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Author Topic: Skyrim vs New Vegas (Spoilers for Both)
Foust
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I've got about 150 hours in on New Vegas, and maybe 60 in on Skyrim.

There is a lot to compare in the two games, but I'll stick with one particular thing: while Skyrim is much more physically open, and seems to have many more options for game play (i.e., no invisible walls and a far more extensive crafting system), New Vegas has far more personality.

Forgive me for not using specific skyrim names - I'm on an old ipad, and switching tabs to google names might gunk this post up.

Take the initial companions you run across. In Riverrun, there is a ridiculous love triangle in which the characters want you to pass notes back and forth like they are in high school. When the archer became my companion, I was floored - why do I want this high school loser following me around? Compare him with your far more interesting introduction to Boone.

I have yet to find a quest that did not end in me killing someone. Take the Companions and the Silver Hand. The Silver Hands are werewolf hunters - surely that doesn't automatically make them evil? Yet there's no opportunity to hear their side of the story, and I was hunting for one. Or in the Companion's debate about their status as werewolves - there's no opportunity to put your two cents in.

In New Vegas, you would certainly have been able to side with the Silvers, or to convince the Companions that being werewolves is awesome, and that their current recalcitrant leader should probably have an accident.

One quest I recently finished involved what I guess is the god of disease - the quest is called "The Only Cure," I believe. You have a drugged out hallucination in which you are ordered to kill a rebellious follower of this god. And that's it... that's all you do. Sneaking around the rebel's Dwemer compound, I overheard a conversation in which a woman was tending to a sick man, lamenting their situation. I decided to walk up to her and offer help; but nope, the only sollution was violence.

The moment I realized Skyrim might not be my cup of tea came early on. I got one of those throwaway quests to hunt down an escaped criminal. I was still thinking like the Courier, so I walked up to the escaped criminal, expecting to learn that he was falsely accused and that he needed help to clear himself. Nope... had to put an axe in his head.

Am I missing something? Skyrim is a gorgeously designed game, and I love the vast array of locations, and I've learned to appreciate the combat and levelling systems. But where's all the personality? Where's all the roleplaying?

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JanitorBlade
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Heh. I waltzed up to the escaped criminal too, and when he pulled his weapon and started hacking I was like, "Oh, well, alright then. *Slay*".
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Samprimary
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Skyrim is a great game. But the criticism is entirely valid, and (worse still) results from a carefully crafted design intent. The quests are by and large purposefully restricted and often intentionally milled down without the user having a bevy of potential choices outside of specific plot branches on specific quests. It has the merest pretense of user conversation selections. It's on purpose and the reasons why are interesting, I guess.

But Radiant questing is not just throwaway, it's just randomly generated. They always play out the same way per mission type. They're just filler quests.

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