Please no FO3 bashers here!

I have played all of the main FO games somewhat extensively. I received NV, Christmas of 2011 from my parents, and I purchased FO3 about a month and a half later (GOTY edition). I later got my hands on the box set of FO1, 2, and Tactics. I can safely say, that while NV means a lot to me because it was a gift and my first FO game, I find FO3 to be the best out of all of the FO games. I enjoyed it the most for many reasons, but I wonder if anyone else is like me - does anyone here like FO3 the most? If so, please post some reasons why you liked it the most. If not, but you have some good comments on it, feel free to post them; I'd just prefer all FO3 bashing to stay out of this thread if possible, as it's just to gather the opinions of people with opinions like my own.

My opinionated reasons for liking FO3 the best are as follows:

- Best setting of all of the games: I get so tired of seeing the west coast games over and over again - the west coast is a boring setting for a post-apocalyptic game in my opinion. I am playing Fallout to roleplay as though I'm in a scenario AFTER a massive nuclear war, not playing it to basically play a cowboy-esque western game which feels like there's hardly any struggle to survive. Sure, the NV story was actually quite brilliant. I just don't like how "rebuilt and thriving" that NV had. The other FO games were slightly more post-apocalyptic, but they still felt relatively rebuilt. FO3 had all of the wrecked buildings, small and struggling civilisation, masses of mutated creatures and humans, and clean water is next to impossible to find outside of vaults. THAT is a true post-apocalyptic setting. Radiation can take time to go away, even after 200 years - the setting in FO3 is how I'd imagine the world, even 200 years after a nuclear war

- Better story: Say what you want about NV or the other west-coast FO games, I think FO3's story was really engaging and fun to play around with. Sure, there were the cliche moments, but in general, the story was a lot more engaging and original than most give Bethesda credit for. I especially like some of the side stories like the Vault 87 super mutants, the story of Dunwich Building was relatively crazy, and the fact that there's so many side things like an old abandoned fallout shelter in the middle of the DC ruins occupied by an apparently ghoulified human who took shelter in there. That's what entertains me, moreso than the really direct stories of the other FO games.

- More fun: gameplay mechanic-wise, I certainly say NV is the best. However, I found that being able to scour the ruins of DC and the rest of the surrounding area of Maryland was a lot more fun. The other games just show sand and dirt for miles, with the occasional village or something like that. In FO3, while it was primarily dirt, rocks, and more dirt, you could come across a random cave, town, farm, house, or even the radio towers. Each one of them seems to have some sort of story, even if the story is small and short. I like the fact that I actually have to be really careful about what's around that corner, as there could be ANYTHING waiting for me. Plus, the DLCs were incredible, particularly The Pitt, which took me to a city I may end up living in, in a few years. Very haunting, as I've been to Pittsburgh in real life many times. Plus, the story of The Pitt was quite interesting and engaging, and presents the player with the 'stuck between a rock and a hard place' feel with their choices.

- Darker, more demented feel: you have your good guys, and your bad guys. The good guys could be extremely good (like James), or just somewhat good. The bad guys could be just somewhat bad and annoying like Butch, or they can be completely demented like Stanislaus Braun or Alistair Tenpenny and Burke. And not just the people in the game have this contrast. You also have the stories like Vault 106, 87, or 112, which were rather demented in their own way. This would be expected if society had to rebuild almost completely from scratch.

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Those are the main things that cause me to enjoy FO3 more than any other FO game. If I think of more, I'll post them.

So.. anyone else think FO3 is the best FO game there is?