Fallout 3 or Mass effect

Both are great, but if you want replayability, you should get Fallout 3, there are many great things to find, etc. But if i were you, i would get ME and Fallout.rmfd341

It sucks that both of those rpgs are not playable after the main quest line is complete. That is my favorite part, doing all the side quest when you have the best stats.frostedwheats

They are different types of games. Mass Effect has a much more polished theatrical feel to it where the main missions are highly scripted with camera angles and such. It will generally take you about 13-20 hours to beat depending on how many side quests you do...however this is not a slight against it as it rarely gets boring. Thats 20 hours of quality gaming...versus many hours of boring level grinding.

Fallout 3 has a much more open world with tons of quests and loot. The story line is not as good as ME, but you can do pretty much anything in the game.

I own both games...but if I had to judge based on overall playability and just straight up coolness its Mass Effect FTW..but both are good. On a side note, both games have a game crash bug that likes to sneak in, so save often.

mass effect has the best story in a game ever.

Here's my 2 cents

Fallout 3.... pretty damn good game... but with the mod tools released its going to get better... there is going to be some more DLC ... and the price is likely to drop or something. So if you ask me in a few months fallout 3 is going to be better

ME ... solid game, but its not going to get much better in terms of content or price. Its already $30 bucks on steam and I don't see it dropping by much anytime soon.

So if I were you, I'd get ME now, and just hang back with fallout 3 as you will get a better deal with better content later on.

Fallout 3

mass effect has the best story in a game ever.

ag3ntz3rox0x

[spoiler] Bioware took Neverwinter Nights' story, trimmed it (they cut off the ending, all character motivations, and so on), and set it in space. [/spoiler]

I think that's enough to qualify ME as having the worst story in a Bioware game..not counting that Sonic RPG that I don't particularly want to try out.

Anyway, I'm not sure which I could recommend (I haven't played much of Fallout 3), but Mass Effect was quite disappointing, so you'd probably be better off with F3.

I'll never understand why people who consider games that take 12-20 hours to beat as being short. I will admit that if you compare it to games like Baldur's Gate 2 it is short, however if you compare it to the average RPG out there that takes 40-50 hours.....and remove all non-essential gameplay(level grinding/random battles), they only take about 10-15 hours to beat. Mass Effect goes fast because there isn't a level grind...you can beeline to the end, same as oblivion or morrowind(which can be beat in about 8 min..lol)... Anyways, my point being is that if you take the avg price of a pc game ($50) and divide it by 15 hours you get about 3.4 dollars per hour...which is very cheap when compared to movies and music(store bought)...which tends to cost about $5-10 per hour. Plus, I just don't have that much time to spend on a game if it takes 50 hours to beat.

This is just my .02. I think length does mean something when it comes to games...but just because a game is shorter shouldn't define its quality. Unless you really don't have anything better to do than spend hours and hours on one game...in that case..happy gaming! BTW, after doing all side quests it took me 23 hours to get through ME with one play through...thats hardly short.

Bioware took Neverwinter Nights' story, trimmed it (they cut off the ending, all character motivations, and so on), and set it in space.
Planeforger

No.

Last time I checked, Mass Effect doesn't send you to one of the hells to battle a demigod, nor does it have a kobold-dragon as one of your companions. Mass Effect's story is good in its own right, and is not comparable to NWN's. If there's any air of similarity, it's because the two were made by the same company.

This is just my .02. I think length does mean something when it comes to games...but just because a game is shorter shouldn't define its quality. Unless you really don't have anything better to do than spend hours and hours on one game...in that case..happy gaming! BTW, after doing all side quests it took me 23 hours to get through ME with one play through...thats hardly short.

stele29

Most of the side-quests were quite dull, though, and the interesting quest chains were unfinished (like anything involving Cerberus). This basically encouraged people to stuck to the main quest, which was only...what, five planets long(?), and at least two of those didn't have much to do with the plot.

That wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't slapped a 'to be continued' on the end of it - ME was a 12 hour game that only told 1/3rd of a story, while other RPGs can be 50 hours long and tell the whole story.

* The HTML isn't working. Hmph! *

"Last time I checked, Mass Effect doesn't send you to one of the hells to battle a demigod, nor does it have a kobold-dragon as one of your companions. Mass Effect's story is good in its own right, and is not comparable to NWN's. If there's any air of similarity, it's because the two were made by the same company."

Neither did NWN's storyline, unless we're talking about the expansions, which I wasn't.

Here are the basic plots of each game, give or take a few uninteresting henchmen who have no impact on the plot:

[spoiler] You play as a rookie hero/Spectre, hired by Lord Neverwinter/the Galactic Council. Your superior, Aribeth/Saren, abadons their cause because her boyfriend was killed /mind-control, and sides with the evil Luskans/Geth.

The player and traitor then race around the Sword Coast/Galaxy, looking for ancient artefacts/ancient artefacts that will lead to, and open up a portal that lies hidden within your home base, Castle Neverwinter/The Citadel, unleashing the traitor's masters, an ancient race of lizards/machines, who have been trapped behind the portal since the last time they ruled the world.

You stop the invading army, and then enter the portal, exterminate the ancient evil race, and save the world/make a speech, and watch the credits. [/spoiler]

Sure, there's a bit more to both games, but the main ideas behind them are identical

[QUOTE="stele29"]

This is just my .02. I think length does mean something when it comes to games...but just because a game is shorter shouldn't define its quality. Unless you really don't have anything better to do than spend hours and hours on one game...in that case..happy gaming! BTW, after doing all side quests it took me 23 hours to get through ME with one play through...thats hardly short.

Planeforger

Most of the side-quests were quite dull, though, and the interesting quest chains were unfinished (like anything involving Cerberus). This basically encouraged people to stuck to the main quest, which was only...what, five planets long(?), and at least two of those didn't have much to do with the plot.

That wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't slapped a 'to be continued' on the end of it - ME was a 12 hour game that only told 1/3rd of a story, while other RPGs can be 50 hours long and tell the whole story.

Show me a RPG that's 50 hours long and I'll show you tedious/boring gameplay designed to extend the length of the game so that more people will buy it believing it has more content (mouthful). There's no game that has a main storyline that's 50hours long (sorry). I'd also like to see interesting side-quest, if anything, I'm overjoyed that ME had so few side-quests and was yet 12-20hours long.

The TC wanted an "action/rpg," which is why everyone is recommending Mass Effect. Fallout 3 has action, but it isn't action that is immersive. You have a computer that aims for you and the combat movement consists of 'run/crouch/stand.' All you had was different variations of weapons. In Mass Effect, there was everything mentioned above and completely immersive combat. You'd be running in a Vacuum, blasting enemies with 'Ice' ammo and they would freeze and break apart. Or you would use a 'force push' to send them flying over an edge. The game also had a cover system and a simple command system for henchmen. Speaking of henchmen, Mass Effect easily has the best stories and character development for the henchmen. You can really see how they change around the hero.

If you want an ACTION/rpg then go for Mass Effect.

If you want a action/RPG then go for Fallout 3.

* The HTML isn't working. Hmph! *

"Last time I checked, Mass Effect doesn't send you to one of the hells to battle a demigod, nor does it have a kobold-dragon as one of your companions. Mass Effect's story is good in its own right, and is not comparable to NWN's. If there's any air of similarity, it's because the two were made by the same company."

Neither did NWN's storyline, unless we're talking about the expansions, which I wasn't.

Here are the basic plots of each game, give or take a few uninteresting henchmen who have no impact on the plot:

[spoiler] You play as a rookie hero/Spectre, hired by Lord Neverwinter/the Galactic Council. Your superior, Aribeth/Saren, abadons their cause because her boyfriend was killed /mind-control, and sides with the evil Luskans/Geth.

The player and traitor then race around the Sword Coast/Galaxy, looking for ancient artefacts/ancient artefacts that will lead to, and open up a portal that lies hidden within your home base, Castle Neverwinter/The Citadel, unleashing the traitor's masters, an ancient race of lizards/machines, who have been trapped behind the portal since the last time they ruled the world.

You stop the invading army, and then enter the portal, exterminate the ancient evil race, and save the world/make a speech, and watch the credits. [/spoiler]

Sure, there's a bit more to both games, but the main ideas behind them are identical
Planeforger

It sucks that both of those rpgs are not playable after the main quest line is complete. That is my favorite part, doing all the side quest when you have the best stats.frostedwheats

If I remember correctly KoToR was the same way. Just do all the side quests right before the last part.

[QUOTE="ag3ntz3rox0x"]

mass effect has the best story in a game ever.

Planeforger

I think that's enough to qualify ME as having the worst story in a Bioware game..not counting that Sonic RPG that I don't particularly want to try out.

Anyway, I'm not sure which I could recommend (I haven't played much of Fallout 3), but Mass Effect was quite disappointing, so you'd probably be better off with F3.

well am playing mass effect now and it reminds me kotor alot.. the recipe is the same!

[QUOTE="Planeforger"][spoiler] You play as a rookie hero/Spectre, hired by Lord Neverwinter/the Galactic Council. Your superior, Aribeth/Saren, abadons their cause because her boyfriend was killed /mind-control, and sides with the evil Luskans/Geth. The player and traitor then race around the Sword Coast/Galaxy, looking for ancient artefacts/ancient artefacts that will lead to, and open up a portal that lies hidden within your home base, Castle Neverwinter/The Citadel, unleashing the traitor's masters, an ancient race of lizards/machines, who have been trapped behind the portal since the last time they ruled the world. You stop the invading army, and then enter the portal, exterminate the ancient evil race, and save the world/make a speech, and watch the credits. Sure, there's a bit more to both games, but the main ideas behind them are identical [/spoiler] Aeternity

Also the thing is that....*** SPOILER***

Sorry i couldnt hold myself after all that spoilers!

Fallout 3 by a mile. i was sick of mass effecet half way through the citidel right at the start of the game. i probably didnt give the game a chance but i just couldnt get into it, which was strange since i loved KOTOR 1 and even 2