[TonyMontana1638]

Baldur's Gate and Diablo, though both RPGs, are so glaring in their differences I find it hard to compare the two. BG and, in particular, BGII: SoA both sold very well and are considered to be some of the best games of all time but hardly sparked the kind of craze that Diablo and Diablo II did. The Diablo's were, at its core, relatively simple click-fests that lacked a terribly engrossing story but were immensely popular because they appealed more to the casual gamer. There was also a remarkable depth of content within the skill branches for each character that appealed to more hardcore gamers that kept them coming back for more, not to mention the addictive competitive online play that kept the game going for so long after its release.

BG was really the exact opposite.

They were immensley detailed games that contained ungodly, unfairly engrossing stories that sucked gamers in and wouldn't release them until long after the game was complete. The competive play was almost nonexistant but it was the story, the depth of gameplay, the character interactions that made them as amazing as they were. The monsters, the weapons, the quests, the plot turns were (egads!) something that games of comparable nature could never compete with and still haven't.

Now tell me which of these game designs is still around today? Hmm? Jade Empire, LOTR: The Third Age, those Dungeon Siege games I hate, BG: Dark Alliance I and II, Freedom Force I and II, the new Pool of Radiance, Dungeon Lords, Divine Divinity, Fable, every MMORPG known to man; what category do they fall under? These are mostly all fine games that I enjoyed but were hardly as engrossing as BG and BGII, and definitely closer to Diablo than BG. I've exempt KOTOR because it's are closer to BG than any games up to this point in time have been.

Now WHY is this?
Like Aegis said they're easier to make and appeal more to the casual gamer than the monstrosities of BG (and Morrowind, thank god for Bethesda) and so the market is flooded with them. As the world poulation's attention span goes, so goes the rest of entertainment.