Why is Fallout New Vegas considered good?

[Bad Sector]

You walked from that white house at the top to the Prospector saloon down the street. This has to be one of the most tryhard posts I've ever seen here, genuinely impressed

New Vegas is my favorite RPG, i've lost the number of playthroughs i made with different builds, different choices, etc and sometimes i even just start the game to walk around the world while listening to some podcast or whatever.

But the first time i played the game, i did pretty much the same as what Lyric Suite mentioned he did: played until around the saloon, lost interest and exited the game, forgetting about it.

Then a few years later when i decided to try it again - and that time i got hooked.

IMO the starting area has nothing to draw you in the world and the quests there are boring as fuck. I understand it tries to be some sort of tutorial about the things you can do (e.g. make drugs), how your build affects dialog choices (from trying to convince people during the preparation for the attack) and it even outright tells you that your choices have consequences (the dialog with Trudy), but TBH i never found that part engaging at all - IMO it is one of the most boring questlines in the game.

I have suggested New Vegas to some of my friends, but i always warn that the start is slow and boring and not judge the game from it. It starts getting better once you visit a few more locations while following the main quest.

 

[Butter]

I have suggested New Vegas to some of my friends, but i always warn that the start is slow and boring and not judge the game from it. It starts getting better once you visit a few more locations while following the main quest.

As gay as it sounds, I think NV would've benefited significantly from the "exiting the sewers" moment in Oblivion. The first time you step out into the open world it should either show you a bunch of cool places you want to explore, or else promise a world with such places. NV shows you an ordinary-looking town tinted orange.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

IMO the starting area has nothing to draw you in the world and the quests there are boring as fuck.

Did you also figure that out in 20 steps, though?

 

[Lemming42]

That's about as far as I get after spending the previous 12 hours installing 150 gb of mods.

 

[Bad Sector]

As gay as it sounds, I think NV would've benefited significantly from the "exiting the sewers" moment in Oblivion. The first time you step out into the open world it should either show you a bunch of cool places you want to explore, or else promise a world with such places. NV shows you an ordinary-looking town tinted orange.

Have you tried to start a new character in Oblivion recently? The "exiting the sewers" moment is neat, but it is preceded by a lengthy on-rails tutorial over caves, sewers and scripted events where you follow a bunch of NPCs :-P. At least with New Vegas the mandatory bits end sooner (if nothing else after you exit doctor's house you can ignore everything else).

I think the issue is that the game doesn't do much to draw you in and you are left to your devices - which normally is good, but as you wrote, it is done in basically one of the blandest places in the game (several other places in the game have something about them - like the big dino, the rollercoaster, the gigantic statue, the prison, etc - that makes you wonder "what is that/there?" just by looking at it, but Goodsprings has nothing). Perhaps having Victor actively come up and talk to you to push you forward might have helped - as would having something interesting in the town (preferably something that would also give you a reason to visit Goodsprings again - see Novac as a hint - as it is the only reason to revisit is to sell crap to Chet and Dr. Mitchell).

Did you also figure that out in 20 steps, though?

It has been more than a decade since my first attempt to play New Vegas so i don't remember what exactly i did, but i do remember i stopped before leaving Goodsprings and before the attack. In pretty much every subsequent playthrough i just power through the starting area (i could skip it but i want the money/XP/etc you get :-P).

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Not seen much Fo4 or Fo76 praise either

https://steamcharts.com/app/1151340#3m

It's gotten a huge boost since the series launched.

There's been quite a few articles written lately about the surge, some of them mentioning how much Fallout 76 has improved, but are also pointing out it's free now and it's a good time to try it.

 

[9ted6]

The only genuine weirdness I've seen around the show is that the Fallout subreddit seemed to be ripping the show to shreds at first, then a day later every post was mysteriously ultra-positive, which was strange.

I don't know why Bethesda and its reddit fans hate New Vegas so much. Regardless of what you think about the game it was the golden child of reddit leftists for over a decade.

Maybe it's a comparative thing. I guess they got tired of sipping the soymilk latte that New Vegas was and instead want the full body soy enema that the show now provides.

 

[Lemming42]

It's gotten a huge boost since the series launched.

I wonder if that's translating into a boost in critical reception - it makes sense that people introduced to the series by the shows would go for the most recent entry, but a lot of them will presumably be quickly disappointed by how much it blows.

I don't know why Bethesda and its reddit fans hate New Vegas so much. Regardless of what you think about the game it was the golden child of reddit leftists for over a decade.

Familiarity breeds contempt, I guess. Anything that's held up as the apex of human creativity will eventually expereince a backlash, especially when a new generation tries it out and wonders what the fuss is all about.

 

[Butter]

I wonder if that's translating into a boost in critical reception - it makes sense that people introduced to the series by the shows would go for the most recent entry, but a lot of them will presumably be quickly disappointed by how much it blows.

If they like the show, I don't see why they wouldn't appreciate the video game equivalent.

 

[Bulo]

I wonder if that's translating into a boost in critical reception - it makes sense that people introduced to the series by the shows would go for the most recent entry, but a lot of them will presumably be quickly disappointed by how much it blows.

If they like the show, I don't see why they wouldn't appreciate the video game equivalent.

This. If you watch the show and your reaction is "I need more of this", you are beyond help

 

[Nano]

IMO the starting area has nothing to draw you in the world and the quests there are boring as fuck.

Did you also figure that out in 20 steps, though?

That's me almost every time I try to play games these days. I hate it

 

[Skinwalker]

Graphically, it's puke-inducing.

This. Biggest reason I've never played it: every attempt at creating a player character resulted in a hideous neanderthal zombie.

 

[NotSweeper]

The only genuine weirdness I've seen around the show is that the Fallout subreddit seemed to be ripping the show to shreds at first, then a day later every post was mysteriously ultra-positive, which was strange.

 

[Silverfish]

This. Biggest reason I've never played it: every attempt at creating a player character resulted in a hideous neanderthal zombie.

Your guy was shot in the face like two days before the game starts.

 

[Nikanuur]

>If you don't like the shit graphics you can stay for the shit gunplay

I also find it funny and all, and I like FNV myself, but he's not that wrong. That's the problem of striving for near-realistic outlook in games.

When you play something isometric, animated, pixelated, etc., you sort of don't care that one shot didn't kill the guy; you are predisposed to perceive the game as a game. A non-climbable rock is okay; it's just a prop. You know you can't do it. People running around in circles are perceived as "cool, living worlds," etc..

But as soon as a game tries for near-realism, things just go wrong. You are predisposed to perceive it as reality—or close to it anyway. Suddenly, a non-climbable ledge is an inconsistency. Shooting a guy in the face, after which he says ouch and runs away, is an insult to your intelligence or aiming skills. 3D people doing weird motions is just that—weird things happening. The game suddenly feels bad.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Todd won.

muh feelz...

I read the whole article, she's a big Bloodlines fan, though, so there's that.

And I’m no stranger to jank. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is one of my favorite games of all time. Game-breaking bugs and aged visuals be damned, I never once felt like Troika’s characters and world were anything less than real.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I wonder if that's translating into a boost in critical reception - it makes sense that people introduced to the series by the shows would go for the most recent entry, but a lot of them will presumably be quickly disappointed by how much it blows.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/04/theres-never-been-a-better-time-to-get-into-fallout-76/

Fallout 76 is good now. Actually, it’s always been good.​

This. Biggest reason I've never played it: every attempt at creating a player character resulted in a hideous neanderthal zombie.

The PipBoy interface for character customization probably wasn't the best idea. The original games used an abstract device-like creation which captured the feel but wasn't anything that exists in universe. They probably should have done something like that for the customization of the look of the character. Bethesda was super proud of their PipBoy design.

But as soon as a game tries for near-realism, things just go wrong. You are predisposed to perceive it as reality—or close to it anyway. Suddenly, a non-climbable ledge is an inconsistency. Shooting a guy in the face, after which he says ouch and runs away, is an insult to your intelligence or aiming skills. 3D people doing weird motions is just that—weird things happening. The game suddenly feels bad.

It's very much a case of "This is abstract, so the next thing being abstract also works". It's kind of like why I couldn't take the reboot of Battlestar Galactica seriously. It's because they wanted a super serious, dark world with really, really stupid characters. It went from a campy space opera to Melrose Place in Space with War. The more realistic you try to make something, the harder it is to suspend disbelief. The more you're going to notice the contrivances that the plot, or a mechanic in the case of a game, requires.

I read the whole article, she's a big Bloodlines fan, though, so there's that.

My guess is that she's not. She just said that in order to present some "street cred". I honestly can't fathom someone loving Bloodlines while hating New Vegas considering the similarities of role-playing mechanics both have.

 

[Kev Inkline]

I read the whole article, she's a big Bloodlines fan, though, so there's that.

My guess is that she's not. She just said that in order to present some "street cred". I honestly can't fathom someone loving Bloodlines while hating New Vegas considering the similarities of role-playing mechanics both have.

A fair point, far from defending her, however I wouldn't say it's unthinkable to perceive Bloodlines world as more likely to please storyfaggotry sense of aesthetics than FNV, though.
But it is what it is, the Amazon series creates some kind of expectation what's the world like, which is not met by the game, and for some reason they think it's the game's fault.

The real question is, though, what would these people make of F1.

 

[n0denz]

The real question is, though, what would these people make of F1.

"What do you think of F1?"
Retarded Journalist: "I've never gotten into racing."

 

[Kev Inkline]

"Senna documentary on Netflix was compelling"

 

[Mitleser2020]

I have suggested New Vegas to some of my friends, but i always warn that the start is slow and boring and not judge the game from it. It starts getting better once you visit a few more locations while following the main quest.

As gay as it sounds, I think NV would've benefited significantly from the "exiting the sewers" moment in Oblivion. The first time you step out into the open world it should either show you a bunch of cool places you want to explore, or else promise a world with such places. NV shows you an ordinary-looking town tinted orange.

Isn't that what the view from the Goodsprings Cemetery is to the player? The first in-game look at New Vegas after the intro.

 

[Bad Sector]

Isn't that what the view from the Goodsprings Cemetery is to the player? The first in-game look at New Vegas after the intro.

The first in-game look at New Vegas after the intro is exiting the doctor's house, which looks like this:

The cemetery is a place you visit after you talk with some NPCs in there, after the the guns tutorial and the sneak tutorial where you attack the geckos (which already have you exit the houses area in Goodsprings), when Sunny Smiles has you fetch some ingredients to teach you how to make stuff in bonfires.

The cemetery in the screenshot you gave looks a bit touched (and the camera is flying/noclipping, it isn't from the player's eye level), the actual look when you visit it is more mundane:

The cemetery is high enough to look the surrounging areas in New Vegas, but it all looks like the same brown hills everywhere, like in the shot below (it all looks pretty much the same in all directions). If you pay attention you might notice a few things, like the farm at the left side of the crosshair below, but this isn't something you'll notice when you first play the game and just looking around (and you wont know it is a farm unless you have visited first):

Note that i have all settings maxed, except AA which i have at 2x (because i run the game with my GPU at low power consumption mode) and i have the picture effects set to "None" because HDR adds this sickly bloom effect:

Enabling HDR does add a bit of blueish fog in the distance though:

but it is still basically the same brown desert everywhere.

 

[MasPingon]

I remember loading New Vegas once, made it to the first bar or whatever that was and shut it off and have yet to touch it since.

I didn't have a problem with the intro or the guy you meet during character creation. The narration and voice acting felt very much something you'd expect from Obsidian and under normal circumstances i would have had no issues playing the game. But the engine, design of the world and the graphics in general just filled me with utter revolusion. I've seen games with bad graphics before, but this was the first time i felt literally sick to my stomatch.

It's a pity because it is not Obsidian's fault that Bethesda are completely and utterly dogshit at making games but god damn.

And no, modders ain't gonna fix it. I tried and it didn't do jack shit. Game still looked like shit even after a ton of mods. Just something about how the terrain or the assets are modeled that makes the engine unsalvageable. You can spend 1000 man hours on photoshop making the best, most high definition textures in the universe it ain't gonna change squad.

Modding New Vegas also introduced me to a new form of cancer, which is the modding scene of Bethesda games. I never saw a game that was this complicated to mod in my life, and it's all the more absurd when the end result still looked like shit.

I'd like to try again one of this days but just the thought of looking at this fucking thing again makes me gag. I so wish somebody would just port this game to the original engine.

This. I love New Vegas for it's setting, writing, worldbuilding, quest design but god damn, it's so buttfuck ugly it's beyond words. I consider NV biggest visual abomination of all time, gfx in this game is so off-putting I'm literally forcing myself to play while my eyes are bleeding. I can't even put my finger on what makes it so ugly - is it low poly assets, graphic designer's lack of ability to draw, terrible colour pallete, strange geometry, horrible textures or everything combined. Every little thing looks like composed of parts that do not fit together - it's either too small or too big and half of what you see on screen is just a shapeless blob. Doing something so unpleasent to see is actually quite a feat, I can't think of any other game that is even close.

Spoiler

F3 is even uglier, I do not mention it cause I pretend it doesn't exists

 

[Ravielsk]

This. I love New Vegas for it's setting, writing, worldbuilding, quest design but god damn, it's so buttfuck ugly it's beyond words. I consider NV biggest visual abomination of all time, gfx in this game is so off-putting I'm literally forcing myself to play while my eyes are bleeding. I can't even put my finger on what makes it so ugly - is it low poly assets, graphic designer's lack of ability to draw, terrible colour pallete, strange geometry, horrible textures or everything combined. Every little thing looks like composed of parts that do not fit together - it's either too small or too big and half of what you see on screen is just a shapeless blob. Doing something so unpleasent to see is actually quite a feat, I can't think of any other game that is even close.

Its really a curse inherited from FO3. The assets bethesda made were all intentionally made to look scuffed and overall crappy to sell the "post-apocalyptic" meme and there is very little that can be done with that without just redoing them all from scratch. With the time allotted Obsidian had no way of doing anything about that.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Its really a curse inherited from FO3. The assets bethesda made were all intentionally made to look scuffed and overall crappy to sell the "post-apocalyptic" meme and there is very little that can be done with that without just redoing them all from scratch. With the time allotted Obsidian had no way of doing anything about that.

That's something that I don't get. Fallout New Vegas looks a lot better to me, in general, than Fallout 3. There's a lot more colors in Fallout New Vegas, particularly with the Vegas Strip. The starting area may not be the most colorful, but the saloon has that nice neon sign to give it a little vibrancy. Obsidian had to reuse a lot of the assets from Fallout 3, but their new assets they made also have to match the assets they were reusing.