I think you should try Diablo 2. The game has almost everything you mentioned above.

I have the opposite problem, any game that looks good to me I want to try it so I spend more time bargain shopping and stocking up backlogs than I do playing

There's quite a few games where I've said 'Wow, this looks like a brilliant game but far too intricate to every have time for."

If you get Witcher 3 Gold there's probably enough there for two or three months if you spend three hours a day playing

I second Witcher 3 GOTY.

Also have heard a lot of good things about VtM: Bloodlines, and I am looking forward to play it.

While Saints Row games have a lot of content, it appears the genre won't go with your interests.

good idea, but same problem as FNV: its way overplayed, and once i start it up, i'll remember the system and it'll be mostly monotony since i have the experience..... although i never played much of that big mod.... median i think it was? maybe i'll give that a shot, thanks for the suggestion. i've actually had witcher suggested to me a few times, and should probably get around to trying it.... i just tend to have a general distaste for anything very hyped. mainly because what i look for isnt the norm, so if everyone else likes it, i probably wont, lol..... but witcher has been suggested by people who actually know me, so i should make an exception.

in regards to playtime, however: i probably have closer to 16 hours a day to play. my job is "home health care", i live with and care for a disabled veteran. i cook, clean, shop, help him move around, etcetera..... which basically means im on my computer 24/7 with frequent (yet short) breaks whenever he needs something.

Daggerfall. There you certainly have lots of skills to develop, like using a fork, peeing while standing, making funny fart sounds with your mouth etc. It has a separate skill that you need to develop for basically everything.

you ninja'd while i was responding to other two, lol..... about those suggestions: vtmb has also been overplayed by me (it actually lacks in content in a number of areas, but story/dialog is amazing and made me play it multiple times, even though many other options severely lacked.) ...... my suggestion to you: play it for story/dialog, and if you plan to play it more than once, then dont play as malkavian the first time.... if you do, then your next time through, you'll just say to yourself: "I remember this before, but it was more awesome last time"

saints row games werent overplayed, but i have played 2, 3, and 4, and found them lacking in many options/choices like most games. i probably got the most out of 2, but 4 was so easy the options it did have were pretty much meaningless, lol


edit to respond to: I actually had daggerfall (and arena) installed on my netbook, with the intent on playing them at some point in the future, but just uninstalled them for cleanliness of folders, and because nothing more than the sound when i started it up, made me think i'd very much dislike it..... but with this suggestion, i'll probably give it a shot, wasnt aware it was that in depth

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Avoid the first two witchers

Witcher one has a great story but the controls are convoluted

Witcher two improves and has a good story as well but it's a waste of finite mortal time
while Witcher 3 (with all DLC) exists

Same here, 2 was the best one.

I have heard that VtM:B gets better with the full version of the Unofficial Patch which supposedly adds a lot of cut content back into the game. Is that the case?
Also I have heard about the Malkavian thing, and am thinking about a first playthrough with either Toreador or Ventrue. :)

Also you can give Witcher 3 GOTY a try. I found it to be a great game.

Shame you said that, because i recently purchased the first two witchers, lol. summer sale and good prices and all. was hoping to use them to get an idea wether i'd like the often-suggested 3 or not, lol.

and to bhrigu: i cannot speak on the UP for it, since my experience is all from way back in the day.... i did buy it here on GOG, and go through and find a bunch of mods for it (companion, unoficial patch, final nights, antibru or whatever, camarilla, etcetera) but none of them in my research, seem to change or add much, comparatively. they just seem like the types of things i'd test out if and when i get the "vtmb itch", rather than something to specifically play it for, if that makes sense.

If you want to play the first witcher be ready to sacrifice a few hours to level up in a couple of areas (2 areas specifically). This will make the combat way easier and allow you to enjoy the rest of the game. Honestly, combat is the weakest point of the game in my opinion. However, the atmosphere and the story in the first game is excellent. The characters are well developed and the world feels like a perfect mixture of bleakness and magic.
Keep in mind that each of the chapters has a different open world map.

EDIT: I would suggest avoiding Witcher 2. Except the story I did not like other portions of the game. The story was good, but nothing like that of the first game or the third. The maps were relatively small and less detailed. The graphics were improved, sure, but the atmosphere was lacking. The combat on the other hand improves over the first game. Only play it if you want to know the background of the developments that lead to the situation in the third game and meet some key characters of Witcher 3.

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If we lived for all eternity the first two Witchers wouldn't be a waste

What I've discovered having done digital gaming for a decade now is this:

We won't live long enough to finish all the game we would like to so I pull out and play only the best of a certain type
for example I have all of the Arse Greeds up to IV (Black Flag). I like pirates so I'll only ever complete Black Flag despite owning the former three and a couple of side stories

With Mass Effect I tossed one and three and chose 2 as it seemed to get the most accolades

So on and so on

Oh, and there you go - another game with ALOT : Black Flag - if you get, get from Uplay directly though because Ubi doesn't handle purchases for it properly from any other vendor; I had to buy the season pass twice in order for it to turn up in Uplay

That's difficult with these parameters.

Path of Exile would give you touches of apocalypse and in terms of depth and complexity you're in for a treat. No open world and survival elements, though, and it is strictly an ARPG, so this could be a gamble.

Arx Fatalis might be a decent shot. Somewhat similar in gameplay to the Bethesda games, open world-ish, apocalyptic theme (though that's not strongly represented visually in the game). The game world is relatively populated, but in parts you're isolated fairly convincingly, which makes them pop out more. Here, too, as far as I remember, no survival elements. The downside is that it probably won't last you all that long, either, but if you have a few days to fill, it could be worth checking out.

Off the wall option: Starbound.
Okay, hear me out. You get open world and lots of it, survival (the system is a bit shit, but not worse than what Vanilla New Vegas offers), a feeling of loniless (more a vagabond lifestyle, really) firmly in place, a touch of apocalypse (although more pre- than post-, with very small exceptions). Slap some mods on it, especially Frackin Universe, and you got content and complexity well covered.
Now the caveat here, it is vastly different from all of the titles you mentioned, both in aesthetics and gameplay, so there's a solid chance you might hate it, but it could be worth a cautious try.
Also not gonna lie, you should have at least a passing interest in its crafting/building schtick; getting that one for its gameplay alone is like getting GTA because you want a new racing game.

And last I think fonline might be worth a look. It's basically Fallout 1 & 2 combined in one map as an MMO with open PVP pretty much everywhere. That game is brutal in a way few games are and during my time at least four out of five newcommers would ragequit after their first day, because they expected to feel like the Vault Dweller or the Chosen One and ended up being hunted for sport again and again. The post-apocalyptic aspect of normal people being kind of screwed, if they find themselves alone in the desert? It's like that and you're normal people. If that doesn't discourage you, it might be worth checking out. It's also pretty dope on loneliness, because no one actually plays the game. At peak hours the population is in the low triple digits, so it leads to this weird brutal intimacy where everyone sort of knows eachother, but outside of protected hubs there's either empty desert or high risk gang territory.
If that sounds up your ally, there's different servers with different variations, so you have to google a bit. Last I checked fonline 2 and fonline reloaded were the 'big' ones.

Though after knowing about your job situation, Path of Exile and fonline might be difficult. You might not be able to pause at any time.

Oh Oh! ARX ARX! That's the best first person dungeon crawler ever.....forgot about that despite my avatar

They only share the same characters and setting, gameplay is pretty different in each game, so yeah, testing 1 or 2 in order to find out whether you'd like 3 is a bad idea. I know several people who love TW3 and dislike the others. And I think only TW3 is really open world. You can only use the others to find out whether the setting interests you (but from what I hear, the story-telling in TW3 is superior as well).