Like whatever games you want; but KOTOR, NWN, and JE were all superior at ROLE-PLAYING than BG was. Period. It's not even close.
Really now? In Jade Empire it was only two choices in every situation. Open Palm (nice guy) and Closed Fist (meanie EXTREME Jack Bauer in Asia). Oh....and skills and character customization got thrown out the window.
In Neverwinter Nights there were also the standard good, and evil paths....except...get this....they were only in about 40 percent of the quests. The rest were all fetch quests with only one way of solving them. Sure, there were a few gems, like the trial. But the Baldur's Gate series had far more of them.
KOTOR was pretty much the same as Jade Empire. Two ways for everything, maybe a rare third choice.
All right...that was a little messy...let's break this down.
*Choices and Consequencesâ„¢*
Baldur's Gate: A lot of fetch/kill quests, but often times there were alternative solution quests, some even were more than two choices. There were a few instances in which doing certain things gained you the favor of people or distaste, but there really weren't tons of consequences.
Shadows of Amn: I'd say about 90 percent of the quests had some sort of choice. Most had the typical super good versus ultra evil thing. Often times though there were choices that were neutral, or choices that were less good/evil. Your actions often carried some weight and certain doors might open or close. Not as much as say Fallout or Arcanum, but a decent amount.
Neverwinter Nights: Everything was good, evil, neutral. That is if it wasn't as simple fetch quest, which most of the game was. Stuff you did really didn't matter, even if you were horrendously evil, nobody tried to stop you.
KOTOR and Jade Empire: Two ways through most every quest, a good and an evil one. Rarely were there third options. There were consequences to a few things, but not too much.
*Dialogue*
Baldur's Gate: Dialogue can be used to solve some problems and you can talk your way out of some fights. Problem is, dialogue wasn't designed too well in this game. Often times you could only say one thing and couldn't ask every question or build upon questions. Charisma helped, but only a little and only in certain situations. There were often a few extra dialogue options or different takes on the same basic thing.
Shadows of Amn: Dialogue can be used to solve plenty of things. There are a reasonable amount of places were you can avoid bloodshed with some sort of speaking. There were a few Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma things in dialogue, but not too many. Most of the time different choices led to different outcomes. There werevery frequently a few extra dialogue options or different takes on the same basic thing.
Neverwinter Nights: Dialogue is all good, evil, and neutral, if that. You can try to talk your way through things, but mostly it leads to you getting some experience (maybe) and a thanks for trying while the same damn thing happened. Stats were in dialogue and obvious, which is good. Problem is, the Bioware tradition of all choices leading to the same thing started really manifesting itself here.
KOTOR and Jade Empire: Decent dialogue, but all mostly on the good/evil shtick. There are a few things solveable by dialogue, moreso than Neverwinter Nights, and skills and stats apply, but the Bioware tradition of differing choices leading to a similar outcome is in full swing in a lot of places, especially in Jade Empire.
*Party Member Interaction*
Baldur's Gate: They talked....a little. They wanted to do things, and might get pissed if you didn't. Sometimes there was infighting. Not really all that great overall, but somewhat better than Neverwinter Nights and company in certain areas, particularly party members being more.....independant.
Shadows of Amn: Characters in your party talked a lot....albeit at strange time increments. Sometimes they talked based on a situation and disagreed with certain actions. And guess what? If you really pissed them off, they are gone. Heck, they might even attack or betray you.
Neverwinter Nights: Now you can talk with your party when you want to....errr I mean lone henchmen (at least until Hordes of the Underdark). Problems is, this shit makes no sense at all. You can get them to spit out more of their life story...as you level up. And get this, even if you tell them to shut up, and that they are worthless scum....they'll still talk to you, tell you stuff, and they don't seem to ever leave you...even if you are polar opposites.
KOTOR: Again you can talk to your comrades when you wish, again they spew out their life stories as you level up as opposed to the time they are with you/what you do. Again they do not leave you or really react to your actions (at least until the very end). Maybe it has something to do with the immortality granted by staying with Revan.....
Jade Empire: Can't really say I'm qualified to fully comment on this. It seemed just like KOTOR and Neverwinter Nights, but I really hated every damn one of these people, mostly because they were rehashes of rehashes.
*Character Skill Being Paramount*
Baldur's Gate: All stats, no reflexes. But you can pretty easily use some cheese tactics.
Shadows of Amn: Same as above.
Neverwinter Nights: All stats and surprising hard to cheese. Definitely the best in this catagory.
KOTOR: Mostly stats, but a tiny bit of player reflex can seep in. Also the entire combat system itself is pretty much cheese combat.
Jade Empire: Character skill being paramount got aborted faster than an unwanted baby.
Those were four pretty large aspects of roleplaying, at least in relation to Bioware games. As far as I can see, things have only gotten worse after Shadows of Amn, except for the combat system, which got better in Neverwinter Nights (too bad the combat encounters lacked any real interesting qualities).
One could say Bioware is much like Bethesda, a regressive company now. Baldur's Gate was Bioware's Arena, Shadows of Amn its Daggerfall, and the rest more like multiple Morrowinds. It's only a matter of time before their Oblivion comes if things continue this way. But maybe things will get better.
