Mass Effect was pretty good, but it was still a big disappointment when I compare it to KoTOR. RPG elements were extremely dumbed down, and instead we got better graphics + very mediocre shooter. The main quest was quite good, but most of the optional quests sucked ass and were mostly just good for leveling up.
Oblivion was very cool when I started, awesome graphics (at the time). It very cool to get out of the first dungeon and see the good looking world, but soon after that it started to get more and more dull. The main quest didn't really hold my interest (so I never finished it) and most of the characters I met were dull and boring. The most interesting quests I got, were some guild quests, like the Dark Brotherhood (that was probably the highpoint of the game for me). The combat is a bit improved from Morrowind, but it's nothing awesome. Then there is that horrible system that lets creatures level up with you, which makes leveling up kinda useless (on some occations it might even make the game harder for you). I would probably say that the best thing about Oblivion are the mods, since the mod community for Oblivion is quite large. Vanilla Oblivion wasn't really that special (except for the graphics), but modded might prove some nice improvements (sadly I can't really say anything about it myself though, since I've only played it without mods).
Although I haven't played Fallout 3 very much I can tell it's a rather nice improvement over Oblivion as a RPG. Leveling is more meaningful, there seem to be more interesting characters, the world seems to be more interesting, character insteraction is more interesting, and there are some choices and consequenses which Oblivion seemed to completely lack. As a shooter it's not so good though. Vats can certainly be interesting though, blowing bodyparts off in slowmo (well at least it's rather fun for a while). Still this system trying to mix FPS combat elements and the old Fallout combat elements is kinda akward. Instead of being very important to the combat, the action points are merely a bonus to make the combat a bit easier now.
Out of these 3 I would pick Mass Effect or Fallout 3. Fallout 3 has better side quests and RPG elements than Mass Effect, but from what I've heard the main quest isn't really the best point of the game, so I'm gonna assume Mass Effects main quest beats Fallout 3 main quest. Although combat isn't really special in ether of those games, I would say Mass Effect is a bit better. Since Mass Effect is rather short for a RPG I'm pretty sure most people get more playing time out of Fallout 3. Mass Effect has better graphics (not that it matters too much though), and is a more immersive game than Fallout 3. It's hard for me to pick one above the other right now, since I've finished Mass Effect, while I haven't played Fallout 3 for many hours, but I guess I might prefer Fallout 3 if I had played it more (not sure though).
With all this said none of those games have very good combat elements, so if that's what your main focus is on, I wouldn't reccommend any of those 3. If you want some kind of a good mix between FPS and RPG you might want to keep an eye on Borderlands (coming later this fall). I'm pretty sure borderlands will at least have better combat, especially since the developer has made some pretty good FPS already.
Also if you don't mind older games, there are plenty of better RPG's than those above (examples: KoTOR 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2, Baldurs Gate 1 and 2, Planescape Torment). For a mix of FPS and RPG there are Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Arx Fatalis, Vampire: Bloodlines. If you're ok with really old, you can also try Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 (they are in first person), and they are freeware (+ they only take a few megabytes)
Log in to comment