What PC RPG should I buy?

[Selka]

So I just spent most of my last bits of money on a brand spanking new 3 GHz gaming PC with a Radeon HD 4890 Video Card and some other fancy gizmos, because I am totally financially responsible. With what little money I have left I was going to buy games for this new gaming PC (shockingly). I'm going to get the Orange Box and I'm going to download Deus Ex from good old games, and I have enough money left to get either Oblivion or Mass Effect, and I'm not sure which one I want to get. I played through Fallout 3 on a XBOX 360 and loved it, and so that makes me want to get Oblivion, but I'm also a huge fan of everything and anything BioWare has ever done, hence my dilemma. What do you all think of these games, and which one do you think I should get?

I've played through the first couple hours of both games, Oblivion seemed to have a better combat engine and more quests to do and better gameplay elements (a skill system that allows for more customization and a larger variety of spells and attacks), while Mass Effect seemed to have a better story and better voice acting and character development and other non-gameplay elements. Is this a fair assessment?

Your wisdom would be much appreciated. I could also use the money to buy food so I don't starve to death, but what fun would that be?

 

[TheFacelessOne]

Oblivion has HUGE replayability value, more bang for your buck.
(By the way, the GOTY is now only 19.99!)
But it isn't best story wise. Betheseda seemed to worry more about the other things, and story took a back seat. (Which is not necessarily a bad thing.)
Plus, if your the kinda guy who beats everything in Oblivion, you can always resort to modding!

Mass Effect has less of the replayability, but is greater story wise. But because of the better story, this makes the game more linear, and the side-quests are less awarding and weren't as fun to me.
There is more dialogue, which is good depending on what person you are. Characters are more in-depth, and has better immersion.

I'd have to go with Oblivion.

 

[quack35]

Mass Effect, for sure, if you can deal with a little more dialogue than usual.

 

[Odude]

Mass Effect has a much better story, but Oblivion allows much more freedom and will end up much longer.

So it comes down to if you want more of a story or time sink.

 

[Swaki]

dont get oblivion, i never played mass effect so i cant say anything about it, but oblivion is a horrible boring game.

around lvl 3 you will be unbeatable and every encounter after that is simply boring.

dont get it my friend, please dont.

 

[New Troll]

Oblivion will be with you for longer. Mass Effect could be good if you think you'd be getting Mass Effect 2 when it comes out.

But as said above, story equals Mass Effect, lifespan equals Oblivion. And personally, I think Oblivion was more fun, but also eventually more boring. Played on PS3 though so no modding.

 

[Worgen]

Kings bounty is on sale on steam for 14 bucks, it wont push your graphics card but its a fantastic game that gave me over 50 hours
The witcher is pretty good
but if its between oblivion and mass effect, go with mass effect but watch out for the drm bs on it

 

[G1eet]

Get Mass Effect if you want a good story, or Oblivion for it's huge replay value.

And there are numerous mods for Oblivion that add to the experience.

 

[Nargleblarg]

I played both and they are both incredibly good but I would pick oblivion because it's way longer, more customizable, and you have more freedom then in mass effect. Although Mass Effect does get credit for having a better story and better conversations.

 

[Selka]

Kings bounty is on sale on steam for 14 bucks, it wont push your graphics card but its a fantastic game that gave me over 50 hours
The witcher is pretty good
but if its between oblivion and mass effect, go with mass effect but watch out for the drm bs on it

I'd be downloading the games from Steam, so to avoid drm and securom and all that bullshit. It's totally worth the extra $10. I'm usually all for older games with good gameplay and stories, but after having this G4 Mac with 512 Megs of Ram which can barely play Rise of Nations and KOTOR, and owning a Wii which has a grand total of 2 games for it that look good enough to be called next-gen, I really want a game that looks and sounds excellent as well as being a good game (sorry, Crysis).

 

[Godhead]

Fuck both of those and get Tetris and an original gameboy!!

But with all seriousness, oblivion has a much larger replayibility potential because of things you might have missed. Plus the mods for ovblivion are numerous and amazing. But a very nice option for you to get instead of either of those is Bioshock off of steam since it's thirty dollars less or you can get the first KOTOR.


But it's entirely up to you, plus these are four amazing games so whichever one you'll choose you'll love or no money back!!

Or save up some moneys for L4D

 

[G1eet]

Get Mass Effect if you want a good story, or Oblivion for it's huge replay value.

And there are numerous mods for Oblivion that add to the experience.

Well I play on console so I didn't add that. Though from my recent experience with the PC version of Fallout 3 I don't mind that much.

Also happy almost Gone Gonzo!

I also played it on a console, but my friends have mods for it.

And thanks very much, I think this is the 1k post.

Edit: Yep.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

get diablo 2, and see if you can figure out why it still lags down to 20 fps during battles. My friend's 8800GTX system with 4 gigs of ram performs the exact same as my Sony VAIO with Intel on board graphics, it pisses him off.

on topic, between the two, I've only played Oblivion but it lost my interest. yes it's replayable but only single player and I wasn't all that interested in building multiple characters. I've only played a little bit of Fallout 3 and I can tell you two hours of F3 is much more fun than 100 hours of Oblivion (my humble opinion). Mass Effect on the other hand looks PHENOMENAL, but I can only confirm that through my friends' experiences.

 

[Phyroxis]

Go for Dragon Age: Orgins

 

[Worgen]

Kings bounty is on sale on steam for 14 bucks, it wont push your graphics card but its a fantastic game that gave me over 50 hours
The witcher is pretty good
but if its between oblivion and mass effect, go with mass effect but watch out for the drm bs on it

I'd be downloading the games from Steam, so to avoid drm and securom and all that bullshit. It's totally worth the extra $10. I'm usually all for older games with good gameplay and stories, but after having this G4 Mac with 512 Megs of Ram which can barely play Rise of Nations and KOTOR, and owning a Wii which has a grand total of 2 games for it that look good enough to be called next-gen, I really want a game that looks and sounds excellent as well as being a good game (sorry, Crysis).

actualy kings bounty might fit that, while its not bump mapped and bloomed out the ass its got very good graphics and fantastic music and sound, altho no voice acting but a good pretty well writen story... then then again so does mass effect

 

[high_castle]

I adore Mass Effect, and while I loved Morrowind, I found I couldn't even make it through one full game in Oblivion.

As others have mentioned, Mass Effect's strength lies in story and characters. It's a game for people who enjoy classic space operas and BioWare games in general. It boasts the same dark humor and epic storyline of Baldur's Gate, which it bears a strong resemblance to in tone (though it will always be compared to KOTOR because it's SF instead of fantasy). I can't believe some people are calling Oblivion superior in terms of replay value. I've clocked 200+ hours on this game already, and I'm not sick of it yet. The choice system in the game works better than any other RPG out there, mostly because the choices tend to be subtle and there are actually consequences for your actions. And taking the truly heroic path at times is just dumb. Yes, I love this game.

On the other hand, Oblivion bored the crap out of me. Gone is the variety of Morrowind, replaced with a bland map and characters who don't blink nearly enough. Mass Effect shows how great voiced dialogue can be by also ascribing actions and movement to their models. In Oblivion, everything stops so that people can talk. And what they say isn't even interesting. The quests are repetitive and dull, reminiscent of the grind you get in MMORPGs. Except its single player, so why are we grinding again? And the leveling system is broken. Unlike in Morrowind, where you can pick skills you're going to use in your class, Oblivion works best if you level only the skills that AREN'T in your skill set. Go figure. If you try to play the game another way, you can only get so far before the monsters are ridiculously overpowered. I might have struggled on if I weren't so bored. So yeah. Go with Mass Effect if you liked Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights and the best of the Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. Go with Oblivion if you've never played the other games I've mentioned and thus don't know what you're missing out on.