Recently the Fallout 4 trailer debuted - it rekindled my interest in the series once more. I have played Fallout New Vegas to death - logged more hours into it (modded) than I care to count. But I barely touched Fallout 3 after I beat it - and never played any of the DLC.
After watching the recent trailer I decided to replay Fallout 3 - I even gave it a couple hours, but just couldn't get past the stupid VATS combat and a couple of other interface issues. So I went about going to mod it - in my search for how to make F3 play more like NV I happened upon A Tale of Two Wastelands (currently version 2.9.4).
Imagine my excitement when I read that I could play both games in a single play through and even jump back and forth between the Capital Wasteland and the Mojave Desert whenever I felt like it. So I took the time to install it as well as a few mods that are requisites for my enjoyment of the series (Darnified UI, Realistic Chem Addiction/Effects, Project Nevada, Unofficial Bugfixes, etc.) - and it works perfectly. It did require me to read through all the readme text files for each mod, browse the forums for the correct patches and conversions, and at points sit and wait while it installed.
I have put about 8 hours into so far and have completed a fair amount of quests while having only explored a little bit of the wasteland. The difference between the Fallout NV engine and the original F3 one was noticeable immediately and the game felt more comfortable as a result.
Now in the past when talking about Fallout 3 with anybody I have always maintained that New Vegas was the better Fallout game - however playing Fallout 3 now I'm not so sure. Initially my memories of Fallout 3 were terrible dialog and bad pacing - which I haven't found to be the case this time. Mind you I am playing with real-time combat which picked up the pace of the game considerably.
Now what I am playing is a modded build of the gameplay for both New Vegas and Fallout 3 - the biggest gameplay changers being a realistic chem mod and Project Nevada. What this has done has made the game a tense real-time experience where in every move I make can spell out death. Currently I'm playing a character who has a chem addiction problem with a focus on stealth and combat - but who knows how to talk when needed.
During one of my quests I was tasked with sneaking into a Mirelurk den and planting a tracking device on one of their nests and getting out without disturbing things. So naturally I popped some mentats and snuck in. Suddenly the world was over saturated my vision blurring in and out. For the first little while things were fine - then I got spotted. As I ran through the room I was in one cornered me and I was forced to jump maybe 15-20 feet below I shattered one of my legs on the way down but was directly in front of their nest. Red dots began to appear on my compass in every direction. I quickly planted the tracker and then used a super stimpak - that's when it got weird. Double vision that would come and go as it pleased threw any sense of direction or surroundings off. Sure my HP was doing well but I couldn't tell where I was or if I was in danger. A moment of clear vision let me know that the door I needed to get to was to the right and straight ahead. There were two mirelurks coming from the left and one snapped at me from behind. I ducked to the right and started to sprint ahead to the door as my vision went on me again - all the colors over-saturating and my vision starting to kaleidoscope. I did make it outside again and back to relative safety in Megaton - my character high as a kite sprinting away from the Anchorage Memorial like a mad man.
That is just one such moment - in my eight hours with this game my character has escaped with the odds stacked against him many times, often riding a Mentats high letting the colours of the wasteland grin back at him with hidden menace in it's beauty.
I have experienced some crashes - but no more than vanilla F3/NV. So it is my recommendation that if you are interested in a relatively deep action role-playing experience that you take the time to set this mod for New Vegas up. It requires legally obtained copies of Fallout3 and New Vegas with all the DLC for both games. The setup is involved but not bad if you are used to modding Bethesda games and the payoff is well worth it. I am having a blast and can't wait to see where my character goes from here.
coool