If you like RPG's, you should definitely consider checking out Dragon Age: Origins.
Side quests are numerous and entertaining. Traveling the road? Alright well you could get attacked or have a random encounter pop up at any time. It keeps you on edge at all times. Not too mention with everything you can do this game can easily last over 40 hours.
Companions. Hmm, for me it took awhile to get used to them. They aren't the normal lovey-doovy type people you get in RPG's.They start out rough, not too friendly. After awhile though it's really epic when you get to know them better and vis-versa. That's when all the work pays off, and you connect with them on a level indescribable.
Plenty of role playing elements, decent sound effects, freedom to progress main story at your own pace, tons of ways to decide the outcome of an incident, interesting characters and side quests, good looting-stat building techniques, and no moral system makes this game an amazing experience for any hardcore fan of RPG's or casual RPG's in general.
Only real complaint is the difficulty. It's not easy, even on normal. I usually play games on Hard-Insane, but this game would knock me down on Normal. I'm not looking forward to trying this on the hardest difficulty on my next run through. But other than that, it's a great game.