It's not like Obsidian had to start developing this game from scratch. I'd rather just chalk it up to different game design priorities rather than saying time constraints are to blame.

It's waaay better than most other games out there.

even in spite of it's rather linear path, loading screen havens (looking at freeside and the strip here), nerf of fat boy (why bother putting it in at all when there's like 5 mini-nukes in the entire game?), weak energy weapons (not ineffective but you'l notice when you use a laser rifle how lame it is without critical hits) oh and did i forget to mention the horde of bugs? yes there's lots of those and i'm not talking about the ants although ironically the bugs seem to affect the bugs most .


The way i'd improve the game is simple, make fat boy weapon actually cool again, make energy ammo more common, make energy weapons more powerful but harder to find.

As for the loading screens in the strip i would try and implement a rather simple system whereby you can if you wish reduce the numbers of npc's to spawn in an area (you know those random ncr soldiers who never say anything to you other than nuclear winters), increase the size of the area loaded for the strip (seriously 3 barriers?)

Throw in larger numbers of gangers and thugs to roam freeside, weak but lots, to remove the grindfest that is freeside.
rip out all the errand quests for the followers/kings/crimson caravan/atomic wrangler/camp McCarran, such a waste of time. replace them with either interesting dialogue options, or cooler gunfights. have a more interesting play-off of rival gangs and groups there.
i mean what a missed opportunity for freeside to be cool.
Oh and ditto for the strip, although those ones weren't so much bad as too few. plus all of the shortcuts removed for weapons after they take your gear is such a nuisance.

A massive nerf to experience gained from completing quests, again strip out the errand quests, unless they either have cool dialogue or serve a purpose to the main story.
Give the player an option at the start, you know like where it shows the hardcoe option whereby they can choose to have quests give less experience for the gunslingers, or more experience for the people who want to complete the game without killing anyone (how or why those people bother are beyond my comprehension).

throw in some more random notes and stories in the wasteland too, i liked those they add healthy immersion.

oh and i'd make the wild wasteland perk actually cool.
idk how about shoot-outs between a rogue gang of securitrons and grannies armed with shotguns. with random dialogue for lolz.


oh and finally i'd throw in more computers to hack, and robots to fight. i think those where lacking a bit in this one. idk how about a courier service run by robots delivering parcels?


don't get me wrong i love the game, i think it's really well done. it was released too early is all.

I agree with the OP. When I first started playing New Vegas, it seemed it was missing something. At first it seemed too "country" a bit at first. I was going, this is it? After Primm, the game seemed to take off a bit. I saw something far away that looks like a "gaint statue with 2 people" so I started to investigae it. Then after going to Nipton, at least for me, that is when I got into the game. I just couldn't put it down after that. Yeah it was slow a bit to beginin with, and after on my 3rd character, I am loving the game then.

My first impression was... No, not a good of a start as Fo3 imo.
However once things got going i thought it was much better than Fo3, i'm not going into to much detail because im lazy, but there's so many additions in NV.
Though the story line in NV is a bit pants, the side quests ( some, the ones where your not going from A to B 14 times ) make up for it.
If i could choose anything from Fo3 to return, it would be the radio station

At first: Nice little touches everywhere, but the gameplay is really getting old and tiring though (third game in a row with the same - quite yawny - core design).

From nice little touches the feelings developed to one of the best RPGs in recent years. Having it's drawbacks mostly in the afore mentioned core gameplay.

My first impression was similar to yours, OP. It felt a little lacking. Fallout 3 had an awesome opening, nothing like leaving the vault for the first time, the bright light overwhelming your vision. Then just desolation and a feeling of unlimited potential (ie, you could go anywhere). NV puts you directly in a great little town, but it didn't have the same feeling. However, that was only my first impression. Since then, the game gets bigger and bigger. I'm about 110 hours in, with 3 characters (1 = 80 hrs, the others are around lev 8) and there are still places/quests/things I haven't even heard of yet. Something will be mentioned in a forum or I'll something on the wiki, and it's something I haven't come across yet.

There are a few trade-offs with FO3, and a few things it does better. Dialogue is actually something I think it's about even with. People in these forums who are die hard F1 and F2 fans seem to think dialogue is much better in NV, but I disagree. A lot of the dialogue isn't very deep, and also things people say on their own is pretty repetitive (wish for a nuclear winter etc). Plus, I took Lady Killer, and out of 80 hours saw maybe 3 dialogue options for it. Thanks for taking that perk into consideration Obsidian writers.

I'm not saying the dialogue is worse in NV, but it's certainly not leaps and bounds better.

There is a much larger selection of weapons and armor, which definitely get more interesting when you're further into this game. Mods, crafting ammo, give it a lot of depth. Finding mods can be frustration as they randomly spawn - it took 80 hours to find a scope for the trail carbine. But this just kinda encourages you to play the game you're in, not just pre-plan everything and try to fill the character slots you imagined.

In general it is a little more linear than F3. F3 had a very linear, very short main quest, and whole lot of other stuff. NV has a linear-ish multifaceted main quest. The set-scenes you come across have more possible outcomes I think. And there are a lot more things, I think, that on a single run through you can ignore or focus on. I haven't even touched on the Brotherhood of Steel with any of my characters yet. Nor plenty of other things.

So first impression is definitely not total impression.

My first impression was that new vegas was exactly what the original team had intended with van buran. It must have been a remarkable disappointment to have gotten that far on a game and have been forced to cancel it. They finally got the spiritual sequel they were after, and I think its great.

The game was spoiled for me, unfortunately, because of the bugs and imbalances. I had lots of fun with it, until I started running into heavily armored characters, at which point I could barely make a dent in them. You see, I rolled an energy weapons character and played it as I would have in fallout 3. I sacrificed early game firepower for late game firepower, but that payoff never came. You see, energy weapons are useless against armored opponents. You can offset this slightly with a high critical chance, but you have to be aware of this in advance. With a low gun skill, I was able to do more damage than with my energy weapons maxed. Once I discovered that energy weapons were only mediocre and far inferior to guns, I was forced to reroll my character. Unfortunately, that destroyed the immersion because I had to spend the next 8 hours replaying what I just played. There were also a plethora of other bugs which were already covered elsewhere on these forums.

My advice to anyone who has yet to purchase the game. If you buy it now, you will have fun. It will give you hours of entertainment. However, you will likely run into *something* which will result in your immersion being ruined. If that is important to you, wait for a patch or two before buying.

The bugs notwithstanding, NV is a better game than fallout 3 in my opinion. The world seems to be more alive and has more character. You actually feel as though you're in the middle of a bustling world which is going through a major cultural transition. You feel as though you are one lone wonderer in a big populated world. Fallout 3 seemed barren and bland, and made you feel as though you were the center of the universe. In terms of immersion, NV wins hands down.

If you're thing is exploration, however, fallout 3 takes the cake. There were many little surprises in fallout 3, which actually rewarded you for taking the time to explore each cave and ruin. NV does away with most of that, giving each place a dedicated purpose, or no purpose at all. Locations are pretty binary. They are either important, or they are not important. There are only a handful of little hidden-away gems and they usually have little or no story behind them.

As for hardcoe mode: don't waste your time. It's a great concept, but in execution is more annoying than immersive. If you're intention is to role-play, you are going to have to set your own parameters and will yourself into adhering to them.

Gambling is not as big a deal as was originally promised. Caravan is mostly broken, provides little challenge when you play it as intended, and is really easy to exploit. As for the casinos, the games are fun but they're not what you bought a fallout game for. I do have to give credit for making the luck skull useful again.

Those are some very random thoughts and impressions.