The question in the topic was prompted by my discussion at another forum, where an Oblivion fan compared that game to P:T in terms of belonging to the RPG genre. I was playing pen-and-paper RPG games back in the time when electronic RPG was limited to countless lines of text and typing N, S, E, W just to move around. I'm still playing P&P and in my opinion one of the VERY few computer games that deserved the RPG title was P:T. Unfortunately I'm being bombarded by games that feature fast action, more and more advanced shadows (trees, grass, water, whatever) and dialogues that are limited to Yes/No/Rumors/Good Bye. What is even more depressing is the fact that those games are advertised as RPG and - what is EVEN worse - lots and lots of people are actually believing that those games are all that this genre can offer. Is it only me feeling this way? Am I irrational or simply stupid to demand a real story out of an RPG title? Deep and convincing characters? Quests that are not limited to "go there, kill that, gather these"? Back in the first board, upon mentioning that P:T had over 800 000 words of dialogues I was faced with an answer: "if you like the text so much go read a book". What the hell happened to the cRPG titles? When did they lose that little spark that was drawing me (and others, I hope) to our computers' screens and made us loose yet another night over a story so compelling, so deep, that for a short instance we actually forgot about the surrounding reality, and immersed ourselves fully in a fictional world?
Let me ask you again: am I the only one missing the good old RPG games?

Unfortunately Interplay sold the rights to it's infinity engine games (and DnD) to ATARI (including PS:T, IWD and BG). They'd all be here allready otherwise.
Fortunately I have them all except IWD 1.

Yeah. More cRPG and less aRPG please. Not played P:T, but I'm familiar with the idea of story & character rather than killing and looting.
I'm getting older and don't have twitch skills like in my youth. But even then I preferred those with the 'c'.
Trouble is, they don't sell as well and have become niche.

Hey, you're not the only one who misses games like Planescape. I have been playing cRPGs since Pool of Radiance came out on the NES and I have watched cRPGs evolve over time. PS:T was, in my opinion, one of the better ones to have ever graced our monitors. But...it didn't sell well enough and so the publishers decided to return to bland and cliched formulas that we are stuck with today. I do hope with the sales that Wiedzmin (The Witcher) is/has generated publishers will see that people do actualy want a good STORY to go with that ROLE that they are supposed to be PLAYING in the the GAME.
One thing I wish that would go away is the need for the latest graphics and whatnot. I am sick and tired of either playing my games at slide show speeds or not at all due to resource hogging game engines. Maybe if the story was focused on first the graphics would'nt matter so much because you wouldn't need them to cover up the mediocre story within the game itself.

Well it's not like Morrowind or Oblivion WEREN'T RPGs, I mean - they just chose another path... Which doesn't seem combat based at all to me. Unfortunately, they aren't as deep as P:T story-wise, but you sure couldn't find an old cottage (... ... Previously made in editor :D ) out in the wilderness in P:T, you couldn't move there and start living like a hunter (you COULD do that in Morrowind and Oblivion both and in the fist one, I even did it :-P ).
On the other hand, I miss completely story-driven RPGs and I'd kill for experience that would even slightly come close to what I felt when playing Planescape. I'm not sure if that's a good comparison though, since Planescape can't really be compared even to the old infinite engine games - the game was so different, and still is, I guess even ever will be.
In the end, because of fact, that RPGs are not really offering story nowadays, I started playing adventures. And I'm pretty happy to be honest :D Yes, I'd kill for a good cRPG, but I'd settle even for a good jRPG and Final Fantasy XIII is comming now, isn't it? :D

I feel some degree of pride, because Wiedzmin is based on a Polish novel and was made by my countrymen :) However I have to warn you - I have the Polish version and - for a short time - I had the chance to play the English one. Unfortunately those two are almost two different games - dialogues in the US version were cut countless times and dumbed down. I don't know what reason Atari had for doing this, but you're missing a lot, when you're not playing the original (PL) language version :(
Oh God yes... That's part of the problem in my opinion. If the developers invested so much time and effort into constructing a PROPER story, as they do with the god-damn grass (for crying out loud...) we would actually get something that resembles an RPG game, and not another fast-action adventure game with a couple of character stats...

Please notice that I didn't include Morrowind in my original post. I really thought this game has a lot to offer - both in terms of an RPG experience and simple enjoyment (which is basically the same thing to me :)). I do however despise Oblivion. I mean come on! How many of those same looking gates did you have to close? How much time was wasted to go through the same tedious process again and again and again...? I don't even dare mention dialogues - or the lack of them. Sorry, but - for me - NPCs with eloquence of a 10-year old automatically remove the RPG title from a game.
That's really what I was trying to voice in my first post. P:T was just something that cannot be compared to anything else - not counting P&P games. I truly believe that it was the greatest achievement in computer role playing games - my expectations were just never again really satisfied after this one...
Maybe that's the way to go? If we can't have an RPG, then we should be happy with games that actually have any story at all?
Dammit, why does this forum engine always get the quotes wrong?

True unfortunately. There is the indie game sceme however if you can ignore poor to passable graphics (well you should if you like PS:T, IWD, BG and the like :P).
Here's few I know of:
Age of Decadence (in development)
The Age of Decadence is an isometric, turn-based, single-player 3D role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world, inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire. The game features a detailed skill-based character system, non-linear gameplay, multiple skill-based ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and extensive dialogue trees.
Depths of Peril
Depths of Peril is a single player action RPG with strong strategy elements. Depths of Peril - LichYou play as a faction leader protecting the barbarian city, Jorvik, by destroying threatening monsters and completing quests. At the same time, you compete with rival factions to see who will rule the city. Barbarians choose their leaders by fighting to the death!
Devli Whiskey
Devil Whiskey is a party-based, turn-based, grid-mapped, 3D role playing and adventure game, based on the interactive play styles of the popular role-playing games of the late 1980's. It is a completely original title, developed by the minds at Shifting Suns Studios, LLC, and brought to you, the fans of a style of gaming that has since been deemed 'old' by the industry, but that we believe can still provide hours of enjoyment.
Eschalon: Book 1
Eschalon: Book I is a classic role-playing game experience that will take you across massive outdoor environments and deep into sprawling dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of who - or what - you are.
Eschalon: Book 2 (in development)
Book II continues with Eschalon world events where Book I ended, though no previous experience with Book I is needed to enjoy Book II. To be released in 2009.
Spiderweb Software RPG's
Avernum series, Geneforge series, Nethergate: Resurrection...
UnReal World
UrW is a unique graphical roguelike RPG taking place in ancient Finland during the late Iron Age.
It brings you a realistic game world rich with historical atmosphere in which northern folklore, knowledge and way of life play an important part.
It's fully up to you whether you wish to live a life of a rough hunter, a brave adventurer, a fisherman or a trapper etc. Test your ability to survive and find your own path. The wilderness awaits...
Just to mention few.
Edit: Added Depths of Peril & Eschalon: Book II and reordered the list

Big thanks for the info - I couldn't care less about the graphics, so I'll be sure to check those out :)

FYI "The Witcher" has an enhanced patch that restores all the cut dialogues and improves countless other things.

I will second the recommendation for Avernum and Eschalon.
The Avernum series of games are huge & deep. Huge sized demos, check them out!
Graphically quite poor, with a lot of reused images between games.
Jeff Vogel has been working on a newer interface for the next bunch of games that provide a small graphical refresh, but more importantly, one that scales to different resolutions.
Eschalon raised the bar on graphics for little indie RPGs. I didn't find it as massive in score as Avernum, but it holds true to many of the old top down cRPG classics.

I didn't really know that it does that - good for you :)

I've heard of Age of Decadence, but not looked into it. Didn't know it was even an RPG! So I'll now go and check it out.
E:Book 2, waiting for this one :)

My mistake then :-) I thought you had characters and 'dialogue-tree' in mind, which is pretty similar in both game, though it's true it was somehow dubbed down in Oblivion too...
Heh, you're right, no RPG will ever be comparable to P&P games... What can be better than your own imagination? Ah, good times...
For me, it sure is - I never played P:T for leveling up and my own character development - and for example The Longest Journey and Dreamfall still are one of the best gaming experiences I ever had, story-wise
Thank you, I'll make sure to check those out eventually!
About Witcher:
I recomended the game to my friend - he's real frek about technical - side of the game. He doesn't care if it looks good, but everything has to be perfect otherwise. He hated Witcher when he started playing it. Swords are floating about 10 cm from Geralt's body?! He has his own swords in in-game animations?! My god, his camera just freaked out!
Well, he finished the game, and said: "I won't ever like this game, but it's story was one of the best video-game story I've ever encountered". My point is, even the guy who hates this game so much finished it because of qualities of it's story - maybe, just maybe, Witcher will show the path to other new RPGs... Let's hope so :-)