» Sun Jun 19, 2011 7:58 pm
I like New Vegas more in almost every regard besides its world design. That's not to say I don't like the setting or atmosphere, because I love both, more than Fallout 3's. My problem in the world design lies with invisible walls and lack of variation. I don't have a problem with dangerous animals making it difficult to go North from the beginning, but you should have been able to take shortcuts through them (if you can find them, they could have been very illusive) or just across mountains. I understand if this was difficult do to the clumsiness of navmesh and being true to the area's geography, but they should have made more areas like "Primm Pass" that let you get through the mountains, or other alternatives. My second issue is that you can always expect a certain enemy to be in a certain place, and while that is good in terms of expecting Powder Gangers to spawn near Goodsprings and NCRCF, they should have appeared in random locations and done ambushes or the like. Part of a game like Oblivion or the current style of Fallout that is likely here to stay is the randomness. Having tons of quests that are well-written is awesome, and it is where New Vegas really shines, but having that and a world that I can travel and not know what to expect is unmatchable. That being said, I think New Vegas is miles ahead of Fallout 3, and I'll never play Fallout 3 again. I hope that for Fallout 4, their design revolves around "how can we take the previous games and make them better while still adding our own touch and appeal to fans of all games/Fallout virgins?", instead of "how can we make the game have more cool [censored] and appeal to our fans and Fallout virgins?".