Why New Vegas is better then Fallout 3

[kevkiev]

I love both games, but for me a couple of the biggies that FONV has over FO3 is (i) character development and, the somewhat-related, biggie: (ii) vastly superior vanilla companions.

 

I tried Charon, Fawkes and that one Paladin in FO3 and just HATED playing with them. No meaningful interaction to speak of, and they just ended up annoying me and ruining my stealth attacks. Except for a brief stint with a couple mod companions, FO3 was truly a LONE wanderer game for me.

 

On the other hand, the FONV vanilla companions (tho I'm not so hot on Lilly - too silly; and just never really warmed up to Rex), especially Cass and Veronica, and Boone too I guess, for me make FONV a companion-based game. Their stories and dialogue add a lot of depth to the game. And the AI/companion wheel were epic revisions to the whole companion mechanics thing. I guess I kinda miss the lone wolf aspect of playing, and it does make the game a bit easy (AWOP, especially the monster-patched version, and some other combat mods, aside), but all in all they add so much to the game I couldn't imagine playing without at least one of 'em by my side at all times.

 

(I'm purposely not discussing mod-added companions here.)

 

Caveat 1: it's been ages since I played FO3, Caveat 2: still not sure I'd even use the word "better", the games are just different in their own epic ways.

[Gopher]

People play the fallout series and get different things out of them. For some it is the dialogue and humour, for others it is the Lord of the Rings style story of innocence entering the harsh world whilst keeping a little of that innocence even to the end. Each person gets something different from the series. But for me, I preffered Fallout 3.

 

Three reasons I preferred FO3:

 

1. The DC Capitol just felt so beautifully destroyed. I just loved the constant reminder of mans stupidity. The Mojave looked way too much like an empty desert much of the time. It didn't quite have the same effect.

 

2. Main characters total lack of back story. To be honest I was never happy with Fallout 2 and its main character, still preferring the vault dweller character, but at least there was some sort of story behind the character. New Vegas is way too Bathesda for me. Its the whole 'you wake up in a prison cell/boat/doc mitchells and have no friends, family or past worth talking about'. Lonesome Road attempts to make up for that I guess, but I never quite fell in love with the Courier. He always seemed a bit of an idiot to me. Especially seeing as he then choses to go on the main quest, which must rank as the world pinacle of 'stupid ideas' :)

 

3. Main quest: WTF? My first instinct at the start of the game was to settle down in Goodsprings and become the sheriff or something. There seemed no real motivation to leave that town other than the game would be over otherwise. If I had survived a robbery from a mafia boss, and ended up in a town where I was idolized and there was a cute single chick in leather, you could not have got me out of that town with a crowbar. In all the other Fallout games I completely understood and agreed with the reasons for leaving the safelty of my friends and family. In New Vegas I could not quite see the reason to leave even the total strangers in Goodsprings. That was a nice little town any rational person could have settled in and no real reason to leave.

 

For me New Vegas is very Oblivion. And I liked Oblivion, and played many hundreds of hours, so don't get me wrong, I still love New Vegas. But Fallout 3 was just way more Fallout for me because of point 2 and 3, and point 1 just made it all the sweeter. Now I know New Vegas had better dialogue, but in the end, I really wanted another Vault Dweller eperience. Fallout 3 = 10/10. New Vegas = 9.5/10.

 

EDIT:

 

Forgot to mention one thing I really liked in New Vegas though (apart from the better dialogue): New Vegas made way better use of skills and specials, and made the Speech skill really useful. Loved that!

 

Also forgot to mention another reason Fallout 3 was better: Galaxy News Radio :)

[Scorpio9]

Each game has it's pros and cons.

 

FO3

Best beginning ever, living and escaping the vault, the feeling of new dangerous and unexplored world, first contact with people in megaton, first quests...

Story kinda sucked, and as it progressed it sucked a bit more. I liked generally whole environment, city had kinda to isolated places, and I didn't like that - you could only use metro to move between them. I expected something like climbing the crashed buildings, finding paths in their ruins, all but not that boring metro...

DLCs were good, my favorite was Operation Anchorage because it had snow, snow and a bit more snow. Plus it had Matrix feel to it. Point Lookout was brilliant because it added new places to explore and I felt like some hunter in that whole thing.

Other DLCs weren't so fun for me.

 

FNV

Whole NV, main quest thing - borring to death, to much decisions, I don't care about legion, savages and other scum that lives in the desert.

NRC - interesting, cool quests - radio towers, heling soliders, hitlist, finding traitor...

Enviroment is desert... and I love snow. lol Anyway it's nice place to explore.

I didn't play any DLC... yet.

 

At the end both games were good in their own way. FNV is better because of NVSE and MODS!!! brilliant MODS!!!!!!!!

 

 

-

At the end I like both of them

[minngarm]

The arguement that mods make NV better is a bit lacking, as FO3 has more mods, and most of the same mods in NV are in FO3, infact ppl keep converting between the two still. I do like the main story choices you get in NV, though in recent DLCs they have kinda been lacking in that.

 

However like stated before, the character is very blah, no real reason to go about this quest, would at least have made sense if you were quested back to the mojave express, maybe had a choice to rescue primm or work with the gangers that took it over. And then had more packages to deliver for the express, then you could have just as easily tied those jobs into situations of having to decide to help or dam this or that.

 

Infact, If my pea sized brain is up to the task, I might have to make some mojave express package quest mods to give you a reason to interact with the rest of the wasteland.

[Gopher]

FO3

Best beginning ever...

 

Very true. Sometimes games live on in my memory for decades after I played them, but few games have that single moment that you instantly know will be etched in your heart forever. Leaving the vault and stepping out into that sun glare, and getting my first glimpse of the wasteland was an epic moment in gaming. I fell in love with FO3 right there :)

[MojaveMike]

Fallout 3 beginning

 

"Oh look, our kid was just born. Let's see how he looks when he's grown up."

 

"He looks just like you, even though he doesn't. Also, I died."

 

"Alright, I'm going to leave my infant child alone even though he can get out of his pen easily."

 

"There you are, allow me to exposit to you by telling you about a bible quote that somewhat relates to future events."

 

"Happy birthday, allow us to exposit character relationships through cringe worthy dialogue."

 

Yep.

[Unethikal]

This is a pro New Vegas forum, just have a look ratings by players on psnetwork or xboxlive or rating by the press, now you see here is the only place i've heard that new vegas is better than fallout3, and all is said...

 

That's because the mainstream media and the average console gamer have never played any Fallout games other than FO3. 200 years after the great war and all humanity could muster up in DC were shanty towns and ghettos, give me a break.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Unethikal

[Gopher]

Fallout 3 beginning

 

"Oh look, our kid was just born. Let's see how he looks when he's grown up."

 

"He looks just like you, even though he doesn't. Also, I died."

 

"Alright, I'm going to leave my infant child alone even though he can get out of his pen easily."

 

"There you are, allow me to exposit to you by telling you about a bible quote that somewhat relates to future events."

 

"Happy birthday, allow us to exposit character relationships through cringe worthy dialogue."

 

Yep.

 

Whereas Fallout New Vegas beginning:

 

You awake in a prison boat with no real history and here is a random quest for you to ignore unless you are pathelogically unable to resist the urge to do something self destructive for no apparant reason other than it is required for the game to progress.

No wait, that was Morrowind right? Ok, awake in a prison cell with no real history and here is a random quest .... no wait, that was Oblivion. Wait I got it: Awake in a house with no real history and here is ......

 

 

The Fallout 3 beginning may have had some flaws, but it was at least a Fallout beginning :) New Vegas beginning was a Bathesda special.

[ModelV]

Starting with no solid history is the base for any good RPG because it allows you to be whoever you want to be and not a pre defined character. Personally i could never RP in Fallout 3 it just became a game of exploration and multiple playthroughs simply to do something in a different manner like blowing up megaton.

 

Same with "giving you a reason to leave goodsprings and do the main quest." MAKE UP A REASON!!! Its an RPG you play it at your own pace and path it has these "uncompleted story areas" to add the RPG feel. Also on my first playthrough i felt very compelled to track down the guy who tried to kill me so i could shoot him. There wasnt any reason for you to find the waterchip was their? Nope you could have just stayed in Shady Sands and retired there and let your Vault die and have the super mutant overrun you. And there wasnt any real reason for you to leave metgaton either was there? Sure you could go look for your dad but he probably died on his way to GNR anyway from those damn muties.

 

This reminds me of people who dont like RTS games because it makes you feel too distance from the action...

 

Anyway in conclusion you are not supposed to be leaded in an RPG thats a bad move and is a FPS style move.

Edited September 27, 2011 by ModelV

[Gopher]

Starting with no solid history is the base for any good RPG because it allows you to be whoever you want to be and not a pre defined character. Personally i could never RP in Fallout 3 it just became a game of exploration and multiple playthroughs simply to do something in a different manner like blowing up megaton.

 

Same with "giving you a reason to leave goodsprings and do the main quest." MAKE UP A REASON!!! Its an RPG you play it at your own pace and path it has these "uncompleted story areas" to add the RPG feel. Also on my first playthrough i felt very compelled to track down the guy who tried to kill me so i could shoot him. There wasnt any reason for you to find the waterchip was their? Nope you could have just stayed in Shady Sands and retired there and let your Vault die and have the super mutant overrun you. And there wasnt any real reason for you to leave metgaton either was there? Sure you could go look for your dad but he probably died on his way to GNR anyway from those damn muties.

 

This reminds me of people who dont like RTS games because it makes you feel too distance from the action...

 

Anyway in conclusion you are not supposed to be leaded in an RPG thats a bad move

 

Thats fine, but you would hate FO1 and 2 then :)

 

But I actually like those open RPGs too. I loved Morrowind, and really like Oblivion and Fallout New Vegas. They are fun. But I just prefer true RPGs. And by a 'true' RPG I mean one in which you play a role. Not just an alter ego of yourself, but a role. You have a history, a backstory, an emotional hook into the game other characters. Games like KOTOR, Mass Effect, Fallout etc. They put you in the character the way a movie does, but give you control. Not control over his past, but control over his future.

 

In New Vegas my problem with the lack of 'role' is compunded by the lack of reason to do anything. You say you were compelled to track down the guy that shot you, but that is because you dont really care about the Courier. In real life, had it been YOU that had survived a robbery by a mafia boss, and found himself a hero in a nice town like Goodsprings, would you really have thrown it all away for the almost impossible task of training yourself up like some movie ninja to be able to take him out in his own territory? Somehow I find that hard to believe. In real life most people just thanks their lucky stars they are alive and get on with their life. Revenge is actually not a hugely motivating force for most people. Especially over something so impersonal as robbery.

 

Now if Benny had shot your mum, now THAT is a reason I could get my teeth into. If he had stolen my days pocket watch etc. Something personal. Something that would resonate with me. And that is what the earlier FO games had. Save the vault. Save the tribe. Save dad. Something that would drive someone to extremes. I may hold a minor grudge at the bully who punched me in school, but I am not gonna devote my life to tracking him down. its just not a good motivator.

 

EDIT: BTW if you made up a reason for the Couriers existance, what happens when that reason is not compatible with some later development in the game? You mentally change the reason? Or ignore the new development and hope it wont break your immersion?