Exploration heavy RPG suggestions?

[k_bits]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any 'exploration' rpgs - rpgs that reward you for roaming around, interacting with the landscape, making your own stuff, letting you do your own thing etc rather than supergluing you to the main plot line.

Something with an 'alive' world, if that makes sense. Ultima 7 is along the lines of what I'm thinking of.

Any good shareware/freeware/demo rpg's in that spirit that I can download?

 

[Psilon]

Tried Avernum 3 yet?

 

[k_bits]

Tried Avernum 3 yet?

A long time ago - but I don't recall it being very immersive: at least not in terms of 'fool around with stuff, make your own things, hunt and fish' etc game world.

I haven't played it for ages, but if memory serves, it didn't strike me as having any more an 'interactive landscape' then say Geneforge. Sure you could follow different paths, and it's nonlinear to an extent...but you can't really interact with the environment to any significant degree.

Nor do you get a sense of exploring some far off cubby hole corner of the world, as you do in Nethergate (and U7).

IMHO, Nethergate had the best 'live' world of all of Vogels games. But that's neither here nor there.

I dunno if I'm explaining it well. Guess I'm looking for a game that will (1) allow for interaction with the environment (2) encourage me to look at the nooks and crannies of the game world (3) make exploring and finding new places fun and rewarding, as opposed to "go here, do this. Now go there, do that"

 

[fnordcircle]

I dunno if I'm explaining it well. Guess I'm looking for a game that will (1) allow for interaction with the environment (2) encourage me to look at the nooks and crannies of the game world (3) make exploring and finding new places fun and rewarding, as opposed to "go here, do this. Now go there, do that"

You won't find it.

Fable was supposed to do this, but it ended up being horribly run of the mill. Morrowind has tons of nooks and crannies but most people bitch and whine that it isn't fun after the 50th dungeon. Gothic doesn't have much interaction with the environment.

Oblivion is supposed to have a lot of that stuff but unlike the Codex brand kool-aid drinking precogs here I haven't travelled into the future and played it so I can't have an opinion on the game yet.

 

[corvax]

daggerfall, morrowind, oblivion (soon)

 

[Drain]

I would recommend my favorite survival/exploration rpg - Unreal World.
http://www.jmp.fi/~smaarane/urw.html
It has no main plot (although there are randomly generated quests), but at the same time it has a lot of stuff to do. This includes hunting, fishing, trading, making clothes/traps/buildings/tools/weapons/..., and even marrying.
It is funny to see how games with a lot of features become interesting without storyline
and games that cut features become boring despite the storyline.

 

[Jora]

It is funny to see how games with a lot of features become interesting without storyline
and games that cut features become boring despite the storyline.

There aren't many games with good storylines, though.
-------

The environment in Arx Fatalis is very interactive. You can bake bread, make fishing rods or weapons, brew potions of different kinds etc. Even though the dungeon world isn't big, there are many secrets waiting to be uncovered. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

 

[k_bits]

I would recommend my favorite survival/exploration rpg - Unreal World.
http://www.jmp.fi/~smaarane/urw.html
It has no main plot (although there are randomly generated quests), but at the same time it has a lot of stuff to do. This includes hunting, fishing, trading, making clothes/traps/buildings/tools/weapons/..., and even marrying.
It is funny to see how games with a lot of features become interesting without storyline
and games that cut features become boring despite the storyline.

LOL. I should have said "apart from unREAL world", which is also one of my favourites. I was seriously going to buy it this week, but when I tried loading it up on my new machine (XP), it cacked itself. DOSbox didn't make it much better either - playable but extremly slow....

(BTW, if you like UnReal world, you might also like Schiffenbruch, although it's much simpler)
http://www.dplate.de/

Ditto this -
http://www.mdickie.com/gam_wrecked.htm

In any case, any other suggestions? Keep em coming.

 

[k_bits]

It is funny to see how games with a lot of features become interesting without storyline
and games that cut features become boring despite the storyline.

Tell me about it. Mount&Blade currently has me completely hooked.

Thanks for the tip - hadn't heard of Arx Fatalis before. Googling for demo now

 

[obediah]

Oblivion is supposed to have a lot of that stuff but unlike the Codex brand kool-aid drinking precogs here I haven't travelled into the future and played it so I can't have an opinion on the game yet.

How have you avoided the DUMBFUCK!!! tag? After the game is released I guess you'll fall back on the "You can't criticize a game unless you've developed a better one" argument. As petty and critical as we've been about Oblivion, it's been based on the developer's own words not some collective hallucination.

 

[fnordcircle]

How have you avoided the DUMBFUCK!!! tag?

I don't know, spend 5 minutes writing up a detailed PM to the staff and take care of that because getting that tag would shatter my fragile ego.

After the game is released I guess you'll fall back on the "You can't criticize a game unless you've developed a better one" argument. As petty and critical as we've been about Oblivion, it's been based on the developer's own words not some collective hallucination.

So the Codex hivemind extends to predicting future posts and not just what video games are good? Also, FYI I despise the 'if you can't do better then shut up' retort, but feel free to prepare your posts 2 months in advance when I guess I'll be making it.

The fact of the matter is that the petty greivances VD and his sycophants have with Oblivion are all bitched about just to back up their a priori dislike of Oblivion.

Unlike the rest of you I've learned my lesson about judging games before I've played them, most notably with the crap heap of undelivered promises that was Fable. If you want to waste your lives pathetically mewling on about a game that isn't even fucking out yet then that's your choice. I'll be over there with the rational people who make judgement calls only after experiencing the final product.

 

[Atrokkus]

Try Gothic (start from Gothic 1, and only after buy 2nd)

When you start out in the prison mining colony, you are on your own and it feels really great -- no "teh chosen one" crap, you just try to survive in that harsh environment. The gameworld is pretty vast, and although it is not that big geographically as Morrowind's, it's MUCH more livelier, that I guarantee. Exploration is a big part of the game. Hunting is very cool, you might do that to earn money and food. And just walking through the wildernesses is a lot of fun, especially at night (fucking scary, actually, when you're lowlevel).

 

[DarkUnderlord]

As petty and critical as we've been about Oblivion, it's been based on the developer's own words not some collective hallucination.

Hey, don't knock collective hallucination until you've tried it.

Unlike the rest of you I've learned my lesson about judging games before I've played them, most notably with the crap heap of undelivered promises that was Fable. If you want to waste your lives pathetically mewling on about a game that isn't even fucking out yet then that's your choice. I'll be over there with the rational people who make judgement calls only after experiencing the final product.

Cool so umm... Thanks for telling us?

PS. I Could've told you Fable was going to suck.

 

[Ryuken]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any 'exploration' rpgs - rpgs that reward you for roaming around, interacting with the landscape, making your own stuff, letting you do your own thing etc rather than supergluing you to the main plot line.

Something with an 'alive' world, if that makes sense. Ultima 7 is along the lines of what I'm thinking of.

Any good shareware/freeware/demo rpg's in that spirit that I can download?

Divine Divinity gave you some freedom in the exploration/interaction part. You did have a dungeon to complete in the beginning (it was advised to do that) and a very linear(boring) ending. Combat leans more towards the Diablo/BG style though (hack & slash with pause).

Unfortunately the DD demo only gives access to the first town and the dungeon beneath it.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Unlike the rest of you I've learned my lesson about judging games before I've played them, most notably with the crap heap of undelivered promises that was Fable. If you want to waste your lives pathetically mewling on about a game that isn't even fucking out yet then that's your choice. I'll be over there with the rational people who make judgement calls only after experiencing the final product.

You mean the rational people who cough up $50 for a title that promises everything and delivers very little rather than looking at the hype in a critical fashion? That's not being rational. That's being a sucker.

 

[Second Chance]

I would recommend my favorite survival/exploration rpg - Unreal World.
http://www.jmp.fi/~smaarane/urw.html
It has no main plot (although there are randomly generated quests), but at the same time it has a lot of stuff to do. This includes hunting, fishing, trading, making clothes/traps/buildings/tools/weapons/..., and even marrying.
It is funny to see how games with a lot of features become interesting without storyline
and games that cut features become boring despite the storyline.

Hehe I was going to sugest Unreal World too I never got much into Unreal World simply because all the options and possibilities overwhelmed me I still have it somewhere on my HD though, waiting for a rainy day (or for someone with patience to help me get started ).

 

[Pr()ZaC]

Boiling Point WITH THE LATEST PATCH.

 

[bryce777]

I love rpgs where you can spen 4 hours making bread,a nd then bash in the baker's skull for the hell of it afterwards.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Oblivion is supposed to have a lot of that stuff but ... I haven't travelled into the future and played it so I can't have an opinion on the game yet
...
The fact of the matter is that the petty greivances VD and his sycophants have with Oblivion are all bitched about just to back up their a priori dislike of Oblivion.

We should team up. With my time travelling abilities and your mind reading skills, we will be unstoppable!

 

[gromit]

Boiling Point WITH THE LATEST PATCH.

And an as-of-yet non-existent patch that fixes the god damn stuttering so the game doesn't suddenly freeze-frame while you're blazing through the jungle, only for the next frame to be an upside-down view of the bottom of a river, causing you to have to flee from the myriad pirahnas. I lost so much coke that way. I played only very briefly with the new, "let's fix stupid piddly shit, only have of which needs fixing" patch, to see that much was left unchanged, and that they had screwed the mouse-driving quite badly.

"Hey, Bobkov! let's make it so that to go from a full-on left turn to one not quite as sharp, you have to move the mouse right to instantly snap it back to center, then left again to the angle of your choosing!" "Fredistan, that's brilliant! Nobody enjoyed, much less were capable of, making slight compensations in their steering." I want this game to be fixed so badly

 

[Fodel]

Morrowind with "Complete Morrowind", "Herbalism", "Primary Needs", "Giants" and "Morrowind comes alive".

 

[Greenskin13]

DrattedTin ain't no kind of man unless he got land.

I remember this one edutainment game that came out over a decade ago made by the people who did The Oregon Trail. I can't remember its name, but you were the leader of a tribe and you had to explore the wilderness, constantly trying to get away from a volitile volcano. It wasn't a great game, but it consumed my childhood whenever some jerk took The Oregon Trail disk before I got to it during free time.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Morrowind with "Complete Morrowind", "Herbalism", "Primary Needs", "Giants" and "Morrowind comes alive".

What do those mods do?

 

[Balor]

Complete Morrowind allows you to make a LOT of stuff, it's basically a craftsman mod.
Herbalism and Primary Needs by yours truly mods that add herbalism skill and make picking plants not as perverted; and add hunger, thirst, and need of rest, respectfully.
Giants - that's a mod that adds a lot of new (more high-level, usually) creatures to fight. Hence the game. There are other mods like this.
Morrowind comes alive - a mod that adds a lot of new wildlife, so much as I recall.
Yea, with mods you indeed can make MW really nice in that respect.
And since he didn't mention any roleplay - it's a definite 'must have'.
(Hmm... talking about 'mods don't influence MW sells, heh)

 

[Balor]

Oh, btw, since I'm not sure how good CM at all armor crafting, I'd recommend 'Armorer' by indestructible, which adds mining, smelting and armor crafting, like the name suggests.