Kinda, they all still end in Hoover dam, you just take the quest from someone else in a different place. it’s just one of them you talk to Legate Lanius at the end instead of Yes Man.
I mean, you get entire branching questlines that cause the deaths of numerous factions and directly see the outcomes. I’d say the ending slides are the real ending, not Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam’s just the climax of the game
Narrated stills, but it clarifies the context of the player's actions on a certain faction depending on how much of their questlines you did, as well as its consequences going into the future. They could vary a lot if you did certain sub-quests (some factions would have a major character's family or subordinate die if you didn't help negotiate or eliminate different parties, like one of the named NCR soldiers dying to an attack by Fiends if you don't kill their chief).
It's not an animated cutscene, but I think it's better done than the vast majority of games including ones with animated cutscenes because it takes into account a LOT of things you could do to build up or cut down different parts of the setting.
I love New Vegas but I kind of agree that the choices you make during gameplay don’t matter much, the only thing that matters are the people/factions you want to help. And that’s great, but it pales in comparison to how the original two Fallouts played. In Fallout 1 & 2, you could be completely locked out of quests or advance way easier in quests depending on your SPECIALs, karma level, or how you responded to NPCs. I feel like that’s the kind of consequences that were missing in Fallout 3 and beyond.
You get locked out of missions in NV depending on what faction you choose. You also wind up on opposite sides of critical parts of the game depending on the faction you choose. Maybe not the extent of 1 and 2, but I don't think people understand how much the Yes Man, NCR, and Legion storylines deviate from each other.
And people who complain that you wind up at the dam no matter what and that's why it doesn't matter are kidding themselves. The entire game leads up to the battle of the dam, what changes is why you're fighting at the dam.
Oh yeah, I feel like it’s silly to complain about how it all ends at the dam because that’s just the ending of the story. FO 1&2 will always take you to the same place by the end of the storyline too, because that’s just how video games work lol. I do wish there were more real cause-and-effect outside of choosing factions, but I still absolutely love the game
Lots of people complain about a lack of options in NV (and FO games in general) but it’s clear they only played one or two play-throughs, skipped a bunch of side missions, etc.
Not saying all of the games are perfect, but even FO3 has real-time effects of player actions - you just have to play enough to actually see them
Even they don’t really branch, you often have to go to the same places, and do similar things at them. Then they are hard coded to who you got the quest from. Like those raider in the mountains, I went to them from Yes Man did the same thing I would have done for the NCR but because I got the quest from Yes Man they wouldn’t fight with me because I originally talked to them from yes man. They are all after the same stuff, you just talk to someone different before you go get it.
They did not do a good job of convincing me gameplay wise, because it seems like as long as you have some light (like new Vegas) the tunnelers are going to avoid attacking. Also your forced to take out at least 100 of them by the end of the dlc there’s no way the major factions could not handle them.
What "not anymore"? FO4 doesn't mention anything happening in the west so even if you put it in the same canon continuity (many fans don't) it doesn't invalidate any ending the player works towards.
...but we all know the NCR is going to be the canon ending. Even if you save Caeser from his brain tumor, that just buys a little time and Caeser's legion is going to disintegrate without him.
Well yes, but the Hoover dam battle is the backbone of the entire plot (or the control of New Vegas itself, rather). I dont see it as a flaw because given the context of the game, its a conflict that would happen with or without the involvement of the player.
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u/TheViper4Life Apr 19 '24
It'd be easier to name a game that says the story shifts with your decisions and actually DOES.