I'm looking for a modernish (PS2 onwards) open world action RPG where loot matters. I want something where it's exciting to find a new weapon not that it just has slightly higher stats and all the same animations no matter what weapon it is. I've been through all the obvious results so I'm looking for something a bit more obscure. No Skyrim, Witcher or Dark souls please.

I was thinking, but can t come up with really something.

Kingdom of Amalur (not sure is spelled correctly) but is one of those RPGs where you really find tons of faceless loot.

Most of the time, the more open the world, the more the loot is just nameless.

Two Worlds II is also kind of nice, but again don t expect to find really different loots.

The only RPG that I can think of where loot MATTERS is Ultima Underworld I

Fable has plenty of unique weapons scattered about the place, some of which are actually useful.

What about survival games. For example Don't starve where loot is food and materials.

Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Many weapons behave differently and you get an awesome RPG experience to boot. The chapters are small but completely open hubs where you can go wherever you like first. Not that heavy in the action department especially in the beginning (although there are some very action packed passages later on). Also, every armor completely changes your appearance.

I wouldn't called Bloodlines open world. It's more hubs and dungeons. A good game but not the type of adventure I'm looking for.

Survival games aren't really about the exploration. If I wanted that I could just play Ark. I'm wanting more Diablo and less Ark.

Well, I would recommend Sacred 2 for a huge and open world but it is a standard looter so not that exciting when it comes to that. The character building is great though (if you have the patience as levelling is quite slow).

Well, any ARPG is centered around getting loot. But most of them aren't open world. In Wasteland I was always happy to find some loot because resources were scarce, at least for the first half of the game. But that game isn't modernish by any definition. Still, it's a good game.

Ultima 7 has some good loot and some unique weapons. Getting the Hoe of Destruction, for example, takes some patience or luck. But killing enemies with a bloody gardening tool is kind of fun.

The Two Worlds games go with quantity over quality, if I remember correctly. They don't have unique weapons, but you can glue two weapons of the same kind together to get a slightly more powerful weapon. Rinse an repeat. So you always have use for weapons you find as booster for the weapons you already have.
Oh and of course Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen will keep you busy looking for ever better weapons (or upgrading the ones you have) for a long time.

I've played many games in that classification which are not centered around getting loot. Examples might include games like Secret of Mana, Crystalis, and the Ys series.

(Final Fantasy Adventure, the first game in the series that Secret of Mana is part of, has weapons that behave differently, but it is definitely not centered around getting loot; many of the weapons you find are mainly there because you need them to progress or to solve puzzles.)

Lords of Xulima.

six words n/intendo switch and zelda BOTW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCCpwFYibmU

Two Worlds 1 & 2.

Yeah, it's not a real Zelda game but man is it great. All the weapon classes feel different and within a single class all of the weapons look different when equipped.

Of course lute matters in Ghost of a Tale too. They even have luteboxes:
https://twitter.com/seithcg/status/920984882418941953?lang=en

...but apart from that the game was unfortunately a bit disappointing.