B-b-but Todd said he likes New Vegas!!!
He probably did genuinely like New Vegas. Todd also probably likes Daggerfall and Morrowind. But not for the same reasons the diehard fans of those games like them. I'm sure he enjoys Fallout 1 and 2 with legitimacy as well, but just like TES2 and 3 not for the reasons you do. I have no idea where I saw it or who supposedly said it but I never forgot when I read that some Morrowind developer said that they were talking about the game's design and everything Todd wanted to include was essentially that for non-important characters, Todd wanted to be a barbarian class that just fought enemies and got the objective and brought it back. I'm sure they put it more eloquently but essentially they said Todd wanted to make quests differently than most of the other team members. He was the project leader so I'm sure what he said had weight but the sentiment seemed to be that some of the team really didn't like the direction he wanted to take the game. Or whoever mentioned this was talking straight out of their ass and now I am too. But it seemed believable.
So yeah I believe he liked New Vegas but I don't think he really cared all that much about how quests could be solved, how faction relations worked, or how the skills were implemented and changed. He probably enjoyed the quests in the same way he would just naturally complete them and enjoyed the combat and the addition of new weapons and perks.
Ulysees presents it as inevitable and even gives a timeframe until, literally what he says more all less is, no matter who wins in the Mojave it's all meanigless. It comes completely out the blue imo. Again that's all from memory though.
I also remember Ulysses claiming that there's nothing that will really stop the tunnelers as they are currently. It's been awhile though. I never got around to playing it myself but I think the conversion mod Fallout Dust was based around that idea.
Also, I believe the thoughts, praises, and criticisms from Tim, Josh, Chris, etc. as well. Tim doesn't seem to be too attached to caring about sequels all that much anyway much less something he lost two decades ago and tried to buy back and lost the bid for (essentially). At this point, what else is there to do about it besides be happy you created something that so many people seem to enjoy and give you fame for? Chris is far more analytical about it all but is not shy of displaying his understandings, criticisms, and praises for anything related to Fallout. He seems to be more level-headed about it all, he gets things will change and he has issues with older titles. He will still just give his opinion. I think Josh's view about not getting too attached keeps him pretty detached from anything he cannot guarantee he should care about soon. Which is smart of him. If he cared too much about Fallout (or any IP he was heavily involved in) and watched it go in a direction he hated, he'd be upset over something completely out of his control when his career is making video games. It comes with the territory, especially when you work in bigger studios and work with publishers. I'm sure he cares but just doesn't bother too much. I think he cares far more about the work he has done and how to improve on that work in the future regardless of what intellectual property it may be.
EDIT: finished his part 2 review.
I’m no fan of the Enclave (we ruined Tim’s original good idea with our take in F2)
Anyone know what Chris is talking about here? I mean obviously whatever Tim & Company's idea was for the Enclave was altered for the final version of Fallout 2 but does anyone know what the original idea for them was like? I don't think I've seen such a direct mention of this before. Tim has mentioned that they laid out the main framework for Fallout 2 and things got changed but never said that the faction itself was changed from what I've seen and heard.