Fallout: It's definitely not KotOR II... really!

This is much more of a first impression kind of post, given that I haven't really been able to give New Vegas a full workup yet, as I've only played the game for about 6 hours or so, and much of that time was spent redoing particular missions because the difficulty has been cranked up.

Now, I'm not necessarily complaining about an increase in difficulty.  I like challenging.  Challenging is fun.  My problem with this comes from the apparent need Obsidian Software has with creating a product that is almost, but not quite the original.  What I mean by this boils down to an almost pathological need by Obsidian to take something that worked (for example Knights of the Old Republic), change some things in a good way (KotOR 2 combat system), then screw everything else up.

Take, for instance, the multitude of combat situations you find yourself in.  I'm not a gamer to shy away from combat, that's for sure.  But when you add in multiple ammunition types, that cost way too much at the beginning, then start throwing enemies that really require one of those ammunition types to kill effectively, things start to get messy pretty quickly.  This leads me to my next issue, quest structure and story.

I know there is something to be said for old salts at a game hating starting/entry level quests.  Most of us feel they are unnecessary, and often pointlessly simplistic.  However, Fallout 3 managed to get you through these particulars rather painlessly, and even autosaved right at the end of the tutorial area so that if you wanted to create a new character, you didn't have to go through that whole mess again.  And, once you got out into the Capitol Wasteland, there was a very distinct goal; one that you actually felt like completing.  With New Vegas, unless you're one of those people who really wants revenge for an event you really aren't connected with, there's very little point (initially) in going through the main quest other than the fact that it's there.

Hey, Obsidian, here's a hint; if you want us to care about an event, let us get to know the character first, before shooting them in the head.  Obviously your character had some kind of life prior to getting shot in the head, show us a little bit of it; make us care about the character's fate.  Fallout 3, you cared for the character because you were able to be part of the character's life prior to the horrible trauma that forces you into the wasteland.

Part of me thinks that Obsidian is obsessed with proving that their games aren't the same as their predecessors, despite using the same game engine and graphics.

Another minor issue is with the voice acting.  Not that the voice acting itself is bad, but there is a obvious lack of randomness to many of the characters you meet.  Fallout 3 suffered from this, as well (as did Oblivion) and it's still a bit of a sticking point for me.  You're recording voices into a computer which can, shock of shocks, modulate voices.  No, my real issue with the voice acting in New Vegas is this somewhat unsettling feeling that the voices are partially disembodied from the characters on screen.  It's weird, and I can't fully describe it.  There's just something off about it.

However, the game's many bonuses more than make up for these issues (at least in my mind).  I think my favorite change is the reduction in the number of Perks that you get.  By the end of Fallout 3, there was a list of Perks as long as my arm to try and choose from and there was no sense of prioritizing since there was always the thought in the back of you head of, "Oh, it's ok, I'll just get the other perk next level."  In New Vegas, you really need to plan ahead for the Perks you want, and tailor them to what you are trying to do with your character.  Do you want to focus on beefing up the skills you use most, or use the perks to offset your skill deficiencies?

All-in-all, I think it is a well-made game, I just have to give it more of a chance.  Look for a full post once I beat the game.

Fall is the Gamer Blockbuster Season

And this year, October takes the cake; for me at any rate. Let's see, this month we have Fallout: New Vegas, Fable 3, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Vanquish, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Son of a bitch...

Granted, I'm not exactly going to purchase all of them (although I've already purchased two of them), but that's a lot of gaming to deal with in one month! How the hell can I devote enough time to each of them? Particularly when one of them is a reboot of one of the longest running video game franchises of all time? How can I possibly devote a full experience when I have to worry about the others coming out right afterwards? What is the answer?

I can't. Pure and simple.

In the past, I have usually handled these situations in much the same way. You prioritize. In this case, the two games that I know I am going to play this month are Fable 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. The others I will get to, especially Castlevania. The others are like the icing on a delicious cake of pure gaming; they add a little something extra, but aren't the best part (at least for me, anyway).

Now, this list only really covers those two gaming platforms I care about (PC and Xbox). Not that I hate the PS3 or the Wii, it's just that I don't use those systems, so I don't keep up-to-date with their release calendar. I'm willing to bet good money that if you were to combine all the systems together, October would be impossible to wade through without tripping over a game that someone is drooling over.

For example: I have a good friend who *loved* Bioshock 1 and 2. Unfortunately, her boyfriend isn't the same kind of pushover I am. Since she's not the best of gamers (no offense!), particularly with first-person shooters, she loves to play vicariously through me. With Bioshock Infinite coming out, I have to keep the mop and bucket ready whenever she visits because she has to watch that trailer and things go downhill.

And it's not just October. Last month we had Halo: Reach (the puddle from that game alone could probably have powered the Hoover Dam for at least a week) and in the near future we've got Star Wars: The Old Republic, WoW: Cataclysm, Dead Space 2, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (EA, redeem thyself!), CoD: Black Ops... I could go on, but I'd probably hit my word limit for this blog.

Anyway, the long point of this, somewhat disjointed, article is that it really is a great time to be a gamer, but also, my wallet bleeds every fall.