Fallout 3 vs. New Vegas

[Slothy]

one-dimensional alignment systems don't really belong anywhere. I didn't play FO1 long enough to deal with it, but how it is in FO3, and even NV is bad.

I would disagree that morality was bad in NV mostly since I can't even remember having an overall karma level in it. Most of the time the only thing that affected you was how friendly the various factions were and whether or not you did things to piss them off was generally handled quite well.

And I don't think Tenpenny Tower was all that great honestly. Sure there's a bit of a twist if you help them move in peacefully, but that really doesn't make your choices morally ambiguous. It just means things still end badly for one group even if you do the non-psychopathic thing.

[Forsaken Lover]

Well I just killed all the ghouls anyway. Also blew up Megaton. I needed those 1000 Caps, money is hard to come by in the Capital Wasteland.

[Mirage]

one-dimensional alignment systems don't really belong anywhere. I didn't play FO1 long enough to deal with it, but how it is in FO3, and even NV is bad.

I would disagree that morality was bad in NV mostly since I can't even remember having an overall karma level in it. Most of the time the only thing that affected you was how friendly the various factions were and whether or not you did things to piss them off was generally handled quite well.

Karma in NV wasn't as bad because faction fame was used for most quests. The karma scale isn't any better because of that, however, its suckiness is just made less relevant.

[Lazerface]

Tenpenny Tower and Roy Phillips/the ghouls is better than anything in New Vegas in terms of moral ambiguity.

It really is a beautiful thing that subverts all expectations.

No not really. At least I think. The reason why is when you break it down the quest really had no alternative other than kill the ghouls, invade Tenpenny tower, or talk peacefully with Tenpenny and let them kill everyone in the tower. There was no option to ask Roy Phillips to relocate to Underworld in D.C since it's a ghoul community and he'd likely get along finely there. When you break it down it's still morally black and white that judges you for killing Roy or helping the ghouls who were eventually gonna kill everyone in the tower. A better to stay morally ambiguous is to offer no karma gain or loss regardless of decision and open the option to make Roy go to underworld. But he was a greedy sonofabitch. Compare to New Vegas, there's a hell of a lot of moral ambiguity in New Vegas that far overreaches Fallout 3.

[Forsaken Lover]

It's more or less the same deal. You can kill the Brotherhood or form an alliance with the Brotherhood, you can kill the Khans or form an alliance with the Khans, etc. etc..

[Crop]

While NV technically did karma and morality better, they also did it worse. You pretty much had to take the side of the NCR over The Legion since if you didn't you would just get shot to pieces in every location since The Legion is practically nowhere and the NCR is everywhere.

[Mirage]

You can complete the game as an entirely neutral party and not get shot to pieces by any of the major factions.

[Lazerface]

It's more or less the same deal. You can kill the Brotherhood or form an alliance with the Brotherhood, you can kill the Khans or form an alliance with the Khans, etc. etc..

Or leave them alone, convince them to fight alongside the NCR, convince them to fight the NCR, convince them to stay out of it and be left to their own devices.

[Crop]

Yes, but the NCR are so heavily involved in the game, and have an incredible amount of quests tagged to them that you would not really get to experience the full game without taking their side. My main gripe with the game is how they handled the NCR and Legion.

I recently played the GotY addition, and I think by and large I enjoyed the DLC more. Although the DLC also does enhance the main game a fair bit.

[Mirage]

the legion was a bit one-dimensional. it could have been written a lot better

[Psychotic]

There actually were lots bigger plans for the Legion including settlements showing regular citizens (as opposed to just seeing soldiers) depicting how much safer their lives were than NCR citizens. There were also plans for a companion for you from the Legion which was originally going to be Lonesome Road's Ulysses. Bethesda pushed Obsidian to release it sooner, that content was cut and we were left with a more unbalanced view of the two factions than was intended.

[Formalhaut]

That seemed pretty mean by Bethesda. I'm guessing the two companies don't get along.

[Mirage]

They most certainly do not. Did not, at least. Maybe they've gotten over it by now.

They also denied them their bonuses because it only reached 84% on metacritic, rather than the 85% they needed for the bonus. If the game hadn't been rushed, it might have gotten a higher score. Not only that, but they also spent a significant amount of time fixing bethesda's horrible gamebryo engine.

[Psychotic]

I don't think it was a malicious attempt to stifle their creative vision but more of a "game's good enough, need to get some cash" move.

[Forsaken Lover]

If you have ever played an Obsidian game, you know that their middle name is "cut content."

It's just how they roll, it's not Bethesda's fault. NV is a miracle compared to KOTOR II.

You should all be grateful, Fallout 3 was a super amazing perfect success. Bethesda didn't have to give Obsidian anything but they chose to, out of respect for the original writers of the series.