Good RPGs

[ReluctantSamurai]

All of that nostalgia was wiped in a few minutes and now I'm not so sure whay I loved that game so much and played it through so many times.

That's why it's important to install BGT (Baldur's Gate Trilogy) and develop your PC and whatever merry band you put together from start to finish. One gets a sense of accomplishment at developing the prowess of your six party members (at least I do). With all the new NPC's that have been created by the mods at G3, you get much more replayability.

I was quite disappointed by the annoying controls

I think we all have been spoiled by the better UI's (for the most part) of today's games, but there was only so much that could be done with the Infinity Game Engine...

and constantly reloading due to dying party members that cost a fortune to resurrect.

Don't die Seriously...one can adjust difficulty sliders, and take a look at battle tactics ;-)

I had also forgotten about how much the NPCs and "plot" irritated me and why I preferred Icewind Dale with the Heart of Winter expansion's strictly party based dungeon crawls.

I guess that preferences change with time...IWD & the HOW expansion were fun to play, but it was difficult to identify with party members as they had 0 personality. As you say, strictly a dungeon crawl. BG has one of the best plots ever written for RPG's, IMHO

To play BG you must have an interest in tactics...period. I have an abiding love for NWN, as well, but fighting dragons and liches is child's play in that game, compared to the epic encounters of BG. For me, planning out who is going to do what, and keeping everyone standing upright and in one piece is the real challenge. Far more so than the micro-managing insanity of games like Civ4/GalCiv, etc. After spending an hour defeating the Shandalar Cult in the Dock's District in my last playthrough, I was more proud of winning that fight than all the fights in IWD combined. I still have an affinity for NWN, as well, but it's for all the mods, some of which are simply brilliant. The official expansions are fun...to a point. The only reason for playing HotU, for me, is the Grimgnaw fight. Since I solo the entire expansion, that's a handful. But the plot is too linear for my liking.

Klauth? Pfft. My fighter/rogue/ranger character can take him down without even touching him. Firkraag with the Ascension Mod.....get ready to reload...multiple times.

Like I said, times change and what one looks for in a game changes, as well. I, personally, still enjoy the chessmatch-like qualities of BG.

Final Fantasy or any other JRPG (entire sub-genre is crap, avoid at all costs)

Anything after VIII, I would agree with that to some extent...the characters just kept getting younger and younger...more cutesy in that Japanese style.......let's just call it "Diaper Wars" already

But VII and VIII were classics. Good story, unique ways to develop a character (c'mon...calling out Shiva or Doom Train were awesome cut-scenes, as were many of the others....), and fighting those friggin' Weapon's in VII......Tam Storm THIS!!! you ******-******