Which Fallout Game is Your Favorite?

[00slash00]

So every since Fallout 3 came out, I had refused to play it because it never really felt like a true sequel to Fallout 2. Fallout, to me, had always been a somewhat strategic, isometric, turn-based rpg. Making it a fps, even if it was an fps with rpg elements, just felt like too big a change. Lately I have been defending Final Fantasy 13 a lot because I feel it gets too much hate and that the main problem a lot of people have with it, is that it's so different from other Final Fantasy games that it is not really even recognizable a part of the series, to which I have always said, "Simply being different, does not make it a bad game." then last night I realized something...I am a massive hypocrite, because that's exactly why I refused to play Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

First of all, do both games still hold up today. I don't just mean graphics, I know there are mods for that, I mean the way the game feels. Also, which game has more in common with the story of Fallout 1 and 2. I have heard that New Vegas has the better story and more in common with the first 2 games, but logic would suggest that Fallout 3 should have the most relation to the original games.

EDIT:
Thank you everyone for all your responses. I'm going to get New Vegas, because story is very important to me. As it turns out, Fallout 3 doesn't really work well with Windows 7 anyway

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I'm fairly new to the Fallout series and while I have played the original games New Vegas is probably my favourite because of the variety of interesting characters and the really engaging story kept me playing it over and over again. That said Fallout 2 with the restoration mod installed runs New Vegas pretty close.

 

[Muspelheim]

Fallout 3 is, oddly, my favorite, with New Vegas as a solid runner-up. I adore them both, and what they sat out to do. new Vegas gets the story and mechanical side of things just right, while 3 just sorts of... Clicks with me. The enviroments and the general feel of the place just pulls me in. The stories are fairly simple and shallow, but it still engages me. While New Vegas, on the other hand, get the game mechanics and the relationships between the people and factions just right, and feels like a much more lively place than the dead lands of D.C. I love them both for both their strengths. Enough to forgive how ridiculously unstable those games can be.

I can understand why it probably feels a bit too different from the old games, though. But truth be told, I never really liked them that much. Admired them, I did, but I never really got into them the same way. I do hope something to fill that certain gap comes along, perhaps in the form of an Obsidian side-job of some description.

 

[00slash00]

Fallout 3 is, oddly, my favorite, with New Vegas as a solid runner-up. I adore them both, and what they sat out to do. new Vegas gets the story and mechanical side of things just right, while 3 just sorts of... Clicks with me. The enviroments and the general feel of the place just pulls me in. The stories are fairly simple and shallow, but it still engages me. While New Vegas, on the other hand, get the game mechanics and the relationships between the people and factions just right, and feels like a much more lively place than the dead lands of D.C. I love them both for both their strengths. Enough to forgive how ridiculously unstable those games can be.

I can understand why it probably feels a bit too different from the old games, though. But truth be told, I never really liked them that much. Admired them, I did, but I never really got into them the same way. I do hope something to fill that certain gap comes along, perhaps in the form of an Obsidian side-job of some description.

so basically, fallout 3 is a better world to explore and immerse yourself in, and new vegas is better if you want a good story that continues where fallout 2 left off?

 

[Karoshi]

I've seen several polls about whether Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas is better and all of them ended in F:NV winning with 60%. That should mean that most people are predisposed towards F:NV, but both games are pretty good.

As for my personal opinion, Fallout: New Vegas all the way. The companions actually develop over time and have some meaningful conversations. There are several and pretty inventive ways to solve a quest (The White Gloves society comes to my mind), something what Fallout 3 almost never got right.

If you do buy F:NV, then please please buy the DLC that comes with it. Generally I goddamn hate DLC and never buy them, but F:NV is the famous exception. Best quality and a lot of content for little money.

I have heard that New Vegas has the better story and more in common with the first 2 games, but logic would suggest that Fallout 3 should have the most relation to the original games.

Fallout 3 is a tricky one. Basically, it takes the plot of the first two games, mixes it together and presents it as if it's brandnew. It doesn't directly contradict lore, but is somewhat implausible (Enclave in full power, Brotherhood of Steel as the good guys). I've seen many people nitpick about the food supply, the improbable radiation levels and the weird locations of the villages.

I think that F3 has the better atmosphere and exploration, but F:NV absolutely trumps with story, consistency and choice.

EDIT:

Fallout 3 is, oddly, my favorite, with New Vegas as a solid runner-up. I adore them both, and what they sat out to do. new Vegas gets the story and mechanical side of things just right, while 3 just sorts of... Clicks with me. The enviroments and the general feel of the place just pulls me in. The stories are fairly simple and shallow, but it still engages me. While New Vegas, on the other hand, get the game mechanics and the relationships between the people and factions just right, and feels like a much more lively place than the dead lands of D.C. I love them both for both their strengths. Enough to forgive how ridiculously unstable those games can be.

I can understand why it probably feels a bit too different from the old games, though. But truth be told, I never really liked them that much. Admired them, I did, but I never really got into them the same way. I do hope something to fill that certain gap comes along, perhaps in the form of an Obsidian side-job of some description.

so basically, fallout 3 is a better world to explore and immerse yourself in, and new vegas is better if you want a good story that continues where fallout 2 left off?

Pretty much this.

 

[Muspelheim]

so basically, fallout 3 is a better world to explore and immerse yourself in, and new vegas is better if you want a good story that continues where fallout 2 left off?

Basically, yes. New Vegas is far more "true" to the original series, and most of the old devs were involved in making it.

Of course, it all comes down to personal taste. Loads of things didn't make much sense in Fallout 3, such as a settlement entirely populated and run by children or the Brotherhood suddenly becoming Argent Dawn-y philantropic good guys and so forth, but my individual tolerance to that is fairly high, along with tolerance for simplicity and creaking plotjoints in a story as long as it captures me, which probably is the main reason I enjoyed number 3 more than most.

(But let's be a bit more honest here, exactly how much sense does the entire Fallout-premise make as a whole? :3)

Great games, both of 'em, and they should come fairly cheap these days, nudge nudge. Give 'em a go, even if they can't really light the same old spark as Fallout 1 & 2 did on account of being different kind of games, they're certainly worth anyone's time on their own merits. And I do agree, the DLC isn't half-bad at all.

 

[Elfgore]

The first Fallout game I played was Fallout 3 and it is also my favorite. I can only compare between NV and 3 since I have no will to play the first 2 (I hate TPS).

So the reasons I prefer 3 would be: Quest are actually unique and do not feel like I'm repeating the same quest, The DLC (minus the swamp one) are awesome (NV's is good too, I just prefer 3's), the quest actually possess consequences like Megaton being destroyed, and lastly the story was ten times better than NV's, god I hated NV's story it was awful.

I better prepare a flameshield.

 

[oplinger]

Fallout 2 is my favorite. Second is New Vegas.

Fallout 3 and NV both lack the personality and spirit of FO 1 and 2. They are still, however, great games. THey just don't feel right. 1 and 2 are great stories, great mechanics, and they have the quirky atmosphere of the retro-futuristic setting they were aiming for (like 50s sci-fi movies.)

3 takes it into the gritty seriousness, and NV follows suit (though they had some conflict about that, so they made the wild wasteland perk.)

I think to get the essence of fallout, 2 would be the one to play if you can handle the oldness. Otherwise play NV, it's solid, and has a lot of elements from Van Buren (Fallout 3 before Fallout 3.) It was also written by some of the guys who did Fallout 1 and 2 I believe (or more than just written..I'm not 100% sure)

 

[Genocidicles]

My favourite is probably the first one. Apocalyptic without seeming stupid, awesome villains and a truly dark atmosphere.

 

[The Selkie]

I had a bit of a think about this recently and I think I prefer 3. While (as you would expect) NV has ironed out a few of the issues, with smoother combat and the like, 3 just had a much more immersive environment. I think the deciding factor was the setting, with NV being mainly desert there wasn't the stark contrast that Fallout 3 had of exploring a ruined metropolis with the scattered remnants of famous landmarks. I'm in the process of finishing off the last bit of DLC for it (having finished up New Vegas's DLC about a week back) and still, 4 years after first laying it, I'm stumbling on quests and areas I've never seen before.

I do recommend you get the DLC though, at the very least get Broken Steel. It raises the level cap from 20 to 30, allows you to play on after finishing the main game and lets you see the consequences of your actions (although in terms of new content, it's probably less than the other DLC).

Edit: I assumed from your OP that you've played the first 2 and wanted my opinion on which was the best between 3 and New Vegas. I haven't actually finished 1 or 2, so I can't really comment there...

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Definitely Fallout 2, though I'll admit the first hour or so of it is pretty slow. It had everything I loved about Fallout, and more of it.

Of the newer games though, I'd probably choose Fallout: New Vegas since it actually continues the story of the series instead of sidetracking.

As for the worst in the series, definitely the console-exclusive Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. That game was a very special kind of terrible.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

My favourite is probably the first one. Apocalyptic without seeming stupid, awesome villains and a truly dark atmosphere.

Whilst I love all the games, yes, even Fallout 3, I waited for the GOTY though XD. I have to go with the first as well, it was just something I had never seen before and I still play it now and then to this day.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Fallout 3 for me. I missed the boat with 1 and 2 and I found the world in New Vegas to be inferior to 3.

 

[Doom972]

I love all of them, but my favorite remains the original. I just love replaying it with different character builds and see what happens. Also, nostalgia.

With that said, I also love the new ones, with Fallout: New Vegas being my second favorite in the series, followed by Fallout 3, Fallout 2, and Fallout: Tactics.

 

[Eddie the head]

New Vegas, for one simple reason. "What do they eat?" The world is just a lot better realized. Just think about the first town you come across in Fallout:NV vs Fallout 3. One is build next to a nuke, the other is build next to a water spring. I hope I don't need to explain why I think the second one makes more sense.

Also I didn't play the others.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Fallout 3 for definite.

Admittedly I've not played the first 2 but I'll call it right now that I'd still prefer 3.

I will say that New Vegas' story was far better and the characters more memorable, I actually remember the quests and such, and some things were smoothed out, polished up and tweaked just right. But the location was just completely meh for me. Maybe it's because, being British, the whole wild west theme didn't really resonate with me. The location for the Honest Hearts DLC I liked though, and the one that took you to the old missile silo and nuked city/highway.

Fallout 3 however, really felt like I was picking my way through the charred bones of civilisation, a burned out city populated by the remains of its former inhabitants and a few bits of wildlife, it really stood out as a nuclear apocalypse scenario, a feeling I just didn't get from NV. As the poster 3 above said, FO3 felt like the bombs had dropped maybe a decade ago at most and very much where you're standing, whereas NV was kind of "what nuclear apocalypse? This is just some run down city in the desert". It was cool in it's way (to me it felt very similar to similar to Borderlands, a sort of sci-fi frontier world) but just didn't speak to me the way 3's setting did.

 

[Saladfork]

Well, if I were to rank them from best to worst:

Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout 2
Fallout 1
Fallout 3

I have tactics (I bought a bundle on steam) but I haven't played it yet.

Edit: I just noticed, but incidently, that's the exact reverse order I played them in. Following the pattern, Tactics should be awesome, right? .........Right?

 

[Jazoni89]

Fallout New Vegas + All DLC
Fallout 2 + Restoration Mod
Fallout New Vegas Vanilla
Fallout 3 + All DLC
Fallout 2 Vanilla
Fallout 1
Fallout 3 Vanilla
That Buggy, near unplayable, F3: Van Buren Tech demo
Fallout Tactics
Fallout Brotherhood of Steel (aka Fallout Piece of shit)

I adore New Vegas, it would be near enough perfect if there were more locations in the game.

I'm not overly keen on Fallout 3 (mainly due to it's broken skill tree, and lack of Fallout charm), but with the DLC it makes a kinda average game (in my opinion) into a decent one, with Point Lookout being one of my favorite Fallout locales (god I love that place). Shame about the broken ass cheating stealth suit, and the Mothership DLC though.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

The only Fallout games I've played is 1, 2, Brotherhood of Steel and Tactics. Brotherhood of Steel is a fucking abomination, while I'm still playing the 2nd, and am not even close to finishing it. So out of the two valid choices, I'll have to go with the first game. Tactics is cool, but the original RPGs are better.