Feeling like playing a particular type of game...

[Serpentine]

Specifically, an exploration-heavy sort of a game. Somewhere between the first Baldur's Gate and Civilisation, perhaps. Is there such a thing?

[Gnoman]

You could look into the X or Elite series. Their spaceship-based, but hevily focused on exploration and trading.

[Serpentine]

Actually, now I think about it, I think I just described Avernum... No idea where to find it, though.

edit: Here (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/), apparently. But bloody Hell, they still want $20-odd for it?! o.O Aren't they, y'know, ancient?

[Yora]

As a huge Baldur's Gate fan, I think Dragon Age (1) is very bladur's gatey. There's not such a great amount of outdoor maps that have only 4 monsters and a completely irrelevant NPCs, (those exist in side quests) but otherwise it was quite nostalgic.

[Serpentine]

Nah, I'm going through Dragon Age for the second time. It's really not what I had in mind.

[Ogremindes]

Actually, now I think about it, I think I just described Avernum... No idea where to find it, though.

edit: Here (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/), apparently. But bloody Hell, they still want $20-odd for it?! o.O Aren't they, y'know, ancient?

Well you could buy one of the newer ones, he hasn't stopped making games y'know. His latest game, Avadon, is $10 on Steam.

And Avernum is easily worth $25. It's a massive game.

[lesser_minion]

You might want to look at some roguelikes (Nethack and Crawl are some of the more famous examples, Brogue and the original Rogue might be easier to get into).

They aren't the best games graphically, but they don't sound too far from what you described. Roguelikes do make a point of being unforgiving, however.

[joeaverage]

King of Dragon pass has tons of interesting events to find, with or without the Explore command, and it has that strategy game vibe since you mentioned civilization.

Space rangers 2 lets you find text adventures(SO MANY TEXT ADVENTURES) and RTS maps inside your space trading/fighting game.

Both games seem like labors of love with the sheer amount of content they have. They're not party based rpgs of course. Not sure how important that was.

[Serpentine]

Yep, it was definitely Avernum I felt like playing.
Feel free to keep discussing it, though! :smallbiggrin:

[factotum]

Ultima IV is currently free on GOG, you might want to try that!

[Cespenar]

Morrowind has exploration!

[dsmiles]

Oregon Trail? :smalltongue:

*ducks*

[Ogremindes]

Oh, probably should mention that Avernum is currently being re-made. Making Avernum: Escape From the Pit a remake of Avernum which itself is a remake of Exile: Escape From the Pit.

[Serpentine]

Morrowind has exploration!I considered Oblivion, but it was too much work for my current state of mind :smalltongue:

[Cespenar]

I considered Oblivion, but it was too much work for my current state of mind :smalltongue:

But Morrowiiind! :smalltongue:

Anyway, if you're sticking mainly to the exploration theme and not the genres of your examples, I'd suggest Knytt (http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt) and Knytt Stories (http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt+Stories) for some sweet 2d exploration platformer fun.

[WoodStock_PV]

Try Age of Wonders (the first one). Lots of exploration, 12 races to pick, lots of units. Really good game.

[Yhynens]

You could try out Star Control 2: The Ur-quan Masters (http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php), it's a game where you explore the universe and ally with various other races in order to combat a slave-trading centipede race. So, I guess it's sort of at an intersect between Baldur's Gate and Civ, and is also free.

[lesser_minion]

On that note, you might also want to try out Transcendence. It's not pure exploration -- you have a definite goal, and there's a linear progression towards that goal -- but it's seriously awesome nonetheless.

[Triaxx]

The first Sacred has quite a bit of exploration, and there's fighting to do while you're exploring.

And since no one knows all the secrets still, you might find something new.

[LordShotGun]

Fallout new vegas is pretty damn huge. Much bigger then fallout 3 and with fewer enemies so you can explore easier (except for those damn WASPS aka cazadors) and with WAY more fun crafting recipes that reward exploration for materials.