So as I was playing Fallout NV I started thinking...
All the other characters you've played in previous games, they all made huge waves in their environment.
LW with his epic quest regarding his dad and the water of the Wasteland.
Than the courier with the fate of the Mohave Wasteland at his fingertips.
What made them great?
How were they different from regular people?
Their one tracked mind on a goal?
What do you guys think?
Just something I thought about, and couldn't really find an answer to by myself x)

F5 F9

They all saved the world.

/thread.

I could control them.

Divine providence.

Also known as "us".

They are all incredibly stupid. That is, they may be smart as in good problem solvers but complete lack of regard for personal safety, foolhardiness and just plain blindfolded drive to finish a more or less relevant mission produce a dedicated supersoldier who through luck and quick learning gain advantage over others.

Answered that one yourself.

They are "us" ..

They have unmatchable bravery, everything for them works out in the end, and they are controlled by great beings with the powers of third person and reloading after deaths.

The Vault Dweller was the best of the best in Vault 13 so they sent him out. Was trying to save his people.

The Chosen One was the best of the best in Arroyo mostly because he was the grandson of the Vault Dweller. Was trying to save his people.

They were hand picked, by their people and had the lives of their people to save.

The Warrior was a great leader and soldier.

Lone Wanderer found himself in a location full of stupid morons, so it isn't that hard to be great when everyone else is banging rocks an sticks together. Must have really loved his dad, I guess

The Courier found himself in an area where everyone had a side, lots of opportunity there. That and had revenge and the contract with House for motivation.

I thought the Vault Dweller was picked by kind of lotto (drawing straws?) from an assortment of the most able bodied and minded people to do the job.

Surprised no one said this, but maybe because they written to be that way.

Well they all reflect me so.... Yeah.

Because if the player character was a weak, untalented, illiterate thug who had no desire to do anything but sit in some slum and do jet all day the game wouldn't be very interesting would it? The reason the player characters are "greater" than other people is simply because we control them, and we tend to think of ourselves and the things we shape in our image as "greater" than other things. The main quests where the player characters save the world also contribute to their greatness.

Circumstances and luck.

I'm going to go with a psychological response and say that it's becuase they're controlled by people who live in a "Not Wasteland World." The people who live in the wastes have lived with that their entire lives. they don't know anything different. We live in a world of civilized calm, of law and order with modern medicine and so on. We see the Wasteland and say "I know the world can be better, because I've seen a better world." So when we get to Primm and see a lack of law, we decide to fix it. When we see little (what's his name) from Grayditch who's family's been eaten by fire ants, we decide to help him.

And i'd just say for the record, that what the Courier and Lone Wanderer did is up in the air. If you go by my first play through the LW got killed by a Raider outside Megaton while looking for mines for Moria Brown. And the Courier got blown to little pieces by Jackals outside Nelson. Alternatively, the LW could have decided to blow up Megaton and live out his/her days in TenPenny Tower, or save the CW. The Courier could decide to join up with Father Elija (I don't think I spelled that right) and take over the Mojave. Unitl we know what's cannon and what isn't, we don't know for sure what the heroes did.

They where bullet sponges other were not.

I'm going to approach this within the Fallout Universe.

I'd say the reason the PCs are greater than the rest is simply they were the people who decided to act. In the cases of the Vault Dweller and the Chosen One they were more or less forced to save their people. The LW and Courier are more complex. The LW's "will to act" is centered on his father. In the beginning it's finding him, then later it's exacting revenge on the people who took him way (yes, James killed himself; but the LW would probably hold his death as being the Enclave's fault).
For the Courier, it depends on which ending is canon. It's either who the Courier thinks is the best choice to rule the Mojave, or personal gain. I see it as a decision of either the NCR or the Legion is simply who the Courier thinks is better qualified; for House and Independant I see as more on the lines of personal gain. (not trying to diss people who thought House/Independant was actually the best choice, just trying to go about this 'in Universe')

I have to disagree, on my NCR playthrough it was all about getting paid handsomely for his help to the NCR but on my House playthrough it was because my character saw the faults in the NCR and CL but he saw none in House, he truely believed House could make a better ruler for New Vegas.

That's exactly what I don't want to see in the next fallout game. Being The Survivor would be much more awesome. LW and Courier was way too much. There are no heroes in the wastelands.
But now back to your question, it's simple: They were chosen. That's all there's to it.

they also have the ability to always get what outcome they want via save and reload.

Fast Travel, V.A.T.S, SPECIAL, and able to carry over 50 guns and millions of ammo at the one time.

I like tot hink that they have sweet miontage holotape mixtapes.
How can you not win when you're blasting Eye of the Tiger, The Rocky Theme and DVDA's Now You're a Man!?
Thats a trick question, because there is no way to lose when you're rocking out to those tunes.

Lack of self preservation, leading them to attempt to do things most would have seen to be too risky and succeeding? (Due to the player being able to reload a save )

Narrative causality.