I agree, DKS is an awesome game and I really enjoyed playing it. But there were a few design choices that really took away that feeling of living in a fully realized world -
- No day/night cycle (but lots of lore in the game talking about night time…)
- A rather disjointed gameworld
- Certain areas locked away once you progress the story to a certain point
- Extremely limited movement in dragon form
If the above 4 items weren't the case, DKS would be my modern day number one over G2.
Finally, I'd actually like to mention Mass Effect. I simply love it. The setting, characters, story. It really blew me away when I first played it. Unfortunately, ME2 never had the same effect.
"Modern"? Deus Ex is ancient by todays standards. Vampire Bloodlines is 7 years old. Neverwinter Nights 2, Gothic 3 and Oblivion was released in the same year I think (2006) so they are 5 years old.
Reduce the list to 2010-2011 and what do you got? Risen, Mass Effect 2, Call of Pripyat, Fallout New Vegas etc..
Um.. "modern" isn't just the last 2 years. VTM:B, NWN2, Gothic 3, and Oblivion are most definitely modern by most standards.