Time Sucking in Fallout: New Vegas

Time Sucking in Fallout: New Vegas

Before a fanboy Powerfists* me in the throat, let me just say I’m about 30 hours into New Vegas and I’m enjoying it. The huge scale impresses more and more as the game goes on, there’s a real sense of achievement with each new perk and listening to Wayne Newton wax lyrical while you scourge the desert for food & ammo is plain awesome. RPG’s are an experience that consoles generally struggle with, but Fallout gives console fans a quality, non-Zelda experience.

Despite this New Vegas has some disappointing limitations. I’m not talking about the much maligned bugs and glitches (see crashes, horrible enemy AI all housed on a dated engine), as they’ve been critiqued to death and hopefully the soon-to-drop patch will address most concerns. I’m talking about a missed opportunity to think outside the typical formats of RPGs and deliver an experience more fitting of the pacing and variety in modern gaming.

With this in mind here are suggestions for improving the Fallout experience. Hardcore RPGers may disagree, thinking that the changes would remove the game from an RPG. But I think with customisation Fallout could be moulded to suit the gamer’s wants be they a traditional, time-heavy RPG (ala Fallout 3 and New Vegas) or something tighter that takes all the action of the current game and minimises the dead time for those amongst us who are a little time-poor.

A Little Handholding at the Start – Ingame tutorials can suck all the air out of feeling “in the game”. That said Fallout is a massive world, with multilayered questing and interactions that affect gameplay. Sometimes I’ll meet a faction and my companions will just start shooting them and I have no idea why. Maybe I’m wearing the wrong armour, maybe I tried to bed one of their daughters, maybe my personal hygiene leaves a little to be desired. A simple box indicating status with the known group (something more black-and-white than the accepted/hated interaction) could easily solve this.

Improved Mapping System – I’m off with my companions Boone and Rex and we are wandering the Mojave desert trying to get my four-legged friend a new brain. I’ve not been to any locales near the quest, so we’re out there two-feet-and-a-heartbeat style just kicking it through the desert. After 20 minutes wandering I reach a big mountain that I can’t find anyway around and I manage to lose my companions along the way. As all dog owners will know, it’s hard to get your dog a new brain when you don’t have a dog.

Why not allow me a guided map or signposting to get to where I need to go. It can be an optional component on the Pip Boy so that the fun of wandering is still there, but when stuck the option is there to navigate.

Better Inventory Interfaces – It’s great that Fallout New Vegas’ customisation actually makes everyday items like scrap metal, tubing and belts relevant. But with this comes a need to store more crap in your inventory. A search function at the top of the Pipboy sorting according to cost (for bartering), weight (for reducing load) and quest relevant items would cut down the time trolling.

Alternate Gameplay Mechanics – New Vegas really misses an in-game change like Fallout 3’s VR sequence. Look at our recent shooters (COD, GoW, Halo etc); it’s become compulsory to give gamers different scenarios to interact with. Too much of New Vegas is collect this, shoot that, talk to that person. A game change or two would provide the perfect vehicle for developing the story and delivering that holy-shit moment that New Vegas lacks.

Better In Game Shooting – While technically related to the engine and gameplay mechanics, it’s hard not to get frustrated with a shooting system that plays like it is completely arbitrary. Mass Effect 2 has shown it is possible to shoot straight in an RPG. Fallout 4 should address this as a matter of priority.

Better Mapping of the Quests – When there are four different objectives for a quest, it’s not always easy to know which waypoint leads to which option. An easy fix, but one that would speed proceedings along nicely.

Help! Let Me Out of Here – I totally agree with the ‘no fast travel’ during battle rule and I can understand the ‘no fast travel from inside rule’. But if Fallout is going to force us to make our own way out of a five level vault or maze-like cave, please at least have a door at the bottom of the level so I don’t have to sit through five load screens just to get some fresh air.

All of these suggestions are minor, but these small changes would cut the frustrating time-sucking in New Vegas down to a minimum. More time exploring wastelands, romancing robots and putting grenades in people’s inventory has got to be a good thing.


What do you think? What could improved for Fallout 4?

* If you’ve played Fallout you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not I wouldn’t recommend Googling the term.