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I am looking for open world games that have low system requirements. By "low system requirements" I mean something that could be run on a machine with the following specifications...

• Pentium 4 1.5Ghz
• 768 MB RAM
• ATI Radeon 9250 256 MB with support for DirectX 8.1 and DirectX 9.0c compliance

The games that I have or have played which meet those specifications already include The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Freelancer, and Fable: The Lost Chapters. Games that I know meet these specifications I intend on checking out are The Elder Scrolls: Arena and The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. Either way if you know of a game which meets these system requirements please suggest it. I would really appreciate any leads on other open-world games that my computer could play.

Vampire masquerade bloodlines, the first vampire masquerade as well which is better IMO..

I haven't actually checked all these specs. But from of the top of my head, these are some old openworld games you might enjoy.

Mafia, The Godfather, all the old GTA games, Total Overdose, old Need For Speed games and Midtown Madness 1 & 2. I'll reply again if I can think of more.

Neverwinter Nights you could probably run on those.

Possibly could run Two Worlds (If it's even on PC.)

I'm not sure though, about either of those statements.

I believe Two Worlds is on PC yes, but I also believe it is a terrible game.

sevenindasun wrote:Vampire masquerade bloodlines, the first vampire masquerade as well which is better IMO..

I have seriously considered playing Vampire: The Masquerade for a few years now and I think you have given me a push in the right direction. I will have to check it out once I have the money to purchase it. Thank you for the recommendation.

Abel wrote:I haven't actually checked all these specs. But from of the top of my head, these are some old openworld games you might enjoy.

Mafia, The Godfather, all the old GTA games, Total Overdose, old Need For Speed games and Midtown Madness 1 & 2. I'll reply again if I can think of more.

Now I'm not that fond of gangster games but I have considered playing the original Grand Theft Auto just to see what it is like. I will have to give that a shot as well. Thank you for the recommendation.

AddictedtoMorrowind wrote:Neverwinter Nights you could probably run on those.

I have Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition but I really didn't think of it as an open-world sort of game. I have considered reinstalling it recently however so I will have to give it a shot once more. Thank you for your recommendation.

Believe wrote:Possibly could run Two Worlds (If it's even on PC.)

I'm not sure though, about either of those statements.

My computer might be able to run Two Worlds thanks to the extra RAM but it would be difficult and possibly a strain on my machine's resources. I'll have to keep it in mind however in the event that I can run it someday. Thank you for your recommendation.

While it isn't a true open world, you could probably run Half Life.

To be honest when my desk top went bye bye I was stuck with my 2003 laptop and I basically played rts games exclusively.. RON AOE and C&C

Minecraft?


and you played Freelancer, yay!

sorry, i just don't see many people who played that game. even though its a great game.

philfredobob wrote:Minecraft?

Not a chance in the world. Minecraft is actually a very taxing game despite the graphics.

Mount & Blade: Warband is a good choice.

Playing Deus Ex is never a bad idea. It's open-world-ish and these days it can run on a pocket calculator.

There was also a surprisingly decent Pirates of the Caribbean RPG released many years ago that you may want to look into.

Veck wrote:

philfredobob wrote:Minecraft?

Not a chance in the world. Minecraft is actually a very taxing game despite the graphics.

i don't actually know what good specifications are for a computer, i put minecraft there because it worked on our crappy laptop.

DikaSmausha wrote:While it isn't a true open world, you could probably run Half Life.

I have Half Life: Opposing Force and Half Life: Blue Shift, but I'm really not big on first person shooters so I haven't played them yet.

sevenindasun wrote:To be honest when my desk top went bye bye I was stuck with my 2003 laptop and I basically played rts games exclusively.. RON AOE and C&C

I like real-time strategy but that's not what I'm looking for at this time since when I play real-time strategy I want to play with other people - and I don't have any friends who have computers at this time. I have considered checking out Age of Empires however so I might give that a shot.

philfredobob wrote:Minecraft?


and you played Freelancer, yay!

sorry, i just don't see many people who played that game. even though its a great game.

No need to be sorry. I've played Freelancer, beaten the main quest once, and then spent a month or two playing it as a merchant before taking a break. I've got to reinstall it again sometime.

As for Minecraft my computer would brick if I played that game, no pun intended. Plus I tried it when I did have a computer that could play it and I didn't like it very much. It felt like a glorified Lego set to me, and while I love Legos I don't want to play games that act like Lego sets.

Mars wrote:Mount & Blade: Warband is a good choice.

There is not a chance that my computer could play that without a similar situation to my computer playing Minecraft happening. However it does sound like a game that I could play once I get a more modern machine so I will keep that in mind for when I actually have the money such things.

The Tom wrote:Playing Deus Ex is never a bad idea. It's open-world-ish and these days it can run on a pocket calculator.

There was also a surprisingly decent Pirates of the Caribbean RPG released many years ago that you may want to look into.

I tried Deus Ex and I couldn't get past the tutorial. I don't play games which have tutorials that I cannot complete after trying to do so numerous times.

I did love the Pirates of the Carribean movie franchise and to see that Bethesda Softworks is the company behind the Pirates of the Carribean video game has kind of sold me on playing it. I will have to look into that.

Thank you all for these lovely suggestions. I now have a list of seven games that I could check out in the near future so I think I'm good for right now. Any further suggestions would be okay though.

Ediramadi wrote:No need to be sorry. I've played Freelancer, beaten the main quest once, and then spent a month or two playing it as a merchant before taking a break. I've got to reinstall it again sometime.

If you ever do install once more, you should try exploring the outer regions on the map. there is actually a lot of cool stuff you can discover there, like powerful ships, and freaky star systems, there is lots of stuff left after finishing the main questline.

i wish they would make a sequel to it. I'd love another one.

Wow! That IS terrible! No offense.

Anyway, for a rig that old, I've got two you can check out:

X2

YouTube Link

This is one of my favorite games of all time, and it should run fine given your specs. It's a 4X space sim... you mention Freelancer, well, best way to describe X2 is: picture Freelancer on crack. The basic idea is the same, but X2 is designed for gamers who are looking for a deeper, more immerse experience. It's got a bigger world, better graphics, more ships (from tiny scout-fighters to massive carrier-class capital ships!), and a very sophisticated economic system. You fly around, exploring hundreds of massive star systems, fighting pirates, running cargo, even building star bases of your own. Eventually, you'll be commanding an entire fleet of starships and fending off a massive, galaxy-wide invasion of... well, I don't want to spoil anything. Let's just say say [&@%!] get nuts.

If you enjoyed Freelancer, get this game.

My only caveat: beware the size of this game. It's very complex - it'll take you a couple hours to learn the basics, weeks or even months for the advanced stuff - and the world is HUGE. The X franchise is probably the most time-consuming series I've played. You may be looking at ten, twenty hours before you even get out of your starter ship, and once you get your first space station you'll soon learn the value of running your game on auto-pilot all night long. I love that kind of [&@%!], but your mileage may vary, depending on how autistic you are.




Boiling Point: Road to Hell

A very early modern-day FPS/RPG, and probably the most underrated open world RPG ever made. You're a mercenary commando, searching for your daughter, who vanished in a war-torn South American country.


YouTube Link

Unlike most recent modern-day FPS/RPGs (STALKER, Far Cry), this is a true open world game. The playable area is very large (bigger than Morrowind!), and includes jungles, mountains, rivers, farms, Mayan ruins, deep lakes, and sprawling cities. The plot is non-linear, and there are nearly a dozen factions vying for control over the countryside, which you can join, and which will provide you with an interesting and varied set of missions. Your relationship with each faction is tracked in real-time, but and the closer you get to a faction, the more rewards they'll offer you... but there's nothing to stop you betraying your friends, if you get bored. There are dozens of weapons, each of which can be upgraded through use, much like in the Elder Scrolls. It gives you a lot of leeway in choosing the play style that's right for you: you can be a sniper, you can be a stealthy knife-wielding commando, you can run and gun with an assault rifle, whatever you like. There's also vehicles to drive, including cars, boats, tanks, fixed wing aircraft, and my personal favorite, attack helicopters. Eating, sleeping, and refueling vehicles are all modeled ingame. Random encounters thrust you into the middle of squad-level firefights between CIA agents and mafia enforcers, communist guerillas ambush you in the jungle, native tribesmen hunt killer god-panthers. You get the idea. There's a lot to do.

I might as well warn you that the critics did not like this game very much. It was made by an independent studio (similar to Mount & Blade) and had a lot of bugs on release. However, virtually all of the bugs have been patched out, so as long as you get the latest patch, you'll be golden. It's a true cult classic - I might even go so far as to say it's the best open world "gun" RPG ever made - so grab the patch and give it a whirl.