I read this and I agree but kinda laugh at the little bit of time some of yall put in other then me, goes to show I have no life. Im almost level 30, have over 70 hours in ( I know that's a overtime work week!) but even though I spent so much time on here, it's immersive with all the people, but there's something lacking for me. I have all 5 dlc's with Fo3 and have hundreds of hours just in one game, and have 5 games on it, for me everwhere I look on Vegas I see missed potential. I never complained about a game like this, especially one I have put so much time in to, but idk, something bugs me about this. The glitches take out on here, and I never found myself really caring about the NCR or the Legion. I hate slavery so naturally i hate them but, the NCR have problems to. Also I couldn't see much of the "terror" from the Legion. Sure I walked thru nipton, but seems like they strung up bad people. The main story on Vegas for me is just not there. Now the people that disagree, fine, but we other people that spent 60 bucks and waited 8months for this every day after day, have a right to speak how we feel. As well, I know there are tons of weapons, and you can mod them, but I havent found ONE I really like. In Fo3, I loved the Lincoln's repeater, on here I don't like the cowboy repeater, and I felt like I had to plan wayy ahead to build my character, at the end theres perks I wanted but wasnt able to get. I see you guys on here months ago talking about your character and have it all planned out, see that' s not me, some people can't spend that much time planning a character. Oh well, maybe theyll have a patch fix the already existing patch that broke too much in the game. At the end I almost gave up finishing the game, cause it froze so many times. Found out the patch causes more problems (on the 360) then it fixes. Can't send your guys to Lucky 38? Erase the patch.
Anyways, there are tons I love about this, but for me it boils to the main story. Im a huge fallout fan, I just hope the dlc is better..

I can see both sides of the argument. Though I agree strongly with the OP. Fallout 3 felt like it had more stuff to do as opposed to NV. There were days I spent my play time just Fast Traveling between places because I didn't know what to do anymore. NV compared to FO3 is very empty to me. Sure it MAY have more quests and more locations. But a majority of those locations are empty buildings with worthless items. Sure some of the items may be used for something like workbenches, but I don't use workbenches because in the 40 hours I've played of walking around I've only found TWO BLUEPRINTS.

People may say FO3 was empty and I understand why. FO3 had a bigger starting map and everything was spaced out alot and it drove exploration so you could fill said map. My thing about NV: its cluttered and small. Whenever I pull up my world map I get claustrophobic at all the places that are close together. Which drastically changed whether or not I searched for a new place. For example if I open my world map and see about 3 places very tightly together, my primary thought is "there couldn't possibly be anything else there."

NV is as empty as those three or four abandoned shacks that it has cluttered together.

I don't understand any of you.

New Vegas is three times the game Fallout 3 was.

All of you are comparing New Vegas WITH NO DLC to Fallout 3 THAT HAD A HUGE AMOUNT OF DLC.

Of course Fallout 3 was bigger because of that. Of course it had more to do. Of course you had more to show.

I think if you guys go compare vanilla(NO DLC) Fallout 3 to New Vegas you will find it is of almost exactly the same size. You will also find the quality of quests, characters, voice acting, weapons, audio, animations, RPG elements are all vastly INFERIOR to New Vegas.



New Vegas has more levels, more quests, more in-depth character building, more in-depth gear development, better writing, better and more believable characters, better voice acting, it's more challenging(yet also more balanced at the same time), more memorable and enjoyable locations(The Thorn for example), better quests(Come fly with me for example), three times the amount of enemies, twice the amount of things to do, has a much better monetary system(you actually have to work for your caps now and things actually cost considerable amounts making you work for your stuff) and you can't run out of resources like you can in Fallout 3 because of crafting/respawning craft items.

New Vegas is better IN EVERY SINGLE WAY compared to Original Fallout 3.

You guys who complain about the map area being smaller are not looking at how it really was. Sure Fallout 3 had more walkable ground than New Vegas does but half of that space was empty bland ground. The environment and world in general has much more detail in New Vegas and while locations may be spaced more closely together, all we are missing out on is bland, empty terrain.

Obviously Fallout 3 with all DLC is going to be a superior game because it has twice the content of New Vegas.

Once New Vegas has heaps of DLC and Obsidian expands on everything the fans want (They have said they are actually listening to what we want for DLC - Bethesda NEVER did that. Look at Operation Anchorage/Mothership zeta and the borefest those were. The community had AMAZING ideas for fallout 3 DLC and Bethesda completely ignored us)

So in short, Original New Vegas > Original Fallout 3.

Hmm, i am 41 hours into the game but i am level 23 and i just now got the platinum chip. However i still have like half the map to explore, there are tons of area's i have been too briefly but i never explored.. I still see tons of empty triangles on the map everywhere i go. I still have like 15 quests to do in the area's ive already visited. I have a fealing you havent visited everywhere like you say you have, and if you did you rushed through everything without exploring.. You probably just killed everything without even looking or something, or you are lying.. You have only 8 Unique weapons ? I have like 15, and im only half way done with the game.


Also you guys are saying FO:3 had houndreds of hours of gameplay... You sure about that without the DLC'S ? I beat all off fallout 3 in like maybe 80 hours or so, not counting DLC's. The only thing i can see that the OP has a good point about is that there isnt as many locations in or around New Vegas like the ruins of D.C had. New Vegas is pretty small compared to D.C only a few area's to explore around and in it and those area's are usually just an empty building or a small building with a few robot's and thats it. The map on Fallout3 was indeed much bigger too, probably 30% larger then new vegas is. In fact the map on New vegas is actually smaller then it is on the pip boy.. The whole area beyond the mountain ranged on the left you cant get too and its like a good 1 inch area that just a waste on the map to make it seem bigger..

I wasnt expecting this game to be bigger then fallout 3, i was expecting it too last for a good amount of time, and indeed it has so i am happy.. Uusually sequals to game are smaller and take less time to beat.. Its usually always like this for every game you play once another company develops it


Btw switch if you are level 13 and you are 41 hours into the game.... LOL you must not do anything at all in this game... I pick up everything of value, and i explore alot of stuff. It seems to me the way you are playing is not doing any quests.. Thats why you can say you are level 13 and 41 hours in, usually doing 1-2 long quests will level you. So i am 100% sure thats why you are such a low level.. You havent done but a handfull of quests.. All you do is explore, and once you get those quests you are probably going to fly right through them because you already visited those area's you are only going to disapoint yourself later in the game by doing what you are doing

Yeah candyman I agree. I really think the TC is a troll because there is literally no way anyone can see all this game has to offer in 30-40 hours. 100 hours minimum to see everything it has to offer I would say.

Saying you have seen everything does not mean you have TC. From the way you have posted I can tell you have completely rushed the game and have played on a low difficulty (Hint: Normal is too easy as well. Hard/Very hard are the only worthwhile difficulties, the others are a joke and you are ruining the game for yourself if you play on them.)

This game is going to last me wayyyyyyy longer than Fallout 3 ever did. If they bring out the same amount of DLC that Fallout 3 had then well, I will probably put 1000+ hours into this over the next few years

Also in New Vegas you can actually roleplay, you could never do that in Fallout 3. In New Vegas you can actually become a hunter and go hunt wildlife, live off the land cooking your own meals and scavenging for water every day. You could not do that in Fallout 3. There was no wildlife, no survival aspect of the game, no roleplaying. It was a shooter with a very small amount of storytelling/RPG elements.. It was not a true fallout game whereas New Vegas is what Fallout fans have always wanted.

I was really close to 50 hours, when I finished my first time through, but I left LOTS of things undone, and may places to see. I think about 55-70 hours totalm depending on how hard you search each area.

What helped me finish the game so quickly is I ended up finishing a lot of quests before I ever got them just because I was running around and exploring.

Seriously? I played a character for 30 hours, got to level 14 and have decided to start again (my character build was rubbish). In that game I hadn't strayed far from the MQ pathline, only just met Benny, and had a load of SQs uncompleted (and doubtless loads more to discover). Either my character really was bad, I'm ridiculously slow, or the OP has not really seen and done everything there is to offer.

I dunno, many map markers in FO3 were just the same old Bethesda 'dungeon doors' that lead into a cave/subway. Very underwhelming if you ask me and as for pointless markers...remember the radio towers in FO 3?


Right now, I'm still pretty svcked into the game, not finding a shortage of things to do and really intrigued as things go on.
Pacing is very good if you ask me and the addition of hardcoe has changed the way I play the game, for the better. I'm finding that factions add a flavor that FO 3 sorely lacked. Definitely not a bland experience and with random npcs running around doing their thing, the world feels more alive than FO 3.

I have the guide for FNV...there's more to do, straight up. I will likely put more time into this than FO 3 and as for general quality of content, FNV is definitely not subpar to FO 3, they are generally comparable.

The only options are that A) He is trolling B) He rushed the game on very easy/easy/normal mode and is exaggerating how much of the game he has actually experienced. Probably just beat the main quest and a handful of side quests/areas and thinks hes seen it all.

Those are the only reasons. New Vegas is just way too huge to see it all in 30-40 hours.. Sorry but it really is. I doubt I will see everything until around 120 hours(more if I restart, which I will soon, probably after the next patch) if even that. I like to savour the experience and just go out on nuclear wasteland hunting sessions for days on end, hunting game and collecting pelts and such to trade. Random activities that I get so much enjoyment out of like hunting/crafting/trading/watching arena fights/gambling/roleplaying a serial killer(ten times more enjoyable than it was in fallout 3) and such are going to add hundreds more hours to the game.

I suspect this is going to be one of the games that even when I'm "done" with it I'm never actually going to be "done" with it. I will never get bored of it and it will always be awesome fun to play, it will always have new experiences to share. It is a classic in the true sense of the word.

Obviously you have not read (or understood my posts) I am not power rushing the game, I have explained a few times now why I feel fallout new vegas is smaller/less time consuming. Also I play on hard-non hardcoe. The reason I level so fast and the game is so easy for me is because I've played fallout 3 so much and almost all the knowledge from fallout 3 can be put to use in fallout new vegas with the exception of a few game mechanics. So I didn't spend ANY time or barely any time learning game mechanics. People say new vegas is challenging, and sure in the beginning it was )on hard difficulty but right now I'm walking around with a hunting shotgun and a special sniper rifle roflstomping EVERY enemy into the ground and if he/she doesn't immediately die then Boone or Rex will take care of them. People say they don't believe me but I actually have discovered just about every location on the map and I've explored them all fully. (ofcourse I'll have missed something but that's not the point) I also don't skip dialogue and I've done alot of quests but I'm only 35 - 40 hours into the game. And I've said I have the FEELING I'm almost done. I've also completed the main quest and reloaded a save just before the point of no return. So what I've got left to do is discover only a handful of locations, explore new vegas a bit more and do I think 30 - 40 % of quests. Now let's say that will take me 30 hours. (which is alot more then I think it will take me) And it certainly won't be more than 30 hours. I would've completed the game in 60 - 70 hours. Whilst it would take me at least a 120 to complete fallout 3. See my point?



Actually no one here has compared fallout 3 + dlc to fallout new vegas, all comparisons were between new vegas and the base game of fallout 3.

The hours people are posting seem right on track for most games.
If you spent 300 hours in F3, well I feel really sorry for you.
I wonder if having spent 300 hours might be why you are finding this one boring.

I for one am glad their isn't a pointless dungeon every few steps filled to the brim with loot, guns, and ammo.
That really didn't make any sense in F3 at all.
The metro tunnels were just plain annoying as hell.
You might have spent 150-999 hours in F3 but it isn't worth it. There isn't that much quality there.

I keep getting the impression that people who aren't digging New Vegas tend to lean towards wanting to be able to build a god-mode character
to then just kill time with.

Have you not considered the fact that maybe you completed New Vegas faster than Fallout 3 because you were familiar with the game mechanics and what to do?

I personally completed Fallout 3's main quest and I'd say about 75% of the side quests and collected all bobble heads/books in about 80 hours. I am at half that in New Vegas right now and can easily tell from how far I have progressed that New Vegas will take me far longer to experience and complete, even though I'm very familiar with the game mechanics and how to play.

At the end of the day I am refusing to believe you because I am literally constantly doing things in the game and as I have said, I'm only level 13 with like 1/4th of the game done. If you are not fibbing, you rushed it. There is literally no other way you could complete a game this huge, this detailed in such a short time frame.

You say you haven't skipped any conversations too, well I think thats a fib because all the conversations you would have to experience just from doing as much of the game as you have claimed too would have easily been 10 hours of audio which means you would have had to completed the game in 20-30 hours.. impossible(main quest is easily possible.. but "completing" the game.. NO)

So yeah dude, the only reason you have finished New Vegas faster is because you obviously played a lot of Fallout 3 and because you have rushed through the game and probably fast traveled everywhere(maybe you didn't do that as much in fallout 3 and that's why it seemed longer) Your loss man, it was something to be savored. Best RPG of my life.

Meh, I kind of both agree and disagree.

The world does feel "empty", but it's because it appears that the game is overall incomplete. I have a suspicion that the developers had to strip out a LOT of planned content to make deadlines, which really isn't their fault. Between bug testing, modelling, texturing, scripting, designing, voice acting, and God knows what else, there's only so much time to "fill" a world. My suspicion is backed up by the fact that the game got released with a ton of game-breaking bugs, and a lot of texturing/meshes were not complete (see the issue with some armor only having a male body variant).

The good news is that Obsidian does seem to be a competant, self-respecting company, so these things will get fixed in time, and when they're done with that, they can inject new content that might have been intended for the game at release.

For PC users, this comes as an extra blessing: modders have some -serious- real estate to play with. In the end, this is good for the game and the players.

I agree somewhat....I was hoping for more instances like Bethesda Ruins, random Office buildings, Super Mutant infested Academy, towns like Greyditch etc...however, there is still plenty to do in NV and the RPG elements are more thoughtful and challenging.

Still, I have set my sights on several empty triangles only to be greeted with a dead brahmin and locked doors.

If you mean "unique" locations by the things you just mentioned there are FAR more in New Vegas than there was in Fallout 3, keep looking as you seem to have missed them.

Such areas - Super mutant mountain town
Underground fight arena which you can bet on fights/participate in
The vaults. They are all very well done and unique just like the ones in 3
The airport/airforce base
I don't know what you mean by a town like grayditch as grayditch wasn't really a town, just a bland boring area that looked the same as the rest of D.C used for the fire ant quest.. wasn't a town at all nor was it unique

Those are just a few off the top of my head. Each one is very detailed and quite good fun to explore.

I think you are misunderstanding. The OP is mainly complaining about the lack of the pointless random ruins, metro tunnels and caves that Fallout 3 was littered with from the beginning, no DLC added any of those (actually, i think Broken Steel added few locations, such as Hank's electric store near Jury street metro.) The quests and writing may, and propably are more numerous and better, but in a "sandbox" game one comes to expect plenty of pointless dungeons one can search trough at ones leisure.

I agree with Switch296's sentiments. Reading these comments it strikes me that some here are overlooking the pink elephant in the room--namely that Obsidian is clearly paying homage to the spirit of role-playing. It is patently obvious that the narrative is intentionally ambiguous and that gives gamers the freedom (via their imaginations’) to create their role in the game-world.

For a while now it has become de rigueur to assume that attention deficit challenged gamers no longer can be left to their own devices, because in our hyper-stimulated society people require substantial linear direction so they will know what to think. Hold the carrot out and they chase it, but inform them that there may or may not be a carrot at the end of the glowing gold trail and they become confused. That's because if you don't spoon-feed them their role in the story they feel lost. Consequently, many RPG’s have succumbed to the Michael Bay school of design and any pretense that this genre is uniquely suited to advance our imaginations has fallen by the wayside.

Well, not all games are best served by a profundity of literalness and one of the best things about the medium of games is that it gives our imaginations space to roam. Obsidian did not forget that when they designed this game even if many gamers have.

The map does seem a bit empty, when I needed weapons/medic/and repair I looked up and down the map for locations other than goosprings to get these things... all the towns are not really towns at all, i couldnt find what I was looking for and no one had directions likely cause that "town" didnt offer that service.

Take novac for instance. A bunch of vacant rooms, a weapon shop.... and thats about it. And this is supposably one of the more lively towns? Its got hardly anything in it!!

btw im lvl 10 and Im at the strip needing to get something from benny... Idk how long the main quest is, but I hope its not soon over. So far I've found crap for guns and finally got my hands on the bounty duster. I hope i find more interesting items later in game...

Must be fast traveling. I was 27 hours in and just barely made it into Freeside.

I think you skipped alot of posts in this thread (including the ones I made) after reading my OP and maybe 2 -3 posts afterwards. I have not completed the game yet, but from the looks of things I will have it completed after another 20 - 30 hours, whilst I spent a good 100+ in fallout 3. Also even though my thread title and OP were a bit deceiving the main point of this thread was comparing fallout new vegas to fallout 3 in areas like exploration and immersion. If was not as much about me personally. And about the dialogue, when I see someone with a unique name and if he/she looks like someone who can give me a quest, I talk to them. I listen to what they have to say maybe ask a question or two and done. I do not (I never said I did this) click every single option and listen to ALL the things they can say. Sometimes I do this but only with interesting characters like Marcus ( was he called that? ) in jacobstown. Also when I'm "done" with this character I'll start anew with a very hard - maybe hardcoe sneak melee character. After that I'll make another character and I'll collect and do every single thing there is in the game ( special items that is) using the internet. Just to make sure I haven't missed out on any content whatsoever. Maybe I'll also buy it for the ps3 so I can also play it on vacation and I'll likely make a few more characters even after my first 3, all in all I'll likely spend a good 200 hours on this game. But this is all off-topic. And seeing that we're problaby never going to agree on in how much time I or anyone could have completed this game, just disregard that part. This thread is mainly about the comparison between fallout 3 and fallout new vegas. And I believe bethesda did a way better job at exploration and world building than obsidian, however obsidian did a way better job at making this an RPG-shooter.(emphasis on the RPG).



This is a perfect example of missed potential. There was barely anything to do in this town and after an hour I was already done with it. They could have done so much more with this and the time I did spend there I was having an absolutely great time. I would have liked a bigger guest line here.

How is this even relevant to the thread?



It all depends on what you're going to do first, you can spend a good 40 hours without entering freeside even once. Or you can run to freeside straight from goodsprings and you'll be there in an hour.



Please don't make these assumptions that I rushed through if you haven't even read all my posts, which you clearly haven't.

I'm over 20 hours in and have only completed through Primm. I've been exploring, leveling, and getting unique weapons in the mean time.

I am 70 hours in and I still have a lot to do.

It's relevant because in FNV the game-world exists to serve your role in it. While FO3 did offer up a large quantity of loot/content under the guise of exploration much of it was redundant. The loot in FNV is a collateral reason to explore but not the primary one. In Bioware games, the narrative drives exploration and in this game, your role drives it. FO3 taken on its own merits is a somewhat engaging game but it had neither a great narrative nor a game world suited for role-playing. It's a bit of an anomaly because it isn't a diablo style clone, or a game with a deep narrative, or a role-playing bonanza, or a hybrid action RPG...what it is thankfully, is the game that got us to this one.

I'm at 20-something hours with my main char, level 16, and through a decent portion of the main quest. (Mr. House and I are good friends)

I can see how someone could be underwhelmed by the game if they played it like I did their first time through. But frankly, I know for a fact that I've skipped countless side-quests, intentionally kept my distance from Cazadores and Deathclaws, and anything with radiation in it I kept away from. But in the times where I was aimlessly wandering, the 'random place with boarded doors' seems to fit well with the atmosphere. (I live in Vegas, and out in the desert, a cave IS a landmark) There is also a disturbing lack of appreciation for some of the stuff Obsidian put in just for face value. The campsite near Red Rock, the ransacked caravan, and a bunch of other odds and ends that add to the game for atmosphere, rather than 'omgz dungeon here!'. Consider the map marker a 'hey there was something here' rather than an actual "location of interest" and it'll make more sense.

As an aside, to you players that say 'Vhard is the only way to play' normally I would agree with you, but personally, my suspension of disbelief ends when I can drop 50+ AP rounds out of my best weapon and still have 3/4 of a Legion recruit's HP to go. Difficulty should make the game higher risk, not more time-consuming.