Why all the hate for "Fallout: New Vegas"?

[AnotherAvatar]

The only thing I didn't like about Fallout: New Vegas was that I had to give Bethesda some of the money.

It was a great title, made by a team pretty much composed of the developers of Fallout 2 (For those who don't know Obsidian is made up mostly of old Black Isle members, and while their games have been plagued with glitches and issues with publishers they are generally well crafted CRPGs that remind you of the pedigree), it carried on all the story-lines and gave fans a much more fleshed out experience than the rather, well, dumb Fallout 3.

I think most of the old fans problem with Fallout New Vegas was it wasn't hard enough, both content and gameplay wise. Fallout 2 you could become a child killer, and it's effect would make you a hated man throughout the wastes. You could sleep with prostitutes, and I think even become one. There were just a number of crazy mature elements that felt right at home in a world past it's expiration date, some of which made it into New Vegas, but some of which Bethesda can be thanked for not allowing, as they are nerdy little sissy boys (I'm talking about you Todd Howard).

You sort of mentioned how Fallout was a bit hard for the babied modern gamer (not that we all are, just most of us.. at least compared to an era without tutorials or regenerating health) to mesh with, and a part of that is it's rather absurd difficulty curb. One of the best parts about the game is its difficulty curb. It's not easy or fun surviving in Fallout's wasteland, but it is more satisfying for it.

So, basically most of the really old school gamers feel Fallout New Vegas is like the cheap bastard child of Fallout and Bethesda, and while it may have something behind it's eyes that they recognize as the Fallout they once loved, it's buried beneath so much they hate.

Thankfully I ended up playing (and quitting because it sucked) Oblivion before I first touched fallout, playing the original Fallout's shortly after that event, and I recall thinking "man, if only this game's amazing setting could look as good as this horribly written fantasy crap"... and bam, one poorly written pretender later and I get my Fallout New Vegas.

I can't wait for all the DLC to come out, I'll rebuy the game of the year for PC and finally finish my 1 Int playthrough.

 

[Zeema]

300 hours into NV. Still love it.

"You just ate your fucking toe!"

Only 300? wuss

nah just kidding . But i found fallout new vegas too be a very fun game alot of the bugs are patched now and its always fun killing people with the bloody mess perk.

 

[octafish]

Eh, I played and enjoyed Fallout back in the day. I think Fallout Tactics and Fallout 3 have a lot in common, they are both bad Fallout games but they are still good games. What i love about New Vegas is that Obsidian love details just not quality control. Make a low intelligence character in Fallout 3 and it makes a difference maybe three times in the whole game, make a low intelligence character in NV and you get idiot dialogue choices everywhere.

 

[ACman]

I've been thinking about that recently, and I think I found a good reason.

Play the beginning of Fallout 3. And then play New Vegas. They sheer depth and energy put into Fallout 3 is instantly noticeable.

You start out as a child, and you have absolutely no idea what awaits you on the outside. It takes a good 30 minutes before you even begin the game, all the while the game is pumping you up because you know you are eventually going to be set loose in the wasteland. There's no combat, only the inside of a very linear set of rooms inside a vault. And just when you start to get used to the general understanding of the lifestyle and bleak corridors in Vault 101, the game puts you out into the middle of the Wasteland. You're alone, and the first thing you see is the ruins of the Wastelands from the top of the cliff.
You go down a little ways, and you most likely hear American theme songs playing from the Enclave eyebot. The first little town of Megaton is vastly different from the narrow clean vault.

The beginning of that game did a lot for it. It established a tone that it keeps up for about half of the game.

Now Fallout New Vegas. You watch the beginning cutscene. You make your face. A guy gives you a gun. You get thrown out to the game. The first city was the most boring thing I have ever seen. The first mission was one of the dullest things I've ever played.

It remains about as exciting as the first town for rest of the game, with rare moments where something almost shines through, like the Legion. The towns are dull, the landscape is especially boring, and the missions are very tedious.

Fallout New Vegas was not a bad game, but in the light of Fallout 3, it was complete garbage.

At least NV has factions that have believable motivations. Everytime I talked to an NPC in Fallout 3 it killed my sense of immersion with the weird meta-gaming amusement park side quests and nonsensical plot elements.

I do agree that NV could have been paced better initially. The game does everything it can to railroad you towards the city and only then does the game open up which can take some time dependeing on how much of the side questing you do on the way.

I think the killer is the bugs. Oh the bugs. Savegame killing, level geometry sticking, falling into the sky glitching bugs.

 

[Kunzer]

snip

The west coast is low density areas. Asking for buildings to enter that have not been destroyed is like asking for a white castle burger in California. Wrong place, wrong expectation.

I swear people fail to realize that American cities are more than huge metropolises, especially when those cities are impossible on the west coast. DC had an excuse to have underground sections, but in Nevada it doesn't. Its just not in the area's architecture. There is no reason for basements or tunnels outside of utility or military structures.

OT: People hate New Vegas because Bethesda took everything fallout out of fallout. So when Obsidian put it all back in every Bethesda fanboy started screaming "THATS NOT FALLOUT" like they knew all about fallout after JUST playing Fallout 3 than the guys who created it. Most don't even bother to realize everything Obsidian put into New vegas has been around for well over 10 years.

They thought Fallout 3 was the actual fallout lore, and when they realized it wasn't they threw a hissy fit. Simple as.

As for your explanation of why there is no underground stuff, I agree.

There are a HUGE number of intact houses/buildings that are boarded up and that was specifically what I did not like.

Also, while I did say that I "didn't like" the lack of buildings that I could enter, that doesn't mean that I don't love the game.

Hell, I alt-tabbed from fallout New Vegas just to make this post.

 

[zxvcasdfqwerzxcv]

I loved the reworking of the game mechanics and the hardcore mode, especially the fact you can play a lot of the game as a pacifist, using speech checks everywhere, and stealth.

It's presentation felt so much more rushed than Fallout 3 though, which was tastefully done. Everything in Vegas feels small and empty. The landscape was poorly designed, with invisible walls placed on even small hills. The pacing felt all wrong!