I'm looking for a fantasy adventure, can you suggest any?

I'm looking for PC games that would fit these requirements:

• Fantasy
• Can go around doing inconsequential stuff (hunting/smithing/brewing elixirs/etc), just being immersed in the world
• Story-rich, allowing my choices to influence the plot
• Many (all?) problems can be solved in other ways than fighting
• NOT statistics heavy, preferably no statistics at all
• NO turn-based combat, preferably no combat at all
• Aesthetically pleasing

I'm looking for a fantasy game I can immerse myself in. With interesting lore, beautiful, vast world full of secrets, lots of stories, interesting characters, side-activities...

Unfortunately, most RPGs focus on skill trees, statistics and combat, which is not what I'm looking for. On the other hand, adventure (point-and-click) games have interesting stories and usually don't emphasize combat - but they are too linear, with little side-stories/activities and no exploring. I feel like I never even got close to what I'm looking for. Maybe the best, short description would be "an open-world RPG without combat".

Games I've already played/intend to play, and how they do/don't fit what I'm looking for (many of them are great games that I thoroughly enjoyed):

• Witcher - too combat heavy; wondering around the world quite boring (with only more bandits/monsters to find); no rewarding side-activities.
• Morrowind - closest to what I'm looking for. Many non-combat quests, big world full of stories and secrets, engaging lore. Horrible combat, incomprehensible magic, tiring walls of text full of references to things I have no idea about.
• Skyrim - bandit camps simulator with bland characters, constant dungeon-crawling and environment I found extremely dull. Very satisfying crafting system. I loved just wandering around, hunting stuff to sell or make a new armour. Shame I couldn't go three steps without something or someone attacking me. Also, ungodly amount of bugs.
• Kings Quest - loved the whimsical fantasy setting, enjoyed the story and gameplay. Unfortunately too small and linear, not possible to immerse oneself.
• Other games with problems similar to the ones I mentioned: The Book of Unwritten Tales, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Gothic, Risen, Dragon Age...

@elleanora:

Morrowind - closest to what I'm looking for. Many non-combat quests, big world full of stories and secrets, engaging lore. Horrible combat, incomprehensible magic, tiring walls of text full of references to things I have no idea about.

Have you considered Oblivion then? I don't see it in your list. Otherwise why not try Morrowind with the Overhaul mods or something.

I can't think of many games that fit your description that you haven't already played, but if you can look past Fantasy perhaps try the Sci Fi setting RPG Deus Ex. You can play the original Deus Ex without killing anyone, it's all about choice.

@RSM-HQ

As for Deus Ex - I haven't played it, but I know about it. It seems to be quite close to what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure if it allows "living in a world" the way eg. Skyrim does. Still, I'll definitely play it one day, but I'm really in a mood for fantasy right now.

@Enragedhydra

I've never played any MMO, they all seem so grindy and combat-heavy. And I'm definitely not going to start with a paid one; maybe I'll try Tera one day - it looks very pretty.

@elleanora: Well that's why I put it at the bottom, I always felt you could wonder in Deus Ex, its missions are set outside of your exploring hub world which changes everytime you return. The hub being a mini openworld, as are the missions.

Most my favorite fantasy games focus less on immersion and more on satisfying combat, the Monster Hunters, Dark Souls, and Dragon's Dogma. And I think they're even further away from what you're after :T

It's not fantasy, but maybe something like the guild 2 or grand ages: rome.

Honestly though, the anti combat thing is a killjoy since you'd probably love the shadowrun reboot games, ie Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, and Shadowrun Hong Kong.

Oceanhorn maybe

Hatoful Boyfriend

Undertale

Dropsy

Costume Quest would have been good but it's a weird type of turn based

DreadOut

Lucius

Alien Isolation

Children of the Nile

@RSM-HQ

It seems that I accidentally cut out some of my reply. I said that I haven't played Oblivion, because it's world and aesthetics seem much less interesting than Morrowind and it's combat/gameplay much more clunky than Skyrim, which is why I've always tried one of those two instead. Maybe I'll give Oblivion a try one day, but I'll probably check out Enderal first.

@putaspongeon

I honestly have hard time understanding how you came up with these games. Grand Ages: Rome - I haven't played it, but it's an RTS, so I'm pretty sure it's statistics-heavy, has lots of combat, I doubt it's story-rich or allows for just wandering around the world. Also, as you have noticed, it's not fantasy. Could you explain how Alien Isolation or Lucius relate to things I said in the first post? Or Children of the Nile - isn't it a city building game?

@elleanora: Oblivion overall I prefer to Morrowind, and this is coming from someone who recently did an Overhaul 3.0 run on Morrow.

To say why I prefer Oblivion, even why it's my favorite Elder Scrolls game?

For starters The Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles are two of the best expansions the series has ever given us. Not playing Shivering Isles in-on itself should be a crime if you're a fan of the series.

Finally I just prefer the quests, jumping into a painting to catch a thief with a paintbrush. The best version of the Dark Brotherhood. I really could go on_

Oblivion is the one I actually like to replay most. Though I do recommend some Mods to increase variety in the vanilla world map :P

Skyrim I just can't replay, even though I did enjoy my time in the game back in 2011. The NPCs straight up annoy me. And it's a glorified Action game that lacks the RPG spark, you don't even have a character class.

Morrowinds issue for me is English isn't my first language and it's very text heavy. And the translation Mods I've found are not ideal. Plus the quests, are not as good as Oblivion (imo)_

*Putaspongeon has a reputation here for just giving random lists, usually with Yakuza 0 at the top. I don't think he reads even half the topics he replies in. Just dumps a ton of games, hope you'll enjoy some and moves on (usually back to System-Wars). I don't think he even plays 10% of what he posts anyway. But at least his posts 'can' be helpful if you're struggling to find a new game_

@RSM-HQ

Well, if you recommend it that much, I'll give it a try :) though "RPG spark" and "classes" sound like lots of complications I could do without.

I recently found out a game called "A Tale of Two Kingdoms" that - aside for being rather ugly - seems to quite fit what I'm looking for. Have you heard about it? As far as I understand, it's like an old point-and-click, but with branching story paths and side quests.

*Yeah, his other post has convinced me that he's not a kind of person I'd want to reply to.

@elleanora: I heavily believe in going for what >you< want to play, in the end my opinion is just that. An opinion, however when it comes to recommending games I put away my own personal taste and try finding out what others really want from the experience.

I have no information on A Tale of Two Kingdoms but if that speaks to you more? Best to check it out, you know what you want from a game better than anyone else.

Happy gaming :)

try ragnarok journey then.. :)

Two Worlds 2 was an overlooked gem, if there ever was one. Been a while since I played it, not sure how it has aged.

Divinity II is not as open as others, but it is definitely fantasy. You get to be a half man, half dragon...half...knight? Pretty fun, pretty high on fantasy. Very aware of it, too, pokes fun at its self. Itself?

I'm not sure they 100% satisfy your requirements, but I don't think they've been recommended.