Odintheprole
2008
This game was my first 3d Fallout. When I was younger I used to truly love it because I was obsessed with post apocalyptic fiction (still am). The older I get the more I sober up to how poorly this game is actually designed from an RPG standpoint. If you are just wanting a brainless action shooter with a poor excuse for the "leveling" system then this game should fit your needs. However, I think that it is a very poor excuse for an RPG.
It feels as if the world was designed entirely differently from the quest system. There is no "flow" to the game as the devs basically just plop you into the open world and tell you to go explore to find the fun. This might be cool on a first playthrough or if you have never really explored "open world" games as was the position I was in when I first played this game. I have come to the conclusion however that this style of world design is fundamentally a poor design choice for RPG's. Hence why I have fallen out of love entirely with Bethesda's RPG's as I age.
This game offers no real challenge as every single encounter you have will be scaled to your level. Unlike in Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas where Death Claws and Super Mutants are actually scary and give you pause before you engage them this game takes these enemies and artificially kneecaps them to ensure the player never gets frustrated and can always win their fights.
I would have more to say but I don't really care to talk much more about this game. The main story is uninspired and thoughtless and feels more like a B-movie script than a script written for a choice based player driven RPG. My main positives I can give this game are some of the more creative side quests and 2 3* DLC's that enhance the experience even if they suffer from the same flaws as the base game.
It feels as if the world was designed entirely differently from the quest system. There is no "flow" to the game as the devs basically just plop you into the open world and tell you to go explore to find the fun. This might be cool on a first playthrough or if you have never really explored "open world" games as was the position I was in when I first played this game. I have come to the conclusion however that this style of world design is fundamentally a poor design choice for RPG's. Hence why I have fallen out of love entirely with Bethesda's RPG's as I age.
This game offers no real challenge as every single encounter you have will be scaled to your level. Unlike in Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas where Death Claws and Super Mutants are actually scary and give you pause before you engage them this game takes these enemies and artificially kneecaps them to ensure the player never gets frustrated and can always win their fights.
I would have more to say but I don't really care to talk much more about this game. The main story is uninspired and thoughtless and feels more like a B-movie script than a script written for a choice based player driven RPG. My main positives I can give this game are some of the more creative side quests and 2 3* DLC's that enhance the experience even if they suffer from the same flaws as the base game.
2010
This game has become the most important video game of my entire life. I would write an entire essay about it but I worry that I wouldn't have anything particularly original to say about the game so I will highlight my favorite parts for y'all.
The amount of LGBT representation in this game that came out in 2010 of all years is actually refreshing and cool. It never feels forced like it often does in other media where execs are just ticking check boxes rather than writing compelling non-cis characters.
The Gambling mini-games add so much heart to the world and are often left unmentioned in reviews. They are simple but very fun and make me personally always shoot for a high luck character because it guarantees you to do well at them.
I have adapted the card game Caravan into the real world and I play it regularly with my sister and cousins. It is such a satisfying and simple pick up card game. In addition, I spent $250 on an unopened pristine collectors edition box so that I could have the cards showing all the characters from the game as well as the recreations of the poker chips and the platinum chip.
The sheer level of creativity displayed in the writing is one of my favorite things about this game. There are significantly stronger games out there in the narrative and writing department but I implore you to try to find one that matches F:NV level of creativity on a budget. (Other than Disco Elysium ofc)
The final thing I will say is that the endings of this game are almost all satisfying. There are very few ending slides that are wholly disappointing from a role play perspective. Every action that you take in the wasteland that contributes to an ending slide will make you feel satisfied with your choices even if you are role playing an evil or greedy courier.
After over 1000 hours playing mostly vanilla content between Xbox 360. Xbox one, and Steam I can difinitively say Joshua Sawyer and the team that came together to create this masterpiece is truly a treasure of the games industry. When I look for RPG's to play this game is the bar they are held to and nothing really has come close outside of KOTOR 2.
I feel as though Hbomberguy shares my enthusiasm for how good this game is and although I do take some issues with his video as it is imperfect I think the overall excitement we share when talking about this game is a good way of conveying my love for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzF7aHxk4Y4
The amount of LGBT representation in this game that came out in 2010 of all years is actually refreshing and cool. It never feels forced like it often does in other media where execs are just ticking check boxes rather than writing compelling non-cis characters.
The Gambling mini-games add so much heart to the world and are often left unmentioned in reviews. They are simple but very fun and make me personally always shoot for a high luck character because it guarantees you to do well at them.
I have adapted the card game Caravan into the real world and I play it regularly with my sister and cousins. It is such a satisfying and simple pick up card game. In addition, I spent $250 on an unopened pristine collectors edition box so that I could have the cards showing all the characters from the game as well as the recreations of the poker chips and the platinum chip.
The sheer level of creativity displayed in the writing is one of my favorite things about this game. There are significantly stronger games out there in the narrative and writing department but I implore you to try to find one that matches F:NV level of creativity on a budget. (Other than Disco Elysium ofc)
The final thing I will say is that the endings of this game are almost all satisfying. There are very few ending slides that are wholly disappointing from a role play perspective. Every action that you take in the wasteland that contributes to an ending slide will make you feel satisfied with your choices even if you are role playing an evil or greedy courier.
After over 1000 hours playing mostly vanilla content between Xbox 360. Xbox one, and Steam I can difinitively say Joshua Sawyer and the team that came together to create this masterpiece is truly a treasure of the games industry. When I look for RPG's to play this game is the bar they are held to and nothing really has come close outside of KOTOR 2.
I feel as though Hbomberguy shares my enthusiasm for how good this game is and although I do take some issues with his video as it is imperfect I think the overall excitement we share when talking about this game is a good way of conveying my love for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzF7aHxk4Y4
This DLC lacks a compelling story, a compelling questline, and compelling combat but it also manages to have an amazing worldspace and one of the best characters FNV has to offer. Joshua Graham is a treasure and this DLC is carried by his dialogue.
No other DLC has had wine moms mis-attributing quotes as wholesome when they are actually incredibly messed up. Just google "The fire inside me burned hotter than the fire around me" decor on google lol.
Buy this DLC and relish in the new guns, armors, and survival recipes while enjoying a unique world in Zion and an amazingly detailed character. It is also worth noting that this DLC has the best non-dialogue based storyline in the game in the form of terminal entries from a guy who survived the nukes and died of old age in zion.
No other DLC has had wine moms mis-attributing quotes as wholesome when they are actually incredibly messed up. Just google "The fire inside me burned hotter than the fire around me" decor on google lol.
Buy this DLC and relish in the new guns, armors, and survival recipes while enjoying a unique world in Zion and an amazingly detailed character. It is also worth noting that this DLC has the best non-dialogue based storyline in the game in the form of terminal entries from a guy who survived the nukes and died of old age in zion.
This DLC is the most Hated of FNV DLC for what I believe to be understandable reasoning. However, IMO it is one of the best because it fundamentally changes the way you interact with the video game you are playing. For better or worse the Sierra Madre casino turns Fallout New Vegas into a Metro style survival game with RPG mechanics.
This DLC adds an enemy type called "ghost people" which is also the only enemy type in the DLC that you can deal damage to outside of some radroaches in random locations. The Ghost People cannot be killed without dismembering them. In my view this is one of the best changes to combat that has been made in the Fallout Series. As somebody who is obsessed with Zombie-esque media the Ghost people add what I believe Ghouls always should have been. The DLC also limits your resources so these enemies are always a threat on higher difficulties. If you are doing an energy weapons build this DLC adds a gun that does more base damage than the Anti-Material rifle (hailed as the best gun in the game by many).
The story of this DLC is interesting but the Themes this DLC forces the player to grapple with are what I believe people truly hate about it. The DLC strips the couriers power away. You are no longer a god amongst men who can realistically do whatever they want with whatever ending they desire. Now Speech checks aren't always a positive thing, if you are greedy you literally canonically die at the end of the DLC (something that never happens across all of the entire rest of the game).
This DLC is just something that I hold dear and treasure. Sure, it has it's problems with pacing and after the first playthrough it gets repetitive quick on subsequent playthroughs but it is just a treasure.
This DLC adds an enemy type called "ghost people" which is also the only enemy type in the DLC that you can deal damage to outside of some radroaches in random locations. The Ghost People cannot be killed without dismembering them. In my view this is one of the best changes to combat that has been made in the Fallout Series. As somebody who is obsessed with Zombie-esque media the Ghost people add what I believe Ghouls always should have been. The DLC also limits your resources so these enemies are always a threat on higher difficulties. If you are doing an energy weapons build this DLC adds a gun that does more base damage than the Anti-Material rifle (hailed as the best gun in the game by many).
The story of this DLC is interesting but the Themes this DLC forces the player to grapple with are what I believe people truly hate about it. The DLC strips the couriers power away. You are no longer a god amongst men who can realistically do whatever they want with whatever ending they desire. Now Speech checks aren't always a positive thing, if you are greedy you literally canonically die at the end of the DLC (something that never happens across all of the entire rest of the game).
This DLC is just something that I hold dear and treasure. Sure, it has it's problems with pacing and after the first playthrough it gets repetitive quick on subsequent playthroughs but it is just a treasure.
An almost-perfect DLC experience. This DLC takes you to a wacky fun zone where every technological terror sci-fi writers could think up exists and is experimented on. The story is noth the most compelling but compelling enough to keep you going. Beware! There are repeated and ache-worthy fetch quests that you do every single time you play the DLC if you want to get the new player base fully functional. I have gotten to the point where I just console movetoqt for all the side quests after fully exploring the world. IMO the biggest improvement this DLC could make is giving you one large quest for every single fetch item in the DLC after you get the base personality module for each station. This way you could explore the world while collecting all of the upgrade modules instead of collecting a few upgrade modules and having to constantly run back and forth to the same locations you,ve already visited to get the ones you missed when you finally get their quests.
This DLC is essentially the "end cap" of the Courier's story before they do the final battle at hoover dam. It is intended that the courier be level 30 or higher and have a lot of equipment before venturing into the divide. I would echo a lot of the concerns other people have said and I don't really have any passionate fervor for this dlc. The only thing I will say is that from a gameplay perspective this DLC slaps. Lots of high level enemies, new guns, new armors, new worldspaces to explore, and a decent final boss battle that feels unfitting to the FNV world. (you can also fire nukes at the Legion and the NCR which is IMO the best part of the DLC lol)
2012
A perfect game in all regards IMO. This game singlehandedly got me to fall in love with Immersive Sim's all the while creating one of the coolest game universes to explore the lore of.
2016
This is currently my favorite strategy game. It lacks depth in some areas and the Ai struggles to stay compelling to fight against but it is also the best space empire role playing game out there and you will never find a game that can match it in that field. The true replay-ability of this game comes from the empire creation and the uniqueness of the empires you can create. Want to be the Empire from Star Wars? Go ahead, Space Communists? Yeah, The HRE IN SPACE? Yep!, the borg, the federation, the vasari, the TEC, the unity, any Sci-fi faction you can dream up or think of can be recreated in this game. THAT is why I recommend it so highly.
2014
This game ruined the survival genre for me. I am not kidding. I used to love to play survival games until I beat this game. It is just so uniquely good and an absolutely amazing title. You really have to go in blind but understand that it will ruin you. No other survival game will come close to being as compelling as this after you play it.
2005
Great platformer full of mental health issues and a truly amazing variety of levels. Sometimes you will be godzilla destroying towns, other times you will be a general trying desperately to capture an enemy fort.
2019
Just play it. There is nothing I or anybody can say without spoiling it.
A good combat-focused RPG that has the WORST leveling system of any game I have ever played. Painfully conveluted and forces players to min-max in order to actually build characters that aren't artificially hindered by levelling points.
As time goes on my hate for bethesda grows more and more. If this game had any sort of compelling questlines I might give it a higher score but realistically the only compelling thing to do in this game is exist in a wonderfully crafted world full of places to explore and things to do. Its predecessors somehow manage to have better quests across the board while also having a better magic system that doesn't punish you for wanting to be a mage.
2011
ooga booga Che Guevara is coming for you el presidente
My personal favorite Tycoon game ever made. You take control of a dictator in a newly liberated/colonized/invaded (whatever you are RPing as) island and are tasked with taking an incredibly poor and run down town into a prosperous and wealthy nation state in the carribean.
All the while you are tasked with juggling foreign relations, faction relations at home, and managing everything from wages to the cost of living of your citizens.
I think that every Tropico game after this one fails to capture the charm this game has and it is very clearly the best game in the series. Unfortunately that means that we will likely never see improvements directly on this games systems.
A few things I would have liked to see expanded on/fixed
- More difficult political relations. As long as your econ is going well you can easily make 80% relations or higher with every faction.
- More in depth supply chain managment or trade managment. The current weakest part of this game is how simple the economy is to manage. You just plop down buildings and everything is handled for you which by ittself is great for simplicity but it also makes it incredibly easy to just fall into the Meta on each new character you create where you just min max rum/cigars/etc.
- Finally... More random story events. I would love for there to be cases where the UN would come 'observe' elections and stage a coup if you are too socialist. Or for the KGB to attempt to assassinate you if you become too capitalist. There was so much potential for future titles to really dive into the political simulation but instead we got T5 and T6 :(
My personal favorite Tycoon game ever made. You take control of a dictator in a newly liberated/colonized/invaded (whatever you are RPing as) island and are tasked with taking an incredibly poor and run down town into a prosperous and wealthy nation state in the carribean.
All the while you are tasked with juggling foreign relations, faction relations at home, and managing everything from wages to the cost of living of your citizens.
I think that every Tropico game after this one fails to capture the charm this game has and it is very clearly the best game in the series. Unfortunately that means that we will likely never see improvements directly on this games systems.
A few things I would have liked to see expanded on/fixed
- More difficult political relations. As long as your econ is going well you can easily make 80% relations or higher with every faction.
- More in depth supply chain managment or trade managment. The current weakest part of this game is how simple the economy is to manage. You just plop down buildings and everything is handled for you which by ittself is great for simplicity but it also makes it incredibly easy to just fall into the Meta on each new character you create where you just min max rum/cigars/etc.
- Finally... More random story events. I would love for there to be cases where the UN would come 'observe' elections and stage a coup if you are too socialist. Or for the KGB to attempt to assassinate you if you become too capitalist. There was so much potential for future titles to really dive into the political simulation but instead we got T5 and T6 :(
2019
This game is a "mid" RPG but somehow it stands head and shoulders above many RPG's in existance. It is also kind of a dumpsterfire. The game is just kind of soulless and fails to deliver in almost all areas outside of the dialogue and it really makes the experience just awful. There are no compelling themes in the game, enemies, loot, and levelling are trivial at best and downright boring at worst.
It really feels like the games industry has lost so many good writers that we are now at a point where even games that are made by people who literally created my favorite game of all time fail to pull anything worthy out of their work. It is genuinely depressing.
It really feels like the games industry has lost so many good writers that we are now at a point where even games that are made by people who literally created my favorite game of all time fail to pull anything worthy out of their work. It is genuinely depressing.