Corvin said:
It is almost staggeringly linear. The NPCs are not actually all that deep. The 'moral impact' of one's decisions doesn't ultimately matter.
Not that this has stood in the way of many of my favorite RPGs before... but all of these things have been said to matter deeply by people around here.
...and, facial animations?
It also fronts an almost horrific copy protection scheme... which Fallout 3 doesn't have.
I'd prefer staggeringly linear if the story/atmosphere/setting is compelling and makes you want to continue. STALKER is linear yet destroys F3 to me. And yes STALKER is not really an RPG but that's not really the issue. The issue is if a game grabs you or not. beths free range style
could be great if pulled off well but so far I haven't played a game from them which pull it off for me. I always end up eventually going 'ok am I gonna keep doing these generic quests given by boring as hell NPCs over and over and mindless loot collecting/stat pumping till my head explodes or am I going to stop playing' (I stop playing). If there is no stimulating plot or quests or sub stories I might as well be doing something else IRL equally as mundane though actually productive to me (such as working out).
Also how would you rate the moral impact in The Witcher vs F3? Which one sucks less?