Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vs. Fallout: New Vegas vs. Dungeon Siege III

This year we have some major competition in the Role-Playing Genre. Let's take a look at them:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Fallout: New Vegas

Dungeon Siege III

I have chosen these three games because the most buzz in the video game industry, and amongst gamers have came from them! Also, all three games have a pretty good reputation of their past series of games, so let's see who has the better advantage and can be ultimately deemed, The Best RPG!

What Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim brings to the table is basically what Elder Scrolls: Oblivion brought, just more goodies. Bethesda Game Studios has said that there some changes though between the Platinum Hit and Skyrim and this is what Skyrim has to offer as well. In Skyrim, they have taken out the Acrobatics and Athletics skills so that gamers can focus more on other important goals in the game. Remember having to jump around like a mad man just to get skill gains in Oblivion? Well say good-bye because now they have added a Sprint button to allow to get to place faster. They have also taken out all those skills and attributes and narrowed it down to Magicka, Stamina, and Health. Even though the skills aren't seen, they are still there, just combined into the three main attributes.

You also have the power to switch out what weapon or attacks you want. In one hand you can have a spell ready to blast your enemies away while in the other you have you have your trusty Excalibur (sword) to finish the job. If you want to be a close combatant, just wield two swords or axes in your hand and you can go to work! Becoming versatile and being to change weapon styles on the whim is definitely a plus for this game.

The next thing is the countries, cities and dungeons you will explore. Skyrim is almost the same size as Oblivion with some minor tweaks that makes Skyrim better. Instead of always walking flat land, there will be a more diverse geographical setting. There will be hills, slopes, pine thickets, misty mountains, tundras, and forests of different shades and not just green. They have added weather change effect when you run around, season change from time to time, and amongst the 120 (or more) dungeons you will be adventuring into, there will be a mixed variety of them so you don't feel like you're doing the same one over and over.

For the cities, there are 5 different cities and about 9 small towns and communities in Skyrim (Skyrim isn't only the game name but also the country name) that is your playground. Each city has their own culture and unique buildings. You will be able to interact with the citizens and townspeople and affect the economy. That means, you can cause a city to go into economic decline by taking all their products and resources. You'll be able to disrupt trades, by doing this and the lockpicking game is still around for you to have some midnight fun.

Next up which makes Skyrim a great game to compete with is the Radiant AI addition to the game. I know when I was playing Oblivion, I went around destroying all that was in my path with my new found spells. Unfortunately, since I did kill some people that I needed to start a quest or finish, I wasn't able to finish the game and had to start all over again (pain in the rear end, I know). Now, I don't know how much gamers had a problem with this but, they can be at ease because of the Radiant Story AI. What this does is input characters that you have made a relationship with, whether it's friendly or enemy, and have them in your quests! So even if you killed Billy Joe Bob, you still have Bob Joe Billy to fill that spot for a side quest or main quest. What Bethesda has done to twist this up is by adding characters to your main quests, that you have been avoiding, haven't talked to or if you are enemies. That means if you've been avoiding a Dragon battle, you're bound to get one thanks to the Radiant AI system.

Last, of what has Elder Scrolls gamers so hyped up about this game is one major factor. What's over 20 feet tall, has a wing span of 120 feet, scaly and reptile-like, and spits fire at you while perched up on a mountain peak or crumbling ancient statue? Holy moly does that sound like a dragon! That's right, Skyrim will be flourished with dragons! I must warn you, they aren't there because they want to. They are there because the Alduin the God has come down to bring a destructive path as a Dragon and has brought his Black Dragon minions to help! The world's only hero is the last Dovahkiin (Dragonborn) and that will be you my friends. You must be the one to stop this from happening.

These dragons will be every where. Going hiking in the mountain, on top, a dragon. Regular fire-breathing or frost bitten dragons. You can be taking a nice stroll in the market in a small town, a dragon will fly across. Going adventuring in the woods, a dragon will swoop down and attack. All of them will attack you! If you're not afraid then you tackle and take down every dragon you encounter. There isn't a finite amount of dragons so you will be able to wipe them out or maybe not. If you aren't that lethal and appreciate these majestic beasts, then you can kill one every so often. The dragons think on their own so that means, every chance they get they are going to try and fry you with their fire. It's up to you to stick around and take on this beast. If you successfully defeat them, you are able to absorb their essence and power up.

The next contender is Fallout: New Vegas which is already out in stores. Even though this game is already out, I believe it is still worthy to stand up against Skyrim, and Dungeon Siege.

New Vegas is set after Fallout 3. You were placed on the Eastern side of this Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland in Fallout 3 and now for New Vegas, you're on the Western side. The truth about this game is that it feels like you're still playing Fallout 3, which is good, just with upgraded graphics and some new features. Even though it is like its predecessor, Fallout: New Vegas is in a league of its own.

In Fallout: New Vegas, the city of Vegas managed to survive the war mostly untouched. In the aftermath, a group of people formed the values of the old governmental system and called themselves the New California Republic, or NCR. Based on the Roman methodology of conquering other civilizations, the Legion absorbs nearby tribes and enslaves a portion of their population. The NCR and Caesar's Legion butt heads over control of the area, and tensions are high. You will be a courier, an average person doing their duties. One of your tasks was to deliver a package to the Vegas Strip, but you ended up taking a new path.

Here's what I like about New Vegas, in the desert, you will notice that it looks like exactly like the wasteland in Fallout 3, except there is vegetation. You can actually find some good plants to harvest fruits, seeds, and herbs to mix up some concoctions like healing powders and more goodies.

The main missions isn't what makes Fallout: New Vegas great. It's the side missions. There is huge variety of side missions that you can play through and since this game has almost no limitations, you can go every where and there is always a little objective for you to do. If you think you have explored every possible place in the game, you're wrong. There is always an undiscovered sector underground, in the sewers, some where that hasn't been explored yet. With different themed missions like deception, and drugs, there is ALWAYS something for you to do. Also, like Fallout 3, the main storyline has three different endings in New Vegas. Unfortunately, you won't be able to see them unless you either start the whole game over, or save it at a point and then reload the game every time you finish one ending to see the others. I personally have put in around 30 hours of gameplay and I'm still not even finished with every single mission. With the new add-ons like Honest Hearts, Bethesda makes it even harder for me to finish. Get ready to put in over 100 hours to beat this game in its entirety.

Since this is a RPG, it has to be something that makes it a worthy RPG. One thing is the way other people interact with you and the way your character effects the people. If you are kind and generous to the towns folks, they will idolize you and look out for you when you are you out numbered and need some extra help. This will make them like you and thugs hate you. This can be flipped the other way around. You decide to go on a rampage and desolate the remaining land and towns people and the thugs will be your back up. I chose both paths and I found that being nice to the towns people is much better because as you go to different towns, they remember you and they start to attack you. You are more out numbered with them than the thugs so become a Powerpuff Girl instead of Mojo Jojo.

What makes New Vegas a game so enjoyable is the V.A.T.S and the S.P.E.C.I.A.L systems. They have added the Aim-Down Sights while you are in first person perspective. You can switch between First Person and Third as well. V.A.T.S stands for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System and it allows you to slow down time and motion and aim at a specific body part of an enemy. You wanna' blow off the top off a thug, use V.A.T.S, or you may want to a gigantic praying mantis from running after you, use V.A.T.S and blow the leg off that Godzilla insect and watch it fall on the ground to Pray (get it?). Bethesda has their imprint on this game by having S.P.E.C.I.A.L. This is the in-depth skills and perks that you spend your points towards as you level up. It stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Words of advice though, while using V.A.T.S don't expect to abuse it. There is a special ability meter and the more powerful the gun you use while using the system, the more action points you use. Also with choosing which skills to spend your points on, don't spend all your points on one skill. For example, spending points on Endurance and not some on Intelligence so you might be able to run fast but you may be dumb enough to run into a wall. So spend wisely.

There is so much to talk about this game but I think that's enough to compare the two so far. You'll have to play the game in order speculate with me. With a plethora of missions to do and being able to gamble and run around this world with virtually no boundaries, this game is surely a competitor!

The last competitor is Dungeon Siege III, a combat heavy action RPG that takes the series in a new direction. Its twist is in the co-op, which is as polished as you'd expect; drop-in, drop-out multiplayer works solidly with up to four players, though you are limited to the same area. Having a heavy hitter background in the RPG genre and the genre also stepping it up, this game looks like it has done just that. This game reminds me of a Final Fantasy Dynasty Warriors type game. The developers, Obsidian, have added many new features. The co-op gameplay, the new and exciting colors and visual display, new combat styles and strategies.

Let's start off with combat. Each character has two stances. For example one character can switch from a rifle to a shotgun-pistol dual wield combination. There are new people so that means new attacks. Since the game isn't out yet and will be available until June 21, gamers are only limited to take a look at pictures. One attack showed by a character named Katarina, is a huge blast and it's something new and the visual and graphics makes the attack that more awesome. There's also a range of special attacks, buffs and debuffs for each character, much like Borderlands and Brink. You can debuff your enemies, heal yourself, add bonus effects to your weapon to additional damage.

Just like the other RPG's in this mini-competiton, Dungeon Siege III has very deep leveling system with different skills and perks to spend your points on as you level up. Since this an open world game as well with some restrictions, you can go out and about to do what ever as you please. Go ahead and battle some spiders to your liking and when you're done, and want to get back on the main storyline path, Obsidian has added something new to "teleport" you back there so you don't waste time getting back to the action.

Obsidian's imprints are all over this game as it has its densely entertaining stories. From the in dialogue, pick-ups, on plaques, and throughout the dungeons it makes the game more engaging and entertaining much like Dungeon Siege 2. If Dungeon Siege fans remember the all-carrying mule from the first game that added the extra inventory that we needed so much? Well, don't look for it in the Dungeon Siege III because it won't be there once again. Even though the developers tried to make the main questline the priority and allow gamers not to worry too much about inventory, all they are doing is making gamers worry about inventory because we have no mule! Hopefully they make a DLC for us to have the all-carrying mule again.

Since Obsidian is moving away from the single player mode in Dungeon Siege III, they have added a new feature to skip mini clips to get back to the action for gamers who feels that the clips get in the way. Even with all the changes made to the Series, it is good to compete with other RPG's out there. There are some features that are still intact like the the amount of loot, the open world, and ease of play. It sounds like Obsidian is attempting to build a more interesting world and game around a familiar name. If the mule is there, then I'm there.

So we have 3 dynamic games to take a look at. Elder Scrolls: Skyrim brings a great new RPG to the genre and it's definitely something new and fresh. Fallout: New Vegas is another wide open world RPG that's is great with ton of hours of gameplay. It's like Skyrim in many ways but my opinion is that Skyrim has the upper hand. Last, Dungeon Siege III looks promising and adding multiplayer to this Series, it definitely makes it a worth while game. So what game do you think is better? I'd like to hear from all of you so drop a comment below!

Also, Bethesda has an awesome contest going on. They are prepared to give a lucky family the chance to receive all cheats, glitches, gags, and easter eggs for every single game they have ever made and for their present and future games. Can you say "Awesomeness?" I bet you're wondering what in the world do I have to do to get this. Well here it is, you must a have child born on 11/11/11 and name he/she, Dovahkiin. No seriously, that's the challenge. No, I'm not joking, I'm serious. So if you feel you are worthy and not afraid to venture on this baby-making, baby name and bestowing the last dragonborn name, Dovahkiin, to your new born child that must be born on Elder Scrolls: Skyrim release date, Quest, then I hereby thee give you the Rights of Passage. Let's just hope your spouse doesn't maul for it.