RPG Newbie - Suggestions?

Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 are must-play RPGs, just like both Witchers!

PokeCrysis > You sound like you didn't read the original post. He played Skyrim, I don't see why you mentioned DOTA 2, and what he mentioned as reference are nowhere close to FF3 or Mario RPG.

Skyrim and Dark Souls are the top notch of the most modern (and free-world games for Skyrim, haven't played Dark Souls myself), so once you provide them as references, I would say you can only find games with slightly less freedom and quality. Skyrim expansions also do not address what the base game provides.

All the titles that come to my mind are:

"Dragon Age I" is a really quality game but its also a party game, which your previous experiences are not. So it might not fit, you have to weight the "party game" aspect.

"Dragon Age II" has some less freedom of play but is still epic and quite artistic. So... it also might not fit.

"Fallout 3" has been a real disappointment to me regarding freedom of play; I would say it does not compare to Oblivion or Skyrim, as the world sounds much smaller and the ways to "exploit" it are more numerous and more easily found. It still has a very nice start, though.

"Witcher I" and "Witcher II" come to my mind as games with choices, a whole adventure, epic story and mysterious, adult dark touch. But you are bound to play one character, even if you may make it evolve in a few ways so the lack of character creation might bother you. I feel that the Witcher series detracts from your previous experiences; they stand as the most adult and brainy and deep experience to me when compared with the other titles, but that cannot set them as favorites, since they are not Skyrim-like.

What does that leave you with?

The whole Mass Effect series, while they do not entirely provide a "different playthroughs" nice experience, still provide an adventure with large content and some freedom.

I am actually looking for references like Skyrim-like games.

So I only described what has been proposed so far, for you to have more clues about what to expect.

While waiting for a suggestion from someone, I would advise to play "onetime experience" awesome RPGs, like Mass Effect, while waiting for more "sevral playthrough full and free RPGs" like Skyrim to have real next episodes. Dragon Age I also sounds as a not risky experience, since it shall not cost much nowadays while providing nice hours of RPG time.

It does fit with the "RPG newbie" feeling since you are pretty much guided in Mass Effect or DA1, but still have some freedom.

But you have to understand that these shall then be played while waiting for sequels like Skyrim or Dark Souls :)

just play fallout, it's skyrim with guns, you could also play oblivion or morrowind, watch danny o'dwyer's escape from mount stupid on the elder scrolls think you'd enjoy it!

I just suggested these on another thread but a couple "entry level" RPG's I enjoyed (and are cheap used for X360) are:

Two Worlds 1 & 2 - graphics/controls better with 2 but for $3 used I picked up the first one and played it through.

Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning - accessible and engaging.

Both of these are solo adventures, no parties.

One that was already mentioned, Dragon's Dogma, is being re-released 4/23 with added content. I played the original through a couple of times and experimented with various classes. You also create a "pawn" who is your main ally and recruit other players' pawns throughout the game. A different and kind of interesting mechanic.

Also I liked both Borderlands - SciFi FPS with RPG character development. Fun stuff.