Choice in character appearance is nice, but you are probably going to see a lot more of your character's helmet than hair and face anyway.
I haven't played either game yet, so can't compare them or form an opinion on their relative merits. Not having played D2:ED yourself, according to your last post, I'm not sure how you are able to compare the story, lore, history and quest systems of both games.
A good chunk of what makes a game 'good' is a matter of opinion, and can not be quantified on any kind of commonly accepted scale. Money and prestige can certainly allow a company to put more resources into a game and attract more candidates for employees, but that is no guarantee of quality. Lots of big companies have produced poor games (etc), and lots of smaller companies have made great ones (and vise versa). As for being European... well, nobody's perfect, now, are they?
