Very true, but there are (dual-) sword bearing ninja to play as part of the team, as well as two types of magical professions, taking power from "the void", that offer invocation, summons and mêlée buffering tank monks. And mechanics with robotic minions.

Early JRPGs can by somewhat Tolkien-esque. We see that in early Final Fantasy, where you have some appearance of elves and/or dwarves in 1, 3, 4, and 5. Even looking at the enemy list, we see some similarities with Dungeons and Dragons; Final Fantasy 1 has goblins (as the most basic enemy), mind flayers (SORCERER in NES translation, anyone who's played that version will remember that enemy, and *not* fondly), and beholders (replaced with eyes in the US release and later Japanese releases due to trademark and/or copyright issues).

Dragon Quest 3-5 have elves and dwarves (though I don't remember any dwarves in DQ4); DQ3 has a village of elves that don't like humans, and I believe there are plot-important elves in 4 and fairies (maybe elves as well?) in 5. With that said, it feels like DQ5's whole plot point of "only children can see fairies" comes from some mythology. I also note that Orcs appear in some of the games as enemies (at least 2 and 5). On the other hand, there are robot monsters in some of the games (at least 2, 5, 6, 7, 8; in 7 there's even a subplot involving them).

Cool rundown, thanks. I'm moving my PC to the TV soon to play an Assassins's Creed and might finally play FF12 or 13 afterward, we'll see. 12 looks best to me because of its more open nature.

I'd certainly recommend many of the Piranha Bytes games, although you need to go into them with a few things in mind and making sure that some of their quirks aren't deal-breakers for you (many of scientiae's complaints about Elex stem from things that are pretty standard for PB games). Gothic 1-3 are great games, although with a few caveats. Gothic 1 uses a rather atypical control scheme that often has people pulling their hair out for the first couple hours of gameplay, although after a while it starts to feel quite natural and easy to use (when given the choice in Gothic 2 to use the Gothic 1 control scheme or a more typical one I chose to stick with the Gothic 1 controls). In Gothic 1-3 (especially 1 and 2) you're very weak at the beginning, and other characters have no qualms about trying to kick around the weak new guy. This can put quite a few people off the games early on. Gothic 3 also has some large balance issues through the game depending on the type of character you choose to play, with mages having things pretty easy once you pick up some key skills, and melee characters having a pretty rough time, especially with some janky hit boxes and reach issues with certain enemies. I'd consider Gothic 2 (plus the Night of the Raven expansion) to be the best of the series, but Gothic 3 also holds a special place in my heart as the huge world is just a joy to explore.

For the Risen series I consider Risen 1 by far the best, with a well designed world that takes a lot of inspiration from Gothic 2's design, plus the tightest gameplay across all the PB games (I've done multiple playthroughs with different character builds, and all were very enjoyable to play). Risen 2 and 3 got more interesting settings with the whole pirate theme, although the stories and world design didn't feel quite as tight, and gameplay quality took a big hit.

MysterD's description of Arcanum having Fallout 1/2 like gameplay is quite accurate, and the setting of steampunk technology crossed with traditional fantasy makes for a very interesting world. I played through the GOG version of the game shortly after it was released here and don't recall running into any serious issues, although I might have just gotten lucky. As others have mentioned there is also an unofficial patch to fix things up more. I also agree that Steampunk is a criminally underused setting, and unfortunately don't know of many hidden steampunk gems (Steampunk open world? Shut up and take my money!). One game you might want to take a look at, though, is Vaporum. It's a dungeon-crawler RPG, very similar to the Legend of Grimrock games, but with a full on steampunk setting that I liked quite a bit.

Calling that brand of fantasy "Tolkienesque" might be a bit misguided. It's actually more directly inspired by D&D, Ultima and Wizardry. In the 80s, as said by the author of the Berserk manga, the "Tolkien group" as he called it was tiny. People who actually liked Tolkien and western fantasy were very few. The japanese made their own brand of fantasy which was more like a Disneyland type of elves and dwarves fighting around than the often gritty, overly serious nature of Tolkien's european folklore fanfiction.

Thanks for your overview of the Piranha Bytes games, it seems like you know them very well. Do you think I'd be alright giving Elex a try, if it looks cool, or would you recommend I try Gothic I first? It's less of an investment if I end up not liking it.

If they're good games in an interesting, original, immersive world, I don't think I'd be put off too much some janky combat mechanics. I mean, it's not as if Morrowind is the height of action-oriented combat these days either. I'm also totally fine with minimal hand-holding and a tough learning curve with a new character. I absolutely Hate level scaling (one of the other reasons I wasn't a big fan of Oblivion). In my book, a level 1 character should be the lowliest, mangy bootstain that salutes to rats, but a high-level character should be basically a god. I mean, why else are we putting in all this effort to level up our characters? Just to face the exact same level of challenge we did at the start from your average roadside bandit? Pff ...

Sometimes people get tired of the common settings and want something different.

Just like some people get tired of playing games of a certain genre and want a specific other genre.

(For example, as much as I like Celeste, I would not recommend it in this topic, as it is the wrong type of game.)

Given the price Elex is currently at, I'd recommend starting with either Gothic 1 or Risen 1 (both are only $10), and wait for Elex to show up on a sale.

Also, regarding your comments on character advancement and level scaling, none of the PB games have any kind of level scaling, and you'll find yourself figuring out what enemies you can and can't deal with at a given time (usually there's pretty good telegraphing that something should be avoided by weaker characters), then coming back later to crush those enemies that previously made you run for your life.

Ok, thanks again, I'll probably try Gothic 1 first. So, if I like that, you think there's a good chance I will like Elex?

Hello Time4Tea!

Maybe I have missed it, or misinterpret the type of roleplaying games you are looking for, but have you tried "Anachronox" (from the former studio Ion Storm)?

Gameplay in "Anachronox" is a mix of the so-called Japanese roleplaying games (think of Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy) with separate turn-based battlescreen and point and click adventure game in a stylish sci-fi setting. It has a lot of quirks and humor! Unfortunately, its biggest downside is the cliff-hanger ending, because the studio closed before being able to continue the story. What is in there with respect to story and character plots is well developed, though.

Definitely, recomended, and it is available here on GOG.com!


Another far stretch might be the "Sea Dogs" series of games (originally by the Russian developer Akella). Think of real time sea faring battles during the age of sails mixed in with a simple trading model, (a little bit of land) exploration, clumsy sword fighting and somewhat light roleplaying mechanics regarding ship upgrades, ship maintenance and character progression. My biggest problem with the games are the lack of character generation (some games in the series let you at least choose from very small options) and an unintuitive control scheme, which needs some time to get acustomed to.

GOG.com has three of the games, which were have been translated and released in the West, titled "Sea Dogs" (the actual first game), "Sea Dogs: Caribbean Tales" (formerly known as "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales" resembling somewhat the third installment) and "Sea Dogs: City of Abandoned Ships" (formerly known as "Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships" in the West). Unfortunately, in my opinion at least, the newer the game in the series does NOT mean it is better!

"Sea Dogs (2000)" (I) and "Sea Dogs: Caribbean Tales (2006)" (III) are more freeform, sandboxy games and severly lack in the story department. "Sea Dogs: City of Abandoned Ships (2009)" has more characters and plot quest to choose from, but I absolutely do not like the level-scaling (similar to original, vanilla TES IV Oblivion!), which destroys for me the feeling of or perception of progression in the game. I have no experience with the most recent one, "Sea Dogs: To Each His Own (2012)" (available on Steam), but heard it involves quests with time limits and still has quite a lot of bugs.
To be honest each of these games had a very buggy release, but in my case seem to be relatively stable.

My favourite of the Sea Dogs series is the second entry, "Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)", which actual has only very loose references to its title's licence! Unfortunately, it is not available for purchase in digital format, only second hand retail copies. Despite its lower resolution, console like user interface with huge buttons and text font (it had been released on the original Xbox, as well) and older game engine, I think it has the best atmosphere and much cleaner well-rounded overall aesthetic and gameplay. The north american PC release has a little bit weaker graphical fidelity in its water shaders (less environmental reflections), but does not come with the horrenous copy protections of the superior European releases.

I can not vouch for the diverse community modifications, since I prefer to play the games in their (almost) original/vanilla form (except for patches to fix severe bugs). Some of these are, for instance, Build Engine12/13 or New Horizons for "Pirates of the Caribbean", Historical Immersion Mod [aka Supermod] for "Caribbean Tales" and Gentlemen of Fortune for "City of Abandoned Ships". One reason for me to not play with those modifications are their impact on the sea / water animation, resulting in a more oily appearance, especially when it is darker in the ingame evening or night times. Again, I still prefer the smooth representation of the sea and colors in the stock, vanilla "Pirates of the Caribbean" (Sea Dogs II) and its better matching ship movement on the waves.

Other games (to a degree similar to Sea Dogs series) with a pirate themed setting, such as Man o War Corsair, Tempest, Blood & Gold Caribbean, did not appeal to me aesthetically and lacked in the depiction of sailing (wind effect). From the Risen series, I would recommend primarily the first one. It has more of a mediterrain setting, is exclusively on land and very similar to the Gothic trilogy (same developer). The second Risen game is more of a pirate setting and has only a limited bit of sea faring included.

Maybe, I went totally offtopic, I do not know. ;-)

Kind regards,
foxgog

Yep, Elex is pretty much the classic Gothic formula in a new setting, so if you enjoy Gothic 1 I'm pretty certain you'll enjoy Elex.

My only major gripe with elex is LOCKED BUTTONS Who the F*** in this day and age does this?

Almost forgot: Star Ocean. It plays like sword and sorcery, but is set in a futuristic setting. Many of the games actually take place on primitive planets, but significant portions of the game are on space craft and such.
Almost forgot: Star Ocean. It plays like sword and sorcery, but is set in a futuristic setting. Many of the games actually take place on primitive planets, but significant portions of the game are on space craft and such.