Fallout New Vegas was released on October 19th of 2010 to critical acclaim
successor to fallout 3 a game which released two years earlier developed by Bethesda Game Studios
New Vegas was the result of a licensing deal between Bethesda and obsidian entertainment
Wherein they gave temporary rights of the series to obsidian and asked that they develop a spin-off title for release in
2010 now this means that the majority of new vegas was developed in about 18 months a feat
Truly impressive and worthy of praise and also very exploitative of why the game was and still is
So buggy now
I will say we won't be able to avoid comparisons directly to fallout 3 in this video because after all we are looking very
closely at how New Vegas works and after all it uses many of the same assets and
Specifically the same engine with this in mind however
I'm going to try to focus more specifically on fallout new vegas
'as successes and less on the differences between the games after all this is a critique of Fallout, New Vegas
And not a critique of fallout 3 now throughout this video
We're going to discuss many things everything from the gameplay to narrative to the mods that can improve the overall experience of the game
but the overarching purpose behind it is to
Encourage you to go back and to enjoy this classic game if you haven't already
And also to look at what made it so good in the first place now as usual
We're gonna break this video up into five basic
parts first of all we're gonna discuss the gameplay and what makes the game fun to begin with then we're gonna discuss the narrative and
how the narrative ties into the gameplay whether or not they complement each other and so on and
Then next we're going to discuss the overall technical aspect of the game
How it was when it first launched and how it is today
And then of course we're going to discuss overall fun factor
And whether or not the game is worthy of being played nowadays, and finally we're gonna wrap it all up with a conclusion
I've included timestamps in the description box below
So if you want to skip ahead, or if you want to watch this video in pieces you can do that
but with all of this said
Let's just get into it
When I first played Fallout, New Vegas I
Hated it I was over at my uncle's house and my older brother Joe
Cued the game up on my uncle's xbox 360
We only had a PlayStation 2 at our house
and so the
opportunity to play on a 360
Was always exciting my brother had been watching all of these YouTube videos on the game and knew every part of the game
Inside and out his enthusiasm was frankly infectious and so when I was handed the controller I was
needless to say
Intrigued I went through the clunky character creator segment and was to be completely honest immensely intimidated by the stat
allocation at the beginning of the game my brother explained the sheer scope of the game to me and also showed the size of the
Map it seemed like there were hundreds of locations all of which were scattered throughout and my brother stressed that every single location had
something interesting to find and could tie back to previous experiences or
Quests now prior to this my only exposure to large open world games had been a brief stint in
Skyrim wherein I played the game for a couple dozen hours over a summer and then was promptly distracted by well puberty
But it wasn't just the size of the map it was the scope of the game that was intimidating and by scope
I mean everything that the game tried to do the branching narrative the multiple endings the
plethora of play styles supported and of course the romancing options all of this piled up into an
Overwhelming behemoth that I couldn't handle I tried running to Novak
But was incredibly annoyed by how slow the character moved and the fact that I couldn't just sprint there
I came across some bandits, and I couldn't get vets to work in my favor
And then I decided to travel to nipton where I found a group of
Strangely dressed nerds who did not like it when I tried to fight them unprovoked at this point
Justifiably or not I was done. I simply didn't see the fun to be had in the game
It seemed to me overly complicated Corky and lacking the arkady
Elements of fun that I had previously found in games like Just Cause 2 and stronghold crusader now looking back
I can see that
I was ready for the experience that was being offered within New Vegas, young early teenager Luke was impulsive
Impatient and unwilling to play the game the way that it was designed
To be played now just that statement will get me in trouble with some who think it is
Impossible to play a game the wrong way and that however you play a game is technically correct
but I would say that this is an entirely different topic and
Would take another video entirely to decipher it and so I'll just say this in
Some titles in order to garner the experience that
Developer set out to create you have to play it with a certain respect for the content patience
And/or style in order to fully enjoy it that may be controversial to say but to be honest
I don't really care moving on several years later. I decided to give Fallout, New Vegas another shot. I began playing through it very
hesitated leaked west by quest location by location and character by character
I began falling in love with the game as I explored the world that obsidian had built
I realized one remarkable thing every element of the game was built to empower the player now. I know this sounds
Insignificant, but I assure you it is not let me explain when you play an open-world game
There are a few things that make it work and feel truly free
Fundamentally it breaks down into these categories
traversal freedom narrative freedom questing freedom and gameplay freedom now
What does all this mean while?
Traversal freedom as you would expect refers to the level of freedom granted in
Traveling through the game's world in breadth of the wild for instance you are
restricted in the beginning of the game from exploring the whole map
This is because by way of the first four shrines you gain abilities
And experience that will allow you to explore the rest of the world after
These shrines are conquered you can leave and freely traverse the world as you see fit
Another example would be Mad Max
it gives you a large map to explore, but there are large portions of it that are blocked off by difficulty and
Narrative barriers, but once you break through those by means of the gameplay loop
You are given full freedom to explore now narrative freedom as you would expect
Simply refers to the freedom to explore and partake in the narrative as you see fit. This is something
That's very common in RPGs where you have the freedom to engage
certain characters or quests or
Discussions in ways that are unique to you
I should stress however that this does not mean that you have the freedom to do whatever the hell you want without any consequences a
downside or
potential upside depending on how you look at it of
Narrative freedom in its truest form is that the cost is you have to have respect for the world you are
Exploring for example I was playing divinity original sin too recently with my girlfriend and my roommate and we were all doing
multiplayer co-op going through the opening section of the game my roommate decided to steal a broom from a local shop and
Thinking nothing of it. He simply went about his business
however
Soon after this a guard found out that he had stolen it and began to engage not just him but all of his teammates meaning
Me and my girlfriend in combat the developers had given him the freedom to steal the broom if he wanted to
But made sure to inflict
consequences as a result of those actions
this takes a regular open world game from being simply a sandbox in which you can play and do anything and
Turned it into a world with
consequences and real people and
motivations to drive your decisions
Now questing freedom as you would expect refers to the freedom to engage in the quests or missions
That the game has set up for you as you see fit now for me this definition does not
Simply mean that you have the freedom to engage in quests accept them or decline them or do them in any order
but rather also refers to the
ability to solve the quests in a creative and different way based on how you
Decide to approach them in a game like Fallout 4 you of course have many
quests that you can accept or decline and you can perform them and complete them in any order that you want
However in general if you are simply doing fetching missions, or if you're going and clearing out and helping another settlement
It's not quite the same as if you are posed with a deep moral dilemma
And you had to decide how to rectify that dilemma and last
but not least
gameplay freedom of course refers to the freedom to engage in the gameplay loop the way you want to based on how you
Decided to approach the game if you wanted to play it
Unarmed but still with brass knuckles or something you can do that if you wanted to go through the game
Simply with melee weapons you can do that if you wanted to be a sniper you can do that if you wanted to play it
as a
Pacifist you could do that
It's simply about the freedom to play the game the way you want to now in order to achieve all of these things at once
A game has to be remarkably sturdy and able to withstand the vast pressures that can be
Impressed on it by various gameplay styles and all of these are accomplished in Fallout, New Vegas
traversal freedom is fully granted to the player from the very start as long as you have the gear and
Ability to travel through the more dangerous areas safely
Narrative freedom is granted to the player in the form of branching dialogue character and interpersonal
relationships and of course
Multiple endings questing freedom is given to the player in the form of dozens upon dozens
Of quests that can be completed in any order or not at all
Gameplay freedom is embedded in the gameplay loop in that you can approach the game in almost any way that you want. You can actually
Complete the game without killing a single
Person I've actually done Jesus playthroughs of the game where I make a character with long hair and have him run around
Being nice to people and forgiving them while committing their transgressions to my eternal memory all while being a complete and utter
pacifist on the other side you can also go through and do a
Jeffrey Dahmer
playthrough killing everyone and eating their bodies for health and the game won't stop you if you're caught people will judge you but there are
No characters beyond reproach unlike what you see for instance in fallout 4
You can go through new Vegas without killing a single soul or you can go through new vegas killing every single person you see no
matter how important they are to the narrative on the whole if you kill Caesar from Caesar's
Legion it simply alters the way that the world works
This requires as you can imagine a huge amount of forethought on the part of the developers because they have to take into
consideration how the game should and has to respond based on your actions as you can imagine this requires a
Huge amount of forethought on the part of the developers. They have to take into consideration
Practically every possible action you could take if you decide to go through and kill all of the main characters
they have to adjust the questing system so that it works out and still makes sense and doesn't break the game if
You want to go through and not kill anybody?
They have to find a way for you to solve each and every quest without killing somebody
But still be able to progress the way
I like to think about it is like we're building a bridge and every car that goes across the bridge is a
Different play style when you're designing the bridge you have to take into
Consideration of course the cars that are going to be driving across it but also all of the weather conditions
potential earthquakes any other item that could
inflict force and undue pressure on this bridge and
Potentially make it catastrophic. We fail when you compare New Vegas to its successor fallout 4
You can see just how differently the developers approach the creation of these worlds in Fallout 4
You can't kill a character unless the developer took that in consideration
Which is not very frequently you have to play the game the way
They wanted you to and you have to go through the characters that they set out overall the game that obsidian crafted here is
frankly pretty remarkable
They have built something that can respond intelligently based on what you do to it
Frankly when you look at the game in the world that obsidian entertainment crafted in just 18 months. It's frankly
remarkable they took into consideration
Practically every play style you could imagine and made sure that if you played the game that way it was
Supported and not just supported, but even encouraged as I was replaying Fallout, New Vegas for this video
I was playing through with my character who was a female and I previously had never played the game as a female character
Before but I decided to go for it now once. I reached Benny at the Luxe in New Vegas
I decided to start talking with him, and I realized that I could try to seduce him since my charisma was so high
I started to seduce him and flirt with him at which point
He invited me up to his room where and I could decide to sleep with him if I saw fit
after a quick romp in the hay you
Actually get a pop-up that asks you if you want to kill Benny in his sleep now
This is something that I had never seen before after playing through this game. Maybe a dozen times before
Simply because I decided to play the game a different way
I was able to inflict damage on the world in a new and unique way
Simply because I was doing things differently and that is what's so interesting and engaging
About new Vegas world and gameplay as it encourages that type of exploration of course
It's engaging of course. It's fun, and it's all a result of building a world that has consequences for
Every action good or bad there are consequences when I first tried playing through new Vegas
And I was frustrated that I couldn't just go around killing everybody or doing whatever the hell I wanted
it was because I didn't understand just how impressive and
important something like that can be if a game lets you go around and do whatever the hell you want in the world that they've
Given you there are no consequences
There's no reason for you to take the world seriously, and it fails to become a world
It's simply a space in which you can manipulate and do whatever you want
That's more of a sandbox than a living breathing world now
I suppose we need to discuss the gameplay loop within New Vegas now as you would expect
Because this game was developed with the same engine without doing any tweaks on it
The gameplay loop is pretty much identical to that of fallout 3 nothing has changed here
You're still exploring collecting trading bartering killing and basically repeating that process odd
Infinitum now. I don't really have any reason to criticize this because after all this game was primarily developed in about two years
And I wouldn't expect them to have tweaked it very much at all however. It still is something
That's interesting when you compare the games directly
The core gameplay loop is the same?
But the experience overall is very very different as a result of the war
Building and crafting that I just discussed, but with all that said on the gameplay
Let's move ahead to the narrative now in Fallout New Vegas is narrative
There are two key parts that make it tick first of all the idea of greed
We are in Vegas after all and there's no way to go to Vegas without discussing greed in
General and then secondly of course we have the discussion of man's unending
Desire for domination and power and his willingness to seize it through violent means
This is reflected in every Fallout game in the opening line war war never changes
It's a topic that can be applied anywhere because it's innately human however when paired with new Vegas is greedy and corrupt
Atmosphere it works. Really really well
We're talking about a world in which civilized society has been destroyed by a nuclear
war there's no reason to be civil anymore and
Nobody really tries to be and when you do find somebody who's trying to be civil
It's a little bit of a shake-up
but you don't trust them for instance when we go to the
Ultra-lux, and we start talking with people who seem to be very put together even though. They're wearing masks
You don't really trust them because you figure there must be something else some other reason why they're behaving the way
They're behaving when you meet the kings in freeside you start talking with them
And they seem fairly civilized on the whole
but once again you expect that there's more to their plot that they must be trying to do something else because
surely
They couldn't just be a bunch of people who dress up like Elvis and pretend to be cooler than they actually are
Now as far as I can tell almost every group has some element of corruption or greed taking place within them except for of course
Goodsprings, which is the city or town rather that you start the game in fundamentally?
They are the only group of people in this entire game
who have
Seemingly no ill intent and are just trying to get through life as best they can
Practically everywhere you go
You will encounter somebody who is trying to do
Something nasty to somebody else in order to get ahead this was not an accident this was very very
Intentional on the part of the developers if you watch the behind the scenes little ducky
They made you'll see that. This is the case now there are three basic endings to New Vegas. You can either side with mr.
House with Caesar's Legion or the NCR you can basically approach the game with this overall look
however
There are many other smaller elements to the game that you can factor in as well now when the game first
Launched there was actually no way of continuing the game after completing the main quest which is honestly a little
surprising because that was the same exact mistake that Bethesda made at the end of Fallout 3 that everyone freaked out about and
Of course later on they patched it to make it so you could continue playing after completing the main quest but for whatever reason
Obsidian did the same exact thing and later patched it out and fixed it
But to be honest the ending of the main quest actually isn't very important
It's more of the journey getting to the end of the main quest. That's truly interesting in my most recent playthroughs
I actually haven't approached the game primarily looking at the main quests instead
I focus on trying to find and speak with everyone
I can traveling and discovering every location on the map don't get me wrong the story and the overarching narrative in New Vegas
I think is much better than that of Fallout 3 and I would even argue
fallout 4
However where these games tend to really shine is in the smaller
Interactions the smaller moments when you're just talking with somebody in their little town about the world that seemingly has gone to hell
Fundamentally the story of conflict and then resolution of said conflict is nothing new that's a story as old as time
but what's different in each story that tells of conflict and resolution is how the
Conflict was resolved and that is also true of New Vegas as with effectively every single open-world RPG game
That's come out in the last 20 years
I would suggest if you're thinking of playing through New Vegas for the first time or going through it again
That you approach it not by trying to just rush through the main story
But instead by trying to explore the world as best you can and as deeply as you can the main quest of Fallout
New Vegas was intently designed to avoid and still a sense of urgency to the player
Wherein they would feel as though?
They had to rush through the main quest trying to find and do everything they possibly could to complete it while completely
Overlooking everything else the game had to offer
This is a mistake that as you can imagine has been made by many developers in recent history now
Don't get me wrong a sense of urgency can often be used by the developer to their advantage to instill this
Urgency in a player to go and explore and do things that they would typically not have done if they were left to their own
Devices however in an open-world RPG this has to be done very very
Selectively because in open worlds often the open world is what makes the game?
Special and unique if you rush the player too much
They're simply not going to explore it or enjoy it now new Vegas never got me really emotional
Or to the point where I felt like I was having my heartstrings polled however
It does motivate you to continue playing and it does present a truly interesting world for you to
Explore and really in an open world video game. That's all you can ask for would it have been better
If there were some more emotional quests or some other moments where the developer actually posed
Deeper moral questions to you that really made you stop and think or maybe
Walk away and just not have to deal with it at all. Yeah of course more of that is always better however
In new Vegas the game is still phenomenal and still does what it needs to to
Instill the sense of urgency and excitement in the player however on the whole new Vegas
Story does exactly what it needs to it instills excitement in the player and most importantly
interest and intrigue to the point where you want to continue exploring no matter the cost and
That is really all you need now as for the technical side of Fallout
New Vegas at launch the game was buggy as hell even still it's incredibly buggy. I downloaded the game from steam
Primarily after playing through it for the first time of course on the Xbox 360 and to get it to launch for the first time
I had to go online and download a patch from a third party now that tells you roughly what we're dealing with here
We're dealing with a game that is still beloved by many
but fundamentally
Still is very very buggy on modern hardware
Now this brings us of course to the discussion of mods if a mod
Improves the overall experience of the game even past what the developer initially intended is it still good is it still the same?
Game that we're talking about when we're discussing Fallout, New Vegas, or is it some sort of mixture of what some third party created?
Added on to what this first party created, it's an interesting concept in discussion certainly
But on the whole in my opinion and estimation it makes sense to recommend a mod if it improves the overall
experience for instance as I'm sure you've seen in some of the footage of new vegas thus far I
Downloaded a mod that takes fallout 4 saluting system and puts it into new vegas
Which greatly increases the speed of which you can loot different areas and get through a certain section of the game
Overall it improves the experience
So I decided to download it and play through the game with it this of course was not something that the developer
Initially intended or ended up putting in the game because it only debuted and fallout 4 years later
However, it does improve the overall
Experience and if that's the case I think we should still be able to use them
The only argument against this would of course be that most console players wouldn't have the ability to use these mods
And so it's not really fair to say that a game is
Fantastic with this particular mod, but terrible without if the mod was not supported on a console
However in the modern day if you're gonna be playing through new vegas chances
Are you're going to be playing it on PC or?
Some sort of bootleg version on a Mac and so I feel it's fair to say that
Mods like this one are important to complete and enhance the experience on the whole
Would it be awesome if the game worked fantastically without having to download any mods of course it would be however
Dealing with a game that is at this point
Approaching eight years old there are some steps that need to be taken in order to enjoy it in the way that is
Optimal for a modern audience you can be a purist and say that the only way that you should enjoy
Fallout New Vegas is in the way that the developer initially intended
But in my estimation and opinion I see nothing wrong with
adding in a mod for a looting system or enhancing the graphics a little in order to sit a little easier with a
28 team player if you disagree I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below, I will read through them
But that's just my two cents on it now this of course brings us to fun
Factor on the whole. Is the game still fun in the modern day after we've played all of these new
Open-world RPGs that have taken lessons learned from new vegas and applied them to their own titles? and I would say
Yes, it most certainly is especially with the miracle of mods
You can add a fresh coat of paint to this old classic and make it far more engaging than it would be otherwise
Like it or not we in 2018 are accustomed to better graphics smoother gameplay
And quicker looting systems and overall a more streamlined
Experience than what we would typically get in a title from this era. Now our mods
Necessary to enjoy new vegas, I would say absolutely not of course the core game is still the same however
If mods are needed in order to play it at all
Then of course I would say yes, so technically speaking for me and my computer rig
I needed a mod in order to play it at all and
So in that way, I suppose you could say mods are necessary to enjoy the game in its current state
But that is only assuming that your PC is the exact same as mine
But regardless whatever you need to do to enjoy the game the core game is what makes it fun
It's not the mod that tweaks the inventory system or the way that the game boots up that makes it fun
It's what the developers did in 2010 that makes it fantastic
Certain elements of the game have certainly not aged super well such as the gunplay
But to be honest the gunplay wasn't really that great to begin with that was one of the main criticisms back in 2010 in
2008 for fallout 3 in
2010 when new vegas launched it was actually a major topic of this discussion the fact that they now had iron sights and
Previously in Fallout 3 you didn't that was considered a major upgrade
v.a.t.s of course is still here and still rocking
I personally don't really like v.a.t.s I think that it just doesn't make sense in a first person or third person
Shooter, but regardless some people still really enjoy it and love it to death
And if you're one of those people good on you keep playing with it
I simply choose to avoid it if I can overall I would say the game certainly is still fun
And I'm still learning new things that you can do in the title that I previously had no clue were in here
And that's something truly remarkable if you can play a game
Approaching eight years from its release and still be learning and finding new things in it
the developer either did something very very right or very very wrong and in this case I
Would side with the former now all of this leads us to our overall
conclusion and
In these types of videos it's always a little difficult to figure out what to say
Fallout New Vegas is one of my favorite games of all time the fact that the developer obsidian entertainment was able to do this in
Under two years is so amazing
I frankly can't even quantify it the game is far more buggy than I would have liked to have seen and even still
Extra steps are needed to be taken in order to fully enjoy the game the way that the developer
Intended you to enjoy it but to be honest the one major takeaway
I have from making this video playing through the game again for this video is that I
Pray and hope to dear little six pound five ounce, baby Jesus that somehow
Obsidian is given the rights to make another Fallout game because my goodness that would be amazing
Now It's very unlikely and Bethesda after the release of New Vegas
Got really weird about obsidian and didn't like talking about, New Vegas
it's almost like when there's two brothers an older and a younger one and the older brother decides to let his younger brother try the
Video game he's playing
Just for fun
And his younger brother ends up being way better at it than he is and then he gets super
Soulkey and doesn't want to play with his little brother anymore
That's kind of what's going on with New Vegas and specifically obsidian and Bethesda.
Bethesda Just doesn't like talking about New Vegas for whatever reason it's like they just are a little butthurt
How good it turned out? It's weird if you don't know what I'm talking about
Just go watch some interviews with Todd Howard and Pete Hines when they're asked about New Vegas
It's bizarre
But who knows maybe they're just being a little more coy because they are working on something like this
And they don't want to let the beam spill you never know
But overall the lesson to be taken away from New Vegas. Is that this is a classic game that if you haven't
experienced and if you're a fan of
open-world RPGs you
absolutely owe it to yourself to go back through this game and give it a shot and
To be honest the fact that you can usually get this game from anywhere from five to ten dollars
And that doesn't even take into consideration the fact that sales come around
That makes it an absolute steal you owe it to yourself to experience this game
I don't care who you are or what games. You've played before it's phenomenal
But that's about all I have thank you so much for watching each and every single one of you
I honestly do appreciate it if you have any thoughts go ahead and leave those down in the comments section below
I do read them all believe it or not and as always if you have a suggestion for the next
Critique that you would like to see leave those down below as well
I would love to hear them, but with all that said thank you for watching
I love you all and I'll see you in the next video peace out
