And do you know any other game like it? With the Rifts affecting the world?

So basically:

Daggerfall + Mount & Blade + Pirates + ??? = Best RPG ever.

Although I'm missing some sort of tactical or turn-based combat element there (personal preference).

Plus the writers of Planescape!

Most MMO's are. They need a .Hack one

Alternatively, you could use something that won't cut your possible market by 50% in one fell swoop.

And yes, I follow my own advice for my game programming project(s) :P

I have explored the entire map ten times with ten different characters :D

OpenGL is great and all, but you have to be kidding. The difference in difficulty is really big. As a first game you'll be happy with 10,000 sales, take it in steps. You can become the Goliath available everywhere later on.

I love Wolfire but they have a ton of experience. They're way more able to handle the complexities of game development in a platform that doesn't "help you" as much. It's better to launch a game to a limited audience than to never get off the ground because you picked the hardest way to do it possible.

Of course there is a difference in difficulty. The comparison is between a game(?) developing platform and a graphical library.

And considering I am making games myself this way, why would I be kidding? :P

Let me rephrase this, if everyone has to be a super hard ass to program games (in OpenGL for idealistic reasons) we'll see a lot less games from new talent. I realize some people are hard ass programmers, but that's just not reality for everyone, who nonetheless may have something awesome to share.

Of course, rasufelle is free to choose whatever they like if/when they come to programming their game and should choose what works for them.

Is there any particular reason why you think OpenGL is so hard to use? I use it and its fine... but then again, I think the controls for Gothic are simple too :P
Hold down the action button then
1) press 'forward' to attack forward
2) press left/right to swing your weapon left/right
3) press 'back' to block

I think having an entire environment without as many compatibility problems, such as in XNA, is advantageous to someone new to game development, it lets you concentrate on your game.

Besides, those Sony fanboys need a snubbing... *ducks*:)

XNA would probably be best for me, since too much complexity at the introduction to a thing tends to stress me out. It took me quite a while to get comfortable with Doombuilder, TESCS, and GiMP, and I never did get the hang of Blender. *shrug*

While Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer was pretty combat-heavy, that was not the focus of the game. At all. It is in the characters, their backstories, their relationships, AND what the hell happened to your character.

It is the best D&D game since Torment.

I'm playing through it for the first time now, and I'm inclined to agree.