If you really want a spreadsheet number-cruncher, then go and play WoW. You will spend far more time trying to figure out the best builds, gear choices, enchants, gems, glyphs, rotations, priorities etc than you will putting them into practice. It's a math-geek's wet-dream. Nothing in a single-player RPG even comes close really, because they aren't as tightly balanced, or competitive. 1% more DPS doesn't mean much of anything in a single-player D&D game.
Having played WoW extensively, I find that I'm not interested in number crunching when I play offline games. I want the things that I don't get in WoW - choices and consequences, depth of characterisation, quest design, and to some extent, story-telling. I think I just want a good story in any game I play that isn't Mario Kart or something similar.
If DA is an Action-Adventure with C&C, interesting characters and story, and an interesting world to explore, I'll be thrilled.
Why is it that people always say "if you want this, go play that" as if whenever someone points out an aspect that they enjoy, that's all they need - out of context?
Are people really that hungry for simplifying everything.
Anyway, I enjoy powergaming a lot - yeah - but I need more than that. That's why I call myself a demanding player, because I actually want A LOT of things before I'm satisfied.
I played WoW for way too long, and I achieved becoming #1 DPS rogue horde-side on my server - or so I gathered from the few hundred people I knew on Shadowsong - and that was fun until I realised how utterly hollow the experience was compared to the amount of time and effort I poured into it. WoW - like MMOs in general - has no purpose or ending, and I find that I can't play the genre anymore because inventing my own goals just isn't going to cut it in a virtual world. I need games to end and give me closure - and I need games to be fun throughout and not require me to work for that fun - at least not to the extent that it resembles an actual job.
KotOR wasn't a number-cruncher by any means, but it had what I consider meaningful development choices and it felt good to make good ones. That's really what I'm going for - the feeling that I've done something "smart" and I love to be rewarded by becoming more powerful. In Mass Effect - they streamlined the systems into oblivion and you have "+1 damage" or "+1 hit points" for pretty much every skill. You couldn't "game the system" by choosing the right class and holding back levels until you got to choose the right jedi class - and so on. KotOR - whilst simpler than NWN/BG2 - still had enough of that to represent quality to myself.
Mass Effect also sucked utterly in terms of giving you new "stuff" - which included new and interesting items or powers. You didn't really get anything visceral - a true power - beyond what was available at first. That's the best kind of powers - ones that give you some completely new cool visual indicator like a new move or - in the case of KotOR a new force power.
Mass Effect had a tiny handful of powers that simply got a bit better for each skill point - and that's just too boring. Beyond that the powers themselves were almost clinical in nature, which fit the style, but ultimately made for one boring "caster" class.
---
About the linear structure of KotOR vs Mass Effect - then I'd have to disagree Mass Effect was any better. Sure - the areas were A LOT bigger because of the outside exploration, but once you got into a base - it was much the same. There was always one or two paths to choose from, and there really wasn't any "exploration" to be had, because you got from one main quest objective to the next. I won't even get into the pointlessness of the side quests.
Also, way too much of the "size" of Mass Effect consisted of driving around samey areas shooting down turrets or droids with the MAKO cannon. This was about the most boring and pointless activity I can think of in a CRPG. It mostly resembled an arcade game from the 90s in these sections. 100% filler crap content that was there simply to extend the life of a mediocre game.
That said, I DO think Mass Effect has an AMAZING visual style and really hits all the right notes in term of sci-fi atmosphere. But that's about it in terms of strengths.
---
The Star Wars universe will always be special to me. Not because I respect Lucas or his work - because he's demonstrated his talent with his last three movies. But let's not forget that his ideas can be good while the execution of them most definitely isn't.
I don't care where he stole his samurai Jedis from - I just think he created a wonderful galaxy with tons of ideas with tons of potential. The fact that I was spellbound as a little kid only adds to my appreciation for Star Wars.
KotOR wasn't made by Lucas - it was made by Bioware. So they simply drew from the strengths and added their own. I think they succeeded brilliantly, and I think KotOR is the best SW game in existence. It has flaws - true - but overall I think it's really well put together. I'm replaying it as we speak - and I'm amazed at the amount of content there is - lots of deep characters, lots of nice systems, good but optional minigames, good story, still looks good, and in general just a very well done product.
Mass Effect just can't really compare in terms of "the sum of its parts".
