DA:O netted me a handful of sleepless nights and missed classes back when it came out. I'm going to focus on the story and setting, because for me the combat, while fun, isn't really what makes this game shine. As others have said, it's a pretty standard story. It does gets credit for being one of the first major releases to present a GRRM-inspired "dark fantasy" fiction. You know, the type where knights and wizards share the stage with brutal politics, disturbing sorcery, and a sense that everything and everyone is tainted by some dark secret. But its real strong point is the delivery. The scenery and the background lore really take center stage here, simultaneously eclipsing and augmenting the characters and the main story itself. If you're the sort who likes to drink in the fictional world, who enjoys mysterious unexplored areas, and reading histories and illuminating tidbits often buried in poetry or deliberately obfuscating language, this is most assuredly a game you DON'T want to miss. SPOILER ALERT As an example, my favorite in-game setting are the dwarven Deep Roads. A gargantuan, half-collapsed, mostly-forgotten network of grand tunnels overrun with filth and horrors, and littered with disturbing secrets and the sad memories of a fallen civilization. Questing through them is a lonely and oppressive experience, making you glad to have your fellow party members around. They are also closely linked with that which is by far the most likable party member in the game (grumpy dwarf turned up to 11) and my favorite Origin story (dwarven noble). The Roads are one of my fondest gaming memories, right up there with watching the Enclave's oil rig go off in a mushroom cloud, and hearing Fall-From-Grace promise that we will find each other again though worlds and eons divide us. *sniff* SPOILERS END The sequels didn't live up to the original, with too much "coolness" and not enough old-fashioned storytelling. So enjoy DA:O for what it is. It stands on its own.
KOTOR is the game that does the best job of distilling the "traditional" Star Wars experience into an RPG form factor, and ends up telling one of the best SW stories ever in the process. How could it do that, one might ask, if it goes back thousands of years in the fictional timeline? I would answer: it is exceptionally Star Wars-ish precisely BECAUSE it starts (relatively) fresh. Star Wars, for me at least, has always been intimately linked to a sense of infinite possibility, bottomless mystery and constant discovery - sprinkled with some goofy/acerbic humor. And KOTOR delivers. The galaxy is the same, and familiar enough to feel comfortable... but it's thousands of years before Episode I, so anything and everything could be different. You'll explore the depths of forests and Sith tombs bristling with secrets that, once uncovered, only leave you wanting more. As for discovery, well... it would be a crime to spoil the plot. But rest assured that, while it can't quite match the depth of Obsidian-developed KOTOR 2, it stands at least on equal footing with the original trilogy, helped along by a soundtrack that, much like the rest of the game, is distinctly Star Wars-ish in a refreshing and surprisingly good way. Last but not least, Star Wars is about heroics; about individuals who determine the fate of the entire galaxy (for better or for worse), a concept epitomized by the Jedi. And this game pulls no punches in this respect. All in all, the biggest risk you take in playing KOTOR is spending the rest of your life longing for another Star Wars story that can equal it.
