Fallout: New Vegas

[Bebpo]

~30 hours, lvl.24, been to around 100 locations, about 50 or so quests done (plus all those non-recorded note ones).  So burnt out on the game right now.  Haven't been doing anything other than playing it and going to class since Wed.

Going to try to continue my marathon this weekend and get it done by tomorrow night so I can put it away for good and get back to having a life again.

[pilonv1]

For everyone who's got the PC version, he's the mod to keep an eye on:

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34684

"Dinky the T-Rex Souvenir" item renamed "Dinky the T. Rex Souvenir" to be scientifically correct.

[Eel O'Brian]

fo3 > this

[Raban]

fo3 > this

Good to know as I'm getting FO3 instead of this next week.

[Eel O'Brian]

i'm in the minority with that opinion,  though

[demi]

I treat both games as equals. The DC tunnels alone probably put Vegas slightly above.

[Great Rumbler]

i'm in the minority with that opinion,  though

I don't know about that, but I can't say I agree.

All of the vaults so far in New Vegas have been really good, especially Vault 22 and Vault 11.

[OptimoPeach]

lol wtf

[Bebpo]

fo3 > this

why?

I can't think of anything I thought FO3 did better, whereas there's a ton of stuff NV does better.

[Stoney Mason]

Still relatively early speaking but I also prefer Fallout 3 so far. We'll see how that goes by the end.

[fistfulofmetal]

god the combat is still terrible. theres absolutely nothing good or fun about shooting things in this game.

[OptimoPeach]

god the combat is still terrible. theres absolutely nothing good or fun about shooting things in this game.

I've been shooting people out of VATS with the Varmint Rifle from like 90 yards. Mouse and keyboard I did pick that accuracy thing for one of my traits at the start, though

[pilonv1]

fo3 > this

why?

I can't think of anything I thought FO3 did better, whereas there's a ton of stuff NV does better.

Setting & atmosphere. Everything else is better in New Vegas. Except no bobbleheads

[Brehvolution]

Searching for a sex robot.

The map around here sucks for fast travel.

[cool breeze]

This one dude is telling me to go check on a girl on a ridge past a broken radio tower.  I search everywhere around the radio tower and there is nothing to find.  I go back, he says I gotta save her.  This is like three in-game days that this guy has been talking about this.  How about putting it in my map or giving me something more specific? or maybe it bugged out.

anyway, so far it is more Fallout 3 and it's good at that so far.  and hardcore mode seems a bit silly, to be honest.  I generally like maintenance and survival in games like STALKER, but it seems like it will just be a chore in Fallout.  Have others stuck with it or does it get as annoying as I think it will?

[Bebpo]

Yeah, the non-marker quests are stupid because a lot of them are glitchy and don't even work right and without a marker you're unsure whether it's glitching or you're doing it wrong.

The quests are getting so glitchy towards the end where it has tons and tons of complex branching changing elements of it.  It's like Alpha Protocol all over again :X


I think I'm at the final mission now; steam says 38 hours.  Still have a bit of sidestuff I want to wrap up first.  There's a loooot of locations, but like F3 a good chunk of them are just monuments or one floor buildings.  I've done about 130 locations and I think there's about 30 left but most of those are zzz stuff like mines.  Will finish exploring them out tommorow and finish it up.  Level balance seems just right.  I just hit lvl.29 so with all the final mission stuff and a bit more sidequesting I'll probably finish it just at lvl.30. 

So for anyone whose finished it:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Is there basically 4 ending paths?
1.  Stick with Mr. House as he plays both sides in the final battle
2.  Stick with NCR and conquer Legion/Vegas
3.  Stick with Legion and conquer NCR/Vegas
4.  Wild card, take over vegas yourself and let whateverside you want win the final battle

I was doing NCR/Wild Card but it looks like I'm stuck on the wild card path at this point.  I wish there was a Brotherhood path.  I did all their stuff and became a member of the brotherhood but they really have a minor role in the conclusion.  Same with all the other smaller factions.  Also on the Yes Man thing where you are deciding how to deal with each smaller faction, I hate that it locks your choice before all the choices are available.  When I first did it I didn't know other choices open up later after you do more quests for the factions, so I just told them to ignore the Brotherhood.  Whereas if I had waited until I'd done a bunch of brotherhood stuff I hear you can choose to incorporate them into a support group in the final battle.

I'll probably just reload after I beat the game since as long as you save the reporting back to mr. house at lucky 38 for THE VERY END and save before it, you can do all 4 branches from there no problem

[close]

[demi]

The guide lists a ton of ending slides based on choices... I cant even bother to go through and type them out.

[Bebpo]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm not talking about the slides though.  Fallout always has different slides/narration based on what you did in each thing.

I'm talking about the actual gameplay paths in the last hour or two.

[close]

[demi]

Cmon theres like nothing spoiler in that post... this aint GAF

[Bebpo]

Finished it.  The final mission, like AP, is not all that satisfying because too many choices you made are fucked up when it has to narrow five dozen choices into 3-4 dialogue options.  But the slideshow was really really good.  In fact, I think this is the best slideshow of the 4 Fallout games.  There are soooo many characters, locations, factions in NV and usually 2-3 ways each can end up so it feels like the game is really attuned to your story. 

Will get the other endings and finish up the exploration tomorrow.  Looking at the achievements I think the only hard ones are the 10,000 damage with each weapon type ones, 50 pickpocket (if you never normally pickpocket), and the blue bottle cap quest because I drank TONS of those bottles over the 38 hours and when I tried to cash it it's like "lol, good start but you need a ton more".  Would like to see how that quest plays out when you have enough; maybe someone will make a mod that gives you a million of them or something.

[Bebpo]

Ok, read the guide (got it today int the mail).  Really really impressive how many ways every quest and ending can play out.  A few of the outcomes of my quests/ending slides weren't even listed in the guide because there's just that many different ones they can't even track them all.

Overall I think the game is a good halfway between Fallout 2 and 3.  It follows the story structure and PLAYER CHOICE that Black Isle/Obsidian are famous for and what made the original Fallout games stand out so much, while the combat and walking around (and shitty graphics; all the game needs is some lighting) is from Fallout 3.

The map was great;  the vaults were all good (although 34 is soooo annoying); the towns/settlements/cities were pretty good.  The only thing I thought felt half-assed was the strip.  It's small, which isn't a deal breaker, but it barely has any npcs, which is lol in a bad way.  When you're standing in the casino floor of one of the only 3 or 4 nice buildings in ALL OF THE STATE and there are maybe 2 or 3 npcs scattered about, it just looks dumb.  I played Fallout 2.  New Reno didn't have 2-3 npcs per casino.  Casinos were PACKED with people like they should be.  When you walked into a casino it should have been a shock compared to the wasteland of emptyness and few npcs; New Vegas should have been like New Reno: a city of people.  But it's like Bethesda's shitty engine couldn't handle that so they didn't try.  And yeah, no lighting made vegas look really awkward.  I enjoyed Vegas in the game, but I think it's definitely the weakest section of the map and you really don't spend much time in there. 

Also, small thing but the sex in this game is horrible.  In Fallout 2 you could become a porn star, sleep with the mob boss' daughter AND his wife.  You could get married.  Sleep with like one woman per town or at least hit on every girl you talk to if you had the right charisma/perks.  In NV you talk to hundreds of women and you can't flirt or hit on or have sex or marry any of them.  Then there are a couple specific women who you can sleep with and usually it's just "hey, do you want to pay the caps" and then the screen goes black and you're back where you were 3 seconds ago with fewer caps.  They don't even go to a room or anything.  It's really stupid.  I wonder if they were afraid to do sex stuff because sex in games is touchy in the media or something.  Should've at least had the porn star job.

The connections to Fallout 1/2 were great fanservice.  The best character in the game by far imo was

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Marcus because it was such a treat for fans.  Even had the same voice actor and his character model was way better than any of the rest in the game.

[close]

After AP & NV being so open to player choice and extremely complex branching, I wonder if they'll be able to work something like this into Dungeon Seige 3.  Would be cool.  Otherwise will look forward to the next original IP from Obsidian.

[demi]

oh god they're doing dungeon siege 3 arent they. will not buy. after alpha protocol i never want to touch anything they code themselves again.

[pilonv1]

Then there are a couple specific women who you can sleep with and usually it's just "hey, do you want to pay the caps" and then the screen goes black and you're back where you were 3 seconds ago with fewer caps

Isn't that exactly how it was in FO3 too?

[pilonv1]

Just got to level 10, I can't rate this any lower than Fallout 3 (100% awesome)

[Great Rumbler]

This one dude is telling me to go check on a girl on a ridge past a broken radio tower.  I search everywhere around the radio tower and there is nothing to find.  I go back, he says I gotta save her.  This is like three in-game days that this guy has been talking about this.  How about putting it in my map or giving me something more specific? or maybe it bugged out.

Might be bugged out.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

There is no girl. You're supposed to go all the way up to the tower, find nothing but some old skeletons and some ammo boxes. Then the guy that gave you the quests shows up and tries to kill you.

[close]

[fistfulofmetal]

the game has randomly crashed three times since i started playing an hour ago. once after a i died and respawned, once when coming out of my pip-boy, then finally just walking.

so until this shit gets fixed, it's going on the backburner.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Searching for a sex robot.

The map around here sucks for fast travel.

The map is broken for that, you have to go out that way near the silver mine thing in freeside, the back way out, turn left, and follow the broken upper pass highway all the ay to the end, jump over some robble and you'll see cerulean robotics. the robot is in a room on the left, make sure you have the thing to activate it

This one dude is telling me to go check on a girl on a ridge past a broken radio tower.  I search everywhere around the radio tower and there is nothing to find.  I go back, he says I gotta save her.  This is like three in-game days that this guy has been talking about this.  How about putting it in my map or giving me something more specific? or maybe it bugged out.

the radio tower is on your right when facing that dude, but it's a trap, there's no girl there, he just ambushes you and theres a somethingawful reference if you have wild wasteland activated.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Just picked it up yesterday and only played for about an hour or two before I became bored.  Not a good sign, especially since I put in an insane amount of time with Fallout 3.

Of course I also bought an iPad yesterday too and that's been getting most of my attention so maybe that's part of the problem.

[Great Rumbler]

The map is broken for that

It's not broke, the map only shows your immediate area and since the location is so far out away from everything else it makes it appear as though the marker is actually somewhere outside of the map.

[BlueTsunami]

Just picked it up yesterday and only played for about an hour or two before I became bored.  Not a good sign, especially since I put in an insane amount of time with Fallout 3.

Of course I also bought an iPad yesterday too and that's been getting most of my attention so maybe that's part of the problem.

The game is a little more directed in its awesomness. In that it takes time to get some of the good weaponry and getting to the more interesting area. Fallout 3 is different in this regard since that the whole map is open to you (New Vegas has mountain ranges that directs you to certain places and has high level enemies that keep you on a certain track).

I think the game really becomes FO3 levels maybe even beyond for me once I hit the Vegas area (and have access to Gun Runners)

[demi]

Hitler is always bored. He's mentioned this in the "What are you playing" thread and other gaming threads. Why does he bother... probably enjoys being tied naked to other guys

[cool breeze]

Is there a house or shelter you can get like the one from Megaton in the Fallout 3?

my guy is getting heavy and I want to dump some of this stuff.  For some reason I feel Victor's house is a good place because they let me sleep there without considering it murder.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Yes

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Hitler is always bored. He's mentioned this in the "What are you playing" thread and other gaming threads. Why does he bother... probably enjoys being tied naked to other guys

Well now that you mention it.....

[Bebpo]

Is there a house or shelter you can get like the one from Megaton in the Fallout 3?

my guy is getting heavy and I want to dump some of this stuff.  For some reason I feel Victor's house is a good place because they let me sleep there without considering it murder.

There's a couple.

One in Vegas, one in Novac.  Maybe more?  Also you can unload stuff on your companions and take it back later.  They have tons of room. 

But mainly you should be selling items most of the time.  That way you are rolling in caps.

[cool breeze]

ok, thanks.  but I will not sell stuff! my house in Fallout 3 was so organized with all my weapons and stuff.

there are a few heavy things I'll probably have to get rid of like the sledgehammer.  I have a golf club anyway.

[Great Rumbler]

Is there a house or shelter you can get like the one from Megaton in the Fallout 3?

my guy is getting heavy and I want to dump some of this stuff.  For some reason I feel Victor's house is a good place because they let me sleep there without considering it murder.

You can permanently rent out a room at the hotel in Novac.

[Stoney Mason]

Small nitpick but there seem to be lots of conversations where they only recorded or wrote the dialogue in one manner. Like they expected you to do certain actions in a specific order and if you don't you get an odd piece of commentary that expects you to not have done something you already did or you to be in a specific location that you may not be in. Same thing may have happened in Fallout 3 I guess but its caught my eye several times already in New Vegas.

Not a big deal but just sort of sloppy.

I am enjoying that I have a companion. Do they use ammo? I mean do I have to give them ammo? Can they ever use other weapons? I can't remember from Fallout 3.

[Eel O'Brian]

their default weapons have unlimited ammo and never break, but if you give them a weapon/ammo it can break or run out

[demi]

The guide says their guns never break, so give them super ammo. Example being overcharged energy caps for laser/plasma weapons.

[Stoney Mason]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

"I killed Jeannie May. Do I still get my discount". Okay now that's funny writing. 

I reloaded just to see what all the responses dialogues were.

[close]

[Stoney Mason]

Another question about companions regarding armor and such. Is there any way to dictate what they wear or do they just wear whatever they perceive to be the best thing you give them.


Also if they wear armor from that of a faction are they automatically treated as hostiles like the player character is?

[Bebpo]

Another question about companions regarding armor and such. Is there any way to dictate what they wear or do they just wear whatever they perceive to be the best thing you give them.

No way unless you use a mod.  They'll use what they think is best.

Also if they wear armor from that of a faction are they automatically treated as hostiles like the player character is?

Not sure, but I don't think so?  I'd like to think that only applies to when you go in disguise.  Btw, I never noticed that when you are wearing a faction outfit and go to the pipboy status -> general the faction likings relate to the faction you are wearing and not yourself.  I was walking around in a faction armor and one of my companions shot a dude and all the sudden it said NCR HATED and I was like WTF GLITCH ARGHGHGH and reloaded.  Then I realized it wasn't talking about me    I never really messed with wearing faction clothes but I wonder if you can use that to your advantage and make places/groups hate each other so they take each other out and you can just walk over their dead bodies.

[Bebpo]

oh god they're doing dungeon siege 3 arent they. will not buy. after alpha protocol i never want to touch anything they code themselves again.

While I think making engines is definitely their weakness going by AP (is AP their first original engine ever?  Their Black Isle rpgs just used the existing Infinity Engine right?), it's not like their work on existing engines isn't as buggy.  NV give or take is about as buggy as AP (aka, ridiculously buggy).  The difference being that NV is successful and has already gotten 2 patches whereas AP had support dropped the day it launched :\  I haven't played Kotor 2 yet, but I always heard it was Obsidian buggy as well.

The big problem with AP is that by not using an open-tool engine, fans can't fix the game.  Fallout 1/2/KotorII had to be fan fixed with tons of patches and restoration of unfinished material (a lot in F2/Kotor2).  NV already has interface redesigns, performance fixes, bug patches made by fans and it's only been out less than a week.  If AP was open I think fans could have cleaned it up and really improved a lot in the first few weeks.  I'm not sure who decided to keep it closed Obsidian or Sega, but it was definitely a bad mistake. 

Hopefully Dungeon Siege 3 will have an open toolset.

As a side note I wish Mass Effect 1/2 had open toolsets.  You take a look at Dragon Age and there are hundreds and hundreds of mods, just like the Bethesda engine and Infinity Engine stuff.  Lots of new content: quests, characters, locations, items, etc...  If ME had been open there could've been some really cool and fun mods.

[BlueTsunami]

Is there a house or shelter you can get like the one from Megaton in the Fallout 3?

At the beginning I just use that Cowboy Robots place and store my stuff there. Later on you'll get a safe house from a faction (I got one from the Followers of the Apocalypse. I can fast travel directly to it).

[Eel O'Brian]

they could fix that shitty pip boy map by simply highlighting the roads/paths you need to take to reach a destination from where you're standing when you click on it

i spent a good fifteen minutes fighting those giant indestructible wasps and working my way up the mountain to get to ranger station foxtrot before it hit me that i couldn't cross over the mountains

[Stoney Mason]

If you dismiss a companion can you get them back later? I want to try somebody else.

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, they go back to where you met/they joined you, they should tell you where they're going when they leave

on another note, just had my 12th crash

[Stoney Mason]

yeah, they go back to where you met/they joined you, they should tell you where they're going when they leave

on another note, just had my 12th crash

So you can just go pick them up again later if you want?

I must say I'm pretty lucky in that I haven't had a crash yet so far. Tons of bugs but no crashes.

Fallout 3 had a memory leak problem on my old computer and would always crash the longer I played.

[huckleberry]

yeah, they go back to where you met/they joined you, they should tell you where they're going when they leave

on another note, just had my 12th crash

Crashing on me left and right.  This makes me questions whether I really want to keep purchasing games on pc - even when they graphically superior.

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, you can pick them back up anytime you want, i switch between companions depending on what i'm doing

[Great Rumbler]

yeah, they go back to where you met/they joined you, they should tell you where they're going when they leave

on another note, just had my 12th crash

Crashing on me left and right.  This makes me questions whether I really want to keep purchasing games on pc - even when they graphically superior.

You think the Xbox360 is less glitchy?

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, at least we have modder dudes to fix it for us

and i don't have problems like this on any other current games

this is way worse than FO3 ever was, at least for me (only around 3 or so crashes there, two from the launcher)

i gotta wonder what in the hell obsidian did to to a naturally buggy engine that ended up making it even worse

[huckleberry]

I dunno....just pissed off right now that I wanted to play a little Bioshock on my pc and have been trying various fixes for over an hour now.   

I haven't really heard anyone crying about the 360 version....have a couple of friends who have it here in town who haven't had a complaint....

[Eel O'Brian]

well, if your companion gets stuck in a wall or dies in the 360 version there's nothing you can do except reload an earlier save, whereas in the pc version you can just drop the ` and use a console command to move them to where you are or resurrect them

[Eel O'Brian]

i do agree that it's frustrating, especially when you forget to save and all of a sudden an hour is lost forever

[huckleberry]

I lost a few hours yesterday, but it actually worked out in my favor because I missed so really obvious shit - but, yeah, that is some frustrating stuff all around.

[Bebpo]

With the crashes just get in a habit of saving everytime you do anything:

-cover substantial ground?  - save
-discover a new location? - save
-have a conversation with someone? -save
-finish a quest?  - save

I have about 200 saves so far.  I stopped saving so much when the autosave patch came and worked, but I still save a lot to be careful.  Especially since it doesn't autosave when just walking around distances.

And yeah the Pipboy map sucks, especially when you have explorer perk or have found most of the locations because it's just a mess of icons and it always takes a minute to find the damn place you are looking for.  I mean I'm glad there is so much stuff to find on the map, but it's just not a very good IU.  Plus the compass markers are terrible.  Either they don't work or they're so good all you are doing for quests is following a marker instead of actually thinking about how to solve the quest.  Bad game design but all of that is Bethesda's fault since it all came from F3.

[cool breeze]

8 crashes in the 5 hours I've played

oh, obsidian

it is pretty great so far

[Great Rumbler]

8 crashes in the 5 hours I've played

oh, obsidian

it is pretty great so far

3 crashes in 36 hours.