Thanks for the comments, guys! I always appreciate feedback; otherwise, why bother doing something this? :P

I think the "immoral" nature of this game is what makes it so memorable. To my mind, it represents the logical end of a "business" mind that puts profits above all else, including basic human rights. If you read into the story, you uncover the thing about "The Chip," or a neural implant type deal that became the new drug. It worked like "Better than Life" if you watch Red Dwarf--i.e., the synthetic world is so much better than the real world that people give up on the real world altogether, content to live in a virtual paradise. Thus, they really get what they deserve--such a complacent people can hardly be said to deserve freedom or even basic human rights (since they've in effect sold their own humanity for endless pleasure!). I don't know if you could get off this from just playing the game, but it does put a new spin on it--if you elect to become sheep, don't be surprised when the wolf shows up.

I'm not quite sure what I want to cover next. Truth be told, I've only scratched the surface of Shenmue and Metal Gear Solid, so there'd be quite a bit of "research" to do before I could cover one of them. It doesn't help that Dragon Age Origins has gotten its fangs deeply embedded in my neck. Holy #$@ this is a great game--an absolute no-brainer if you're at all interested in role-playing games. They really nailed the formula for success I outlined in my Dungeons & Desktops book for single-player RPGs:

1. Big, epic storyline in which your character's decisions are very important (and not at all easy!)
2. Well-developed, intriguing, and complex characters (and OMG, one of them is going to have your eyeballs glued to the screen!)
3. Versatile leveling/character system with many pivotal choices and lots of different ways to specialize that impact the way you play
4. Incredible audiovisuals (the "easy" thing to get right IMO)

The only part of the game that hasn't blown my socks off is the combat, which is similar to KOTOR. You can hit the space bar to pause the game and issue one order to each party member (4 total), but the AI is a tad disappointing, even if you tweak the tactics and so on. What seems to happen (I'm playing a mage) is that all the monsters chase me around the battlefield, oblivious to the rest of my party hacking at them or shooting arrows. I'm convinced I could win most battles just by kiting the mobs around and letting the rest of my party wheedle them down with ranged attacks. Another problem is that the battlefields are often small, so the big-area of effect spells like (AOE) like fireball and so on tend to be useless. I really wish this game had offered some kind of true turn-based combat, but I know Bioware's never been willing to go that route.

I get the impression that you'd have a lot more fun with this game playing as a rogue or warrior than a mage. If I weren't so far into the game I'd definitely re-roll as a warrior "tank" type of character. Again, the problem isn't better or worse than it was in Baldur's Gate II, NWN, or KOTOR, but damn, I wish they had made some big strides in this department. At least you don't have to deal with random encounters.

In any case, though, the game is still fantastic and these are just nitpicks. Get this game!