Having dropped New Vegas in the past due to lost interest, I decided to try this game out finally since a friend of mine was having a fallout 3 playthrough himself. It was it 8 bucks, so I figured why not. I have to say, I put way more hours into this game than both other Bethesda games I’ve played through (Skyrim and Oblivion) before even finishing the main quest line. The combat was excellent in my opinion, and I (seem to be in the minority of people who) really liked the story. The choices it forces you to make sometimes really had me feeling emotional at times. I also played it with some minor mods installed, just some custom outfits and real world guns for immersion. Nothing to break the story or anything, though there are a few DLC sized mods I’m eyeing up to play in the future. Overall I seriously enjoyed this game, I’ve noticed online it seems to be regarded as one of the least popular mainline games but I think it’s become my favourite Bethesda game I’ve tried so far honestly. Seriously recommend anyone who hasn’t played this yet to at least give it a try. It really pulled me in.
Edit: Since I’m done with F4, got New Vegas running with some nice mods to add gritty aesthetics and real world weapons. Giving it another try 6 years after I initially tried it and so far I’m way more into it!
Edit 2: more specific context
I lost interest in this game half way through. I really don’t like how the enemies level up with you. I was about 2/3rds through the main quest line when the bad guys became such bullet sponges that it wasn’t fun anymore. Like, multiple nukes to the face and they still keep coming.
I far prefer games where the enemies scale by location, not the player.
This is my running complaint with most Bethesda RPGs. Just about everything scales by player level, which can put you in situations where enemies are downright impossible to kill if you’re too spec’d into non-combats.
Oblivion: why level up when I can stay level one and steamroll everything?
New Vegas: Just another Bethesda contracted game and I’ll just head straight north and OH GOD CAZADOR—
Haha yeah NV lets you know shit is real awfully fast.
There are mods that alter the enemy scaling, but it’s gonna change the game balance.
It wouldn’t really be an open world game if areas were artificially blocked due to leveled enemies. And other areas would simply be steamrolled once you out level them.
In my opinion, open world doesn’t mean being able to complete any objective in an arbitrary order.
Progressive growth is one of the most rewarding things in an RPG for me. That means that I have to rethink my path forward until I gain the strength to overcome an obstacle. And that also means that some of my once difficult foes can be a showcase for my experience.
Areas aren’t blocked, they’re turned into goals for me to overcome. Yes, I should have a choice in how I explore the world, but having limits gives you something to break through.