Whoa, this is weird! This is the second, maybe third, time recently that I've had a shot at Jade Empire! More to the point, there's already
two entries on my behalf! 0.0 Stooner, slitherydee, thank you very very much! It's this sort of kind and considerate people that make GOG quite so homey :-)
With all these chances, I can't help but feel it's just stacking ways to disappoint me in quick succession, it's the way of these things. In this case, Gerin appears to be similarly committed to the game, so I sincerely hope that at least one of us wins.
Now, in answer to your question, I definitely liked the Bioware of old better. Can't say I'm the biggest fan of the Infinity Engine games, AD&D was confusing to me at the best of times. But I felt they were consistently improving their act, and given sufficient freedom of expression, they could achieve great things. MDK2 was a remarkably good sequel, which is no mean feat given the exceptional company that was Shiny. KotOR made for a spectacular expansion of the Star Wars galaxy, and the universe of Mass Effect, developed before the EA acquisition, is absolutely fantastic to behold, and I really felt the sequels were worse off for not exploring it further. So, to answer your question, I feel the KotOR-Jade Empire-Mass Effect era would have to be my favourite. And in line with this, yes, please count me in, I would most definitely love to play Jade Empire! And thank you for the opportunity, mr not-quite-driving-in-the-right-lane ;-)
EDIT: Since I've been very fortunate to benefit from trentonlf's bountyful generosity (thanks trenton!), I'd like to re-route my entry, with any and all willing proxy-entries, in favour of
Gerin!