Any other games like Oblivion/Morrowind?

TheSisko

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Hey,

Are there any other RPG games that let you do whatever you want like in Oblivion and Morrowind?

I got the impression that Gothic 3 was like that, but then I started to play it and it seemed like I was basically forced to do quests that led to supporting one of the factions and eventually attacking the other factions.

There didn't seem to be any way of playing a character that, for instance, wants to be a great thief and spend his days filling his mansion with stolen valuables.

If I'm playing my character as a mage in Oblivion, I can join the mages guild and advance through the game doing things a mage would do.

In Gothic it seemed I had to play the hero in a pre-determined plot to get anywhere, and that wasn't what I was looking for.

So are there any other games that are like Morrowind/Oblivion in the sense that put the emphasis on setting your own personal goals rather than following some main story?
 
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Yes, all the Elder Scrolls series do that!!
 
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Two Worlds is better than oblivion but slightly worse than morrowind.
You can do whatever you like in that game.

I like the game very much myself.
 
Depends on what your personal goals are. If they arent combat-related you are out of luck.

While I certainly got more fun out of Two Worlds (which I find quite good but light hearted) than Oblivion I wouldnt say it is better for those who want free roaming non-combat gameplay. You cant have a house of your own or decorate it, keeping a collection of stuffs is pointless, and the pickpocket/burglary aspect of the game doesnt make much sense, particularly not whether you are seen or not when you break into houses.

IMHO playing as a thief/collector of wealth has nowhere else been done as well as in Morrowind. Oblivion is probably second best (while quite some way behind), with Daggerfall a very distant third (and Daggerfall is very long in the tooth technology-wise).

Other games that let you roam around and ignore the main quest/factions are Mount and Blade and Darklands, but they have rather limited (in the first case none) non-combat gameplay. I tend to think of them as Medieval Elite games rather than RPGs. But then Elite is all about setting your own personal goals...
 
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Thanks, maybe I'll go back to Morrowind again.

I kinda get two different types of "itches" for RPG's.

The first one is where I'll feel like playing a game that lets me do "whatever I want", with as much options and variety as possible. That's the one I've only felt like I could satisfy with Oblivion and Morrowind.

The other itch is where I want to play a really engrossing dialogue-heavy RPG with a good plot, sharp writing and quality voiceovers. This one I've been able to satisfy more easily over the years with the likes of PS:T, BG2, NWN2+MOB, KOTOR I&II, Bloodlines. I'm hoping to get that itch in time for Mass Effect.

That's why I think it's silly to compare the ES games with other RPG's as for me they don't even remotely fit the same genre as say NWN2 or KOTOR.

I've tried Gothic 3 and Two Worlds and sadly I just couldn't find anything to like about either of them.

They both seem much more limited than the ES games in terms of options so they don't scratch my first itch and they both seemed to have very weak stories with poorly acted voiceovers, uninteresting NPC's and mundane dialogue so they don't even come close to satisfying my second itch.

Basically, if the story and dialogue is thin I want to be able to do more than just quest and combat (ES games) . If all I can do is quest and combat then I want a really strong script and quality dialogue with multiple choices (Bioware/Obsidian style).
 
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I think maybe the reason I don't like games like Gothic is that the "build a powerful character, collect powerful armor and kill bigger and bigger monsters" never worked for me as a motivator.

I never really thought about my level or equipment in my favorite RPG's like Torment or Bloodlines, I thought about what was going on in the story and the characters.

In Morrowind I would think "what does my character want to do today?"

I stopped playing Gothic the moment I realized I could neither do what I wanted nor cared the least bit about the story or the characters.
 
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You might consider taking a stroll through Divine Divinity. It's got a lot of actiony combat and you'll have to get past that if you hate games like Diablo, but the world and quest system is huge, you can do all kinds of alchemy, crafting and skill swapping, and it has some really unigue dialogue and NPCs. Very different from all the games you listed, but nonetheless showing an influence from all of them.
 
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Yes, DD might fill the bill, and maybe Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines might fit. Another one that lets you roam and pick is Deus Ex. It is a space epic unlike the D & D of the other games, but it does let you go where you want, pick quests if you like or pass on them, and while all the dialogue is not great it did have some moments.
 
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I stopped playing Gothic the moment I realized I could neither do what I wanted nor cared the least bit about the story or the characters.

G1 and G2 are much better when it comes to story and characters IMHO, but I still think they would fall between your chairs (there is a lot of combat grinding that will detract a bit from the story).
 
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I did consider playing DD but it didn't seem very story/NPC-focused and more on combat/building your character, I might be wrong though, got that impression from reviews.
 
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Yes, DD might fill the bill, and maybe Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines might fit. Another one that lets you roam and pick is Deus Ex. It is a space epic unlike the D & D of the other games, but it does let you go where you want, pick quests if you like or pass on them, and while all the dialogue is not great it did have some moments.

Bloodlines is one of my all time favorite games, but I don't considering it at all like Oblivion/Morrowind, rather more like Planescape: Torment. There's a strong story, lots of choices, well written dialogue but in the end you can't do anything other than play your part in the overall plot (which you'll want to do because it's so good).

What I mean is you can't do anything meaningful in the game if, for instance you decide you want nothing to do with other vampires. The plot IS the game unlike the ES games.
 
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Unfortunately, Oblivion is the best game if you want to have the world give you a blank slate where you create your own destiny and adventures. You should really check out some of the Oblivion mods if you're starting to tire of the game. Three great quest mods I can recommend off the top of my head are: Dungeons of Ivellon, The Lost Spires, and Glenvar Castle.

..and as you suspected, Gothic does not give you the types of narrative freedom that Oblivion does. However, you picked the wrong Gothic to make your decisions on. Get a budget copy of Gothic 2: Gold (has Gothic 2 plus its expansion), then you'll find a game much more worthy of comparing to Vampire:Bloodlines or BG2. Gothic 3 was flawed because they tried too much to emulate the Bethesda formula (huge world, loose story) and loss sight of what they did best in the previous games.
 
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Thanks, I'll check out those mods!

Maybe I'll try Gothic 2 in the future but I've got Mask of the Betrayer and Mass Effect in mind first for when I get the story-driven RPG hunger again. Always wanted to play the Fallout games tot but never seem to get around to it.
 
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Maybe some of the better Might&Magic games are open-ended enough. They look fugly though. The Fallouts are certainly something you´ve got to play, even if only to decide whether you like them or not.
 
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This particular subgenre is extremely sparsely populated, and it's no mystery why that is. It's possibly the hardest kind of roleplaying game to make, both technically and financially - if you want to do it right.

There are basically only the three franchises mentioned:

Gothic
Elderscrolls
Two Worlds

Similar games have been mentioned here, but even they fall short of scratching that particular itch I'm sensing you're having.

We'll have to wait a while for the next big one to be released.

Oblivion does have a zillion mods, many of which change the core game quite significantly and there are several gigantic quest mods also that add enough to make them expansion packs in terms of content.

Have you checked it all out?
 
Yeah it seems I'll have to stick to modding Oblivion. Gothic and Two Worlds didn't offer nearly enough variety outside of pure combat/questing for me to feel like "create your own destiny" games the way Morrowind and Oblivion do.
They felt more like, "You're this guy, now choose your destiny out of these available options".

In that sense, ES almost feels more like Elite than Gothic/Two Worlds to me, even if it's a completely different setting. I remember I played one other game, long ago that gave me that same feeling, it was called Legends of Valour. I never really got into it, but the first time I played Morrowind it made me think of that game.
 
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I did consider playing DD but it didn't seem very story/NPC-focused and more on combat/building your character, I might be wrong though, got that impression from reviews.

Div Div is *extremely* rich with possibilities from all angles - there is a strong central story, loads of action-packed combat, plenty of side-quests and so on.

Unfortunately what you are looking for is a fairly narrow sort of game type, which is suited well to the 'single player MMORPG' description used by some for Morrowind and Oblivion ... everything else has more of a central story.

Fable actually has some of the open elements you talk about, but there is so little content wrapped around it and it is so limited in terms of freedom that I don't think it will keep you satisfied for long.
 
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I believe there are various "pirate RPGs" that have such gameplay (Sea Dogs, Sid Meier's Pirates, etc). Loads of freedom where you can pretty much do anything you want as the captain of one or more ships (even conquer and control entire islands). You can also run around on foot on the various islands, but they are often rather small and restricted. Whether you make money trading, pirating, escorting merchants or questing is pretty much up to you.

My personal favourite is Sea Dogs, but that's rather old by now. There's four different paths through the main quest, but you don't even have to do the main quest unless you feel like it.
 
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I was thinking you might like the X series or Space Rangers 2.

X3 looks cool, Elite was one of my favorite games back when I had an Amiga. It always boggled me how the entire game fit on just one 880kb floppy.
 
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