Bethesda RPGs: Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3

These are the best three RPGs from recent years. Each features a massive interactive world that has a small number of Main Quest quests and a large number of Side Quests. The Main Quest is a linear story that you must follow and the Side Quests are all optional.

Each features a world that is beautiful. But that initial beauty is quickly destroyed by the onset of the enemy. Morrowind gets a blight wind, Oblivion gets hell gates, and in Fallout 3, you step out of the womb and into post-nuclear Washington, D.C.

These games are superb, but they would be even more enjoyable if the world itself stayed beautiful.

Also, the wondering monsters mean that you will be attacked regularly as you wonder through the world. This seems unnecessary. At some point, animals should run away when hurt. Wandering monsters are a concept that dates back to D&D, but they are too frequent and in some cases too brutal in these games. Wandering would be more rewarding with fewer wandering monsters.

Some complain that the treasure system in these games is wrong. The treasure you obtain is entirely dependent on your own level, so once you reach the higher levels, opponents will all have high quality weaponry. Thus, in the magical fantasy settings, even the poorest lowlifes will have the most expensive armor. But I think this is a quibble. It makes for good play balance and for an incentive to level up (I have a friend who's trying to play Oblivion through completely at just level 1).

The worlds are all vast and, if you ignore the main quest, you can play through a virtually untouched Morrowind and Oblivion before embarking on the Main Quest to finish the game. I recommend doing it this way.

The worlds are so vast that I strongly recommend purchasing the book about each world, which will allow you to find the secrets of the world and completely explore it.

You'll do a lot of fighting in these worlds, and the combat system in all three is excellent, complex, and rewards level progression. In the fantasy settings, you can fight with hand weapons, ranged weapons, unarmed (not recommended) or magic. In Fallout 3, you can fight with a variety of guns, with hand weapons (or unarmed, also not recommended), or with passive mines and with grenades. Sniper rifles add to the strategic options, with several areas set up to allow a sneaky sniper to eliminate much of the opposition before entering.

There are stories and hints of stories throughout each game which are not part of the Main Quest. In Fallout 3, the location and position of charred skeletons tells part of the story of postwar America, from the couple dying in bed together spooning to the skeleton in the bathtub with a toaster.

In Fallout 3, several of the stories are more like horror than science fiction (especially the rarely visited Dunwich Building), but there are a wide variety of stories, and many are interesting. There is even a detainment camp convoy in which America once again locks up those of its own citizens whose ancestors hailed from a nation we're at war with.

In Oblivion, the stories are particularly inventive. A sleepwalker may expect the first Fighter's Guild quest to be about fighting rats -- and be suprised to hear from a woman how beatiful and delightful her pet rats are. More humor would add much to this game, and most of the stories are deadly serious.

In Morrowind, there are fewer stories, but much to do and see. I particularly like the fact that, with a small donation at a particular temple and a spell that will return you to that temple, you can spend most of the game flying around. Flying may have made the game a little unstable and was eliminated in Oblivion. It's the one thing in Morrowind that I miss in Oblivion. Also, there are too many of a single species of bird that attacks anyone who flies.

Quests are easy to follow in Oblivion and Fallout 3 (the system in Morrowind needed, and received, a significant upgrade). In-game maps are good but not great, and it helps a lot to have the quest book. The quest book cost about $15 at the time the games were released (and is usually now out of print) and contained several hundred pages of information. The Fallout 3 quest book is hardbound and even longer than previous quest books and contains concept art and design comments.

These are 3 of the best RPGs available. I strongly recommend them.

To view the depth of each, check out its wiki:

Morrowind

Oblivion

Fallout 3