How does New Vegas "Railroad" You?

[cerebus23]

Yea try getting to the base down south in fallout 2 you had to save about every tile never know what random encounter the game was going to toss at you.

NV was the same way, save a ton, keep and eye out and run like hell when needed.

Sad when a game tries to nerf the level scaling bs that made oblivion a cake walk, and leaves some danger to the game that people list it as a failing.

 

[Saviordd1]

I believe people will consider it railroading when you set the game up so it is extremely difficult to go any other path. What New Vegas has is a bunch of enemies that would be considered Beef Gates [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeefGate] set up on all routes aside from the story route out of Goodsprings. You have to be above a certain level to be able to defeat the enemies on all routes except the story route.

As you said, it is possible to slip by the enemies if you are careful, but you stand little chance of survival if you have to fight. This is a form of soft railroading, the area isn't sealed off or completely inaccessible until you hit Level X, it just means that you are unlikely to survive a trip into the area until you hit Level X.

This.

Making it BARELY possible doesn't excuse it of railroading. But that's me.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

After trying and failing to go straight to New Vegas by going north, I ended up going east to the prison and doing all of the Powder Gangers' quests, then discovering Hidden Valley and running past all of the scorpions in Scorpion Gulch. Then I sneaked through Black Mountain with a Stealth Boy I got from Joe Cobb, and the way to Vegas was clear from there.

I love the way that New Vegas sits on the horizon, clear as your eventual destination but tantalisingly out of reach. Fallout 3 never did anything like that, since you can pretty much get everywhere from the start and it makes for a less interesting progression.

 

[RatRace123]

Eh, I prefer "Beef Gating" to having enemies level with you.

It's the best of both worlds. For those that want to stick to a more linear path, well you have the excuse to do so, go out past the boundaries and the game will try its best to murder your ass.
And for those who relish the challenge and want to push themselves, well here's a Deathclaw, take it out with your starter pistol and if you manage that, bask in the glory of your achievement because you are a badass at only level 3.

 

[Cowabungaa]

One of the biggest criticisms of New Vegas is how you are set on a path around the south of the map for the start of the game, with every other direction being a deathtrap. I disagree with this. Yes, the surrounding areas are extremely dangerous, but they aren't impossible.

They don't have to be.

railroading:

Press (someone) into doing something by rushing or coercing them: "she hesitated, unwilling to be railroaded into a decision".

Press, not force. You're not forced to take the path that has no cazadores, but you're going to take the path that has no goddamn cazadores if you're not masochistic. Or incredibly hardcore.

I actually had fairly little problems completely ignoring the set path on my very first playthrough. On Hardcore. I stumbled and bumbled my way across the wasteland without much problem, picking up levels, gear, food and water along the way. I can't even remember cazadors being much an issue even early on. I had antidotes anyway. Didn't even see a Deathclaw for ages.

I did read about this Beef Gate issue before I got it but I can't say I really encountered it.

 

[aether-x3]

I'm really set in my ways when it comes to New Vegas.

More often or not I will always Pass through Primm, get stopped at Nipton by Vulpes, mosey on till I get to Novac, Complete Boone's quest; get him as a follower. Again mosey over to Freeside, Do the quests for the Garret Twins until I get enough money to go into The Strip. THEN that's when I start to branch off into different areas and quests.

Though one time I tried not to do so I somehow managed to wander near Brotherhood territory and then near the bottom of Black Mountain. Or when I was going the usual way and ran into a Blind Deathclaw thinking I could get passed but..nope.

Hmm, though I could say I get railroaded but that's by choice not force.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I actually had fairly little problems completely ignoring the set path on my very first playthrough. On Hardcore. I stumbled and bumbled my way across the wasteland without much problem, picking up levels, gear, food and water along the way. I can't even remember cazadors being much an issue even early on. I had antidotes anyway. Didn't even see a Deathclaw for ages.

I did read about this Beef Gate issue before I got it but I can't say I really encountered it.

Well, good for you. The general opinion [http://i.imgur.com/WisAP.jpg], however...

I really never got that. They're quite pitiful. Especially when I got Boone with me they died so damned quickly. And up close it took only a few VATS-based shotgun blasts. Or just cripple their wings, staggers them, makes them an easy prey.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Indeed. i like high luck characters, so i do the goodsprings missions to give me a decent amount of equipment, then bugger off to new vegas to break all the cansinos. Loads of money at the start, as well as good equipment. Then, you buy a hunting rifle from the gun runners (if you do not already have one), plenty of rounds, and you're set for the next 10 levels.

you buy the hunting rifle? I just kill the guards on the inside. Free combat armour as well.

 

[madster11]

Just like to point out that there's a fat man in the quarry and you can pick up enough equipment in goodsprings and that mining town thing that you can sneak, grab the nuke, sneak out and start heading for vegas - if a deathclaw sees you, the fat man takes care of it.

 

[Dansen]

if you want to talk about beef gates, talk about dark souls.
i got my ass handed to me on the graveyard until i found the way up to the castle.
and then it was a piece of cake since i grinded the hell out of that graveyard....

lol same thing happened to me, i have no idea why from soft made the main route so difficult to see.

 

[KhaoticOne]

To answer OP, overall NV does not Railroad you. However i still wish for some diversity in rummaging through New Vegas. Instead of A. Southern Road (easy), B. Mountain (moderate), C. Junction (hard). Add little twist and turns to travel through the Mojave (towards NV at least) just to spice up the geography a bit.

Sure Fallout 3 had full open world, but the geography of the landscape was shit. It was practically a flatland with the Locations (you know point of interests), having some workable landscapes. Sure it differentiates (from the flatland) and makes them more notable but leaves the general map bland as a result. Also the world felt dead compared to NV. While that may be part of the intent (given the atmosphere of the game) it didnt help that my walks to point A (POI) to point B (another POI) were tedious. Part of exploration is to find interesting things so why not spice up the trip as well as the destination. Yes there was Random Events in 3 but they felt so mechanical in nature and wasn't as executed seamlessly IMO. It works yeah, but i always get this forced feeling from them rather than the intended ones. Maybe its cause im always the central focus of them (like the whole game in general).

If it wasn't obvious before i like traversing New Vegas more than the Capitol Wasteland primarily for the fact i might meet somebody interesting. Its jarring to keep hearing people say FO3 locales were more interesting than NV, i feel like we're playing two different games now (yeah yeah personal opinions, etc). While New Vegas had more completely pointless/wasted potential locales than FO3 (IIRC haven't touched 3 for years) i feel that the ones that did stand out (only ones people talk about) were better compared to FO3 counterparts.

To end on a final note, its somewhat unfair to judge both NV and FO3 locales on their importance towards the player. Since in FO3 surviving was a prominent theme so any locale was good off the sheer chance of loot. The themes in NV were different (less surviving more rebuilding) so these same locales held less value compared to FO3.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Just took my shit loads of mods off for a clean playthrough after a year or so, and it's an eye opener. I'd forgotten how stupid hard it was to kill some things when you had starter gear, even when you're pouring rounds into it's head.

Of course, my mods made the game the exact opposite, getting hit beforehand hurt like a *****.