Here's the deal. I love RPGs. And as far as RPGs go, there are two companies that have delivered fantastic experiences: Bethesda and Black Isle. What I consider to be the best RPGs ever made come out of those two companies. The games that Bioware's made since their partnership with Black Isle ended have been pretty enjoyable as well - not the best, but certainly worth their money.

Anyway, here's the one thing I've noticed that Black Isle and Bioware did very well that Bethesda really needs to take a page from them on: Voice acting. Bioware/BI hire professional voice actors - people whose names you probably wouldn't recognize, but whose characters you probably would. Minsc from Baldur's Gate was done by the guy who does Winnie the Pooh. Morte and Nordom from Planescape: Torment were done by Yakko Warner and Homer Simpson, respectively. Each game is filled with all sorts of voice talent, and even minor parts are done convincingly.

Compare and contrast with Bethesda games. In both Fallout 3 and Oblivion, they made the same mistake: Blow their entire voice-acting budget on one A-list Hollywood actor, and have three people voice the rest of the game. It just doesn't work. It kills the immersion, at least for me.

Now, I'm aware that TES and Bioware RPGs are different games in many respects. However, this doesn't change the fact that a wider variety of voice actors would really improve immersion - three-four per race for the randoms, with more important characters given unique voices. Major voice actors like Mark Hamil and Rob Paulson give terrific performances, would be able to do multiple characters, and wouldn't demand nearly as much money as Patrick Stewart or Liam Neeson.

Anyway, that's just my suggestion for a small change that would go a long way to substantially improving Beth games. Any thoughts on this?