» Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:28 am
FO1 had a more heroic, epic feel, plus I like Richard Dean Andersen there.
FO2 expands on FO1, but is decidedly more clunky. Don't try playing it unpatched, you're going to murder someone once a bug hits fairly late in the game. I especially liked the factions and their little turf wars. (NCR vs Vault City vs New Reno)
Things you could do in FO1 and 2 that you couldn't in 3:
1) random encounters may include random caves with more nasties.
2) caravan guarding missions. You can't really say that following the traders around is a "mission" in FO3
3) become a made man - that was so cool, and it had at least FOUR factions you can join.
4) become a porm star - I can live without this, but it's interesting.
5) have a car.
6) upgrade weapons - I liked that idiot savant in new reno. XD
7) better dialogue and more complex quest structure.
8) There was an actual epic bad guy you can kick ass. (I haven't played broken steel so I don't know if it has it.
9) towns feel and look like large towns.
10) have more than 2 companions <- this one's a pretty big thing.
FO3 is pretty. I can swim (woot, there's few places you can't go!) It's much more immersive, than 1 or 2, IMO. However, you don't feel the press of people in 3, it's probably a hardware limitation because populating towns with random townsfolk is pretty hard on your video card. Most towns are populated, at least, but canterbury commons and rivet city don't feel "lived in".
I like all three, but I like 2 best for the expansive world, and 1 for the nasty last boss, but 3 ties with 1 for me.