Weird/exotic (fantasy) settings

[rogozhin]

Fantasy usually bores me to death with its stereotypes, but I've been thinking about how much I enjoyed PS:T and Morrowind back in the days for feeling truly alien in their surroundings, cultures and creatures. There was a sense of wonder and discovery in those two settings that I haven't encountered in any other game since then, and I'd love to once again play something full of strangeness and/or mindfuck. Even just a fantasy setting that is not based on medieval Europe for a change would be nice, I guess.

So, any suggestions? I'd be fine with sci-fi that focuses on the weird and/or non-RPGs with a significant amount of exploration as well.

 

[Monstrous Bat]

Dark Sun - everyone's favorite AD&D setting, and for good reason.
Geneforge - pretty innovative setting, with lots of cool ideas (living lockpicks!)

 

[SCO]

I'm going to be a asshole and recommend something that is not a RPG, and is kinda genuinely 'medieval' : Azrael's Tear.

Also, check my sig no-cd link, it details how to increase the speed of the game in dosbox too.

 

[agentorange]

King of Dragon Pass
Dark Souls

If you're willing to emulate a PS2:
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

 

[Nukester]

Its kind of old, but the first one that came to mind was Albion
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/albion

 

[felipepepe]

Strangeness and mindfuck? Go play E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy.

 

[flabbyjack]

Strangeness and mindfuck? Go play E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy.

This

 

[agentorange]

EYE is one of the most derivative settings I've ever seen. I suppose it is exotic as an example of just how poorly so many things can be ripped off.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Wizardry: TotFL
Dark Spire
Fallout 3 - Orcs vs Paladins in post-apo setting

 

[WalmartJesus]

Majora's Mask - It has that same amount of exotic and alien weirdness found in PS:T/Morrowind ..but in a zelda game.

 

[Jick Magger]

Sluggish Morss

 

[tuluse]

There are a lot of adventure games that I believe would fit your criteria.

I would say Loom and the The Longest Journey both fit the bill.

Also, there is a first person beat'em'up called Zeno Clash that definitely has weird down. No real sense of exploration with this one though.

 

[octavius]

Unreal.

 

[catfood]

Give Treasure Adventure Game a go if you say that you want a game with a quirky setting and lots of exploration. And it's completely free on GOG.

 

[Gragt]

Mask of the Betrayer: how to breathe some exotism and wonder in the old and overused D&D setting.

The Zork serie and the other games that take place in the same setting feature fantasy with a large helping of comedy. if you like exploration and figuring things out, you'll love most of them. Wishbringer is a fantastic introduction to both the setting and the IF genre.

Loom: a beautiful tale in a beautiful world—also by Brian Moriarty who did Wishbringer for Infocom.

Simon the Sorcerer: might not be what you're looking for since it's a parody of traditional fantasy settings, but the game is simply charming and most of the jokes hit the right spot, and some are simply hilarious. It has its issues and annoyances but still ends up as a pretty good adventure game.

Sengoku Rance: the Rance world is a pretty cool place and this one takes place in JAPAN, and wherever you go you must also rape.

The Discworld games: well, it's Discworld! That should tell you all you need to know.

 

[Night Goat]

It's not as exotic as some of the games listed, but Guild Wars: Nightfall's setting is based on Africa and the Middle East and provides a nice change from Fantasy Europe and Fantasy Asia.

Knights of the Old Republic II is fantasy in space, and puts a lot more thought into its setting than any other Star Wars spinoff.

The Secret World does a modern fantasy setting pretty well.

The Exile/Avernum setting is clearly based on D&D's underdark, but it's still something that isn't seen in a lot of video games. It's interesting to see how people survive deep underground. Exile 3 is like a reverse underdark campaign - you start in a relatively hospitable underground area, and go to explore the much more dangerous surface.

Seconding: Geneforge and Mask of the Betrayer. I'm not sure Unreal counts as fantasy, but its setting is much more interesting than that of a typical FPS.

 

[Eyeball]

Al-Quadim: The Genie's Curse is set in a pseudo-Arabian world based on Arabian Nights folktales. It's a pleasing enough little game, despite being very light on RPG elements. I recommend it.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Al-Quadim: The Genie's Curse is set in a pseudo-Arabian world based on Arabian Nights folktales. It's a pleasing enough little game, despite being very light on RPG elements. I recommend it.

Argh, you beat me to it.

While we at it, Spelljammer was pretty unique too, if we're talking about DnD settings. Magical ships in spaaaace, fuck yeah! Kinda condradicted Planescape, but whatchagonnado.

Ravenloft can be pretty weird too, vampires aren't the only thing it had, it was very flexible for a horror-themed campaign.

If we're talking about tabletop games, then I should mention Deadlands - Weird West setting, really unique, and, sadly, lacking PC game implementation.

Surprised that nobody have mentioned Shadowrun though.

 

[rogozhin]

I'll definitely try Dark Sun / Al-Qadim and some of Vogel's games as well as Loom and The Longest Journey. Albion looks pretty much like a perfect fit but then again, a German game with furries might just be too degenerate for my fragile sensibilites.

Zeno Clash doesn't really seem to be what I'm looking for, but I already love its character design after looking at a few screenshots.

Unsure about EYE, might be either genuinely interesting or trying too hard.

Sluggish Morss looks TRIPPY AS FUCK. I like that.

Japanese / cutesy / multiplayer stuff isn't really my cup of tea and I feel rather meh about KotOR II; I know it's supposed to be a pretty unique take on Star Wars but that's still too familiar / played-out a setting. Maybe I'm too biased for my own good in those regards.

Somehow I've never played the original Unreal, only the first UT and Unreal 2 (well, yeah, no comment on that one). I pretty much suck at FPS, sadly.

I did play MotB but that was really more about the PC being an anomaly in a rather tame world than the other way around. It had some great freaky moments (OOM, Myrkul) though. I also have KoDP installed, tried it for 20 minutes a few weeks ago, had no idea what the fuck I was doing and decided to play something else first. I think I'll give it another try tonight.

Thanks everyone so far, should be enough to keep me occupied for a while. More recommendations are always welcome of course.

 

[Farage]

FFT

 

[warpig]

Entomorph has an interesting setting and atmosphere, too bad the combat is incredibly shitty.
Mars: War Logs - the story starts promising but unfortunately goes down the shitter later. The game can be enjoyed "for what it is" but proceed with caution.
Anachronox - I didn't like it, but a lot of people fap to it.
Bloodnet - some cool 1990's cyberpunk, has crappy combat but its's an interesting game.
Xenogears - proceed with EXTREME caution since it's a japanese desudesu waifu kawaii piece of shit "rpg". I played it long time ago and liked the setting and the story. Of course the story is ful of jap-shit, angsty heroes, long dumb monologues etc. Oh and the gameplay is kind of crappy since it's a jrpg.

And play EYE. It's a very cool game, even if you don't find the setting all that interesting.

EDIT:
http://af.gog.com/game/unrest_special_edition?as=1649904300 maybe this could be interesting (I didn't play it)

 

[Jick Magger]

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.
LSD: Dream Emulator
All Of Our Friends Are Dead
Digital Devil Saga, if you're up for testing your luck with an emulator, also has a suitably alien and abstract world.

 

[Raghar]

EarthBound.
You should know that magical bee is messed in the head, and tripy.
It's a story where boy meets bee, go to his father for a pocket money, and goes to journey with bee, his smelly dog, and his friends. Journey if his parents know what's happening it would get him grounded for sure, perhaps even on 10 years.

 

[Astral Rag]

Quake

Dungeon Keeper

The Alice games

Sacrifice, MDK

Giants Citizen Kabuto

Goblins series + Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth

Normality

Harvester

 

[Raghar]

Also LCS. (LIBERAL CRIME SQUAD)