What quality level are you going for. For inde game designers, in my opinion, 3DGS is perfect. It is, more or less, all inclusive. The model editor, is fairly basic, but gets the job done nicely. C-script is easy to get the hang of, yet there is always something to learn.

I have heard, from this forum, that multiplayer games are troublesome with GS. LAN games should not be extreamly difficult, but internet games, with servers, can get tricky.

Using 3d party software is not as sketchy as it sounds. There are import programs for most major formats, some are in the model editor itself. I would actually suggest 3d party software, if you are really going for a high quality game.

The game can be, more or less, as high of quality as you want. You just need to pick a target machine, and design around its specs. You will not be able to run a very poly-intense game on a 733Mhz P3. However, if your target is a 2.4 Ghz P4 with 1GB ram, you can get pretty creative. The limit is your skil and creativity, and maybe the market if you are designing to sell.

Regards,
Raddaddy