Oblivion is right around the corner. NWN2 will arrive sometime later this year. It appears that these will be the upper tier of RPGs. Bioware is working on Dragon's Age but that won't be released for quite awhile. So, are there any other RPGs that you know of that looks enticing?

To be honest, ever since Morrowind and NWN plus expansions (and some dynamite fan mods) nothing in the last 2 years has attracted me enough to purchase other RPG offerings. I truly tried TToEE but the turn based combat wasn't to my liking at all.

So, what else have IWs come across?

I'm pretty pumped up about Hellgate: London. It doesn't look incredibly deep - it's admittedly a hack n' slash type of approach. But it looks like a really interesting concept, and the design team is pretty much all-star. I have no idea on a release date or anything, but that's the big one.

The other one is Final Fantasy XII, which is of course a console RPG, but that's a really great series too. In terms of cautiously interested in, Titan Quest is a Diablo-type game that's based in a world of ancient Greek mythology, so that looks promising.

Other than that, I really haven't heard of anything that's really stoked my interest.

The Guild War's and WoW expansion are comming out if you would call them RPG's, also looking forward to the new Final fantasy.

I'm eagerly awaiting the next in line in the Medal of Honor series, and of course Medieval Total War 2, which is going to be awesome.

Not that i'm bored or anything, got a copy of Battle for Middle Earth 2 today, and it totally rocks.

The Witcher is coming out this year I believe, and the in 2008-ish Baldurs Gate III.

So CRPG's are getting back up top! Expect IW's to be VERY busy this summer.


Oblivion is freaking amazing.. I really love the nature shots and dungeon screens.. I could just hang out in the forest and hunt! So cool. Can't WAIT to enjoy it.

Z, how would you compare the graphics of Oblivion to Morrowind?

I would say the graphics have just as much hype and excitement as the Morrowind graphics did way back when it was when it went gold. Its like Morrowind, but 5000x better.

I too am waiting to immerse myself in Oblivion. The devs really seem to have gotten everything right this time. Ambience, better AI, real forests, weather, and so much more. I'm dying in drool right now.

http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/ima..._screen004.jpg

i wonder if my video will be able to work on this kind of pic.. wow

I'm sure you'll be able to turn graphics down.

The main slowdowns will be shadows and special lighting/bloom effects. The fog isnt a big deal--it helps sometimes hide closer distances (like in WOW draw distance).

BTW, that was one of the more tame screens I've seen. I saw some screenshots that were amazing. huge hills, and.. just amazing stuff.. Check IGN's NWN2 area screens!

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view...es.Detail&id=1

Here is a Cave underground:
http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/arti...6064556904.jpg

Luckily in that Pic, you can't see past the fog, but if you have seen some of the other trailers you can see the games (IMO) one let down, the far background looks crap, it renders the immediate and close scenery perfectly, but the stuff that's supposed to be 60-100m away looks shocking :(
But as far as I can see, thats the only problem I know of and cannot wait for my copy to arrive [img]smile.gif[/img]