Fallout 3 or New Vegas?

Vegas is by far the better game.

I have both games and have played them a decent amount (Fallout 3 won't show it due to a bug with Steam), and I honestly can't decide...

Fallout 3 definitely has a better atmosphere in my opinion. You start out in a desert-y area, then you can get to the downtown D.C. area with buildings and stuff like that. Fallout 3's story is pretty good in my opinion. I won't go into details but the main thing is this thing called Project Purity, which is a project your dad started. The combat is great, but it's better with a mod called RH Iron Sights (to give you iron sights), and Weapon Mod Kits (this mod gave the inspiration for weapon mods in New Vegas).

As for New Vegas, it's all a desert... And the New Vegas strip, is REALLY small... Not as big as you would think... The story is weird, you are a measly courier... And you try and kill the man that shot you in the head... Woopdee frickin' doo... But there are plenty of mods to add more, I just haven't found the right ones (I never really install quest mods anyways)... The combat is WAY better than 3. They added in weapon mods so you can add scopes to different things, silencers, etc. You also have native iron sights, so you don't need to use V.A.T.S. religiously to hit someone. Plus, you can make it better with Project Nevada which adds in helmet view (you see the sides of the helm) and such.

I really liked the setting of Fallout 3, but the colors were really dull... Bunch of grey, some black, maybe some white... And occasionally, you see some green, which is the super mutant skin... New Vegas has much more color, it's still slightly dull, but the neon signs make it better.

So yeah, it depends on which one you think you want more, I don't know too much about either stories but they seem fine, so if you're looking at story, ask someone else...

Fallout 3 is better but if you like more guns, probably New Vegas is for you. Why you wont buy both ? You can buy both for 5$.

fallout 3 > NV but both good really

Fallout 3 for sure. New Vegas is good but 3 has such a solid story and more or less the same gameplay.

Fallout 3 but in all honesty I prefer Fallout 2.

Fallout 3 on PC - 18 hours
Fallout New Vegas on PC - 159 hours
And I have both on Xbox 360, I think I completed Fallout 3 once or twice, but I have no idea about how many times I have completed FNV.

Fallout New Vegas is a lot better in my opinion. The factions are a lot more interesting and you can actually choose your ending, while in Fallout 3 you pretty much need to help the Brotherhood of Steel. F:NV has more color, while F3 is pretty much just grey, grey, black and grey. The combat in New Vegas feels better, since you can use ironsights. Really, it actually changes the game a lot! There is also a lot more weapons.

Fallout: New Vegas has an amazing amount of mods. Project Nevada is my favorite, since it adds running and makes the game more immersive with helmet sides, like SilentShadow117 said. Most of the characters are likeable in some way and you can remember them easily. If you are looking for real survival, you can turn on the Hardcore Mode, so you need to drink, eat and sleep or you will die. There is a ton of different endings, you can choose what happens to all the towns and all the companions!

In my opinion, Fallout New Vegas has more replayablility, more interesting factions, better combat, better world, characters, ending and great, easily installed mods.

Fallout 3 is feels more like a nuclear war has just happened, but I just don't like it because it has those large problems, like the combat.

Edit: And TotalBiscuit said that New Vegas is a lot better. :3

Fallout 3.

The one where they remember it's been 200+ years since the nukes dropped and was overall an improvement over the other.(New Vegas)

Or the one where they remembered not to expect you to not explore the this one random cave or else the a large chunk of the main quest gets skipped. No joke, you can skip alot of Fallout 3s plot by just exploring the wrong cave. It's not even that hard to get to.

Oooh ooh or the one where everything doesn't have a stupid green filter over it.

Or the one where ending isn't a massive gaping cesspit of a plot hole so bad they had to make DLC to fix the problems ANYONE could see. Like sending in the Super Mutant to deal with the radiation based obstacle instead of you committing suicide for no reason. Or the robot doing it.

Or the one where a town of nothing but children isn't right next to where the super mutants are coming from.

Or the one made by some of the same people as the first 2.

Or the one that fixes so much of what was wrong with the other, like the lack of iron sights, your stats being near worthless, and such stupid crap as blowing up a robot with a wad of cash.

Or the one that isn't so bad any list of mods needed for it includes a community patch to fix all the crap the developers never did. Not sure if they fixed it yet but said patch also makes Rivet City crash.

Fallout NV is a million times better than Fallout 3 (imo, but isn't it always 'imo'). In Fallout 3 everything is totally random and scaled to your level, it doesn't matter where you go - the same boring enemies and loot everywhere (with some very rare exceptions). In Fallout New Vegas it is not, you may meet enemies that will rip you to pieces if you walk into the wrong areas. And if you manage to survive against all odds you will be rewarded properly. In FO3 quests have only few choices and there are only few quests to begin with, in NV almost all the quests have choices and consequences (!), there are factions that fight each other and you even have multiple, very different paths you can take in the main quest. The gameplay in FO3 is an unbalanced mess, in NV there are a lot of thoughtful improvements. And so on.

In other words, FO3 is a typcially Bethesda game, basically Elder Scrolls with guns. New Vegas is a game in the spirit of old school RPGs where you are not the center of the world, a game with real challenges, a game where you have to make choices and have to face the consequences. They are very different games despite looking almost the same.

New Vegas

I haven't really played both of them enough, but from what i have played through, FO3 seems better.

Both are awesome , but i like fallout 3 more

I enjoyed 3 a lot. NV, was fun.. but, I like 3 more.

Its a total of five bucks.

get both.

I hear New Vegas is more of an RPG and 3 is more FPS/TPS. I went with New Vegas because of it.

Both!

i prefer NW over 3

new vegas is far more 'adult' and has improved mechanics and concepts over fallout 3. Its kinda like fallout 3.5 I prefer that one

Fallout 3 was better for me, it has better plot. But if you can, buy both. :)

F3, the atmosphere was way better.

both

Fallout: New Vegas by a longshot.
Better story, better features, better quests, better DLCs.
Only thing is that FO3 is more atmosphereic.

Fallout 3's story is a joke. It's just a recycled version of the first two games.
Edit: Didn't see that you made your choice D:

In my opinion, the story to Fallout 3 was better than New Vegas's, but there was more to do in New Vegas, more choices, and appearantly a little closer to what fallout was originally (from what I have been told). If you want a strong story, go for Fallout 3, but the story in NV isn't bad either. If the story isn't the main thing in your head, you will likely enjoy NV more.