Hi. I am looking for a new perfect Adventure/RPG game to scratch my itch.

Hi! New to the forums.

I am having some difficulty these last few months to find a game to sink my spare time into. I have a certain idea in my head but I have not been able to find any games that quite reach the criteria. I don't even know if I have a set criteria in my head its just an itch I can not scratch.

Basically I am looking for a game with a sense of adventure. The story doesn't even need to be that great as long as u can adventure and explore. You have set goals ... quests I guess, missions maybe? So its not a complete mindless grind for levels or loot. Maybe the missions/quests help you with the exploring I mentioned. Now I know MANY MANY games have this, and I do enjoy them all, but they do not scratch the itch I have. The reason for this is because I am looking for a very particular type of Loot and Crafting system.

I am looking for a game where your crafting of items, weapons and armor is rewarding. They do not really need to be super useful, just rewarding. But I do not want the game to be completely crafting like Minecraft or ARK: Survival Evolved.

I am looking for a game that offers epic loot from chests or monsters. I know this sometimes clashes with the idea of crafting being important but there must be a game where your epic loot is actually FOR your crafting.

For example lets imagine have farmed resources for a few hours and now I have leveled up my Weapon Crafting skill, and as a result I have a pretty sweet Battle Axe. So im killing mobs for some weird guy whos daughter was kidnapped, and the Bandit boss I killed to save her has this really nice shiny Epic Diamond of Gorgonath or some crap. So that is now going to upgrade my crafted weapon even more, or add some Gorgonath Monster ice/fire/death beam onto it or something. Or a new spell ... or stat. Stats are awesome too but not a necessity.

I know most MMORPGs fir alot of my criteria, and I enjoy MMORPGs alot, but I get disheartened when I start to need to rely on other people to progress. I can do my crafting on what not in MMORPGs fine but you get toa point where you can no longer get stronger without the aid of other people, and I am a serious loner in gaming. I spend most of my work day dealing with fools I use gamign to get away from people.

My all time favorite games have been:

World of Warcraft - This nearly suits my criteria. Actually one of my favorite all time games. But I am over it.

All Zelda games - No other adventure games compare.

Skyrim - For its smithing, dungeon delving, loot, and ability to adventure where ever you want.

Elder Scrolls Online - Again for its loot and adventure and smithing.

Final Fantast 8 (loved the junction system)

Pokemon - Gotta catch em all. The collecting and finding new monsters to collect is very intriguing. As well as the leveling of them and getting new abilities etc as you progress. Always something to look forward to.

ARK: Survival Evolved - Again, the adventure and crafting, but it also has the cool collecting thing Pokemon has. Oh man if this game had more depth, some NPCs or quests or something it would be epic.

Witcher 3 - Adventure, and just overall epicness. The crafting is completely lack luster.

Suikoden series - Adventure and story. There is a small collecting thing in your ability to acquire new characters for your army but mainly the story and world.

Fallout 4 - Its basically a post nuclear war Skyrim.

Games I have tried and have been recomended but no really gotten into:

Dragon Age: Origins

Divinity Original Sin

Path of Exile - To be honest I have not played this for more than like 30mins. I should give it more of a go.

Sorry , I know there has been many topics like this but I cant find what I want. It probably doesn't exist, but I thought I'd give it one last attempt in person.

Thank you!

- Jinchu

P.S. Any console is fine. I'll try anything, even small indi games or RPG Maker games if they actually fit criteria.

Fallout New Vegas

Dark Souls Games

If you have a PC or laptop, doesnt have to be a gaming PC because these games will run on anything -

Undertale

To The Moon

Not sure the TC would like To the Moon, since there's next to no exploring/adventuring in it. Pretty linear story, no leveling, none of that. Don't get me wrong, it's an INCREDIBLE story (I cried), but doesn't really seem like TC's cup of tea.

I would definitely agree on Fallout New Vegas, and what about Final Fantasy XV? The story is messy, but the exploration and quests are great! It's a huge world, and I've had a ton of fun with it so far. Then there's the Borderlands series, ever tried that one? Pretty big world, loads of quests?

Did you ever try the Gothic series? Or Risen? You might be into that.

The souls series sounds about right for you. They are a bit on the hard side and they are not open world but exploration is one of their core drives.

I also agree with other games mentioned here: Fallout New Vegas, Gothic series and Risen are all great. Imho FNV is one of the best RPGs ever made, despite its shortcomings.

• Okami HD
• Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne (Dark Souls II Scholar of the First Sin get the pc, ps4, or xbox one version)
• Borderlands 2 (again get the pc, ps4, or xbox one version)
• Antichamber (this should run on a cheap pc)

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen or a Monster Hunter title, 4G is the best MH game.

Or a Dark Souls may also be what you're after, like many have mentioned.

It's tough to pick between the these because I'd probably pick MH for most of the best elements found in a good RPG outside story, however MH is very multiplayer focused and is better with a friend or three.

I'm not sure if this is the game with the perfect crafting system for you sisnce it hasn't been released yet but it might have the adventure part for you and maybe everything else upon release. I haven't tried the beta either (since I'd rather wait for the full release before I pay for it (or maybe it will be free I'm not sure)) but I think you should check out Albion Online, it looked really promising to me.

@jinchu84: The game you just described is Kingdoms of Amalure: Reckoning.

• The story is decent, but not great
• You can craft your own weapons, armor, potions, then break them down and use the component parts to make new ones
• There are hundreds of quests that take you all over the map and they are well laid out on your map and inventory screens
• The world is vast and beautiful
• The combat is good enough to be a straight-up action game
• It's single-player

Well, Id say get Kingdoms of amalur, the Reckoning.

-it has splendid crafting system that allows you to craft great armour and weps from very early on. And once you put some skill points to it, it gets even better. The game has the best crafting system I've come across.

On top of that, it has big world that is pretty easy to explore (just run past the monsters to the next village!) and has ton of treasures hidden away. Put some skill points into spotting treasure skill and you will be finding some amazing stuff.

Graphically the game looks very much like traditional WoW, and still looks nice when I play it on 360. It has good battle system too and all that.

Other RPG I love is Sacred 2. Massive world full of treasures. It has very little crafting in it, but otherwise is it a hidden gem, as the world is splendid looking and full of treasures. Needs solid PC to run smoothly though, despite it's age.

yup

it's essentially an off-line MMO, and I mean that in a good way. Great game, did not perform well sales-wise, but is well thought off by the people that did play it.

I might actually revisit that game again, I never did finish it and I put at least 20+ hours into it.

Wow! A HUGE thank you to everyone who replied you are all awesome. Excellent community!

I don't know where to start or who to reply to first. Lets see. Well, first of all I am not sure weather or not I made it clear how important the crafting is to me ... and farming/looting materials for the crafting as well. I did not actually realize there was crafting in Dark Souls at all, I've always thought it was like a super linear hack and slash type of a thing. I will have to look more into it!

Fallout New Vegas has always been on my to do list. I have always put it off because I was never too impressed with the crafting in Fallout 4. The loot everything you find aspect was cool, and the occasional upgrade to your weapons and armor was nice as was the stat leveling. The game just did not quite scratch that itch I have for crafting. Which I know is odd because its quite a rich system. Hmm, I've just realized maybe it's only because you tend to be crafting guns, rather than swords etc? Maybe my itch needs swords and axes and magic?

I have just started Kingdoms of Amalure and it looks very promising. Cool combat too. Ill let you know what I thought once I've sunk more hours into it.

Finished FFXV recently. It was an epic game, no crafting though.

@jinchu84: Cool. I think you will enjoy it. Something you should know though, there are a few game breaking bugs to look out for and many small glitches. I recommend checking online to avoid or workaround them, and also keeping a save file from a few quests back just in case you get caught in one. There was never an official patch because the developer went bankrupt shortly after release. You may also want to read up on development of the game as it is a tragic but fascinating story.

@mrbojangles25: I haven't finished either, and I'm about 75 hours in. It's one of those games I play for a while, then take a break.

You don't craft items from raw materials in Dark Souls but you upgrade your weapons and in some of the games in the series your armor. These upgrades are hugely important as is the hunt for upgrade materials. The games are definitely not super linear hack and slash. They are RPGs with very deep systems and although they are not open world they have tons of secrets and even optional areas and bosses.

Kingdoms of Amalur is a fun game that has several issues. The thing is, most of these could have been fixed with a patch. The devs were already talking about adding a higher difficulty setting (the game is extremely easy on highest difficulty once you have good gear). The problem is that the studio went under before they had time to. For those who enjoyed the game don't be remiss to play the DLC. Especially the first one is really good.

New Vegas is excellent game, although it has aged a bit badly.

-if you do go for it, then do not install any of the DLCs. I've tried them all, and they are very crude stuff indeed. F3 had much better DLCs.

So, play New Vegas the way it was supposed to be played, without DLCs, and you will have one of the most memorable rpg experiences of your life. Yeah, it's that good!

As for Amalur, it is worth travelling fast to bigger cities if you like crafting. Bigger the city/fort, better crafting materials you can buy from the traders. And with those quality materials you can craft some kick butt equipment. Also, dismantling loot for materials is a good idea, as is using lower quality materials to build items you can sell for money and so on. Well, you'll get the hang of it I'm sure.

After you've played Amalur like 30 hours, you'll be tough enough to take down some of the more epic bosses, which will give you really good gear as loot. But untill youre that tough, crafted weps and armour are the way to go. Especially magic weps of utter destruction. Oh yes...

@RSM-HQ: Dragon's Dogma is usually overlooked that's a good one.

@playmynutz: Probably because the vanilla game had many problems that didn't get fixed till it's 'Super' edition with DD: Dark Arisen.

It's a great game and enjoy playing it every now and then. It's much better than Dragons Dogma Online_

You might want to give Xenoblade Chronicles X a try, it's on the Wii U.

It sounds like the Monster Hunter games would be perfect. The entire game is premised on boss battles, loot, and crafting. The 2 most recent games in the series are on 3DS. Most recent home console version is Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on Wii U exclusively. I love it.

I also recommend Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on Game Boy Advance and the sequel on the DS.

Also Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow on Nintendo DS is one of my favorite games ever and the weapons are upgraded by crafting the collected souls of demons in the game to the weapons. This game is the direct sequel to Castlevania Aria of Sorrow on the Game Boy Advance which I have never played but is supposed to be the same game play mechanic.

Shadow of Colossus is one of the most immersive "adventures" I've ever been on in a game. It is minimalism in gaming at it's finest.

demon souls, dark souls 1-3, and bloodborne

go download this game. Age of Kungfu.

Nice game.

Certain things don't age very well and I'm not sure if anyone mentioned,

Dark Cloud

It sounds exactly like what you're looking for and I'm playing through the game right now. It's a dungeon crawler for PS2 with randomized dungeons of different themes with a huge variety of weapons.

Not only do you collect survival and antistatus stuff from the dungeons, you get these specific materials that can be attached to a weapon to increase a particular stat. There are 19 individual stats with corresponding sortable item. Some innate like attack and speed, some elemental, and some type-specific like Beast Killer or Mimic Breaker.

Weapons also have their own XP and Health. If it breaks, it's gone, but endurance upgrades and repair powder aplenty. When a weapon is ready to level up, (this is where it really gets interesting) it can permanently absorb the slotted items and their attributes.

When weapons reach particular levels on particular stats they can evolve into higher tiered weapons. If a weapon is level 5 it can be broken down into an off that can be slotted worth 60%of its stats. Including the starting stats of some weapons, that can be major.

Lock on combat is comfortable. Learning enemy movesets is the challenge. There is a homebuilding aspect that you can half was but I think is very rewarding and charming.

Give it a try

Dark Cloud. Maybe Dark Cloud 2. I prefer 1.

Not sure if this counts as an "Action Adventure game" but the .Hack G.U series was released on Steam last month as ".Hack//G.U. Last Recode" it's a .Hack game so its got a Anime style theme but basically the plot is Glitchy sentient game locks people inside, puts people in comas, and you have to solve the mystery. Played them when they were on the PS2 and really enjoyed them myself. Game attempts to simulate a "MMO" environment in a single player game and while it doesn't really work I still enjoyed my time with them. Might be worth a look if you have slugged through all the normal recommendations.

@christofu42: Your post makes me want to play Dark Cloud again. I guess I forgot how deep the weapon customization and crafting were. I also prefer DC1 over DC2. They were both good but the first one felt more authentic like the way Toan, the main character, wore that poncho thing and the music. It felt like different people in different areas had different cultures and the game stayed true to that theme. It was very immersive tbh

I'm like 99.9% sure you and I have the same itch. I love playing skyrim (and mine is modded to hell). Most of my mods enhance the immersion factor. My favorites are Frostfall and Campfire. I recently started playing again and hit a snag that just comes with the territory when playing a modded game: one of my mods has been updated, but another that relies on it hasn't. So of course I'm bummed about that. Well I started thinking "I wish there was a game that fit my desires that I didn't have to rely on mods for." So far nothing I've given a go has fit my need. I think I've managed to map out my criteria for the perfect game to "scratch my itch."

1. Not an MMO, but has to be an RPG (I've played MMOs and they're fun, but I like playing the central hero)

2. Not straight survival/craft like Minecraft (I love Minecraft, my husband and I play it together, but there's just no story there)

3. Has a crafting system, but you're not dependent on it (I like Skyrim's crafting system even without the mods because it is simple and it levels with you)

4. Has to have an overarching story (Skyrim's plot may be simple but it is fun and puts you as the central hero/special snowflake)

5. Also needs lots of side quests (I enjoy helping strangers in games no matter how small the quest may be, whether it's Dragon Age, Witcher, or Elder Scrolls, I do all of the side quests. It fleshes out a good open world and provides character development)

6. Must be open world, and must realistically mirror time of year and environment with weather, and the effects of this on the character. (This is the main thing Skyrim is missing w/o mods. It has always bothered me that I can just jump into near freezing water and come out perfectly fine like hypothermia isn't a thing. Additionally, different races that come from different home climates would not be effected exactly the same way. For example an Argonian would succumb to the harsh cold weather much faster than a Nord. True Storms, Wet and Cold, Frostfall and Campfire do an excellent job of fixing this. However, that's four separate mods to fix one aspect of a game. And at least two of those mods are dependent on SKSE. So when that updates the mod creators have to update the mods and me as a gamer has to wait. And I'm not upset at the mod creators, they do something amazing and I appreciate all the hard work and time they put in.)

7. More immersive character design. (So far my favorite way for designing characters is with Dragon Age Inquisition)

8. Player homes (Skyrim did this well, but it could have been more in depth. I have yet to find a game that does this perfectly though.)

9. In depth romance. (Skyrim is so lackluster when it comes to romance it's not even funny. Dragon Age Inquisition did a brilliant job, but it was still missing something. Witcher 3 had the something that was missing from DAI, but was lacking in the development aspect that DAI had.)

So, sorry for the long post, but I hope this explains my dilemma. Any game suggestions? If there isn't a game that fits this list I will not be surprised, just sad. But I'm curious if you guys know of any.

@gamerkittyf: You should have just made a new thread, bumping something from February seems odd, considering you had a lot to say yourself_

Not an MMO

Most listed above are not MMOs

More immersive character design. (So far my favorite way for designing characters is with Dragon Age Inquisition)

Inquisition has one of the worst character creators I've come across in games. Slightly tweak facial features. . and that's it. What makes it good?

Must be open world

I would question why? If done right linear map designs have far greater gameplay possibilities. But my assumption is it's your preference.

In depth romance

Do you want people to recommend you an RPG or a Dating Sim?

Despite everything, I'm just going to recommend Divinity: Original Sin II, I didn't for OP because he seemed to want something more action focused. However considering character creator, romance, simple crafting, and story mean far more to you. It's a better game to recommend for your list of requirements. It's also just one of the most open-option RPGs you'll ever come across.

In future just make your own threads/ don't raise the dead.

Divinity: Original Sin II

Yes! +1

@gamerkittyf: Zombie thread bump.

-Byshop