For Those Who Do Not Understand The Definitive Ending : Fallout: New Vegas

» Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:06 am

Like Bethesda before them with Fallout 3, Obsidian decided to give Fallout: New Vegas a fixed ending, so that players cannot play beyond the end of the main quest. As a pre-caution, Obsidian has also (very considerately) implemented a "Point of No Return" message for those who want to save before the end-game and reload to explore/do side-quests/collect items/level-up.
Understandably, there are many people who are upset, as this mirrors the debacle with Fallout 3, where the fixed ending was removed with the "Broken Steel" expansion pack that allowed continued play.
For those who do not like to read into the things that they spend their (parents') paychecks on, I will help: Obsidian has made statements several times explaining that it was carefully considered and ultimately decided against because the ramifications of your actions in New Vegas would be biblical and thus, too grand to depict, even in downloadable content. Plus, there would be nothing left to do, really.

» Thu Jul 01, 2010 4:32 pm

Endless RPG's are the bane of the business IMO (in terms of quality, and what the customer gets for their cash).

Obsidian has made the right choice, and FO:NV sits better in line with the series for it. :celebration:

» Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:56 pm

In what vanilla Fallout game have they not had a definitive ending? Just sayin.

» Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:55 pm

In what vanilla Fallout game have they not had a definitive ending? Just sayin.

In Fallout 2.

JE Sawyer says:
http://planetfallout.gamespy.com/articles/interviews/1930/Planet-Fallout-Interviews-Josh-Sawyer

What was the decision behind the definitive ending? There was a lot of moaning and arguing about Fallout 3 having a hard ending and in the end we got a DLC that allowed for an open ending. Don't you expect the same to happen?
Sure, but I also think that would happen if we allowed players to play past the end of the game but didn't show the impact of their actions on the world. There is a lot of reactivity to your actions at the end of the game and we give the player a very clear warning when they are approaching the main plot's conclusion.
We felt that having an endgame denouement with a large number of far-reaching effects was too important to either allow the player to continue playing in a world that didn't react to any of those things or make the endgame states minimalistic. There is a lot of reactivity to your actions at the end of the game and we give the player a very clear warning when they are approaching the main plot's conclusion.