Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Free Roaming RPGs

When setting out to make this top ten list I came to a realization: There really isn't a whole lot of free roam when it comes to RPGs. It's always advertised, and I always feel like there is a little bit, but we can't confuse side-questing with free-roaming. They're two entirely different things. At any rate, these games are rated on their amount of free roam and the limitations placed upon it.

I find it pretty strange that a NES game made this list, but it is what it is. Not only are you allowed the freedom to build a party of any classes you want, you can immediately do anything you're able to once you begin the game. From exploring the world to delving into dungeons, Ultima Exodus gives you tons of freedom for a NES game.

This game has a lot of linear adventuring, but also a lot of free roam. Once you reach a certain part in the game you can choose the order in which you do four large dungeons. After those four dungeons you get even more freedom with your free roam when you choose which order to defeat several dragons in. This isn't the greatest amount of free roam, but since all the dungeons and dragons are mandatory it's a nice touch on the down-slope of a great game.

Final Fantasy VI (III in the U.S.) was the second game I played with a large amount of free roam. Initially I thought there was free roam both in the first and second worlds, but most the free roam in the first world is false. However, free roam in the second world is astonishing. Once you acquire the airship again you can choose to go directly to the final dungeon, collect items and equipment, magicite, or even the wide variety of playable characters. Since it's almost required to have twelve characters for the final dungeon, most of this work is mandatory, which constitutes free roam as opposed to side-questing.

For a more or less traditional console RPG, Saga Frontier boasts an amazing amount of free roam. There are several different stories you can play through, and each story has a varying amount of free roam. Some stories may keep you stuck tightly to a linear path for the most part, but eventually break off into an area where you can explore the galaxy freely. Other stories (like Blue or Lute) allow you complete and total free roam from the get go. You'll be able to go anywhere you desire, farm equipment or recruit characters, master schools of magic or do anything else that pleases you. For console RPGs, Saga Frontier takes the cake when it comes to free roam.

In Mass Effect you'll have to do quite a bit of linear foot work before you get to a point where you unlock the ability to roam freely. Still, you'll be able to travel to almost any star system in the game and to any planets in each star system from there. What makes the free roam in Mass Effect really great is that anything you do is level based; so the order in which you do things won't be restricted by the difficulty of the task. This is true when it comes to exploring insignificant planets or doing the main plot missions. You really can choose to complete things in almost any order you desire.

I didn't know what to make of Sacred the first time I played it, but eventually came to enjoy the game. You'll be thrust into a massive world with complete free roam. As long as you're strong enough to stay alive in an area you can go there. With gigantic towns and an overwhelming amount of enemies to kill you'll be able to do whatever you want.

Free roam in Arcanum is somewhat limited based on advancing the main story, but there is a very limited amount of things you can do that will require the main story to be advanced. This leaves you with a lot of freedom to balance your magik vs. technology, recruit characters, do quests, kill enemies and loot a lot of goodies.

The third and second place games on this list are more or less tied for placing, because each of them allows you to do anything you want immediately after you start playing. Nothing is dictated by advancing the main story, and you can play for many hours into each of these games without advancing the main story at all. Two Worlds gives you a wide variety of equipment and a somewhat limited amount of skills to explore the large map and complete anything you want at any pace you desire. You'll get scores of dungeons to clear, teleporting stones for convenience, tons of quests and several large towns to shop in.

As soon as you get out of Vault 101 (which takes a few minutes, since it's basically a tutorial) you'll be able to go anywhere in the Capital Wasteland. You can do any quests you want, explore any dungeons you want, farm any equipment you want or kill any enemies you want. Anything. Fallout 3 has so much free roam that the last two times I played I skipped doing the main plot entirely and was able to max out my level, get the best equipment, and explore almost the entirety of the Capital Wasteland. Now that's free roam.

It sounds like there are seriously mixed feelings about Morrowind, but in terms of free roam you can't beat it. Not only can you do anything you want as soon as you start, you're given all sorts of great magic to help you along with anything you desire. You can use levitation to get to the top of annoying mountains, spells that assist your jumping height so you can get to a far away town in about three leaps, water breathing spells to search underwater ruins and all other manner of great exploratory magic. You can join any guilds you want (for thieves or mages or both, etc.), do any quests you want, explore any area you want and literally do anything at all. This includes killing every single person in a town, if you so desire. If you want total freedom, play Morrowind.

I didn't expect that almost all the games on this list would end up being PC games, but that's the way it goes. There are a few other games that would have been nice to see on this list, but they just didn't make the cut. King's Field II (PS) and Baldur's Gate II (PC) are a couple that got edged off of here. Regardless, if you're looking for free roaming RPGs then consider any of the games on this list. They're all decent games and they all have massive amounts of free roam. Enjoy.

List by FeralBerserker (06/03/2009)