Should I play New Vegas?

Rotsuoy

Rotsuoy

Trash Animal
This question isn't in general, but specific to me, and I'll explain why. Sorry if I sound jaded in this but I'll try to keep the glumness down. I've spent the past few days reading discussion on NV, how a lot of people like it, and how fans of 1 and 2 enjoy it more than 3 and 4, but I'm still so worried I'll just be disappointed.

I love Fallout. I still replay it to this day. I still own the original CDs for 1 and 2 and bought it again on steam many years later. I enjoyed Tactics well enough but for some reason I never replayed it, meanwhile I can't fathom the amount of times I've replayed 1 and 2. I'm obsessed with Fallout lore because of these to two games.

When 3 came out I was so incredibly excited... and so horridly let down. I played it, finished it, even played the dlc. I wanted so bad to love it, but I just felt so bothered by it. The brotherhood, whom I had been intrigued by in 1 and 2 were a bunch of self righteous jerks, and I felt like major choices, like blowing up an entire town (come on, I had to try it at least once), didn't even really effect the overall story. Eventually I kind of resigned to the fact the Fallout series I loved would never be the same, and new games just weren't for me. The DLC was all mid as hell to me and I was desperate to love Mothership Zeta, but it just felt so hollow. (Was it just me or did Point Lookout feel really out of place?) I think what I hated most about 3 is that it wasn't that bad of a game overall, it just wasn't Fallout to me.

Ironically I got more 'entertainment' out of BoS when a buddy of mine invited me over for a drunken night of xbox. I liked Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance enough (even though it too felt like not a Baldur's Gate game), so the gameplay wasn't the worst thing I've played, but I think having a coop mode to drunkenly laugh my way through, regardless of how god awful the story was, made it genuinely entertaining in a 'so bad it's good' way. That's probably the alcohol talking though, seeing as I've never played it sober. :drunk:

I think at that point I had just given up on new Fallout content in general and was expecting it to all be bad. Which is probably why I was pleasantly surprised when a partner convinced me to play Fallout 4. I didn't feel super motivated by the main story, but I really loved a lot of the characters (*coughs* Nick *cough*). I loved the synths in general. It still didn't feel as 'Fallout' to me as 1 and 2, but in some ways it felt more so than 3 did. I also enjoyed the settlement building for roleplaying purposes, but I've also played a lot of survival games with similar building systems so I don't think that counts as a mark towards 4 being better than 3.

I think I'm just scared of having my heart broken again like it was with 3. I'm a fragile boomer that just wants to love my quirky wasteland game series again. :cry:

So please, convince me to play New Vegas. I know a lot of people here really like it. Also, if there are any mods, visual and technical, that would enhance the gameplay experience, please let me know. I'm not super put off by spoilers- somehow I've managed to avoid major ones for most of a decade -because I believe a truly good game can't really be spoiled by someone telling you about it. Just try to keep them to a minimum.

TL;DR: Convince this boomer who prefers 1 and 2 to play NV after 3 broke their heart.
 
Oh my dude, NV is nothing like 3.
Gameplay wise it is still pretty shit when it comes to movement, jumping, AI and the way guns "feel" when you shoot them.
But roleplaying wise? It exceeds the originals.
The writing is fantastic the vast majority of the time and I think the only bits of lore you have to kind of ignore is molerats not being depicted properly, feral ghouls existing at all and maybe something about power armor tiers. It is very lore friendly.
However, it does not have the same "feel" and atmosphere as the old games. The kind of gothic generic city building design is replaced with a far more 50's retrovision of the future as well as cowboy schlock. But I mean, I haven't visited 'Murica but I bet LA is very different in architecture from Austin or some city in Milwaukee anyway.
Another problem with FNV is that it does not have that... Zing? That special sumthin-sumthin that makes it stand out really. As with many of Obsidians titles I would say that it is TOO grounded at times and the NCR especially (which is the faction the game leans HEAVILY towards) can be pretty dull.

But I mean hey, do you want a game where your SPECIAL matters? Cause in FNV it does.
You want a game where your skills matter and all skills are expanded upon greatly to the point that every skill even has dialogue options from time to time? FNV is for you.
Do you want good writing that is consistent with the setting even if it does have some dry points? FNV got you covered.
Do you want a game with a tremendous amount of replayability? My man, you gotta play FNV.

However, like I said, some lore is still Bethesda'd but it can be handwaved away and ignored. Some art design isn't accurate, you'll have to tolerate that. The gameplay is dogshit cause it is on gamebryo but so long as you don't focus too much on it and just try to enjoy the good parts of the game it is tolerable AND there is probably mods that can fix certain aspects! The writing does have dull moments where it is waaay too down to earth and dry, whether you can tolerate those moments of writing or even enjoy them is ultimately up to you.

Would I suggest anyone who likes 1 and 2 to play FNV? Yes. For any shortcoming that it has it makes up for it by advancing certain aspects twicefold of waht FO1 and FO2 ever did. But it's up to you whether you think this sounds good or whether the negative aspects of the game are too bad to tolerate.

Personally I've replayed FNV so many times in the past that I LOATHE the gameplay and haven't been able to get into FNV for a long time. But that's probably just burnout for me.

Oh and the only DLC worth doing is Dead Money and Honest Hearts. Old World Blues is fucking horrendous to the lore. Yknow how people bitched about FO2 being too silly? Yeah it's that but concentrated like vanilla extract. And Lonesome Road doesn't make any sense to the story and just ruins any roleplaying idea you might have for your character because some crackhead former legionnaire thinks he's a philosopher and forces a bunch of backstory on you whether you like it or not.

OWB is good for some fun weapons, a convenient base you can literally teleport to and grinding some exp.
Lonesome Road has beautiful area design.
But that's about it.

ALSO

I almost forgot!

Pick the trait that caps your character at lvl 30 if you actually care about roleplaying cause each DLC adds 5 levels to max level without the trait is 50 and it makes you way too powerful.

[edit]

Also you get to fuck a robot and a ghoul.
 
I love doubleposting, no one seems to stop me. :D

There iiiiiiis something I should mention....
Have you ever read the Van Buren design docs and thought "this is wicked!"?
Yeah it's not that.
There's no Reservation.
No Ciphers.
No Circle Of Steel.
No Hanged Man.
No Burning Springs.

Like I said, FNV lacks that "ZING" that Fallout used to have.

And while I think FNV makes up for it with some really good lore, writing and RP... IF... Someone ever finishes a Van Buren Total Conversion project I'm immediately throwing FNV out the window for it. Take that for what you will. To me, FNV is fantastic but it is mired by certain things that hold it back and quite frankly the lore it introduces is just not as interesting as VB would have been. So if someone ever finishes a Van Buren TC project for Fallout 2 or even in a new engine all together I'm ditching FNV for it.

But... In case no VB ever happens... I think FNV is worth playing.
 
Mr Fish said:
But I mean hey, do you want a game where your SPECIAL matters? Cause in FNV it does.
Click to expand...
Yes.

You want a game where your skills matter and all skills are expanded upon greatly to the point that every skill even has dialogue options from time to time? FNV is for you.
Click to expand...
YES.

Do you want good writing that is consistent with the setting even if it does have some dry points? FNV got you covered.
Click to expand...
YES YES YES.

However, like I said, some lore is still Bethesda'd but it can be handwaved away and ignored. Some art design isn't accurate, you'll have to tolerate that. The gameplay is dogshit cause it is on gamebryo but so long as you don't focus too much on it and just try to enjoy the good parts of the game it is tolerable AND there is probably mods that can fix certain aspects! The writing does have dull moments where it is waaay too down to earth and dry, whether you can tolerate those moments of writing or even enjoy them is ultimately up to you.
Click to expand...
I can tolerate the design changes. I've seen quite a bit of it over the years and lip-curled at it, but I'm sure there's mods for that. Also, if I can easily tolerate talking to multiple people with the exact same sprite in 1 and 2, then I'm sure I can tolerate anything.

Oh and the only DLC worth doing is Dead Money and Honest Hearts. Old World Blues is fucking horrendous to the lore. Yknow how people bitched about FO2 being too silly? Yeah it's that but concentrated like vanilla extract. And Lonesome Road doesn't make any sense to the story and just ruins any roleplaying idea you might have for your character because some crackhead former legionnaire thinks he's a philosopher and forces a bunch of backstory on you whether you like it or not.

OWB is good for some fun weapons, a convenient base you can literally teleport to and grinding some exp.
Lonesome Road has beautiful area design.
But that's about it.
Click to expand...
I have heard basically this (and read this here) many times, from many people, so I'll take your word for it. I've even heard from people who didn't care for NV say that OBW was goofy as all hell.

Also you get to fuck a robot and a ghoul.
Click to expand...
Ah shit, you got me there! :wiggle:

Have you ever read the Van Buren design docs and thought "this is wicked!"?
Click to expand...
Absolutely, and I've heard that a lot of the cool stuff got snipped so I've bottled up my emotions in regards to that. Here's hoping the Fallout: Yesterdays guy finishes his project!

I had someone tell me earlier that NV was the first and last Fallout game he's played where he could go full pacifist so that has me intrigued. Do you know how possible it is to finish the game without joining a faction? That's one aspect that really puts me off and worries me.
 
You don't have to join a faction but the storyline IS that you are instrumental to future of the Mojave. Just like the storyline in Fallout 1 is that you care about your vault and Fallout 2 is you care about your tribe. You, for whatever reason you want to make up of your own, have an interest in the future of the Mojave. And so the solo option is to help Yes Man.

Yes Man is a robot programmed by a person who had the intention of uprooting the power scheme of the Mojave and Yes Man will give you directives on how to succeed at that. You're not tied to any faction by doing this, in fact you can make literally every faction hostile towards you while doing this.

As to pacifist, I've never done the pacifist playthrough but IIRC there are pacifist paths through the game. I think pretty much every major faction (Mr House, NCR, Legion) require you to take 'someone' out so I think the only route that offers true pacifism is Yes Man but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, you also don't really "join" any faction, you just choose who to side with or help as an independent agent.
And a lot of them allow you to backstab them throughout their story so if you get second thoughts you can abandon them for another one. (unless you reach a point of no return but those are often very obvious)

In fact there is a part of the design that I don't like of FNV that I find a bit "handholdy" and that is this: Legion and NCR will not fully commit to treating you as hostile until after a certain point in the main story. And if you have a negative rep with them at that turning point then your rep is basically reset to 0 IIRC. Never liked that part of FNV but yeah. If you get villified rep with NCR and then get to that point in the main story then it resets to neutral.

So that's a bit bleh.

But yeah I mean you don't "join" the powder gangers, you just help them. You don't "join" the followers, you just help them. You miiiiight get an honorary role in the BOS if you side with them. But yeah I mean you don't join the NCR as a recruit and work your way up the ranks or anything. You act in your own self interst and if you think your self interest align with faction Y then help that faction.

True independence is Yes Man or 'possibly' Mr House as he just acts as an employer and not necessarily a "faction".
 
Interesting. I was always under the impression that you were forced to 'join' a faction and didn't really have a choice. Thinking of it as helping the future of the Mojave in the best way in your personal opinion, regardless of the path you choose, does make it feel more like a Fallout game. That's another thing that bummed me out about 3. I felt like I didn't really have any other choice but to help the BoS in the end, because the Enclave were genocidal maniacs. It didn't feel like there was a middle option. At least 4 felt like it gave me options as to how to progress. Wow, I guess I'm still mad about the end of 3 to this day. Haha.

As for the reputation, I feel like I was reading a mod that fixed that earlier today. I'll have to go back through my browser history. I was reading a ton of mods that fixed a lot of issues with the game from combat to camera. I don't know yet if I'll use any graphical overhaul mods, but there's a few that scale up the textures and hud, which I might do, since I have bad eyesight as it is. I think it might be time to actually give NV a chance.
 
Oh you're not obligated to help anyone. You're completely on your own until the 2nd act of the game (it's divided up into 2 acts basically) at that point you'll get all the options on who to side with and you can choose as you please. It's nothing like FO3 where you're obligated to help Lyons Brotherhood. Even when it comes to secondary factions you're not obligated to help anyone. IIRC if the Legion says to get the Boomers on your side and you decide to kill 'em then they'll just accept it (begrudgingly) and move on to the next stage.

FNV is probably the most freedom a Fallout game has allowed you to have as you literally have no ties to anything but your obligation to your Mojave Express contract to finish your delivery of the Platinum Chip. Beyond that it is all up to you how you wanna tackle things.

For example, a non-spoiler thing is that a certain someone will ask you to protect someone else from another faction and you can just shoot them dead and then tell them "hey, here's why they deserved it" and they'll go "hm, understandable".

[edit]

Considering it has immense replayability I would suggest you go vanilla for the first time through thou so you know 'what' you need to mod for a subsequent playthrough.
 
Rotsuoy said:
This question isn't in general, but specific to me, and I'll explain why. Sorry if I sound jaded in this but I'll try to keep the glumness down. I've spent the past few days reading discussion on NV, how a lot of people like it, and how fans of 1 and 2 enjoy it more than 3 and 4, but I'm still so worried I'll just be disappointed.

I love Fallout. I still replay it to this day. I still own the original CDs for 1 and 2 and bought it again on steam many years later. I enjoyed Tactics well enough but for some reason I never replayed it, meanwhile I can't fathom the amount of times I've replayed 1 and 2. I'm obsessed with Fallout lore because of these to two games.

When 3 came out I was so incredibly excited... and so horridly let down. I played it, finished it, even played the dlc. I wanted so bad to love it, but I just felt so bothered by it. The brotherhood, whom I had been intrigued by in 1 and 2 were a bunch of self righteous jerks, and I felt like major choices, like blowing up an entire town (come on, I had to try it at least once), didn't even really effect the overall story. Eventually I kind of resigned to the fact the Fallout series I loved would never be the same, and new games just weren't for me. The DLC was all mid as hell to me and I was desperate to love Mothership Zeta, but it just felt so hollow. (Was it just me or did Point Lookout feel really out of place?) I think what I hated most about 3 is that it wasn't that bad of a game overall, it just wasn't Fallout to me.

Ironically I got more 'entertainment' out of BoS when a buddy of mine invited me over for a drunken night of xbox. I liked Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance enough (even though it too felt like not a Baldur's Gate game), so the gameplay wasn't the worst thing I've played, but I think having a coop mode to drunkenly laugh my way through, regardless of how god awful the story was, made it genuinely entertaining in a 'so bad it's good' way. That's probably the alcohol talking though, seeing as I've never played it sober. :drunk:

I think at that point I had just given up on new Fallout content in general and was expecting it to all be bad. Which is probably why I was pleasantly surprised when a partner convinced me to play Fallout 4. I didn't feel super motivated by the main story, but I really loved a lot of the characters (*coughs* Nick *cough*). I loved the synths in general. It still didn't feel as 'Fallout' to me as 1 and 2, but in some ways it felt more so than 3 did. I also enjoyed the settlement building for roleplaying purposes, but I've also played a lot of survival games with similar building systems so I don't think that counts as a mark towards 4 being better than 3.

I think I'm just scared of having my heart broken again like it was with 3. I'm a fragile boomer that just wants to love my quirky wasteland game series again. :cry:

So please, convince me to play New Vegas. I know a lot of people here really like it. Also, if there are any mods, visual and technical, that would enhance the gameplay experience, please let me know. I'm not super put off by spoilers- somehow I've managed to avoid major ones for most of a decade -because I believe a truly good game can't really be spoiled by someone telling you about it. Just try to keep them to a minimum.

TL;DR: Convince this boomer who prefers 1 and 2 to play NV after 3 broke their heart.
Click to expand...

FNV is pretty much Van Buren realized. They ignored all of the BS nonsense from Fallout Tactics and Fallout 3 and made a proper sequel to Fallout 2 that is 100% faithful to the lore of the classics. Everything is excellent. The writing, setting, atmosphere, factions, choice and consequences, quest design, roleplaying, player freedom, etc... All top notch. It is a near flawless RPG. So long as you don't mind the fact it is now a real-time FPS, you should enjoy it for sure.
 
Mr Fish said:
IIRC if the Legion says to get the Boomers on your side and you decide to kill 'em then they'll just accept it (begrudgingly) and move on to the next stage.
Click to expand...
No, not begrudgingly. Caesar considers that a perfectly fine solution to the Boomer problem. It’s really only the NCR that gets kinda sorta disappointed at you for just killing the Boomers.
 
Yes, but I have to admit, the first time through FNV is a bit spartan but perhaps that is worth doing if only to try the game out. But there are a lot of mods. Many of the mods are (sorry modders) shit, but a few are pretty good too. I have been enjoying World of Pain. Then again, I have yet to play the entire game through once (but have restarted many times).
 
New Vegas is worth a playthrough or two. Still finding new things even after playing it for 14? Years now.
 
im thankful for new vegas as its a great capper to a fallout as a trilogy. its far more of a sequel to 2 than 3 ever had a chance to be. im sure you also heard about how thematically the gme and all its DLC are about having trouble letting go which is depressingly appropriate for the fallout fanbase now
 
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