My coauthor Walter recently took some time off of blogging for very good reasons. I took that as an excuse to take some time off too. That's a good reason. Right? Right? Well, I did need to wander the Mojave Wasteland circa 2281.
I was a huge fan of Skyrim, logging hundreds of hours. I knew it was built on the same engine as the Fallout games, but never really looked into them. They appeared to be the same game, but with a less interesting setting. Boy, was I wrong.
With all the hype about Fallout 4, I decided to spend the $10 on the previous game, Fallout New Vegas. I was immediately surprised by the polish, and style. The way they convey emotion and story with camera angles, and eye movement. Even the way scenery was arranged told a story. Then came the real shocker. It came out before Skyrim.
Part of the explanation came from the fact that fans have created texture packs that I took advantage of. The rest of it all comes down to game design. I do enjoy urban fantasy stories, and there does seem to be some of that in the game. The world has just enough fantasy to be interesting, but enough reality to be believable. The world is fully flushed out with history and lore. And it has something Skyrim never had; style.
A month later, and a couple dozen hours into a $10 game; I regret nothing.
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