Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. While New Vegas is not a direct sequel, it uses the same engine and style as Fallout 3, and many of its developers worked on previous Fallout games at Black Isle Studios. It is the fourth major installment in the Fallout series and the sixth overall. The game is set primarily in a post-apocalyptic Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah.

The game was released on October 19, 2010, in North America, October 22, 2010, in Europe, and November 4, 2010, in Asia. It is available on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It was released on Backwards Compatibility for Xbox One on June 23, 2016.

Development
Discussions for New Vegas began between Obsidian and Bethesda in 2008/09. They knew the game would not be a direct, traditional sequel to Fallout 3, and it was referred to as "Fallout 3.5" within Obsidian. It was specifically designed to be more of an expansion rather than a sequel; Obsidian, however, saw the project as akin to the Grand Theft Auto titles Vice City and San Andreas - not numbered entries, but full games in their own right. As Bethesda "had dibs" on the U.S. East Coast, Obsidian set the game in the American West. Obsidian submitted a three-page pitch to Bethesda for the project, which they named "Fallout: Sin City." The game was later renamed to "Fallout: New Vegas."

The game was originally slated to have three playable races - human, ghoul, and super mutant. This idea was abandoned due to issues with the engine, specifically with how the weapons and armor would work. Joshua Sawyer described the development process as having used "sprint overtime," though he does not consider it crunch time. The biggest technical issue that the team faced during development was working with the PS3's hardware; as New Vegas is a very memory-intensive game, they had difficulty with the PS3's split memory pool. The game spent a total of 18 months in development.

The game was announced on April 20, 2009, at Bethesda's London showcase. The first official information was released in the February 2010 issue of PC Gamer. A cinematic teaser trailer and a gameplay trailer were then subsequently released.

Developers
Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a company founded by Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone, two of the creators of Fallout 2, originally at Black Isle Studios. The project was led by Joshua Sawyer, one of the lead designers of Van Buren (the canceled second Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios). John Gonzalez was the lead creative designer, while Obsidian founder Chris Avellone, who worked on Fallout 2 and Van Buren, was a senior designer. Joe Sanabria was the lead artist.

Combat
Gameplay includes a combat system that allows for both first and third person view and features the ability to use weapon iron sights. The game also made a change from the true bullet flight paths in Fallout 3 to simulated bullet flight paths, which means the bullets, when fired, originate from the center of the screen's crosshairs, rather than the tip of the gun's barrel.

Fallout: New Vegas utilizes the Damage Threshold (DT) mechanic. If an enemy has a high DT, some weapons may be ineffective. This is indicated by a red shield near the enemy's health bar when attacking it, both in and out of V.A.T.S. The damage threshold will be due to high armor or a built-in mechanic to that character, and will require the Courier to either retreat or attack with a more powerful weapon.

Hardcore mode
Hardcore mode is an optional setting that attempts to make the game more realistic, with gameplay elements such as dehydration, and non-instantaneous healing. It can be turned on and off mid-game. Either a trophy or achievement is awarded for completing Fallout: New Vegas on Hardcore mode. In order to earn it, the entire game must be played in the mode from the point first prompted until the endgame sequence, without ever turning the setting off. The Casual/Hardcore mode distinction is independent of difficulty settings.

Character system
The SPECIAL system returns and directly influences speech options and quests. Traits can be chosen and perks are gained every two levels.

V.A.T.S.
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., is an active pause combat system implemented in the game. While using V.A.T.S., the otherwise real-time combat is paused. Use of one's weapon can be seen in slow motion and greater detail. Attacks in V.A.T.S. cost Action Points and one can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. Melee weapons now have special moves in V.A.T.S., such as "Fore!" for golf clubs, along with special Unarmed moves such as "Ranger Takedown."

The player character will take more damage in V.A.T.S. than in Fallout 3 (75%, up from 10%). One can choose to activate or deactivate a dynamic "Kill Cam," which shows one's success in combat in slow motion. The setting can also be changed to only show this cinematic viewpoint for the last enemy of a group.

Karma and reputation
There is a Karma system incorporated alongside reputation system, similar to Fallout 2. Reputation is a form of tracking relationships within the many factions and towns of Fallout: New Vegas, such as the NCR or Goodsprings. A high reputation with a faction or town may give certain benefits, such as gifts from the people who live there, while a low reputation may lead to hits being taken out against them. Karma in Fallout: New Vegas has less of an effect than reputation, which is the primary factor affecting how people react.

Weapon modding
A modding feature allows for the modification of weapons by adding scopes, extended magazines, silencers, and more. Weapons can have a maximum of three attached mods, and they cannot be removed once placed. Obsidian implemented this feature as a direct response to the popularity of the Weapon Mod Kits mod for Fallout 3.

Unique weapons
There are unique versions of weapons in Fallout: New Vegas. Unique weapons have different textures and adornments. They were not originally intended to be modified and most cannot be, but some are still able to take on modification, such as the weathered 10mm pistol. Even so, their built-in abilities and higher damage output often make up for their lack of flexibility. Counting all the add-ons, there are a total of 81 unique weapons to be found inside the game, but some require the completion of a quest to find (e.g., Pew Pew). Some can be found on the bodies of enemies (e.g., Oh, Baby!) or can be found in specific locations such as the Ratslayer.

Companion wheel
A new companion wheel has been added to quickly and easily give companions commands such as "Talk," "Use Ranged Weapons," and "Wait Here." It also makes it easier to restore their health using stimpaks and swap equipment. The companions also have specific likes and dislikes; giving a sniper companion a shotgun, for example, will result in a negative impact and decreased effectiveness.

Gambling
The city of New Vegas, as well as other smaller settlements in the game, have a variety of colorful casinos or other forms of gambling to explore. In Fallout: New Vegas, several gambling mini-games have been added, including Blackjack, Roulette, and slots. Outside the casinos, many people across the Mojave play Caravan, a card game designed by Obsidian specifically for the game. One's Luck contributes to the outcome of gambling games.

One will receive money for winning, and casino floor managers will congratulate the player character with food, drink, or a comped suite at the hotel. Winning too much money after that, however, will result in the floor manager letting them know they will not be able to earn any more winnings. Although one can no longer gamble in that casino, they are still able to enter and buy items or food.

Story
The game is set in and around a post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic Las Vegas, following the Great War between the U.S. and China, as a conventional and nuclear war that occurred on October 23, 2077. It lasted less than two hours and caused immense damage and destruction. Before the Great War, the Resource Wars took place, during which business magnate and CEO of RobCo Industries Robert House used his vast wealth to make preparations to protect the city. Due to his efforts, out of the 77 atomic warheads that targeted Las Vegas and its surrounding areas, the networked mainframes were able to predict and force-transmit disarm code subsets to 59 of them, neutralizing them before impact. Nine more were destroyed by laser cannons, allowing only a few to make contact outside of the city limits.

Fallout: New Vegas takes place in 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3, 40 years after Fallout 2, 120 years after Fallout, and six years before the events of Fallout 4. The New California Republic plays a major part in the game's story, being in a three-way struggle among both Mr. House and slave army of Caesar's Legion.

The Courier, the player character, was meant to deliver a package from Primm to New Vegas but they were intercepted by the Great Khans led by Benny, who shoots them and takes the package, leaving the Courier for dead in a shallow grave. They are rescued by a robot named Victor, and is taken to the town of Goodsprings, where Doc Mitchell saves their life. After the Courier is given some medical tests, they enter the open world, and the quest Ain't That a Kick in the Head begins.

Fallout: New Vegas has a definitive ending, unlike Fallout 3. The endings for Fallout: New Vegas are dependent on what actions are taken during the game's events, with separate endings shown for each major location, political faction, and recruited companion.

Collector's Edition
The Collector's Edition of Fallout: New Vegas includes Fallout: New Vegas; "Lucky 7" poker chips, replicas from the ones found in the game; a deck of Fallout: New Vegas themed playing cards; a replica of the "Lucky 38" poker chip (the platinum chip) from the game; All Roads, a graphic novel serving as a prequel written by Chris Avellone; and the "Making of Fallout: New Vegas''" DVD. The entire package comes in a collectible Fallout: New Vegas box. The Collector's Edition was also available for pre-order.

Add-ons
A total of six add-ons, Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Courier's Stash, and Gun Runners' Arsenal were released. There were four different pre-order bonuses, including the Classic Pack, Caravan Pack, Tribal Pack, and Mercenary Pack. Each one had a unique suit of armor and a unique weapon not found in-game, along with a few other in-game items.

Ultimate Edition
The Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition was released on February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10 in Europe. The package contents are the base game along with all add-ons, including Gun Runners' Arsenal and Courier's Stash.

Metacritic score controversy
Bethesda offered a bonus in their contract with Obsidian as a perk, tied to the review score from the review aggregate website Metacritic, if Fallout: New Vegas achieved a minimum of 85. Upon release, Fallout: New Vegas only achieved an 84 point score on its PC and Xbox versions, missing the quota from receiving the bonus, which was not given. For their work on Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment received a straight payment, as was explained by Chris Avellone on Twitter. The tweet with Avellone's explanation circulated quickly, but was deleted shortly after several game news publications reported on the bonus benchmark being missed. An interview with Feargus Urquhart also delved further into the topic, with Urquhart discussing the realities of the bonus and the situation. Jason Schreier for Kotaku wrote on to examine the disparity of using Metacritic as a benchmark for rewarding bonuses, pointing out that Metacritic uses an untransparent formula for aggregating scores and discusses the non-universal review scales that differ greatly from publication to publication.

The missed royalties were revealed the day following Obsidian's announcement of nearly 30 layoffs, and cancellation of Stormlands, only known as project North Carolina at the time. In a discussion about profit margins for games, Joshua Sawyer explained that in his entire career he has only received bonuses for Icewind Dale and the Pillars of Eternity. To date, Fallout: New Vegas has sold 12 million copies, though Obsidian Entertainment never received any bonuses. In 2020, Avellone later elaborated on the subject, describing Bethesda in instances where they went "above and beyond," and never mistreated the group.

Censorship

 * In the German version, there is no gore. German players who want the full Fallout experience can, as with Fallout 3, buy the Austrian version, which basically features the uncut PEGI version with German speech and text. However, the German Ultimate Edition is completely uncensored.
 * Just like in Fallout 3, the Fat Man weapon was once again renamed to the "Nuka Launcher" in the Japanese version of Fallout: New Vegas. The Little Boy mod was not.
 * The physical disc for consoles of Fallout: New Vegas was officially banned in the United Arab Emirates, but the ban was repealed later as it did not contain enough violence to meet the ban's criteria after a test run. The ban lasted for about a day after the game's release and the game was soon stocked in stores fully uncensored (with gore) alongside the Collector's Edition. The Ultimate Edition was released without any issues.

Reception
Fallout: New Vegas received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic, receiving a metascore of 84/100 on both PC & Xbox 360, and 82/100 on PS3.

Developer quotes

 * Themes
 * Joshua Sawyer: "One of the Obsidian owners came up with the idea that you start the game by being shot in the head and dropped into a desert grave. It was my idea to end the game by resolving a conflict between NCR/Caesar's Legion at Hoover Dam. Everything else was developed by John Gonzalez."
 * Joshua Sawyer: "One of the themes we identified early on for F:NV was "recreating the new world in the image of the old"
 * Joshua Sawyer: "''The reason why F:NV's extensive use of western trappings overlaps fine with the imagery of vegas is because the golden age of TV & film westerns was in the 50s and 60s, which was also the golden age of las vegas. We're already conditioned to accept these things overlapping. ~*


 * Cutting post-ending gameplay
 * Joshua Sawyer: "It was made relatively late in the project and I made it because the area designers were falling behind on area milestones and would not be able to complete both the core required content and post-game content in the remaining time. We did design post-game reactivity. We just didn’t have time to implement it."

Joshua Sawyer: "They mostly just asked us to avoid using certain groups or subjects for a variety of reasons. Though Bethesda reviewed everything we did, it was extremely rare that they asked us to change something." Joshua Sawyer: "We have a small internal QA staff, but Bethesda handled/handles the majority of QA for F:NV and its DLC." Joshua Sawyer: "They wrote some of the barkstring voice sets for generic NPCs."
 * Bethesda Game Studios involvement
 * Joshua Sawyer: "''Bethesda handled the budget, high-level scheduling, most of the QA, marketing, PR, music licensing, and all other publishing duties. All of the development was done internally, though some of the Bethesda F3 devs gave feedback on our design docs.
 * Question: "So this is a rather obtuse question, but I was wondering how much influence Bethesda exerted during development? Did you have to get shitloads of things approved by them, or were they more of a exterior presence, not really considered most times?"
 * Question: "Did Bethesda do the QA on Dead Money?"
 * Question: "What role had the additional Bethesda writers in F:NV? With all due respect, but I doubt producers/QA testers would write characters..nonetheless, I'm curious."