'A player should feel like there’s something good and bad about what they pick.' 'The agony of a choice should fall somewhere between these two spectrums,' he says in the talk. In a GDC talk about designing its branching narrative, Sawyer said he wanted to avoid 'Jesus/Hitler' moments: those blunt choices where one option is selfless and noble, and the other is comically evil. Quests are more interesting, with a moral greyness that Fallout 3 sorely lacked. Obsidian has a solid background in storytelling, and it shows in New Vegas.

Upset them and they’ll send a hit squad in your direction.īut the game’s greatest strength, and the reason many consider it the best of the 3D Fallout games, is the writing. Pal up with the New California Republic and you’ll get a radio that lets you call for backup and supply drops. But anger them and Veronica-one of the better companions-will refuse to join you. Get cosy with the Brotherhood of Steel and they’ll give you access to their safehouse and occasionally fill a crate with energy weapons and ammo. How the factions perceive you is a lot more important, and it’s worth making a few friends. Karma is still there, but it has much less bearing on the game. One of New Vegas’ best tricks is sidelining the binary karma system for reputation. So when you go in you’re immediately struck by the fact that this is one of the last places that still feels like the old world.' And although the reveal of the Strip isn’t as impressive as it could have been-a result of the slightly creaky, ugly engine the game was built in-it’s still interesting to explore an area of Fallout’s wasteland that isn’t totally ruined. 'Everything has been blown up, but the New Vegas Strip is unique in that no nuclear weapons hit it.

'So much of Fallout is bleak,' says writer and designer Eric Fenstermaker in a 'making of' film included in the Collector's Edition. You begin the game on the edge of the desert among isolated towns and rolling tumbleweed, then move closer to New Vegas itself, where civilisation has a stronger foothold. It’s a more vibrant post-apocalyptic wasteland, but still tinged with the melancholy, desolate tone that defines the Fallout series. Fallout 3 was a sea of blues and greys, but New Vegas sizzles with oranges and reds. This part of the United States wasn’t bombed quite so heavily, and has retained some colour and life over the centuries. The Mojave is a far cry from the grim, shattered ruins of the Capital Wasteland.

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