Fucking Fallout: How does it work?!
I had never heard of it before Bethesda was suddenly talking about how they'd bought the rights to make Fallout 3. I didn't even know there was a 1 and 2!
But, it comes out and I hear rave reviews for it, but I don't get it because: 1) I didn't have an Xbox 360 at the time, and 2) ???, 3) Profit.
Anyway! When I finally got an Xbox on Christmas of '08, the first game I bought was Mass Effect. I mean, literally, got home, jumped in the car, and bought it with a gift card I had gotten. It was the best Christmas ever. I messed around with that game for a good long time, but I soon needed something else. I held out on buying Fallout 3 until the summer of '09 (I think), which was longer than I should have waited.
I poured 80 hours into F3 and its expansions, all told. It still stands as one of the most immersive, compelling, and down right fun games I've ever played. It was a game that told you, pretty much, "Go do...you know...whatever. I don't care." So, I did. I walked out of Vault 101 and fucked around for 80 hours. When I could simply find nothing more to enjoy myself with, I was devastated. I couldn't wait for some kind of sequel. I just couldn't. I tried replaying with a new character, but it's never the same; it feels like you're reliving a good dream, but you already know how it ends.
Luckily, I only had to wait a year for a sequel, thanks to my procrastination in buying F3. But it's only a sequel in the sense that Obsidian were given all the tools Bethesda used to create F3, and nothing else. Everything else about it, though, is original. It's a stand-alone experience, and has almost no link between it and its predecessor.
This is Fallout: New Vegas.
The reason I labeled this as (#1) is because I'm only roughly 6-7 hours into the game, and as we all know, these games go on for a while. Because if you find that this game is your cup of tea, you will get distracted very easily. There are a plethora of sidequests, a MASSIVE map to explore and chart, and a whole lot of loot to sift through. This is in addition to a main quest that will probably take you the better part of 20-30 hours to complete.
Now that the introduction is out of the way (have to do it) here's what I think of the game so far:
Personally, I think this is Fallout 3 (2.0). There are very few things in this game that are a step above its predecessor, mostly on account of what I said before. They're using the same tools in different ways, and it shows. The graphics are in no way better or worse than those of F3, the gameplay has been tweaked, but not much, and you'll still be wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland. That last one's a given, but still.
But! Even though Obsidian didn't change up the formula very much, you still get that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" feeling as you play through it. Everything that was fun and absolutely game-changing about F3 is still here. It's still addicting, it's still beautiful at times, and you'll still be rummaging through soda machines.
At first, I wasn't getting into it. The "Mojave Wasteland" seemed a lot more barren than the "Capital Wasteland" as I was just leaving the tutorial. But then I was sent on a quest that had me walking for a while, and I started passing up a few old buildings and gas stations when, suddenly, that light in my head (that hadn't been on since Fallout 3) and told me, "Hey! You can go in there!" And so I did, which kicked off an hour long rummaging spree. The magic had returned.
I was glad. Obsidian didn't do anything to shoot itself in the foot. The game is fun, the quests are well-written and they're slowly getting darker as I progress, and the voice-acting is top notch (Mr. New Vegas is a fine replacement for Three Dog). One quest line in particular sent me through this town where an organization called Caesar's Legion (pronounced "kae-sar") had indulged in a little carnage at the town's expense: forcing them to participate in a macabre sort of lottery. I'm pretty sure you can fill in the blanks a little there. I was stunned by what I found. It was a little reminiscent of the end of the Dark Brotherhood quest. A little.
One moment in particular really hooked me even more, though. I live for those moments in games where they just allow you to achieve ultimate immersion. I was on my way to another town (forgot its name. The one with the dinosaur) when I took a slight detour through this farm. There were some crops that were ready to be harvested and a small shack at one end, which I took to be the farmhouse. I looked inside and no one was there. There was no one on the entire property. It was completely abandoned, as far as I could tell, and I reflexively thought, "Ah, must have been the work of the local bandits. Damn scum."
After a few seconds, I was like, "Wait a minute...I'm role-playing here!" It gave me so much hope for this game, and it's shaping up to be one of the finest games Obsidian has produced in a very long time. Look forward to more updates as I continue on through the Mojave Wasteland.
Seven hours in, and I haven't even gotten to New Vegas yet. I like.
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