I have been playing New Vegas for a few days now, and every step I take in Nevada just reinforces the disgust and abhorence that arises when I think about Fallout 3.
It is laughable to me that anyone would consider Fallout 3 a better game than New Vegas, LET ALONE Fallout 1 & 2. It is just mind blowing how far off the mark Bethesda made their take on the wasteland.
Seriously... any one with a difference of opinion here is welcome to advocate their preference of FO3 above the others. I would love to know what I'm missing here.
What I've noticed in my New Vegas experience so far when I compare it to Fallout 3:
-The writing, dialogue and story are far and above the pathetic attempt at a heroic epic that was FO3. Instead of being flat, linear and shallow, NV actually makes you care about the characters and the game world. It isn't hard to understand why when you consider that in FO3, you were forced into a one track story with very limited choice or outcomes.
Nothing you do in FO3 makes any difference. You can wipe out every innocent in D.C. and step into the chamber at the end of the game, and all of a sudden you're a selfless hero. FO3's story is exactly the kind of bullshit good vs. evil pansy ass morality play that you'd expect to see from Mel Bay.
In contrast, every single action you take in New Vegas can have a profound effect on the inhabitants their, and there are multiple, intertwined pathways that lead you to the end of the game. And you care more about what happens to the characters because they're not all just robotic extras in some 12 year old's dream of Fallout with the 'cool factor' set to max.
As far as concept and story goes, it baffles me that anyone could hold FO3 over NV. FO3 has NPCs that you can not kill, for christ's sake. In NV you can fuck up your game as much as you want by killing anyone and everyone you like. The world is subserviant to you, not to some retarded one-way story line.
-The sound and voice acting are pretty much the same way. Not only does the ambient and environmental sound make the atmosphere more immersive, the voice acting actually has talent. One of the things that got to me the most while playing through FO3 was the amount of characters you'd run into that had the exact same voice and inflection. There is not a single dialogue capable character that I've come across in NV that made this as painfully obvious.
-If we're going to talk 'cool factor', NV has all the little tricks and gimmicks of FO3 and then some. There are more weapons, some of which are just too awesome to pass up. The combat still has the same campy gore replete with dismemberment and random hilarity. THERE IS A GRENADE MACHINE GUN. And, of course, the nuclear cars still make you wonder how the world survived to drop bombs on each other in the first place seeing that a minor fender bender would have leveled a city block.
-The game mechanics are completely fucking incomparable. FO3 renders you an invincible master of all trades by the end of the game, and since there are no consequences for what you do you end up being some faceless superman with no character in a world that doesn't pay any attention.
NV makes you choose your attributes more wisely and ensures that you can play as many times as you want with unique character types and get a different game every time.
The crafting system is brilliant, the reputation system makes you think twice about your actions, and the combat relies more heavily on both your character's attributes and equipment and your skill as a player. Not to mention that hardcore mode is great.
I have been trying to think this whole time about what may be an advantage that FO3 has in its favor, but the only thing I come up with is that maybe the environment is a little cooler. Except for the underground hell and monotony of the goddamn metro system.
So yeah I've gone off on quite a meandering FO3 hate rant here, but I was pissed when I played it and I'm pissed now. It's just disgusting to me that Bethesda holds this franchise after I've seen how they handled the pathetic shell that is FO3, and now that I'm playing a game that I can actually recognise as Fallout.
I swear to god that if they don't take NV as a lesson in game building by the time they release Fallout 4, I'm going to discard a rubberneck trashcan of my own feces all over Todd Howard's door step.
So to wrap up this lengthy diatribe, and to respond to the original post, leave the crap in the outhouse and pick up New Vegas. It is ALMOST what Fallout 3 could and should have been.
Oh yeah, and child killing, prostitutes, mutant ballgags and fucked up dark situations are what MAKE a Fallout game. If they aren't to your taste then I'm sure one of the Lego games has something for you.
Come on now. Unless you happen to find turn-based hard, but it was laughably easy to exploit. Maybe the difference being instead of VATSing someone in the head you would aimed-shot them in the eyes/groin. Fallout 3 isn't hard either, but to say F1/F2 are hard? Silly.
and should probably be moved to the Fallout 3 section...