I guess that's a downside of a story-heavy open-world game, one Fallout 3 avoided simply by not having much of a story in the first place. I actually regret doing so many side quests in New Vegas early on just because I stumbled on so many locations, the purposes of which would only become clear once I found the associated (often plot-related) quests. Much of Fallout 3 is spent wandering the wasteland, generally just exploring for exploration's sake, while New Vegas' wasteland serves the purpose of connecting all the different quests and towns to each other, with a little colour along the way, closer to the first two games. It's worth pointing out that the games are absolutely comparable in terms of content, it's just that the content between them is of a slightly different nature. That stuff got old really fast and I have to give New Vegas the thumbs up for not trying to waste my time in the name of "gameplay". I also appreciate the fact that New Vegas doesn't feel "bloated" in the same way Fallout 3 does with its copy-pasted dungeons and endless office buildings to crawl through. I know the story can go several different ways, both when it comes to the big plot points and smaller details, something Fallout 3 almost totally lacked.
New Vegas, on the other hand, is more compelling for me because of the writing.
It's hard to say which is "better" from a design perspective, but from a gameplay perspective I have to admit that I'm a fan of Fallout 3's "limitless" feel, especially because it took me a few play-throughs to feel like I really knew everything. I'm not sure if the empty space in DC is comparable to the empty space on the West side of New Vegas' map, but it's probably not too significant a difference. New Vegas definitely has more locations (crammed into a smaller space to boot), and at the same time Fallout 3 has a lot more in the way of miscellaneous dungeons, tunnels and so forth which contribute to it feeling bigger - especially DC, where you have to go through a dozen mazes just to get to anywhere. At the same time, I kind of appreciate New Vegas' more natural borders - I prefer cliff walls and scenic terrain to invisible walls and HUD messages informing me I've reached the end of the world. The Fallout 3 map is a bit larger in practice, I think, because the one in New Vegas has a lot of unused space, especially to the West.
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