That is one thing I disliked about Jade Empire. The lack of a way to change your character's appearance through equipment. You look exactly the same from the beginning of the game tot he end of the game. That is a major step backwards from NWN and KotOR for Bioware.
The thing is when I want to game on the PC I want to be alone. I don't want to interact with people. I use gaming to escape and get away from people. In some Online games you have no choice but deal with ass-hats or other people.
If I want to game with people I go game PnP. Once a week gaming with people is enough for me.
As for simple and complex gameplay, Jade Empire was very very simple yet fairly fun to play. KotORs were also fairly simple as well, though a little too simple in some areas, but still fun. Diablo is simple yet dreadfully boring.
In the end its the story that will entertain or not for me. Diablo's story was piss poor and lame. Jade Empire's story was decent. Both games had very simple gameplay. In the end Jade Empire > Diablo.
Darque, the game royally sucks. If you want to waste your money then go for it but it is the worst game ever put out by Black Isle. Llyr, every pure real time DnD game such as BGDA, BGDA 2, Demonstone, and DDO truly did suck.
There was only one city.
When I think of SPECIAL being done in real time I think of this game and I shudder. SPECIAL does not work in real time. Bethesda would be stupid to make FO3 in real time when it has been proven in Lionheart, Fallout CRAPTICS, and FOPOS that it does not work.
Or they could solidify both companies to aid in the research and design of better CPUs and GPUs. I see this as a good thing. This isn't a way for AI to get at NVidia but a way AMD can get at Intel's market for their graphic systems, though it is bit of an over kill.
It would be number one if it didn't have a premade character. PS:T has a lot of strengths, next to no weaknesses besides the premade character so it is in the number 2 position of my favorite CRPGs. Fix that one design aspect of the game it would have easily been in the number 1 position, exceeding Fallout 1.
I hated Gothic 2 so I will not be playing Gothic 3. I also hated Diablo 1 and 2 so I will not be bothering with Hellgate: London. They were dreadfully boring games. Now if they can make a game with the involved story of PS:T but allow the player to make his own character instead of a premade I would love it.
I hate premaded characters. I want to play my character and not the designers'.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that mods add to a game and having a game moddable is a definite plus, but you can't depend on mods for consistant quality.
I don't judge Baldur's Gate based on Dark Side of the Sword Coast and I will not judge Neverwinter Nights on Dreamcatcher or Tortured Heart. It doesn't matter to me if the game comes with a Tool set or not. I will not judge Knights of the Old Republic 1 or 2 based on their mods, nor Morrowind or Oblivion on their mods. Mods are mods. They are nice additions that give a game a bit of longevity but that is all.
I give the total package of the NWN 1 a grade of C and with the improvements of the expansions it inches up to a B.
How others play their games is no business to me and has zero impact how I judge a game's worth, Alan.