Good "Exploration RPGs"?

[Binary]

I have to agree that MMOs have, generally speaking, bigger landscapes to see

If you don't like monthly fees, Guild Wars Prophecies is probably your best bet - you can get the GW+GW:EotN combo pretty cheap these days

prophecies is big, but it's a nightmare for explorers. bad, buggy map design and essentially nothing interesting to see in any of them.
factions and nightfall are much better options than prophecies.

Absolute and total nonsense. Factions is limited and explorer-unfriendly. Nightfall is only slightly and marginally better but way less varied in landscapes.

Prophecies has the map variety in terms of landscape (barren, ice, forest, tropical, rainforest, volcano, desert) and the world is open with freedom of exploration without being limited by missions

 

[Data4]

Try an MMO. Seriously, the gameplay may be crap, but there is some fun to be had just checking out the various locations. Even WoW is good for that for a time. LOTRO is also good for a nice, albeit scaled down representation of parts of Middle Earth. I'm partial to how they did the Shire.

Both WoW and LOTRO have free trials.

If you wanna pay a monthly fee to walk around join a fucking gym, fatass.

-10 for trolling fail. I'll let Ebonsword decide what he does or doesn't want to pay for. Some of us have jobs and can afford a monthly subscription, should we so choose.

Hit a little too close to home, eh?

Priceless.

 

[LCJr.]

Uncharted Waters 1 + 2. Hardly RPG's but they're fun and have a lot of exploration. You can find English versions for PC, NES, SNES and Sega Genesis.
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/513/U ... aters.html
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/276/U ... izons.html

I'll second Betrayal at Krondor.

 

[ghostdog]

Gothic 1 , 2 as already mentioned and Wizardry 8.

 

[Nael]

Gothic 1 , 2 as already mentioned and Wizardry 8.

As much as I love Wiz8 one thing that I didn't like about it was something that Fez mentioned about being "boxed in". There are opportunities to explore in the game, sure. But the maps have that walled off, walking around in a giant bowl feeling that I don't dig so much. That's why I prefer the MM series over Wiz8 from an exploration standpoint. Character/party development in Wiz8 trumps MM however, IMHO.

EDIT; One good thing I can say about exploration in Wiz8 however is that there are a lot of big encounters one can miss in their first playthrough. I never saw the the "Undead Cathedral" in my first 3 games. All I have to say is that Fang is fucking awesome for a shield using fighter/tank.

/2 cents

 

[fastpunk]

The Gothic series are good for exploration. I can't speak for Gothic 1 but G2 is really good. I also got G3 a few days ago and I'm loving it so far, though performance is a little shaky. My guess is 1GB of RAM just isn't enough for it. Good game though, despite what most people say.

 

[Elwro]

The avernum games are situated in a huge underground world that I think is a blast to explore. Other than that Gothic 2 and Ultima 7 are two of the best exploration rpg's I know off.

True, all this. I also enjoyed explosing the island in Geneforge very much.

 

[Ebonsword]

Thanks for the recommendations!

I picked up a used copy of Arx Fatalis for $6 at Gamestop the other day and I've been playing it for a bit. I'm liking it so far--it feels very much like Morrowind. Very atmospheric.

It does seem to be a bit linear, though, but maybe that will change after I make more progress.

I'll keep my eye out for cheap copies of some of the other games mentioned, too.

 

[SuicideBunny]

the story is linear, but there are multiple solutions or approaches to nearly everything, and some hidden stuff that influences the ending.