Borderlands vs. Fallout 3

[gigastar]

Cannot really compare them. Ones a story set in the post-apocalyptic wasteland and the others more or less treasure hunting for gun porn.

Fallout is an RPG with shooter elements.
Borderlands is on the other end of the spectrum, a FPS with role-playing elements.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Fallout is an Action Adventure Archetype, Borderlands is an Action RPG - They do not need to be compared for the same reason you dont compare Grand Theft Auto to Halo -- Even though people have.

But for some unfathomable reason ill go along with this shenanigan.
Fallout = Open World and Non Linear
Borderlands = Confined World and Linear

Therefore its a matter of taste, neither can be better.
I enjoyed Borderlands more though, mainly because NV was practically Fallout 3 in a new setting with less freedom.

Borderlands isn't really linear though. It is more linear than Fallout 3 is, but compared to say Call of Duty or Halo, it isn't linear at all.

Anyway, Borderlands vs Fallout 3 is like Killing Floor vs Left 4 Dead.

 

[AngelicSven]

The comparison is odd since Fallout focuses on a story while Borderlands is esstienally 'do this and we'll pay you.' Personally, I absolutely love Borderlands. It's style is much better, it's actually funny unlike the humor Fallout fails at, it's guns are so overblown ridiculous that shooting anything is enjoyable, and Gearbox supports a reat deal and doesnt put out buggy games and their DLCs work from day one.

 

[nuba km]

I have to say that I've never heard one compared to the other. I guess there are some visual similarities, but I'd be willing to bet that Borderlands was inspired a bit from the early Fallout franchise if there really are a lot of similarities. Inspired by Fallout 3 probably not so much. Didn't they get released pretty much at the same time?

no I think there is more then an entire year between them.

my friend said he wasn't going to get borderlands because it looked like a fllout3 clone to him. I felt like hitting him for saying that but instead I spend a weak telling him why he was wrong. now he has the game and he loves it.

 

[kommando367]

In my opinion, it goes like this.

Borderlands:
+Better gameplay.
+Better weapon systems
+Better loot system
+Better equipment customization
+Better bossfights
+Vehicles
+Multiplayer co-op and PVP
+Cheap re-spec
+Action akills
-Almost nonexistent story
-Way more repetitive
-No separate save system
-Lack of a proper difficulty selection system

Fallout 3:
+Better story (with Broken Steel anyway)
+Better add-ons
+Save anywhere
+Godlike endgame character
+VATS
+A few creepy areas
+Perks

-EXP doesn't scale well with difficulty of killing enemies (EX: Talon Mercs give the same amount of EXP as Super Mutant Masters despite the latter having way more health)
-No re-spec
-Slow-ass movement speed
-Crappy boss fights
-A bit more than it's fair share of glitches
-very easy (even on very hard) with good equipment
-No iron sights

All that said, they're both good games and it is difficult to choose between them, so I'm not going to.

 

[CD-R]

They aren't even the same genre. Borderlands is a first person shooter. Fallout 3 is an RPG. Just because it has guns, and you can play it in a first person perspective doesn't mean it's an FPS. I often find people who didn't like Fallout tried to play it like an FPS.

 

[Wintermute_]

Borderlands was more fun. One of the best co-op campaigns ever played.

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

They're completely different in everything but involving guns and people trying to make a living in a horrible wasteland. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, though I prefer Fallout 3, simply because I'm more of an RPG kind of person.

 

[Enigma6667]

Depends on your play-style.

Like playing with friends? Play Borderlands. Want a very deep single player experience? Fallout 3. Both of them offer a rich amount of content, but I'd have to say that Fallout 3 has even more than Borderlands, aside from the whole "Hundreds of thousands of loot" thing.

 

[ntw3001]

Yeah, the comparison is really only skin deep. I preferred Borderlands because Fallout, while sort of neat, wasn't very fun to play. I made the decision of going for a small-arms-sniper kind of style, and VATS made it incredibly grating. Fights in Borderlands involved things like taking cover and shooting, whereas fights in Fallout were more along the lines of selecting the headshot cinematic and waiting for it to play out over and over again before I was allowed to progress. I'd have tried to do without VATS, but I found the handling of the game incredibly awkward, like playing with a console controller.

 

[Kurokami]

It occurs to me both games seem to be compared to each other. Whilst not being anything like the other. I would have used Fallout New Vegas but I shall use the game it was compared to during that period of time. What makes people think that one is better then the other? Tell me your opinion of the games or of what the reason is for comparing two very unlike games.

I very much liked Fallout 3. Borderlands I found dull, boring and incredibly hard to get into. Oh, also ending sucked.

As for comparing that two, it was only because of the setting I think.

 

[HolocaustBoy]

Borderlands is boring and Fallout 3 is clunky so pick your poison (Yes I am serious)

None of which have made me die. Plus I rather enjoyed those games.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

You shouldn't compare Borderlands with Fallout 3 mainly because "they are both fps's that have RPG elements in a post apocalyptic setting.

Even though Borderlands is more fun if you play it with a friend or even with 4,but tends to get boring after the "loot fever" fades away.

Fallout you just play for the story,that's what I'm doing at least.You can't compare it to Borderlands which is "the fun in Diablo mixed in an FPS".

 

[hermes]

I can see the reason for the comparision, but they are actually different games. One is a pure RPG with a FPS perspective. The other one is a FPS with some RPG elements.
The games are different, but they can still be seen as: if the part you enjoy more about RPGs are the exploration and setting, get Fallout. If the part you enjoy more are the grinding and bragging (or you just preffer FPS over RPG), get Borderlands.

 

[Rad Party God]

This thread is pointless, both are completely different games with completely different gameplay, completely different graphics engine and completely different genres. The only thing they have in common is that both happen to take place in a wasteland and they're played in first person perspective.

Borderlands has a lot more in common with Diablo than with Fallout and Fallout 3 has a lot more in common with Oblivion than with Borderlands.

Borderlands is about playing with a firend or some friends and kill lots and lots of stuff to get ridiculously powerful equipment, basically it's a FPS with a couple of RPG elements.

Fallout 3 is about exploring the wastes, making harsh decisions and do whatever you please. And basically it is a true RPG wich happens to have a first person perspective with a couple of FPS elements.

 

[Cronky]

They're both in some kind of Barren Desert like place, have guns, and are RPG-ish.

That's pretty much where the similarities end.

The deserts are cause by different scenarios. (Pretty sure Borderlands was just a desert in general)

The stories differ in the sense that the only parts of the story you want to pay attention to in Borderlands are the ones at the intros... and that's just for the lols.

They both have guns, but Borderlands focuses on that gun play where as Fallout focuses on you just mashing headshot with VATS from one foot away. (New Vegas tries to fix that)

They're both RPGs in the sense that you level up, but one is a Skill Tree style and the other is a... put points in a bunch of things that only marginally increase your chance in whatever you're doing. Then add perks.

Oh and to touch back on the stories. The endings of both leave you disappointed... till DLC comes out and gives you more to do.

I think that's about it

I like both.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Friend of mine swears by all that he is that Borderlands is, in fact, an RPG.

He's a moron.

Both games are radically different and really have almost nothing to do with each other. Not even the types of humor they rely on are even remotely similar.

 

[Count Igor]

Haha.
Thread was created - I had just set Fallout 3 installing (New computer, ya see)
I just set Borderland installing, I refresh the Escapist, and there it is again on my screen!
Must be fate.

Anyhoos, Borderlands has an interesting character concept, and I like it, but I preferred Fallout 3, due to the replay value and interesting RPG elements.

 

[TheHecatomb]

Wow, there's some great bullshit arguments in this thread and we're only on page 2. Awesome!

Personally I think Borderlands feels more like a shooter AND more like an RPG than Fallout 3.
Mostly because you actually have different classes with unique class-skills that play totally different. Fallout 3 has the same problem Oblivion had; if you played it for a while your character could pretty much learn all skills and be good at everything.

Now some people would argue that Role Playing is all about your role in the unfolding story, but then you would have to agree that Call of Duty is an RPG, too. Which is ofcourse nonsense.
One could also argue that Fallout is an RPG and Borderlands is not because in Fallout you can make choices that (slightly) influence the story while in Borderlands you follow a linear storyline, but then you'd also say that World of Warcraft is not an RPG. Which is also nonsense. (I know there's at least one of you going to say "No, WoW is not an RPG, it's an MMORPG!11" now but honestly, if you do that you should be hit in the balls).

Role Playing isn't just about story, it's also about the role your character can take on in the actual gameplay. Allowing a character to learn all skills destroys any sense of a 'role' in that perspective. As for the world, both games are equally linear. They both point you in the exact direction of the quest (which is something I hate about both), and both games let you choose how you travel there.

I would agree if someone said that Fallout 3 is more of a traditional RPG while Borderlands sort of takes the MMORPG approach to roleplaying, but both are definitely RPG's.

I really can't say which one I prefer though. I totally love the art direction and the whole self-mocking wacky genocidal co-op fun in Borderlands, and I like the atmosphere and story in Fallout 3. Not to mention the level at which it can be modded and allows the community to add content.
I dislike the repetition in Borderlands, but then Fallout 3 is also repetitive as hell, it just sugarcoates it by giving the questgivers different names and a slightly different haircolour.