I prefer single characters that you have a good deal of customisation to such as race,class as well as appearance. Thats why i like games like skyrim,fallout new vegas,

The ones that try to be close to a Pen & Paper RPG Experience are my faves. First two Fallouts, Arcanum, first 50% of VTM bloodlines, ... uh... I think thats all ever developed in that regard in video gaming history. Must be a scripting nightmare for the devs.

How is Avernum and Geneforge series? I own Geneforge but I haven't tried them. I thought Avadon was great and the little I've played in Eschalon Books 1&2 is also good.

Avernum is better in many ways. The reason being is that you can make all 3 or 4 characters however you want. That is very unlike avadon. You can make a fighter that casts priest/mage spells, or a rogue that also fights or is hardy like a fighter. If you want to try a game, Avernum Escape from the Pit is the rererelease of the original game. Its a heck of a lot of fun.

Geneforge has avernums way too, but while you can make your character anyway you want, there are still some restrictions. Geneforge is also a lot harder of a game and is brutal to new users that dont specialize their characters. It probably has the best story which comes close to Avadons great story (imo).

Geneforge 1 and 2 were too hard and I only completed the 1st game just barely. The moderators on the site had to drag me through the end. Geneforge 3,4 and 5 were more balanced but still the game series is harder than avadon and avernum. I would say if you like single character games like eschalon with somewhat party based combat, geneforge is a good match. Its also the only game where jeff basically states that you can play solo with at least a few of the characters.

I prefer playing party based games with parties so I would say you could try either of the geneforge games if you already own them.

All the Fallouts. Even 3, despite it's bad writing. They all offer the exploration, choices and roleplaying opportunities I crave.

I am very much in the "roleplaying is about creating a character and playing them in-character in the world" camp as far as RPG definitions. That means Skyrim is more of an RPG to me than Baldur's Gate, since Skyrim allows for more roleplaying within the world. I'm sure many people on RPG Codex want to kill me right now.

#1 seems to be the most accurate for me.

What was wrong with the writing?

I prefer it usually when you have a single character like Diablo or Divine Divinity where you can hire NPC's if you feel like it. I also like the party based ones where the AI manages to control the other party members during combat so your input to control them is minimal, so something like Neverwinter Nights.

On the flip side though I do like the live pause on games like Icewind Dale and Baldurs Gate, it can be quite relaxing working through big battles pausing to line up a spell / heal and moving people to specific points so that you can maximise damage.

It was bad!

:P

Let me remember the story:

Your father left the vault so he can complete the project to clean the capital wasteland's river only to be stoped by the enclave for the goal to make it harzardous to anyone who is a mutant with considering the factors that even normals are irratiated.

So how was it bad? (and I played Fallout 1 and 2)

I am absolutely shocked nobody has mentioned Darklands, one of the best RPG's ever if not the best.

Pretty much... it may not be already "there", but it gives your great tools to start.

For example, one of his notorious flaws (the unbalanced professions and perks) has actually made me roleplay my first character much more than in many other games; add the incredible amount of mods, and you got a very interesting playground at your hand.

*its :P

Also, I like anything that allows me to play as a single customisable character - party members usually have worse stats/crappy AI/just generally get in the way.

Maybe number 1 or 3, but that doesn't go very deep into what I like about it. I hate that real time isometric combat you see in Baldur's Gate, etc. I do like a party because I like well developed npcs that can grow along with my character and see their reactions to our experiences and my decisions.

On the other hand my favorite thing about rpgs is talking. I always play as a diplomat and the best mission to me is one that I can solve by just talking to different people. It seems that the type of game that allows this the most is the create a character type, that's why some of my favorites are Fallout and Vtm Bloodlines.

If only someone combined both where the focus was on dialogue trees but having people in your party allowed for new skills, like if you had a sarcastic party member you could deride people, or they could join the conversation and reinforce your point. That's my dream game.

Don't take this the wrong way but I don't expect you to understand what is good English writing and what is not.