If anything, my initial reaction to NV is that it's too crowded. I'm not happy that it's that easy to see Primm from Goodsprings. I would have like to see them expand the map about 50% and spread things out more.

I think it feels LESS empty than FO3, primarily because it feels more realistic. The towns are organized like real towns probably would be in such a situation. There are farms and ranches and gardens providing food. You can even get a feel for the economy of the area. While this has no impact on how much stuff there really is, it makes it seem like every bit that IS there actually matters.

There may be more distance between a lot of the points of interest, but I feel like that's as it should be rather than being a problem.

I believe that the gameplay is better but the map is not half as fun as Fallout 3. I don't see myself plaything this game nearly as long as I played FO3 because the map will get boring much faster. There really is nothing going on.

I wish it felt empty to me.
I'm a little scared to journey off the highways. I've had some terrifying experiences, and had to reload a few times.

The journey is what you make it.

Wow, you guys with empty wastelands must be crazy lucky. Every time I go off the beaten path there is some manner of horror/monstrosity/bullet sponge waiting for me. I'm talking all sorts of deathclaws, radscorpions, ghouls, centaurs....hell I was chased through a valley by a parade of bark scorpions just a little while ago. Yeah they're easy to kill but there were just too many XD
Anyway, I think it feels just right.

I would have to disagree with you here, I feel that the amount of enemies in New Vegas is just about right.

I hate it when games just have tons of enemies running around for no purpose at all.

I don't mind having some random encounters, but Fallout 3, had way to many. It never felt like a wasteland, it felt like I was running around a shooting gallery.

The above statements are just my opinions.

Wow, iI've only put about six or seven hours into the game, but I kept remarking to myself how full of things the Mojave Wasteland was compared to the Capital Wasteland. Goodsprings, Primm, the NCRCF all really close to each other and plenty of smaller camps and such scattered around. The map itself seems to be smaller, but more jam-packed to me.

I live on the edge of a desert. Up north, where a number of settlements were abandoned before a meterological survey was done, it looks pretty much like a lot of the game. Except there's few mountain ranges, and it's australia. Still full of people who suddenly appear and want to torture and murder you though.

Defiantly seems jam packed with good things compared to the Capital Wasteland. I don't know if following highways and roads just makes it seem busier or whatever, but I like it.

For me, as of right now (a solid dozen hours) it feels right. I venture off the main road at just about any point and withing a fairly short walk there will be something if not just right off the road. I don't need or want action for the sake of it. I want to have the feeling that it's a fairly desolate location. For me FO3 definitely never felt desolate.

Rarely do I go any decent amount of time without something popping up on my radar (crows not included). I also tend to track near the road, not directly on it. I could see how it might seem emptier from the road, it's odd to me that the most traveled path is also the most free of danger.

I am going to have to agree with the original poster. The movaje wasteland just doesn't have the same atmosphere as the capital wasteland IMO. I've been playing Fallout NV non stop since it's release - well except when the bugs and freezing keep me from it - and I just don't get the same feeling I did when playing Fallout 3.

Sure a lot of the spots in FO3 were pointless except for maybe a skillbook or something but there was almost always a story for each location. Whether it was a burned out house filled with raiders or a skeletal family inside a bomb shelter. The Mojave just doesn't have the same personality.

Now the crows are fun the first time I realized I could shoot it I was like hmm... * pulls out cowboy repeater and goes into iron sights * and the bird freaking exploded!!! lol I was like o.o ...the [censored] man? But man I'm really loving this, I don't think it's too empty, plus theres ALWAYS mods!

Gee I don't know...maybe because it's a, uh hmmm....DESERT!?!?!?!?!? :wink_smile: Sorry I am just a little punchy right now :snoring:

Hmmmm thanks for that. Those crows aref gonna start dropping dead now.

Hah, i shot a crow too. Probably because i just watched The Stand, anyone who has watched it knows what i'm talking about. The bad thing is, my windows shot itself to leg, won't start, which means i can't play fallout. My life svcks.

WHAT!!!! Empty? Are you crazy there is so much out there in the Mojave! I personally believe that NV is a assload more "filled" then FO3,

I could argue that FO3 felt empty as well

I have feeling the DLC will will be like Borderlands where they added new region/maps

Funny, to me the Capitol Wasteland had too many hostile NPCs around. You'd explore a mountain ridge and run into 4-5 super mutants or raiders stationed there for no apparent reason.

Capital wasteland > Mojave Wasteland
Mojave interiors > Capital interiors

It just doesn't have that 'feel' about it the Mojave wasteland IMO anyway, although what it lacks there it makes up for in quests, gameplay features and writing

Can't say I agree with that, I'm still waiting for a ghoul filled subway.

I just prefer the look of the interiors in NV not what creatures they are filled with, if we were to go with that you could say it's a little lack luster

I agree with the OP. This is an issue which has personally affected my enjoyment of this game. The biggest reason I play Bethesda games is that the worlds they make are amazing, and Fallout 3 was no exception. It was filled to the brim with locations, even if many were small, and you were never walking around for a long time without being able to see in the distance a new location to explore. In New Vegas, on the other hand, I've found myself walking for minutes without finding anything new aside from a few enemies to fight. There are many, many parts of the Mojave Wasteland that are disgustingly empty, with only hordes of enemies placed there to give the player something to do. Perhaps the most noticeable place, aside from the huge, relatively empty area north of New Vegas, is the Colorado River. When I reached the south portion of the river, I decided it would be interesting to swim up it to the Hoover Dam. Now, I know for sure that if Bethesda made this game, there would be tons of locations along the banks of the river. Abandoned shacks, caves, maybe even a small settlement. Nothing major, but still something. Obsidian elected to add absolutely nothing there other than a few crates of explosives and dozens and dozens of enemies. It was so boring. I've explored about 70% of the map by now, but swimming the Colorado River is really what proved to me how much Obsidian pales in comparison to Bethesda in this regard. Obsidian improved almost everything in Fallout 3. The quests are longer and more complex, there are more towns and cities, more factions, more interesting factions, a better story... but they just didn't get the actual world they gave us to explore right.

This is exactly how I feel.


I am noticing that while there are more locations a good handful of them are completely pointless. I keep coming across significant locations (the name comes up on screen) where there is nothing there.

Such as Devils Gullet (I think that's what it's called) it's just a big hole in the ground near good springs with nothing there except

Meh, Fallout 3 felt stuffed with random dungeons that served no real purpose.
I like it more in NV.