I completed Fallout New Vegas yesterday. Let me say its Good but not bad, its bad but not terrible. here's the thing, in Fallout 3 you had freedom even before they made it so you could continue to play after the battle at project purity. The New Vegas quests seem to all be tied into the main quest there's very view free quests. In Fallout 3 you could roam the wastes completing quests and not even worry about the main quest. Think about it, Nuka Cola challenge, Big town, Aerafu, all were fun quests meant for your enjoyment but didn't have anything to do with the main quest. One could argue that Children of the Atom doesn't have anything to do with the main quest except Daddy being proud/disappointed with you. In New Vegas the main quest is in your face the whole time. Sometimes it seemed like work with little or no fun. I wish they could take the Game play enhancements from New Vegas and put them into Fallout 3.

Some people appreciate how all the quests are interwoven with each other and the main quest. Plus it just makes sense: There is a freaking war going on at people's doorstep. Of course their main concern is to get as much help as possible to help their side to win.

I'm sorry but if your saying FO3 had more freedom than F:NV, You are confused between games.
And yes, It IS in your face because a giant [censored] war is about to break loose, So I would think it would be.

Its funny thought because it really does not feel like a war on the last quest :/

I like that the side quests had an affect on/tied in to the MQ. Considering the importance of factions in this game, it made sense that other little quests may change the way people receive you. I think it all ties in with the feeling of importance in this game - whoever wins has the opportunity to change that area in a big way. While in F:3 clean water is obviously a big issue, it seemed to me that many people weren't really aware of the operation at all, whereas the big, game changing players in this game are well known by everyone.

Off the top of my head. Jamestown, Searchlight, McCarran, Golf, Forlorn Hope, Black Mountain

Even Come Fly With Me isn't actually main quest, it's just hooked from the main quest.

I wouldn't say New Vegas has has more freedom, but Fallout 3 is just kind of empty. Fallout 3 is an amazing exploration and free-world game, but at the same time, F3 and NV make the same mistake of random places in wasteland with no ability to access the building interior.

The random buildings are just to make things look inhabited or deserted.

Fallout 3 has some really interesting effects. The closed off areas that are only accessible by the metro. They're often very well detailed, but devoid of anything except large numbers of super mutants.

Then you have the surrounding wasteland. It takes forever to cross it compared to New Vegas. This isn't necessarilly because it's bigger, but because you're crouch walking the entire way hoping not to aggro the ton of Giant Radscorpions. Whereas in New Vegas, you just run along the highway.

I think this is why as much as I miss wandering the DC wasteland, I got plain sick of fighting giant angry spongebobs. :cryvaultboy:

Fallout NV fell flat compared to Fallout3 and lost much freedom. The lack of access to buildings was also a major dissapointment. I also liked the quests that were not always related to the main quest. Will proceed cautiously before purchasing the next game in the series and not rush into a pre-order.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Fallout has a double meaning. There's the obvious reference to nuclear war and the more subtle implication that ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. That last bit, lost on gamesas and many new fans, is why most old school players think this game feels like Fallout. All the quest are supposed to be interrelated. That doesn't mean you have to do them all, but whether you do them or not can/will have consequences.

Well if my memory serves me correctly Fallout 3 also has a lack of access to most of the buildings in it with the majority also being boarded up and unaccessable.

Back to the OP's main topic, Personally I much prefer games where there is even a vague hint of overall coherance with it's quest structures with some which may at first seem like they might not be connected to any of the others turn out in the end that there is a connection somewhere in there. Rather than a quest "structure ??" which seems to be along the lines of 'Load sawn-off Double Zero gauge puntshotgun with quests, aim roughly in the direction of the game, make sure everyone else is safely hidden and then fire it', or as some might view it 'let's put this, that and whichever quests in because they are "cool" and some of us think they are fun, even though they do not make sense within the context of the game itself'.

There are plenty of side quests you can do that aren't necessarily tied in with the main quest. And there's nothing to stop you from hitting every single one of the locations outside the Strip (and some inside as well) without advancing the main quest.

Alot of the quests do make it feel like you are doing work instead of actually playing. Many of the quests have very few different endings too.

wheres the fun? absolutely everywhere you turn, every step of every inch of the journey. fallout new vegas FTW!!

love, devoted fan(boi)

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Thank you! Finally someone who understands...that makes what, about 15 of us now? New Vegas lives and breathes, Fallout 3 was an amusing but hollow and soulless construct since almost nothing had any real effect on anything else.

Inside the abandoned shack. :shifty:

Yeah, it's just a matter of opinion. In new vegas everyone is super stressed ( not really but you know what I mean ) becuase there IS actually a war going on that will determine the main faction in new vegas ( even though the end battle is a bad display of this, but I understand why ). In fallout 3 everyone was on the chill pills even though they were living in a radioactive post nuclear war wasteland. Personally I liked the laid back theme of fallout 3 more than the slightly more stressed theme of new vegas.

Also this is how I interpreted the 'vibe' of the games. It is very well possible someone has the exact opposite feeling.

Go cross country - problem solved!

I did a little experiment last night that I thought I'd share. I started out in Goodsprings as soon as I finished the tutorial and wanted to see if I could find an alternate route to The Strip. A shortcut you can use at the beginning levels if you will...

There are plenty of quests that dont have much to do with the main story. And your obviously one of those people who doesnt care about the main story at all so there is no point in me telling you this, but if we could play after the battle of Hoover Dam it would weaken the impact of the ending incredibly.

Your last sentence. That's what I wish. I want the companions and the companion wheel, the foraging for plants, all the extra guns and stuff, I want to cook food, and make ammo and I want my actions to have an impact, but not every-single-thing I do...all in Fallout 3. Or maybe a new game with the best of both worlds.

I think some people just prefer one game over the other. FNV and F3 mixed up together would be awesome.

I quickly got bored running along the limited number of highways and roads in FNV. I'd run cross country and over hills trying to get somewhere and kept running into invisible walls in FNV. And what are all those empty areas on the map that I can't get to? The DC Wasteland feels more vast. Not every single place in the DC Wasteland has a marker. It's more of a discovery even if you get the perk that shows all the map markers. I don't mind that there are not more people. I'm there to shoot creatures...mutants, raiders, radscorpions, ants, mercenaries, ghouls, etc.

I like the characters just fine, but it's not a big thing for me because I normally get attached to a handful and then I'm fine. I get tired of so many characters yakking at me endlessly and wanting things done and jumping from map marker to map marker talking to even more people. I suppose I could just shoot them, but then I would feel bad. I do feel that the dialog for the F3 characters is limited, not just the voices, but their responses, the dialog needs to change after you've done certain things in the game. Your actions should affect their response.

I think I just prefer more randomness with my storyline. I guess I don't need a fully cohesive storyline from start to finish in order for the game to be enjoyable. I like wandering off the beaten path or highway as the case may be.

I am not fond of the way they set up the Strip. Why isn't there a marker for the casinos? I would love to be able to travel to the Lucky 38 and go directly to my room rather than having to go through three doors to get there. So annoying and pointless.

So in conclusion there are things I like about both games and things I don't like about both games.

I just can't see this in FNV. I played for 140 hours without going to the Strip or hitting on the Main Quest much at all. I felt like some of the things I had done were incorporated into the Main Quest once I got there but not most of them. Building a reputation with factions went throughout the story but I ignored many quests too because I wanted them in my second game. Right now I'm just noodling around, swimming and doing a little exploring while I'm waiting for the next patch.

With Cass. :shifty:
In Power Armor. :shifty:
hardcoe.

Coming off of a fresh play through of fallout3, to this game, I must say, I like fallout new vegas much better.

Even a buggy new FNV vs Final GOTY fallout 3.

Not only does FNV feel like fallout, but, it has much tighter fps gameplay.