[Written Oct. 21st 2015]
I thought with the release of Fallout 4 just around the corner, now would be a good time to talk about the differences between Fallout 3 and New Vegas. The Bethesda Game Studios RPGs are easily my favorite games, and it goes without saying that I’m immensely excited for Fallout 4-- however, I think it’s important to note the differences between Bethesda Game Studios’ release and Obsidian’s release-- and why I hope Fallout 4 reminds more of New Vegas, and less of Fallout 3-- but, not in every regard. This isn’t to say that Fallout 3 isn’t an amazing game, or that Bethesda didn’t do a fantastic job at capturing the atmosphere and feel of the Fallout universe. However, the changes and additions made to the game with the release of New Vegas, turn an amazing game, into one of the best RPGs ever made. First, let’s talk mechanics.
Fallout 3 had a wide set of interesting quirks to it’s concept of a first-person shooter RPG, and the most easily noticed-- is the lack of iron sights. When New Vegas was released the first thing I noticed was that the guns had actual iron sights, and that weapons were even changed slightly visually to accommodate the sights as a physical property of the weapon. This made the gunplay immeasurably more fun, and made it so non-VATS combat was more viable and reliable. This also meant that you could finally snipe without a sniper rifle, adding another layer of combat choice.
Another element that stuck out (and still does in Skyrim) is the nearly unbearable companion management system, which is done through dialogue with the character. This system was clunky and annoying to say the least. New Vegas added the “companion wheel,” which put every single task or combat preference into a single radial menu that turned companions into an easy to use, and easy to manage part of the game. This is a mechanic that I hope more than any other makes it into Fallout 4, and that commands aren’t still tied to dialogue menus.
The idea of weapons mods is already clearly show in the showcases of Fallout 4’s new crafting system, which pleases me to no end. The weapons of Fallout have always been my favorite part of the game, and the addition of unique looking “unique” weapons, along with weapon mods made New Vegas an instant classic in my eyes. However, I was disappointed with the weapon crafting of New Vegas. In Fallout 3, the player-made weapons are all unique ramshackle assemblies with memorable design, and unique purpose: The Dart Gun made dealing with Deathclaws a lot easier by crippling enemy legs, The Railway Rifle could pin limbs to walls (and played a delightful train whistle with each shot) and the Rock-It Launcher (which we can see return as the ‘Junk Jet’ in Fallout 4’s previews) turned junk into ammo. In New Vegas, the only custom weapon you make, aside from the explosives (most of which were added later in DLC with the Mad-Bomber perk) are the low-damage and pointless “dog-tag fists,” (of which there is a better version that you can just find) which no player would ever reasonably use. Not to mention that all the custom weapons from the previous game are now not able to be made. The lack of Dart Gun, Railway Rifle, and Rock-It Launcher, were very noticeable missing items. This isn’t to say that New Vegas had a poor crafting system however, since it did add the ability to construct ammo, armor, health items, and more. This feature turned the weapon crafting table into a more general crafting system, but the lack of custom ramshackle weapons took a very distinct post-apocalyptic element out of the game.
Next, we’ll talk about the worlds of the Fallout games: The Capital Wasteland and The Mojave Wasteland. The Capital Wasteland had an amazing feeling and look to it that gave an authentic atmosphere of desolation and decay. The Mojave had that feel too, but it feels much more subdued and down-played by having most of the environment being the desert-- which remained fairly unchanged by nuclear bombardment. I loved the depth of the environments of New Vegas, and the effort put into world-building and realistic town setups with clear sources of food and water. However, I still prefer the dark cramped offices and massive subway tunnels of Fallout 3. In New Vegas, with the focus put into the outside environments and the Vegas strip itself, you nearly forget about the desolate environment you’re occupying. You still have those moments of finding someone’s skeletal remains still posed into their last moments, and seeing what their lives were before the Great War. Yet this doesn't happen nearly as often or as distinctly in New Vegas as it does in Fallout 3.
The characters and story of New Vegas tend to win handly over those of Fallout 3 in my eyes. New Vegas had a fantastic faction system, with there being no real “good guys,” or “bad guys.” You just had different people who each saw the answer to rebuilding humanity differently. In Fallout 3, you had your Dad and his team (obviously the good guys,) and Colonel Autumn and the Enclave (obviously the bad guys.) There’s just such a distinct line in Fallout 3, that it becomes impossible to have a unique outlook or take sides for different reasons. In the end, as far as the main story goes, you’re either a good guy or a bad guy, and that’s all there is to it. In New Vegas, you can actually be good, neutral, or evil-- all while supporting any side you choose. Yes, you can support Caesar and his slaves as a “good” person, and support the NCR as an “evil” character. The game actually puts you into the politics of the world and lets you decide whose side to fight on.
One of the most important elements of the story of New Vegas, is that your character, The Courier (or Courier 6) is an actual character in the story, with your own backstory and past. It actually makes the DLC of New Vegas worth playing, since you discover elements of your past throughout them, finally culminating in the final DLC Lonesome Road. The fact that your character isn’t like the Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3, just some face-less nameless, nobody-- makes the game feel a lot more personal and real. The character of Courier 6, and his background with Ulysses, turn him from the all-too-typical RPG protagonist with no background or real history, makes them a real part of the world you’re occupying. It seems like they're already taking that approach with Fallout 4, the fact of even giving your character an actual voice immediately points towards that.
The side-missions of Fallout 3 were a lot smaller in number than New Vegas, but they made up for that by all having a much heavier importance in the story of the game and being much longer overall. In Fallout 3, you have the druid cultists worshipping a “living tree,” and the group of “vampires,” that terrorize a small outpost. These missions were great to find, and made made exploration very rewarding. In New Vegas, the side-mission are often the typical “go here,” and “talk to this person,” kind of mission where you’re delivering mcguffins to other characters that give you other mcguffins. Many of them feel like filler content, instead of actual meaningful missions.
The exploration aspect of the two games is also very different. In New Vegas, the exploration is often more rewarding materially, letting you find unique weapons and armor, but lacking in the randomly generated encounters out in the wasteland, so Fallout 3 is more rewarding in that regard. Not only are there more story or world based elements to find in the wasteland, but there’s also a system of random events that can occur every time you venture out into the wastes. New Vegas has encounters like this, but they’re all tied to certain areas, so you’ll always encounter them in the same place-- taking away some element of replayability.
In Fallout 3, the Fatman is the keystone of unique weapon design and ammo management. You find this “ultimate” weapon, but it has limited ammo-- so you know only to use it when you really need it. The same goes with the Lincoln Repeater, it has great power, but uses .44 magnum rounds, which are hard to find. So, you know that when you find mini-nukes and .44 magnum rounds, you found some real treasure. In New Vegas however, ammo has no limit, the seller restock every few days and carry hundreds of round of ammo for every weapon (including mini-nukes with the DLC.) This immediately takes away the scrounging element from the game, every bullet doesn’t count if you can just buy more. This would be less of a problem if caps were hard to come by-- but they aren’t. Even the bobbleheads (which are great to see return in FO4) are replaced with snowglobes, and their only purpose? Money. That’s it. No stats boosts or real noticeable reward-- just money. This is definitely a point for Fallout 3.
This is the defining difference between the two games. Fallout 3 is about scavenging and searching for weapons and ammo, where-as New Vegas was just about keeping stuff to sell later. Why keep a gun you find in a desk somewhere, when you can just buy one in perfect condition? The only reason you scavenge in New Vegas is the same reason you do it in any game like it-- to simply get more stuff you’ll sell later. You don’t need to do it, but you might as well anyways. Fallout 3 made that element a part of the atmosphere itself. You can’t buy a perfect condition weapon-- it’s the apocalypse, there simply aren’t any. So, you take what you can get, even if it’s just a few bullets and a gun two shots away from breaking.
Finally, let’s talk about weapons again. In Fallout 3, there are very few visually or mechanically distinct weapons (aside from custom-made weapons as I previously mentioned.) There’s the MIRV (which is just an insane overkill fatman) there’s Lincoln's Repeater, and there’s the Alien Blaster (which is made non-unique by the Mothership Zeta DLC.) Besides that, all the other “unique weapons” are just the same model as a regular weapon, but dealing higher damage. In New Vegas, nearly every single weapon has an actually unique counterpart, which are often not only distinct visually, but mechanically. Some of my favorites include: the Abilene Kid Limited Edition BB gun, which turns BBs into a viable ammo by dealing critical hits that do sniper rifle level damage and being naturally silenced-- making it a great early stealth weapon, That Gun, which turns 5.56mm assault rifle bullets into rounds for a unique Blade Runner inspired revolver, the Bozar, a fully automatic sniper rifle, and (my favorite) the Holy Frag Grenade, a-la Monty Python’s Holy Grail, which is a Wild Wasteland exclusive easter-egg weapon that packs the punch of a mini-nuke into a grenade. By making the unique weapons actually feel and look unique, it helps add good feel to that extra power, and reward the player for finding it with more than just higher damage output.
Overall, Fallout 3 and New Vegas stand as not only some of the greatest RPGs ever made, but serves as one of the best post-apocalypse universes out there. Fallout 3 may be smaller in both story and scope, but it created the world (and engine) that New Vegas occupies. New Vegas may be mechanically superior to Fallout 3, but it doesn’t have the same degree of atmosphere to its world that Fallout 3 has. Obviously, New Vegas is easily considered the “better” game, but this isn’t just about mechanics and story-- it’s about the world of Fallout. I hope Bethesda learns from New Vegas’ improvements to gameplay, mechanics, and character building. But, I hope they stick to their guns when it comes to the feeling of being in a world ravaged by nuclear armageddon, where everyone has to scrounge and steal every last scrap to survive.
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