Fallout: New Vegas — The Greatest Role-Playing Game of All Time
Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, this 2010 post-apocalyptic RPG stands proudly above many others as a shining example of role-playing done right.
In the Shadow of the Valley
Most games occupy a hyped headspace among players, while others, depending on the type of game they are, make an impact in a more subtle manners. For a long time, the latter was the case for the first two Fallout games published by Interplay and developed by Black Isle Studios. These games, along with Black Isle’s Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games known as Baldur’s Gate were mainstays in their genre, but didn’t get the attention they deserved. This was in the mid-to-late 90s, when most Western RPGs were delegated solely to the PC platform. While developers in Japan were making gems for consoles such as EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VII, companies such as Bethesda and Black Isle were trying to make headway strictly on computers. This is where the term ‘computer role-playing game’ came from. Fallout and Fallout 2 were relatively low titles on the popularity scale at the time because the PC wasn’t as popular as the consoles made famous by Nintendo, Sega and Sony. Within the PC community, however, they flourished.
These games featured a very strong premise and were very creative and well-written endeavors. The first two Fallout games set up the franchise’s world really well — a war-torn, post-apocalyptic world where a nuclear winter has ravaged America. Nuclear fusion was all the rage after WWII, so the world became an idyllic, post-war retrofuturistic society up until 2077 when the US and China went to war, destroying society in all but a day. This event set the world permanently in the 1950s. While there are underground shelters that protect some humans from the nuclear world topside, the ones who have ventured to the world above discover that it is a wasteland full of dangers. The series is known for its quick wit and insanely deep lore, along with a dark sense of humor. The retrofututistic style of the series is based off science fiction novels and short stories like the ones written by Harlan Ellison and Kurt Vonnegut. It’s important to note that these first two games take place on the West Coast, in what is today Northern and Southern California. A faction known as the New California Republic (NCR) rules over much of the irradiated wastes in these games.
The gameplay of the Fallout series, at least in terms of the first two entries, was isometric, and was very similar to Baldur’s Gate. In a manner similar to those games and Dungeons & Dragons, the games feature a check system within character dialogue. Unlike Baldur’s Gate, however, they were turn-based, and thus feel substantially slower than the games that followed. These first two games often feel very dated to me, and are way too slow and methodical for me to wrap my brain around. They’re definitely not niche though, because they still have garnered a massive fanbase which I have a huge respect for, along with the games themselves. I can understand why they became so popular to begin with, and they definitely have a really creative vibe that helped get modern RPGs where they are today. A third game was being developed under the working title Van Buren but it didn’t see the light of day. That game would have been set in the American Southwest, in modern-day Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. It was a long-awaited project for fans of the first two installments, and if it would have been completed, it most likely would have made the franchise more popular, but in a different way than it is today.
After the collapse and cancellation of Van Buren, Black Isle Studios unfortunately disbanded and Interplay Entertainment simultaneously slowed down their production schedule after 2003. Meanwhile, Bethesda Softworks, known for their Elder Scrolls games, bought the Fallout rights from Interplay, and took the series into another direction, one more closely tied to their first/third-person action RPGs set in Tamriel. They made Fallout 3, which completely revamped the franchise into one like The Elder Scrolls, and this time focusing on America’s East Coast, in the decimated remains of Washington DC and southern Maryland. Although it featured similar writing to the original games, while also bringing back the SPECIAL system along with the subsequent skill checks, it was a grim and graphic title that felt very empty and lonely. It’s a game that I think is very strong when played for the first time, but I have no desire to replay it ever again. It’s just a depressing, colorless experience. That being said, it created a happy medium between their current model of action RPGs and the original two Fallout titles. It does keep the trend of having some killer music tracks from the 40s and 50s that you can listen to at any time on the radio, but that’s about all that I can stomach with that game. It’s a good game, but it’s just not a pleasant experience. It was very successful upon release, though.
Although Bethesda were making a hefty sequel to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, they still wanted to expand the progress they had already made with Fallout, and so they commissioned Obsidian Entertainment, whom we’ve talked about on this blog before, to make the next Fallout title. Obsidian were known at the time for games like Neverwinter Nights 2 and Star Wars — Knight of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and would go on to make South Park: The Stick of Truth, Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds. Much to the content of Fallout fans, they were a company made up of former Black Isle members, many of whom were directly involved with the creation of Fallout. What goes around comes around, as they say.
Instead of making something more along the lines of the last entry in the series, Obsidian decided instead to take a good long look at the cutting room floor. Van Buren was a failed project, yes, but the members of Black Isle now working at this new development studio had a lot of great ideas planned for that entry, so they decided to take all those good ideas and apply them to a new game, one made with the spirit of the first two entries and their unfinished younger sibling in mind, but with all of the things Bethesda changed in Fallout 3. The resulting game would be an absolutely legendary installment in the series, and one of the greatest games ever made — Fallout: New Vegas.
Big Iron On His Hip
It’s important to note that during the production of Fallout: New Vegas, the game was marketed as a sequel to Fallout 3, but in reality the games have almost nothing to do with each other save for the mechanics that were introduced in the series’ third installment. There are some nods and a few passing references to the story of 3, but as I’ve alluded to, this game has more in common with the first two of the series’ installments, being set in the western half of the United States and featuring some of the same factions. The story of course is completely original and isn’t really tied to those first two games beside the faction elements, but it peacefully exists in the perfect spirit of Fallout and Fallout 2. It feels like more of a sequel to those games than Fallout 3 ever did to me. The game is set in an area of the American Southwest known as the Mojave Wasteland, which has been completely decimated by the nuclear war that occurred almost 200 years prior. On top of the dangerous radiation, mutated creatures such as Super Mutants, Geckos, Bloatflies, Cazadores and others constantly roam the deserts and wastes, and can really deal some damage to those who travel through the wilderness. Especially Cazadores. Fuck them.
At the heart of the Mojave Wasteland lies a beautiful oasis in the desert, a place that was virtually untouched by the nuclear blasts — New Vegas. Living in the shadow of the Pre-War gambling hub, the New Vegas Strip is run by the secretive Mr. House, a shady businessman holed up in the Strip’s Lucky 38, the tallest building in New Vegas. Although Mr. House presides over the whole of New Vegas, other factions vie for power on the Strip. These groups include the Chairmen at the Tops Casino, the Omertas at the Gomorrah and the Wire Glove Society at the Ultra-Luxe. The NCR also have a facility on the Strip as well. There are other outlying towns, settlements and vaults spread throughout the Mojave, but few are as present as the NCR, who claim to inherit the spirit of American democracy 200 years after the collapse of that system, and Caesar’s Legion, a ruthless warmongering faction inspired by the Roman Empire fueled by slaves and a very unsettling urge to crucify those who oppose them. These fuckers are sick. I’ve never hated a fictional video game faction more than I’ve hated the Legion, and you can quote me on that. Other factions include the Crimson Caravan, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Boomers, and of course, Yes Man. We love Yes Man. The world is populated by a great many factions, and each one will either vilify or ally with you depending on your actions in the larger world. The open world of the Mojave itself isn’t the best I’ve seen — most of the environments are a bit bland and homogenous— but the lore, mechanics, and storytelling of the game make up for that blandness in spades. It’s also not like the Mojave is supposed to be lively. It’s meant to be that way.
The story of Fallout: New Vegas centers around the Courier, a person who delivers messages and packages all throughout the Mojave. The player character, who is fully customizable, must uncover the truth behind the Platinum Chip, a device that the Mojave Express tasked them with delivering to Mr. House. The sketchy and manipulative overlord of the New Vegas Strip has been trying to get his hands on the Platinum Chip since he first commissioned it before the nukes fell. Yes, Mr. House is centuries old and yes, his actual body is horrifying. I’m gonna be honest here, this might be the best story in any roleplaying game ever. I’m not exaggerating either. The choices you make drive the story heavily into many different directions. There have been few games I’ve played where you can just go and shoot the main baddie and it actually working mechanically. While I was tempted to do that with Benny, the swindling leader of the Tops (played by Matthew Perry of Friends fame) who shoots you in the skull at the beginning of the game, I did give that treatment to Mr. House. Killed that old wrinkly asshole with Benny’s pistol. The amount of variation that you can pull off for each major and minor questline makes this game infinitely replayable. While games such as the kind Telltale has made pride themselves on choices and the power they hold within the gameplay, I feel like New Vegas takes that theory to the limit. I have never done a full playthrough of the game and experienced a similar structure within the main story each time. It can be undertaken however the player sees fit for the most part. This gets us now to the next best thing this game has to offer: the characterization of the Courier.
While the actual in-game character customization at the start of the game’s story isn’t anything to write home about — this was a game from 2010 after all — the actual dialogue choices and checks you make within that wheel makes it so you can pretty much make the Courier whoever you want to be. This all depends on which of the available points you’ve allocated to the character’s SPECIAL (Speed, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck) stats. For example, if the player puts points into strength and luck, but skip out on some of the other stats like Intelligence or Charisma, the Courier will likely come off as a brutish oaf who’s just lucky enough to get things done. I personally characterized my Courier as an intellectual smartass, a sweet-talking thinker who can talk his way out of pretty much anything. I ended up talking Caesar’s Legion into basically whimpering in the corner until they completely surrendured, and I barely had to raise a single weapon. Yeah, I put points into Agility and Perception, but with a lot of my checks it was easy to talk people out of a situation. My confrontation with the Legion at the game’s end after the Battle of Hoover Dam was the prime example of this, and was one of the coolest things I’ve ever pulled off in any choice-based game. I could have completely annihilated them and their terrible empire, but I think being able to talk them into crying like a baby while they run for the hills is a much more satisfying option when you put my Courier into context. He’s a talker, so he’s gonna talk.
Even within this dialogue tree, there are several ways this confrontation could go. I was able to make the check because my Speech skill was at the max by the end of the game. As this picture shows, there are other skills besides the SPECIAL stats — in fact there is a whole skill tree and perk system at your disposal in order to make your Courier stand out even more. There skills include Speech, Barter, Unarmed, Medicine, Explosives, Guns, Sneak, Survival, Lockpick, Repair, Melee Weapons, Science and Energy Weapons. On top of these, the perk charts help the courier succeed in certain situations. For example, Jerry Rigging makes it so you can repair weapons and armor with similar items. Stuff like that makes your character a walking contingency plan, a wise warrior who’s ready for any possible situation. This especially fits in with my character, whose supposed to be very knowledgable when it comes to those things. This game just has so many choices and little wonders to it that makes it so you can pretty much be anybody you want to be in the Wasteland. Add that to an enormous weapon and armor roster with guns such as the Ranger Sequoia pistol and the Oh, Baby! hammer to clothing such as the X-13 Stealth Suit, and you have yourself one of the most customizable and open RPGs ever created. It works very similar to Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, this game has more in common with D&D than any I’ve ever played. It’s wacky, it’s funny, it’s intense, and it’s goddamn fun. It has everything that there is to offer in a good role-playing game. I can’t think of one other RPG that outperforms New Vegas. It’s a masterwork. The good thing is, I’m not the only one who thinks this either. This game has a massive fanbase and often ranks high on the lists of many of the greatest games of all time. I don’t have to be the only one to elaborate on that, though. Here to explain more, in what is to be the first guest writing I’ve featured on this blog before, are two of my very goood friends — Venom JoowBear and the Commie Killer. Venom is a big Metal Gear Solid fan who you can find on the VHS Tapes Podcast, which I’ve guest starred on. He knows more about video games than I ever could. Commie is another big fan of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises, as well as a huge history buff. He’s an awesome dude with some really interesting content. The links to their YouTube channels can be found on their respective section markers. If you wanna hear a little more about our thoughts on this game, we actually did a podcast together about this game and other Bethesda titles in 2021. Anyways, Venom and Commie, what’re your verdicts?
Venom JoowBear’s Thoughts
Despite Fallout: New Vegas being one of the buggiest games to be released under Bethesda and Obsidian’s name, it happens to be one of the best also. In a post apocalyptic Nevada lays a city standing tall above all of the decay of the old world. Almost as if untouched by time, New Vegas itself is both a paradise for the survivors left to starve in the wastes, but at the same time it also happens to be one of the biggest points of contention in the Mojave.
A beautifully written story of betrayal, politics, philosophy. Plus the fact it’s a post apocalyptic western which in itself is a badass concept. Fleshed out characters and factions with motives ranging from preservation of the past, of self, to visions of conquest of the Mojave and beyond.
Thankfully all Fallout games are loosely connected to each other, so if you are new to Fallout, this game is a great entry to start with. On top of that you can pick up bits of lore pieces through character dialogs, holotapes and computers within the game for those curious about lore.
I would recommend this game to anyone to be honest.
The Commie Killer’s Thoughts
Although unfortunate that Fallout: New Vegas never truly lived up to its full potential and is riddled with mountains of unused and cut content, it still provides some of the best content in the series. The game itself provides a immensely diverse world of factions and opposing political ideologies that you the player must sift through and determine the future of the Mojave. In many ways this game has more game altering player choices than most AAA games today. Fallout New Vegas is one of the very few games I’ve played that actually makes me feel as though I have the ability to shift the world around me. Most games provide only the illusion of choice, but Fallout: New Vegas provides the player with the true ability to shift the power balance of the wasteland. This is arguably the game’s strongest attribute. In many ways the game feels like the true spiritual successor to the original Fallout turn-based RPG series of the 90s. For someone that was a major fan of the original fallout games, this is all I could of asked for. Although Fallout 3 was a fun rework of the original gameplay and world of the original games, it just never really felt like a true spiritual Fallout 3 but more of a Fallout reboot. Fallout: New Vegas still provides many of the gameplay systems from Fallout 3 which in my honest opinion is my least favorite aspect of the game. The clunky and slow walking feeling of the early Bethesda games is something I have always disliked and with Fallout: New Vegas this is no different — however, disregarding the clunky gameplay at times, the main narrative and spectacular side missions are what gives the game its charm. Every quest, friend you make or enemy you kill has an impact on your end game. There are millions of ways you can play this game. You can side with Mr. House or the NCR, maybe you wanna kill Ulysses before finishing the main quest. If you can think of it, you can do it. That’s all I ask for a RPG game and Fallout New Vegas provides just that.
Fear and Loathing In New Vegas
As Venom said, this game is an easy access point for anyone wanting to get into Fallout, but it’s also got the deepest lore out of any game. I think almost every main faction of the series shows up here. This is a game that’s coated with the best writing imaginable while also balancing that with nearly flawless role-playing mechanics and excellent worldbuilding. If you play this game, you have to try using the Wacky Wasteland trait when you choose your player’s stats and perks at the beginning too — it completely changes the game and even makes things more crazy. I’d like to take a moment to also talk about the game’s DLC, especially my two favorites — Dead Money, which features the Courier finding an old abandoned casino in the desert known as the Sierra Madre, and Old World Blues, a story about a quarantined area in the Mojave known as Big MT where neurotic several neurotic artificial intelligences war against one another. While Old World Blues is a science fiction pulp story with comedic writing that almost made me cry I was laughing so hard, Dead Money brings the series into the realm of survival horror, and is easily the hardest part of the game. The former had a lot of hard enemies as well though. The difficulty spike is tremendous in comparing the base game stuff with the DLC, but it definitely helps your stats if you do them before the ending. The other two are great game extensions too, making the whole package of additional content the best in any game I’ve ever played. I swear, Old World Blues might have of the funniest writing I’ve ever seen before. I’ve never once in my life seen a talking toaster develop psychopathic tendencies and have the urge to take over the world, but here we are.
In spite of the many good things this game has to offer, the faults that both Commie and Venom mention are both accurate. This game can sometimes be a bit slow if you don’t like long sections of walking and navigation, and the sometimes-bland environment doesn’t always help with that. It’s also very buggy and poorly optimized for consoles. If you’re going to pick up this game, do it on PC like it was originally intended. It’s still buggy, yes, but there are a hefty array of mods that can be applied to the base game that can fix those problems if one seeks to do so. The game isn’t as perfect as it could be, but hot damn if it’s not close to it. There’s still far too much left on the cutting room floor from Van Buren that could’ve made this game even better than it already is, but the way I see it, the final product is worthy to be compared with the best games ever made, even if it is a tad unstable performance-wise. When all is said and done, there is simply too much to talk about when it comes to Fallout: New Vegas. It’s the most beloved role-playing game there is, it seems. Bethesda haven’t made an RPG that’s nearly this good, and that’s coming from somebody who loves their games. I find that this story, specifically the Yes Man ending and the way the NCR and the Legion kind of run for the hills when you confront them, to be really well-written. It’s a perfect match up of film noir, Westerns and peak comedy. There are also a lot of little things that make this game nearly perfect — the soundtrack which features some old country-western hits such as ‘Big Iron’ by Marty Robbins and ‘Johnny Guitar’ by Peggy Lee, as well as some subtle Easter eggs that reference things like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. All of that plus many more things make this game one of my all-time favorites. There’s not much more I can say, but I’ll admit this: New Vegas was one of the games that really got me into loving role-playing games, along with titles from The Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy. The game impressed me the most out of any of these, however, and I think it more than any other game made me more interested in playing things like Dungeons & Dragons. Because of that, it helped make me the RPG-loving person that I am today, and for that, I’m forever grateful.
