After having just replayed Fallout 3 on PC (I finished it on 360 back when it came out), including all 5 dlc and pretty much all the quests (had double the time played than I had on 360 heh), the game is still one of my favorites of the generation. So much in fact that I decided to roll right into New Vegas, which I never played. Unfortunately, like the topic says, it still hasnt "clicked" with me.

The game seems good (great even), and im not exactly sure whats bothering me the most. Is it just that Im burnt out on Fallout after having just finished 3? Maybe but I dont feel burnt out, I still want to play more Fallout. Maybe its the little things they changed for no apparent reason. The way most of the food only gives a tiny bit of health, and over time instead of instantly. The way you cant seem to loot or lockpick about half the stuff you come across, because you get negative karma, even things from the badguys (lol what?). The game's often time tendancy to throw like 10 guys at you all at once and you have no chance of surviving (I dont remember Fallout 3 ever making you face more than 4 or 5 guys in 1 spot, let alone double that). Or even the fact that you only get a perk every 2 levels now instead of every level.

I dunno, like I said, Im still liking it, and sometimes it feels like Fallout 3 when Im doing a long quest and suceed, only to crash land back to earth the next minute when some hard and quite frankly, unfair spot comes along to frustrate me. Ill keep at it, hopefully it will "click" sooner or later, but for now, i cant really agree with all the people that said New Vegas destroys FO3 (im only about 8 hours in by the way).

PS: I do like the more western-like setting, and the soundtrack

10 guys at once? Did you try shooting the legion soldiers in the town they ravaged?

I had a similar situation only with the games reversed. I recently finished New Vegas and attempted to return to FO3 only to find the writing just wasn't as good as NV, and I was missing a lot of the features and difficulty from NV.

You may just be burnt out on the fallout formula.

If you have just played that much Fallout 3, hundreds of hours I am presuming, no wonder you are feeling a little jaded. Personally I think New Vegas is the better of the two, with way more personality than F3, although I still love that game. However I think I would have had problems getting into it if I just rolled straight over from finishing Fallout 3. The problem is that none of the graphics or systems have been upgraded from F3 so you do get the feeling that it is another story in the same universe rather than a progression which is going to be wearying with so many hours so recently behind you.

My advice would be to not play it for a while and play a few other games first. It is a really great game with tons of cool characters, well written quests and stories. I just feel all the buggy, ugly bits of Fallout might wear you down and kill you enjoyment which would be a shame.

I kind of wish they had taken a couple more years and given it the kind of upgrade that the ES got between Oblivion and Skyrim. Then have Fallout 4 be a truly next gen game. My worry is that all the AI systems which could really benefit from the boost in power are going to be nerfed if it ends up stradling two generations of console.

-Food is meant for keeping your hunger down more than healing, although it can heal well if you've got enough points in Survival. If you're not playing on hardcore then food is not really worth it, but I recommend you do, as managing your hunger, thirst, and sleep makes the game more interesting.

-Karma is almost completely meaningless in New Vegas. It's a pointless carry over that is completely supplanted by your faction ratings. Especially considering that the insignificant amount of evil karma you get for stealing is heavily outweighed by the good karma you get for killing "evil" enemies. (It is stupidly funny that you get good karma for killing the Fiends but then bad karma for stealing from them after you just murdered them all.)

- I'm not sure when you'd be fighting 10 guys at once, unless you're running through areas Kamikaze style. Even if you do encounter a large group you should be able to pick off several before they can do much to you.

I've had a similar experience, a few false starts with New Vegas and it definitely felt like I needed to get past the 15 hour mark before I started to get good. In Fallout 3 I played a loner all the way with no companions because the game wasn't difficult enough to need them but with New Vegas companions felt like a must only because you're constantly outnumbered, the companions help distract some of the enemies and they can do a good amount of damage.

I had the same experience, played both games when they first came out and got bored with New Vegas very quickly. I couldn't even tell you what it was, I just wasn't having fun.

@rhaknar: Maybe you just do not like RPGs and more stuff like Fallout 3 and Mass effect.

good to know that Karma doesnt mean much, maybe ill stop worrying about it and loot more then. The "10 guys" situations I mentioned might not have been exactly 10, but it sure felt like it the first was in the prison that is overrun by the gangbangers, I had to do some serious stealthing around there, and 1 room I ended up never going to had I believe 6 guys inside who imediatly gunned me down when i entered.

the other one, the most recent and most problematic, is a ranger outpost near Novac. There is a guy in Novac that asks you to check out the Ranger outpost and see if everything is alright (I had been there before going to Novac and all was fine), when you go there everyone is dead and when you exit the building you get ambushed by a Legion pack with a guy on a tower above you, and 5 or 6 guys with plasma rifles, plasma grenades and shit, I can barely hit them and they just anihilate me. Maybe the game is just harder than 3, which is fine.

this makes no sense when I said Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of the generation and New Vegas is almost the same game >_>

It was the game world that never clicked with me. With FO3, it felt like everything I came across was interesting and the novelty of exploring every little thing never wore off. The world in Vegas just feels dead.

After I reached a game breaking bug, I never went back to playing it.

INSTALL SOME FUCKING MODS

@rhaknar: It is not the same game. It is vastly different in their mechanics, stortelling and RPG depth. Fallout 3 is not even worthy to be called Fallout game. It is just some game with the same setting.

I took awhile for me to really appreciate New Vegas too. Just go up and talk to people. The writing is better than it was in 3. Once you discover that, the game will click much better.

Fallout 3 is the best Fallout.

@rhaknar: That prison is an exception, it's basically the base of operations for the Powder Gangers. If you blast your way in they will come out in full force. There are more subtle ways of dealing with them though, including helping them out for a bit before selling them out to the NCR, who will wipe them out for you.

The latter I believe was actually just a chance encounter, as I've done that event several times and usually there's no one there.

It was like that for me as well, but just give it some time. Now, I love that game to death. Especially the fantastic Ulysses parts, mostly in DLC, is simply fantastic.

"The new voice did not think of the Courier again until the battle at the Divide reached his ears. The battle between the two couriers, beneath the torn skies and the Old World flag... each bearing a message for the other. And the mutant prayed the Courier that had saved him... had been saved in return"

And...

"The Courier reminded her of the other courier she had met in the Big Empty, and wondered if the two had found each other at last. She did not think of them again until she heard the legends of the Divide. The Divide, where the two messengers, the two couriers, fought beneath an ancient flag, at the edge of the world"

...Are both among my favorite quotes from games. J.E. proves that he is among the best writers in the industry.

@cmblasko: I think most people who have played 1 and 2 would agree that 3 is not as good. Well, at least not as good as Fallout 1.

To me it was opposite. I loved Fallout 1 and 2 (with restoration project), but most of the stuff on the Fallout 3 (GOTY), I left unplayed. World and characters in FO3 seemed boring and FONV fixes that.

I felt that New Vegas lacked the atmosphere Fallout 3 had, but then again New Vegas improved a lot of things I disliked in Fallout 3. I didn't miss those metro tunnels.

It's supposed to encourage players to role-play more than in Fallout 3. People who really like Fallout 3 generally don't like New Vegas as much (while the people who like FO1 and 2 generally like it more). It does get kinda better, since the story is very well-written.

@verendus: Vegas was more like Fallout 1 and 2 in terms of setting and atmosphere if you just started with 3 and don't know the old games you will probably like 3 more. But the general consent is that people who loved 1 and 2 love New Vegas and dislike 3.

I didn't like New Vegas either, it felt like I paid full price at the time for a DLC that looked dated and wasn't any better than FO3 when it came out. That plus Obsidian can't actually make games at all didn't help. (Great writing staff, does not a good studio make)

Play Alpha Protocol instead, proving Obsidian can still make good games.

Got to say, I agree with you @rhaknar, I loved Fallout 3 and came to New Vegas when it came out hoping for great things. Sadly the difficulty curve and really high requirements for quest objectives (such as science, skill, explosive points need to be far higher than is possible at the point of the game I am in). I generally go around and do all side quests and take on all enemies in the areas I have explored that are within my level range, however I got to the Missile Factory and am stuck now. I am trying to get the invisible enemies to leave the factory and allow the mutants to launch a rocket out into space thus completing the mission without going around wasting every enemy (which is how I tend to play Fallout, I try to play with minimal casualties during quests and try and go for the good ending rather than shooting everything up, as to see how the story develops). However, now I am stuck because I have to sneak around areas I have already been to whilst avoiding invisible enemies to keep everybody on side as if I get seen then I get attacked and thus the invisible mutant things will not leave peacefully. The game just seems super janky for how difficult they have made the difficulty curve. Also I killed the Legion troops at the town they attacked and now have a hit squad sent out for me which is far greater in level than myself thus every time I see them I have to run and hide because I can not take them on due to their superior armour and ability to kill me in one or two hits.

Very frustrating as I really like the story and want to get further but the gameplay is really restricting this. It is not like Fallout 3 where some of the level skills were kind of silly (such as needing science points to be able to put masking tape over holes in a pipe in the first town you go to), however they tended to be early on and easily levelled up to after a quest or two, on New Vegas, it seems like you just can go so far then get stuck if you want to complete missions how you want and not shoot everything up.

Any suggestions on this? I would really like to give the game more of a chance and get into it as the core ideas are very cool, but the implementation is somewhat lacking I feel.

For me it was the opposite, I kinda hated Fallout 3 but loved New Vegas. Came down to the writing and the setting, it just felt more like Fallout to me.

Liked NV better than fallout 3 but could just be burnout, still in burnout from playing way too much skyrim to get back into it so jump in a few other games to sample out then dive back in new vegas as it's quite fun & better with the endings on all the crazy factions in it.

Having played them both (currently playing Fallout 3) I'd say the atmosphere and explorability F3 is a lot better. New Vegas has a much more open story, emphasizing the roleplaying aspect. It quickly diverges into several paths for you to choose between. The faction aspect is also really interesting, and it makes companions more that mere packmules. If the story is good or not is entirely up to personal taste. I really liked the serious wasteland of New Vegas and the loved the companions quests. But I find the world of F3 a lot more interesting, though it's a lot more quirky and silly. In the end its all personal taste.

As others have said, you might be a bit sick of the Fallout world, and considering the differences between gameplay, I can see why you might be put off. But without mods, F3 is really lacking in gameplay aspects that New Vegas added. The need to eat, drink and sleep, the ability to craft bullets, bombs and more and the now standard ironsights on weapons. Give it chance, and know that your choices matter a lot more in this Fallout. And stay from Deathclaws and Casadors for now. Deathclaws are not like the ones you know from F3...

I totally get where you are coming from. I've spent waaaaaaaaay more time in New Vegas than in Fallout 3, and I completely get that it's a better game, but there was something about the atmosphere in Fallout 3 that stuck with me so much more.

Interesting, we have the exact opposite opinion.

New Vegas was a technical mess (on Xbox 360). I had a glitch within the first 5 minutes; the doctors head was spinning. It had 45 second load times with the game installed to the hard drive. You can't even "Fallout" your way up cliffs because invisible walls are everywhere.

I can acknowledge that New Vegas was better written (like really better written). But you guys are acting like Fallout 3 was bad. It was at least good (ok, maybe the original ending wasn't so hot).

@johnlocke: First of all, it sounds like you're trying to force a unanimously positive resolution where it's not possible. When you're dealing with those Nightkin you've either got the choice to help them by killing the Ghoul, or helping the Ghoul and taking out the Nightkin. It's actually very easy to sneak down to the lower levels with the help of a Stealth Boy, but you have to kill a guard to open a door to reach your destination, which will inevitably turn the Nightkin against you. There are a lot of quests in the game that will have negative repercussions for an opposing side.

As for the Legion, if you reach New Vegas you'll get a one time pass on all transgressions against both the Legion and NCR. (Effectively resetting your fame with them.)

Anyway, an important thing to keep in mind is that unlike FO3 you are not meant to become a god of everything by the end of the game. You kind of need to focus on a "build" with skills you focus on and skills you ignore. This means there are parts of quests you just won't be able to do with that character, but that should rarely lock you out of completing a quest, there are usually several ways to do it. Although keep in mind that magazines will give you a notable temporary boost to your skills (especially with the Perk that doubles it) which means you can complete objectives without actually having to invest those points directly. There are only a handful of times in the game that I can recall where I had no choice but to ignore a possible objective because it required a ton of points in a skill I wasn't using.

@darji: Well you hit the nail to the head spot on, Fallout 3 indeed was my first Fallout game.

starting to click! Setting is still awesome like I said, but things are falling into place now. At lvl 13 I can kill shit a bit better now (although those armored legionaries still take so many bullets), but especially now that im rolling with 2 companions, things are MUCH easier...it kinda feels like the game is made for you to roll with a posse with the big packs of mobs you get, which sucks for early on. I was rolling with Boone and the flying robot dude (that has a quest attached), now I dropped boone for Victoria, she punches stuff real nice :P

Im trying to do as many quests as possible as usual (especially because I want those sweet sweet levels), and I just reached the NCR main base near New Vegas. I havent actually been in New Vegas yet, but my main quest is leading me there now. Hopefully I still have a lot of game to cover, Im at 11-12 hours in atm.

Im trying to not be bothered with negative karma for stealing so much, but its hard man, its a subconscious thing, I cant help it :(

Also I wish I had invested more into energy weapons like I did in Fallout 3, I assumed you only got energy weapons later on so I was putting points into other things but i already got a bunch. Ill start investing in them soon, the level cap is 30 + 20 from the 4 DLCs correct? Still got alot of poitns to use if so, and my lockpick/repair/science are getting up there close to max as it is. So anyway, yeah, starting to click now, and Im sure soon enough it will be right there alongside FO3 for me as one of my favorite games this gen.

edit: this is the part where one of you will tell me there are companion quests and I shouldnt have dropped Boone isnt it? >_>

@rhaknar: Boone = Sniper God. Well maybe not god but he saved my ass numerous times in that game

well it clicked alright :P game seems much bigger than 3, its ridiculous the ammount of quests I have in progress in my log (and im not even checking a wiki for now), I havent even been inside vegas yet with mr.house and shit, Ive only been on the outskirt with the kings and whatnot and im 20 hours in. I still hate when you get bumbrushed by a bunch of enemies tho, that shit is never fun and I always have to cheese it (another recent example was at the end of the brotherhood of steel lady quest, when we get outside the bunker, theres 4 or 5 palladins waiting to fuck you up, and as soon as the conversation ends they imediatly start blasting you with gatling lasers...took me a ton of reloads to finally manage to hide before dying and then cheese them with grenades and shit. Or when a caesar posse comes rolling in all of a sudden, and they can hit you from 50miles away :/)

question, can you get a companion back after you tell them to leave? I dropped the brotherhood of steel lady to hang out with cass and finish her quest, but the brotherhood of lady punched guys real nice and I kinda wanna get her back after Ive done Cass's quest.

also aparently you can only have 1 companion, so I guess I was bugged before because I had both ED the robot and boone, and then later ED and the brotherhood lady. Now I send ED to get upgraded, I bet I wont be able to have 2 again, oh well.

oops duplicate post somehow

game is awesome, I figured you can get the companions back at the places you initially met them, and my game is still bugged with ED even after she (he? it?) was upgraded, I can still have her and another companion, weird. Wont complain tho

edit: well...I finished it, and they did the same shit again jsut like in Fallout 3! The game ends and doesnt drop you back into the world, it just asks if I want to reload a save before the dam battle... really guys? I guess I have to reload a save to do the DLC content, which to be honest, I dont really feel like doing as I think the game got really rushed near the end.