>>89401987FONV is more free when you really understand it. They just made a much easier path to follow with good progression if you follow that path and good build up to the story. There's more exploration to be had to the south, rushing to New Vegas can be fun but I do recommend going south your first time around, just clean up Primm (or skip it, but you can get a lot of weapons and bullets by taking out the gang) then you can go in many directions imo while having a pretty safe place to yet back to. If you train up a bit, you can fast travel back to Good Springs and explore the northern canyons. You can also outrun the giant radscorpions with a bit of effort. I hope you can give it a proper shot, and if you do, you should install at least the bugfix mod. Game becomes even amazing with mods later playthroughs later on. I still like Fallout 1 the most but NV is probably the best one with a little spit polish
