Usually I dig the fantasy genre over the post-apocalyptic genre but I have to say I enjoyed Fallout 3 more than Skyrim. Maybe because it was more Twilight Zone than Mad Max.
Poll: The Elder Scrolls vs. Fallout
- Thread starter ejrocksthisworld
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I like them both but find the Fallout lore much easier to digest and consequently more interesting. I've played TES for years and still only have a rudimentary understanding of its history and people. Fallout is essentially vintage 1950s America so its pretty easy to follow.
Fallout, for me.
The story (not exactly counting Brotherhood of Steel or Fallout 3) is what really sells it off to me, the depth and character design and the general feel of it. Since it's somewhat grounded in reality, that also helps me enjoy it as it gives some thought as to what could have happened or been -- and what can (in sense of warfare, not technology or the 50's Science!) happen.
The story (not exactly counting Brotherhood of Steel or Fallout 3) is what really sells it off to me, the depth and character design and the general feel of it. Since it's somewhat grounded in reality, that also helps me enjoy it as it gives some thought as to what could have happened or been -- and what can (in sense of warfare, not technology or the 50's Science!) happen.
[parrot mode]Fallout, easily.[/parrot mode]
I feel like S.P.E.C.I.A.L. is a unique, working RPG system, while TES' "linear progression through practice" system just isn't. But maybe I've just been playing tabletop too long. Also, TES games are a bit too realtime for me to consider them RPGs. V.A.T.S. added enough of the feel of the old isometric Fallout games to the new ones for me not to feel they were "generic action game with limited RPG mechanics #15646251863" (couple that with generic medieval fantasy #545164168, and you've got the makings of a wholly unremarkable game).
To be fair, I haven't acquired Skyrim yet. Haven't spotted it in a bargain bin. That's kind of my tradition with Elder Scrolls games. Who knows, maybe I won't hate it.
I feel like S.P.E.C.I.A.L. is a unique, working RPG system, while TES' "linear progression through practice" system just isn't. But maybe I've just been playing tabletop too long. Also, TES games are a bit too realtime for me to consider them RPGs. V.A.T.S. added enough of the feel of the old isometric Fallout games to the new ones for me not to feel they were "generic action game with limited RPG mechanics #15646251863" (couple that with generic medieval fantasy #545164168, and you've got the makings of a wholly unremarkable game).
To be fair, I haven't acquired Skyrim yet. Haven't spotted it in a bargain bin. That's kind of my tradition with Elder Scrolls games. Who knows, maybe I won't hate it.
Fallout, easily, but 9 times out of ten I'll take a science fiction setting over a comparable fantasy one.
Fallout, by a few thousand miles. A central overarching plot connecting all the games even loosely. If you wanted to you could pick up any fallout game, then play its sequel, than its prequel and there would still be forward and backward links. TES.... oh come on the title doesn't even have much to do with the damned game, The "Elder Scrolls" themselves serve little more than a cameo role in each game to loosely connect the herd of cats into one coherent game game series. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Oblivion, especially with mods, i still play it to this day, couldn't stand skyrim though, wasn't too fussed on morrowind either.
This isn't to say Fallouts perfect, especially some of the storylines that were added after FO2, How the NCR went on to take over fully staffed enclave military facilities equipped with the wastelands only air assets and advanced power armour is still beyond me much less later fighting the brotherhood to a stalemate. The NCR i encountered in FO2 were totally useless and still don't know how to maintain any of the advanced tech they've either found or stolen TBH the whole NCR Brotherhood war thing seemed really contrived considering the Brotherhood rarely had anything to do with wasteland policing, they kept very much to themselves. But I digress.
Fallout all the way.
This isn't to say Fallouts perfect, especially some of the storylines that were added after FO2, How the NCR went on to take over fully staffed enclave military facilities equipped with the wastelands only air assets and advanced power armour is still beyond me much less later fighting the brotherhood to a stalemate. The NCR i encountered in FO2 were totally useless and still don't know how to maintain any of the advanced tech they've either found or stolen TBH the whole NCR Brotherhood war thing seemed really contrived considering the Brotherhood rarely had anything to do with wasteland policing, they kept very much to themselves. But I digress.
Fallout all the way.
Overall, it's Elder Scrolls for me. I've always found the gunplay in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, albeit to a lesser extent, to be lacking in many departments, especially on the consoles. I also prefer medieval(ish) fantasy to post-apocalytic sci-fi as a setting as generally things tend to be a little more alive when they haven't had the shit bombed out of them.
That being said, I do love Fallout's sheer campiness. It really does give the world a ton of character. I also love New Vegas' hardcore mode, since it adds some extra things to worry about and makes certain skills that would otherwise be ignored essential to success.
That being said, I do love Fallout's sheer campiness. It really does give the world a ton of character. I also love New Vegas' hardcore mode, since it adds some extra things to worry about and makes certain skills that would otherwise be ignored essential to success.
Fallout is good, don't get me wrong, its VERY good, but Elder Scrolls wins for me because of its lore.
No other original series has lore that can begin to match the pure weirdness of the ES imo.
No other original series has lore that can begin to match the pure weirdness of the ES imo.
Fallout. I pretty much prefer to use guns rather than having to chase my prey (especially back in Oblivion, when target would flee very easily ad chasing them down was hell) due to using melee weapons (and don't even start on bow and arrows).
I don't think you can really have a full opinion on this not having finished any of the 3D Fallout series.DoPo said:
I love both series but Skyrim ruined it for me. With lack of content and story. And was way to easy. I have too go with Fallout here, plus I'm doing my 4 play through of New Vegas right now.
Weird. I saw that guy too. I remember because even though I love the Fallout and elder scrolls games I have to admit it's true. I guess it just appeals to people like me. Except, I'd like to add that even though the content is spread out, it's not like there's nothing in the game. It just means you actually have to look to find the cool stuff which is what I like. Finding unique weapons, armor, lore, and unusual quests are more interesting when they're not all over the place. I can see why some would find that boring thoughTayh said:
On topic: Fallout 3 is probably my favorite game of all time so I'm going with fallout. I liked fallout 3 better than New Vegas because I felt it held more of a serious atmosphere and at times it seemed like I could wander forever in New Vegas and not come across a single enemy (this is why I think you had to go into the sewers, so you could fight a bunch of enemies in an enclosed area). But I love New Vegas's game play improvements and weapons so I'll probably being getting mods for that and playing it more
Are you kidding? Even if you're not the fondest of their games, I think that having Fallout land in the lap of Bethesda was a great stroke of luck for the series. While Bethesda's stories aren't really anything to write home about, the only company that I can think of that allows for anything more mod friendly would be Valve. So, while I understand that there can be a lack of enthusiasm for they're stories, or a bunch of gripes made about how the game can be buggy at release, I do have to ask what makes you feel that almost any other publisher could treat it better, when how open Bethesda is with their works in an ever more constricting industry, makes them one of the worst options in your mind.KungFuJazzHands said:
Anyways, I'm personally a massive fan of the Fallout series. While the Elder Scrolls is alright, and has a fairly unique setting when you dive into the lore, it still has yet to capture its full potential in my mind. I've put well over 100 hours each into Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Skyrim, and my favourite has still been New Vegas. Then again, I've always preferred science fiction to fantasy.
The way you phrased it implies you had played the game once for a session and never bothered to continue playing. Kind of like me and Mass Effect 3.DoPo said:
I always found The Elder Scrolls to have better exploration, which for me is about 75% of those games. Fallout is fun and everything, but nearly the entire map is bombed out wasteland with little variation from one point to another. Even in Oblivion, arguably the most generic Fantasy of the Elder Scrolls games, there was more variation in the scenery than in Fallout 3.
So TES for me.
So TES for me.
Since Bethesda didn't actually make New Vegas, I'll have to go for the Elder Scrolls. Not because those are that good in my view, except for Morrowind perhaps, but rather since Fallout 3 was a joke of a game. In an actual ES vs. Fallout, including all games, I'd pick the latter easily.
I prefer the original Fallout games to 3. I actually like F2 more than F1, despite all the jokes and "cameos." It is probably something as simple as the cd-drive on the machine I first experienced Fallout on being a piece of trash. It stuttered and froze, so it turned the game into an almost survival horror experience for me. Will the next area stream in right?
By the time Fallout 2 hit my desktop, I'd upgraded a few times and it played without a hitch. Overall, it was a much smoother experience for me. I've probably played through it about twice as many times as the original.
I played through Fallout 3 twice, ish. I didn't go through the ending on the second run and didn't care enough to get the dlc. It didn't feel Fallout-y enough.
New Vegas was definitely a step in the right direction, but I haven't actually gotten around to finishing it yet. I don't like that as soon as I make a decision (toward the end of the game), everyone except the side I'm backing instantly hates me. My complaint is not against having an actual choice MATTER in a game. My complaint is that I do something in a bunker or a remote base or a back room where I am, functionally, alone or at the very least isolated, yet the entire game world (factions at least) react to it. I guess psychic phenomenon is pretty rampant in the Mojave wasteland.
I've had mixed experiences with the Elder Scrolls. Daggerfall was great, in theory, but largely unplayable. Everyone in Oblivion was so ugly. I wanted to buy full face helmets and just hand them out on every corner. I'm surprised nobody came up to my character, who thanks to an insane amount of time in the creation menus, actually looked like a normal person, and asked how they escaped the mutagenic calamity that befell every denizen of Cyrodiil.
Morrowind is a special case. It is one of my all time favorite games, and I have played it to death. I stuffed it full of mods, and even got into making a few of my own. I sunk more hours than I care to admit into it, multiple times. There was something perfect about enchanting an amulet with a constant dispel function, and using it as protection while you set out to kill a false God who likes to name cities after himself. Of course, every trip I took through the game dovetailed into the same end-build. Fighter-thief-rogue hybrid. I kept a ring of levitation and a cloak of water walking in my inventory at all times, and appreciated the game for allowing me the leeway to create such things, even if they had the potential to break the game.
Skyrim was fun, or at least my second trip through the game was. My first trip, I sort of took the Morrowind approach, dabbling in a little of everything, and joining a bunch of guilds to see what was more interesting for me. I'd decided to focus on the thieves' guild line as it fit my character's main approach - stealth, archery, and lockpicking. But, the end of the quest, and the decision it required went completely against the mindset I used for my character.
My second trip, I basically played as the TES version of a werewolf Conan and had a complete blast.
All in all, I'd have to say that I prefer the Fallout series. I've always had an affinity for Westerns/Spaghetti Westerns, and Fallout is easier to bend in that direction than the Elder Scrolls. Hell, parts of New Reno pretty much boiled down to the retro-futuristic sci-fi apocalyptic rendition of A Fistfull of Dollars. I can't vote against a series with that kind of DNA.
By the time Fallout 2 hit my desktop, I'd upgraded a few times and it played without a hitch. Overall, it was a much smoother experience for me. I've probably played through it about twice as many times as the original.
I played through Fallout 3 twice, ish. I didn't go through the ending on the second run and didn't care enough to get the dlc. It didn't feel Fallout-y enough.
New Vegas was definitely a step in the right direction, but I haven't actually gotten around to finishing it yet. I don't like that as soon as I make a decision (toward the end of the game), everyone except the side I'm backing instantly hates me. My complaint is not against having an actual choice MATTER in a game. My complaint is that I do something in a bunker or a remote base or a back room where I am, functionally, alone or at the very least isolated, yet the entire game world (factions at least) react to it. I guess psychic phenomenon is pretty rampant in the Mojave wasteland.
I've had mixed experiences with the Elder Scrolls. Daggerfall was great, in theory, but largely unplayable. Everyone in Oblivion was so ugly. I wanted to buy full face helmets and just hand them out on every corner. I'm surprised nobody came up to my character, who thanks to an insane amount of time in the creation menus, actually looked like a normal person, and asked how they escaped the mutagenic calamity that befell every denizen of Cyrodiil.
Morrowind is a special case. It is one of my all time favorite games, and I have played it to death. I stuffed it full of mods, and even got into making a few of my own. I sunk more hours than I care to admit into it, multiple times. There was something perfect about enchanting an amulet with a constant dispel function, and using it as protection while you set out to kill a false God who likes to name cities after himself. Of course, every trip I took through the game dovetailed into the same end-build. Fighter-thief-rogue hybrid. I kept a ring of levitation and a cloak of water walking in my inventory at all times, and appreciated the game for allowing me the leeway to create such things, even if they had the potential to break the game.
Skyrim was fun, or at least my second trip through the game was. My first trip, I sort of took the Morrowind approach, dabbling in a little of everything, and joining a bunch of guilds to see what was more interesting for me. I'd decided to focus on the thieves' guild line as it fit my character's main approach - stealth, archery, and lockpicking. But, the end of the quest, and the decision it required went completely against the mindset I used for my character.
My second trip, I basically played as the TES version of a werewolf Conan and had a complete blast.
All in all, I'd have to say that I prefer the Fallout series. I've always had an affinity for Westerns/Spaghetti Westerns, and Fallout is easier to bend in that direction than the Elder Scrolls. Hell, parts of New Reno pretty much boiled down to the retro-futuristic sci-fi apocalyptic rendition of A Fistfull of Dollars. I can't vote against a series with that kind of DNA.