What in the god damn...?
The internet has been shoving a lot of Fallout in my face recently; probably because of the new season of the show. I've never been too much of a Fallout guy, I always preferred Elder Scrolls, mainly cause I just like dragons and magic more than I do guns and realism.
But; through consuming the content given to me by the Holy Algorithm, I began to appreciate what the actual different between the two series was- Fallout's history, what it's based around, etc; and I finally decided that I needed to really get hands on with the game myself so I could truly appreciate and understand that Fallout ISN'T just future guns Elder Scrolls. It's not, and I love it.
Bethesda has two open world RPGs (granted this one isn't fully theirs), and for the longest time I assumed they were the same thing. But now with my adult brain, I see the difference in actual gameplay. Elder Scrolls is like Final Fantasy II: use your stats to grow them stronger. Fallout is more like Fire Emblem. Your stats get permanent increases that you just work with level by level, with bonus abilities in perks. Not a perfect analogy, but it works in my head. So here, I'm worrying less about grinding, or jumping constantly, or training up my magic to be useful (training Ultima to actually be good before the Jade Passage), and instead I'm just playing the game, picking options that align with my character build to keep growing to keep improving my skills.
And... I think I like it more??? I'm not worried about HOW I level, I'm just focusing on playing the game, and reaping the rewards from it. The only anxiety in character building comes from "will I buff this stat high enough to use it in dialogue properly". It's really nice to not have to think about the midlevel, just the goalposts. Of course, there is a place for the grind style- I love Elder Scrolls for a reason, but having the leveling and stat system in Fallout this way was very enjoyable.
My character was built around speech, medicine, barter, repair- a lot of stuff that works in dialogue. I also had energy weapons and explosives for combat, which are both REALLY fun, but I honestly found the extra options when talking to people or interacting with the world far more exciting than the things that I shoot. One: I LOVE the dialogue choices in this game, it's far more in depth than any other Bethesda game I've played, with full on actual sentences I'm choosing instead of words or phrases. Two: it's really really cool to have these extra options of knowledge and dialogue that... in a way, let you play through the game a lot more reasonably than others. I can for the most part try to work out with the person I'm in conflict with, figure out what their deal is, possibly even talk them down! Before deciding they need to blow up or turn into goo. Or I can hack into a terminal (love the hacking minigame btw), or fix up a machine, or whatever, to make my journey through a dungeon or quest a lot easier. I love these so much, and it makes me actively want to explore way more than blasting things does.
Now it does kinda suck I don't get to know about these skill checks ahead of time, but I can't reasonably expect that of any game, that's just my brain not liking to miss things, but that's also encouragement for me to go out and do things to get XP so I can level to boost my stats further to make these checks more consistently. I've learned this is very much in the soul of Fallout 1 and 2, from what I understand, and I really really appreciate a game like this where you can just handle it like a text-based game at times. It's less energy consuming, yet still just as engaging for me.
When it comes to the combat; it's combat. I shoot at things, I hit things, that's really about it. It's cool, it's fun, but for the most part shooty bits or combat at all are not my favorite part of anything. But I DID enjoy blowing things up with dynamite. I also generally enjoyed the selection of energy weapons I got. I usually rocked a plasma pistol or rifle the whole way through. Though I DID get a gauss rifle, and that thing was so much fun. Sniping a whole camp of raiders or deathclaws was very entertaining, and it made Lonesome Road a lot easier cause I could just pick things off before even getting near them.
I often didn't participate in combat that much, thanks to companions. Now, I don't usually like having a guy follow me in Bethesda games, cause they get in the way and they're annoying, but I really liked the companions in New Vegas. The ability to have one person and one... not person... made me feel like I was in a PS1 Final Fantasy party, which increased the RPG feel for me greatly, but also they kick ass???? Like holy shit Veronica and ED-E just took out all those Legionnaires before I could even THINK about pulling out my gun. It's also nice that they don't die forever (though I do know they do in Hardcore mode, but that's not for me anyways) so I don't have to stress about accidentally blowing them up.
I think the last bit of gameplay I wanna talk about are the quests. I really really loved how this game handles quests and locations, because they're so naturally intertwined with each other. Sure, you CAN explore, but if you're someone like me who much prefers to follow story stuff, having your journey through the world be based around quests is a lot more appealing to me, and it caters to that by having these quests lead everywhere, into new locations, with new quests, so you don't really feel like you're missing anything! Before I finished the game, I did do some light research onto things not to miss before I go to the final battle, and generally I got it! Because the game... I don't want to say railroads you, but it gives you the trail to see everything it has to offer so naturally. The only ones I didn't really like are the companion quests, mainly because they're dependent on invisible triggers that you can miss. I did look up a guide on these so I don't miss them.
A point that I've seen a lot in my new deep dive discoveries into New Vegas is that it's still making discussions 16 years later, and I totally understand why. This is another core characteristic in Fallout that I really appreciate now, and that's the choice-making. It feels like every point throughout the story, and even the side quests, you have options. There are often times where the choice comes down to "be nice or be a dick", but since that choice is like, always, it comes down to really looking at the factions and people you're dealing with, putting more thought into who I'm working for or against and why. It MAKES you read into the story and cast more, and that's cool.
Kinda connected to the last section is how the main quest works and how it's involved with gameplay. You start off in Goodsprings, only with the knowledge that some fucker that sounds like a character from a 1994 sitcom that had 10 seasons shot you in the head, and you need to Find Him. By talking to the folks around you, you naturally get to follow a path of people: "check here, go here, etc". I mean, yeah you could just go straight north to New Vegas but there's a bunch of evil creatures there so that's not an option. As you pass through these towns, you learn about the factions in the Mojave; you learn about the NCR, you learn about the Legion, you learn about the normal people just living their lives, and that's really cool! The story is built to teach you in advance about the people in this land before it turns to "you need to make a decision about who gets control here".
I really just love how the game guides you through itself before presenting you with its biggest choice. I also really love that, because of the nature of the choice, it's very character/faction based, really making you get in touch with who the players on the board are. Even the smaller quests are like this. You can learn about the Powder Gangers before you correctly blast them off the face of the earth with their own dynamite. You can learn about the people in the Brotherhood of Steel, who you want to give control, if you want to give any of them control at all. You can learn about this group of Super Mutants and what they're struggling with, which also interacts with the NCR and makes you think about that and aaaaaggghhh it's really good and for an open world game it's so natural.
Also it's a good healthy mix of serious and silly which I always appreciate.
Time for my favorite part of any of these posts- something I really need to figure out how to transition to or from a story section better. Whatever.
I don't think I could talk about or remember EVERYONE, but a game like this having a great cast of characters to meet is just so important. I really loved Marcus and Jacobstown showing a more human version of what could easily just be killable radioactive orc mooks. I didn't explore the Powder Gangers, but it's cool that you COULD interact with them, and you do get a bit of seeing the people behind it in Nipton. The Kings were a very silly idea of a group of people, but for 200 years in the future, it's pretty plausible that this would be misconstrued as a religion. I also want to mention Jason Bright and his group; very interesting, not super harmful or even mattering much in the grand scheme of things, but a very cool group to interact with.
This game has 4 bonus questlines! I do wish they had a more natural lead into them, but I understand that's not really HOW DLC works cause if you didn't download them and you do a quest that seems to have a follow up and you don't get it that's shitty. But anyways.
What I really love about the DLCs is how they connect to each other and the main game as a whole. I know I said there wasn't a natural lead into them but that's not really what I mean. Graham/The Burned Man are talked about in the main story. You learn about Elijah and almost Christine FROM Veronica and the BoS. Then when you're actually in the DLC stories they reference each other, you learn about the Big Empty early, you find out there's some other Courier traveling these same places, you find out where Elijah was going- it's all just really cool and really well connected. The story feels very cohesive and the world is rewarded as feeling more real. I do really love that about them. They are their own isolated bits, but they also aren't at all.
New Vegas is SUCH a good game. But it's really revealed some flaws to me.
For one, this game is held together by loose string and used scotch tape. I don't think I've ever played a game that has crashed THIS much. It's literally the only thing keeping this from being a 10/10 experience, because Obsidian had to use the pile of spaghetti handed to them by Bethesda. This game crashes if you fast travel. This game crashes if you take out your weapon. This game crashes if you breathe wrong, or if you file your taxes wrong.
But other than shambling code, I really really love how RPG this game is. I've already seen it in Elder Scrolls. Oblivion is less RPG than Morrowind. Skyrim is even less RPG than that. They transition more and more to action games to cater to people that just want to kill rather than exist in the world. From what I understand about Fallout, it hits the same thing. I never played Fallout 3, but I watched it a long time ago and again, I have been in the Fallout content hole. It's the same with 4. So this take isn't fully educated and I will fully admit I can learn more in the future. When Bethesda got the IP, they moved way east to their home, and didn't seem to have the same golden foundation of choices that New Vegas had. Fallout 4 I know for certain doesn't have the same dialogue options as NV, more just general words and topics... and I feel like it goes further into action like Skyrim did.
I really don't like seeing RPGs falling apart. Final Fantasy is doing the same thing. I can still appreciate the more actiony games, I'm definitely not the kind of person who will say "THIS IS DEAD THE SERIES IS TRASH NOW RAAAA"; I can appreciate that stuff! I like Stranger of Paradise and XVI. But it does suck to know that if like, ESVI finally comes out, it won't be like Morrowind or Oblivion. It sucks to know that if I play another Fallout, it's NOT gonna be like New Vegas.
With how much I loved a lot of the systems of New Vegas, I almost feel like I like Oblivion LESS. But I don't know, some of this may just be some just finished a game reactionary thoughts. We'll evolve on this one. But I completely understand why New Vegas is so beloved as a game, as an RPG. It's nearly a perfect experience that I know I could revisit in dozens of different ways. it's so well crafted, so intertwined with itself, it's really amazing. It's a great game for someone like me, who wants to play a story and learn about the world and cast of characters, and honestly read more than shoot; but it gives you plenty of options to just be a murderhobo if that's what you want more! That's great! Choices and options are great!
I also appreciate Fallout far more seeing this game (which I've heard is the best it has to offer but I'd be open to exploring that). It's a very interesting world. I can engage more with what people are saying and discussing as well, seeing what other people think are better paths for the Mojave and its inhabitants. Unless they're pro-Legion, what the fuck is wrong with you. I think I'm gonna go watch the show after this.
9.5/10. An amazingly crafted RPG experience. Flows into itself perfectly, has wonderful game systems. It just... runs on a hope and a prayer.