Definitely the only decent RPG in years. Props to them for keeping the genre going after Bethesda pissed away the Fallout franchise.
I readily admit I'm not a console gamer, never have been (well i did own a Sega Genesis way back when), but other than that I've never been able to get into them regardless the genre of game offered and I think the reason is mostly the rather limited playability factor or should I say re-playability.
The only games that have ever held my attentions have been MMORPGs, at a time almost to the point of obsession. No - I've never been a WOW guy (my dangerous obsession had faded before it launched and when I tried it several of times, it never lit the fire.) No - my game was EverQuest - I started playing it in July of 1999, 3 months after it's release and I never looked back, playing many hours a day, raiding hanging with my friends, just having fun - the social interaction made the difference, it gave me what consoles had not up to that point. All of my real life friends and many of my co-workers all played it as well so it was in essence just an extension of my real life in a fantasy world. Many of the friends all around the world that I made in those days are still counted as close friends now.
When I got sick in 2004 (Leukemia as many of you know), I was home recovering for almost two years with unlimited time on my hands, that's when it became a bit obsessive and it ended up in my mind honestly having an effect on my recovery. I was a member of a major raid team (my guild hosted a separate raid team made up of members of several allied guilds) and we raided 7 nights a week, from about 7:00pm to 3:00am EST - so almost 8 hours a day raiding plus a lot of other time just leveling and making sure I meet the ever increasing requirements for raid team membership - you had to keep your character improving or fall behind, even an absence of a few weeks could put you behind if you missed critical keying raids or ever-changing level requirements. I'd say I was playing at least 12 hours a day, sometimes more.
As I said, I was supposed to be recovering from a serious illness, and I think this had an impact on my effort. I finally got burnt out and had to take a break. I was away for almost a year and tried to go back, but never caught the urge again. I've tried several other games as noted - WOW, EverQuest II, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (the only one I really liked and have played it some, but not even enough to maintain a monthly membership.)
Back to the point - console games just never offered me what I liked, even with gaming networks now, it's just not the same. Plus, having started with EverQuest from the very beginning and growing with it was a very magical time - it was like exploring a great unknown.
Oh, well - their is my little tale of why I don't really game anymore, but I must admit this game looked interesting, but I'm sure it will suffer from my initial concern - it may be several hours of great fun, but compared to what I liked in games, it's going to lose it's interest in so little time it's not worth the investment for me anymore - I'd rather read a book or make music.
![Headbang :headbang: :headbang:](/data/assets/smilies/headbang.gif)