Besides the obvious downgrade regarding of its details, Fallout New Vegas manage to guide the players better with the game's important feature involving moral choices. While Fallout 3 tries to follow a very linear story progression in a open world, New Vegas on the other hand offers a smaller playground at the beginning with branching events that would later expand to the point even the dialogue and in-game politics become more open.
But before that, there is a video on youtube worth bringing up as it relates to whats going to be mentioned later. Ragnarox posted a love letter video about the original Gothic and its design of its open world which criticized aspects of modern open world elements and comparing them to how a game from 17 years ago tackles its open world design and its natural progression. Its explained that in Gothic, progression is not forced but restrictive. The player's goal is made sure to be impossible to overcome early to encourage players to explore the world that opens up overtime as they find ways to become stronger. Enemies are carefully placed creating a sort of a large scale breadcrumb trail that was meant to be followed at first until eventually harder enemies in some areas becomes more approachable. This natural approach of guiding the player may sound harsh at first but its a neat way of teaching the game's mechanics as well as making the sense of discovery more satisfying.
New Vegas open world progression follows a similar design concept. Best example to begin with is the starting area in the town of Goodsprings where to the path in the north leading directly to New Vegas is blocked off by stronger creatures from killer bees, Deathclaws, and a mountain inhabited by hostile super mutants. In addition to that for the clueless, there is small mining town on the way that warns about the dangers up ahead. So naturally the game encourages to go around the other way through the southern path that leads to the town of Nipton.
This brings us the other purpose for this design progression which is the emphasis on its branching dialogue teaching the player overtime of the game's choices and consequences. Players are introduced with their first branching quest line that involves dealing with the commotion caused by the powder gangers searching for a merchant in hiding. Depending on their choice, siding with either the townsfolk or the powder gangers will affect their reputation standings such as resulting to some hostility for the negative faction.
As the game slowly progress, players will encounter more branching quests with complex scenarios and involving other factions with their own agendas most notably the series of important faction quests in New Vegas that would help shape the game's ending. By utilizing this natural open world approach of progression, it lets the developers help the player prepare for the tougher decisions they'll face that lie ahead.
Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVYrALStucs
But before that, there is a video on youtube worth bringing up as it relates to whats going to be mentioned later. Ragnarox posted a love letter video about the original Gothic and its design of its open world which criticized aspects of modern open world elements and comparing them to how a game from 17 years ago tackles its open world design and its natural progression. Its explained that in Gothic, progression is not forced but restrictive. The player's goal is made sure to be impossible to overcome early to encourage players to explore the world that opens up overtime as they find ways to become stronger. Enemies are carefully placed creating a sort of a large scale breadcrumb trail that was meant to be followed at first until eventually harder enemies in some areas becomes more approachable. This natural approach of guiding the player may sound harsh at first but its a neat way of teaching the game's mechanics as well as making the sense of discovery more satisfying.
New Vegas open world progression follows a similar design concept. Best example to begin with is the starting area in the town of Goodsprings where to the path in the north leading directly to New Vegas is blocked off by stronger creatures from killer bees, Deathclaws, and a mountain inhabited by hostile super mutants. In addition to that for the clueless, there is small mining town on the way that warns about the dangers up ahead. So naturally the game encourages to go around the other way through the southern path that leads to the town of Nipton.
This brings us the other purpose for this design progression which is the emphasis on its branching dialogue teaching the player overtime of the game's choices and consequences. Players are introduced with their first branching quest line that involves dealing with the commotion caused by the powder gangers searching for a merchant in hiding. Depending on their choice, siding with either the townsfolk or the powder gangers will affect their reputation standings such as resulting to some hostility for the negative faction.
As the game slowly progress, players will encounter more branching quests with complex scenarios and involving other factions with their own agendas most notably the series of important faction quests in New Vegas that would help shape the game's ending. By utilizing this natural open world approach of progression, it lets the developers help the player prepare for the tougher decisions they'll face that lie ahead.
Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVYrALStucs