And since no one mentioned them:
Oblivion & Morrowind [sand boxy RPG, single character , basically exploring with first person realtime combat]
Neverwinter Nights [you basically control 1-5 characters, semi turn based combat , kind of overhead perspective, this is what came after Baldur's Gate ]
Also,
The Gothic Series ain't bad if you pick up the boxset with all 3 games in it . I saw it for like R300 or so.
Likewise with the Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale "Forgotten Realm's" combo pack (also everything for R300).
In the end i distinguish between two types of RPGs
a] All about the combat, you want fast paced action most of the time. Reading dialogues and plots and long stories are out . These are typically games like Diablo, Dungeon Siege , Sacred , Titan Quest
b] More about character development , lots of plot twists, interesting story, big world , lots of exploration, lots of "wandering" . This also implies combat can be slow and strategic i.e. Turn Based [like Final Fantasy] or a combo like Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights [you control up to 5 characters, so obviously you need more strategic type of combat] . These RPGs tend to be somewhat slow paced and require some attention on your part, unlike Diablo which is almost mindless clickfest
. Other games in this category : The Witcher , KOTOR , Mass Effect and even Oblivion and Gothic which both have realtime FPS style combat is actually a pretty slow going game due to all the things you can do.
