i thought this forum would be a good place to start because i love skyrim, and it is almost what my ideal game is, and was hoping the community would know some good games.

for a little background, skyrim and fallout new vegas are some of my favorite free-roam games, which im looking for a freeroam. i also recently bought darksouls and i loved it. i spent well over 150 hours on it. i also love the subtle way that dark souls tells its story.

another thing to mention is that i really dont like the overhyped games that just fall flat. borderlands 2 is a great example of this. i dont like that type of gameplay. eventually, it boils down to enemies with health bars that feel more like loading bars on a grind to find a weapon to hasten the load time of killing enemies. i just dont like that kind of game whatsoever.

im also looking for a game that has longevity to it. far cry 3, being an amazing game that i loved and platinumed on the ps3, i wouldnt consider to have that much longevity. it's fun to play, but for one, maaaybe two playthroughs, but overall, it didnt keep me interested for too long.

another type of game i want to avoid is the "grand theft auto" feeling of games. i havent played gta much, only at my friends' houses, but its fun for a bit, but it just sinks eventually, for me. i do own red dead redemption and it lost me too. that type of exploration for me is lackluster and the combat gets very dull.

adding onto exploration, i only played assassins creed 3, so i cant say much about the series as a whole, but i dont like ac3's style of exploration. they send u off the fetch relics and artifacts and thats not how i like to play. i like fluid gameplay where you can wander around

so the criteria for a game im looking for is preferably a free-roam rpg with longevity, exploration, a good story, or something that doesn't take itself seriously, and a fun combat system.

i heard about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and from gameplay, it looks good. from reviews though, it sounds iffy, but it does sound like it would be a game i could sink some time into. but yeah, can you guys help me out with suggestions? it would be greatly appreciated!

Edit 1 --

a little addition, my criteria are a bit specific. i can broaden it to say that if you are a hardcoe gamer and really enjoy playing a game and getting into it for many hours, like id say at least 72+ hours, that would be the game id want to hear about.

Oblivion, I'm playing it at the moment and it's excellent.

Oblivion is probably your best choice. Since you're on PS3 TW2 isn't an option so definitely Oblivion. It's got a better story, magic system and in my opinion better questlines and characters than Skyrim but is obviously lacking in graphics and non-magic combat compared to TES 5. Another problem is the world can get a little boring but many of the cities are quite spectacular and beautiful, Skingrad, the IC and Anvil to name a few.

i thought about oblivion. i havent really looked into it, though. the combat did look bland from what ive seen. kingdoms of amalur reckoning had a really interesting combat system. im looking for games to compare to that before i go out and buy it, so ill give oblivion a look

Morrowind!

At least it isn't bland and uninteresting like Oblivion Morrowind has giant mushrooms! and wizard towers made out of roots! and a talking mudcrab! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

EDIT: Bland and uninteresting? I know what you're going to say, that it's redundant. Well, Oblivion is so bland it needed to be said twice.

lol is it? after watching some oblivion reviews, it does look good and along the lines with skyrim, but i feel like if i did get it and play it, id just wanna play skyrim. thats what happened with fallout new vegas and fallout 3 for me i think im going to borrow a friend's oblivion and see how i like it.

i sortof want to try out a new game, so, if u can, no elder scroll suggestions? i will definitely compare any elder scroll game to skyrim and that will take away from the experience.

to those who have played it, how are the dragon's dogma games?

Oblivion is better than Skyrim, definitely get it.

While not exactly open-world, I would recommend the Witcher 2, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and Shadow Warrior.

i dont have much spending money, so i am looking for just one game. preferably a cheaper hidden-gem

and shasow, how much playtime can i see out of those games each?

Well I did get oblivion a couple weeks ago and I do find the combat to be a bit boring. I also didn't really see the world to be all that exciting. I think if your were to play it, it would be hard to make the jump from Skyrim to Oblivion.

Edit: Oh I almost forgot! L.A. Noire. I played that recently and I loved it.

yeah i probably wont be getting oblivion.

just watched a review. the game looks really good. it looks like it might be a bit short though. it looks like the game id love, but then wouldnt want to come back to, like far cry 3. hows witcher's longevity?

The Witcher 2, I've been playing for about 4 days (20 hours maybe?), and I'm on chapter 2/3 (almost on 3 though, I think). The Witcher 3 is eventually coming out. It will be open-world and all of that, so it would be a good idea to play the Witcher 2 first (I do not recommend the first Witcher, that was frustrating and buggy as ).

Castlevania: Lords of Shadows took me about 5 days, I don't know how many hours (more than the Witcher 2), but the story is really, really great and the game offers more replayability than some games.

Shadow Warrior, sadly, was pretty short. It was fun while it lasted, but about 2 days (about 15-ish hours).

You can get an infinite amount of playing time on Oblivion with mods. I have well over 500 hours on that (including going through every mod, making mods, etc.; I would consider it part of the game).

the witcher 2 looks really promising, actually. im going to look into it more. i watched some castlevania lords of shadows gameplay and it doesnt look like itd fit my taste. the combat seems to be a hack and slash. and if shadow warriors only 15 hours, i dont think id consider that. i really want a game that i can get into.

as for oblivion with mods, i have a crappy pc that cant run fallout new vegas i really wanna get a job and save for a gaming pc just to join up with the master race

You're not going to be able to play the Witcher 2 on PC if you can't run Fallout, which would be too bad, because the game has pretty great graphics on the PC and you can get it on GOG DRM-free.

Edit:

Also, if you're looking for some free games, I would recommend http://www.moddb.com/mods/underhell, although I don't think you'd be able to run that if you can't run Fallout New Vegas (you might, worth a try). It took me 3 weeks to complete. The game went on forever (and only the prologue and Chapter 1 is complete); I loved every minute of it. It's not open world, and it's not like Skyrim or anything like that. It's an FPS horror game, so if you like those kinds of games too, it's definitely worth checking out. The game also has an exploration/puzzle-ish part of it.

Edit2:

I also just remembered, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 are pretty great games too. They're sort of like the Witcher, and last a very long time. Dragon Age: Origins, I had more than 50 hours (not including the DLC campaigns). Dragon Age 2 only took 25 hours or so, but was still fun, and you definitely need to play that before the next in the series, Dragon Age: Inquisition which is coming out Fall 2014, and that will be AMAZING. They're all pretty much open-world, although less than TES (same as the Witcher 2). I've re-played both Dragon Age games at least 2 times, because they're just that awesome. Be sure to play Dragon Age: Origins first though, since it's kind of hard going from the combat system in Dragon Age 2 to Origins.

Also, as for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, I played it for a few hours, and I didn't really like it. it was very boring, although I was only playing by myself.

Red Dead Redemption... Freeroam (bar two seperate areas you unlock as you go through the game), great story,

had read the first half of your post, thought I better check the second half. Seriously, give it another go (it's not similar to GTA at all, and was developed by a different parts of Rockstar anyway). To the combat you unlock loads of different weapons to use.. but heh each to their own I guess, I find most of Skyrims combat very dull (even mixing it up with lots of magic)

You said you played Assassin's Creed III.

I personally think Assassin's Creed II is much, much better.

i cant play any pc games on my computer. like i can play league of legends at about a 25-30 fps average, but i get MANY dips when i get into big team fights.

so yeah pc games are a no-go. as for dragon ages, ill look into them. i looked into them a bit, but i will really look into them later.

and kingdoms of amalur reckoning sounds like it will take a LONG time to complete, which i like a lot. it also has skyrim elements with a better combat system, so thats why im interested in it.

as for red dead, i just... it didnt really pull me in. at first, i really loved the game, but after playing some co-op and multiplayer, i didnt really feel too impressed. getting back to its singleplayer also left me a bit bummed out. i mean i started exploring, but it felt like it was too much empty land that was just there to host wildlife, which i didnt much like. i love the concept and variety of the animals, but due to the lock on combat getting boring and the free fire combat just not on par with the rest of the shooters that operate that way, i didnt enjoy hunting. plus i didnt feel like i was rewarded for hunting. you kill some animals and you get money... thats pretty much it. you couldnt do anything with it, so the only reason to hunt was for the money. and yeah thats just repetetive and a grindfest, imo, which was why i didnt enjoy that aspect, which was the aspect of the game i really wanted to see, the free-roam.

edit 1

Oblivion's got a better story if you wanna sink into a role of a sidekick. Anyway, it is probably your best choice, given the needy specifications you listed, but definitely don't get that game unless you get it for PC. Vanilla version is boring pretty fast, bugged and the main quest is pretty shameful.

Exorince suggested Morrowind, which is a game you simply can't compare to Skyrim. Ofc, it's graphics are dated, but only a fool can discard such gameplay over something as petty as graphics. However, I also suggest the PC version since vanilla game is bugged as hell and various patches that make the game 100% stable are needed. Besides, I don't think original xbox games are even being sold anymore. Anyway, the exploration factore is by far more rewarding than Skyrim, especially since the game is 100% hand made (which is claimed for Skyrim as well but I'm putting my hand into fire that it's not), and not a single quest has a level requirement, most artifacts aren't quest-based but hidden in the world instead, so you'll be able to get whatever you want when ever you want it, given that you can survive long enough to reach it, there are much more little unique items, and there are much more guilds with a whole guild-relation system where joining one guild will make other guilds more friendly or unfriendly towards you with many guilds not accepting you as a member anymore, which also greatly increases the replay value over Skyrim's simple "imperial or stormcloak" version which turns up to look almost exactly the same quest-wise with only the guild name you're in being changed.

Oh yeah, I forgot about your other needs aside from exploration. I should probably note that you'd most probably find Morrowind's combat system a complete disaster.

yeah i heard 2 was much better. i wasnt given much reason though, so maybe its because of some mechanics added to 3 or nostalgia for 2? either way, im not that big of a fan of assassins creed.

actually, speaking of mechanic changes, is 2's combat different? i really didnt like the whole "slow motion! enemy has a red icon! COUNTER!" it made the combat cinematic, but not too... engaging? lol its a bit odd to phrase

yeah i see ur point, chaka. but yeah im a ps3 gamer, so no pc :/ i mean, oblivion does look appealing, but i really feel like id be comparing it to skyrim too much and that would greatly take away from oblivion's value

Well, it pretty much has everything TES has, set in a different world. But it is boring I only finished the first time couple of weeks ago despite having it for years. So get it if you're curious, but don't spend much money on it

I wouldn't recommend any TES games that aren't on the PC.

fair enough if you didn't like it

point in doing the like hunting and sharpshooting is it gets you fame

p.s don't think you can really mention grinding when you began your thread post with 'i love skyrim'

I love the Game of Thrones RPG, but that's more if you enjoy classic RPG mechanics, skill point placement, traits and all that jazz.

Mafia 2 is a good game, given it's a very story driven game (But the DLCs are meh), Littlebigplanet is great too.

aww really? thats a bummer to hear. it looks really fun, im just hoping if i do get it, i wont be let down. i just downloaded a demo of it im about to play so i can see firsthand how it plays

i know that id heavily prefer skyrim on pc, but that game is sixy on ps3 too. ive put... idk how many hours into it. ive made many characters... id guess around 250-300 hours? such a good game!

i never cared much about the fame system. i think that was the whole karma system, right? where if you wore your bandana, you wouldnt have any consequences and could go around stabbing people with throwing knives?

and in regard to skyrim, besides smithing, i never really grinded. and even then, idk, i felt really rewarded with leveling smithing. for the outcome of better armors and the solid thud sound when you made something that sells for a lot. i also found ways of making leveling smithing go INCREDIBLY quickly. glitches are awesome

i like all sorts of games, so ill check out game of thrones RPG. and yeah if mafia 2 is short then i dont really see myself getting it.

btw your signature is awesome xD

Edit - so i watched a review on game of thrones. the first thing he said was this game isnt good, which made my laugh, but then he said it wasnt bad. it looks like a pretty cool game, but i haven't read or seen anything regarding game of thrones, so i dont think itd be right for me