Looking for a good free-roaming do-anything space sim, any suggestions?

I'm looking for a good space sim (must be able to run on WinXP) that allows the player to basically roam freely and engage in any kind of activities he/she wishes. Examples: mine for certain materials, sell them, use the cash to upgrade your weapons or your ship (or buy a new ship), go out and hunt down pirates and blast them to hell, steal their cargo, sell it...etc.. you get the idea. ;) The game could optionally have a critical path to follow, but not required. Maybe something like Oblivion in space, basically. A critical path, optionally several side quests, but MAINLY the ability to just explore planets, space stations, mess around, etc.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Played X2.. was cool until the enemy alien race (with the unfortunate name of "Khaak") showed up, and started raining on my parade. The game was way too hard, in my opinion. Not sure if X3 is going to be much better than that.

But.. Freelancer: noted. Also, I hear FreeSpace 2 is good but I'm not sure how much it lets you navigate around and explore freely..?

Played X2.. was cool until the enemy alien race (with the unfortunate name of "Khaak") showed up, and started raining on my parade. The game was way too hard, in my opinion. Not sure if X3 is going to be much better than that.

But.. Freelancer: noted. Also, I hear FreeSpace 2 is good but I'm not sure how much it lets you navigate around and explore freely..?

MDesigner

freespace 2 is not a free roaming game. it is fantastic though and well worth a play.

for offline ure choice are either the X series or freelancer. if u want to try an MMO then eve online is very good i hear.

I haven't played it personally (definitely considered it), but you could also look into Parkan 2.

I don't think it ever made a stateside release, but I've heard it described as Grand Theft Auto in space --- could be interesting ;)

If I didn't know any better, I would think you were describing Eve. I realize you mentioned that you want an offline game, but I'd HIGHLY recommend at least getting the trial to see for youself. It's not like other MMOs, it's still the only truly open MMO on the market that I know of. Of course, it's also the most complex MMOs out there due to how open and deep it all is. It's definitely not a game that appeals to everyone, most people give up during the tutorial. If you want a truly open space sim with limitless possibilities Eve is your game.

Freelancer is the best i've played and im the kind of person that gets bored by a space game pretty fast :PTuzolord

I'm the same way. I played X3 and I was completly overwhelemd and severly lost at what to do. The qoute-unqoute tutorial wasn't helpful in the least. Freelancer however is easy to pick up and is fun to boot. Not only that the community is still kicking pumping out loads of mods (Some have around 500+ new ships). So yeah, I also cast in my vote for Freelancer.

Independence War 2bogaty

IW2 was a great game! Good story, decent ship controls.

What about mass effect? It half fits your description.death1505921

Eh.. not quite. You can't change ships.. you also can't dogfight and steal your enemies' cargo. You can SORTA scour planets for minerals and such, but you can't sell them (as far as I know).

So it looks like I'll be checking out X3 and Freelancer.. and possibly Eve Online. Thanks for all the suggestions!