Well you might then try of course some of these games:
Two Worlds & Two Worlds 2 - they're a part of open world german RPGs with a lot of action.
In the same vein - Risen and Risen 2 both feel like a bit upgraded Gothic games with keyboard movement and different pathes to the goal, still pretty nice even if gameplay is a bit wonky... and of course these level disprepancies... you can beat some monster few levels higher, but it's gonna be monstrous task.
I would also say Baldur's Gate series, Gothic, etc., but we aren't talking about obvious choices, right?
In roguelike department I would say Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead takes a cake - it's pretty awesome and hard game in which zombie apocalypse practically torn down the old world. It's now full of monsters and your only priority is to survive. There are tons of options, food, skills, even vehicles - from simple bikes or motocycles to even giant trucks! There are guns, gun mods, heat and cold in the world, need to sleep, need to eat and drink... pretty interesting stuff anyway!
If you're interested there are also few Russian RPGs out there which tend to be weird at best, but at the same time also trying something new and exciting. Some even built around books, but of course most of these are some kind of dark fantasy variant.
Well I can't say anything more. There is also Divine Divinity 2 coming out, so it may be also a bit of sanbox/open world game.
Ah and if you got an emulator try Suikoden series - it's pretty neat in story department and gives a feeling of collecting the pokemons
. All these characters to get to know and lead into battle
.
