Gragt: Fallout 3 is still a much better RPG than Oblivion, if you have to compare the two, and is a huge leap forward for (New) Bethesda when you look at their previous products. The thing is that they implemented RPG elements in a basic way that had been done long before and better, so when you pit Fallout 3 against another recent and better designed game, like Mask of the Betrayer, it appears very simple.
But sometimes less is more. I would have liked to see more RPG in Fallout 3, it IS lot of fun. But theres no "secrets" as in the two others, no reason to keep playing after all the quests are done. But the main point here is not as much in story telling as it is in "exploring". Point lookout was all about that, just to give an example. And that is where its ahead of all the other Rpg's this year. The new generation gamer is more interested in being able to run everywhere and get BFG's than a involving and immersive story.
(Again this may be all about taste, but thats not what i am experiencing when im talking with people)
And so the weapons suffer from this syndrome, you have your
44. magnum. your uzi, assult rifles, alien blaster, atom bomb thrower and snipers. Not very creative. There are almost no post apocolyptic minute made weapons, the kind that you thought would be in that kind of world. and the ones you can make... well only you can apparently make them!
Fallout 3 is the kinda game you can drop into and drop out of. Its easy with no complications and all of the dialog choices eventually burns down to
"Saint response- Neutral answer- Satanic insult". Its the kinda game where you can burn hours away just shooting things and watch the shoot-at-a-part-and-it-explodes technology at work.
And i love it!
Comparing it to games like NWN2 or Drakensang wont do it real justice as a RPG as the three a completely different.