Poll: The Elder Scrolls vs. Fallout

[5ilver]

Grenade launchers are too much fun. All you can do in Elder Scrolls is chop-chop or hurl fireballs. There are so many other ways to deal with a nuisance in Fallout.

 

[MopBox]

Grenade launchers are too much fun. All you can do in Elder Scrolls is chop-chop or hurl fireballs. There are so many other ways to deal with a nuisance in Fallout.

Alright, but what if you could bring your gernade launcher to cyrodiil?

 

[Denamic]

I prefer Skyrim over New Vegas, but overall, I prefer Fallout over TES.
Fallout had a much more profound effect on me when I grew up. I've been a Fallout fanboy since Fallout 1. I like TES, but it's not going to eclipse my love of the Fallout world any time soon.

 

[Drakoorr]

It depends what you're looking for really. TES has much better combat, but by Skyrim there's no actual role-playing to speak of (never played Morrowind incidentally, I'm going by IV&V). Fallout (*especially* NV) is an unparalleled RPG, but the combat mechanics are quite poor. Personally, I'm going to have to go with Fallout on this one, but I'll admit it's not half the dungeon crawler Skyrim is.

 

[Zinzinbadio]

I would say fallout as New Vegas had some fantastic DlC loved them all.

 

[Virgilthepagan]

I'm a fan of both series, but I just couldn't get into Skyrim in a big way. New Vegas and Fallout 3 are both games I love though. The sense of humor, interesting combat and engrossing world really pulled me in.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Loved Morrowind, but both Oblivion and Skyrim seem lesser games. Fallout 3 was great but with New Vegas, the stories and characters have been getting better. So to me it seems the Fallout series can only get better but TES series is getting less.

 

[Nath Websdale]

I absolutely despise Skyrim for the lack of interactivity. I play games for the plot and Fallout is consistently well written with human characters and flaws. Skyrim just made you "omg da drag0nb0rn!" and made you seperate to the world and with no consequences or ability to save anyone e.g. Gabriella in DB. Fallout had atmosphere made you feel like you came from nowhere.
Judge it on play times if you want

Skyrim 35 hours - I wish I hadn't ruined the old fond memories of Oblivion and Morrowind tbh.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

I found that fallout was not better in every way, it was just funner in the long run where the elder scrolls lost my interest.

 

[hermes]

I find the setting of Fallout infinitely more compelling and interesting than the setting of Elder Scrolls, so it gets my vote. However, I think Skyrim is a better game than Fallout 3, so I can't wait to see what they can do in 4.

 

[Blunderboy]

I'm more than happy with both.
They both do things right and wrong.
They both really draw me into their world and have awesome music.

If only there was a convenient meme I could use.

 

[AT God]

TES seems to be better made but the fact that it is a game that has a heavy emphasis on combat and the combat has continually been terrible, slowly approaching acceptable with Skyrim, makes Fallout better. Fallout 3 had troubled mechanics but it was at least more complex than attack, power attack, block.

 

[Rickolas Walrus]

Granted, out of the whole history of both series, I've only played Skyrim and New Vegas, but I prefer TES from my experience with both. I prefer swords to guns, I prefer anything with magic/dragons by default (whether or not it's any good is to be tested), I honestly liked the level up system in Skyrim more than New Vegas, and I felt like it was more varied with what it had me do. Skyrim had fetch/go talk to this guy quests yeah, but it also had a lot of combat based missions. I felt like I did very little combat in New Vegas and I was mostly bored walking around the desert being sent to talk to person B for person A

 

[BeeGeenie]

[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.

Hmm... you make some good points. SPECIAL is a great system, and VATS was a great compromise that helped them stay true to the spirit of the originals. It is disappointing that they keep dumbing down TES in that area.
Still, I've always liked TES's approach to character improvement, because it makes so much sense: practice = improvement.
That's part of what makes the choice so hard. They're both good at what they do, it just comes down to personal preference.

 

[loc978]

[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.

Hmm... you make some good points. SPECIAL is a great system, and VATS was a great compromise that helped them stay true to the spirit of the originals. It is disappointing that they keep dumbing down TES in that area.
Still, I've always liked TES's approach to character improvement, because it makes so much sense: practice = improvement.
That's part of what makes the choice so hard. They're both good at what they do, it just comes down to personal preference.

True. I see a lot of people here who absolutely love the lore of the Elder Scrolls series... on the same level as my love for the lore of the Fallout series. As far as I've seen, it is a richly detailed fantasy world. Moreso than the Warha- err.. Warcraft universe or most other fantasy constructs. Still, for my dollar, Middle Earth does better than anything based on it.

From a mechanical standpoint, I've seen too many games try the practice=improvement system. Most notoriously, Final Fantasy II. I've also seen many which tried to break down experience points into types based on actions taken (ex: Star Wars: Galaxies)... and that really slows down the process of character progression... even when compared to tabletop D&D (which was also most of my experience in cRPGs to the point when Morrowind came out... the same year as Neverwinter Nights, I might add).

For my preferences, I've never played a game more grindy than Morrowind. I probably have a good 50 hours into that game (a bit more than I have in Oblivion... not that I have a way of keeping track, both are PC hardcopies), more than half of them just performing the same action over and over to try to get strong enough to take down some mob or other. I guess that's why I could never suspend my disbelief for it. If you're shooting for realism in a game, there should be no visible number system regarding your stats... and if you're not, the system scratched down by Gary Gygax in the 70s just works as a better base. I would probably really enjoy TES if it were just based on a D20 system.

 

[MintberryCrunch]

Well in order of the games I've played from both series, I would rank them:

1. Morrowind
2. Fallout 3
3. Oblivion
4. New Vegas
5. Skyrim

Not to say that I dislike any of them, it's just that Skyrim is the one I felt the least connection with and thus enjoyed least overall. However, Morrowind eclipses all the others so much in terms of how deep the world is I have to say TES. I'm also a sucker for generic high fantasy, before anyone comes at me with the 'sci-fi>fantasy' ordeal.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

This is such an unfair poll. I love both! The Elder Scrolls are packed with lore and awesomeness, but Fallout is also packed with lore and awesomeness! I CANNOT DECIDE! #unwarrentedangstandtears

In all seriousness, I'd have to say that when New Vegas is taken into account, Fallout has loads more humour than all of the Elder Scrolls games combined. The most Skyrim managed to whip up was a set of surprise appearances by Clavicius Vile, Hircine and Sheogorath. The rest of it is very much SRS BSNS.

Oh, right. There's Cicero too. I typically kill him as part of the Dark Brotherhood questline, though. He gets on my nerves so bad.

 

[Zeles]

Well, I've played three games from both series: Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Skyrim. Of those three I have finished both Fallouts AND both Fallout's DLCs. I'd say that Skyrim is better than Fallout 3, but New Vegas is better than Skyrim. Reason being is that Skyrim was stretched too thin for me, and I lost interest, while New Vegas had companions that felt fleshed out, and amazing DLC.

I know that there are more Elder Scrolls game then just Skyrim, but that's the only one I've played.
Oh! And I've played a bit of Fallout 1.

 

[Auron225]

I have to base me decision entirely around Fallout 3 Vs Skyrim since those are the only ones I've played from each, but even then it's difficult.

I found Fallout 3 much more immersive but Skyrim was a damn lot more fun to explore and much prettier to look at. I think Skyrim wins but not by a whole lot. It's just that the Wasteland felt so... dull after a while. Not dull as in boring but, kinda boring to look at. It felt like it was all the same.

 

[Saregon]

I love them both, especially Morrowind, Skyrim and Fallout 3, but for pure enjoyment (though it's a different developer) the first 2 Fallouts win it for me. Fallout 3 as a close second, then Morrowind, then Skyrim.