These seem to be the most misunderstood aspect of the game

False: The map is smaller then Fallout 3

True: The map in Fallout New Vegas is actually slightly larger then Fallout 3
If you go north of Bright Springs toward the upper right of the map you will find a massif open expanse area
case point it's the way the map looks and is scaled

False: Seems like there less action or fighting enemies

True: About the same roughly there however more enemy horde areas for example early in the game you have the

I am about 80 hours played on my character, just about to hit level 30 and have nearly 40 completed quests(I did 3 companion given quests but have not talked to Mr House for the main quest). I think there is more content in FONV then FO3 but the lack of a big city laying in ruins kinda disappointed FO3 fans. Its from that perspective people are feeling the map is smaller. I have been from one end of NV to the other and its a big place filled with lots of fun.

ya FO3 having metros made it 35% bigger

I really like the open 2 story buildings like the ones in boulder city I loved just sitting up there and sniping Super Mutants with a sniper and booby trapping the building so when they figure CQC will work BOOM!!!! man just 1 of those is great

I like being on the surface more.

Only thing I hated about FO3 was the city

That it's not open ended so you have to keep going underground to get to the places in the end it was a bore...

Likewise. My sense of direction svcks and the metros tended to look the same, so I got lost easily. I had to check my PIPboy map a lot. Like, every intersection.

lol yeah

I think i'm slightly clautraphobic because if I start getting lost in FO3 and NV underground areas i'd freak out.

I personally thought the metros were the worst part of FO3. You've seen one you've seen them all. And the fact that to get to places in the city you HAD to use them added more to the feeling that I wasn't free to wander. I guess that's why I mostly stayed out of DC. NV on the other hand? I love wandering far more. The world feels bigger. It takes a long time to walk from the very NE corner of the map to Cottonwood Cove for example. I find myself Fast Traveling a lot less.

Naaa the map is the exact same size, even though it seems larger.

As a matter of fact, there are only 2 fewer locations in New Vegas than there are in Fallout3, and the density of locations in New Vegas is much greater than in Fallout3. With the explorer perk in Fallout3 one sees locations spread uniformly all over the map with very few gaps or open areas. With New Vegas, taking the Explorer Perk reveals this increased density in New Vegas as well as huge swaths of area in the East and North that are totally un-used.

My belief is that this space was intentionally left open both for future DLC opportunities and for us modders to have lots of space to add things (remember Oblivion's map did the same thing, concentrating the encounters in certain areas of the map while leaving areas like Hammerfell and Elswyr totally open - which was exploited later by huge mods). I think this is the strategy of the F:NV map, as now they can include DLC's inside the main game's map (which was difficult with Fallout3 because all of the map was used).

It may seem larger, but it really is the same exact size from a cell-by-cell, quad-by-quad basis.

Miax