Free roaming, Non turn based RPGs

Hi, I've been out of the video game scene for a long time now, but I'm just getting back into it! One of my old favorite games I've dug up is Mega Man Legends (along with FF7 too!) and was looking for others.

I've searched around a bit under "Action RPGs" but a lot of the suggestions I could find were games that were very linear or even staged based. I really liked the free roaming aspect of Mega Man Legends, since I was able to go off and do many different tasks for other characters. (all while building up my items/stats) The fighting system was manual action, rather than turn based, which fit the game very well.

I never owned an SNES or Sega so no game could be too old. Or even too new for that matter, since I'm only now just getting back into games!

You might like the Megaman Battle Network games on GBA/DS. They're RPGs with a pretty cool active-time battle system. Alternatively there's Megaman Zero which is a sidescroller with RPG elements.

Exactly what you want I'm not sure, because what I tend to think of as a free-roaming RPG isn't much like Megaman anything, but here's a pretty good place to start:

Wide Open Sandbox - Television Tropes & Idioms

Obviously there's plenty of non-RPGs on there, but there are some good ones to look at too, like the Elder Scrolls series and stuff.

Mega Man Legends seemed entirely like a game of its own. It was nothing like the other Mega Man side scrollers you'd imagine. I sometimes wonder if 2D Mega Man fans found this 3D iteration very disappointing.

I'm not looking for another GTA like game because those don't have a lot of RPG/building up your character/stats elements in it.

Elder Scrolls type games are closer to what it is, but those games seem SO big that there are many useless areas that feel like they've been generated/created for size rather than a unique purpose, and sometimes filled with characters who will repeat similar dialogue.

I guess Mega Man Legends was just on a smaller scale, where most of the people you met always had something unique to say. Or at the very least, you didn't have to sift through as many random characters to meet them. I'll try to check through that site.

The Fable games fit this description, at least 2 and 3.

Although I grew up with the 2D Mega Man games, Legends is my favorite MM series. Of course, I like all the MM series.

Demon's Souls, if you don't mind letting the game crush your soul and willpower.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'll give those games a look. I also looked through that site from a few posts up and checked through a few of their genres lists. It's hard to tell though sometimes what the actual gameplay is like for many of those games

I'm eager to know if there's anybody else who's also played Mega Man Legends and knows of any more games!

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is worth a shout, it's notably different to Oblivion and if you don't mind the older graphics then it might suit you well. Also, isn't Zelda similar to what you're asking for? Not sure myself as I've never played it. I'm told Alundra is similar to Zelda though and I enjoyed Alundra and it's definitely what you're describing, if a little old-school in graphics (again).

The Fable series does indeed sound like it could be what you're after. You could also try the Gothic series and (I think, not 100% sure as I've not played it myself) the Witcher series.

Graphics don't bother me at all, any older games are fine. This may sound crazy, but since I never owned an SNES my only experiences with Zelda was over my friends house on their system. I don't remember if Zelda had a lot of character building/ stats and items gathering?

Vampire: The Masquerade sounds like what you're looking for. Other than that, the Fable series is all I can think of!