Can anyone give me their opinion on the following games?

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Gothic. Knights of the Old Republic I and II. Jade Empire. Mass Effect. The latest Elder Scroll (Morrowind and Oblivion).

Oblivion is great.

Played KOTOR 2 that was fun, it is fun getting up a sith and finding out about the interesting characters like HK-47, great game for starwars fans. Mass Effect was like it but with a few changes, instead of basicaly being a kind of give orders and your character will follow it was closer to being a shooter, with super powers, fun in many ways but still missed the starwars things. I have also played Oblivion that was fun also, just for the sheer masive area and depth, I liked to become a sneaky mage who worked with the assasins, mages and thieves. One sad bit is that it can get very hard if you level up and dont know what you are doing, one of the best things to get in the game is invisibilty as it lets you get away with a lot and go through missions without having to worry too much like you can hide out in the opening or run away if needed.

i played Gothic I, II and III, they are all great, i really liked their system

but the best ever is still Ultima Online, cant get tired of it

Gothic 1 and 2 are simply great. Gothic 3 was a bit less in my opinion.

Knights of the Old Republic I and II. Truly enjoyed 1, stopped very quickly while playing 2.

Jade Empire - Only just reran it twice. I think it's a good game if you can get into the story. Some of the dialog is a bit dodgy and the combat system is incredibly simple and dull.

Mass Effect - Despite my history with Bioware haven't bothered to play this. More of a Fantasy person.

The latest Elder Scrolls - Morrowind is great so long as you enjoy wandering around and finding out what's beyond that next hill. The story is quite excellent ,but it involves a lot of reading and some parts of the main quest involved are repetitive and dull. Oblivion is an abomination in my opinion. The leveling system increases monster strength disproportionally as you progress. This punishes leveling up or taking non combat skills. Fast traveling, while convenient, kills immersion and exploring.

I actualy dont level up in my Oblivion game unless I need to or I get bored, the trick is just not to sleep, it sucks that I must have played the two infereor sequels and yet I liked them, I didnt play the prequels and I doubt I will.

Mass Effect and Oblivion are the only two on your list that I've played.

Mass Effect is really a great game! Very interesting characters, compelling storyline, great graphics, and many different ways to play the game, as well, prolonging the value of the game. When you play the game over, any xp that was learned carries over to the new character, too. In general, one of my favorites so far.

Oblivion can be repetitive yet it is a huge world, especially if you get the complete game with expansion pack(s?). It is a pretty fun good vs. evil storyline (aren't they all, almost). Worthy of playing. Great graphics. I haven't quite finished it yet, and it isn't really calling me to do it as much as Mass Effect is calling me to play it again.

Jade Empire isn't up to Bioware's usual standard. The story and setting is interesting, but for me the combat was dull and too simplistic. The game felt too little like an RPG to me and more like an action title, and since the action wasn't very good I didn't play it to completion.

Mass Effect, though it has some small flaws, is one of the best science fiction RPGs I've played. Possibly the best. Great gameplay, rich characters and plot, and more replayability than any other RPG I've played. Lots of branching moral choices and ways to approach a situation. A good combination of action and RPG. Can't recommend it enough.

Oblivion is one of the worst RPGs I've had the displeasure of playing in recent times. It does have graphics which are technically impressive, but they're still ugly in any place except the forest areas because the game has shoddy, bland art direction. The setting and plot is dull, the dialogue and NPC interaction is laughable and is based on playing a pie chart minigame. There are no choices you can make in the game to alter event outcomes. The ending is an anticlimax, and contrary to the standard affair of having to kill the big foozle at the end of the game, or withstanding a siege or other climactic event, you escort some other guy who'll kill the big foozle. All you get to do is fight the same standard bad guys you've been fighting for half the whole game. The levelling system is also the worst levelling system in a game I've seen since Final Fantasy 8.

I only played KotR2. But I enjoyed it. There's a lot of micromanagement of weapons and gear and such - if you enjoy that you'll love it. The fact that it uses a D20 system appeals to me. Overall, recommended.



Meh. The storyline was OK, but the combat was absolutely awful. I didn't get very far in it before I quit.



Do not play these games unless it's on a PC and you plan on modding the hell out of it. Oblivion out of the box is pretty crap, to be honest. I played Morrowind on the Xbox and I don't know how I did it. Many of the issues with the game (Character models, lack of monsters to fight, lack of clothing, crappy interface, graphical glitches, journaling, horrible leveling system) can be eased or outright eliminated by modding. For some real fun, try the FCOM mod. It combines four different overhauls into one huge Oblivion mod. It took me two days to set it up (seriously), so the installation is daunting to say the least, but the resulting experience is incredibly, incredibly fun.

If you don't enjoy modding, then stay away from it. It takes a lot of tweaking to turn Oblivion into an honestly good game.

KotOR is, I think, an interesting game - set in the Old Republic some four thousand years before the movies, you start off as a Republic soldier (you pick the basic class, appearance, and starting skills), and quickly learn that you have strong potential with the Force. The Jedi quickly recruit you, despite the fact that you're an adult, because several Jedi have left the Order to follow the rogue Jedi, Darth Revan (who has revived the Sith). You can be Light Side or Dark, and your gameplay (and certain available companions) will differ depending on which you choose.

KotOR II: the Sith Lords takes place about five years later, and your viewpoint character is a former Jedi who left/was exiled from the Order after losing his powers in the wake of the Battle of Malachor V. You find yourself one of three survivors on a refueling station (the others being a strange old lady and a prisoner), and you also find your powers re-awakening. The game isn't quite as long as the original; certain plotlines, such as one regarding the mysterious factory producing the HK-50 assassin droids (based on the design of the unique HK-47), were abandoned under pressure from LucasArts to get the game out in time for that year's holiday season. I still found it quite satisfying, although it is a bit frustrating that the two endings both act as good teasers for the third game (which may never be produced).

Haven't played the others yet...

Kotor 1: Great all-around game. Plot is great, characters are great. Graphics and interface aren't the best, but acceptable (also makes it easier to run on a low-end system...) If it were up to me, I would have made a Star Wars Movie trilogy out of it (it's got enough material for it), but meh...

Kotor 2: Just as great as Kotor 1. Being a direct sequel with nearly the same interface (just updated), Kotor veterans can hit the ground running in this game. The characters are just as great (also a little more realistic), and Kreia was probably one of the best and most well-developed video game characters in many recent years. Unfortunately, the game stagnates towards the end and is overall buggy, thanks to the rushed development timetable... Supposedly the restoration project is supposed to be coming out soon, though (yes they're still working on it...)

Morrowind: Best. Game. Ever. I've logged over 1700+ hours on Morrowind, and that was before I started modding it. The amount of stuff you can do in the game is incredible. In order to play through all the quests in the game, you have to play through the game at least 3 times (since there are three Great Houses and three vampire factions, each of which locks out the other two when you join one. Also certain factions like the Fighters guild can have multiple endings to them.) There are a couple of balance problems (i.e. enchanting and alchemy can almost break the game), but since this game was released in 2002 there is a sizeable wealth of mods for it. Speaking of mods, the TES Construction Set that comes shipped with Morrowind is one of the easiest mod tools to use ever. I've created 4 decent-sized mods myself.

Oblivion: Basically the bastard child of Morrowind, if you'll pardon the expression. Another analogy would be to say that Oblivion is to PS3 as Morrowind is to PS2. Oblivion tries to live up to Morrowind and incorporate better graphics and flashy tricks at the same time, but ends up lacking in substance and realism. You'll need to mod the hell out of it to render it playable, especially in the long run. Also, Oblivion makes too much use of random generation. One of my favorite things about Morrowind is that every piece of terrain was hand-crafted, and every object hand-placed. I loved the self-styled "quest" in Morrowind of hunting down an entire set of Daedric armor scattered throughout the land (there was one of each piece lying around somewhere in the game world if you had both expansions installed). In Oblivion, you just have to level up to 30 and kill a bandit.

Mass Effect: What can I say? Bioware goodness at its finest again. Great characters, great plot that kept me riveted to the game for days on end. There was a bit of repetition in the random planets that made me feel like I was on the Original Series of Star Trek, but it got real good at the end (basically the opposite of Kotor 2's problem). Saren definitely gives Kreia a run for her money for best game character in recent years...



Overall, I have one last thing to say: If you are going to get any of these titles, get them for PC. You get huge support from user mods, especially on TES games (since bethesda offers free modding tools for the games). In addition, the shitbox-360 often has a piss-poor interface when it comes to RPG's, compared to PC systems (Mass Effect is fairly comparable owing to its FPS inspirations, but from what I've heard driving the Mako vehicle around is way easier on PC, haven't played it on the box yet so I cant give you firsthand answer...) You would only need a high-end system for Mass Effect... a mid-range system can handle Oblivion, and even the low-end comps can handle Morrowind and the Kotors (owing to their age)

PS: Yes, I just realized that "Morrowind and the Kotors" sounds like a 70s sitcom title or a rock band name...

Kotor 1 and 2 AMAZING. Mass Effect, EXCELLENT.

Gothic 1, 2 are fantastic
Gothic 3 is really buggy
KOTOR is awesome!
Jade Empire is good, but not as good as KOTOR
Mass Effect is incredible
Morrowind is fantastic and has a really good editor.
Oblivion is amazing but has some stability issues.

In order of what to play I would say something like this:
Mass Effect, KOTOR 1, Oblivion, and Gothic... then everything else.

Gothic 3 was buggy and imbalanced on release, but most of it seems to have been fixed by patches.
I'm beginning to think this game is really great, the world is gigantic and your actions have a huge impact on the game world. The latter is promised by many RPGs, but Gothic 3 actually delivers in that you can even conquer entire cities and the game world will change accordingly. It also has different endings depending on your actions.

I'm currently playing it and didn't notice any serious bugs with the latest patch.

Out of those, I've only played KotOR 1 and 2.

KotOR 1 is very good, KotOR 2 is good also, though some parts are kind of boring to me. Though you will find that KotOR 2 has some issues with bugs and some unfinished plot elements, as others have mentioned. If you get KotOR 2, be sure you save frequently, as one of its bugs can make the game freeze once in a while.

My brother loves Knights of the Old Republic, and I've watched him play and from what I've seen and heard, it seems like quite a fun game, and I'm not a Star Wars fan at all.

My brother also loves Oblivion, but watching him play it bores me personally.

Mass Effect is amazing! I'm not even big into that style of RPG or the sci-fi genre that much normally, but I looooooove Mass Effect.