I had 4 playthroughs on FO3, 3 of which where 150+ hour godly chars. I found it quite boring to do one straight on the back of another, so if you're going for more playthroughs in which you do everything, it may be advisable to leave it for a few months. That said, FO3 didn't have nearly as much diversity in terms of completing quests and siding with factions to manipulate the ending. Then there's hardcoe mode. But yeah, I'd say leave it for a bit. Then when you come back, just try and play a bit differently. I'm still on my first playthrough, and I'm likely to do just what you did; beastly character, 150+, do everything. I'll still have HC mode to play, and quite a few other games I'll need to play in the meantime. By the time I'm done with all that, DLC should be here.

Hmm I don't know what to say other than the gaming community has become more like spoiled children rather than connoisseurs. Perhaps gaming has become a sick addiction rather than a fun seeking adventure for you.




Edit: I thought I should contribute constructively to this post ,

I am currently on my second play through. I have only logged 30 hours total and i'm enjoying every minute of it. The first time around I was heavily involved in the main quest line and did a few side quests, This time around i'm appreciating the environment and changing my view on the wasteland so to speak.

I don't understand how people do this (not literally) Personally I pretty much play the same way every time. Where things differ for me is how I feel at the time. When I play games like this I play as "me" what would I do at the given situation. Even tho my play style never changes, every game is different. I may do quests differently or just run off and do random [censored]. I may decide to massacre a town because it's sunny out. I think I'm virtually bipolar so no matter how many times I replay the same game, [censored] is gonna be different every time. Even if I use the same equipment.

Have to disagree here. Fallout 3 was pretty much done after the first runthrough (most of the places seen and it thus being evident that there is nothing to see that would really have an impact on anything) - combined with the horribly executed ending (that did have some potential, though) the game held no real incentive for further going (I managed to crawl through it a couple of times, though, in hopes of finding something different - didn't really happen). This would also be the case in New Vegas, if it wasn't for the quests, writing and the many choices to be made that have an impact in the ending.

i kind of agree...FO3 had me hooked for months. i have 12 13 plus toons that are level 30. I am having a very hard time just getting one to 30 imo this game has made vast improvements but when it comes to story no one tells it better than bethesda...FO3 was just awesome--9/10 FNV 7/10 only because of the minor improvments

Well, it's all depending on what you mean by it.
While I do like fixed spawns it does create a problem which is that by the time you get to Novac there is no longer any reason to go back to Goodsprings, Primm or their surrounding areas since they're low-level and will surely have little to no good loot around and you've most likely already done the quests there.
So once you get to lvl 22+ all there is to do is explore north-east, to the west of Vegas and do quests.
So yeah once you reach a certain level then there isn't much else to do at 70% of the map.
Still, even though that part is a bit of a letdown it's still better than leveled enemies.
But this could all be fixed if they had some random encounter zones which scaled to your level. (along with the fixed spawns, zones could be pretty wide and every day 10 player leveled encounters spawn and 10 zone leveled encounters spawn, if you wait three days without killing them or after killing them then the encounters will reset so it'll be fresh every time you arrive.)
Not like an enemy every 30 meters but still, it would make exploring the wastes a little more interesting.
It's no fun going back to the southern part of the map since I'm lvl 29 and I kill all enemies there with one punch.

So currently I have a hate/love relationship with exploring.
The world is more believable but the gameplay part can get sorta boring once you reach a certain level.

And this all adds up to replay value.
Once you learn the fixed spawns there no longer is any surprise for the next playthrough which can make one lose some excitement for it.
It's not about the amount of dungeons or locations or that the map is smaller than FO3's.
It's that it becomes predictable very fast.

*mind explodes*

*Eat's the remains of Andaius' mind.*

why is everyone complaining about cazadores, they go down in like 3 shots from my all american and im only 36 hrs in level 22

Well, at least some of the people complaining probably 1) haven't figured out the "cripple the wings first" trick, and 2) don't have a great unique gun. (For example, first time I ran into Cazadores, I had a 9mm pistol and a service rifle. And didn't aim for the wings. Needless to say, messy death followed quickly. Heh.)


...I actually didn't find any of the unique Guns besides the Novac pistol in my first playthrough. Lots of Energy, Melee, and Explosive, though. (Which I wasn't using, of course.)

And if you want to kill Cazador's use weapons with great DPS, not great DAM.
Since they have 0 DT it's not the best choice to use a slower weapon against those fast buggers.

Well... What effect should a minor quest have? If a resident asks you to weed his garden, or asks you to catch his "one that got away" trout, :shrug: why should it be any different the second time around ~or offer you anything but what was promised (if anything)?
*Its not going to affect gameworld politics (and it'd be silly and get stale fast if it always did).

In one choice they're dead (!?)


Its true there is no wrong way to play... but your way has this disappointment as an inevitable consequence of behavior.

This I can identify with. I too would like a game where actions open doors while shutting others and provides new avenues from past choices (good or bad). "Eye of the Beholder" did this to a [very] limited extent. What it might require (to do it right) is alternate towns... Meaning (for example) two or three Niptons' or Primms each with entirely different encounters and scripted behaviors for all NPC present. You approach the town and enter the hotel and talk to the proprietor... Where by they decide from your admissions that you are a Legion sympathizer...

You could rest there (and wake up lynched), or perhaps escape to the outside, and instead actually enter a different Nipton or Primm; where its not just a binary shift from 'Like' to 'Dislike' from the people there, but a town that actually has an overnight militia, and barricades and or some of the alleys blocked off. Or perhaps more subtle changes like selling you poisoned food when you buy a brahmin steak. (The NPC having a completely different inventory to reflect their true opinion of you). All this can be done, but (a big but...), its a heck of a lot of behind the scenes work that most players will never see (or realize it when they do); and many players will misunderstand and complain about it. Too many will just not equate their telling the innkeeper that they are pro-Legion and having the general store (at the other end of town) trying to poison them.

This problem of multiple paths is an old one... dates back to the Choose-Your-Own adventure books. The problem is that its a ? inch book with 20 page story in it (what can you do with 20 pages). They just can't do a game where 80% of the content goes unseen for the whole session, and hope that someone will play five times for all of it. Wont happen.
*Now this is an exaggeration of what you were asking, but the premise is basically the same.

I can see a lot of similarities in Alpha Protocol, when it comes to choices and to a lesser extent factions. Not quite the same as the choices in Fallout 1&2 but similar and not so linear. The fact is though you can still be allied with all the factions until about the end of the second act, this I'm meh about. I find replay value in different role plays like Ive stated before though. So in this respect I wish New Vegas had some sort of player viewing site or over live, so you could check out other peoples builds/stats/equipment/actions etc.

thats odd to me, granted i looked on wiki for some (Gobi and This Machine), I found the all american, , that gun, lucky, vances 9mm smg, maria, and mysterious magnum all stumbled upon randomly. People shouldnt be trying to take out high level critters with bs weapons, its simple. Even w/o super good weapons, i could have probably slayed them all w an assault carbine or .44 mag. I just encountered cazadores for the first time, and granted im playing on normal, it was no problem to take out 5 at a time. Now that Im a higher level (22) combat seems easier and i might turn up the difficulty. With the better guns in the game (to my knowledge) and ncr ranger combat armor (or mk 2), the desire to go get more loot is lower. I just spent 12000 caps on regen health and am now low on caps so I guess theres insentive but what else am I gonna buy besides implants I dont really need. Dont even talk to me about Boone, keeping him w u is a joke. I have all the companions just chillin at home. Im not sure what to do i just keep doing side quests tryn to get to level 30 so i can then beat the game and then possibly start a new playthru, maybe not right away idk. this game is super amazing just wish there wasnt so many bugs; some graphical clipping i can handle but quest breaking bugs is redic. I already had to work around two major glitches that would have ruined more than the 6 hours it did had I not been a ocd saver. Im really hopin my save stays legit now. give us the patch already.... o im 360.

@SirVincealot

Actually the part of my comment you've quoted was simply a response to those those saying that replay value in FNV lies in multiple ways one could complete quests. I think this statement is a bit exaggarated anyway since majority of quests gave me a simple option of completing them or not and considering the similarity of outcomes for different aproaches made me feel like there was nothing left for me to go back as I explained earlier. Obsidian design decision was to put the most emphasis on the story, quests and interactions with NPCs but they made it so far to make it a great one-time experience for me just the same as ME, ME2 and Bioshock, to name the few, did before. Though those games didn't last as nearly as FNV did. That replay value is what makes FO3 slightly better for me and generally for the same reason you mentioned in your second post. I still think that both are great games and I had just as much fun playing FNV for the past two weeks as I did FO3.


OFF TOPIC
For those few wondering... It just happened so that I couldn't take my vacation during summer so I was left with two weeks that I had to spend by the end of the year anyway so, what better time to do it then on the release of FNV. Given the circumstances I was able to complete FNV in such a short time, otherwise it would probably take well over a month.

I wish there was a pack a raging Deathclaws waiting for me tomorrow but instead I get to see my boss so I'll have to respond to other posts tomorrow.

I loved DOA combat which is one of the reasons that I played through it more than I care to mention. Tactically, you could approach combat with many, many options since you could have different party mixes, different skill focuses, different weapon/armor builds....so, so much. FO3 and FONV have, IMO, less variation in combat but more variation in quests. All are great games.

I tried to do everything on my first playthrough, but there were so many little things cut off from me due to glitches (like quests that can't be completed if you do them in the "wrong" order) that I'm playing through again in the hopes of picking up the stuff I missed.

That said, I kind of feel like a game that keeps you busy for over 100 hours has no responsibility to be replayable. Let's keep our expectations reasonable here.

I have never taken that path, im on my third playthrough. I always head straight to vegas, i just avoid the deathclaws in the quarry by staying in the rocks so they cant get me.

I agree regarding low replayability. I started up a second character, but last night I suddenly lost interest in continuing playing the game. I tried making the second character very different from my first one, but still, he felt the same. The only real differentiation was that I got to appoint a different sheriff for Primm. Knowing that I wouldn't get any other unique story content until I'd enter New Vegas, I decided to quit, and wrapped up by watching the other endings on YouTube. I'll likely be back when there's an expansion.

I kind of understand what your going at. I have already said this but even though this game is leaps and bounds above F3 (i didn't have any bugs) im getting the feeling of 'been there, done that'. It hasn't hooked me, proabably most people like f3 did, becuase they are very similar, which isn't always a bad thing. Just seeing exactly the same doors and in some cases skins, it just makes me feel Deja vu...

Replay for me is about the game play. Is it fun to level up, is the combat fun even though I know what is coming, is character customization or specialization different from one play to the next...these are the questions that drive my desire to replay or not replay a game. The quest and storyline are for the most part known after my first play.

That is the question you need to answer for yourself. You already know most if not all the content so is replaying through that content fun enough to keep you interested.

I agree with this.

I spent close to 1600 hrs + on F3, and I've spent many many hours on Shadow of Chernobyl and Pripyat. In fact, my warm up for FNV was Pripyat. Has to be said, FNV is a doddle compared to the Zone.

I think FNV has plenty of future playability, even if they don't try to milk the last dollar from us with DLC.

I honestly can't believe that people have really done everything or been everywhere in just a couple of weeks since release....seriously, I haven't seen quite a few of the places I've been to or things I've seen even mentioned on the forums. It's one thing to get a quest, go somewhere, get something or kill someone, then go back for a reward, and actually role playing out your character, exploring the journey, and tasting the world...that's what RPG's are about.

Back in the day when I was GM'ing/DM'ing for tabletop RPG's, the effort put into planning out a session was huge, and it was always wasted if the players simply raced through the environment like attilla the hun on speed. They were the sort of players that didn't get an invite back, or would badmouth you if the 'reward' was cr*p (the lesson of that little exercise was always - don't jerk around the GM).

Gungho1:I know, I just found 5 place that I haven't been when I was looking up for Skill books, after 100+hours in

I agree with OP.
Don't get me wrong I like the game very much, but I doubt I am going to replay it again any time soon.

I spent over 85 hours on my first character and I am done with almost all I care.
Tried to start a new one and got bored after Goodsprings.
The exploration factor is very important to me. If there is nothing fancy to find, random enemies or loot then I am not fancy to play through same quests again.
Don't really care about to join every other faction and do their quest, because if I didn't like them first time, I am not going to choose them the second time.
I sided with NCR, cause Ceaser's legion are so out of place for me, like nothing else. Running around with swords and skirts against an army... So I am not going to start a new character just to grind their quests.

Fallout NV is made for more fast run through the story. Choose a faction, do their quests and then repeat the same from the beginning.
It is not Bethesda game and every one can feel it. While TES series and Fallout 3 are more about the exploration and the sand box feel in general, NV is more linear, one have to choose a path and stay there. When get to the end, start again on different path.

NV is a great game, but if you are more in to exploring and looking in to every corner and crate, there wont be that much to replay when you are done with your first save.

Fallout 3 created a more enjoyable atmosphere to me. I prefer the more dark, urban and industrial setting, and especially the many national monuments, the patriotic themes and the anti-communism. I never really tired of listening to Malcolm McDowell as John Henry Eden, and I still listen to the type of jazz music which was played on GNR. In contrast, I only listed to Radio New Vegas a few times to hear if there were any news updates. Mr. New Vegas basically only said "You look beautiful tonight, I love you, here's some Johnny Guitar." It got old very quickly.