» Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:17 pm
Alright, keep in mind I haven't thoroughly read every post. I get your point and what you mean. More specifically, the atmosphere of the two games. In all honesty Bethesda achieved something with Fallout 3 I'm not sure anyone will attempt to emulate in the future. And thats the pure bleakness and despair of the whole world they crafted. Its not scary but more so unnerving. The things Fallout 3 depicted or the world itself, the music, and the atmosphere, it all created a mood that didn't make you sad but somehow couldn't help but make you feel drained at how bleak the Capital Wasteland was and would continue to be for some time. It was something Black Isle didn't (And couldn't in the late 90s, or maybe even want to) achieve with Fallout 1 or 2. Which is surprising, for people you consider "nerds" many Fallout fans do love good humor and found Fallout 3 too bleak as well.
And because of this and geographical reasons Fallout New Vegas is different because first Obsidian needed to establish a different mood to differentiate the game from Bethesda's 3, so it didn't seem like a meaningless side story or just an expansion pack just because it wasn't Fallout 4. Plus the west coast, and as Mr. House explained Vegas, wasn't as badly ravaged by nuclear warheads as the east coast which isn't surprising because D.C. is a more high priority target(Or in realistic terms, there should of been barely anything left standing in 3. Wouldn't of made for a good game though, and Fallout in general is far from realistic at times.)
Plus unlike the east coast, or D.C. anyways, the west is slowly starting to recover and even more the NCR states and whatever Caesar's established. So basically that's why New Vegas is different from Fallout 3 and why it doesn't convey the soul-svcking bleak mood of the later.