What I'm currently playing:
Neverwinter Nights - I really don't know what it is with me and this game. I hate the engine, which is ugly, clunky, and full of extremely repetitive areas. I don't like having to use henchmen instead of fully controllable party members. I don't think they adapted the D&D 3.0 rules at all well, and not enough of the information is in the game instead of the manual (or in addition to, I should say)...in particular, for the main classes you have to dig out the manual to see what special abilities the next class level would bring you...and the only time you can check what a particular prestige class requires to take it is when you are picking a class at level-up. Resting breaks the game (makes it way too easy most of the time), but when modules limit where and how you can rest, it becomes massively annoying because the game is really not designed to play without the rest system as is. (Clever module design may alleviate this somewhat, but not entirely...henchman AI is still wasteful of spells.)
And of course the original campaign was crap. And yet, I keep it on my hard-drive, and I'm playing it more than RPGs I genuinely like, like its Infinity Engine predecessors, and Oblivion, and Gothic.. (well, okay, more than I'm playing Oblivion *now*. When I first got it I was stuck into it for a month or more.) Recently finished the Premium Module Kingmaker, and now I'm taking that character through Shadows of Undrentide (which I'd previously started but have never actually completed.). I expect I shall proceed thenceforth through Hordes of the Underdark (which I played with my NWN main campaign character, now lost forever.) and then maybe tackle some more fan modules.
Bully - I'm a big fan of the GTA games, and Bully's a lot like them. That said, I think in certain ways it provides a more compelling game experience. For one, I've found GTA's side activities to disrupt the pace something fierce. Not because they are in any way required (unless you want 100% completion, and I don't really care about that, I don't think.). But because most of them (hidden packages or equivalent thereof, ambulance missions, pizza delivery, vigilante missions, fire truck missions, etc etc) give you rewards that make you significantly more effective at handling the main missions and it is therefore generally best to do them first, especially in GTA III, where later on you'd frequently have people shooting at you. The trouble is, this takes quite a while and it's never possible to finish for good and all right away, because parts of the map aren't unlocked until later. So it breaks the mission flow to go and grab more packages or whatever. Bully has some things like this, but the lengthier ones (collecting Grotto and Gremlins cards, rubber bands) are entirely impossible to complete for at least a couple of chapters because there's only a reward when you have them *all*, and you can't get to all of them right away. Also, none of the rewards have nearly as big an impact. The Rubber Band Ball looks nice, but other than that? Meh. So instead I do them as I come to them, and I focus on main missions. It's lovely.
Also an improvement (in some ways) is the daily schedule. Oh, it can be frustrating to have to manage your relatively small amounts of free time, but it opens up more as your classes finish, and it gives a definite sense of steady progress as each day you might complete a side task or two and maybe a mission or two to boot. It also makes it much less jarring for missions to be only available during certain hours of the day. In GTA, most of them were 24/7, making it surprising and annoying when they weren't. Plus, while I'm struggling with certain classes, having most of the powerups doled out that way makes the game flow better.
I also really like the sense of humor, and the fact that all your classmates and the teachers are individuals with their own personalities. Admittedly, the townies are more generic, but ah well.
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha the XIVth vs. The Soulless Army -
Longest title ever. Well, maybe. I'm not super fond of the real-time combat system, but it's easy, so I'm not complaining much. The gorgeous, bizarre SMT visual stylings are definitely there. Getting to employ various varieties of demons in the field as assistants as well as combatants is refreshing and enjoyable (though it makes it a bit tricky to decide who you can afford to fuse as you'll most likely lose a field skill or two and you're never entirely sure which you'll need.). It's also nice that it warns you when an encounter's coming. Not too much else to say...if you like SMT, you're probably going to like this. If not...rent it and see. You won't want to wait too long because the games of the series vanish quickly from stores.
Super Robot Taisen Original Generation -
Not too far in this. The translation's a bit iffy but viable, and there's certainly plenty of talking. Otherwise...solid strategic roleplaying action, and I just really wish I had the manual, because there's no in-game help or tutorial of any kind.
Neverwinter Nights - I really don't know what it is with me and this game. I hate the engine, which is ugly, clunky, and full of extremely repetitive areas. I don't like having to use henchmen instead of fully controllable party members. I don't think they adapted the D&D 3.0 rules at all well, and not enough of the information is in the game instead of the manual (or in addition to, I should say)...in particular, for the main classes you have to dig out the manual to see what special abilities the next class level would bring you...and the only time you can check what a particular prestige class requires to take it is when you are picking a class at level-up. Resting breaks the game (makes it way too easy most of the time), but when modules limit where and how you can rest, it becomes massively annoying because the game is really not designed to play without the rest system as is. (Clever module design may alleviate this somewhat, but not entirely...henchman AI is still wasteful of spells.)
And of course the original campaign was crap. And yet, I keep it on my hard-drive, and I'm playing it more than RPGs I genuinely like, like its Infinity Engine predecessors, and Oblivion, and Gothic.. (well, okay, more than I'm playing Oblivion *now*. When I first got it I was stuck into it for a month or more.) Recently finished the Premium Module Kingmaker, and now I'm taking that character through Shadows of Undrentide (which I'd previously started but have never actually completed.). I expect I shall proceed thenceforth through Hordes of the Underdark (which I played with my NWN main campaign character, now lost forever.) and then maybe tackle some more fan modules.
Bully - I'm a big fan of the GTA games, and Bully's a lot like them. That said, I think in certain ways it provides a more compelling game experience. For one, I've found GTA's side activities to disrupt the pace something fierce. Not because they are in any way required (unless you want 100% completion, and I don't really care about that, I don't think.). But because most of them (hidden packages or equivalent thereof, ambulance missions, pizza delivery, vigilante missions, fire truck missions, etc etc) give you rewards that make you significantly more effective at handling the main missions and it is therefore generally best to do them first, especially in GTA III, where later on you'd frequently have people shooting at you. The trouble is, this takes quite a while and it's never possible to finish for good and all right away, because parts of the map aren't unlocked until later. So it breaks the mission flow to go and grab more packages or whatever. Bully has some things like this, but the lengthier ones (collecting Grotto and Gremlins cards, rubber bands) are entirely impossible to complete for at least a couple of chapters because there's only a reward when you have them *all*, and you can't get to all of them right away. Also, none of the rewards have nearly as big an impact. The Rubber Band Ball looks nice, but other than that? Meh. So instead I do them as I come to them, and I focus on main missions. It's lovely.
Also an improvement (in some ways) is the daily schedule. Oh, it can be frustrating to have to manage your relatively small amounts of free time, but it opens up more as your classes finish, and it gives a definite sense of steady progress as each day you might complete a side task or two and maybe a mission or two to boot. It also makes it much less jarring for missions to be only available during certain hours of the day. In GTA, most of them were 24/7, making it surprising and annoying when they weren't. Plus, while I'm struggling with certain classes, having most of the powerups doled out that way makes the game flow better.
I also really like the sense of humor, and the fact that all your classmates and the teachers are individuals with their own personalities. Admittedly, the townies are more generic, but ah well.
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha the XIVth vs. The Soulless Army -
Longest title ever. Well, maybe. I'm not super fond of the real-time combat system, but it's easy, so I'm not complaining much. The gorgeous, bizarre SMT visual stylings are definitely there. Getting to employ various varieties of demons in the field as assistants as well as combatants is refreshing and enjoyable (though it makes it a bit tricky to decide who you can afford to fuse as you'll most likely lose a field skill or two and you're never entirely sure which you'll need.). It's also nice that it warns you when an encounter's coming. Not too much else to say...if you like SMT, you're probably going to like this. If not...rent it and see. You won't want to wait too long because the games of the series vanish quickly from stores.
Super Robot Taisen Original Generation -
Not too far in this. The translation's a bit iffy but viable, and there's certainly plenty of talking. Otherwise...solid strategic roleplaying action, and I just really wish I had the manual, because there's no in-game help or tutorial of any kind.