Poll: The Wasteland or Tamriel?
- Thread starter Jitters Caffeine
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Character and stories aside. I prefer the Fallout post-apocalyptic setting over the wilderness with trees and mountains from the Elder scrolls setting.
Wasteland is a bit easier to feel connected to, especially if it's about a famous location like Fallout 3's Washington D C.
Of course a good thing about TES is that all enemies does not wear sauce and frying pans as armour =P
That said, I am a sucker for RPG so I will play either setting.
Wasteland is a bit easier to feel connected to, especially if it's about a famous location like Fallout 3's Washington D C.
Of course a good thing about TES is that all enemies does not wear sauce and frying pans as armour =P
That said, I am a sucker for RPG so I will play either setting.
Fallout. Why? Because decades later, people still know who the Vault Dweller was, and how he took down the Master and his Super Mutant army.
Also, the tongue-in-cheek humor. TES's humor usually feels a bit forced in my opinion.
Also, http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/K9000_cyberdog_gun. It whines sadly when you switch weapons or put it away.
Also, the tongue-in-cheek humor. TES's humor usually feels a bit forced in my opinion.
Also, http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/K9000_cyberdog_gun. It whines sadly when you switch weapons or put it away.
My points of comparison are Fallout 3 GOTY and Skyrim -- I enjoyed Fallout 3 a lot but I have to say I enjoyed Skyrim a lot more. One of the reasons for this was the setting; there is so much interesting lore and a large amount of interactions you can learn about just from playing. In contrast there's not a lot TO the Wasteland... Once you get past Vault-Tec Evil, Enclave trying to take over the world and Ghouls=equal marginalized, there's not much going on or much to learn about the setting. Also, Skyrim was actually really nice to just look at-obviously having a "wasteland" setting restricts your options but there's no getting past that Skyrim looks really beautiful and the Wasteland looks like well... a wasteland.
I picked both, why? 'Cause I'm an indecisive prick that's why. But seriously they do different things in equally great ways.
While it does feel like you're looking at it through a lens in terms of story and interactions, I find Elder Scrolls is more fun for exploring and discovering things, and simply chasing the horizon in a way that Fallout's post apocalypse setting just doesn't lend itself to as effectively.
Whereas with Fallout the characters and the very grounded feel of the world, and stories make it far more involving. In Elder Scrolls I can own a house, I can have a wife, I can save the world from destruction, be pronounced champion of the realm, and the people in the world won't give a shit about me, and I feel like I'm just passing through the world. In Fallout I feel like my character is at home in the wasteland, and that the people around him are his friends or enemies. And while my main quest isn't saving the world from a grand evil, I feel like I'm getting more involved and having a greater effect on the world as a whole.
While it does feel like you're looking at it through a lens in terms of story and interactions, I find Elder Scrolls is more fun for exploring and discovering things, and simply chasing the horizon in a way that Fallout's post apocalypse setting just doesn't lend itself to as effectively.
Whereas with Fallout the characters and the very grounded feel of the world, and stories make it far more involving. In Elder Scrolls I can own a house, I can have a wife, I can save the world from destruction, be pronounced champion of the realm, and the people in the world won't give a shit about me, and I feel like I'm just passing through the world. In Fallout I feel like my character is at home in the wasteland, and that the people around him are his friends or enemies. And while my main quest isn't saving the world from a grand evil, I feel like I'm getting more involved and having a greater effect on the world as a whole.
I know, D&D is so trite and overdone at this point the freshness of Bethesda's world makes it look like a pile of garbage. There really is no comparison.Anthraxus said:
OT - Caw Ah Duty, just to screw up your poll results a little more.
I voted TES. Wouldn't really say there's much between them though, Oblivion and Skyrim felt a lot bigger than FO3 or NV (haven't played the first two Fallout games though, I've heard they're much better)
Urm, no. This is a very different question. It's asking about which of settings you prefer, not which game you prefer.evilneko said:
Elder scrolls without any hesitation. I can't stand the futuristic post-apocalyptic setting of fallout. I'll take medieval fantasy any day.
You sir have good taste in games.Chalacachaca said:
I prefer the style and history behind TES games over fallout's. I do enjoy the whole 50's sci-fi thing Fallout has going and I do enjoy the chracters and story writing more but TES lore is something I can read or lose myself in for days. The various gods and god-like beings with their unique personalities and interactions. The religions, races, cultures, etc. have aslways fascinated me. But I do love both series equally when it comes to actually playing the games though.
Let's try to break it down on several levels, more to help me vocalize my feelings than to sway anyone's opinion.
Note: Spoiler tags were added more to cut down on post length than any game-shattering truths. Sorry for any falsely raised hopes.
End of the day, both series are entertaining. Fallout gets the nod mostly to sentimental value from me, but the big winner here is Bethesda for managing to keeping two high-caliber RPG series feeling fresh and relevant after damn near 40 years of combined existence.
The big loser? Your GPA, if you try to play both at the same time.
Note: Spoiler tags were added more to cut down on post length than any game-shattering truths. Sorry for any falsely raised hopes.
Tamriel: Whatever points this land has earned for sheer expansiveness, it starts to lose for making the environments difficult to distinguish from one another. Morrowind at least tried to put some visual diversity into each of its cities, but for the most part you're in one of five locations. Town, crypt, dungeon, Dwemer ruins (re: dungeons with more metal), and "outside." If it wasn't for the map in the journal, I'd sometimes have a hard time believing I travelled anywhere new.
Wasteland: Granted, whoever chose color treatments for the dust bowl future had a brown fetish. But there's a greater effort at making each location feel distinct from one another. Shantytowns of corrugated steel, battered suburbia, re-purposed power plants and half-sunken battleships. Even the most common location/plot device in the series (the Vaults) can be significantly differentiated from one another simply by gauging their upkeep.
Wasteland: Granted, whoever chose color treatments for the dust bowl future had a brown fetish. But there's a greater effort at making each location feel distinct from one another. Shantytowns of corrugated steel, battered suburbia, re-purposed power plants and half-sunken battleships. Even the most common location/plot device in the series (the Vaults) can be significantly differentiated from one another simply by gauging their upkeep.
Another difficulty I've had with the Elder Scrolls series is a lack of impetus in terms of the storytelling. Every mission, from the critical path to the side quests handed out by store clerks, has an overwhelming feeling of "Whenever you can get around to it." The Fallout series has typically (not always, mind you) done a better job of selling the impact that your actions have on the world. Yes, we are replacing typical fantasy lore with typical post-bomb lore for the most part, but nothing makes me feel more connected with a story than feeling like a person's life depends on my choices. Much less an entire city if I fail that skill check.
I like the direction Skyrim takes when it comes to character leveling over previous entries. If I wasn't min-maxing my development at every turn, seeing only a +4 or +3 available to add to my stat sheet seemed like I failed somewhere. Skyrim, meanwhile, does a great job of making it feel like I'm being rewarded for playing the game, however I end up playing it, whatever I decide I'd like to specialize in for that period of time.
Fallout in general has always tried to keep more of a tabletop RPG feel, and while that's still an entirely valid form of gaming, it's a little incongruous to have that same micromanaging frenzy applied to a first person game with enough gun fetishism to get mislableed as an FPS. And occasionally, sometimes it feels less like I'm exploring the wasteland for exploration's sake as it does to grind out that last bit of XP needed to level up.
Fallout in general has always tried to keep more of a tabletop RPG feel, and while that's still an entirely valid form of gaming, it's a little incongruous to have that same micromanaging frenzy applied to a first person game with enough gun fetishism to get mislableed as an FPS. And occasionally, sometimes it feels less like I'm exploring the wasteland for exploration's sake as it does to grind out that last bit of XP needed to level up.
Now this is a bit trickier to judge. TES has been pretty consistent in terms of the side jobs available, while Fallout rides the extracurricular roller coaster from top to bottom and back again. Elder Scrolls in the title guarantees you'll have enchanting, spellcrafting, alchemy, and maybe even some smithing if you're lucky. Also of note is how the methodology of the thief has evolved over the previous three installments, from Morrowind's "hit that lock with a stick until you make your skill roll" to Skyrim's test of the player's ability more than their stat sheet.
Fallout, meanwhile, has dabbled in quite a few pastimes over the years. Depending on the particular entry you've picked up, you could engage in gambling, big game hunting, hand to hand arena fights, CCGs, caravan escorts, weapon and ammo crafting, or even acting in pornographic films. End of the day, your main source of entertainment is "wander around until someone starts shooting at you, hope they have some more ammo for your favorite gun by the time you shake down their corpse." Not saying random wasteland encounters are better or worse, but it is a different breed of fun compared to crafting.
Fallout, meanwhile, has dabbled in quite a few pastimes over the years. Depending on the particular entry you've picked up, you could engage in gambling, big game hunting, hand to hand arena fights, CCGs, caravan escorts, weapon and ammo crafting, or even acting in pornographic films. End of the day, your main source of entertainment is "wander around until someone starts shooting at you, hope they have some more ammo for your favorite gun by the time you shake down their corpse." Not saying random wasteland encounters are better or worse, but it is a different breed of fun compared to crafting.
End of the day, both series are entertaining. Fallout gets the nod mostly to sentimental value from me, but the big winner here is Bethesda for managing to keeping two high-caliber RPG series feeling fresh and relevant after damn near 40 years of combined existence.
The big loser? Your GPA, if you try to play both at the same time.
On one hand I could join the Imperial Legion, on the other I can join The Legion.....this will be tough.
I assume the OP doesn't really include the older games in each series. Fallout 3 was really where the Fallout world became a character in the game. It surpassed the world of Oblivion if you ask me, but I think Fallout New Vegas was a bit of a step back. The hour or so I play/saw of Skyrim blew all of them out of the water. I can only assume Fallout 4 will be on that engine and be a bit of an improvement. Hopefully anyway.
Nah that thread was about the Games in General, this thread seems to be about the actual world each game is set in. Subtle difference I agree but could still get different results.evilneko said:
While The Elder Scrolls world isn't terrible and definitely has some very interesting lore behind it, I've felt a much stronger emotional connection to the world around me while playing the Fallouts. You're not trying to "save the world" in Fallout, because the world already ended. Instead, everyone's just trying to pick up the pieces, and you're just some random schmuck who stumbled into a position where you have to decide what the best thing is to do with those pieces. It's a much more effective draw for me. Then there's the matter of the characters that inhabit both worlds, which is an area where Fallout also beats out The Elder Scrolls. If you asked me to list off all the most memorable characters I've met in TES games, I'd probably be able to count them out with my fingers, and most of them would be on that list because they were simply entertaining (Sheogorath and M'aiq the Liar, for example). The list for Fallout characters would be absolutely massive by comparison, and consist of a decent number of more emotional, insightful, or relatable characters (like Boone, Ulysses, or the Lone Wanderer's dad) to compliment the entertaining ones.
Well with the Elder Scrolls I get magic, dragons, enchanted items, and Shaogorath. With Fallout I get guns, robots, the useless V.A.T.S., more guns, and Deathclaws and giant radscorpions. Hmm... to hell with it. I choose both. Although if I had to choose one I would probably choose Elder Scrolls because the lands are prettier, most of the people in every city/town are not as likely to want to kill me on sight, and not a single deathclaw or giant radscorpion as far as the eye can see.