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If you want to know how relevant Fallout: New Vegas still is today, consider what happened when Obsidian founder Feargus Urquhart and director Josh Sawyer went to a local middle school for a game design competition.

Given an opportunity to ask the judges a question, the competition's winner-a 7th grader who couldn't been older than six when New Vegas was first released-asked Sawyer: "Hey, are you going to update your mod anymore?"

A lot of New Vegas articles popping up over the last few weeks, either because of the impending release of the giant Fallout: New California expansion, (

Spoiler

or maybe something coming down the pipe?

) New Vegas still sits atop my favorite games of all time list, and every time I see an article, I'm usually playing New Vegas again within an hour of reading it.

Today will likely be no exception.

 

[Hip Hop]

How I wish Obsidian got another shot at making a new Fallout game.

Fallout 4 doesn't even come close to the greatness that New Vegas is.

 

[superdeluxe]

I'm going to have to play this game again

 

[BTails]

I'm going to have to play this game again

New Vegas is going to be the new "Deus Ex / Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines" meme, as in: "Every time someone mentions New Vegas, someone else starts reinstalling it"

 

[Zombie James]

Bethesda dumbing down and shitting on their formula post-New Vegas is what's really making people appreciate what Obsidian did, imho. It was the last real Fallout game we'll probably ever get.

 

[Spacejaws]

It really does have unlimited replayability and every single expansion was great I kind miss that in this day and age where we seem to get little piecemeal DLC.

Cannot believe how far Fallout 4 has sunk and Bethesda must know it internally it's a bit of a joke.

 

[CalamityPixel]

New Vegas is a much better crafted game than F3 and F4. But then again, Obsidian didn't have to build the game from the ground up like Bethesda did.

 

[Wulfram]

Wow, there are a lot of puff pieces about Obsidian lately

 

[Beartruck]

How I wish Obsidian got another shot at making a new Fallout game.

Fallout 4 doesn't even come close to the greatness that New Vegas is.

0 chance of them ever working Bethesda again after the 84 metacritic horseshit. Bethesda nearly destroyed their company.

 

[bati]

Cannot believe how far Fallout 4 has sunk and Bethesda must know it internally it's a bit of a joke.

To whom? Neogaf? Maybe, but there are literally millions of people who enjoy Bethesda's games and prefer them over what Obsidian makes. One could of course argue that they are crazy (and I'd be inclined to agree lol) but the numbers don't lie.

I think FNV is still the best overall Fallout game (although 2 edges it out in the dialogue department, it's just sooo juicy) but I also had a a lot of fun with FO4. A lot of fun. Especially once the new Survival mode came out, that's when the game really took off and it felt like it got a whole new dimension to gameplay. Yeah, roleplaying is still weak and the forced story/narrative don't really work for me (motivations need to come internally, not externally) but exploration and traversing the landscape are fantastic. Bethesda still has the best world designers in the industry imo, and a lot of people really appreciate this, as well as relatively hands off approach when it comes to questing. Granted, Skyrim was much better in this regard, you could finish 90% of the game without being referred to as the chosen one and that was great - and this is what Obsidian nailed in FNV, you're a nobody, just trying to survive and uncover the mystery behind what happened. It's the best way to set up an RPG story but Bethesda for some reason keeps shoving these preexisting family ties down our throats.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

There hasn't been a better RPG since New Vegas.

 

[BUNTING1243]

I don't think there's a gaming announcement that would get me more excited than a new Obsidian fallout

 

[Barrel Cannon]

New Vegas is a much better crafted game than F3 and F4. But then again, Obsidian didn't have to build the game from the ground up like Bethesda did.

Obsidian does what bethesdont

I didn't play 4 but liked 3 a lot. NV was a huge step up though for me.

 

[HK-47]

New Vegas is a much better crafted game than F3 and F4. But then again, Obsidian didn't have to build the game from the ground up like Bethesda did.

Bethesda didn't have to do it in 18 months though

 

[Kill3r7]

To whom? Neogaf? Maybe, but there are literally millions of people who enjoy Bethesda's games and prefer them over what Obsidian makes. One could of course argue that they are crazy (and I'd be inclined to agree lol) but the numbers don't lie.

I think FNV is still the best overall Fallout game (although 2 edges it out in the dialogue department, it's just sooo juicy) but I also had a a lot of fun with FO4. A lot of fun. Especially once the new Survival mode came out, that's when the game really took off and it felt like it got a whole new dimension to gameplay. Yeah, roleplaying is still weak and the forced story/narrative don't really work for me (motivations need to come internally, not externally) but exploration and traversing the landscape are fantastic. Bethesda still has the best world designers in the industry imo, and a lot of people really appreciate this, as well as relatively hands off approach when it comes to questing. Granted, Skyrim was much better in this regard, you could finish 90% of the game without being referred to as the chosen one and that was great - and this is what Obsidian nailed in FNV, you're a nobody, just trying to survive and uncover the mystery behind what happened. It's the best way to set up an RPG story but Bethesda for some reason keeps shoving these preexisting family ties down our throats.

Don't bother. Some folks on GAF will have you convinced that Bethesda is a giant dumpster fire. They should commit seppuku and let Obsidian make all their games. Never mind the fact that their games are arguably the best selling RPGs of all time and outside of Blizzard completely dominate the genre.

 

[DocSeuss]

I love how hardcore gamers get mad that Fallout 4 is dramatically more successful (and higher rated on metacritic lol) than New Vegas.

While I have great admiration and respect for Obsidian, I think people forget how genuinely awful New Vegas is in basic moment-to-moment gameplay because there's more reliance on RPG stats than there should be in a fuckin real-time video game. It's got a couple great quests and mostly mediocre writing throughout. There's just not that much of a difference between what Bethesda and Obsidian did.

Could Obsidian have made a better game than they did? Yeah. They had basically no time to make the game. Can't hold it against them.

But people like Bethesda's games more because Bethesda makes dramatically better worlds and systems. *shrug*

Wish Obsidian had the time to make something great, but other than the one cannibal quest in New Vegas, and the overall aesthetic, the game really isn't that great.

People refusing to acknowledge that Bethesda are one of the best developers on the planet, ignoring all the amazing bits of game design that go into making their games so wildly successful... it's hard not to see those people as grumpy assholes who can never be happy about anything. New Vegas feels like a game that gets a lot of love for what it could have been, rather than for what it is, which is a dissatisfying shooter with awful world design and a boring story.

 

[The Last Wizard]

And I’m supposed believe this ain’t leading up to nothing right😏

 

[SpartanN92]

New Vegas is one of my top 5 of all time

 

[Freezasaurus]

I loved New Vegas, but god damn that game was a wreck for the first week or two. Didn't Bethesda have to come in and help them fix all the bugs?

I remember one particularly bad glitch where if you killed a certain NPC on the Vegas Strip, the game would no longer load the area. It turned out the dude's hat needed to be present for it to load. So a temporary workaround was to kill the NPC and steal his hat. If you wore it while entering the Strip, the area would load fine.

 

[TissueBox]

Wait what?! New expansion..?

In any case, FNV remains one of the most compelling RPG blueprints put to a remarkably fulfilled practice. An ambition that makes you feel empty almost before any other game from the magnitude of that beast of a script. A real gift of love on Obsidian's part, and open-world done in a way that probably will be too daunting to ever top in a AAA space much again.

I still loved FO3 and even FO4, too, though, but I know people have their reservations.

 

[Stranya]

I love how hardcore gamers get mad that Fallout 4 is dramatically more successful (and higher rated on metacritic lol) than New Vegas.

While I have great admiration and respect for Obsidian, I think people forget how genuinely awful New Vegas is in basic moment-to-moment gameplay because there's more reliance on RPG stats than there should be in a fuckin real-time video game. It's got a couple great quests and mostly mediocre writing throughout. There's just not that much of a difference between what Bethesda and Obsidian did.

Could Obsidian have made a better game than they did? Yeah. They had basically no time to make the game. Can't hold it against them.

But people like Bethesda's games more because Bethesda makes dramatically better worlds and systems. *shrug*

Wish Obsidian had the time to make something great, but other than the one cannibal quest in New Vegas, and the overall aesthetic, the game really isn't that great.

People refusing to acknowledge that Bethesda are one of the best developers on the planet, ignoring all the amazing bits of game design that go into making their games so wildly successful... it's hard not to see those people as grumpy assholes who can never be happy about anything. New Vegas feels like a game that gets a lot of love for what it could have been, rather than for what it is, which is a dissatisfying shooter with awful world design and a boring story.

I couldn't disagree more with your view that NV has mediocre writing throughout. If it does then god knows what that makes F3 and F4.

 

[HK-47]

I love how hardcore gamers get mad that Fallout 4 is dramatically more successful (and higher rated on metacritic lol) than New Vegas.

While I have great admiration and respect for Obsidian, I think people forget how genuinely awful New Vegas is in basic moment-to-moment gameplay because there's more reliance on RPG stats than there should be in a fuckin real-time video game. It's got a couple great quests and mostly mediocre writing throughout. There's just not that much of a difference between what Bethesda and Obsidian did.

Could Obsidian have made a better game than they did? Yeah. They had basically no time to make the game. Can't hold it against them.

But people like Bethesda's games more because Bethesda makes dramatically better worlds and systems. *shrug*

Wish Obsidian had the time to make something great, but other than the one cannibal quest in New Vegas, and the overall aesthetic, the game really isn't that great.

NV had much better moment to moment gameplay than 3 which is what it needed as a sequel built on 3. It also had much better quest design and much better writing than either 3 or especially 4 which floated itself on finally getting a somewhat decent shooting system in exchange for the utter gutting of the dialogue system and quest choice. But I guess you got the halfassed and in the end meaningless settlement building in exchange.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

0 chance of them ever working Bethesda again after the 84 metacritic horseshit. Bethesda nearly destroyed their company.

None of this is true. They have even continued to pitch games to Beth Soft post-NV.

 

[Spacejaws]

To whom? Neogaf? Maybe, but there are literally millions of people who enjoy Bethesda's games and prefer them over what Obsidian makes. One could of course argue that they are crazy (and I'd be inclined to agree lol) but the numbers don't lie.

I think FNV is still the best overall Fallout game (although 2 edges it out in the dialogue department, it's just sooo juicy) but I also had a a lot of fun with FO4. A lot of fun. Especially once the new Survival mode came out, that's when the game really took off and it felt like it got a whole new dimension to gameplay. Yeah, roleplaying is still weak and the forced story/narrative don't really work for me (motivations need to come internally, not externally) but exploration and traversing the landscape are fantastic. Bethesda still has the best world designers in the industry imo, and a lot of people really appreciate this, as well as relatively hands off approach when it comes to questing. Granted, Skyrim was much better in this regard, you could finish 90% of the game without being referred to as the chosen one and that was great - and this is what Obsidian nailed in FNV, you're a nobody, just trying to survive and uncover the mystery behind what happened. It's the best way to set up an RPG story but Bethesda for some reason keeps shoving these preexisting family ties down our throats.

I mean I'd argue that articles like the one in this thread are still being made whereas you don't hear much about Fallout 3 or even 4 these days in a positive light. From the comments about taking in 'feedback' from Fallout for the next Elder Scrolls game makes me think they wanted to use it as a test bed for their real money make, Elder Scrolls, whether tha means we'll have a voiced protagonist, or the skill system marginalized is anyones guess. I don't think the user response was glowing for them to semi-acknowledge it public.

Also New Vegas sold incredibly well I believe, the steamspy data is all over the place it has it at 5mil (with a second entry at 600,000) and 2 versions of Fallout 3, GOTY at 2.6mil and another version at 800,000. I'd think those numbers for what was effectively a bit of a spin off should have humbled Bethesda and made them look critically at their game design.

 

[HK-47]

I loved New Vegas, but god damn that game was a wreck for the first week or two. Didn't Bethesda have to come in and help them fix all the bugs?

I remember one particularly bad glitch where if you killed a certain NPC on the Vegas Strip, the game would no longer load the area. It turned out the dude's hat needed to be present for it to load. So a temporary workaround was to kill the NPC and steal his hat. If you wore it while entering the Strip, the area would load fine.

Bethesda controlled all QA and put them on a tight dev cycle so there was only so much they could do.

 

[Kill3r7]

None of this is true. They have even continued to pitch games to Beth Soft post-NV.

Yep. The internet might never forget nor forgive but Obsidian is a business and they need to get paid just like you and I.

 

[carlsojo]

0 chance of them ever working Bethesda again after the 84 metacritic horseshit. Bethesda nearly destroyed their company.

I'm pretty sure there was a very recent interview with Obsidian about that where they said that was not a big deal at all.

 

[HK-47]

I'm pretty sure there was a very recent interview with Obsidian about that where they said that was not a big deal at all.

I think it was probably a big deal for the studio not to get that cash but as a large indie dev they aren't gonna turn down work

 

[carlsojo]

I think it was probably a big deal for the studio not to get that cash but as a large indie dev they aren't gonna turn down work

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...fallout-sin-city-and-had-three-playable-races

 

[Truant]

Hey, I'm thankful for having Bethesda make Fallout 3 and 4 and making a shitload of cash, so that we can get games like Dishonored, Prey, Doom, Wolfenstein and Evil Within.

 

[bati]

Also New Vegas sold incredibly well I believe, the steamspy data is all over the place it has it at 5mil (with a second entry at 600,000) and 2 versions of Fallout 3, GOTY at 2.6mil and another version at 800,000. I'd think those numbers for what was effectively a bit of a spin off should have humbled Bethesda and made them look critically at their game design.

You're forgetting consoles, I remember reading an article years ago that Skyrim's numbers on the PC at the time only made up 10% of all sales across different platforms. Obsidian has a much stronger following on the PC but Bethesda dominates on consoles. And I think FNV has been in pretty much every steam sale ever, at ridiculously low prices (given the quantity and quality of content) while I rarely saw FO3 or Skyrim, at least outside of publisher weekends.

 

[Vital Tundra]

Imagine if they had a reasonable amount of time to make the game. Would be one of the best (I already love it to pieces).

 

[dci260]

Easily one of my favorite games of all time, if not my number one. No game has really made me feel like I was a part of it like NV did, the world was so engrossing.

Bethesda can go fuck themselves for the travesty that was Fallout 4.

 

[DocSeuss]

I couldn't disagree more with your view that NV has mediocre writing throughout. If it does then god knows what that makes F3 and F4.

Really bad. Bethesda needs better writers on their fallout games.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun got it right. Fallout: New Vegas has some poor writing.

NV had much better moment to moment gameplay than 3 which is what it needed as a sequel built on 3. It also had much better quest design and much better writing than either 3 or especially 4 which floated itself on finally getting a somewhat decent shooting system in exchange for the utter gutting of the dialogue system and quest choice. But I guess you got the halfassed and in the end meaningless settlement building in exchange.

While I agree that New Vegas had better quest design and dialogue, the basic "go around shooting dudes in the head" mechanics are piss poor. There's a ton of what you could call 'mechanical transliteration' that goes on, similar to what we saw in Alpha Protocol (a game I have a certain fondness for that is still deeply flawed). Stuff gets lifted from tabletop and bolted onto this real-time first-person game, and it just doesn't work well.

A lot of the map is either trying to be realistic (and thus unfun; way too many flat, boring areas) or is just unfinished (see: all the invisible walls), and it spends a lot of time making you play in a linear structure rather than taking advantage of its open world design.

There's a lot of great ideas that are just lifted directly from Fallout 3's best mods (especially the gun runner stuff), or slightly changed from what Fallout 3 did (Doctor bags), but a lot of other stuff just leads to this really boring moment-to-moment experience. If you're not in it for the quests (and New Vegas spends a lot more time quest-ifying things that in Bethesda games, just don't get marked or treated like a quest at all), there's not a lot it has going on for it, imo.

I liked New Vegas quite a bit. I like all these games. I like Obsidian a LOT, and would love to work with them on something some day. But New Vegas suffered from an 18 month dev time, and I think the outsized love for it is unfair to Bethesda, who do some seriously amazing work. I love watching people exhibit grognard envy.

 

[Hesh]

I still remember all of the criticism and blowback New Vegas received when it first released for not being Fallout 3, not being made by Bethesda, and for its bugs and how Obsidian can never finish its games. It's great to see as time went on the game got its just deserts, as I frequently see people regard New Vegas as an excellent game, better than Fallout 3, the "true" Fallout 3, and some even say it's better than Fallout 4. Well done, Obsidian.

 

[HStallion]

I love how hardcore gamers get mad that Fallout 4 is dramatically more successful (and higher rated on metacritic lol) than New Vegas.

While I have great admiration and respect for Obsidian, I think people forget how genuinely awful New Vegas is in basic moment-to-moment gameplay because there's more reliance on RPG stats than there should be in a fuckin real-time video game. It's got a couple great quests and mostly mediocre writing throughout. There's just not that much of a difference between what Bethesda and Obsidian did.

Could Obsidian have made a better game than they did? Yeah. They had basically no time to make the game. Can't hold it against them.

But people like Bethesda's games more because Bethesda makes dramatically better worlds and systems. *shrug*

Wish Obsidian had the time to make something great, but other than the one cannibal quest in New Vegas, and the overall aesthetic, the game really isn't that great.

People refusing to acknowledge that Bethesda are one of the best developers on the planet, ignoring all the amazing bits of game design that go into making their games so wildly successful... it's hard not to see those people as grumpy assholes who can never be happy about anything. New Vegas feels like a game that gets a lot of love for what it could have been, rather than for what it is, which is a dissatisfying shooter with awful world design and a boring story.

Opinions and all but I heartily disagree with nearly everything in this post to the point I'm wondering if I'm falling for a good troll.

 

[HK-47]

You're forgetting consoles, I remember reading an article years ago that Skyrim's numbers on the PC at the time only made up 10% of all sales across different platforms. Obsidian has a much stronger following on the PC but Bethesda dominates on consoles. And I think FNV has been in pretty much every steam sale ever, at ridiculously low prices (given the quantity and quality of content) while I rarely saw FO3 or Skyrim, at least outside of publisher weekends.

I don't spthink I've ever seen a steam sale without F3 at an extremely low price and often getting some sort of front page presence

 

[Lightning_Roller]

New Vegas was splendid. If Obsidian got their hands on a better engine and got a shot at doing another Fallout, they would most certainly eat Fallout 4's lunch.

 

[Mozendo]

What's with the all Obsidian news? Are they about to announce something?

Also NV mediocre writing? Lmao

 

[DocSeuss]

Opinions and all but I heartily disagree with nearly everything in this post to the point I'm wondering if I'm falling for a good troll.

I keep my trolling to twitter. I really do think New Vegas gets a lot of praise it doesn't deserve. Like, people always love to talk about how its 'quests' are better than Fallout 3, but the quest they always use is the freezer quest. Nearly all of New Vegas' questlines are dramatically less involved. Other people point out that New Vegas has a lot 'more' quests than Fallout 3, buuuuuuuut... that has a bit more to do with the way New Vegas tries to turn everything into a quest, where Bethesda has a ton of stuff that's just kinda there, and not marked or treated like a quest at all. For them, it's just world design.

One of the reasons I think Fallout 3 is better than 4 is that 4 really shows Bethesda moving towards a desire for way less interesting, less bespoke content. Too much "another settlement needs your help," which really sucks compared to stuff like stumbling upon a booby trapped grocery store with a nuke inside and stuff.

People seem to forget that New Vegas had a really popular "fix the shooting" mod for a while, that just removed RPG stats from the equation entirely. Most of my friends who were heavily into modding Bethesda games said that most of New Vegas map has very little actual work done on it (which I think is attributable to that 18 month thing). I think RPS did a great job explaining why the writing was poor. If I had more time, I'd jump back into the game and dig up more examples. Obsidian has this bad habit of expositing way too much about things, or trying to make mechanics where there don't need to be any. This was a big issue with Alpha Protocol as well.

I feel like Black Isle > Obsidian, personally.

What's with the all Obsidian news? Are they about to announce something?

Also NV mediocre writing? Lmao

Yeah, there's that Tyranny DLC. Bunch of people got a lot of access to the Obsidian team when Paradox invited them over to try out the DLC.

 

[Data West]

RPS thinks anything that isn't weird conversational tone articles is mediocre.

 

[Decado]

Thought FNV was awful. Same with FO3. Not sure what the appeal was.

 

[KingV]

0 chance of them ever working Bethesda again after the 84 metacritic horseshit. Bethesda nearly destroyed their company.

Never say never. Bethesda could crawl back with a big pot of money and a friendlier contract.

 

[HK-47]

I don't believe in 3 and 4 worlds like I do New Vegas. And 4 feels much better than 3 because they took a lot of the world building aspects that Obsidian did and used them in 4.

 

[MartyStu]

I couldn't disagree more with your view that NV has mediocre writing throughout. If it does then god knows what that makes F3 and F4.

New Vegas DOES have mediocre writing.

For Obsidian.

The quality is heads and shoulders above Fallout 3 and 4 though.

 

[dci260]

Opinions and all but I heartily disagree with nearly everything in this post to the point I'm wondering if I'm falling for a good troll.

He has a point on the gameplay not being the best, but I'll easily overlook that considering how well done everything else is (initial bugs aside).

Also, I doubt it's a troll, DocSeuss just has a unique taste in games (I seem to recall him disliking RDR and Uncharted, though I may be misremembering).

 

[norm9]

Is it still considered underrated? Every mention of it is glowing and follows with a Falloput 3 and 4 is shit in comparison.

 

[carlsojo]

I dunno New Vegas is far from perfect. It goes from an open world in Fallout 3 to a game that corrals you into a specific path to get to New Vegas. And the actual city of New Vegas was such a huge letdown.

The writing was definitely not a complaint though.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

God. I need to wipe my mod installs clean and start a fresh run. Only the basics...


















....55837373 mods later
But really-NMCs textures,MM,two wastelands,weapon collection,willow,and custom character models sounds simple enough.

 

[DocSeuss]

He has a point on the gameplay not being the best, but I'll easily overlook that considering how well done everything else is (initial bugs aside).

Also, I doubt it's a troll, DocSeuss just has a unique taste in games (I seem to recall him disliking RDR and Uncharted, though I may be misremembering).

Nope, that's me. I dislike RDR and Uncharted for their gameplay design and narrative themes.