Ok so I'll try logically and consistent when being illogical has failed. (Up yours Sherlock Holmes
) So the explanation for my raving is:
Premise 1: I think that side quests in F3 are for the most part an uneventful experience (still better than the main quest). With bleak'n'weak characters. The quests try to be much more but IMHO fail. Some locations are nicely done, but empty.
Premise 2: The ME side quests do not try to be anything but cannon fodder for loot and XP. That is just miserable, however you quickly accept them as being such and either quit or move on for the sake of loot. The main story is told in a very good way, even though not the most original one in the bunch.
Premise 1a: The exploration in F3 is hindered by "canyoning" the world with debris and ruins. I strongly object to that. If it is an exploration I want to go wherever I want and by any means I want. Drudging along the metro is just not cutting it.
Premise 2a: The Normandy can take you anywhere, practically anywhen. Is a cool ship to boot. Although you do not really explore anything. You pick a system from the starchart, read some nice descriptions of the planets and land on !khazam! another copy-paste planet with bad guys.
Conclusion 1: Exploration in F3 is bad.
Conclusion 2: Exploration in ME is bad.
The degrees of suckiness may vary from person to person, however I still maintain that you cannot pick F3 superior "exploration" as a point over ME
For reasons stated before (being tied to F1&2, and liking a good story over other elements), I am more inclined towards ME than F3.
Thank you for a good conversation, flame on
Disclaimer: the premise-conclusion thing may not follow from a standpoint of formal logic