Kyrian007 said:
No, it's railroading. There's clues at every single stop along the way that you would have to intentionally avoid to miss, meaning you would have to know it was there to miss it. And if instead of track down Benny you decide you would rather just rather head north and hit the casinos... YOU WILL BE MURDERED BY CAZADORS AND DEATHCLAWS. Your choices end up being follow Benny, or DIE. Really the only choices you have is how many sidetracks you will follow before confronting Benny at the strip.
Stumbling off the beaten path and being murdered by powerful enemies is a FO1/2 thing that was heavily requested by fans.
Taking the longer route does not require you to stop at every checkpoint along the way. The "safe" route is designed to let your character see a large portion of the Mojave before getting to New Vegas, not railroad you through the main quest. You don't have to interact with Manny Vargas in Novac. You can certainly bypass Boulder City and the Khans encounter. You get a quest update the first time you enter the Strip... and that's it. You never have to go into the Lucky 38 if you don't want to. You can enter the Tops and never interact with Benny. If anything, the criticism should be "stop holding my freaking hand. I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING" not "STOP RAILROADING ALREADY". All of these design choices are so you don't lose the main quest.
Finally, if you have played the game a few times, it is entirely possible to travel north from Goodsprings and not get murderized.
