How does New Vegas "Railroad" You?

[LaughingAtlas]

I don't like that all but one of the DLC adventures lock the door behind you when you enter, forcing you to finish things if you ever decide you'd like to go back to the wasteland, (except for Dead Money, which seemed appropriate, as it was apparently all about traps) but the deathclaws and cazadores didn't bother me that much, it is the deadly, dangerous, post-apocalyptic wasteland, afterall. Besides, as I think someone said, you can get around them walking towards black mountain from the start, shaves some time off the story's sight-seeing jog (if you ignore everything) and got me to Vegas with maybe two or three encounters.

 

[OniaPL]

I actually went through the north west passageway through the killer bees and all from the starting location, without ever visiting the southern part of the map before a playtime of 25 hours or so. 'Twas still difficult though.

That being said, the game is still railroading you pretty heavily.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

It doesn't.

I can get to New Vegas as soon as I leave the Doctor's house.

You just have to be smart and not derp it across the wasteland.

A few stealth boys make getting past the death claws easy.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

There's actually an *almost* completely safe way to get straight to New Vegas which doesn't require any stealthing. It's the way I went when I did a 4 hour speed run.

Does it involve following the train track near Primm, hiking a left near Nipton and then just following that path to New Vegas?

Because that's what I did. I might aggro a few enemies, but nothing I can't outrun.

Didn't have to fire a single shot.

 

[Tallim]

There's actually an *almost* completely safe way to get straight to New Vegas which doesn't require any stealthing. It's the way I went when I did a 4 hour speed run.

Does it involve following the train track near Primm, hiking a left near Nipton and then just following that path to New Vegas?

Because that's what I did. I might aggro a few enemies, but nothing I can't outrun.

Didn't have to fire a single shot.

Pretty much yes if I recall (been a while). Although I may have taken a slight detour to flag an important location for fast travel purposes in the speed run. I could have done it much faster I think but I was messing about for an hour doing something which turned out to be unnecessary in the long run.

 

[Gabanuka]

Anyone who's played the game long enough can make it, that path is just there for new players to be introduced to the game and its concepts.

Its different to FO3s "welcome to the wasteland, here's megaton, have fun." approach but there's nothing wrong with it, its sure as hell more open than other games I've played.

 

[trophykiller]

I did it once. I found a random bright follower under a bridge, stole his plasma grenade, blew up an entire squad of BoS in hidden valley, took their weapons, then took the road as far away from the quarry junction as possible. I was attacked by a straggling deathclaw, but apparently my character was a wizard who could summon invisible force-fields. So I only survived by a glitch... Does that still count?

 

[JochemHippie]

There's actually an *almost* completely safe way to get straight to New Vegas which doesn't require any stealthing. It's the way I went when I did a 4 hour speed run.

Does it involve following the train track near Primm, hiking a left near Nipton and then just following that path to New Vegas?

Because that's what I did. I might aggro a few enemies, but nothing I can't outrun.

Didn't have to fire a single shot.

Mine involved running over big mountain, then just a long straight (dodging some fiends) you're at the front gates.

 

[hoboman29]

Doesn't Fallout 3 do the same thing with Liam Nesson (take that fanboys) first its go to Megaton then go to GNR then to Rivet City then to Vault 112 then to the next thing and the next thing. Why is this relevant you may ask? Well the people who say that tend to be Fallout 3 fans and sometimes fanboys need to be reminded x game isn't perfect. So what if New Vegas does the same thing you could just stop doing the main story and explore the world and even then after the half way mark in New Vegas the rest of the map is now "open"

 

[cerebus23]

Yea try getting to the base down south in fallout 2 you had to save about every tile never know what random encounter the game was going to toss at you.

NV was the same way, save a ton, keep and eye out and run like hell when needed.

Sad when a game tries to nerf the level scaling bs that made oblivion a cake walk, and leaves some danger to the game that people list it as a failing.

 

[Saviordd1]

I believe people will consider it railroading when you set the game up so it is extremely difficult to go any other path. What New Vegas has is a bunch of enemies that would be considered Beef Gates [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeefGate] set up on all routes aside from the story route out of Goodsprings. You have to be above a certain level to be able to defeat the enemies on all routes except the story route.

As you said, it is possible to slip by the enemies if you are careful, but you stand little chance of survival if you have to fight. This is a form of soft railroading, the area isn't sealed off or completely inaccessible until you hit Level X, it just means that you are unlikely to survive a trip into the area until you hit Level X.

This.

Making it BARELY possible doesn't excuse it of railroading. But that's me.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

After trying and failing to go straight to New Vegas by going north, I ended up going east to the prison and doing all of the Powder Gangers' quests, then discovering Hidden Valley and running past all of the scorpions in Scorpion Gulch. Then I sneaked through Black Mountain with a Stealth Boy I got from Joe Cobb, and the way to Vegas was clear from there.

I love the way that New Vegas sits on the horizon, clear as your eventual destination but tantalisingly out of reach. Fallout 3 never did anything like that, since you can pretty much get everywhere from the start and it makes for a less interesting progression.

 

[RatRace123]

Eh, I prefer "Beef Gating" to having enemies level with you.

It's the best of both worlds. For those that want to stick to a more linear path, well you have the excuse to do so, go out past the boundaries and the game will try its best to murder your ass.
And for those who relish the challenge and want to push themselves, well here's a Deathclaw, take it out with your starter pistol and if you manage that, bask in the glory of your achievement because you are a badass at only level 3.

 

[Cowabungaa]

One of the biggest criticisms of New Vegas is how you are set on a path around the south of the map for the start of the game, with every other direction being a deathtrap. I disagree with this. Yes, the surrounding areas are extremely dangerous, but they aren't impossible.

They don't have to be.

railroading:

Press (someone) into doing something by rushing or coercing them: "she hesitated, unwilling to be railroaded into a decision".

Press, not force. You're not forced to take the path that has no cazadores, but you're going to take the path that has no goddamn cazadores if you're not masochistic. Or incredibly hardcore.

I actually had fairly little problems completely ignoring the set path on my very first playthrough. On Hardcore. I stumbled and bumbled my way across the wasteland without much problem, picking up levels, gear, food and water along the way. I can't even remember cazadors being much an issue even early on. I had antidotes anyway. Didn't even see a Deathclaw for ages.

I did read about this Beef Gate issue before I got it but I can't say I really encountered it.

 

[aether-x3]

I'm really set in my ways when it comes to New Vegas.

More often or not I will always Pass through Primm, get stopped at Nipton by Vulpes, mosey on till I get to Novac, Complete Boone's quest; get him as a follower. Again mosey over to Freeside, Do the quests for the Garret Twins until I get enough money to go into The Strip. THEN that's when I start to branch off into different areas and quests.

Though one time I tried not to do so I somehow managed to wander near Brotherhood territory and then near the bottom of Black Mountain. Or when I was going the usual way and ran into a Blind Deathclaw thinking I could get passed but..nope.

Hmm, though I could say I get railroaded but that's by choice not force.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I actually had fairly little problems completely ignoring the set path on my very first playthrough. On Hardcore. I stumbled and bumbled my way across the wasteland without much problem, picking up levels, gear, food and water along the way. I can't even remember cazadors being much an issue even early on. I had antidotes anyway. Didn't even see a Deathclaw for ages.

I did read about this Beef Gate issue before I got it but I can't say I really encountered it.

Well, good for you. The general opinion [http://i.imgur.com/WisAP.jpg], however...

I really never got that. They're quite pitiful. Especially when I got Boone with me they died so damned quickly. And up close it took only a few VATS-based shotgun blasts. Or just cripple their wings, staggers them, makes them an easy prey.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Indeed. i like high luck characters, so i do the goodsprings missions to give me a decent amount of equipment, then bugger off to new vegas to break all the cansinos. Loads of money at the start, as well as good equipment. Then, you buy a hunting rifle from the gun runners (if you do not already have one), plenty of rounds, and you're set for the next 10 levels.

you buy the hunting rifle? I just kill the guards on the inside. Free combat armour as well.

 

[madster11]

Just like to point out that there's a fat man in the quarry and you can pick up enough equipment in goodsprings and that mining town thing that you can sneak, grab the nuke, sneak out and start heading for vegas - if a deathclaw sees you, the fat man takes care of it.

 

[Dansen]

if you want to talk about beef gates, talk about dark souls.
i got my ass handed to me on the graveyard until i found the way up to the castle.
and then it was a piece of cake since i grinded the hell out of that graveyard....

lol same thing happened to me, i have no idea why from soft made the main route so difficult to see.

 

[KhaoticOne]

To answer OP, overall NV does not Railroad you. However i still wish for some diversity in rummaging through New Vegas. Instead of A. Southern Road (easy), B. Mountain (moderate), C. Junction (hard). Add little twist and turns to travel through the Mojave (towards NV at least) just to spice up the geography a bit.

Sure Fallout 3 had full open world, but the geography of the landscape was shit. It was practically a flatland with the Locations (you know point of interests), having some workable landscapes. Sure it differentiates (from the flatland) and makes them more notable but leaves the general map bland as a result. Also the world felt dead compared to NV. While that may be part of the intent (given the atmosphere of the game) it didnt help that my walks to point A (POI) to point B (another POI) were tedious. Part of exploration is to find interesting things so why not spice up the trip as well as the destination. Yes there was Random Events in 3 but they felt so mechanical in nature and wasn't as executed seamlessly IMO. It works yeah, but i always get this forced feeling from them rather than the intended ones. Maybe its cause im always the central focus of them (like the whole game in general).

If it wasn't obvious before i like traversing New Vegas more than the Capitol Wasteland primarily for the fact i might meet somebody interesting. Its jarring to keep hearing people say FO3 locales were more interesting than NV, i feel like we're playing two different games now (yeah yeah personal opinions, etc). While New Vegas had more completely pointless/wasted potential locales than FO3 (IIRC haven't touched 3 for years) i feel that the ones that did stand out (only ones people talk about) were better compared to FO3 counterparts.

To end on a final note, its somewhat unfair to judge both NV and FO3 locales on their importance towards the player. Since in FO3 surviving was a prominent theme so any locale was good off the sheer chance of loot. The themes in NV were different (less surviving more rebuilding) so these same locales held less value compared to FO3.