The Openings of Fallout 3 and New Vegas 

I think my favorite part about New Vegas' introduction is that the first person you meet outside of Goodsprings (if you follow the road, which you undoubtedly would on your first playthrough) is Barton Thorn, a seemingly friendly person similar to those you met in Goodsprings. If you just helped save Goodsprings from the powder gangers you're probably excited to help out more people. So you do his quest, kill the geckos and make your way up the ridge to help him save his girl. Then he tells you he lied to you to get to a stash of supplies, and tries to kill you. That encounter always stood out to me the most. It clearly breaks the rules it established just moments ago to teach you that outside of Goodsprings, it's kill or be killed.

"Fallout 4 should probably be a return to that open world format. I just hope more care are put into the world making sense this time" So high hopes... Little did we know..

"Seems like only yesterday your daddy came..."

I realize this is an old video, but I'd just like to point out that "revenge" isn't the only motivation to pursue Benny. Primarily, there's a strong motivation to retrieve the chip and complete the delivery. This can be for two reasons, either just for the simplicity of finishing the job you were set out to do, but if that's not enough you also have a letter on you (given back to you by Doc Mitchell) that explains that failing to complete the job could lead to a fine, a ruining of your Courier reputation/loss of your employment and even mercenary teams sent out to reclaim what is assumed to be a stolen package from you. There's also a third, more simple and understated motivation which is simply curiosity. Why was the game rigged from the start? What is this poker chip and why is it so important? Why was it being delivered to New Vegas? Who wants it? Why does the other guy want it? And in a way, I think this hook is better than Fallout 3's because it allows for multiple character types. You can be a bloodthristy revenge driven killer, a wanderer who's getting tied up in a political plot far more complex than themselves, or even just a Courier who wants to finish his damn job. In Fallout 3, really the main motivation to actively pursue your Dad is that you love him and want to find him, there is some slight room for "Why the fuck did you leave", but it is heavily implied on your behalf that the first reason is the real reason.

Fallout 3 makes you the center of the game's setting, while New Vegas throws you into a setting that goes on, regardless of your presence.

One thing that will forever haunt me about FO3's opening is how the escape from the vault is essentially a "second birth" - from the safe and comforting prenatal womb of the vault, to the harsh world outside - which mirrors the opening birth scene. The vault is literally a uterus. The vault door the cervix. The tunnel the vagina/birth canal Both are marked with blood, pain, and death And in both the birth scene and the exiting of the vault, your vision is overpowered by the light outside which fades to reveal this strange new world you've entered.

12:35 fuck now I gotta play New Vegas.

New Vegas puts you straight into the open world almost immediately after finishing character creation. It seems that a plot hook that isn't immediately compelling is a good match for that type of design goal.

Any plans on doing a full analysis on Fallout New Vegas? Despite the absurd number of hours I've spent playing the game/ watching others play through it/ reading and watching analysis of it, I'm always excited for more, especially from someone who thinks of it as "One of the best games ever created" (And because I'm confused about what you mean by a narrative that works in spite of its gameplay rather than in harmony with it)"

I prefer the lack of backstory the courier gets. It's one of the reasons why I think New Vegas is a much better game, roleplay-wise. It allows you to make up your own story.

tl;dr Obsidian know how to make an RPG, Bethesda don't. It's not for nothing that Obsidian's core comprises former Black Isle devs (the studio behind the original Fallouts).

Fallout New Vegas is my favorite game of all time.

After watching your Fallout 4 critique, I'd absolutely love to see a full length video on New Vegas

I think the New Vegas opening gives you more neutrality and is more dynamic.

"Maybe you tried to steal from him, or you banged his dad." - well, that escalated quickly.

What do you think of the differences in the dialogue system? Like in Fallout 3 you get a % to convince the npc based on your charisma and skill, while in New Vegas it just flat out state what skill number you need.

I think Fallout New Vegas is better than Fallout 3 mainly due to the fact that while Fallout 3 is great, Fallout New Vegas is simply greater. It has the basic infrastructure built by Bethesda in 2007, but is combined with the much better story by Obsidian. I prefer to be a nobody than a somebody in these types of games.

"you're not invested enough to care why this was done to you" That's not the weakness in New Vegas' opening, it's a strength. The player can make their own choice about how to react to the shooting. Some players might just think 'I'm gonna kill this guy' while others think 'well, at least I'm alive. I'm gonna go check out the hoover dam'. Perceptions of Benny can change drastically when you actually reach New Vegas, and you hear people talking about him, giving you a sense of his reputation. They you think 'that's the guy who shoot me! I'm gonna go f*** him up'. Or not. It's up to you. The game isn't trying to force a narrative down your throat. Role playing games aren't supposed to give you the motivation, they're supposed to allow you to create your own motivation.

Nice critique. Despite what you may think about the video getting too long, I, for one, would very much like a longer and more complete analysis of all the differences between the two games. Also, whats the song at the end called?

New Vegas opening is pretty straight forward unlike the forced tutorial and find dad which i don't give a shit about in FO3

You can actually go any way you want starting New Vegas if you chose too and completely ignore the towns drama. I've played that game so many different times and so many different ways, it is possible to go the cazadore route and make it through. The deathclaw route might take you to do a bit more leveling up though.

I can easily see this channel becoming one of my favorite new sources for in-depth game analysis. Keep up the good work.

The first time I played New Vegas I completely ignored what everyone was telling me and I went up through sloan, stealthed around the deathclaws and made it to a house full of raiders which I decimated. I snaked my way to camp McCarren and stole away on the train into new vegas. I usually play sneaky characters for my first playthrough and I was surprised how easy it was to bypass all the things Obsidian set up.

Really love coming back to watch this video. It's fantastic, you really gotta do an in depth look at either game!

ok so to clear something up, the idea of "war never changes" isnt meant to be taken literally. it more means "no matter what happens people still fight and kill each other over stupid things"

I am such a big fan of your videos, I would really appreciate an hour just discussing new vegas

Great video! I do like your longer vids, but there's nothing wrong with a shorter one every once and a while.

"War, war never changes" is maybe disputed because it is misunderstood. Yes the method of war changes, but the result is the same, which the point of the sentence. War breaking out sends the world into chaos, suffering and poverty, no matter if it is fought with swords or nuclear weapons. When Metal Gear Solid 4 says "War has changed", they mean in the execution of war, that it has gone from a declared conflict between 2 countries into smaller engagements fought by PMCs. It doesn't change the fundamental in the way that war destroys and destabilizes regions.

I feel like I'm the only human being who loves both Fallout 3 and New Vegas

You have just gotten a new subscriber. Your deep analysis videos are of high quality.

I just stumbled into your videos and I really enjoy (and appreciate!) your objectivity in the juxtaposition of the two games. I agree with your statements about Fallout: New Vegas but I think that you did a great job not letting your bias color how you see the two games, as well as providing strong reasoning for how you contextualize them in lieu of your bias as a fan. It's a little late now, but I enjoyed the format and presentation of the video very much.

this is such a well written video -- hoping joseph returns to something like this whenever he comes back. script feels tighter and it is more engaging imo

Hey! Great video! So , I played FO3 first, but only like a few hours (a long time in V101 and few outside areas, like the school). Then after a long time, when I pick up New Vegas, I anticipated the FO3 gameplay "feel". That way, I was able to get into and enjoy FO NV much more, than I would've without that. Then, I looked up on how people play NV, and was surprised by the number of ways you can play the vanilla version. Like a "role" playing game. I can't imagine how much play-testing would've been done on the game. And I can understand why it was quite buggy at launch.

i hope fallout 4 will make sense lmfao

FO4: "We have a freezer full of prewar DNA. Uhm, we should take the baby for research. And if that doesn't work, we have both of his parents so the work is half done anyway. What? You mean you killed one of the parents? What if our backup has a genetic disease? Good thing we have all the other residents... You WHAT?!"

Just discovered your channel. Really great stuff! I watched your fallout 4 vid from start to finish and agreed the fuck out of it. quick question: do you have a shortlist of favourite New Vegas mods?

9:32 I wholeheartedly disagree, the opening area isn't remotely linear, it's extremely easy(and I mean, you don't have to fight a single enemy and are often unseen by any) to avoid those high level enemies and go the opposite direction that the townsfolk, or your pip boy marker; tells you to. Or you hop off of the road after primm and only encounter ants that are easy to kill or avoid. Or, you can sneak around the outskirts of black mountain and go through hidden valley, which connects to a pass with melee enemies who are slower than you; which then opens up next to Helios one. Whereas fallout 3 is designed so that almost any area can be traversed through and plundered for a starting character, this completely mucks up any sense of progression you might otherwise have. And the few areas that are difficult, aren't leveled to the area's around them, for example, old onley. It would be extremely easy for a new player to stumble into the area after setting off into the wastes and get torn apart, whereas if you take a short jog over into the top right corner of the map, further away from where you start; you'll find the republic of Dave. Conversely, you're told many times where it's safest for you to travel, and if you choose to take on those challenges to say, try and pass, it's not impossible to do so by any means. You don't even need knowledge of a specific path to take, you get two stealth boys in goodsprings, which you can use to pass by the cazadors or the deathclaws. Besides, it's actually better for a first time player to have that illusion of linearity, because the path is designed to introduce you to the power players in the game and show you what they're about.

For the love of god, do a full New Vegas review/ critique. I think it'd be soooo good.

Unrelated.but related, but I love how Fallout 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 both came out in 2008 and start with the two opening statements respectively: "War, war never changes." and "War, war has changed."

About FO4... Well that went south, didnt it? xD

The lone wanderer actually survived getting shot in the head because there's a cut scene it's the same but but he gets saved by a robot

This, like your other videos, makes me feel like an idiot for not fully comprehending the nuances that were right there in front of me in these games. And I love it. Also, if the shorter video idea is a test to try and produce a more steady stream of videos, then props because that sounds great.

I find it hard to roleplay when my character basicly already has a backstory as they do fo4, and somewhat fo3.

Recently found your channel, I really enjoy it. I know you said on your fallout 4 video that you'll probably never play the first game, but if you really like the design and writing of New Vegas, you should atleast give it a try once, you might find that you like them a lot (i certainly did and now consider them my favorite in the series)

in fallout 3 if u have subtitles on for the introduction cinematic. the narrator saying you are born in. is actually quoting the vault's motto. that line is in quotations

Joe, we need a full fledged New Vegas analysis. Please!!

I still dug the opening of Fallout 3. Never been a baby before in a game as far as I can remember, it was neat!

6:23 Funnily, they did play with that idea in the DLC The Lonesome Road.

Big Iron is such a wonderful song

I️ love your videos man you go into such depth I’ve watched your Fallout 4 analysis and Fallout 4 One Year Later videos so many times .. you ever think about doing a Fallout New Vegas analysis ? That would be epic .. also have you ever tried playing new Vegas heavily modded ? It’s a whole different experience brings the game to a new level of awesome

Just want to add my 2 cents and say that short videos from time to time are great. However, I think your longer videos present what is, in my mind, the strongest side of your channel and that is in-depth analysis of a gaming subject. My favourite video by far is your The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and would love to see more videos done in the same structured style. Perhaps another game explored within the same good/bad/ugly structure would be appealing to others as well. Keep up the great work, your content is amazing.

they have big openings. that is why u have the most important save of the game you make. just before u leave any of them you get to change your char before you go :) always save there. its even in the official guide

new vegas is easily one of my favorite games ever made, and it’d be really cool if you could make some sort of analysis on it if it’s also one of your favorite games too.

I don't understand how people seem to have issue with New Vegas. I found that the game has a good amount of leeway in terms of options as to how you want to explore the world even at the very start of the game. I don't even go to the Mojave Outpost or Nipton anymore. I usually go to Primm just for some extra EXP and E-DE, but otherwise I usually go to the Hidden Valley and go through the Scorpion Gluch path with a Recharger Rifle, a Plasma Pistol, and some Dynamite. And I play Very Hard on Hardcore. Not to mention I usually get the Stealth Boy in the school safe, which is always there, so I kill the easily killable Centaurs with Chance's Knife and then use a Stealth Boy to finish Crazy, Crazy, Crazy off the bat before even reaching Novac. If you have problems with Giant Radscorpions and are unable to kill them, getting Raul as a Companion makes short work since his Revolver is super strong. Speaking of Chance's Knife, you can get it right off the bat by grabbing a shovel and staying off the Road towards where the Cazadors are, going up some hills and then dropping down onto the grab beside the Tribal Villiage. Usually getting the Plasma Rifle that can sometimes spawn on some of the Bright Follower corpses or a Yangtze Memorial Grave that you find around the areas you are at also helps with Giant Radscorpions and even Cazadors. Sometimes after going to Novac and do the Rocket Quest to get more Energy Weapons I go back to Goodsprings and go around the stretch of Giant Radscorpiosn near the Yangtze Memorial and kill the Cazadors by shooting their wings and then taking care of them to reach the Khans, one of my favourite factions and also has one of the best Merchants if you have an accepted reputation or higher with them (which is why I usually go to Novac first to do the Boulder City Quest as well). Hell if I pick up the Q-35 Modulator Plasma Rifle (which is super easy to get and requires you to not have to fight anything), then you can either go north from the Khans through the Cazadors towards Jacobstown (and pass a Super Mutant Corpse that holds a Fatman) and where I usually get Lily, or go the other way and kill the Fiends, since I usually do that for the Khans quest. Most people don't seem to give credit where credit is due. New Vegas has a lot of alternate paths that the player can take if they get the right equipment, similar to how in Dark Souls 1 you can easily do the Ghost area of New Londo and a bit of a challenge to do the Catacombs if you get the right equipment, which is generally not far away from these locations (Morning Star and some Strength/Firebombs for Catacombs, Firebombs and/or Fireballs and a handy strong weapon like the Battle Axe and kill some ghosts with about three humanity you can pick up at the well in the shrine in order to get the Jagged Ghost Blade and/or more transient curses than the four that you can pick up from New Londo off of corpses)

My first time playing Fallout 3, I never even met Three Dog. I went back way later, I mean way later and got the Following in his Footsteps achievement.

I always sneak past the deathclaws by skirting through the supermutant mountain to get to new vegas at level 4.

I know I'm late to the party, but want to comment about suffering though the intros. What I've done with Fallout 3, NV, and 4 is only go though the intro and opening stuff once, save just before final character confirmation, and never overwrite that save. Then when I want to start a fresh run, I load that first save, edit the character, then create a new set of saves.

Ah, how young we once were...

nice closing

Aaaaaaaaand Big Iron is stuck in my head again...

I love these games SO much. Probably to an unhealthy extent. I would really enjoy a massive 3 hour analysis if you felt so inclined. :P I also appreciate the differences between the two games, because it means things feel fresh when moving from one to the other. I'm so sad that Fallout 4 was so different. Not bad, I guess, but not the sequel I was hoping for. I hope there is a New Vegas-like spin-off that goes back to how things were. I would honestly prefer another game in the "old" engine if it meant having a game closer to F3 and NV.

I think there are pros and cons to both intros, I think 3 is a cooler more clever approach but New Vegas is quicker and is more blank I guess to give more room for role playing

This is an old video of yours but it's also worth noting that aside from skill/stat checks in New Vegas' main story(and if you lack the DLC, the "courier's message" sub-plot that is revealed as soon as you get to Primm), not much is actually revealed about your character. With the DLCs, there's a lot of information revealed and ultimately the game becomes entirely centred around a certain character and your connection to them. This doesn't technically have anything to do with the openings but this context reveals that your character in New Vegas has a long-running history throughout the current world because they are "The Courier" and in the end the story is more about the character and their experiences with the wasteland rather than the conflict within the mojave wasteland.

I have to say, I agree with your analysis and especially that of the New Vegas intro. There was an immediate disconnect for me where it felt like the game was railroading me on a path that I wanted precious little to do with, and I had very little emotional investment in what was happening. After long, though, I got to see more of the stories in each area and deeper into the faction system and building up my character skills and soon it became one of my favorites on the 360. Might've taken 10-15 hours to get there, but it was definitely worth it.

I know this is a really old video, but I'd love to hear a critique on New Vegas. I've been a sub for a while because I love how you make me think more about the games I play, and I personally love New Vegas but I know I might be an apologist for some of its flaws so a full video could be eye-opening.

Hey i just saw almost all your video's, i love them really much (i see the whole video everytime like the uncharted and the last of us) I was wondering if you'll do a video on fallout new vegas. Its one off my favorites so just curious. Sorry gues i am that annoying subscriber, I just really want to see your analysis on what works so well and what could be done different to make it even more better.

"I just hope that more care is being put into the world making sense this time around. It's something that I'm expecting to focus on while reviewing the game." Ohhhh, golly. You couldn't have known. You poor man, you could not have known. One hour, twenty-three minutes, and forty-one seconds later...

Before Fallout 3 I had no idea what Fallout was all about. Looking back though, my mom's box copy of Baldur's Gate came with Fallout 1. It was only after having played 3 that I grew to appreciate it.

please do an analysis of new Vegas

great observations! I am curious, what graphics mod are you using on Fallout 3?

The only thing that stops New Vegas from being the best game ever is the ancient engine that Bethesda have been using since Morrowind.

When I first opened the door and of the vault 101 for the first time it was one of the best moments in gaming. And I guess this is why you are given less information. You know that you lived in a vault all your life. You know nothing about the world and after that you step outside and see a whole wasteland at your feet for you to explore and discover.

first time i played fo3 finished the game in 19 hours. i tought it was a joke...

5:25 Oh my.

is a video on New Vegas ever going to come out? after hearing you say that you think its one of the best games of all time makes me really want to hear you talk about it.

what an inteligent discussion. please, upgrade it to also include fallout 4's opening.

I think the narrator in Fallout 3 was addressing Vault 101's dwellers

This is so late, but like, what the fuck was that first point about how New Vegas railroads you into the courier? The whole point is that you can decide who your courier is, and what they’ve done to deserve what Benny does to them, or just how evil it is if you’re innocent. It’s a hell of a lot better than being born into a family and having to pretend you care about the dad you’ve known for all about 10 minutes when he completely deserts you and you HAVE to follow him. In New Vegas, if you don’t think Benny deserves anything you could deal on him, you can completely ignore him. Unless you’re going House, but then it’s just business. In 3, you cannot do the main story without finding your dad, because your dad is the main story. He’s having a good time playing the main story I bet, Fallout 3 feels like a spin-off focused on the son of the main character in the real fallout game.

I honestly thought that the baby sequence in fallout 3 (quest markers aside) wasn't insulting, it made me feel like they were actually tryna be an rpg, even though they weren't really

New Vegas is a great example of a game that does factions well. They're in a stalemate and need a powerful force to come along and decide things, at least for the two main factions. That's exactly how you need to do it. If you have factions but one is clearly all-powerful, then it throws the entire dynamic of the game off. In FO3, you only had the brotherhood of steel, which was betraying its own beliefs to help people. There could have been a great opportunity for them to be fighting with the outcasts and need to unify with the protagonist's help to defeat the enclave, but it never happened.

What I always loved about Fallout 3 is the metro system. I know that it was made because game couldn't handle loading up all the city locations at once, but for me personally it turned out to be a good thing. As Joe said Fallout: New Vegas give you a linear experience. In the begining. And Fallout 3 is the opposite. What he didn't mention is that when it comes to exploration Fallout 3 limits your freedom to just walk anywhere through metro system. There is something like that in Vegas regions of FNV, but it never felt as big as it did in Fallout 3. Sadly, Fallout 3 doesn't come near to Fallout:New Vegas when it comes to story and decision making. That's why I just play with mods that combine both games into one. However, this idea of world having a second layer stuck in my head after I played Fallout 3 and I think it's a great tool for a world creation. Proof of it being a good idea is one of the most popular mods for New Vegas - The World of Pain, as it adds a bunch of locations located underground that are connected to each other and have multiple entrances and exits located on the surface.

1:34 REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Nuclear !

Joe, you're a well read man. I can get over "Mehrio" but "nukeular"? Come on man. new-cleer.

When I played fallout 3, I very quickly forgot everything about my father and all of that because I was too focused on the tunnel snakes, the overseer, the annoying condescending female voice actor, and all of the other gimmicks they threw in my face. I totally forgot that my father was apparently an important character. When I looked back at my quest list, I saw that finding my father was apparently something I was supposed to do, but I didn't really give a shit. I stopped playing the game very early on because I had no clue what to really do. I only started playing again much later, giving it the benefit of the doubt, and following the main quest. The lack of real motivation to do anything still kind of put me off, since I had no real interest in joining or serving the Brotherhood of Steel, or really any of the other quests in the game. New Vegas, on the other hand, gave a more memorable opening sequence that immediately gives the player a reason to travel to New Vegas-not for the sake of revenge necessarily, but for the sake of understanding the mysteries surrounding the beginning sequence. All of the extraneous bullshit in Fallout 3 made it easy for me to forget and reluctant to care about anything related to the main quest.

male face mesh looks so weird in fallout 3. somehow, every character, regardless of race/skin color, looks like his name should be chester

I heavily disagree with the assertion that your motivation to find your dad in Fallout 3 is more open-ended than your motivation to find Benny in New Vegas. First off, you propose that your character might have deserved getting shot in the head. There is nothing in this opening that implies this. Benny apologizes to you, saying "Sorry you got mixed up in all this." clearly implying that whats happening to you is not personal. He pulls out the chip, saying "You made your last delivery" or something to that effect, once again implying that whatever you were supposed to deliver was what he wanted. Here, from the perspective of the character, you have many questions. "Who's the guy in the suit? Why did he want what I was delivering? Why does he need to kill me if he's already got what he wants? Who're the guys he's with?" You also have many motivating factors behind why you might want to find this guy. Revenge, curiosity, maybe you just figure there's caps at the end of the trail, etc. When Fallout 3 really starts, you have a couple questions. "Where's my dad? Why is everything going to shit in the vault? Why did he leave me like this?" One of those questions is answered before you leave the vault, you now know about the vault being run as a dictatorship, leaving you with two questions: "Where's my dad? Why'd he leave me?" The combination of the way the game starts (which will be mentioned below) in addition to the forced tension of simply not knowing anything because your dad, a genius, apparently didn't think to leave you any information on his plans, severely gimps the start of the game. First off, what motivations could you reasonably have? The only ones other than the ones that turn your character into a psycho are basically "I'm worried about my dad, I want to find him" or "I'm pissed that my dad left me, I want to find him" or "I'm curious as to why my dad left me" and I don't really see these as being that strong. They all heavily lean towards your character being either a good-natured kid, a somewhat neutrally natured kid, or a maybe a little bit entitled. You state that we aren't "invested" in our characters because we weren't literally with them from birth. I'd say that when you take control of a character who's past we aren't sure of, we can just make up whatever we want to fill in the blanks. Maybe my character's in it for the money, maybe the power, maybe he's got some code that puts him on this path, etc. When you *know* for a fact that your character has been living a cushy vault life and therefore doesn't understand caps, doesn't understand the intense struggle of surviving in this world, and has had no reason to become as distinctive or a strong a character (beyond just being a really swell guy) as you could create in, say, New Vegas, I would say that this heavily weakens the character building aspect. Hence why there is so little in the way of reasonable yet strong motivation to find your father in Fallout 3 beyond, once again, just being a really swell guy. There's a reason we don't typically start from our character's birth in RPGs and I think this is it. Because it weakens the RP part of the genre. Fallout 4 has a very similar, if much more far-reaching problem. You've been living a cushy home life as a loving husband/wife and father/mother, perfectly happy, the most the opening will allow you to be is a little bit snappy instead of nice with the Vault-Tec rep guy. This *destroys* the character building aspect, there is little to no ambiguity left to your character, and if you want to properly create your own, you have to make massive reaches around the story the game has forced you to accept. I will say its worse than Fallout 3's opening at least in terms of letting you build your own character, but its a worse version of something that was *introduced* in its predecessor.

Here you will die is a creepy line

Hey Joseph, I know I'm late to this party, but do you still feel the quest icon for the SPECIAL book is too much a hint after seeing the fiasco over the utter failure of games journalism that is Cuphead's tutorial?

Fallout one: i need to find a water chip! Fallout two: i need to find the geck! Fallou three: i need to find my dad! Fallout four: i need to find my son! Fallout new vegas: where is that little shit that tried to kill me?!

I honestly believe Fallout should remove its whole Main questline ideal, Have a starting plot for how you got where you are but other than that it should all be up to you, it kind of breaks the whole RPG aspect when im trying to be one guy but my character still wants to do the main questline (asking questions related to main quest and having some other side quests relate to the main questline) Unfortunately fallout 4 went backwards with this

Are you going to do a video on Fallout 4?

When I first played Fallout New Vegas I was pretty lucky in a way that I skipped the opening sequence (I didn't have much time and I just wanted to play the game) imo the opening describes way too much, I mean just image your reaction walking into Nipton for the first time, only hearing whispers of this 'legion' and then walking down the burning streets seeing people tied to crucifixes and at the end you have people dressed in a post-apocalyptic Roman style, that would be really intriguing, but instead the opening already describes them, and lets you know that there is a group running around the wasteland looking like Romans, a huge missed opportunity

I think that you could spent a lot more time harping on how the games differ in their player character, and how that presents itself even after the intro. Perhaps it wasn't the focus of the video, but I feel that it's important. In 3, your character has a lot of personality without your input. You have friends and enemies(Amata and Butch, for example), you have implied motivation to find your father(even though you are given very little time to get attached to him), and people recognize you after leaving the Vault as "that person from the Vault". That last point is particularly important, since throughout the whole game you are given special privileges simply because you're from the Vault, and I feel that it really limits player expression. Fallout 3 also really delays any player choice, and is much more limited in those choices. You're forced to be either good, neutral, or evil, with no real faction system or any kind of extra expression in the world outside of your speech checks(and perks that give more speech options). There's only really a handful of endings that show off who you send into Project Purity and the slight impact that clean water has on the world immediately after the ending. In New Vegas, as you said, you've been shot in the head. You don't have any memories of your past. People around you don't know you, although a few do recognize you as the Courier, but much fewer than the number who recognize you as the Vault person in 3. You're given quite a bit more room, immediately, to give your character their own personality for the run. By the time you leave Goodsprings, you can establish a Karma direction, your first couple of faction relationships, your first perk or two, and even your sexuality(if you make it one of your perks). As you go along, all of your faction and quest choices make a serious impact on the course of local history, all culminating in endings that have so many microvariations that it's a little silly. Short version: I think there was a lot more to say about how your choices in the introduction either do or do not end up setting the theme of the run, and subsequently the endings. Fallout 4 seems to be heading exactly in the way of 3. You have a really predetermined backstory, with a spouse and a child(my biggest problem from what I know), and you go into the Vault, and then you emerge and presumably have a lot of junk to figure out about why you woke up when you did. It doesn't sound anywhere near as free as New Vegas, and I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet.

To be fair, all the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games place an autosave right before the screen where it asks you if there's anything you'd like to change. Fallout 3 is still arguably the worst for this, since there are decisions you make in the Vault that dictate what happens in the Vault 101 quest later on, and these are things you can't change as you're leaving the Vault---namely, whether to kill the Overseer, or whether to help Butch's mom. But for New Vegas, you can exit Doc Mitchell's house and immediately run to the edge of town and trigger this screen, so you don't have any game-changing decisions that you made before triggering this. In all the games, you'll always have an autosave you can go to, unless you delete it, to decide how you want to set up your character without having to go through the lengthy tutorial areas. So, your point still stands that New Vegas' opening sections works best for repeated playthroughs, but for entirely the opposite reason: you aren't forced into making game-changing decisions right off the bat, unlike in Fallout 3.

Fallout New Vegas is the best game ever.

5:23. Awkward line, or blatant foreshadowing? I'm not sure if I had ever caught that.

Could you make a video discussing how NV's DLCs are better (or worse) than FO3's

Done.

While I personally have a large amount of respect for Fallout new Vegas,and also think it's one of the best RPGs out there, I have a deep resentment for the initial trek to New Vegas. Here's why if you're interested: -You're blocked from the actually reasonable path by arbitrarily placed Deathclaws, whom only feel as if they are there for the sake of the plot. - You are funneled via invisible walls and a giant mountain, which just feels forced- it was deeply infuriating for me, all in the name of "pacing". - Said "pacing" really isn't all that great because you're basically thrown loads of information about the major factions at the very start for really no good reason, which could have used more spreading out- That would have helped make the whole situation easier to take seriously. I get the NCR are spread thin, but not even knowing about the Nipton massacre, despite the town being in easy walking distance, and some actual NCR soldiers being killed in the raid? *Really?* Why on earth did they need your help finding out about that one? - This invisible wall funnel makes you see almost all of the interesting major locations within the first few hours- detracting strongly from most of your future exploration, which really is not good considering the game is already strained for location/exploration mileage. - It deflates all of the tension of catching Benny, as the myriad of (quite cool) side-quests placed on that trek strongly imply that you have all the time in the world to get to him. Some good 'ol Ludo Narrative Dissonance for ya there, which is another thing NV didn't need more of. - It means the first five(ish) hours of the game will always go pretty much the same for all Characters in terms of exploration, despite the fact the game has many genuinely well done endings that encourage several play-throughs- which makes the whole trek all the more annoying with every time you do it. - This set path does not go away until you are strong enough to take out the Deathclaws, which makes the locations in the game get old way faster then they should, as well as making only one path for navigating the world for a good chunk of gameplay. It really doesn't help that Nipton doesn't even stop *burning* without mods. I can't even play the game with it still burning anymore, I'm so sick of seeing it. - It spits you out on the side of Vegas flooded with fiends, which is a nice final kick in the teeth after all this. I know there is that one weird mountain path you can take, but I didn't even know about it until a few months ago, and I've been playing for years. Besides, that's really not an excuse, because it doesn't fix the opening in any way- it only means you can sort of skip it. That only really highlights that even Obsidian knew it was a mess. I love New Vegas, and I recommend many people over to it, but I always feel like I have to tell them just to power through it until they find Benny, because it's an absurdly weak part of the game. It was enough to make 13 year old me to just leave the game behind around when I got to Novac, and I didn't even touch it again for nearly a year afterward. That is *one hell* of a wall to hide such a great game behind. Say what you will about carriage rides, but at least they're over fast.

I didn't really care for Goodsprings so I got an alternate start mod and it works like a dream to drop you into the wasteland with no pretenses. I like using alternate start for Skyrim too, it just makes it easier to get immersed when you're popping up in some random part of the world and getting into trouble in a totally different way.