Looking for new RPGs

It's a different story. The two games aren't really related as far as story goes. The stormcloaks and the imperials are the factions vying for control in the Skyrim province - the imperials are the same imperials that you worked with in Oblivion, but the stormcloaks are something of a local "viking-like" faction in Skyrim who wants to be free from the imperials.

Originally Posted by Fnord
Dragon Age 1 (but not 2)

Disagree here.

While I agree that #1 (Dragon Age: Origins) is clearly the better game, #2 is still enjoyable and has more polished, exciting combat.

And there it's me who disagrees.
In DA2 enemies spawn in waves from thin air, that's hardly polished and is not exciting but annoying.
The similar "design strategy" was used in ME3, however enemies there don't materialize out of nowhere, but fly in with a ship or something which at least felt logical, looked better and in the end that's where "polished" should be used as a description.

Originally Posted by Elel
Thank you for your suggestions.

If you don't mind, could you please tell me about the imperials and stormcloaks in Skyrim? Although I played Oblivion I never completed the main quest. Now I tried Skyrim, it's a very nice game, but I'm totally lost what happened and which side is better, imperials or stormcloaks. If you tell me about the ending of Oblivion and how the stormcloaks and Talos worship figure into it, I'd be grateful.

It's fairly complicated if you want to dig deeply, since it's got 200 years of history added since Oblivion, so you're best off reading up on some of the things on the wikia site or the UESP wiki. Just search for the group you're interested in. The events of Oblivion don't really play into things, so you don't need to worry about that. TES games don't rely on you having played earlier games in the series, and there's usually someone or something that can bring you up to date if you need some bit of information.

The short version is that elven extremists (the Thalmor) took over the Altmer homelands, waged war on the Empire, and insisted on a ban on Talos worship as part of the peace treaty. The Stormcloaks don't like this and are trying to break away from the Empire. Exactly how long the war's been going on seems to vary a lot depending on the in-game source. Some people act like it's just kicked off, others like it's been going on for years.

You're best off going around and talking to people to see which group you prefer. I have a hard time siding with the Stormcloaks, since once you get into the game they come off as short-sighted racist isolationists, and most of their main supporters come off as jerks. It's like someone insisted they set one group out to be more of a bad guy than the other.

My recent-ish top 6 featuring only games you apparently haven´t played yet would probably be (in no specific order):
The Witcher
The Witcher 2
Drakensang 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Dragon Knight Saga
Dark Souls

Most of these are variants of action/RPG take on things.
One exception would definitely be Drakensang 2 (which significantly improves upon pretty much all of its predecessor´s aspects) and calling New Vegas an action RPG always felt not quite right to me due to the strong presence of skill checks, faction relations and a possibility to fight in VATS.

Also, Mask of the Betrayer, but judging by your comments you probably have played it already.

(Looks confused) Torchlight is a rogue-like?? I thought being turn based was absolutely critical to calling a game rogue-like?

Last Remnant actual lets you play 18 characters at once, spread through up to 5 different groups. The story is all right and the graphics are decent (though some of the in-game cutscenes are rather robotic). Advancement of skills is done by actually using the skills, much like Elder Scrolls.

It's the battle system that is the main draw, though. Telling 18 different characters exactly what to do would take an eon so instead you tell each group what to do in general commands like 'Go heal them' or 'hit that enemy group with magic spells'. The system is actually really deep but the developers cover a lot of that depth up. Lucky for us, the Wikia website digs it out again so those that want to get the most out of it can do so.

That battle system can repel a lot of people, too. Especially at the start when you've only got a few characters in a couple of groups, it can be frustrating when a character that could be doing a healing spell simply doesn't get that option when you want it. Even after the early game, though, being the officer giving command to the troops isn't going to appeal to people who want to be the puppet master that dictates every move each character makes.

I would highly recommend Faery: Legends of Avalon to the OP as well. If you like turn-based, JRPG-style combat with lots of exploration, dialog, quests taking place in a storybook-esque magical fantasy world, you'll like Faery. And it's 50% off on Xbox Live Arcade and PC as well.

Originally Posted by Fnord
Bastion is not a very "heavy" CRPG. It has some character progression, but not a whole lot of it. It is an oustanding game though.

I've finally got around to trying Bastion today after purchasing it during a Steam sale a few months ago.

Beautiful game both visually and audio-wise by indie standards. It's also quite funny at times. Not sure if I'll finish it, as I do find the action to be quite repetitive, but I'm glad I tried it.

Originally Posted by joxer
In DA2 enemies spawn in waves from thin air, that's hardly polished and is not exciting but annoying.

Which is funky, yes, but hardly a reason to dispense with the game. It can be enjoyable enough, if you don't take it too seriously as a simulation.

Originally Posted by rjshae
Which is funky, yes, but hardly a reason to dispense with the game. It can be enjoyable enough, if you don't take it too seriously as a simulation.

Agreed. Although not terribly wonderful for them to do that, it fits thematically with the events being Varric telling a story.

Get serious guys. I wasn't amused with it but even if I did, noone can say it's "a polished" part of the game. It simply isn't.

It's obviously a deliberate design choice that annoyed everyone. When telling his story Verric would had said "..and then a dozen genlocks came out of nowhere!"

It's a dang fantastic idea on paper, fails in execution. Not really an issue of polish.

The rock/paper/scissors combat status effects and the overall flow of the combat was much tighter in DA2. Whether or not guys pop out of air or arrive on the backs of dragons or tumble out of black vans has little to do with anything.

Originally Posted by Trelow
The rock/paper/scissors combat status effects and the overall flow of the combat was much tighter in DA2.

Compared to what?
When it comes to combat abilities/trees, DA2´s character system is good, probably better than DA:O´s, but it´s for naught in the context of the other combat design aspects.
On lower difficulties rock/paper/scissors is irrelevant and on higher difficulties combat becomes tedious due to HP bloat, imprecise camera/targeting and, most significantly, ridiculously repetitive encounter design.

Originally Posted by Trelow
Not really an issue of polish.

Indeed, it´s far more an encounter design issue.

I agree on all points, yet still find it a satisfying game.
Often tedious, yes, but I can't think of a game that hasn't been.

Originally Posted by Trelow
I agree on all points, yet still find it a satisfying game.

Fair enough .