Incorrect. Once again, you're building straw men by attacking points I never argued in the first place. I deadass pointed this out in my very first and second posts on the topic. The difference is in to what degree players are mandated via game mechanics to proceed in a preset path. If you're unwilling to actually read my posts, that's on you.trunkage said:
"He Went That-a-Way" has one gate: go to the Strip and find Benny. You can go by the intended route through Primm, Nipton, Novac, and north along Hwy 95. Or...you can go straight to the Strip and find Benny. Hence, my entire discussion in the difference between "sequence enforcement" and "sequence breaking". It's not a reasonable argument to suggest you can "break" a sequence that was never enforced via game mechanics to begin with.
You're complaining about FO3's story structure and arguing that exploration and discovery are the ideal benchmarks for an RPG...while complaining about the one instance in FO3's entire main story that can be skipped via exploration and discovery.
You should probably think about that.
The funny thing about this, is players are only warned about the hazards of the north route via game dialog, which a player is likely to miss if they're skipping or not really paying attention. Players are straight up told they can take that route or find a way through, if they're willing to deal with the hazards. And, once again, in direct contradiction of your own assertions, there are multiple confirmed safe routes going straight from Goodsprings to the Strip, guides to which are available online; but, in the context of the game world, must be discovered through exploration.
Meanwhile, Tranquility Lane is in Vault 112, hidden underneath a garage that looks identical to all the game's other garages in the middle of an area largely bereft of other major landmarks and surrounded by mid-level mobs, and players are given absolutely no warning there is anything special about it and are left to find the basement on their own. The only additional factor Bethesda could have added to dissuade players from finding or entering Vault 112, is if they flagged the entryway inaccessible until the end of Scientific Pursuits.
Based upon your own commentary, I have a very hard time believing that. You're arguing exploration and discovery are what defines an RPG to you, but in the same breath you're arguing a game that doesn't actually mandate through game mechanics following a set path does, and arguing "shortcuts" that can be discovered through exploration in that same game that doesn't actually force you down a set path in the first place, don't count. While simultaneously complaining about the one time in Fallout 3 where players actually can do the one thing you're saying is the definitional trait of an RPG, never mind Bethesda did everything in their power to dissuade this, sparing locking players out of that area as they do with later quest areas.
