Poll: Oh the complexity of choice.

[Scobie]

DELETED

 

[Azure Sky]

Complete Mass Effect before touching the sequel, as you can transfer the choices you made in the first and it makes a massive difference. The story and writing is first class, unfortunately the combat is ropey but it's functional.

Oblivion is flawed, but it is possible to lose hundreds of hours as there is a stupid amount of content.

Fable 2 is actually really short. The main storyline is barely 10 hours long, and the side quests can all be completed in another ten hours.

I would probably recommend Mass Effect out of all of them. I didn't like it to start off with but once you get into it it's really damn sweet.

What's it like for customisation? And I don't just mean like can I choose my own weapons, I can do that with MW2 and I wouldn't rate that game too high on the scale. I mean like the customisation you get with Fallout and Oblivion, can I make my character evil, leave people alive and it affects different reactions and relationships?

Oh yeah, totally. Mass Effect is pretty much all about choice, and how your choices affect different characters and how the plot develops, and ultimately how everything turns out. You can make choices that will leave characters that you grow attached to dead or worse, have a relationship with different members of your squad etc.

There isn't so much a 'good' and 'evil' side of things. Instead, it is how you carry out your objectives that makes you either a 'renegade' (imagine Kiefer Sutherland from 24) or Paragon, which is good. For example, you could do a favour for a character to get information, or you could torture him to get it instead. There aren't any fundamental 'good' or 'evil' choices ala Fallout.

Also, if you are having a hard time with the combat system, take advantage of one of the achievements, Primarily Master of Lift or Master of Singularity (They are an ass to unlock, but having a control skill on a Soldier is worth every minute it takes to unlock with a throw away character)

On that note, if you intend to play through the game on the higher difficultys, I recommend a Soldier, Heavy armor, High HP and Regen is worth its weight in gold.

As for the Paragon/Renegade? It's not a true good/evil, it's closer to Chaotic/Good, and as such, you can actually raise both of them without penalty.

 

[Confidingtripod]

Mass Effect 1 and 2 if your looking for story (as oblivion tends to be made of lots of small ones) and character development, it also has a badass cliffhanger ending that youll only really understand just how fucked you are if you play 1.

Oblivion for vastness (just like fallout your dumped in the middle of no-where and told "figure shit out") and to get you started sleep on the inn/ship in the docks for an easy one time quest and investigate your room theres a hidden bag.

Fable 2 for customisation (with the expansions you even choose the weather) plus your actions before you leave for the hero of will chooses what shape the world is in when you return e.g: if you had a newborn child they will be running around pretending to be a hero.

send me a message if you want to know more I could talk about those three games forever.

 

[slipknot4]

Well... trust me, Oblivion is a must have. I've had more than enough golden moments with oblivion and all the chaos and order is fun as hell. However. The game is not complete if you don't buy the Goty edition. Knights of the nine is just amazing. So, without question, Oblivion!!

Well, good, because I decided to order both Mass Effect and Oblivion, Mass Effect because it sounds amazing and Oblivion because I know it's good. But I didn't get the GOTY edition, it was sold out on Game (I use them because delivery is 1-2 days for free and it always comes within 1 day). But can you not download both add-ons on the XBOX live marketplace?

Yes you can, Not that I've ever used the XBL marketplace but it is on the american Psn.

 

[kingcom]

If you want real choice dont play those games, play something like Baldurs Gate 1/2 or Fallout 1/2 or Deus Ex.

I've only heard of Deas Ex once in my life and didn't look into it, but now you've said that I think I will. I might even buy it. But, Baldur's Gate is new to me, never even heard of it on here. Fallout 1/2... hmm, are they as good, or better, than Fallout 3, if they are, then I'm getting them.

Oh that makes me sad, what is the world coming to when people havnt even heard of Baldurs Gate. It is perhaps the best RPG series ever made, biowares original RPG. It set in the dungeons and dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms and follows the story of your character. I cant say much without giving it away but the combat system is excellent, the writing is excellent, its a game that graphically has aged very well considering (and has a mod to import the game files into the BG2 improved engine). Its the first game to make me genuinely care about your friends and allies and deeply intrigued, maybe even desperate to reveal the much greater plot. The main story is fairly linear but like all good RPGs allows you to move through the game how you want to, picking a class, a party of companions with the skills you want to play through the game. Dragon Age: Origins was quoted as the "spiritual successer to Baldurs Gate" but to me it doesnt match up to the Baldur's Gate quality. That said its good to play Baldurs Gate 1 then 2 (even if you use the mod to put the first into the seconds engine) since some peoelp can be put off by the start of Baldurs Gate 2 (its effectively a short dungeon crawl explaining plot which you wont really understand if you dont know the background for).

Are Fallout 1 and 2 as good as Fallout 3? Compared to Fallout 1 and 2, Fallout 3 is a joke, it is an abomination. That said Fallout 3 isnt a bad game, its just no even a fraction of the quality of the first two (that said the first 2 have turn based combat but much better than the "VATS" system).

 

[Shock and Awe]

Mass Effect by a country mile. I have played through it about 10 times and its freaking awesome.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Oh that makes me sad, what is the world coming to when people havnt even heard of Baldurs Gate. It is perhaps the best RPG series ever made, biowares original RPG. It set in the dungeons and dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms and follows the story of your character. I cant say much without giving it away but the combat system is excellent, the writing is excellent, its a game that graphically has aged very well considering (and has a mod to import the game files into the BG2 improved engine). Its the first game to make me genuinely care about your friends and allies and deeply intrigued, maybe even desperate to reveal the much greater plot. The main story is fairly linear but like all good RPGs allows you to move through the game how you want to, picking a class, a party of companions with the skills you want to play through the game. Dragon Age: Origins was quoted as the "spiritual successer to Baldurs Gate" but to me it doesnt match up to the Baldur's Gate quality. That said its good to play Baldurs Gate 1 then 2 (even if you use the mod to put the first into the seconds engine) since some peoelp can be put off by the start of Baldurs Gate 2 (its effectively a short dungeon crawl explaining plot which you wont really understand if you dont know the background for).

Are Fallout 1 and 2 as good as Fallout 3? Compared to Fallout 1 and 2, Fallout 3 is a joke, it is an abomination. That said Fallout 3 isnt a bad game, its just no even a fraction of the quality of the first two (that said the first 2 have turn based combat but much better than the "VATS" system).

hm well I'll definitely have to take a gander at the first two fallout games because there was not a single part of Fallout 3 that I didn't enjoy. It was an amazing all round game that was just thoroughly enticing. I even loved the V.A.T.S system that was used in it. Baldur's gate sounds more than great, it sounds like a cake made entirely out of sweet, sweet icing with chocolate glazed over the top and then grated chocolate on top of that, with summer fruits to top (I'm not fat) and from what I've heard recently deus ex is on steam for £3 so I'll be getting that. Thanks for all the info, always love to hear of good games.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Of those games Mass Effect is superior in pretty well every way. However customization seems to be a big draw for you so I might actually recommend Oblivion on PC. I don't really care for Oblivion but it's my opinion that playing on a console is handicapping the entire experience.

 

[V8 Ninja]

I know it's not an Xbox 360 game, but Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for the win.

 

[Loonerinoes]

If it really is all about choice, then Alpha Protocol from Obsidian wins flat out. No other game currently gives you this much choice, to the point even where it might result in you getting stuck gameplay-wise so - be warned, it is not that well balanced or polished, at least not until the patch for it comes out, but if you want to make decisions that result in some really surprising results and are willing to overlook many of its flaws, this is the one I'd recommend.

If you're looking moreso for a well-polished RPG though, then I wouldn't say any of the ones you've listed. Mass Effect sure, but if you're going more on the choice angle, then really Dragon Age might be more your fancy. It doesn't have a morality meter (like Mass Effect does) and your choices are purely your own to make - the game does not judge you for your choices, even though their limit still adheres to the standard choice trinity (i.e. good, neutral, evil)

 

[itsnotyouitsme]

Ok... For storyline it has to be mass effect. Oblivion and fable really don't have much of a storyline, it's more of "do this because your the main character".
Doing whatever you want goes to oblivion and fable, oblivion over fable, because in mass effect you can't do more then what they say you can do.
Fable 2 is not too long if you just go with the main missions. You could probably complete it in a day if you were hasty about it.
Not to say fable is the worst of the mix. For me because it has more replay value then oblivion or mass effect. In oblivion all you need to do to restart from a sword player to a magic player is stop using swords and start using magic. Meanwhile mass effect is just too damn long to really replay and it's story is very linear so you know how things will turn up regardless of what you do or not do.
The best one would be bioshock since it has a good storyline and it gives room to do what you want but i can't say much about the replay value of it's storyline, though shooting everything up again is entertaining.

 

[itsnotyouitsme]

Ok... For storyline it has to be mass effect. Oblivion and fable really don't have much of a storyline, it's more of "do this because your the main character".
Doing whatever you want goes to oblivion and fable, oblivion over fable, because in mass effect you can't do more then what they say you can do.
Fable 2 is not too long if you just go with the main missions. You could probably complete it in a day if you were hasty about it.
Not to say fable is the worst of the mix. For me because it has more replay value then oblivion or mass effect. In oblivion all you need to do to restart from a sword player to a magic player is stop using swords and start using magic. Meanwhile mass effect is just too damn long to really replay and it's story is very linear so you know how things will turn up regardless of what you do or not do.
The best one would be bioshock since it has a good storyline and it gives room to do what you want but i can't say much about the replay value of it's storyline, though shooting everything up again is entertaining.

Mass Effect is too long? It can be completed faster than Fable II.

And Bioshock's story relies too much of Audio Logs, the actual story itself isn't all that special.

True on the bioshock thing however if your playing mass effect i'm guessing you want to play it for the story and probably not trying to get the worst ending so that takes a nice long time where as in fable there is no need for any of that as the story is pretty... i want to say cliche but im not sure that's the right word for it.

 

[Seth Smith]

Save your money for something better.

 

[itsnotyouitsme]

Fable II is pretty cliche, but it's also very comical. It's an RPG Lite, but it is very enjoyable.

Mass Effect is good, the story (which I thought wasn't anything special, but was pretty good) doesn't take that long, and a lot of the Side Quests aren't anything special.

So you basically just said that fable's, mass effect's, and bioshock's stories aren't too special while oblivion's story isn't too special says me so that kills the first part, wanting a good story, completely.