Decent 3D sci-fi RPG?

[Loony BoB]

Is there one?

I remember those games where you used to travel around a galaxy or two, shootin' up spacecraft and taking on mercenary (or storyline) missions and all that. But I haven't kept up with games of this variety. Do they still make them? I'm in the mood for one.

[Karellen]

Xenosaga and Star Ocean: Till the end of Time.

Beware: Long-ass cutscenes in both.

[Loony BoB]

After looking at a trailer to Xenosaga III, I should probably say that I'm looking for more of a Star Trek feel than a Final Fantasy feel. :)

[DK]

Star Ocean: TTEOT is :skull::skull::skull::skull:e anyway, you don't want to play that.

As for the question at hand, I think MILF is probably someone who would know about this sort of thing. :monster:

[Karellen]

After looking at a trailer to Xenosaga III, I should probably say that I'm looking for more of a Star Trek feel than a Final Fantasy feel. :)
Xenosaga Episode I is more of a traditional space opera then the later installments. By III Monolith Soft pretty much sold out and made a game more like FF in order to appeal to a larger fan base. Ironically, it was the weakest selling title in the series.

Although if it's Star Trek you want, I think the first Star Ocean game borrows pretty heavily from it. There is a PSP remake coming out in the foreseeable future that you might want to look out for.

[Burtsplurt]

I remember a Microsoft game called Freelancer, but that's probably quite old now.

There's a more recent game called DarkStar One, but I haven't played it.

Or you could just forget about playing computer games and watch the new version of Battlestar Galactica instead (highly recommended).

[Odaisé Gaelach]

Even though it is an FPS, it does have some RPG elements. It's closer to Star Trek than Final Fantasy, and it is very, very scary - System Shock 2. :)

[KentaRawr!]

A Sci-Fi RPG giving a Star-Trek feel? I wish. >_> Star Ocean and Xenosaga seem to be the closest games fitting to that description. Both are good games, but over half of Star Ocean seems to take place on a planet. I suppose Xenosaga might be the one for you out of the games I've played. However, there was an RPG for the X-Box I think that was very sci-fi like, but the game was still very action-ish. I just wish I remembered the name. >_<

[Dreddz]

Other than the ones already mentioned, The .hack series, Phantasy Star Online and Universe, Rogue Galaxy, Digital Devil Saga, Nocturne and Breath of Fire V.

Not saying all of the above are good or Star Trek like.

[Shoeberto]

You people are dumb for having not suggested Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to him yet. Because it's like exactly what he described.

Seconded on the System Shock 2 recommendation, as well.

[XxSephirothxX]

KOTOR's pretty fun unless you hate Star Wars or something. Also, coming this November, Mass Effect (I believe it's hitting PC anyway) will be awesome. And I've heard good things about Rogue Galaxy, which you can get on the PS2. Well, I'm not sure it's out in Europe. But look it up.

[Madame Adequate]

The kind of game you are talking about sounds a lot more like Elite than cRPGs such as those listed here. Seeing as a fair number of those have already been listed (Rogue Galaxy bears special mention, as it fits almost exactly the criteria by that interpretation), I'll list the ones I think of by my interpretation of what you say. The key thing I'm reading is "shooting up spacecraft", which I don't think is part of many games listed here so far.

Freelancer is middle-aged, but it's quite a bit of fun and fairly solid. That said, it isn't particularly deep, I found. Worth picking up for some good action, not for the more long-term build a personal fortune kind of stuff.

X2 and X3 are far deeper affairs. They've got a fairly large universe and what is ultimately a free-form setup, although there are storylines in each you can engage in. If you do ignore them, you have a very great deal to engage in anyway, trading, missions, alien incursions, even setting up factories and production lines and such.

I've never played Darkstar One, but it is apparently Elite-style, and from what I see has generally favorable reviews.

Other than that, you start getting into far more constricted things where you have a main mission you are railroaded along, but which allow side missions to be done. Although it's a PSX game, a good example of this is Colony Wars: Red Sun. Upsetting to those of us who wanted more Navy vs. League action, it was still a pretty solid and fun game that can suck up time.

And finally, if you want to get really hardcore, you play EVE Online. It's by far the biggest game world I've ever seen, with hundreds of systems, thousands of planets and moons, thousands of stations from which to get missions, and a vast, intricate economy which could require real-life knowledge of economics to fully exploit. Very, very time consuming, pretty darned hardcore if you want to get far in it, and very good if it's your bag.

[Heath]

You people are dumb for having not suggested Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to him yet. Because it's like exactly what he described.

Yeah, I was honestly quite surprised it took this many posts until KotOR was mentioned because it was the first thing that came to mind.

[Zeromus_X]

You'll definitely want to try Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Star Ocean: The Second Story is great too, just beware the horrible voice acting...and of course, watch out for the remake of the first two Star Oceans on the PSP.

A little thing though, although all of the SO games have science-fiction backgrounds, much of the games take place on an underdeveloped planet, which gives them more of a fantasy feel for a good portion of the story. But there's still plenty of sci-fi, since they all borrow heavily from Star Trek.

As for a more heavily sci-fi themed RPG, I would definitely recommend Rogue Galaxy.

[Dragonsoul]

Lookout for Mass Effect for Xbox 360 in November.

[Shoeberto]

You'll definitely want to try Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Star Ocean: The Second Story is great too, just beware the horrible voice acting...and of course, watch out for the remake of the first two Star Oceans on the PSP.
I've only played SO2, but that's definitely not what I imagine with his description of what he wants. It's really a lot more fantasy than scifi once you get past the intro.

[Loony BoB]

Freelancer is providing both Danielle and I much fun on LAN, so thanks to Burtsplurt for that suggestion. Might try out some others mentioned once we're bored of that... but the LAN function was both unexpected and a huge added bonus.

[Madame Adequate]

See? Ah wuz rite. He wanted stuff like Elite, not stuff like Star Ocean. :p

That's why I'm Billy Cranston and you guys are not.