You want a rogue. There are some very good rogues out there that sorta do what you describe.
Some of them are not entirely random. For example ADOM has random dungeons, but within certain limitations. You won't find Iron Golems in a dungeon that should be for low level characters.
Also the overland map isn't random at all. The towns stay the same, quests stay the same, just the dungeons change. Not their locations.
Of course there is always Ledgermain. An excellent ROGUE with a great story. Although it's not random enough for you I would think.
As for immersive….well it all depends on what you need to get immersed within a game. ADOM was immersive enough for me as I was trying to battle my way out of the lower depths of the dungeons. If you need graphics for that then you'll have to wait a until indies can make games like that without spending a couple dozen years.
I think it's safe to say that most fans don't want randomly generated content. At least that's the impression that I get.
Just an unimportant side-note : At least in Drakensang 2 I know that some chests are randomly placed.
I think this is the kind of "randomness" that doesn't hurt anybody.
"Randombness" ???????
Well, it wouldn't be all randomly generated. Primarily, it would be the landscapes and potentially the seabed.
The towns and dungeons would probably be a mixture, with the "important" towns being handmade and the smaller ones based on blueprints, with as much handmade detail as would be feasible with the allotted resources.
As for dungeons, I think they already feel very "random" or "samey" - so there wouldn't be much difference, really. I'd settle for, say, 5 quality handmade dungeons for each area - and the rest could be procedurally generated. Bethesda have the resources to make that work, I think - should they wish to.
Sounds a lot like a game I remember from the mid 90s. It was called Daggerfall.
Are you saying Daggerfall represents the best possible game that could be created with modern technology and current Bethesda resources?
Yes, there is already a big discussion thread about random generated stuff vs static and personally I'm okay with random generated loot, but not the dungeons, cities or landscape. They should be handcrafted (like in Gothic). Same applies to major artifacts.
I dream to one day see a ultima underworld style dungeon with sensible architecture and commuties of different creatures (both hostile and non-hostile) living in it. It would be like another world inside the open sky one.
I'm not sure I trust Bethesda anymore to go for something that subtle. Especially after they made the Akaviri into humans in Oblivion. But it would be nice, yeah!
If you separate mechanics, you´re moving to a very arbitrary territory though.No matter how much I loathe Bethesda mechanics and writing - I'm in love with the open world concept, and I think that if you separate mechanics and writing - they're the BEST open world games in existence, even better than the Gothics.
I dream to one day see a ultima underworld style dungeon with sensible architecture and commuties of different creatures (both hostile and non-hostile) living in it. It would be like another world inside the open sky one.
If you separate mechanics, you´re moving to a very arbitrary territory though.
For example, with such a rigid enemy/loot level scaling as implemented in Oblivion, the world actually isn´t open at all in this regard. You may be free to go wherever you want, but you are still locked out of substantial portion of content, significance of your char´s progression gets a major hit, verisimilitude is outta window and most of what´s left of exploration is sightseeing.
Imo, how leveling is handled has such a significant influence on how an open world clocks, it´s pretty much inseparable from it and it can make it or break it. As implemented in Oblivion it´s in direct contradiction with the game´s supposed openendedness.
The engine was really the smallest complaint I had about Oblivion. Once they start to make RPGs again, I don't care for the engine.I was bitching pretty heavily over at the Codex when I thought GameBryo was going to be recycled once again, but I have to admit I am quite happy with the news that supposedly Bethesda cobbled together their own new, shiny engine this time.
I also have to admit that I don't believe it, though.
How could they have done so in such a short timespan? Look how long it took them to get GameBryo in playable shape (please try to stifle your laughter) for Oblivion? It took them what, three years? Now, less than one year later, we're to believe they've already developed something new from scratch for Skyrim?
I smell a giant rat. I think it's really still GameBryo, just heavily modified and rebranded. If microstutter rears its ugly head again I'll snap. I swear I will.
(To clarify, I am referring to the time between major projects, not since Oblivion was shipped)