If you don’t want the raw experience, the Viva New Vegas modlist does an amazing job of “vanilla plus”. Haven’t finished my latest playthrough, but nothing felt out of place, and it was less buggy than vanilla.
I’ve never liked fallout games but keep getting told to really give new Vegas a chance. Would you recommend this or any other mods for a first timer?
I’d reflexively say “Yes” to New Vegas but it depends on what Fallouts you’ve played, and what you don’t like about them.
FO1 & 2 offer ZERO hand holding and expect you to know how to play an RPG, but offers a very open approach to the world and plot
FO3 and 4 are great games that primarily struggle with permanence of your actions in the world - it’s pretty on rails between and during setpieces, no secondary plot to really get lost in
I tried 2, 4, and 76. Only for like five hours each maybe? I can’t even pîn point what it is I don’t like. I don’t mind on rails if the story is good, I don’t mind open world or plot if it’s rich, I’ve played other post apocalypse games and enjoyed them (Metro 2033 springs to mind).
Just something about the package that is Fallout I keep bouncing off of. I like Morrowind and Skyrim, so I really don’t know.
I can’t comment on ‘76 but I have played the Metro series, which is 100% on rails but makes it work.
Fallout has a tongue in cheek goofy that permeates the IP and casts a thin layer of non-serious over everything. The brutalisism and commitment to tone is what I loved about Metro and STALKER, but Fallout is Disneyland in comparison
I think this is what makes Fallout a love it or hate it setting.
Fallout tells often whimsical stories against the horrific backdrop of nuclear annihilation, and that’s what gives it it’s charm IMO.
I actually feel like it’s more realistic in a sense than overly grimdark settings. People are goofy, and with over 200 years since the bombs fell it’s believable that people will have some laughs and some motivations other than pure survival.
Oh, absolutely and that’s why I love NV and 1 & 2. They have self awareness and embrace the whimsy, a character like Myron or ’Fisto’ the sexbot would NEVER feature in a grimdark lore like STALKER, but that’s the humanistic charm of it.
If there’s some kind of post-apocalyptic society, there’s gonna be weird people and freaks, just like now - but in an absurd context.
