I love Kotor II, but it's the only Obsidian game I truly consider to outshine its predecessor (because gameplay in Kotor I wasn't all that stellar either). Obsidian games have generally better characters and writing than their predecessor from another studio, but gameplay-wise they're usually worse.

Even though KOTOR II is one of my favorite role-playing games, it's actually my least favorite Obsidian game.

Dungeon Siege III didn't even have good loot like Dark Alliance. Arcanum was terribly unbalanced and buggy. They have potential but they just seem to rush their games. When they were Black Isle, they were defiantly better as they made Planescape but they'll never revisit that glory in my opinion.

Well, to be fair, no-one else has ever matched PS:T either

The last 'Gothic' (Arcania) game is quest and skill wise a big looser !!! Almost all the quests are the same kind of "Go here, go there and find this or that ... boring and this game has NO Soul, totally no creative investment the devs did for making it more ...

The game takes itself too seriously ... but I must say I laught many times hearing the NPC's speaking ....

My most hated RPG is (Sorry Demonic I know you like it) Dragon Age Origens. That game for me was a big let down, I wish I never tormented myself & my console by playing it. That game did nothing toward making me like it, all it did was make me angry for wasting my time. I feel ashamed just seeing it on my Achievements list on the 360, in my opinion that game had no passion heart or soul put into it.

My rant on Dragon Age 1 : http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061088363&postcount=5

your spot on with that discrition of DA Alrik if you have'nt alrady seen my rnt about DA then check out the DKS sales thread

If you played it on console, I can understand that entirely. It probably should not have been released to console, as it's blatantly a PC game. Of course the reverse is true of DA2. Bioware are weird...

On PC, though, it's probably the best actual RPG since the Baldur's Gate series...

I could see how the battle system might work for the PC, but I just couldn't get into the story.

The plot is nothing to write home about in DA, but it's the characterisation that will draw you in. You slowly build up a team of fellow eccentrics, if you will, to save the world with - and they all have a reason to be there. You can talk to them at any time and they will offer thoughts and opinions.

Every character you meet in the game, however minor, has their own reasons for acting in the way they do and their own motives for why they do things. There are points where NPC reactions will depend on who is in your party. The world itself is so well thought out it seems to live and breathe - there's a real sense of history to it and you don't have to read codices or manuals to get it, because it's all there in play.

It's probably the most realistic world ever developed for a computer game (Rather than adapted from novels, tabletop RPGs, etc).

It's not a perfect game, don't get me wrong. There are some areas that are just too much fighting with no variation and others that get old fast in subsequent plays through. But it's still the best party based RPG of recent years.

(Best single character RPG being Witcher 2, of course. That is... incredible!)

I understand there are people that love the game but I could just never get into it, I made 3 different characters but gave up trying to like it halfway through my 3rd playthrough. I will give DA this much though & that's the fact that I actually completed it which is more than I can say for Two Worlds which I only made it halfway through the story & thought this is s***

So yeah actually I change my mind Two Worlds is the worst with DA in a close 2nd

Can't have been THAT bad if you completed it twice!

Well it was all down to my friend, I'd been trying to get him to play Final Fantasy because he was always winding my up calling it S*** even though he'd never played it before. So we agreed to trade I would play DA & he'd play FF but because of the whole multi character aspect of DA he made me promise to try more than 1 so I agreed & he played through 8 & I did DA.

Turns out he liked FF but I hated DA

ROFL! Clear win for you, then!

Gotta admit, I like FF8 a lot myself - except for the dreadful draw system! Played that for the characters more than anything. I even have a save game deliberately kept from just before the ballroom scene, which is still my favourite cut scene from any game, ever

Probably the laziest port to PC I've ever seen, but I love the ballroom scene

Yeah 8 is my favourite Final Fantasy & it's also one of my alltime favourite RPG's, The draw system could be a bit annoying but I love the charaters & the story.

Like yourself I've got a save just before the ballroom scene as well, I have 8 on the PS though but I have 2 memory cards soley for 8 lol. I have to have a save just before the dance 1 just before the scene in the Ragnarok & I always keep 1 for the ending.

Endings funny! I love the home vids!

My favourite FF game is 12, though, because of the actual gameplay. The summons might be completely useless, but for the first time FF games have a real time system, positional tactics and you can see the opposition coming because they are on screen rather than appearing out of thin air. It plays like a proper RPG, in other words! I really like the skill improvement system, too. For probably the first time in an FF game you can create a party you want to play rather than the one they give you.

8 is all about the characters, which are so well done, and the cut scenes which are so beautifully styled. The ballroom scene, especially, is so perfect. The body language is brilliant on every level. I was in awe of that the first time I saw it, and it's still as wonderful to me today, even though graphics have advanced so much since that time.

I wish they'd remake 8 with the 12 engine, though I know that will never be, sadly. Then port it to PC to allow for fantastic graphics, of course!

I did like 12's battle system but the story was nothing next to most of the FF games. I think that FF 13 would have been an amazing game had they'd used 12's battle system instead of the good for nothing pile of moogle fodder they uesd in it.

Story of 12 is not great, yeah. I couldn't even work out why most of the characters were there and I definitely had NO clue why the lead was the lead, or why everyone thought he should be in charge.

Ashe or Balthier would both have been far better leads, IMO.

yeah I agree Vaan had no right to be the lead, I could never work it out either, I think Ashe should have been the lead. After all we were fighting to free her kingdom, so why did Vaan end up being the hero & not Ashe I'll never be able to figure that out.


but if you asked Balthier he WAS the leading man lol