New Vegas is worse than Fallout 3.
I never said that. I just said that, in my opinion, that Fallout 3 is a superior game. In fact, I LOVE both of them AND I used to think New Vegas was better. The fact of the matter, is that you're too closed minded to even CONSIDER that Fallout 3 is actually better than New Vegas. In Fallout 3, there's no notification pausing the game and telling you that now a faction hates you. You actually feel within the environment the effects of your actions. If you're too much of a goody two-shoes some Talon Company mercs try to kill you. If you're evil, you can get in certain places just because of your reputation.
And speaking of the environment, New Vegas severely is lacking in this department. I know it sounds retarded, but even though it's a desert it's fucking boring. You can go for a long time without ever interacting with anything. The only real changes in biome is the Colorado river and Jacobstown. But in Fallout 3, it's very well done. From the bustling dense cities of the surrounding D.C. areas to the glorious ruins of our great American monuments to the forests of dead trees to the radioactive swamp-like areas.
Another thing, Fallout 3 is hardly ever boring. It has more random encounters than the original isometric games. Plus all the random encounters all depend on each other. You can play a long time without seeing some of the many random encounters due to the large volume of them. In New Vegas I barely get any random encounters.
Then about quests and stuff. Fallout New Vegas is superior in the writing department. But with endings, it's very hard to say which one is better. In New Vegas, you just side with a faction and do some quests until the endgame where you get a little post-game slideshow about the fates of various people and factions in the Mojave. With no post-game. In Fallout 3, originally you have to sacrifice to the greater good. No post-game either. But at least in Fallout 3 there is a very valid reason why they didn't include a post-game, you fucking died. In New Vegas you just "wander" with no real conclusion. Fallout 3 had a concept where it begins with your birth and ends with your death. Good concept, but poorly executed. The quests in New Vegas take you along the same damn roads over and over. It's very linear in that perspective. Not to mention that most quests take you to almost every location. But in Fallout 3, it takes you across the map multiple times AND there's some areas that are left out for you to explore.
Speaking of exploration, New Vegas sucks at that. Most places in the Mojave are boarded up and there's lots of invisible barriers. In Fallout 3, most buildings were explorable and had a perfect risk:reward ratio in the "dungeons". Don't get me started on the Metro. You can LITERALLY get lost in that thing. Exploration in Fallout 3 is very rewarding. In fact, it emphasizes this early in the game. If the Overseer's door was too difficult to unlock, you can find a key by exploring. Then in his office, there are multiple ways to get in the terminal to open the tunnel. You can pick a lock to get a password or hack the terminal. Also you can find this fun little text-adventure. Which I didn't even know about until Many A True Nerd mentioned it.
Now that I think of it, Fallout 3 emphasizes roleplay and dialogue early on. When you turn ten, you can use dialogue to make Butch pussy out of the fight. Violence is a secondary option. Same with when the Tunnel Snakes are bullying Amata. You can join in or stop them. If you join in there's like one choice that I can recall. But if you defend her, there's multiple ways to defuse the situation. Talk to Butch, Talk to Wally Mack, or get in a fight with them. The game teaches you that violence isn't the only answer. In fact, there's like one part where you get taught combat. This is encourage people to get more into roleplaying but if roleplaying wasn't your cup of tea, Bethesda wouldn't stop you from using violence as a means to an end (except for Little Lamplight). But in New Vegas, they let you build your character and then they immediately tell you to go down to Sunny Smiles to learn how combat and crafting works. Yeah you can ignore this quest, but it makes some other quests unavailable. If you're an average Joe who's new to Fallout games but LOVES shooters, then you would probably do less roleplaying. Also the gunplay in Fallout 3 is UTTER GARBAGE. But that is just another reason to use non-violent means. Sometimes it is REQUIRED to not be violent (Little Lamplight, for example). The better gunplay in NV makes it easier to play it like a Call of Duty game.
Also I see some people call Bethesda "Bugthesda" or "Bugfestda", etc. But didn't New Vegas have a shit ton of bugs when it was released? So shouldn't we call Obsidian "Bugsidian"?
Also back to the point on the enviroment of the games. I personally prefer the combination of jazz music along with empty devastated cities over Vegas swing music with an empty desert. Speaking of Call of Duty, if Woods had a look at New Vegas he'd repeat the "Sand, sand, and more fucking sand" line.
