I'm with Evilmanagedcare and SirJames, I really really wanted to like DA:O and played it all the way through, but I never even considered a replay because I never found it fun. The loot system might have been one reason (I hear what you're saying there Maylander, but I never felt the same satisfaction as I did when I got unique artifacts in The Infinity games, maybe there was too MUCH loot in DA:O?), but the major one was that character building felt boring, and combat felt more like a MMO than a successor to Baldurs Gate. I never even tried DA2. I voted "depends on the reviews", because if people here whom I know tend to like the same games as me like it, I might give it a spin.
Right, but you've pinpointed several other reasons for not enjoying it. That's personal preference. Claiming that the loot system is simple is just not true, because it just isn't simple. It's among the most complex in any modern RPG, as there are loads of factors to take into consideration:
Attributes:
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Willpower
- Magic
- Cunning
- Constitution
Then there's a bunch of stats:
- Armor
- Defense
- Mana
- Stamina
- Health
- Critical hit chance
- Regeneration (mana, stamina or health)
- Elemental resistances (fire, frost, etc)
- Physical resistance (used for checks against stuns, knockdowns)
- Mental resistance (used against spells)
- Spellpower
- Hit chance
- Armor penetration
- A bunch of special effects (increase Blood Magic etc)
On top of that, each gear setup has to take into consideration a mix of things like bows using strength modifiers in addition to dexterity for hitting a target, stamina usage vs heavier armor based on how many and which abilities you want to use.
The list goes on and on. Creating a full set of gear for any kind of character on Hard or especially Nightmare is anything but "simple". It blows Baldur's Gate completely out of the water, where you can simply equip the heaviest armor available to your class (or lightest of the two classes if it's a multi or dual class).