Al1: As for the announcement of New Vegas, im really excited for this one, as long as Obsidian are given enough time to do it right. Although ironically, considering what i said above, the ending to KOTOR 2 blew huge chunks, particularly after i plunged nearly 30 hours into it making a deliciously evil character. No closure, just a big 'up yours'. Although, murder me if you wish, i think that KOTOR 2 had better moral choices and dillemas than it's predecessor, likewise for NWN 2. They were just unpolished.
"I think "unpolished" is an understatement of epic proportions in regard to KOTOR2, but I agree with the rest of your argument. That's also a contributing factor in my extreme antagonism towards that particular title. The fact that it
could have been so brilliant. Such a waste."
Well i am willing to upgrade NWN 2 from 'unpolished' to ball-itchingly, back-breakingly, tounge-twistingly broken prior to the first 10 or so patches, and even after that it had many problems. And of course god help you if you uninstalled it then decided to put it back on your machine. 2-3 hours of patching! As for KOTOR 2, i was willing to look past the flaws a found a really good game, although i have to agree, if it had a longer dev cycle, it would have been so much better.
Also, to expand upon Bethesda having to modernise the series, would it have been realistic to have had it in an isometric perspective like the originals? For better or worse, the isometric perspective is percieved as something from a bygone era in gaming, and I think Bethesda would have been heavily criticised for doing something like that, and it would have been percieved as being old fashioned. The only way it might have worked would have been to have had something like in NWN 2, which is sort of inbetween 3rd person and isometric.