I think you're looking for Kingdoms of Amalur.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1041720/Kingdoms_of_Amalur_ReReckoning/
this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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Ah yes, the single player MMO.
Have you played Dragon Age: Origins? It’s an older title, but sounds like it has everything you want.
And, if your itch can be scratched with something other than dragons, I’d recommend Mass Effect. The very first game in the trilogy is very much an RPG while the second and third games are more story and character focused. Overall, it’s just a good gaming time.
Mass Effect is my most favorite series ever. Also played dragon age and liked it.
The most generic, stereotypical fantasy RPG I can think of is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
I know you've said you don't want Skyrim, but the first thing that comes to mind is Oblivion, I can't think of a more generic, stereotypical fantasy RPG than that game.
In fact it makes me sad considering they retconned the lore of Cyrodil to a super generic LOTR fantasy land.
I really enjoyed Two Worlds as a generic RPG.
The new Dragon Quest games were fun too.
Also, the 'Tales of' series is fun if you can get into the combat mechanics.
Two Worlds is a gloriously bad game that is an absolute blast to play.
The game has a two-minute speedrun, because the main villain is right there when you start, and some invincible townsfolk NPCs can be tricked into ganging up on him.
honeatly, dragon's dogma ticks some boxes
Fuck. You're right...
The pawns are such contrived, video-gamey nonsense
Dragon’s Dogma?
The old Fable games were really good too
The original Fable is definitely some good-ass bog-standard fantasy. There's even a "guild of heroes"
I also go back to Skyrim constantly; it is probably my most played game. I have a hard time making a definite suggestion because I sit here many nights and wonder which game I want to play and frequently find that I don't want to play any of them (so I scroll Lemmy instead). That said, below are a few that might be possibilities and I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's suggestions so I can find my next game too!
You could check out the Dungeon Siege or Torchlight series. They're both Diablo-style gameplay, but in a super generic RPG setting. They're both older, cheaper, and okay game series.
The Overlord series is fun, its kind of a reverse RPG where you are the bad guy terrorizing the locals with your minions. The gameplay mainly revolves around directing your minions more than direct combat. It is a bit simplistic, but I really enjoyed it.
I'm not a fan of the Witcher series, but lots of people love it and it seems to check most of the boxes you're looking for.
I agree with the Oblivion suggestion. I'm always conflicted on this one because I think it is a better game than Skyrim in terms of quests and interactions, but the gameplay is a bit dated and there were some questionable design decisions that resulted in some major overhaul mods being built to completely redesign the leveling system. I would love to have Oblivion, but with Skyrim graphics and mechanics (mostly).
Kingdoms of Amalur definitely seems like it hits everything on your list. I struggled to stay interested in it long enough to finish it (I think I finished it), but I'm not sure why since it has all the elements I enjoy from other games.
Similar to KoA, Dragon's Dogma seems to have all the typical things I like in a game, but I've played it twice and not made it out of the starting region either time. I'm not sure what it is that causes me to lose interest so fast. There's nothing I can point to and say I dislike.
Greedfall is super weird (to me) and not quite a fantasy RPG, more like medieval fantasy RPG. It is generally an open world game, but not as open as Skyrim (fewer side-quests, semi-linear main quest line). I thought it was an okay game, the main thing that frustrated me is that there were some areas of the game where you could make decisions with major story impacts and other areas where you were not given any choice in the narrative. As a result, I sometimes felt like my character was taking actions that were not in alignment with the narrative I had created for him. I appreciated that the game seemed unique and not just copying something else that was successful and I think I played it on GamePass at the time, so it was kind of like playing it for free. :)
Personally I was really surprised by Greedfall. For some reason the story and setting and everything just clicked for me. I equate it to Dragon Age: Inquisition, but with guns. Tbh I never actually finished it though.
Good suggestions here, I disliked Greedfall* and KOA as well, but found Dragon's Dogma so good that I finished it on xbox and again on pc. If you like playing for the story it's pretty barebones but the ending is great, and the combat and character building (+sidekick building) are better than anything else. it holds up pretty well for a 2012 release, but make sure to play the Dark Arisen version as it added easier fast travel. It is bound to be on sale as the sequel comes out in March
*Greedfall is much more story driven but you can't avoid occasional combat
imagine the most trash isekai
There are plenty of JRPGs that are literally exactly like those animes. Isn't Sword Art Online one? I haven't played it, personally, but it sure sounds like .Hack//Sign (which I have played) but crazier.
None of the ones I've ever played were real-time, though. They're all turn-based like Final Fantasy or, at best, like the "Tales of" series.
Final Fantasy 7 remake? The first one might seem more sci-fi than fantasy given that it's entirely in Midgar, but the next one should have more of the fantasy world since that city and the casino were really the only high tech places originally. It's not turn based at least.
I am gonna give you some lesser known suggestions.
Chronicon - 2d Diablo like
Heroes Of Hammerwatch - same but procedurally generated levels
Grim Dawn - 3D Diablo like
Also I would check out Monster Hunter World or Rise, they aren’t exactly what you are looking for but the looting and upgrading loop might really be up your alley.
Oh yeah, what about Mount And Blade?
I appreciate the answer, I haven’t played any of those.
Yes, we all want a sequel to Skyrim.
If old graphics aren't a deal breaker, try the Gothic series, 1-3. They're about 20 years old but they're the only rival to the Elder Scrolls series. First person, action RPGs in open worlds with great storytelling and branching decision systems.
Isn't the Witcher series pretty much this? May not be as RP-friendly as others though.
If you're okay with a party-based, real time with pause system, there's Pillars of Eternity, Dragon Age, and Baldur's Gate.
There's also the Wizardry series, but I don't know much about it and they're quite old.
I haven't played any of the other games in the series, but Dragon Age Origin was solid
They are remaking Wizardry 1 under the banner Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord in early access on Steam
Well there's Adventure Quest but idk how basic you want it. Could go for Gothic or if you want jank then Two Worlds.
Gothic or if you want jank
I love the implication that Gothic is not jank here. It's a great RPG (the first two) partly due to being janky.
Nothing better than literally killing the unbreakable orc siege in G2 chapter 2 because they can't deal with sidesteps.
Maybe I should have said more jank. Two Worlds you can kill the final boss within the first few minutes of the game by having the villagers beat him to death.
Or stacking 30 traps on top of each other so when an enemy walks onto it they instantly die.
Or putting traps down in an enemys path and watching them hit every single one in a row.
Man i love how broken Two Worlds is.
Daggerfall, probably. You are john daggerfall. Your mission; to scrape randomly generated labyrinths for randomly generated macguffins. You have 50 arrows and must find secret doors. A zombie appears, pray you have a silver weapon and a potion of remove disease. Brave hero, accept this quest.
The only thing its missing is dwarves.
Monster hunter world will tick many of the boxes, but not all.
Have you tried TERA?
I have not, I’ll have to check it out
Is that still out? I thought it got shut down.
console servers are still up and running.
Check out mystic quest legend. It's old but it's intensely stereotypical
AKA Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in Eagle-land.
Which is an invitation to address Square's bizarre regional titles. It's called Mystic Quest Legend because the only previous Final Fantasy game in Europe was Final Fantasy Adventure on Game Boy, retitled Mystic Quest. Except it was already retitled - the original game is Seiken Dentsetsu, AKA Sword Of Mana. (Secret Of Mana on SNES is a direct sequel.) And they combined it with the other Final Fantasy series on Game Boy, Final Fantasy Legend. Except that's also retitled! It's SaGa. As in Romancing SaGa and Frontier SaGa, not that Yurp ever got those games either.
So it's a deliberately shallow spinoff of a series that'd already been renumbered from 3 to 2 and 6 to 3, rebranded to match a completely different franchise that was itself rebranded. This is Sierra adventure game logic. It's making a fake mustache out of cat hair to match an ID card which you've drawn a mustache on.
I haven’t scrolled all the comments yet, so apologies if this has already been mentioned, but Dragon’s Dogma passing a lot of those checks, if you can get over some minor jank. It’s definitely an action oriented adventure role playing game, where you can get quests to take out minor enemies, but also can have epic battles against dragons and giants.
A fun mechanic is clinging to and climbing larger enemies, you can for example jump up and grab the neck of a dragon and hold on while slashing at it. Or you can have your allies hold down an enemy so you can get a critical hit on it. The pawn system for allies allows you to customize and develop your allies to suit your needs and playstyle, and you can recruit other players pawns who come with their own memories and knowledges, but their voicelines can get a bit repetitive. Expect to hear “This enemy is weak to fire” a lot..
Overall it’s a unique and interesting game, worth checking out if you haven’t. Especially if you can get it on sale for cheap.
So this might not be the most helpful answer, but I think there have already been some great suggestions (monster hunter world and dragons dogma are both awesome).
Granblue Fantasy Relink, it is possibly the game that ticks every box. Has a single player story and is full of dragons and demons to kill, you are recruiting your crew and gearing them up for massive fights, it has some fantastic combat(had platinum games help on it).
The biggest downside is it isn't out til February, but there is a demo on Playstation 4/5 if you have one to try it on, unfortunately PC not getting a demo.
Castle of the Winds is a graphical roguelike, from the Windows 3.1 days. Pretty shameless in its 'oh no your peaceful village' trope. Also pretty shameless in ripping off other roguelikes... as was the style at the time.
Enderal is fairly good.