I have some opinions about 4, but nothing like the vitriol you feel towards it lol. Could I get an example of some things they removed in your opinion?
My complaints mostly boil down to how mediocre the story, world, and characters are. But I can't think of anything they removed necessarily, just poorly implemented
I think that's fairly common to be more in love with the first thing you tried. IME, I had played Fallout 1 and 2 as they released. Was exited for 3 when it came out, and while I thought it was a great game, it didn't feel like Fallout. New Vegas feels like the Fallout I know. 4 even feels like a good representation, though not as deep.
But I might feel as you do if I first played 3. Then all the other Fallout games would feel weird. lol
For anyone thinking about playing New Vegas again, check out Viva New Vegas! Fixes the gunplay, bugs, lighting, crashes, balance, and adds new important features like expanded consequences for your actions, cut content, a post-game where you can see the consequences of your choices, and better visuals!
I've heard it's mostly due to either low strength, weapon skill or in the case of the Hunting Rifle and Survivalist's Rifle, faults in the model itself.
That's how weapon sway usually works, alongside innate weapon spread, but there are legitimately misaligned iron sights at 0 spread and perfect stats, unintentionally from the devs. Other fun bugs include increased aim shaking when further from the center of the worldspace, micro stutters, an inability to play beyond 60FPS without destroying physics, weapon lighting assuming light sources are not where they actually are, and more!
All of these are fixed, and result in a New Vegas as you remember it, not as it actually exists. Absolutely worth playing with VNV.
I wish I didn't notice them, but a lot of my play sessions end with the game hardlocked and having to kill it in task manager. Still doesn't stop me from playing it regularly tho.
I remember losing Fallout 2 because one of the stat boosting items got lost from my inventory so I spent a month trying to track it down instead of saving my village.
I gotta be honest. I love New Vegas and FO1 but I gave up on 2 somewhere around Vault City. I'm sure the game has it's good moments, but the total whiplash of all the proto "so Random XD" humor got to me. I don't mind some random wackyness in FO, it just has to actually be funny.
That's a hot take I 100% agree with. Fallout 1 nailed the vibe and was perfect from start to finish. While 2 has a ton of great moments (Frank Horrigan is amazing), it isn't as totally consistent.
If you're good with modding, just use NVAC and some other popular bug fix mods, then it'll run better than any other fallout game. People love this game and have been fixing it for years.
That guide explains how to install. It includes the most important stability and QoL mods for modern systems, and brings the features of new Vegas (like aim down sights or hardcore mode) to fallout 3.
You can choose to play through fallout 3, and then through the story have that character become the new vegas courier, or start right in new Vegas like a standard save and travel to the capital wasteland if you’d like.
This is great, if you're on Linux you can just use Mod Organizer 2 as well. It's pretty intuitive once you understand what the UI elements mean and it's very stable. Just don't update it because it only supports one version currently ha.
The Wasteland Survival Guide expands on TBoT and balances the games far better, adds in need content, tons more bug fixes, and generally improves on the games.
Fallout 3 had a better atmosphere than vegas IMO. The ruins of the city, subways tunnels to travel, the absoulte warzone that was anywhere infested by the mutants. It really built up a world that was hostile and ruined. I wish FO3 had the same level of faction depth as FONV.
I was so scared the first few times I traveled them, and I really like how some tunnels you had to travel at least once to access other parts of the map.
I'd say they're equal, but also two very different feelings.
FO3 feels so much like a world reclaiming itself. You have a scant few major settlements, most things are still pretty ramshackle, everything feels shoved together. There's an air of violent change, and you're one of the hands helping to guide it down this new path.
New Vegas felt lived in. Settlements felt more established, you had The Strip as this beacon in the night, and you had outsiders shoving in on top of them. Yes, still striking the feel of "violent change", but it felt less "Bring order to chaos" and more "The King is dead. Long live the King".
