gaming Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas?

[Sweetie-Belle 180]

I am buying either Fallout 3 or New Vegas tomorrow, because they are both 40% off on Steam and I've never properly played a Fallout game. Though, I'm only getting the base games, not the DLC.

 

So I'm wondering, which one should I buy?

 

I heard Fallout 3 has issues with Windows 7 but it's fixable, so I can deal with that.

[Sage 125]

New Vegas has better story and world telling all around. I really like the atmosphere of 3, but New Vegas really is the better game. 

[Standard User 2,127]

Without DLC, huh? That changes things...

 

First off, location and how that affects things. FO3 has a lot of history and culture around it, being in Washington, D.C. and all, while New Vegas is more about the "here-and-now" of the post-apocalypse Nevada/ the American Southwest. That's personal preference.

 

New Vegas has a lot more gameplay variety, what with weapon mods and the like. FO3 has, overall, a better main story line, in my opinion. The New Vegas DLC is arguably more "fun," but FO3's DLC adds more story.

 

If you're on PC, pick up New Vegas almost definitely for the mods. Otherwise, it's really a toss-up.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Kolth

[Sage 125]

A lot of the better mods require the DLC. 

[The Cynical Lone Wolf 615]

I say get New Vegas mainly because it works right off the bat once you buy it. Fallout 3,on the hand, is broken due to time and that is quite tragic. In order to play Fallout 3 you have plug-in in about a dozen or so mods to get it to work 

[Standard User 2,127]

A lot of the better mods require the DLC. 

 

Oh, drat, I suppose you're right. In that case, Fallout 3 all the waaaaay~

[Sage 125]

Oh, drat, I suppose you're right. In that case, Fallout 3 all the waaaaay~

 

I think it would be best to wait for a steam sale since you can get the ultimate or game of the year editions for like 8 or less dollars. Hell, both are only $14 each right now.

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

Fallout 3 is way better than New Vegas

[CaptainDoubloon 856]

I like Fallout 3 better, I think. The my little pony race mod I have is only for fallout vegas so I've been playing that game more.

[Chara 1,565]

Fallout New Vega is the game you want, better gameplay, and better story, Also in Fallout New Vegas a lightswitch has acrush on you.

[SquipyCheetah 449]

I have a bias opinion here because even though I am getting Fallout 3 tomorrow, I have never played it and only know the smallest of things about it. Fallout New Vegas however has dominated two weeks of this month. I would suggest that one since it is easily one of my favourite games of all time.

[FractalMoon 378]

New Vegas for story, New Vegas for characters, New Vegas for weapon variation, New Vegas for mod-ability.

Fallout 3 for  Atmosphere (add the Fellout mod to make things look pretty), Fallout three for stability without anti-crash addons

Overall New Vegas is the better game, but both are good. Either way, get the ultimate/GOTY edition.

[Omega Centauri 317]

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST IS VERY OPINIONATED AND BIASED

 

New Vegas. It is a better game in every way. It has more quests, weapons, armor, locations, and factions. It has better companions, both in the sense that they are more useful and they all have their own sidequests and unique backstories.

 

There are three main factions you can join in the main story, each with ups and downs, creating moral ambiguity, leaving it up to the player to decide which faction are the "good guys". Or you can join none of them. This also gives the game replay value, because not only can you have one different playthrough for each faction, you can do the quests for that faction differently. In Fallout 3, you can only play the story one way; it is a very generic, morally black and white story. Not to mention it's absolutely loaded with plot holes.

 

New Vegas' quests are also way less linear. In Fallout 3, you just mindlessly follow the arrow on your compass, and the game rarely gives you power over the outcome. In New Vegas, you can do things your way. You can do exactly what the quest giver tells you, you can ignore them and do things your own way. Sometimes, there is no strict set of directions, you are given an objective, and are to complete that objective in whatever way you see fit. Or you can decide that you don't like the quest owner and shoot them in the face.

 

Some people say that Fallout 3 has a better atmosphere, but I have to strongly disagree. To start with, New Vegas' atmosphere is more true to the originals, and has a healthy dose of dark humor, rather than just being dark and depressing all the time. This is probably because Obsidian, the developer that made New Vegas, is composed of many people who made the first two games.

 

Fallout 3 also has little world building. There is no agriculture, and it's implied that the population survives off of 200 year-old junk food. There is no power supply, because no one considered to get an old power plant back up and running after all that time? And one of the biggest settlements in the game was built around a nuclear bomb, and to top it all off, they worship the damn thing.

 

Most of the locations in Fallout 2 are just ruined buildings filled with ghouls or raiders with some randomly generated loot at the end, and have no connection to the story at all, while nearly all of New Vegas' locations are connected to the main story in some way.

 

I don't know if I could call Fallout 3 a bad game, just average, and pretty featureless when compared to the rest of the series.

 

/wall of text

[Radiobolt 186]

Fallout 3, please, ANY DAY! (F3 = Fallout 3/FNV = Fallout New Vegas)

Anybody who says FNV is better than 3 hasn't properly played 3.

Yes, FNV might have better guns, but really, the story, nor the environment wowed me or made me as happy as F3 did. F3 wowed me, made me feel like I was apart of something big when I had first played. It has better atmosphere by far, making it feel like an actual post-apocalyptic world. New Vegas felt very un-like this to me, especially on The Strip. Yeah, it's powered by the Hoover Dam, but it drove me nuts how perfect and amazing it was. Actually, when I went there, it wasn't that amazing. I was expecting it to be some important, big, beautiful place, but it turned out to be small, full of loading screens, and only important for small parts of the main story-line.

[rarity1 461]

Both games are awesome so just flip a coin because once you play one you'd probably end up playing the other game eventually.

Be sure to play Fallout 4, it will be better than both games.

[Omega Centauri 317]

It has better atmosphere by far, making it feel like an actual post-apocalyptic world. New Vegas felt very un-like this to me, especially on The Strip.

Fallout 3 would be an accurate representation of life ~10 years after a nuclear war, but it's been 200 years and no one in Fallout 3 has set up any farms, fixed up a power plant, established a government, or anything else you'd expect people to do when rebuilding civilization. There's also way too much radiation still there. Radiation from a nuke does not last that long. In Fallout 2, There are large, organized governments as well as small, independent settlements. There are farming and mining communities, sprawling trade networks, power plants, and huge, bright cities. Fallout 3 has none of these.

[Radiobolt 186]

Fallout 3 would be an accurate representation of life ~10 years after a nuclear war, but it's been 200 years and no one in Fallout 3 has set up any farms, fixed up a power plant, established a government, or anything else you'd expect people to do when rebuilding civilization. There's also way too much radiation still there. Radiation from a nuke does not last that long. In Fallout 2, There are large, organized governments as well as small, independent settlements. There are farming and mining communities, sprawling trade networks, power plants, and huge, bright cities. Fallout 3 has none of these.

The world of Fallout 3 never had the same opportunities. They were right next to a Super Mutant infestation, D.C. I do understand your point, but I just feel Fallout 3 represents this a lot more than New Vegas.

[Omega Centauri 317]

The world of Fallout 3 never had the same opportunities. They were right next to a Super Mutant infestation, D.C. I do understand your point, but I just feel Fallout 3 represents this a lot more than New Vegas.

The west coast had a big problem with super mutants as well, but they managed themselves pretty well. And not only are super mutants a very recent creation in the fallout universe, they rarely strayed very far out of the DC ruins anyway, with a few exceptions, leaving plenty of land to use for agriculture.

[Radiobolt 186]

The west coast had a big problem with super mutants as well, but they managed themselves pretty well. And not only are super mutants a very recent creation in the fallout universe, they rarely strayed very far out of the DC ruins anyway, with a few exceptions, leaving plenty of land to use for agriculture.

Good point.

I think my biggest problem with New Vegas is that it wasn't fun to me. It wasn't interesting. I hated the main questline. :/

[Omega Centauri 317]

Good point.

I think my biggest problem with New Vegas is that it wasn't fun to me. It wasn't interesting. I hated the main questline. :/

To each his own. I liked the moral ambiguity of it all, it sparks some interesting debates among the community and adds replay value.

[Mr F 1,522]

New Vegas is newer, is a lot easier to make run on modern PCs and has more content. It is newer and better, which is to be expected.

Fallout New Vegas also has a better story and your choices affect gameplay to a much higher degree. Especially with both the karma and faction reputation systems. Fallout: New Vegas is easily the winner.

[The Mint Pone 2,294]

Fallout 3. New Vegas is pretty much just a big add-on for 3. It adds nothing new to the game that's worth caring about and the world is a bit boring compared to 3. 3 has far more interesting locations and story.

[Radiobolt 186]

To each his own. I liked the moral ambiguity of it all, it sparks some interesting debates among the community and adds replay value.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, completely ^^ I just had more fun with F3 than FNV

[A Black Circle 1,586]

Both. Get 'em both. Or NV. The best.