About two or three years ago wandering the local mall, I found one of those software bins full of boxes of games for around $10. Found one called Gothic II. I had NEVER heard of Gothic before, but being an RPG fan, I thought I'd give it a go.
Best game I've ever played, on any platform. The atmosphere, the humor, the story, the combat, wow. Blew me away. As soon as Gothic 3 came out, I was there.
Big time disappointment. I still haven't been able to play that one past the first few hours, it just loses me. Maybe it gets better, but there's no comparison.
Then I came here, found Gothic I, figured oh well, I'll give one a try. WOW ! ! Blown away all over again. This is how games should be.
Now, my question is, can anyone recommend any other games out there that they think I might enjoy based off my love of these. And I guess this is it for this series too, because I just thought 3 sucked.
I've played Morrowind, and it's a good game, but doesn't compare. I loved Fallout and Fallout 2, but again, GREAT GAMES IMO, but not this great. As far as atmosphere goes, the only one I've run accross that's close is an old one called Soulbringer. The atmosphere was good on that one too, but while the gameplay was good, Gothic is still better.
I've dabbled with lots of RPG's (and I'll tell you right now that I HATE Diablo and Diablo like RPG's. To me they are just.... I dunno, shallow) and would love to hear from anyone who may have a recommendation for me. Love to find old (or new) treasures out there that light my imagination afire.
To list a few I've tried...Betrayal at Krondor (an all time classic IMO), Planescape Torment, Soulbringer, Fallout, Fallout 2, Betrayal at Anterra, Arcanum...... well, that's a few. Anyways, thanks for any info or recommendations.

Well actually, Gothic III gets better.
I agree, the first few hours, being in the Rebels camp, chasing wolves and orcs and gathering ingredients are not especially fun, it's pretty hard to orient yourself, you can easily get killed by a single wolf and the story takes time to really be launched.
But after a few hours, when you make your way to the first village to be delivered from the orcs (or not, I mean, you choose your side), things get clearer, more interesting and... awesome.
I can only encourage you to give it a second shot.
If you've found Morrowind just GOOD, don't waste your time on Oblivion, which is not really interesting.
The Witcher ? I've just finished the Enhanced Edition and I can easily put it on the top 3 of my all-time favorite Action-RPG.
And I don't know what's left of the Guild Wars community, but as I recall it was a fantastic game.

If you haven't, you should really try out the Baldur's Gate series. A bunch of really great games, but it's the sequel that stands out imo and I consider it the greatest game ever.
And I agree with Sven that you should try out The Witcher EE. It's one of the best RPGs to come out in many years imo.

IMHO, it gets worse. As soon as you leave Myrtana and enter Varant (the desert) or the Nordmar (frozen north(, everything falls apart. The desert is completely unfinished with some very generyc GET-n-OF-Y type quests, and Nordmar is pretty unbalanced and difficult to navigate (which has both been acknowledged as problems by the developer).
Completely unrelated, but true. Oblivion was the greatest letdown in the history of computer gaming for me. Boy, it was so bad.
Right. Right beside Gothic 1 and 2 :-))
The community is alive and kicking, for the game is a real gem. :)