Unimpressive Startout

[olafreinhardweyer]

Daddies joy, Moms joy and then there is you, you are born, what an intro, a floud of emotions. It doesn't stop there. Mom is in cardiac arrest, mom dies, you're hurried out of the Operation Room into a life already darkened by events that didn't even take a minute. Gameplay? You can choose your name, you can choose your gender. You participate.

Now here comes New Vegas: You get shot in the head, yeah. But there's no feeling of being involved. You really aren't, as a player playing. It's a short movie scene only. Now making you're character, that is equally lame. And just remember how fun it was to attend the G.E.C.K! Well, okay.

What strikes me the most however is the distinct lack of sci-fi elements, or lets say, just technology. There is a single robot. There is a single laser pistol. The number of radioactive

puddles is rather slim. I get no feel of the fifties either. This could almost be a Western RPG only. And there's something else that bothers me: The area is already confined. I can't cross those cliffs. Leaving Vault 101, now there was an open range. I would find Megaton. And despite Rivet City being the most logical choice to make my base (Anacosta Station gets you just about anywhere) and I'd always return to Megaton. Megaton is my surrogate home. It's because i lost my true home, Vault 101 perhaps, which isn't my true home after all. The Lone Wanderer from birth to finish (Daddy will day). Bethesda, perhaps not even intentionally, punched this theme through each and every experience you might have. Beeing lost, being disconnected. Gob can't get Nova. A girl a Moriaties misses her family in Andale. Brian Wilks lost his parents. The Enclave divorces itself from it's leader, even if that was story was much to rushed. I could go on.

 

What i get from the NV movie, the theme could be "betrayal". For a theme to come through it needs repetition. I am not betrayed once in Goodspring. We will see. And we will, if we see technology gone awry, because that's what was Fallout 3 about to. That technology is a broken promise, a promise that could not have been bigger than in the Fifties. It's technology that wreaked havok over the world. But than you have Megaton and Rivet City scratching the pieces of technology back together again to make better living. It's not enough to display a few broken down buildings, we have that today to, without a post nuclear war. For the chemistry to be right, you must experience a life inbetween the leftovers. NV, in the beginning, has no such leftovers. This place is a Western and it appears it has always been a Western. Hardy anything has happened inbetween. This place has no history. It is dead. I will never return to Goodspring as have I returned to Megaton.

 

Much had been told about the mighty storytelling abilities of the folks at Obsidian. I am im Primm now. Still i am not very much involved in this game. It was very much different in Fallout 3, right from birth.

[SaijaRii]

You want to quit the game until you get involved in the faction wars... really interesting stuff.

[manho221]

Some fine and very astute observations my friend. I find myself in agreement with you. My thoughts way back when I was still in F3 was how much I would like the next game to be a continuation of the first ala Mass Effect. I would love to enter the new waste area with my bad ass character from F3. A huge undertaking no doubt but just a dream. I feel the disconnect maybe not as bad. I have always been in love with the wastes themselves it fits my personality as I have always been a loner. I am enjoying the game for sure. I just feel like Im repeating the building of my toon and that is somewhat frustrating. It's like I know exactly what I want and i already had it.

[ThePrinceofDarkness]

... You do know that New Vegas was spared the horrors of the nuclear holocaust and most of the damage is from raiders and radiation, right? Plus you must've never played Fallout 2. The story is somewhat similar to Fallout 2, or atleast the places you go. Western town, slightly less western town, normal-ish town, big glitzy mob town, An NCR base or town. The order isn't exact, but this game is still pretty much like Fallout 2 if it was made into 3D and used Fo3's engine. Also, no 50's or Sci-fi? Wait until you get to New Vegas friend. New Vegas and Freeside are pretty much New Reno all over again. New Reno was heavily criticised for being TOO 40's/Pre-war. Once you get into the Strip and see the casino's you will find almost no signs of damage, they are pretty much left in the condition they were, if a bit dirtier. I'd say your problem will be the exact opposite with a few of the community.

 

Yeah, boohoo there aren't as many robots, that's only for a while. When you get into New Vegas the whole town is pretty much ruled by robots. You also get a robot companion at Primm and a robot cyber-dog as a companion. You still find robots in some factories here and there but not really as much. The game isn't so much Sci-Fi as it is Fallout. What Fallout 3 missed was the great accomplishments that people have been able to make after the war. In fallout 1 and 2 they already started farming, they had trade, not canterbury commons trade, but entire cities of bustling trade like The Hub, and even government, like NCR. Fallout 3 took place in the East, in which they got the worst of the bombings and haven't rebuilt as much. Although it cannonically makes sense, which is helped by Tactics, it still didn't feel like a true Fallout game. Fallout New Vegas feels a lot like a REAL Fallout game. The Geckos, Big Horners, Farms, Super Mutants that aren't mindless idiots (except for the Dum Dum second generation. I like that New Vegas tried to save Fallout 3's uncannonical mutants.) so on and such.

 

The theme is one of a great pilgrimage, one of revenge. You have been pulled out of the Mojave Desert to seek vengeance on the man who killed which will lead you on an epic adventure that leads to traveling from one side of the Mojave to the great anf fabulous New Vegas. The theme can be betrayal though, if instead of killing Benny, you can try to side with him, in which he tries to kill you AGAIN, and if you are feeling nice you can rescue him after that, but Idunno if he betrays you again, I killed him at that point. I actually felt a more profound affect of storytelling from New Vegas. It really starts to kick in around Novac/Boulder City once you find Victor also on a great pilgrimage. I have to admit after you reach New Vegas it's kinda underwhelming because, well you made it. Now it's Fo3 all over again, go run, have fun. So I'd say the game really starts around New Vegas.

 

TLDR: Yeah the opening sequence, character creation, and Pipboy obtaining is kind of unbelievable and not handled as well as 3, but give the game until New Vegas and you will like it. As a Fallout 1 and 2 fan I loved it as soon as I saw Goodsprings because it reminded me of Redding from Fallout 2, and I knew this was a return to form, but to you newcomer's that don't understand how to play the original Falllut RPG's, give it until New Vegas.

[manho221]

... You do know that New Vegas was spared the horrors of the nuclear holocaust and most of the damage is from raiders and radiation, right? Plus you must've never played Fallout 2. The story is somewhat similar to Fallout 2, or atleast the places you go. Western town, slightly less western town, normal-ish town, big glitzy mob town, An NCR base or town. The order isn't exact, but this game is still pretty much like Fallout 2 if it was made into 3D and used Fo3's engine. Also, no 50's or Sci-fi? Wait until you get to New Vegas friend. New Vegas and Freeside are pretty much New Reno all over again. New Reno was heavily criticised for being TOO 40's/Pre-war. Once you get into the Strip and see the casino's you will find almost no signs of damage, they are pretty much left in the condition they were, if a bit dirtier. I'd say your problem will be the exact opposite with a few of the community.

 

Yeah, boohoo there aren't as many robots, that's only for a while. When you get into New Vegas the whole town is pretty much ruled by robots. You also get a robot companion at Primm and a robot cyber-dog as a companion. You still find robots in some factories here and there but not really as much. The game isn't so much Sci-Fi as it is Fallout. What Fallout 3 missed was the great accomplishments that people have been able to make after the war. In fallout 1 and 2 they already started farming, they had trade, not canterbury commons trade, but entire cities of bustling trade like The Hub, and even government, like NCR. Fallout 3 took place in the East, in which they got the worst of the bombings and haven't rebuilt as much. Although it cannonically makes sense, which is helped by Tactics, it still didn't feel like a true Fallout game. Fallout New Vegas feels a lot like a REAL Fallout game. The Geckos, Big Horners, Farms, Super Mutants that aren't mindless idiots (except for the Dum Dum second generation. I like that New Vegas tried to save Fallout 3's uncannonical mutants.) so on and such.

 

The theme is one of a great pilgrimage, one of revenge. You have been pulled out of the Mojave Desert to seek vengeance on the man who killed which will lead you on an epic adventure that leads to traveling from one side of the Mojave to the great anf fabulous New Vegas. The theme can be betrayal though, if instead of killing Benny, you can try to side with him, in which he tries to kill you AGAIN, and if you are feeling nice you can rescue him after that, but Idunno if he betrays you again, I killed him at that point. I actually felt a more profound affect of storytelling from New Vegas. It really starts to kick in around Novac/Boulder City once you find Victor also on a great pilgrimage. I have to admit after you reach New Vegas it's kinda underwhelming because, well you made it. Now it's Fo3 all over again, go run, have fun. So I'd say the game really starts around New Vegas.

 

TLDR: Yeah the opening sequence, character creation, and Pipboy obtaining is kind of unbelievable and not handled as well as 3, but give the game until New Vegas and you will like it. As a Fallout 1 and 2 fan I loved it as soon as I saw Goodsprings because it reminded me of Redding from Fallout 2, and I knew this was a return to form, but to you newcomer's that are to stupid to understand the true RPG fallouts, give it until New Vegas.

 

Good observations also sir but you might want to go over the terms of service as far as posting goes because you just broke them by calling people stupid that don't share your opinion.

[ThePrinceofDarkness]

-snip-

 

Good observations also sir but you might want to go over the terms of service as far as posting goes because you just broke them by calling people stupid that don't share your opinion.

 

Hmm? I didn't say anyone that didn't share my opinion was stupid, I meant that people who couldn't understand how to play Fallout 1 and 2 and thus only played 3 probably wouldn't enjoy it until New Vegas. Fallout 1 and 2 were fairly complicated RPGs and are quite hard to learn, which is why most people have not played them, as they are widely available now.

 

*Edit* I edited my last post for further clarification. I used stupid to shorten it, if it is offensive then I have re-worded it.

[soot00]

Yea that first intro sequence was pretty cool in Fallout 3. That is until you are starting your 5th or 6th different generation character and just want to bypass it all. Glad there was mods to allow me to bypass the birth / introduction storyline sequence instead of having to go thru it for the upteenth time.

[ThePrinceofDarkness]

Yea that first intro sequence was pretty cool in Fallout 3. That is until you are starting your 5th or 6th different generation character and just want to bypass it all. Glad there was mods to allow me to bypass the birth / introduction storyline sequence instead of having to go thru it for the upteenth time.

 

Yeah, what I'm glad for is that they automatically make a save at the door, unlike Oblivion in which you would have to manually save. I did enjoy replaying that sequence sometimes just to get into my character a bit more, unless my character was from outside of the wastes.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

I was underwhelmed by the beginning also, but I understand the reason for it. Think about it- what was the common theme with custom character saves that were so common as downloads for Oblivion and Fallout 3? Almost all of them were saved at the end of the intro. If I were a developer doing research and saw evidence that what seemed like a majority of players weren't playing the expository section, then the first thing I'd do is cut it right out of the mix. If you want, you can go right out from the Doc's office and start the game proper without any delay.

 

Personally, I love the tutorial/intro bits. All of my saves from RPGs are right after character creation, so that I can savor the birth of my character's legend. However, it seems like the opposite point of view won the day with New Vegas. I'd have enjoyed the hell out of a section leading up to the Courier's capture, even if it went on rails, and have the Doc's office be the end of the tutorial where you can re-adjust stats and appearance.

 

On the upshot, the Courier feels a lot more important than the PCs of the past few sandbox RPGs. After a certain point, you start to feel like you're no longer just a gofer to be sent on errands by everyone in the world (even though you still do)- those errands serve your purpose, and you can bloody well take control of the whole affair and work behind the scenes to upend everyone else's agendas. In every previous Fallout, your objectives and goals were more or less external- Save your Vault, save your village, save the world, find Dad, and so forth- you had choices about how to go about doing those things and some of those choices carried more weight than others, but ultimately you were doing everyone else's dirty work for your own reasons. In New Vegas, it is entirely possible to just say "naaah" and take a third option, or to support the major and minor factions as you see fit. There is a lot more roleplay potential here; the premise may be weaker but that also leaves plenty of room to move your own backstory and motivations into the PC.

[Vagrant0]

I would say that the main reason for these feelings is that you really never go back to those earlier areas later on unless you're just having to talk to some NPC. Once you hit the strip you pretty much stick around there for most of the game. This feels like a bit of a weakness due to how nothing ever changes or improves in some of these earlier places after you've been through them. There's no sudden new quests, there's no sign that your actions there have made any sort of impact, it just feels disconnected. There is also that little feeling of futility when slaughtering some faction related places doesn't result in some sort of marked transition of power or improvement to the surrounding area *cough* Powder Gangers *cough*.

 

The theme of betrayal/revenge could have been played up a bit better, but there's just too much of a disconnect between you and any of the groups you deal with for you to really get too involved with just who you are and why you are doing what you are doing. But really, the revenge is just the starting point for everything else.