Second Edition. True, the rules were still a bit archaic and antiquated, though we played long enough to have them all memorized along with the page numbers they were kept on. Still, it was a good time for world-building. Description and flavor were key, with many a splatbook being full of fluff with only a bare minimum of crunch. Not to mention that this was the era that gave us campaign settings that are still hot topics even to this day; Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and Planescape just to name a few.
Paizo's leanings toward that same love of story and attention to detail are part of why my group's starting to fall in love with Pathfinder. As much as the rule system WotC brought on board with 3E modernized the game from a crunch standpoint, I still think they're in the Dark Ages where story and plot are concerned. Once I see a concerted effort to temper their crunchy bits with a bit of flavor, I'll reconsider caring what they're doing with 5E.
