Poll: The Elder Scrolls vs. Fallout

[scorptatious]

I used to prefer TES games to the Fallout games. Fallout 3 was ok from what I remember, but I remember being turned off by the fact you couldn't continue playing after the ending. Initially, I wasn't all that impressed with New Vegas either.

Nearly two years later though, that opinion changed. I decided to give New Vegas a second chance and it ended up being one of my most favorite games of all time. I loved nearly everything about it. The story, characters, setting, gameplay, ect. It sorta made me wonder why I couldn't see all this when I first played.

It sort of made me look back on Oblivion and Skyrim. While there was a lot of things to do in those games, and they were kinda fun, the story and characters sorta fell flat with me. I feel that New Vegas did a far better job in that department.

The game even inspired me to play the first two games. And while I personally prefer how combat works in New Vegas, the games themselves were also quite fun.

I'd probably play through Fallout 3 again, but I have heard that the people who worked on that game weren't the same people who worked on 1,2, and New Vegas. So I'm not really sure I'll get that same enjoyment out of it as I did New Vegas.

So overall, I prefer the Fallout games to TES.

 

[Reaper195]

Skyrim was the first Bethesda game I played which didn't have weapon degradation in the base game. Instant win. It was also a fantastic game.

But the Fallout games have been the perfect post-apoc survival RPG I've been looking for, especially New Vegas on Hardcore mode.

Well, there's the enchanted weapon charges. That's pretty similar to weapon degradation.

Not really. You only lose a secondary effect. You're not in a battle and then going "Oh four. I mean five. I mean fuck! My sword broke and now I have none!" and then can't use it again. Or have to goi and repair it somewhere/somehow.

 

[Lightknight]

Hmm, I don't know that I can really answer this. My first Bethesda game was Morrowind back when it was practically the only game in town that offered a veritable world to explore. Been hooked on them ever since.

Both IPs have the same kind of open world/exploration element. The differences are more thematic. 1950's post apocalyptic vs medieval era fantasy.

I mean... really, it just depends on what I'm feeling like on any given day. Sort of apples to oranges.

 

[Ethan Bewley]

Fallout for me. I have clocked in about 500 hours into Fallout 3 and I'm still finding "dungeons" to explore and loot to collect. I plowed through Skyrim in about two days and I have collected all of the rare loot and cleared out all of the dungeons twice. I'm not saying that I don't like TES, It's an amazing series and I think Bethesda should keep it up as it is an amazing franchise, It's just that I would pick Fallout over Arena/Daggerfall/Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim any day.

 

[6_Qubed]

Hmm... A dilemma. On the one hand, one series lets you mow down waves of mutated animals/people with frickin' lazers while decked in naughty nightwear and singing along to jaunty big-band jingles from yesteryear, while another game lets you paralyze deer and punch them to death. Man, that is a tough call.

...

You gotta understand, I reeeeeaally hate deer.

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

Judging them by their old school games, Elder Scrolls just because I played Arena and Daggerfall a before I played Fallout 2. Judging them by their new school games, Fallout because New Vegas was a wonderful game that actually felt like Fallout; plus I never sunk as much time into Skyrim as I did the Mojave and the DLC is just so well written.

As a series on the whole, I would say they're pretty much even. Fallout provides excellent narrative and deep characters--both in the NPCs and PCs--four out of the five games (Tactics <3); while TES provides an excellent world with really interesting lore and, in the case of Morrowind, really unique plays on the High-Fantasy genre.

Choices are hard.

FAUX-EDIT: SPECIAL is modified GURPS and I love GURPS, so perhaps Fallout really does have a slight edge in my mind. Then again Arena and Daggerfall were essentially DnD on the PC...

 

[Vorpal_Smilodon]

MarsAtlas bring up a good point - I prefer the pair of Fallout 3/NV over the combo of Oblivion/Skyrim. I couldn't get into Morrowind or Fallout 2 - I remember one being way too hard and the other being aimless walking around cities, no idea where I'm supposed to go.

 

[Bioluminescence]

I'm giving the edge to Fallout. I love playing Elder Scrolls games, but for whatever reason the characters don't have the emotional weight for me that characters in Fallout do.

 

[Maxtro]

Hmm, it seems that most of the people that like Fallout the most don't care for Fallout 3 which is funny because it's the only one that Bethesda actually made.

While I did enjoy Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I loved Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. The Elder Scrolls games have so much potential and I just wish that Bethesda would see how far they can push things. Basically we've seen enough of the human lands, I want to see what else is out there.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Before I put down an answer, does Fallout 1 & 2 count in this poll? Or is just Fallout 3?

 

[irok]

New vegas > skyrim, they were about even before that to me, skyrim is just painfully casual.

 

[waj9876]

Meh, I prefer swords and sorcery kinds of games over futuristic shooters. (No matter if that futuristic shooter is about a wasteland where technology hasn't advanced in the slightest and people are worshiping atom bombs as gods.)

I also prefer swords, magic, and bows and arrows to any kind of guns or other melee weapon.

 

[DishonoredElderSouls]

I'm not going to vote on this poll, as I really dislike having to choose one. I personally feel that out of all of the games from either of these series, Obsidian's New Vegas had the most balance, options, and overall depth. However, Oblivion provides one of the most remarkable and beautiful settings ever seen in video gaming. I would say that Oblivion and New Vegas are on near-equal footing, but Fallout as a series is overall more notable, while The Elder Scrolls is more notable for having loads of potential and visual/lore-based wonder that, should it really be applied well, would allow it to easily smoke Fallout.

 

[endtherapture]

New Vegas > Skyrim > Oblivion > Fallout 3.

 

[JetFury]

Elder scrolls lore is so rich. I feel they could have done more with skyrim. Or at least pick a more interesting region...

 

[Wesley Brannock]

I hate games that give a " magic " or " fantasy " theme to them. Elder Scrolls is little more then an extension to the whole Dungeons And Dragons theme / cliche that has grown tiresome. Though one could hardly call Fallout " original " it is original in the sense that it is a R.P.G that ISN'T a copy of the now Dungeons And Dragons theme / cliche that has flooded the market of R.P.G's. Yes there are a lot of post-apocalypse video games but out of those how many of them are R.P.G's ? I would guess not many. Besides Fallout allows for more immersion for the fact it's centered in the real world yes it's to an extreme but at least that extreme is somewhat on the level unlike Elder Scrolls.

 

[eimatshya]

I started playing both series in 1998, and Daggerfall and Redguard are the only TES games that I've ever been able to get really into. Fallout 1,2 and NV are some of my favorite games, however, and I enjoyed my playthrough of FO3.

As such, my preference is definitely for the Fallout Series. Fallout 1,2 and NV are filled with interesting characters that bring them alive and make them feel like virtual worlds. The Morrowind and Oblivion (I haven't played Skyrim, Arena, or Battlespire, so I can't comment on them) feel very... cardboard to me. There's no substance to them. Nothing to draw me in. I look around and think, "wow, I'm going to explore over there," but every time, I find nothing of interest. I just have no investment in the world or its inhabitants.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I prefer Fallout to Elder Scrolls. The classic fantasy genre doesn't really do it for me. I'm hoping against all odds the new Bethesda game will be a Fallout title that is heavily influenced by New Vegas.