Well, the little indicator on Steam says that I've been playing this game for 22.3 hours. That's 22.3 hours in about 64 hours total since I opened up Steam and started playing on Tuesday morning, so I've been spending more time playing Fallout New Vegas than I have sleeping. It gives a good idea of just how much I'm obsessed with this game. I should probably do something productive...
Anyway, as to what Eel said earlier about the game feeling as thought it lacks those little stories you find in nearly every abandoned location and the lack of that ominous feeling of there being powerful forces out there that are watching your every move, I probably agree with that. He's definitely got a point there. BUT, I think New Vegas is better in other regards. For one thing, there are just so many interesting and unique locations out there and lots of different groups all with their own agendas and their moralities. It feels like a world that went to hell, but is now slowly trying to achieve some level or normalcy amidst a massive power struggle where no one group has any kind of clear advantage. You're not even sure who's really the good guys or if there even ARE any good guys. Everything feels far more gray than F3.
The world also feels more natural, there's a lot of different natural formations that block your path and need to be traversed around and not every spot on the map looks like a green, rocky plain. There's canyons, forests, icy mountain passes, wind-swept dunes, wide rivers, and so on. There's also the bright lights of the big city, the run down streets of the slums, isolated villages hunkering down under threat of attack, the imposing Hoover Dam, massive air force bases, and all that. As much as I loved Fallout 3, I always thought there just weren't enough towns. Oh, there were a few towns, but mostly you would only ever stumble across a few small houses with a couple of NPCs and maybe a quest or two to finish. The towns are bigger here, there are more of them, and each usually has several quests to take part in or partners to find. I think the world and the locations are New Vegas's strong suit.
Also, it really felt like in F3 that I spent nearly as much time crawling through narrow, underground passages as I did roaming around the wasteland. The DC area was especially bad in this regard. New Vegas seems to favor outdoor exploration. I've only been through a few underground dungeons and not too many more above-ground ones.
On the topic of writing, it's pretty good throughout though, on average, not mind-blowing. However, I've seen some pretty great examples scattered around, like the REPCON museum, No-Bark Noonan, Yes Man, and other random examples. The writing's better than F3 I'd say, but it doesn't completely crush it. F3's biggest problem in this regard was more the lack of voice actors than sub-par writing.
The game runs pretty good on my computer, framerate is pretty steady most of the time except when there are a lot of NPCs on screen and dips occasionally. As for bugs, I know a lot of people in this thread, and elsewhere, have been plagued by them, but I honestly haven't come across too many myself. I think the game has crashed twice in the 22.3 hours that I've been playing, so I can't really complain there. Overall, I suppose I've been lucky on this front, but we'll see what the future holds as I am sure that I will spend at least another 22.3 hours playing.
So, do I love this game? A resounding yes. It's better than F3 and it's one of my all-time favorite games.
