New Vegas was great for a single play through. My problem with it was that everything was so centered on the main storyline and the game was structured in such a way that replays felt like you were living the movie 'Groundhog Day'. It had the least amount of replay value of all the listed titles, to me.

What I don't really get is people mistaking the term "RPG" for "choose your own adventure!" kind of books. That's not what role play stands for, It may be a way of portraying It, but not the only possible way, nor the one I really ask for in a game. I strive for a more "free" game. That's why I prefer the TES series.

I have it at

FONV > FO3 > with Obl & Skyrim tied.

Skyrim to me is nothing more then a beta ish version of FO3 sadly =\

Skyrim barely beats NV in my mind. New Vegas has elements that are superior to Skyrim, especially companions, quest choices/diversity/multiple outcomes, which makes you feel more in control. When I play NV, I feel like I'm making my mark on the world. When I play Skyrim, I feel more like I'm being guided to make Beth's mark on the world (It's quite a gorgeous world).

So far I've only felt empathy for a few NPCs. Sapphire, that guy in the Marcarth prison mine (I almost choked up. That [censored] was sad), Mjoll, and Lydia (mostly because she died fighting alongside me against a dragon priest that I only survived because of Atronach sign).

But Sapphire/Mjoll will never live up to Cass, Ganon, Boone, or Veronica, in my opinion. Those characters were absolutely amazing. I think it might be the whole "they open up to you slowly" thing. It makes it feel like you're actually getting to know them better and earning their trust. It makes them seem more human.

Beth does a lot of things right, especially connection to the world (which is why I put Skyrim higher than NV). The atmosphere, the weather, the sky, the cities, the amazing atmospheric music, they almost become a "silent actor" who is by your side through the whole game. But for their next game, Beth needs more than just "silent actors", it needs living breathing actors who you can get to know on a deep and personal level.

That's why NV blows Oblivion out of the water. It's not even close.

Same here I didn't get into Oblivion till after I played fallout 3. Now I can't wait for the new fallout!!!

i voted for Skyrim and Oblivion, mainly because i never really got into Fallout. The general setting just isn't as appealing to me as the Elder Scrolls.

Completely agree about the empathy & companions part. There just seems to be zero connection between your character and the game for Skyrim. Companions have maybe 4 lines in this but you look at games like FO, ME, DA..you actually WANTED to hear the convos your companions would start. Immersion in Skyrim is non exsistant which is why I have this below the listed games. I shake my head when people say this game is perfect or is GOTY.





anti apocalyptic zombie hater! lol

Fallout 3 unbeatable at the top

Skyrim


Oblivion




Fallout NV ugh...

NV>Skyrim>FO3>OB

whats skewing results in your poll though is you put skyrim and OB separately, so fantasy players will get 2 votes and FO fans only get 1

The lack of connection is a flaw, but I still think Skyrim beats NV and should be GOTY, if only for the gorgeous atmosphere and deep complexity of the game's environment.

I, for one, will be creating a few companion mods for Skyrim (Not sleezy six mods either, God those creep me out), and a few more "personal" quests. I've really been looking forward to making a vampire clan mod, with dialogue options, and where your actions actually will help/hurt your relationships with the other people in the clan.

I have something of a pipe dream to work for Beth someday, so the plan is to add these kinds of mods to my portfolio, and then apply sometime after I earn my degree. I don't give myself much of a chance of getting hired, but I know Beth needs that "personal connection" and I hope that maybe I can help them achieve that in TES VI, or VII lol

Fallout 3/Oblivion.. Im minority.

Turn the list around and you're right on.

Fallout is good but its bland wastelands don't have anything to compare to TES game environments.

Also, magic and swords are far more entertaining than guns.

Cass is one of my all time favorite video game characters. I absolutely love that chick. The "companions" in Skyrim are just tank bots. There's nothing to them at all. Unfortunately there's nothing to most characters in TES games. I've never cared about a character in a TES game, which forces me to RP how my character should react to them based on the extremely limited things I can find out about them. In NV there were a ton of characters that were great and that I reacted with actual visceral hatred or affection to. No TES game has actually achieved that.

So basically you are saying Skyrim should get the Best Graphics award then. Even then there are better graphical games with less holed game play & that not-so-empty feeling about your character when traveling through the game world. At the moment this game is getting recognitions for the hype that was built up on it more then anything.

Dialogue is going to be tough. Unless there are hidden sound files in the game for alot of the companions that is not getting triggered properly but good luck in that.

Cause it didn't have a sandbox map and the game steered you in a u-turn travel?
For me it's the complete opposite.
One playthrough in Oblivion and I had seen everything.
In New Vegas on the other hand I had tons of choices in quests and I could end it six ways: Caesar, Lanius, NCR, House, Independent and Greed.
In Skyrim I only did a certain amount of content before I ended my first character, cause I knew that if I had continued and done every quest then there would be nothing new for the next playthrough.
But with New Vegas, even if I tried to do every quest there would still be tons of choices and quests left for me to do.

So Oblivion, once I had finished the first playthrough, I took out the disc out of the xbox and put in something else.
With New Vegas, the disc stayed in for months.

So I guess it's all about what you consider great reaplayability.
For me it was choices in quests and dialogue. :fallout:

[edit]

Then again, for anyone that thought the gameworld was linear: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/186/a/4/nv_map__how_to_get_north_by_gabriel77cortez-d3l1vn8.jpg

I'm a bit surprised. For me Fallout: NV is at least a dozen times better than FO 3.

Reading the topic I thought at first that it would relate to anology: that FO:NV is to FO 3 as Skyrim is to Oblivion. That wouldn't seem right for me as well. Perhaps some upcoming expension to Skyrim (if it was done by another studio) could be Skyrim's NV.

Then again neither Morrowind, Daggerfall or Oblivion had any form of story-driven companions, and yet I consider them my favorite games in all honesty. The only memorable characters were just so in a "lore" kind of way (Vivec, Uriel Septim VII, Mannimarco), or as main plot developers (Baurus, Caius Cosades, Martin Septim or Tulius, Ulfric, Delphine, Esbern and Arngeir for this installement). The Fallout series, just as Baldur's Gate, on the other hand, relied heavily on companions, although FO3 was a bit closer to TES, being developed by Beth.

Exact same experience here. I had to cut off my first character in Skyrim as well because I had already done too much with him. I started a new one just so I'd have enough stuff to do and still get to try out a different play style. After this one I can't see any reason to go back to it. Radiant fetch quests? I think not. Whereas in NV everything you do has a consequence. With new playthroughs I could not only try different styles of play but try different outcomes, different companions and different factions.

Not mention the writing is so much better than TES games. Yes, there are less "dungeons" but most every dungeon in NV tells a great story. Vault 11 alone blows away anything in a TES game and you don't even directly talk to anyone.

Yeah, but characters aren't the only window into the immersive experience, I'd argue (Just a window that Beth has woefully neglected). Beth does everything else extraordinarily well.

I just always got the sense from the Beth studio that they weren't really the most "emotional" people in the world, and some of that kinda reflects in their games and makes more "soulful" gamers feel a bit empty.



Oh no, I can voice act myself and I have some buddies who do drama/acting so I can have them read the rest.

This one is tricky, but in the end, New Vegas wins for me. I do not give preferential treatment to fantasy over sci-fi. I don't actually care either way. I ask myself what offered the best experience. I have a feeling that the edge MAY go to Skyrim after the modders get ahold of it. However, for the now, New Vegas in my mind is just EXCELLENT. I know it isn't for everyone. And being partial to New Vegas in particular no way implies that I dislike TES or Fallout 3. I enjoy them all for their own reasons. I think New Vegas captures "Fallout" better than Fallout 3 did. And if I am going to be 100% honest, Obsidian are MILES ahead of Bethesda in terms of writing, and yes, that matters.

SPECIAL will always have a place in my heart. Fallout 1 was a Christmas gift when I was a young fellow. I'm just not so much an FO diehard to not get any enjoyment out of the modern interpretations. Now if Bethesda/Obsidian could just get their hands on Arcanum

I'd argue that they can't make compelling characters or quests which makes for an underwhelming role playing experience most of the time. There's only so long you can wander around a pretty world, doing things that have no actual effect on that world, at all in how it responds to you listening to the same dialog over and over. The exploration aspects are nice in TES games but the feeling that it is a living, breathing world is lacking for me.

Skyrim > NV > FO3/Oblivion for me.

Skyrim > NV in the upper league. The others are too bad to compare.

Vegas, baby.
All day, every day.