Now, please be gentle with me. I'm a Community discussion and sometimes Skyrim member. I hear whispers of a harsh and desolate land, where members rise from the toxic swamps of the bethesda forums, to maim and devour innocents who dare call New Vegas FO:3 NV and where ancient beings preach of the decay of modern gaming and all its heinous crimes.

Anyway, I really enjoyed FO:3, having never played a FO game before, I found it a thoroughly immersive and engrossing gaming experience. From what I hear, NV is even better.

Now, bar the setting...what really sets this apart from FO:3?

Thank you forum members. Here I leave a sacrificial turtle, an offering to the Fallout gods

Ther are Iron Sights.
There is a companion wheel as compared to Fallout 3 where you had to enter dialogue with companions to give orders.
There is a reputation system so if you piss Goodsprings off then they're gonna stay pissed off at you as compared to Fallout 3 where everyone mellowed down after 3 days.
There are 4 main quest lines to follow, 1 which is very very open with it's choices and one which splits into two more choices.
There are over hundreds of quests.
There is a DT system as compared to a DR system, now to explain this, You have 10DR, an enemy shoots a weapon that does 20 DAM towards you, it means that 10% gets reducted from his damage, so his damage becomes 18. With DT on the other hand it's a fixed defense number, so 10DT means that 10 DAM is taken off of the damage dealt to you. So DT means direct decrease in damage where as DR means a % based damage reduction. New Vegas uses DT.

There are multiple ammo types for each weapon and tons of weapon mods.
You get a perk every other level as compared to every level.
The level cap without DLC's is 30, with DLC's it's 50.
Big Guns has been split up into Energy Weapons, Guns and Explosives.
Survival is a new skill which determines how effective food and herbal medicine is and also allows you to craft it.
SPECIAL is a bit more important now.
You get to choose Traits at the start of the game, Traits is not like Perks which only give a positive effect, Traits give a positive effect but also a negative effect.

The gameworld is not sandbox like Fallout 3 is, it has a certain design to follow, but once you learn the game it's easier to cheat this design.
Companions now have longer storylines tied to themselves which helps develop their character in not only story but abilities too.
There are less dungeons than in Fallout 3.

We also burn kittens, puppies, and Todd Howard dolls in dark rituals on Sundays.


To put it simply, New Vegas focuses less on combat and exploration, and more on interaction, narrative, quest design, and choices with consequeces.

Those are basically the biggest differences, there's some minor details here and there, but it can safely be said that just because you like Fallout 3 and Skyrim does not necessarily mean that you'll like New Vegas (which is why there are a lot of Bethesda enthusiasts who don't). Fallout 3 and New Vegas are only similar on a superficial level, both games have completely different design philosophies. Fallout 3 is aimed at people who want to explore and fight in an open world sandbox while New Vegas is aimed more at people who prefer just doing quests which range from the mundane to the over the top, and following a narrative.

To add to what's already been mentioned, if you turn on hardcoe Mode (I don't play without it on), ammo has weight, and healing items are heal-over-time instead of instant, and stimpacks no longer fix limbs (gotta use chems that do it, like Hydra, or a Doctor's Bag).

More freedom and a better RPG levelling mechanic.

The most basic difference is the style of gameplay the game is designed for.

Bethesda likes to design worlds that encourage the player to give quests the finger and just run around exploring.
Obsidian on the other hand has designed realistic locations (for example, FO3 had a Super Market used as a base by raiders, with plenty of medicine and weaponry to loot. New Vegas on the other hand will simply have an empty super market that looks like it's already been plundered, with one small goody or two, possibly in a locked safe requiring lockpicking), and the main focus is questing and interacting with the factions and politics of the area.

Don't play this game and expect to just run around exploring. There are locations to explore, sure, but what's a 30 minutes location in FO3 is a 5 minute one in Vegas. On the other hand, FO3 had maybe ~15 side quests? New Vegas must have over 90.


Another difference is the detail to those quests. Every character has a story and a lot to say. The New Vegas companions put those in Skyrim and FO3 to absolute shame. The conversations you can have with an NPC can last over 20 minutes, easily. (I did this yesterday with Caesar) And perhaps what makes it a "true RPG" in the eyes of many is that there's skill checks EVERYWHERE. Whereas in FO3, Science and Lockpicking literally meant hacking terminals and opening doors, here it also means those effect your conversation options. As an example, maybe a person has an explosive collar around their neck. With explosive skill or repair, you can disable it. With science, maybe you can at least deactivate the perimeters so the person can run away. With speech, you can lie to the person and convince them it's safe to run. With Merchantile, you can demand some sort of compensation for helping them, etc etc etc. Maybe a certain high-class gun merchant will demand a guns skill check from you before he even considers selling to you.
Basically, FO3 had these kind of skill checks very rarely. I remember it being something special when President Eden had his very own Science check. Here? They'll come up practically everywhere. Speech is a VERY powerful skill as it's often the only way to unlock special steps to a quest, OR it's the only way to skip out on a particularly difficult fight (all the bosses of the game, a BoS firing squad where ~3 of the 5 guys have Gauss rifles pointed at your skull; things like that).

Overall, something else worth mentioning is everything you do has meaning. In Fallout 3 there was....for example, Big Town. The skill check you use to assist them effects how they defend themselves from then on out. This is cool and a nice touch, but New Vegas may take it a step further. Maybe, for example, by New Vegas standards, some of the possible solutions you can offer Big Town don't work long-term, or specific solutions will piss off certain factions, if that faction is in power in the Mojave (something that would only happen thanks to your doing). As an example and without giving away spoilers, there's a specific faction fighting with another due to a misunderstanding. Explaining the misunderstanding may bring peace to the two, sure, but depending on who ends up in charge, their peace may tick someone off, causing another fight.

Basically, think of the Mojave desert in New Vegas like a giant spider web. If you pull a thread in one corner, you may, without even realizing it, save a life or destroy one in a completely different corner. It's all VERY complicated and intertwined, which gives the game a LOT of replay value, since there's SOOOO many possible combinations of actions and outcomes.

If you're REALLY anol about playing the good guy and never doing a thing wrong, this game may frustrate you to no end. If so, I advise taking a break from trying to be the good guy, and instead doing a pure NCR playthrough, where every action you make, you ask yourself "what would benefit the NCR the most" and do it. This will free your from your personal morals for a bit and at the same time, the NCR has a LOT of quests, so playing as one of them will give you a lot of insight into House and the Legion and most other small factions.
Overall though, I'd definitely say this is the most detailed, in-depth RPG Bethesda's ever published. Yes it's better than Morrowind, in my opinion.

For me, it took Skyrim coming out to see how far ahead New Vegas is in quite a few ways. The "social" side of the game is far ahead of other games. For example:

• You can use almost every skill in the game in conversation for benefits; whether to skip steps of a quest, or for additional rewards. A majority of skills aren't primarily purposed for combat. Additionally, the skill checks actually have two different written responses rather than a percentage, so you have the bumbling response (failed skill check) or the knowledgeable response.
  
• The faction system brings authenticity to the world. In Skyrim, if you tell Ulfric Stormcloak "no" he says that the offer still stands, and that you can change your mind. If you tell Caesar "no" he says that you better watch out.
  
• There are comparatively fewer quests, but all of them have so many moving parts depending on faction loyalty and skill checks that they will unfold completely differently between characters and choices.
  
• The writing and voice acting are in a league of their own for videogames. Obsidian really shines, and I hope there is more collaboration in the future. The idea of an Elder Scrolls game with Obsidian writing is very exciting.
  
• Shades of grey: no character or faction is clean, and the player is capable of stringing along multiple factions until they are ready to declare where their true loyalty lies.
  
• The DLC is all well written and there is even a side story that ties it all together.

Apart from some minor changes, combat is largely the same as in Fallout 3, but the overall roleplaying experience is of a higher caliber in New Vegas. I sometimes wonder why some aspects of the game didn't make it into Skyrim.

Someone else has already mentioned it, but I'll add my voice to this choir: hardcoe Mode is the badgers knadgers. I remember when I first read about Fo3, a picturewas painted of survival, specifically a desperate moment where drinking some irradiated water from a toilet was called for in order to survive. This had me anticipating some serious loadout considerations and big time scrounging.

What I found was that a high medicine skill and a diligent approach to buying supplies meant that you could acquire stimpaks faster than you'd use them. This meant that food and drink were rendered irrelevant, and therefore a colossal waste of memory, only redeemed if you took on a set of self-imposed rules. Not terrible, but a bit of a shame.

HC mode in NV rectifies this, as you now have half an eye out for food and water at all times, more stress on your inventory due to the added weight from that and ammo-weight. Stimpaks taking effect over time is not half as crippling as it might sound, but does still make you have to fight a little more intelligently, for example you can't stand in the open and spam your healing hotkey. But, horses for courses, I still enjoyed Fo3 thoroughly so it's up to you. NV is a lot more populous than the CW, for some this is an improvement, others miss the atmosphere from Fo3. It's all subjective, happily for me I like both games for what they are.

Long live HC mode, may Beth have the wisdom to tip their cap to Obsidian and incorporate it in the next installment.

Also...hardcoe mode. Kudos to Obsidian for putting in a difficulty level that doesn't merely increase the HP of enemies. The idea of having to eat, drink, and sleep, among other things was fantastic.

These are also good points.

The voice actors for New Vegas.....it makes me wonder wtf happened with Skyrim. The voice actors in Vegas are AMAZING. It's the same formula as Skyrim ("meh" voice actors get very basic roles, stars and good voice actors get unique roles), but the difference is that unique roles in Skyrim typically have 4-5 lines of dialog, then they go away forever. Unique roles in New Vegas usually involve 20-30 minutes philosophical discussions, so it's the GOOD voice actors you'll be hearing most of the time and the GOOD voice actors you'll talk to during pivotal decisions.

And the skill check dialog....

New Vegas, you get different dialog for a success or a failure. Convincing a woman it's safe to enter a community that bombs the [censored] out of strangers? A success is "Yeah it's safe. I talked to their leader and told her you're coming." A failure is "Just run as fast as you can and flail your arms about. I'm sure you'll make it." Compared to Skyrim where I've literally found persuasion dialog that was basically "C'MOOOOOOOOOOON" for a success or failure (especially stupid for a success, because your character says "C'MOOOOOOOOOON" and then the NPC goes into a speech about self-discovery and realizing he's let his pride blind him or some crap, ALL because you nagged him with "C'MOOOOOOOOOOOON Just do it." Yeah right...) ....yeah it's easy to see why we criticize Skyrim.

Don't get me wrong, I love Skyrim. However, it made me realize that the social aspect of the game is more important to me than I thought. If the open world of Skyrim and the faction system and writing of New Vegas were combined, it would be close to the best videogame of all time. However, narrative strength limits the "openness" of a game; New Vegas isn't as open ended as Skyrim, and I see the concept of Radiant Story evolving into something completely awesome. I wonder what it would look like if the writers at Obsidian had a crack at designing some of the aspects of Radiant Story...

In what way is it not as open-ended as Skyrim?

Not disagreeing neccesarily, but I always hear that statement and never hear the justification.
So my best guess is that you mean you can do whatever you want, as in help or hurt any faction at any time?
For me that isn't a strength though, but a weakness. For me it speaks for the lack of substance Skyrim has, since nothing I do truly matters. Just my opinion.

I suppose it's tough to articulate the differences... so let's consider it from an RP perspective. Skyrim is very much a game of context where the player is encouraged to "live in" the world, which isn't necessarily referring to how open ended the world is, but how the player can interact with it. For example: "I was hunting deer for my evening meal outside of Riverwood when a thunderstorm struck. I sought refuge in a nearby cave, where I was beset upon by the undead! I barely survived their onslaught but found a journal clutched in one of their hands. Inside were the mad ravings of ... a necromancer who was raising an army who would drive the Empire out of Skyrim to avenge her husband's death." I didn't have a quest to explore this cave and had no reason other than escaping a storm, but I still had a narrative experience.

On the other hand, New Vegas is very NPC driven, and in a way the story "happens to" the player, rather than the player "happening to" the story. Even though I have a lot of say on the outcome, I still am within the framework of the quest design, which is somewhat limiting relative to the former. At least, that's how I would see it as not being as open ended as Skyrim.

Ah, kk. Thanks for the clarification.

Dunno how many times I've heard "Skyrim is more ______" without any clarification to explain the statement. Good to hear some for once so I can make sense of it.

All I can say is try the game for yourself. Go ahead and get the regular game, for like 20 bucks. Decide for yourself, It's the only true way of knowing whether you like it or not.

*Looks at other posts*

...I'm not sure what more I can add. I'll try anyway.

The thing that annoyed me most about Fallout 3 is the black and white conflict. The Brotherhood were all pure white knights and the Enclave and Super Mutants were all either evil or dumb. New Vegas turns this philosophy on its head, the faction you choose to support when your not roleplaying will really depend on your principals. There isn't a correct faction to join and none of them are purely good or purely bad. Nothing in the Mojave wasteland is black and white.

Fallout New Vegas has:

hardcoe mode: This makes it so you need to eat, drink and sleep. Adds ammo weight and changes how healing works.

It has traits

Actions have consequences

Many factions you can join or help. Alot factions are in the grey area when it comes to morals

There is little to no level scaling, so there are enemies that area greater than your ability to kill.

More quest marked and unmarked

Writing is far better

The game is far more advlt than Fallout 3.

Companion wheel to better control companions

Companions have their own story and quests

Multiple endings based on how you play the game

Different currencies

Gambling

Iron Sites

You can disguise yourself as a memeber of different factions

Alot closer to the originals, so when you play those. You will have more enjoyment out of New Vegas. Not that you need to play them to understand New Vegas.

You have heard correct, the Fallout Forums get VERY heated between the Preachers of Old, Alien Lovers, Explorer Junkies, and more.

Well everybody has pretty much already said everything NV adds but it also lacks the exploration and the feeling of being alone in a ruined world that F3 had.

Welcome to the Fallout Forums.

It lacks the nostalgia that Fallout 3 had.

The western theme in New Vegas didn't work for me.

What do you mean by "nostalgia that Fallout 3 had"?

Maybe the 50's nostalgia that Fallout never had.

Aye, this. IMO the music on the radio in Fo3 was brilliantly selected. It juxtaposed the desolate feel perfectly, whereas I thought the radio stations in NV weren't quite as effective in providing the same effect. Hearing an enclave eyebot playing patriotic tunes off in the distance raised the hairs on the back of my neck...

Sense

Incredible answers everyone, thank you very much for being so concise and detailed with your responses. It sounds like my ideal game. What has ruined Skyrim for me, is the fact that I feel that none of my actions hold any consequence. From the sound of thing, this game is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm tired of talking to cardboard cut out NPC's and being sent to dungeons to pick up a goblet every 5 minutes.

I will hopefully be picking up the ultimate edition on Friday.

Just don't say Fallout 3: New Vegas and you and me will be fine