Hey all,

I've played New California and sided with the NCR as well as played every possible ending of Fallout 3. I love them both so much, Fallout 3 for nostalgia and New California for the amazing creativity and fantastic lore, so I am not sure which one to start for my next Fallout New Vegas role play. I understand there is a patch combining these, but I am not a fan of that due to the massive immersion break that would cause. I've thought of some pros and cons of each, such as James and the OG companions and quests from Fallout 3, and the fact I've only done the NCR role play and do not know what else there may be to do in California other than Enclave.

Anyone willing to help me gather my thoughts on this so I can stop procrastinating and actually get to playing?

I'm guessing if you played Fallout 3 so much and you've also completed Fallout New Vegas I'd suggest giving Fallout New California a try as I'll admit I haven't played New California myself however, I've seen a few walkthroughs and it looks good with voiced characters, a quite deep story and I don't really know what TTW will offer if you've already played both games.

lzInfinitezl wrote:

I'm guessing if you played Fallout 3 so much and you've also completed Fallout New Vegas I'd suggest giving Fallout New California a try as I'll admit I haven't played New California myself however, I've seen a few walkthroughs and it looks good with voiced characters, a quite deep story and I don't really know what TTW will offer if you've already played both games.

I've played through one side of New California when it first released and don't get me wrong, it was great. TTW gives the option to go back and forth if need be and all of the content of Fallout 3 including some mods. I'm very in-between but leaning more so toward New California only because of the fact I have only done a fraction of what there is to offer in the mod. I like Jericho and many of the companions from 3, and overall enjoy the story of 3 better (once again basing this off my one playthrough of New California). I could go either way at this point, the main drawback I have is to my knowledge you can't go back to Cali after you completed the story of New California as opposed to TTW where you can travel back and forth via train and carry all you want plus companions with you.

@xtheoutcastedx Looks like you've sort of answered your own question there. I guess if you prefer the freedom TTW brings then I'd play that but if you want something fresh then I'd still recommend New California (I didn't know that you can't return to New California after you completed it).

lzInfinitezl wrote:

@xtheoutcastedx Looks like you've sort of answered your own question there. I guess if you prefer the freedom TTW brings then I'd play that but if you want something fresh then I'd still recommend New California (I didn't know that you can't return to New California after you completed it).

My issue is I can't figure out which one would be more fun as a role play. Playing as a Vault resident is part of both but helping your father and fighting the Enclave or helping the NCR/Enclave in New California is my issue. I want to do either an independent Vegas or Mr. House role play during NV so I am trying to decide which character would be more inclined to that. I've never done a true "role-play", except trying out all of NV's endings so I'm just bamboozled on what to choose lol. Indecisiveness strikes again!

Personally, I'd do the NV endings first and experience all of them and then try Fallout New California (mainly because I like to finish something before starting something new) as working for House or yourself (Yes Man Ending) could be fun from a role play stand point as like with the NCR you have to make contact with the different factions (Boomers and the Great Khans) and it is even better with the Yes Man ending as you do want as you are in charge, which from a role play perspective could be a lot of fun.

lzInfinitezl wrote:

Personally, I'd do the NV endings first and experience all of them and then try Fallout New California (mainly because I like to finish something before starting something new) as working for House or yourself (Yes Man Ending) could be fun from a role play stand point as like with the NCR you have to make contact with the different factions (Boomers and the Great Khans) and it is even better with the Yes Man ending as you do want as you are in charge, which from a role play perspective could be a lot of fun.

I was trying to figure out what character, whether it be the protagonist from 3 or New California would side with House. I think I’ll try a different play through of New California so I can have some fun playing something new and still role play. I say that now but who knows, I might change my mind!

@xtheoutcastedx I think that the protagonist from fallout 3 would make more sense since they've experienced the capital wastes and seen what it has to offer, and if that character is to meet House then they see possibly the most technologically advanced person/institution they've ever seen. Since the NCR doesn't differ from any other faction technologically it would make sense that the Vault Dweller would choose House...

If players think the ncr doesn't offer anything special, Obsidian failed. Badly.
I'm not saying they're the right faction choice necessarily, but Shady Sands was waaaay nicer than the crumbling ruins of the Mojave... new roads, forcefields for doors, tree-lined parks. The NCR does something amazing with its territory (by fallout standards.) They make new buildings and sweep up trash out of their homes! Shit, that's incredible! Even Goodsprings has trash-littered floors. As a country, they're supporting some 700,000 people... that's a bit more than modern day real life Las Vegas.
I guess it's theoretically possible that the NCR has fallen so far that they've gone back to apocalypse tech and crumbling, trash-covered shit holes, but still I've said it before, but by not showing us the NCR or the Legion, we missed out on really, really important information.

But I'm digressing from the original poster's question.
Coming from the ruins of capitol wasteland, New Vegas will look special with its neon lights and powerful robot security and fancy entertainment options. Perhaps worth fighting for.
Coming from New California, you'll perhaps already be part of the main plot. There's a good chance you'll have a stake in continuing to fight for, or against the NCR that you started in New California.
So... uh... both are potentially good, and can offer a perspective to make more important the faction war in the Mojave.

lzInfinitezl wrote:

@xtheoutcastedx I think that the protagonist from fallout 3 would make more sense since they've experienced the capital wastes and seen what it has to offer, and if that character is to meet House then they see possibly the most technologically advanced person/institution they've ever seen. Since the NCR doesn't differ from any other faction technologically it would make sense that the Vault Dweller would choose House...

The last six or so playthroughs I had did were all NCR, or at least friendly to the NCR. It's not that I want to murder every trooper, I just realize now after I've caught up on some lore than they aren't the nicest to the citizens of the wasteland. Annexing their land then kicking them off of it and what not. I am not entirely a fan of that to say the least. I wish Mr. House and Yes Man had more human soldiers or humans as part of their overall faction (yes I understand Yes Man's quest about searching for other factions and the lore of it all) but a man can dream!

Sirdanest wrote:

If players think the ncr doesn't offer anything special, Obsidian failed.  Badly.
I'm not saying they're the right faction choice necessarily, but Shady Sands was waaaay nicer than the crumbling ruins of the Mojave... new roads, forcefields for doors, tree-lined parks.  The NCR does something amazing with its territory (by fallout standards.)  They make new buildings and sweep up trash out of their homes!  Shit, that's incredible! Even Goodsprings has trash-littered floors.  As a country, they're supporting some 700,000 people... that's a bit more than modern day real life Las Vegas.
I guess it's theoretically possible that the NCR has fallen so far that they've gone back to apocalypse tech and crumbling, trash-covered shit holes, but still I've said it before, but by not showing us the NCR or the Legion, we missed out on really, really important information.

But I'm digressing from the original poster's question.
Coming from the ruins of capitol wasteland, New Vegas will look special with its neon lights and powerful robot security and fancy entertainment options.  Perhaps worth fighting for.
Coming from New California, you'll perhaps already be part of the main plot.  There's a good chance you'll have a stake in continuing to fight for, or against the NCR that you started in New California.  
So... uh... both are potentially good, and can offer a perspective to make more important the faction war in the Mojave.  

My issue with the NCR is that they essentially are power hungry. They take whatever land they want and continue to expand, much like the early years of the Americas. I have done so many NCR playthroughs and I have enjoyed them don't get me wrong, but now I am weighing out the pros on cons. For the Legion: do I really support slavery, crucifixion, and worse? The NCR expanded far too quickly and their supply lines aren't the greatest as can be seen by the lack of supplies in places like Bitter Springs and Forlorn Hope. The NCR is a great military forces and a powerful one at that, I do not dislike them at all. But I can't get behind a faction that lives off over taxing their citizens to live on their land that the NCR "annexed" aka stole. I understand how great the NCR is don't get me wrong, but they do have mob dies which is evident in New California (although I'm sure New California isn't 100% lore friendly there still are ties).

So all in all I want to do an independent playthrough with Mr. House because I have only done that once, back around 2012 on my Xbox 360. Since then I've put over 900 hours on NV alone on my computer but every time I play mod or not I find something new or something I may have missed. It's a lot to think about but the NCR just isn't for me.

I agree with what you're saying about New California. If I fight the NCR there I may have to in the Mojave. It would be a continuation rather than a new story which could pose some issues to the playthrough. In the Capital Wasteland the best cities are Rivet City and Megaton, and of those is literally torn in half. So by comparison, Vegas is a beautiful upgrade. I could see the Lone Wanderer being all about saving Vegas based off of that alone.

On the other hand, the protagonist from New California could see the corruption within the NCR or defect from the Enclave and try to restore Vegas away from any major faction. It's so many decisions and possibilities! The main reason I love Fallout games to tell the truth

They're both totally different experiences. New California offers a more complete singular story as best it can, but TTW also gives you the chance to experience Fallout 3 again, which is a far longer and more expansive experience. It just doesn't tie into New Vegas very well if you were trying to do a long playthrough of both games at once.

But hey, headcanon is a thing, no?

this is just my opinion
in all my play-troughs of fnc ,ttw i feel in every one of my own head cannons make more sense in a fnc play-through
then any of my ttw run
that being said i can make it work in any run but theres 20 years that happens between what happens in caliornia and the events of new vegas
i use ttw to play fo3 with little to no issues
i play fnc to play out my own headcanon and stories within it

IRORIEH wrote:

They're both totally different experiences. New California offers a more complete singular story as best it can, but TTW also gives you the chance to experience Fallout 3 again, which is a far longer and more expansive experience. It just doesn't tie into New Vegas very well if you were trying to do a long playthrough of both games at once.

But hey, headcanon is a thing, no?

My headcanon is exactly what I was going for, I'm thinking I'll try out New California just to see how/if I like it and worst case scenario I'll restart the playthrough just this time in Fallout 3

paradoxwing wrote:

this is just my opinion
in all my play-troughs of fnc ,ttw i feel in every one of my own head cannons make more sense in a fnc play-through
then any of my ttw run
that being said i can make it work in any run but theres 20 years that happens between what happens in caliornia and the events of new vegas
i use ttw to play fo3 with little to no issues
i play fnc to play out my own headcanon and stories within it  

My entire point of the playthrough was my headcanon. I figure I'll start up one and if I have an issues I'll jump over to the other. I'll start NC then F03 if that's what I need to do. I saw the new mod on the nexus that lets everything be compatible... just doesn't make any sense no matter how I look at it to play all three. Kinda weird but I digress. So I think I'll just start NC to see how it goes as an enclave playthrough since I've never attempted that one.


Merged your double post
- Raven

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65839

Why not both? A headcanon is malleable so whatever you want can work out.

The TTW site said that this mod isn't real, doesn't work, something like that. It's apparently a gigantic project to make them compatible, not just for story purposes but for all the patching and changes both made individually.

I would say both give you a very nice experience (although 3/TTW was a LOT more of a buggy one), but in the end, I chose FNC over TTW because I had this issue where not only would the combat enhancement mods I had for New Vegas cause me to die every time I looked at an enemy (my own fault, of course), but there was this issue that was even worse where if I went even slightly off of the beaten path, the game would just spawn Yao Gauis.

Like, it would do this constantly. After I'd struggle to kill one of these Yao Gaui, within about 30 seconds, another one would spawn. I didn't know of any mod that would cause this, so I was perplexed by it.

It didn't help that when I finally got to New Vegas, my game suffered a heavy decline in FPS.

Personally I feel like TTW overall is more coherent of a game, and Experiencing Fallout 3 and all its dlc and then finally traveling to Vegas is just an unreal experience. I love New California but it has a few flaws in my opinion with its story telling and world, mostly after the vault sequence, that is expected with a mod that was mostly made by two people. Regardless, both are fun in their own right.

TTW is a must play if you want to experience Fallout 3 in a different way, since the mod overhauls it to play with New Vegas mechanics, making the game a whole lot better. And it's the best way to play FO3 in a Win10 device (like mine).

Don't get me wrong, New California gets credit too. It's one of the best major overhaul mods ever released for FNV, but one of it's flaws is the performance, since the mod pushes Gamebryo to it's limit.

TTW - Surprisingly the Courier being the Lone Wanderer is a more coherent background than the Courier being whatever the heck New California tries to make them. (Won't spoil but it's a laugh out loud moment.)