Big ES fan and all but I came across OB only after playing Dark Messiah. Mind you DM was a cool game but since then (and OB) I really haven't seen any 1st person fantasy games. There's quite a few new 1st person shooters but whats up with the lack of imitation in the fantasy genre? If OB was so popular why aren't there other open world, single player, 1st person fantasy games with tons of lore, weapons, armor options, etc. from other publishers?

Many have tried to imitate Oblivions success if you haven't noticed. One such game is Two worlds and the now Two worlds 2. The first one was criticized for so many things it did wrong the anyone else can tell you about. But there are many more like it out there yo umay not know of.

large open world games require a significant amount of resources to pull off so they're riskier financially. They're also hard to pull off without a large team which further limits who can practically consider them.

The number of games that feature large open worlds has certainly been increasing but they're generally in other settings - probably mostly due to developer interest but it wouldn't surprise me if some studios want to steer clear of being labeled and Oblivion-clone.

I haven't gotten around to it myself but I know a fair number of people on the forum enjoyed Mount&Blade. It's not strictly a fantasy setting from my understanding (no magic or goblins or what not) although I'm pretty sure it isn't a historical medieval setting either.

No. I haven't noticed. Two Worlds isn't 1st person. Neither is Dragon Age nor Witcher.

Dark Messiah did a pretty good job of looking like Oblivion, But I hated the linear story.

I think the OP is talking about 1st person fantasy games, not open world fantasy games.

In that case, I agree with you in that 1st person fantasy games are rare. In a way, it's harder to create than FPS games which only require the pulling of a trigger, as opposed to swinging a sword. Perhaps it's just one of those things that isn't explored in the video game market.

I think currently any developer who thinks of First Person Fantasy game, thinks of MMO, so the likes of Oblivion are rare.

Besides, fantasy games require melee fighting and other animation that are better presented as 3rd person, so they are more presented as such.

The only other one I know of is Two Worlds, that is not in the 1. person though.

I did see a project on some point which looked like it was gonna be a 3./1. Person Fantasy game, it was called http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/project-offset-gameplay/188382, and it got http://kotaku.com/5577979/intels-project-offset-game-cancelled.

Well, http://www.reckoningthegame.com/ looks promising. It's an open world RPG, and Ken Rolston (lead designer of Morrowind and Oblivion) is participating on it as well. I'll be getting it when it's comes out.

Mount and Blade was a great first-person open-world game, but as Hungry Donner said, it's not the same play style as TES. It feels more like a board game until you get into a battle or a town/village. However, I feel like the wealth of options available in Mount and Blade were far greater than in Oblivion. It was like having all of Tamriel open to you, being able to start in any province, ally with any kingdom, start your own bandit group, become a master trader and play the market... it was almost endless. But the presentation meant you had to use your imagination to fill in the gaps quite often. Not sure why I'm referring to it in the past tense... Mount and Blade Warband was released in March I think...

Thief is a famous fantasy game series in first-person, and DaMuncha already mentioned Dark Messiah. It's also worth noting that Ubisoft has revealed they are reinvigorating the Might and Magic series, which was a popular first-person fantasy series back in the day. It'll be interesting to see how much effort they put into its revival, considering they are capable of funding AAA games like Assassin's Creed.

Third-person open-world games are much more common than they first appear, but still not as common as the market dominating first-person shooter. Check out Two Worlds 1 and 2, Gothic 3 and 4, Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, Risen, Ventica, and the Fable series. I agree that another direct first-person competitor would be great though. Especially if they can really rival Bethesda's TES series. Competition always raises the bar, giving gamers more of the games we love, with a better overall quality.

I've never come across anything quite like TES' approach of open-world games.
Ofcourse there's Fallout 3 and NV, which are quite similar be it in a different setting, but compared to oblivion they still felt limited to me.

Mount and Blade indeed is great fun, but very different from TES: the board game comparison is a pretty nice one, as the only realtime 1st/3rd person action is in battles or walking around towns.

I too am looking for similar products, but I guess there's not much available.

+ Gothic 1 and 2. How could you forget those two? D:

Not to mention the fact that R.A. Salvatore created the world and Todd Mcfarlane is on board as well... It looks very promising. :drool:

Reckoniong looks like an action-heavy 3rd person RPG. It won't be anything like TES.

The fact is, TES still has zero competitors in its particular space, and I too wish this would change.

Seriously, no one has immitated the TES formula of a 1st person, open-ended, open-world RPG in which you can interact with nearly everything.

Interaction = objects are more than just scenery. In every other RPG, books on shelves, plates on tables, clothing on NPCs... It's simply there. You can't steal/move/read/interact with it in any way. Games like Dragon Age are fun, but they present a sterile world that lacks the immersive nature of what TES offers.

It would be exciting to see a competitor emerge, even if it didn't have the same production values. It could look no better than Mount & Blade. So long as the above formula was followed, I would certainly be interested, and I wouldn't be the only one. So many companies are chasing MMO money, but there is a huge untapped market for truly immersive single-player RPGs.

This is my point. The 'BGS' formula with MW, OB, and FO3. Popular games and yet no other design studio has stepped up and said 'yeah, we can do that too'. They've just left a whole in the market for BGS to wander around in at their leisure.. unchallenged.

Oblivion is not only 1st person
90% of my Oblivion game time is in 3 person view. Other 10% are in 1st person view when I shoot a bow.

I doubt there will be anytime soon such a game with sand box feel. Devs these days prefer to make MMOs instead. Other so called "open world" RPGs are pathetic. Fallout 3/NV are great thou, but they are Bethesdas games so, yeah.

The only reason that there are no others is that they don't know how to make them right.

I actually quite enjoyed Two Worlds and I am currently enjoying the sequel. Sure it's not perfect, but I would certainly compare it more to the Gothic series than Elder Scrolls. Except the Gothic series isn't good, at least not anymore.


I can NOT believe you just said that O_O

As for first person open world RPGs I'm pretty sure Elder Scrolls is the only noteworthy series left. If only Might and Magic still existed but alas that is not the case!

?? Wasn't aware there was anything controversial in the statement.

I enjoy Bioware games as much as the next guy, but Dragon Age lacked exactly what I spoke of. Almost all the objects in the world were mere scenery, with no physics and no interaction. You'd see a bookcase and maybe be able to read a passage from one book (and even that was rare). You'd see a table loaded with food, but you couldn't pick up or eat any of it. Most objects in the environment were simply there for appearance. That's a sterile world.

And don't even get me started on all the invisible walls. Nothing says "immersion" like walking into an invisible wall, perhaps denoted by some knee-high rocks that you would have no problem stepping over in real life....

I was voicing this for a while. No competitors. In addition to open world and first person, I would like to add the skill system based on practicing. But better with unlearning.

If TES V turns out more far away from Morrowind experience which would be very normal with games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and The Witcher around, and off course add the winning formula of Oblivion, ...

I don't know how to end that sentence...

The other unique aspect of the Elder Scrolls series is the lore. I've played "Gothic 2" with its fantasy religion, and it's like the bare skeleton of lore compared to Elder Scrolls. I'm currently enjoying the Guild Wars MMO, which is slightly deeper but still only a sketchy outline compared to TES. The Elder Scrolls is almost unique in giving us a depth of lore like this, in my opinion.

I loved Dragon Age, and the way it handled the Andraste religion was commendably positive, but even DA doesn't have the wealth of books and philosophies that TES has.

I think the closest game to the game play of TES is GTA:IV. Both worlds feel real and are open to exploration, both are fantasies in their own way, the quests are decent. GTA:IV lacks dialog options and trading, but it has in decent car combat while TES lacks combat on horseback entirely.

If Rockstar made a open-world fantasy RPG, my bet would be on it being pretty awesome.

the few fantasy rpg games out there are excellent games imo good games are hard to make and i guess companies would make more money doing generic first person shooters

This is true but Dragon Age was also the first in it's series so it may become more fleshed out lore wise in future titles. At least I hope so because I love(d) Dragon age.

I think Dragon Age and Diablo are the only RPG series' that could ever really compete with the Elder Scrolls series. Diablo should be obvious and Dragon Age because, while the actual mechanics of it are drastically different, the actual world and storys it portrays have the potential to rival the Elder Scrolls, if they are done right.

And naturally it doesn't help for the Elder Scrolls that only one game is easily accessible to your average gamer these days, one game is only accessible to those dedicated to get more out of the series at the cost of accessibility (which is what makes Morrowind great, I think, for RPG beginners. Gets them used to actual rpg aspects rather than FPS-esque gamplay), and two are just off limits to anyone who isn't willing to put up with not only the amount of stuff you have to do to get the games to work, but also the just plain oldness of the two first Elder Scrolls games. (the other ES games I don't count here as with or without them, ES would still be as immensely popular as it is now)