» Tue May 10, 2011 10:37 pm
Fallout New Vegas is a very good game, but not great. When I first starting playing this game (maybe for the first 50 hours) I thought it was great and I kept expecting it to get even better... but it never did. After my second playthrough I think I've been able to figure out the elements that are missing and I think the DLC is really the only way to fix the problems that keep this game from being great. If the sales of this game teach us anything it's that we want more! And you'll really screw the pooch if you release DLC in the same manner as FO3. The DLC for FNV should be overhauls expanding the Mojave, not little stand-alone expansion packs. (And if you're thinking "We've got all that in store for the MMO" then you don't understand the implications of an aging gamer population... ie, we dont have time/money for that crap).
Look, you released the game early to get the holiday sales. We know it, you know it, the whole game just screams it. And it's not just the bugs, it's things like modders going into the GECK and finding numerous half-finished quests (like returning Vance's 9mm submachine gun to Slim Primm) or little items here and there that seem to indicate something but in fact go nowhere (like the Auto-Docs). But it's still a great game and we've all been very forgiving about this.
The critical element that needs fixing is that the quests in FNV are all short, faction based tasks. Whereas in FO3 quests were epic journeys across the wasteland, FNV quests seem to be "go to this town, complete your tasks, move on". Sure there are some standout areas like Vault 34 and the REPCONN testing facility but nothing that compares to the kinds of quests you find in FO3. The difference is that in FO3, it's a series of quests that all tie in together. You go to Megaton and talk to some blond girl, who sends you over to her hometown, where you meet the old man who wants you to investigate the local gang, so you checkout a few areas before you finally find them, who you find out like to pretend to be vampires and so on. By the end of it you feel spent and accomplished. In FNV I often felt OVER prepared. You give us all these great new weapons, and mods, and ammo types but not enough bad guys to use em on! Same with the work bench. All those misc items and only a handful of crafting recipes? Sure the survival thing is nice, but why bother when you're already carrying 60+ stimpaks? (I remember the FO2 days where you'd sell everything you had just to get 1 stimpak).
So that's the problem with this game. It's great, but you're not quite done yet. If the DLC is exactly like The Pitt or Operation Anchorage you will have killed your cash cow. If, however, you can use it to flesh out and expand what's already there you'll probably find FNV: Game of the Year Edition the top seller for Christmas 2011.