Game recommendation request

[Kong]

I am looking for a game recommendation for a friend. Here are the requirements.
16-bit era or near to it. - Console or PC game.
Focus on leveling up and item gathering and acquiring new abilities.
Few forced/random battles.
Open ended quests - ability to choose to skip quests.
Long.
She likes games like Everquest.Separate request: A good free MMORPG.

And for me, are there any good new games similar to Shining Force, The Immortal, Buck Rodgers Count Down to Dooms Day or Out of This World?

[sabby]

For the first request, may I recommend Dungeon Siege II with the Broken World Expansion. It has a standard primary quest and secondary quests that do not have to be done. The graphics are great and you have 360 degree movement around your character. The battles are in real time, so you can fight or run away. You can play a single player game or multi-player. You can even transfer over your characters from one to the other (single player character to multi-player) so that you do not have to keep making new characters for each.

[Tekkaman]

For your lady friend, I can combine both of her requests into one little package; Ragnarok Online (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnarok_Online). It's a MMO for the PC with graphics very akin to Secret of Mana or Breath of Fire. There are no forced battles, you can choose to do or not do quests, and it takes quite a long time to max out your character's stats and levels. The game is really big on item collection and gaining special abilities through levelling. The game has a huge item-creation system that can definitely keep you busy if you're looking to make that uber item you want. While the game itself is Pay-to-Play, there are plenty of people who have set up free servers as well. If you're/she's really interested, I can send you a link to the site that I use. They keep very close to the legit game.

As for your personal requests, games in the Shining (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Force_series) series are still being made to this day. The newest game, Shining Force EXA was just released for the PS2. In fact, they even remade the original Shining Force for the GBA under the name Shining Force: Resurrection of Dark Dragon which added three new characters and the ability to promote two existing characters who originally couldn't be promoted.

[Kong]

I don't have a PS2. We'll give the others a try. What is the server you use Tek?

Also we don't have 3D video cards.

[sabby]

You might have problems with DS II if you do not have a 3D card.