Quote Originally Posted by Balmas View Post
Eh, I would actually argue that New Vegas has better environmental storytelling than either 3 or 4. It doesn't dabble in senselessly placed skeletons or raiders with weirdly-posed teddy bears. The way the world is built, though, gives the player a far better understanding of the game they're going to be playing. That's what environmental storytelling is, is using the environment of the game to convey a message about the world. Portal conveys that you are in a lab experiment via how everything's clean, white, professional. Bioshock shows off the decadence of Rapture by having you walk through and loot a bar that was mid party. The organic storytelling of New Vegas does a far better job of telling the player about who lives here and what might happen next than the random vignettes of 3 or 4.
I think you nailed it. New Vegas feels like a real, lived-in location that breath and bled.

Fallout 3/4 sounds like wacky playgrounds.