ORPG Games?

[Zyst]

Salut Escapist! I've been looking nowadays for what one might call an "ORPG" - Open Role Playing Game. As for some background I played WC3 like a junkie and they have this a lot, games where you just start out and may go anywhere you wish, there might or not be a quest storyline. The only thing holding you in our out is the level of the mobs around you (Whether you can deal with them yet) and so on. There might be bosses in dungeons, in the open world. Really it's just a fun experience.

And I wonder, does anyone know of more games like this? I don't mind if it's a 10+ year old thing, I just feel like playing some of these. Just for future reference I already played most Bethesda games, they aren't exactly what I mean (What with the world adjusting around you and not the other way around) but it's still fair enough I guess.

Thanks for any and all recommendations.

Note that this game type often had a lot of grinding. If you have a recommendation and are concerned I won't like it because it's too "Grindy" please don't. I find it relaxing and I'm fine with it.

 

[The Madman]

Mount & Blade: Warband could very well be exactly what you're looking for. Completely open ended but with opportunity for self-made storytelling aplenty, pretty much a textbook example of an open world rpg. There are a ton of mods for the game as well for even more added diversity and possibilities, letting you play in various historical setting as well as fantastical ones. Want to burn and pillage your way to conquering a small kingdom as a bandit lord? Wont be easy but its an option. Fight your way to the top through honourable tournament and various errands for the nobility? Perfectly possible. Or perhaps play as a travelling armed merchant exploiting neutrality to buy and sell exotic goods between kingdom for maximum profit? Go for it!

Mount & Blade allows you to start small and play the way you want with the ultimate possibility of becoming a minor lord to some king with land to call your own, and eventually even becoming king of either one of the existing kingdom or one of your own. Helps that the game has extremely satisfying gameplay mechanics as well even if the visuals are extremely rough.

And out of curiosity what does WC3 stand for anyway? I can only think of Warcraft 3 and Wing Commander 3, neither of which are open world rpg.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Oh do you mean like Fallout/ Skyrim? These are my favourite kind shame I can't find any more properly like them, other games just don't feel like they've been given as much love by the developers.

 

[Smooth Operator]

So you want some grind... pick up any free to play MMORPG on the market and you got it made.

 

[Zyst]

It is Warcraft 3, sorry for not being clear about that. At ccdohl I've played a fair amount of Terraria, no very much my thing but I got 40+ hours.

Oh do you mean like Fallout/ Skyrim? These are my favourite kind shame I can't find any more properly like them, other games just don't feel like they've been given as much love by the developers.

"
Yeah Skyrim/Fallout are good examples of the type of game I'm looking for. Specially a "Champion Centric" kind of game, where you control a hero or at most a small party (not an army, I don't enjoy that as much)

Mount & Blade: Warband could very well be exactly what you're looking for. Completely open ended but with opportunity for self-made storytelling aplenty, pretty much a textbook example of an open world rpg. There are a ton of mods for the game as well for even more added diversity and possibilities, letting you play in various historical setting as well as fantastical ones. Want to burn and pillage your way to conquering a small kingdom as a bandit lord? Wont be easy but its an option. Fight your way to the top through honourable tournament and various errands for the nobility? Perfectly possible. Or perhaps play as a travelling armed merchant exploiting neutrality to buy and sell exotic goods between kingdom for maximum profit? Go for it!

Mount & Blade allows you to start small and play the way you want with the ultimate possibility of becoming a minor lord to some king with land to call your own, and eventually even becoming king of either one of the existing kingdom or one of your own. Helps that the game has extremely satisfying gameplay mechanics as well even if the visuals are extremely rough.

And out of curiosity what does WC3 stand for anyway? I can only think of Warcraft 3 and Wing Commander 3, neither of which are open world rpg.

WC3 as mentioned is Warcraft 3 for me, frankly the game I've gotten the most out of in my life with no room for doubts. I'll definitely check out your recommendations, thanks.

 

[sanquin]

Ah the wonders of "The Black Road." I love that custom map on WC3.

Anyway, I wish there were more games like it too. Something like Skyrim, but without mobs that level with you. Where every area has pre-set levels for it's monsters, and where dying doesn't mean you have to reload but where you respawn with some kind of (small) penalty. One with an open world where nothing is indicated on the map and everything has to be discovered by actually going there. Preferably also with a 2~4 player co-op possibility to tackle enemies together.

And no, MMORPG's aren't like this. Well, maybe GW2 is, a little bit. Most MMORPG's don't have any real discovery element to them, and focus too much on grinding.

 

[Judgement101]

The Mount and Blade series is pretty good for this sorta thing. You essentially get a main character that you choose the stats for and from there you play as that character, make an army, and try to take over the area. Or in my case, become a professional slave since I suck at combat and lose a lot.

 

[Killclaw Kilrathi]

Salut Escapist! I've been looking nowadays for what one might call an "ORPG" - Open Role Playing Game. As for some background I played WC3 like a junkie and they have this a lot

I'm glad you like it, but Wing Commander 3 doesn't strike me as an ORPG.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I'll second the recommendation for M&B... If you do decide to buy anything in the series, make sure you get Warband. It makes the original obsolete in every way and it's still better than With Fire and Sword.
The only gripe I have with the game is that it's ugly as hell but I suppose if it were pretty I likely couldn't have battles involving hundreds of people.

Apart from that I'm actually struggling to think of any other games... Well I hope you find something to your liking.

 

[CriticalMiss]

The Might and Magic games sound like they would fit the bill, I only have experience of having watched a friend play them but they are open world with dungeons and you can go pretty much anywhere from the beginning. They are easily older than 10 years so whether you could get hold of them legitimately I don't know, maybe something like Good Old Games will have them available?

Whether they are good and have a decent story is up to you.

 

[Zyst]

Salut Escapist! I've been looking nowadays for what one might call an "ORPG" - Open Role Playing Game. As for some background I played WC3 like a junkie and they have this a lot

I'm glad you like it, but Wing Commander 3 doesn't strike me as an ORPG.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

It's Warcraft III, custom maps.

 

[Eric the Orange]

WC3 isn't really an ORPG as you define it. It's a strategy game, maps and goals are pre set. and you control an army not a single person.

So I guess what I'm saying is perhaps you should list some games from this category that you have played instead of a game from a different category.

 

[ramboondiea]

the older isometric rpgs are very much like that, so fallout 1&2, or arcanum may fit the bill.

Krater, fun little indie thing, there is a story, but yeah its largely just a grind to kill the next big bad

on the mmo front, you may enjoy fallen earth, big open world from the get go, all comes down to how good/strong you to decide where you can go

 

[Zyst]

WC3 isn't really an ORPG as you define it. It's a strategy game, maps and goals are pre set. and you control an army not a single person.

So I guess what I'm saying is perhaps you should list some games from this category that you have played instead of a game from a different category.

Warcraft III just some custom maps that fit the bill:

Defi4nc3's ORPG
The Black Road ORPG
Curse of Time ORPG

This just to mention a minuscule amount of them. Remember Warcraft III with the custom map maker becomes a new game, I never actually liked the base RTS game much (Ladder as we called it) and despite that I can still say with confidence that it was the best game I've played.

 

[ADDmuse]

One of my first games that could fall into this category is Wizardry 8. It may be about 10 years old but it has a much more open world than many games out there. The character creation system is incredibly diverse; offering hundreds if not thousands of combinations of race, class, and skills. It can be rather brutal in some cases and TPK is a serious threat, but it never tells you what you have to do outside of a few certain character interactions. There is of course a story, but most of it is fairly non-linear. Unfortunately it's kinda rare seeing as the game company went belly up a year after it was released. You should still be able to find it but it'll probably cost about $30

 

[Orange12345]

Realm of the mad god
http://www.realmofthemadgod.com/

seems to fit the bill. it's pretty basic but is free and run in a browser so it wont be hard to try.

The game plops you down in a world where the only objective is to kill things in a bullet hell fashion, you level up and can find loot, and eventually when all the bosses of the world have been killed every player in the server regardless of level is transported to the final dungeon where you try to confront the main boss, if you win the server is deleted (it comes back eventually) and you pick a new one, if you are killed perma-death so start over. There are also classes you have to unlock

 

[Twilight_guy]

The term I hear used is 'Sandbox' games to describe open world games. I've never heard of the term ORPG. In fact open world is an entirely separate idea from RPGs. You might have luck if you used one of the other and presumably more common terms.

 

[Cyfu]

I can't really tell if people are serious or not xD
WC3 stands for Warcraft 3 and ORPGs are a very popular kind of custom maps, as people like to call them, although i think mods is what defines them the best because you add a new story, new features and new gameplay.

I don't really know. I'm interested in the answers as well. I hate lvl scaling and such like oblivion did. It's just boring.
I see a lot of people are suggesting Mount and blade. That's a really good game and should definitively give it a try.

 

[Scow2]

The Elder Scrolls are the biggest one I can think of, aside from MMOs. I wish I could think of more, but you're making me want to re-install Warcraft 3 because its ORPGs were so awesome... even if copying the save codes wasn't xD.


Unfortunately, I think Warcraft 3 still owns the market in that regard.

I'd say Mount & Blade Warband is NOT quite what you're looking for, due to its emphasis on raising armies.

EDIT: Oh yeah! Sacred 2: Fallen Angel comes to mind as well, and it's EXACTLY the ORPG formula used in Warcraft 3 games, but on a MUCH larger, more open level - The wide open map of an ORPG (I think it's HUGE), with the control scheme of a Loot'em'up. But now that I think of it, its loot system's pretty... wonky.

The first Two Worlds game, if you can get over the horrific Voice Acting, is also another good ORPG - except that you end up depopulating the world because of a complete lack of respawning enemies. I think the Gothic series works as well, but I've not had enough experience with them.