What made mass effect so good to be compared to those games? The story was really compelling but it was short and unsatifiying. The side quests and most of the planets were unfinished.
fallenchicken
I thought Mass Effect was a much better RPG than Oblivion, but then I'm just a gamer with an opinion. I'm looking at character interaction, level progression, and roleplaying.
One of the key characteristics that separates RPGs from more straight-foward action games is character interaction. Oblivion's character interaction sucked. 99% of all characters were about as well developed as MMO quest-dispensing terminals. Even the main characters were not very interesting. You learn next to nothing about them, and it's hard to care about people you don't know. Compare this to Mass Effect, which is populated by real people. Characters have their own lives and realistic motivations for what they do. You care about the characters in the game, and I felt a real sense of loss when one of them was killed.
I hated the scaling in Oblivion. I recently played through Mass Effect for the second time, and I spent much of the early part of the game saving up to buy a Master Gear assault rifle. I neglected upgrading my armor and other stuff, and suffered for it, as I was saving up for this sweet gun. Lots of RPGs through the years have had this. When I finally could afford the Master Gear rifle, it was awesome. That will never happen in Oblivion. You will never find/earn a totally awesome weapon, because all the items available to you are tied to your level. All the enemies are tied to your level too, so it doesn't really matter when you get a better weapon, because the bandits, goblins, et cetera all have more health now. In most every RPG in history, at Level 20, you could own a lowly skeleton. In Oblivion, there are no lowly skeletons, because enemies are tied to your level. This totally screws the game's sense of progress. In Mass Effect, a Geth shock trooper is a formidable foe at the beginning of the game. Later on, you chew through them in seconds. This is a good feeling. It's also a feeling you hardly ever get in Oblivion, because once again, everything's tied to your level.
Oh yeah, the roleplaying: There is no roleplaying in Oblivion. You're invited to join the Thieve's Guild. Want to betray them and turn them into the police? Can't. You're given a quest to go kill some guy. Want to be merciful and tell him to dissappear but let him live? Can't. Want to try talking someone down instead of fighting them? Can't. If you want to complain about unfinished side quests, Oblivion is the perfect candidate. Every sidequest is incredibly linear. Some of them are enjoyable, especially the ones for the Dark Brotherhood, but there's no roleplaying in them. The only roleplaying in Oblivion is what you make up in your head. This, combined with the game's heavy action and non-emphasis on your stats almost makes me c|assify it as an action-adventure, and not an RPG.
And there it is. You asked.
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