I finally got around to playing FO:NV after having sit in my Steam games list for months. I was hesitant to even start FO:NV because, having played many open world RPGs (and just RPGs in general) before, I knew that any gaming session I had would require a minimum amount of time. With these types of games, it's difficult to just sit down and play for 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes become 30 and then 60 and then before you know it, it's 3 am. It turns out, I was exactly right. FO:NV is addictive and engaging as Fallout 3, Oblivion and Morrowind were. The crisscrossing main quests and myriad of side quests will keep you busy for quite a long time. By the end, I had sunk in 67 hours myself.
Unfortunately, the whole experience is ruined by the sheer number of bugs and glitches. I played the most recently patched version, and it crashed at least once per gaming session. There is stuttering and disappearing items as well. Most disappointingly, were when quests were bugged. The quests are often quite complex with numerous ways of solving them. The problem with these quests, arises when you inadvertently do something out of order, or simultaneously take multiple paths to solving it. This is a huge disappointment, because one of the most interesting parts of FO:NV is just how complicated the quests can be. There is also one point in the game, where if you take one path, you CANNOT load and take a different path. You must start a NEW game, to reset the character's dialog. Spoilers below if anyone cares:
The game suffers the most from the crashes and game breaking bugs. The fact of the matter is, this game should not have shipped in this state, and ultimately that is why I cannot give this game a rating better than 2.5.