Dear “Fallout 3” fans: I get it. I finally get it.
Oddly, though, it was not “Fallout 3” itself that did it, but its younger cousin, “Fallout: New Vegas.” Developed by Obsidian software, “Vegas” stands on the shoulders of greatness to achieve a level of quality it doesn’t really deserve, but it has one crucial thing in its favor: locale. Let’s face it, the bombed-out, perma-gray remains of Washington D.C. are downright depressing, and if the game is failing to pull you in already, the bleak nature of its setting may become the proverbial straw on the camel’s back. I know that’s what happened to me.
I mean, be honest with me: “Fallout 3” should not work. Most people seek out a feeling of godlike power from a videogame, so a narrative that pushes you to cannibalism and forces you to contend with radiation poisoning is a strange sell. You’re playing an emaciated scavenger, alive only through relentless self-discipline and compromise, struggling to eek out an existence in a technologically destitute wasteland. You sleep on filthy beds next to corpses. You eat rat meat. It may not be Cormac McCarthy, but it’s not far off. Why on God’s green earth would I wander away from the glistening, Adonis heroism of “Mass Effect 2” to hunker down in a dilapidated subway tunnel? These exact questions drove a permanent wedge between me and “Fallout 3” the first time around. I found it miserable, frustrating, and a little too loose for my tastes.
And then “Vegas” came around, and I couldn’t help but come back and try again. Obsidian stuck faithfully to the formula of “Fallout 3,” but they retro-fitted it onto the Mojave Desert and the Las Vegas strip. While not exactly a picnic, either, Nevada provides a much more scintillating experience. Yes, we’re in a bombed out wasteland, but there’s an oasis! A last bastion of vice and virtue, of civilization, of excitement! We can still dream of fabulous riches, and commit dastardly sins of the flesh. The game pulled me right in. I couldn’t wait to get to the New Vegas strip, and once I was there, I never wanted to leave.
With a more agreeable, ostentatious setting in place, “New Vegas” was then able to gently instruct me in the things I had missed in its elder sibling: the satisfaction of efficiently rationing resources, the white-knuckle dread of venturing out into unknown wilderness, and the astonishing freedom and openness of the world before me. “Fallout 3” and “New Vegas” are not sandbox games, they’re something much better.
What I can’t believe I missed all along was how generous “Fallout 3” is regarding play style. I’ve perhaps never encountered an RPG of any kind that is so giving to the player, so willing to listen to how you want to do things. Most RPGs put you in a box: you can be persuasive, but you can’t shoot straight; or you can repair electronics, but you can’t pick locks. Both of these games open themselves to you in a completely different way: there are no arbitrary classes, there is only what you care about and what you don’t. In both “Fallout 3” and “New Vegas,” I am a highly persuasive, lock-picking heavy weapons expert. I cannot fathom another RPG that would allow me to be those things, and not lose all notion of challenge.
Obsidian, of course, makes a habit of sequeling great RPGs, they did it with “Knights of the Old Republic” as well. Then, as now, they handle the story beautifully but botch the technology. I fear that shoddy quality control is this studio’s downfall, their games are consistently buggier and more prone to slowdown than similar work in the same genre. This is especially glaring both with “New Vegas” and “KOTOR 2,” because we have another developer creating an identical game with noticeably smoother results. “New Vegas'” load times, by my estimation, are nearly 40% longer than F3’s, and significantly more prevalent to boot. Come on, guys.
Still, story is king in “Fallout,” and “New Vegas” is a triumph. It weaves the best narrative of Obsidian’s career, and they should be enormously proud of the fact that their work stands toe to toe with “Fallout 3.” I truly could not tell you which has the better, more engrossing narrative, and that is saying something.
So congratulations, “Fallout: New Vegas,” you taught me the error of my ways. Like a cunning mother who pours a little sugar in a bitter cough medicine, you found just the right touch of indulgence necessary to guide me into a proper appreciation for Bethesda, and the extraordinary accomplishment that is “Fallout 3.” I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
