and free-roaming, but I don't like the character building and the combat system... Lots of good ideas, though.
I think it's more a question of having something interesting to discover in them. Mercenary II: Damocles (jeez, that was long ago...) was great, but boy was it big and empty... IIRC, one planet had several million of "pyramid" structures on it, only they were all empty except for a select few...
Agreed. And there should be few but very different vehicles. For example, some could be pretty fast, but only run safely on real roads (which are all pretty much gone by the time Fallout is set in), while others can be slower off-roaders. A car-wars thing could be good. If they looked a bit at Mad Max 2, the Road Warrior for inspiration, it would be great.
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I don't think it's possible to make a "carwars" game without taking at least some inspiration from the Mad Max movies...