Is Fallout: New Vegas worth playing for the first time in 2022?

[Spleens90]

I wouldn't consider myself to have very high standards when it comes to enjoying games that aren't modern. I find games like Doom I/II, Half Life, and Halo CE to be just as fun as when they released, primarily because they were so mechanically simple it was hard to "age" anything outside of visuals. But then I go back and try to replay something like Witcher 1 and I spend most of my time playing the game with a frown, the jank permeates the entire experience https://showbox.bio/ https://tutuapp.uno/ https://vidmate.cool/.

Where does New Vegas fall, how has it aged? I've been in the mood to play a good RPG and this one always comes up in the discussions.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Spleens90

[sullyvanj93]

Depends on what kind of RPG you're into I suppose. Did you ever play any Elder Scrolls? Or other fallouts that were in the FPS? Did you like the "feel" of it?

 

Most of us here are pretty biased I'm sure, but if you like FPSRPGs, I still honestly believe New Vegas is one of the greatests of all time. The combat is pretty standard for a game of it's era, but the dialogue/role playing aspects were quite advanced for it's time. Emersion is very important for me, and I find myself easily entranced by the gameworld they offer in NV, (although I absolutely love the original Fallout Universe in general, so again I can be rather biased).

 

It's extremely inexpensive, and the modding community has slowly been perfecting many of the issues left by the base game. I highly recommend trying it out. And if you do, I recommend checking out Viva New Vegas (https://vivanewvegas.github.io/) as it will show you how to set the game up perfectly for a modern playthrough, installing bug fixes, unofficial patches, and then later on, additional mods. I say later on, as I recommend a vanilla playthrough initially to gain an appreciation of what the mods add to the game, but this is personal preference.

 

Seriously though, I think you're in for a real treat if you haven't dabbled in Fallout before and are thinking of starting with New Vegas. Easily in my eternal top 3 games ever. And most probably leads it.

[madmongo]

Fallout New Vegas is one of the best RPGs ever made. The game kinda forces you along a certain path to start with by making any alternative path really deadly and almost impossible for low-level characters, so if you don't want to die you end up looping counter-clockwise around the map. Once you actually get to New Vegas, the main quest branches off on several different directions.

 

By comparison, Fallout 3's main quest doesn't branch. Fallout 4's main quest branches, but there's only one choice you make in the entire game that means anything, and the whole game is more of a shooter than an RPG.

 

Fallout New Vegas has four main branches, but unlike Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas is an actual RPG and things you do at every step along the way matter. And one of FNV's main branches (the "independent" branch), you decide the fate of all of the other main factions. Also unlike Fallout 4, you don't just make a choice and stick with it. Each branch of FNV's main quest can be completed simultaneously if you want, up to a point. If you go far enough though, you'll eventually lock off other branches and you'll force yourself down to a single ending. Fallout 3 has one ending. Fallout 4 has four possible endings. Fallout New Vegas has different endings for every faction, so the number of combinations is kinda staggering.

 

Just to give an example without spoiling too much, you start out in Goodsprings. The obvious quest you end up with is saving the town of Goodsprings, but if you want to be an evil a-hole, the game lets you. You can side with the bad guys and destroy Goodsprings. You don't have to follow the obvious quest that is first given to you.

 

There are a lot of side quests that you can do that, unlike many other RPGs, are actually fully developed and are interesting.

 

Now the bad stuff.

 

Of course, it's a Bethesda game, and even though Obsidian wrote the story and made the RPG stuff, it's running on Bethesda's game engine from Fallout 3 (with a few minor tweaks). So the game is buggy as all heck, even with all of the patches and fixes that it has had over the years. The game leaks memory, so eventually as you play the game will slow down and will probably crash on you at some point. It's a 32 bit game, so even if your system has gobs and gobs of memory, the game can only use 2GB of it (4GB with a patch), so the memory leak is going to get you eventually. Save often.

 

The graphics are definitely dated.

 

The animations are a bit clunky compared to a modern game.

 

The combat system is best described as "adequate". If you play Fallout 4 (which, being a shooter and not an RPG actually has a good combat system), then go back to Fallout New Vegas, you will definitely notice the difference.

 

The Fallout universe has a lot of lore, and FNV has a lot of depth to it. This is both good and bad. For a casual gamer, Fallout New Vegas has too much depth and you have to actually stop and think about things, so the game gets confusing and difficult to follow. For someone who likes in-depth RPGs, Fallout New Vegas has a huge amount of depth, so the more you dig, the more you find. If you like in-depth RPGs, Fallout New Vegas is about as good as it gets. I can't think of any game that is better. If you are a casual gamer and want something simple, play Fallout 4 instead. You don't have to think to play Fallout 4.

 

In Fallout New Vegas, there are no true "good guys" and no true "bad guys". Every faction has its good side and bad side. The Legion (inspired by one guy's vision of the Roman Legion) is horribly sexist, treating women as useful for breeding and slaves and that's about it. They are fiercely military and have a "join us or die" attitude. This sets them up as the bad guys, but the guy who started the Legion made it a dictatorship to avoid the corruption that comes with democratic governments. The New California Republic, which you might think are the good guys, are plagued with the corruption that the Legion was formed to combat, with the NCR's citizens being taxed to death while cattle barons get insanely wealthy. During the game you'll mostly fight either against the Legion or for the Legion (depending on which of four sides you choose), but if you dig through conversations and lore and such you'll find that life in the Legion isn't that bad for its citizens (unless you're a woman). Sure it's a brutal dictatorship, but if you keep your head down and do whatever the Legion soldiers tell you to do, your quality of life in the Legion is much better than in the NCR. Trade caravans through Arizona don't even need guards. The NCR on the other hand mismanages its resources, uses its troops to protect cattle barons, doesn't patrol its roads well enough, and trade caravans through the NCR better be heavily guarded or they won't survive. Inside the Legion, you're safe. Inside the NCR, you're not. So which one is the bad guy? It's not black and white. That's the beauty of Fallout New Vegas.

 

You can even take over New Vegas yourself, if you want. But you'll have to brutally murder it's current leader to do it. He's not just going to give the town to you.

 

The game has a lot of choices that often have a meaningful impact on the game (though to be fair you only see the outcomes of many of them in the game's ending slides).

 

You can also play the game in many different ways. Want to be a brutal murderer? You can do that. Want to be a cannibal and eat people? You can do that. Want to be the goody hero? You can do that. Want to be a complete pacifist? You can do that.

 

The game is heavily moddable, and there are a ton of mods available. Some mods work better than others. Modding the game is a lot more difficult than modding later Bethesda games. I also recommend playing through the game un-modded first, then go back and add whatever mods you like. Personally, I recommend copying your entire game folder somewhere else so that you have a copy of the vanilla game that you can easily get back to. It will save you a lot of time if you screw things up while modding, so you won't have to download the game over the network. Then, add a bunch of mods, and once you get that stable and to your liking, make a copy of that folder so that you can easily get back to it.

 

Personally, this is my favorite game of all time. I hope you enjoy it.

[laclongquan]

The evergreen quality of writings in FNV is there. So if you are a guy interested in game's writing, this wont fail you.

 

One important attraction of FNV is roleplay. FNV provide a generous chance to roleplay various persona: Cowboy? Lots of assets for it. Mad Max survivor? Can do. Well-educated guy from future with laser and plasma weapon wrecking havoc on the country side? Yep.

 

Boom, lots of booms. You can catapult a nuke into target zone, or a swarm of missile, or call down sattellite strike. upclose, you can burn with flamer, or throw out explosive and molotov cocktail.

 

And there's great variety of anything. Say nuke: you can catapult it with a fatman gun, or you can set up a nuke mine, or you can call down sat strike.

 

Niche player can also have lot of fun. Like shotgun player, or revolver shooter. 10 kinds of shotgun ammo. several different revolver and cowboy carbine.

----------

 

Side note: the guy above fail to mention Legion has the attractive habit of nailing people, alive, on the crucifix until they die of blood loss, or thirst, or exhaustion: "Degenerates like you belong on a cross."

Edited January 30, 2022 by laclongquan

[Moksha8088]

People are still playing the even older Oblivion for the first time. While Bethesda has gotten better, their old games are still fun. You can spruce up the appearance of old Bethesda games with mods and even extend the original gameplay.

[madmongo]

While Bethesda has gotten better, their old games are still fun.

 

That depends on your definition of "better".

 

The graphics are better.

 

The games are still buggy as all heck. This seems to be getting worse instead of better.

 

Role playing is going downhill quick. It used to be that Bethesda was the undisputed king of the RPG. Now they either can't or won't make a proper RPG. Newer games have no depth. This goes both ways though. Their newer games are designed more for casual gamers. If you are the type of person who can play through Skyrim and not even realize that there's a civil war going on, then the newer games are better. But if you are a role player who likes to immerse themselves in games, Bethesda is no longer for you. Fallout 4 has all of the depth of a shallow puddle. Skyrim's puzzles are designed for kindergarten kids. Quests hold your hand every step of the way, because heaven forbid you should have to actually think about something. It's all completely brain-dead, and mind-numbingly boring.

 

Fallout 4's combat system makes New Vegas feel clunky and outdated. Fallout 4's power armor actually feels like power armor. Fallout 3 and NV power armor is just like putting on an outfit. Once you've played Fallout 4, Fallout 3 and NV's power armor doesn't even feel like power armor.

 

After Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, I have no hope at all for the Fallout series. Fallout as an RPG seems to be dead. Maybe they'll revive it, but I doubt it.

 

I don't have much hope for the Elder Scrolls series either. I expect Elder Scrolls 6 to be even more brain-dead than Skyrim. I expect it to have a completely formulaic main quest. I expect side quests to be shallow and undeveloped. I expect loot boxes and an emphasis on Creation Club instead of a focus on the actual game. I expect ham-fisted writing and huge plot holes. I expect a game that is so buggy that it will almost be unplayable.

 

I have the same expectations for Starfield. It's emphasis is going to be on making money, so again, Creation Club and loot box type nonsense instead of making a good game. I expect poor writing, shallow quests, and bugs. Lots and lots and lots of bugs.

 

So yeah, some things have gotten better, but a lot of things haven't. In many ways Bethesda has gotten a lot worse.

 

It used to be that I would buy any Bethesda game as soon as it came out. Not any more.

[sullyvanj93]

 

While Bethesda has gotten better, their old games are still fun.

 

That depends on your definition of "better".

 

The graphics are better.

 

The games are still buggy as all heck. This seems to be getting worse instead of better.

 

Role playing is going downhill quick. It used to be that Bethesda was the undisputed king of the RPG. Now they either can't or won't make a proper RPG. Newer games have no depth. This goes both ways though. Their newer games are designed more for casual gamers. If you are the type of person who can play through Skyrim and not even realize that there's a civil war going on, then the newer games are better. But if you are a role player who likes to immerse themselves in games, Bethesda is no longer for you. Fallout 4 has all of the depth of a shallow puddle. Skyrim's puzzles are designed for kindergarten kids. Quests hold your hand every step of the way, because heaven forbid you should have to actually think about something. It's all completely brain-dead, and mind-numbingly boring.

 

Fallout 4's combat system makes New Vegas feel clunky and outdated. Fallout 4's power armor actually feels like power armor. Fallout 3 and NV power armor is just like putting on an outfit. Once you've played Fallout 4, Fallout 3 and NV's power armor doesn't even feel like power armor.

 

After Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, I have no hope at all for the Fallout series. Fallout as an RPG seems to be dead. Maybe they'll revive it, but I doubt it.

 

I don't have much hope for the Elder Scrolls series either. I expect Elder Scrolls 6 to be even more brain-dead than Skyrim. I expect it to have a completely formulaic main quest. I expect side quests to be shallow and undeveloped. I expect loot boxes and an emphasis on Creation Club instead of a focus on the actual game. I expect ham-fisted writing and huge plot holes. I expect a game that is so buggy that it will almost be unplayable.

 

I have the same expectations for Starfield. It's emphasis is going to be on making money, so again, Creation Club and loot box type nonsense instead of making a good game. I expect poor writing, shallow quests, and bugs. Lots and lots and lots of bugs.

 

So yeah, some things have gotten better, but a lot of things haven't. In many ways Bethesda has gotten a lot worse.

 

It used to be that I would buy any Bethesda game as soon as it came out. Not any more.

 

 

 

Preach on brother, couldn't have said it better. I like some of the updates of the new games, the enhancements to combat and power armor, but my goodness is the heart of the games just gone. Shallow storytelling that can't make me give two sticks about the main quest and lazy character writing that is a huge miss nine times out of ten (I did like a handful of the companions in fallout 4, although it was more of the concept than the actual partnership feelings they gave). The story and the characters are what made me fall in love with the Fallout universe in the first place. Without it, you just have... well, Fallout 76 :laugh:

All in all, wrapping a steaming pile up with shoot-em-up feels, enormous world spaces (which to their credit, are nicely constructed, but still feel pretty empty of substance), and endless loops of item fetching quests really just don't do it for me. I think I've missed the window of opportunity for future games to be as inspiring and pleasing as New Vegas. I don't hold on to much hope of Bethesda turning back to the old ways.

[ElkianLionblood]

While mechanically it has its issues and graphically it can be unappealing (personally I'm fine with most of the vanilla graphics but there's tons of mods around to shake em up too), it really is a masterwork in RPG writing.

 

Have you played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? In particular, KOTOR2 was made by Obsidian as well, and you can see some of the same hallmarks of their skills in that game. If you enjoyed KOTOR2, you will most definitely enjoy FNV.

 

It took me a few attempts to really get into New Vegas - crashes and necessary modding to make it run on my PC was a bit of a turn-off - but once I got it, I really enjoyed it and kept coming back for more. It feels like there's always something new to explore and discover. The writing is rich and the characters feel like real, breathing people more often than not. The choices you make have real, lasting consequences and the game is surprisingly reactive, particularly considering it was made in 2010 on a hilariously truncated development schedule of 18 months.

 

One of the best things, though, was when I completed my first full playthrough, I had made a character who was okay in combat, but skilled in Speech, Barter, and general Charisma stuff. I was able to reach the end of the game with this character, not because the combat was easy or the boss was weak (YMMV, there's tons of difficulty mods out there, don't @ me on this one), but because the development team planned for a scenario where a Charismatic character reached the end of the game. I was able to beat the final confrontation by playing the character I made, and it felt absolutely amazing. My next run was a feral cannibal (yes, that's an option) Lord Death Of Murder Mountain gremlin who yeets all her foes with her beefy arms. Both of these characters are completely viable.

 

So if you really enjoy the role-playing part of RPGs, particularly making new and different characters in order to get new and different results, this is absolutely the game for you. It does have some cut content worth unlocking with the JSawyer mod or whatever, but the vanilla game as-is is incredibly deep and has a ton of fun packed away. The DLCs all have something going for them (Old World Blues is one of the best DLCs I've played. Not for New Vegas, just of video games at all) and, while unnecessary to understanding and enjoying the main game, they add a lot of lore that you get to have fun recognizing in the main story. I also really appreciate how smoothly the game integrates the tutorial into the story proper, to the point that I mentioned it to a friend who had several years and dozens of hours of play time over me and he went "OH, it IS a tutorial!" The tutorial quests are entirely optional and you can bug out at any time after character creation, which was a genius move because it allows both newbies and veterans to pick up wherever they like.

 

It's also worth mentioning that every character (except children, Ron Perlman, and one very special later character) can die. Don't like someone's style? Blow em up! You are the master of your own destiny and no-one, not a single character in this game, is too important to die. That kind of control is really nice when you meet someone who is, for example, so rancid and terrible that your very first instinct is to shove a grenade down their throat.

 

Mechanically, it's worth noting that this game grants you the option to play real-time or turn-based, sort of - there's an optional mechanism called Vault-Assisted Targeting System, or VATS, which allows you to completely halt all action, scan the accessible battle targets, and even aim for specific body parts and weapons while showing a hit %age. Now, actions taken in VATS eat up Action Points, which can be increased based on your stats and Perks and so on, so it's not limitless but it's very handy for people (like me) who aren't outstanding at FPSes, or don't like the specific FPS system in this game, or are trying for a specific action, or what have you. It's sometimes useful to line up a tricky shot and then take it outside of VATS bc VATS will not let you take a 0% shot that the physics engine may nonetheless allow you to achieve.

 

In terms of Jank, there is some. Mechanically it was a bit of a buggy mess at release, apparently. I have to install the same technically-outdated graphics fix every run so that people have hair. Sometimes stuff clips irretrievably through the floor. My personal opinion is that the story, writing, and setting are so good that that doesn't ultimately matter in terms of enjoyment. Rarely if ever have I run into a bug that ruined a run for me, and again the modding community is pretty robust and bugfixes abound around here.

[Radioactivelad]

It's probably the best time to play it between the YUP patch, the Tick Fix, Smooth True Iron Sights Camera/lStewiesTweaks, and host of other quality of life improvements that all came out within the last few years.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Radioactivelad

[laclongquan]

Considering the first guy mentioned all the FPS shootan game, it's doubtful FNV is to his taste. Too much game writings, too much characters, too much of everything, I suspected. The FPS aspect is actually the worst aspect in FNV.

 

We reply here just because we love FNV, not because we think the first guy would play FNV.