Fallout: New Vegas

[Stoney Mason]

And I beat it. Lame ending to a lame story they completely didn't know how to tell imo.


The ending roll where they told you everything that happened with everybody was decent though.

My thoughts were pretty consistent throughout. There are some nice innovations on the gameplay designs that were established in Fallout 3 and some good quests but overall I just felt the sloppiness, poor scripting, and weak story drag it down far below where it should have been.

You know Bethesda proper struggles with story, and creating drama and cinematic moments and such. That's why its so weird to see a game fall below even that bar on that front. There are so many moments where you think you are going to climax in that game and all you can muster is a wet fart.

edit: sigh. I feel like I'm being overly harsh. I wouldn't have put in the time if I didn't enjoy the game for the most part and I did for long stretches but I swear this game just gives me a bitter taste in my mouth. So much I enjoyed yet so much I flat out didn't enjoy or thought sucked. The most divisive game I've played in years.

[GilloD]

I'm on the final mission now.

I don't know. This game is such an obsidian mess. Like if I played this and somehow you could erase from my mind the fact that Obsidian made it and you asked me who made it. I would still guess Obsidian. It's so fundamentally flawed and broken in so many areas. The side quests are great. I'll give them that. And there are lots more guns than there were in Fallout 3.

But the game is just so fucked up. Both scripting wise, and how it executes on the story, or how certain quests are just confusing and weird. I'm not even talking about bugs. It's the actual game. It's just so fucking oddly designed.

I don't know. I hate to be Debbie Downer but for everything this game does right it does something equally stupid or weird to balance it out. I'm at about 60 hours. Level 29. And this is probably the most time I've ever put into a game that I have completely mixed feelings about. Like I'm literally dragging myself across the finish line. I don't give a shit about this stuff going on. I don't think they told a very cohesive integrated story. But like I said I did enjoy a lot of the quest storylines and their individual stories

I feel like there's not a united theme here like the was in FO3. Part of the problem is that because of the faction system you either see a lot of the NCR or a lot of the Legion, because your likely aggro to one or the either. As a result, there's not really a compelling conflict because it's either THOSE PEOPLE ARE BAD or NO YOU ARE THE BAD ONE. Also, the Legion are so comically evil it's hard to feel even briefly swayed by their weird ideology. There's just no dramatic umph.

That said, the side quest stuff is better, except that it's very isolated. No quest really ends with an effect on the world- You have to make that kind of gut decision about Primm at the get-go and then...... It doesn't really matter. You raid the Fiend vault, collect the bounties on the 3 toughest mofos and... nothing. You can steal the Gun Runners plans and... everything goes on as normal.

In FO3 you had that whole high/low class thing between the Ghouls and the Humans at the hotel. And that had real consequences. The atom bomb in Megaton. The quests at the original Vault, where you'd see the Vault Dwellers out in the world later. I'm not asking for Dragon Age-esque intergration, but it does feel like nothing you do has any real effect on the world.

THat said, the storytelling, outside of the main quest, is better. The quests are more interesting, the characters are more compelling and the locations are cooler. It's a mixed bag, but one that I'm seriously addicted to.

[Stoney Mason]

I've played the older fallout games. I'm not a nostalgia fetishishist though. They were certainly great for their day but my most fervent dream isn't to replay those older games.

That being said New Vegas feels nothing like those older games anyway. And all it manages to really do is shit on itself with shitty and buggy gameplay and design in a lot of places.

My 2 cents.

THat said, the storytelling, outside of the main quest, is better. The quests are more interesting, the characters are more compelling and the locations are cooler. It's a mixed bag, but one that I'm seriously addicted to.

It's definitely a mixed bag and there are parts where I was very addicted also. I can see why some people will really like it and dig parts of it. I can also see why a lot of people won't.

[demi]

If you want the best way to view all the "sides" you can use this guide:

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=271586

[GilloD]

You guys never played FO2, did ya?

Blasphemers, both of you.

New Vegas shits on FO3 from such great height it cannot be seen from earth level.

Dude, I played FO 1 & 2 backwards and forwards a dozen times each. I am the epitome of a Fallout fanboy.

New Vegas is really good. There are just a lot of little things that they really dropped the ball on

[Yeti]

Is there any "good" way to beat the "How Little We Know" Quest? It sounds like either you side with Cachino, a sadistic asshole who beats and rapes hookers to take down the Omertas, or you side with the Omertas who are horrid murdering assholes too. 

[GilloD]

The quest at McCarran with Betsy where

spoiler (click to show/hide)

she needs rape counseling is really disappointing. It seems like an interesting quest- that's meaty material for a game, and it's nice to see the game acknolwedge that this life has consequences. But instead you go to Betsy and are like YOU HAVE MENTAL SCARS and she goes OMG I HAVE MENTAL SCARS and then you talk to a doctor and it's like TRAUMA OF RAPE SOLVED GOOD JON. Lame-o

[close]

[Stoney Mason]

The quest at McCarran with Betsy where

spoiler (click to show/hide)

she needs rape counseling is really disappointing. It seems like an interesting quest- that's meaty material for a game, and it's nice to see the game acknolwedge that this life has consequences. But instead you go to Betsy and are like YOU HAVE MENTAL SCARS and she goes OMG I HAVE MENTAL SCARS and then you talk to a doctor and it's like TRAUMA OF RAPE SOLVED GOOD JON. Lame-o

[close]

Honestly I started to feel like the whole speech # thing>x value fixes any solution thing is starting to feel contrived pretty much all over the place.

It just sort of feels like a get out of jail card bypass quest kinda thing. Maybe I'm just being crabby though. Lots of RPG's handle things that way but it started to irk me a bit in the game. It seemed too easy.

[GilloD]

NV definitley has a lot more skill-checks than FO3 did. I kind of liked it,, it made those skills feel more useful, but in other places it definitley becomes a narrative crutch. I don't even understand the point of the Betsy quest, it's literally over in about 4 lines of dialog.

[pilonv1]

I get the feeling some of the quests were meant to be more involved but they ran out of time. There's a Legion one in particular

[GilloD]

I get the feeling some of the quests were meant to be more involved but they ran out of time. There's a Legion one in particular

Yeah. Lots of them feel like that. Jacobstown has that feel, especially with the mercs.

"THERE ARE MERCS MAKING TROUBLE"
(walk 5 seconds)
"WHY U MAKE TRIUBLE"
"OH SORRY"
(walk back)
"THX"

[cool breeze]

Alpha Protocol had similar plots that went nowhere.  In both games they seemed to be building up something interesting (Sis in Alpha Protocol, for example) and then it just ends.

[demi]

alpha protocol is just straight garbage. this has the benefit of having some semblance of a good game.

[GilloD]

Alpha Protocol had similar plots that went nowhere.  In both games they seemed to be building up something interesting (Sis in Alpha Protocol, for example) and then it just ends.

Yeah, the Merc quest has a neat hook in it where it turns out someone in the NCR is sending them. That should lead into a larger quest where you try and find out who the dude who sent them is. Instead its like LOL OKAY DONE

[Trent Dole]

So is thing still a buggy fucking mess on 360 or did they fix it yet? I'm in need of somethng semi-new to have at.

[Stoney Mason]

So is thing still a buggy fucking mess on 360 or did they fix it yet? I'm in need of somethng semi-new to have at.

It got that big patch fix so its as "fixed" as its ever going to be probably. I played on the PC and it was still really buggy even after that patch so I'm sure its still probably decently buggy on the 360. 

[GilloD]

So is thing still a buggy fucking mess on 360 or did they fix it yet? I'm in need of somethng semi-new to have at.

I'm playing on 360 and outside of a few goofy like "dog walks on air" or "man holds rifle weird" bugs, no problems. Like 20 hours in. It froze one time.

[muckhole]

Yeah, it's still quite buggy. Still has random freezes, still has broken quests. I didn't start a new character after the patch though, so it may be that the broken quest stuff was addressed for new playthroughs. Mine were already busted.

[OptimoPeach]

What happened to the Mysterious Stranger music? That perk is 1000x less cool without it

[Madrun Badrun]

What happened to the Mysterious Stranger music? That perk is 1000x less cool without it

you can get a mysterious gun that kind of plays the music with you arm the gun.


So I've put 70 hours into this and I just talked to Yes Man on the main quest.

Dead money was actually pretty good.  i liked that it was actually challanging. 


and there is a lot of bugs which didn't happen to me in 3.  It fucking freezed during a save!  thank god my autosave backup was close to where I was.  Also I hit a bug last night in a deathclaw cave where the sound of the minigun would just constantly play regardless of anything I did.  It was the most annoying sound ever.

[Yeti]

It froze during loading screens for me today. Twice. 

I'm getting really annoyed by the faction stuff. There are so many quests that have you losing influence with Caesar's Legion, but I want to keep them Neutral so I can go to Caesar's hangout to get the chip back from Benny.

Mission overlap is also really annoying. There's a mission where I have to go rescue a family from Caesar's Legion at the place where you take the boat across to meet with Caesar.  But the guy you're supposed to talk to about buying the family from doesn't give you that dialog option, he only tells you to go talk to the guy on the dock about taking the boat to Caesar. I'm pretty sure that is the point of no return though so if I go over there I know I'm going to fuck up Caesar's shit and become villified.

[GilloD]

It froze during loading screens for me today. Twice. 

I'm getting really annoyed by the faction stuff. There are so many quests that have you losing influence with Caesar's Legion, but I want to keep them Neutral so I can go to Caesar's hangout to get the chip back from Benny.

Mission overlap is also really annoying. There's a mission where I have to go rescue a family from Caesar's Legion at the place where you take the boat across to meet with Caesar.  But the guy you're supposed to talk to about buying the family from doesn't give you that dialog option, he only tells you to go talk to the guy on the dock about taking the boat to Caesar. I'm pretty sure that is the point of no return though so if I go over there I know I'm going to fuck up Caesar's shit and become villified.

There is more than one way to get that chip. I got it back through an unbelivably severe amount of ultra violence.

[Stoney Mason]

I'm getting really annoyed by the faction stuff. There are so many quests that have you losing influence with Caesar's Legion, but I want to keep them Neutral so I can go to Caesar's hangout to get the chip back from Benny.

Don't worry about that too much. Without saying too much there should be an opportunity for you to go to Caesar's Legion no matter what.

But yeah... That's part of the problem. The game leads to you believe that this may not be the case based on those faction ratings

[Yeti]

I'm getting really annoyed by the faction stuff. There are so many quests that have you losing influence with Caesar's Legion, but I want to keep them Neutral so I can go to Caesar's hangout to get the chip back from Benny.

Don't worry about that too much. Without saying too much there should be an opportunity for you to go to Caesar's Legion no matter what.

But yeah... That's part of the problem. The game leads to you believe that this may not be the case based on those faction ratings

If you're talking about that emissary who shows up after Ring-a-Ding-Ding who wipes your slate with the Legion clean, I already did that looooooong ago. It's been a challenge staying neutral but I've managed to do it so far, by being very tricky with how I approached some of the quests. Like there was this one Town called Nelson that had been overrun with Legion, and there was a small group of NCR troops wanting to retake the town, but there was hostages. Their leader wanted me to go and kill the hostages so his troops would quit being pussies and attack. So I sent my follower's back to the Lucky 38 so they didn't kill any Legion inadvertantly, and since I was neutral I was able to waltz right over to the hostages and set them free. As soon as I did that all the Legion people turned hostile, but instead of killing them I had them chase me all the way back to the NCR outpost so the NCR killed them, and I didn't gain any infamy from the Legion. This took me about 4 tries to do because the lead NCR guy kept getting stuck and wouldn't let me talk to him to finish the mission after all the Legion people had been killed.

As a side note, there was a dialog option when I very first spoke to the leader of the NCR squad that if I had enough Psycho they would have just attacked on their own. But I chose some options questioning him about what exactly the situation was, and the dialog option disappeared so I couldn't choose it. 

[Great Rumbler]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Roll into the Caesar's Legion camp, shoot everybody up. Problem solved.

[close]

[GilloD]

What I don't like about the faction system is that it exists only to punish you. The rewards are pretty shitty, so the main way you feel it during the game is when it's working against you- i.e., you can no longer go to place x or do quest y because your faction rating it too low.

In that way it's a lousy gameplay element because it's strictly negative.

[Stoney Mason]

I liked most of the faction stuff....


I just think you still need a strong narrative throughout and I thinked they dropped the ball in that regard. And I think Ceasar's Legion is a bit of a joke as far as being the main bad guy. It probably was based on how I played but I barely encountered them or did any quests for them. Plus they are so extreme it makes them less of a "fun" choice to join. It's not like they are the sith or some cool bad guys. They are just kind of a-holes. Which is fine. I just was never even tempted to join them which took some of the freedom out of it.

 

[cool breeze]

I never played D&D and am not familiar with a lot of the nerd lingo, but isn't there like lawful good and chaotic good and things like that? I assumed that the NCR and Ceasar's Legion were basically that; two sides the same coin and all that.  I mean, they were both fighting the same enemies (Raiders, Powder Gangers, etc.) and had similar ambitions, as broad as they may be.  The Legion's solution was just to murder people and control them by fear while the NCR was just trying to heavily police the mojave wasteland.  But yeah, the Legion was too cunty.  The first time I met them in Nipton, I must've quick saved, murdered them all, and quick loaded three or so times.  Fucking assholes finally walk out of there all smug.

I dealt with the legion quite a bit despite siding with the NCR heavily at first (since I didn't go to the strip right away).  The secret to staying neutral is to take advantage of the broken mechanics.  I'd run into an area, free the slaves, turn on a stealth boy, then teleport far away.  I'd get points for the NCR without losing them for the Legion.  Eventually I had to choose a side, but at that point I already dealt with the Legion enough.  I don't really mind missing out on locations and quests because you chose a path.  I think that stuff comes with being an rpg where, unless you cheat, you can't specialize in everything.

[Stoney Mason]

I never played D&D and am not familiar with a lot of the nerd lingo, but isn't there like lawful good and chaotic good and things like that? I assumed that the NCR and Ceasar's Legion were basically that; two sides the same coin and all that.

I think Caesar's Legion would be Lawful evil and the NCR is like Lawful neutral or something.

The Fiends are chaotic evil. Followers would be lawful good.

Nerd Talk!

[Madrun Badrun]

ave?  AVE?  You offend my Latin senses, you plebeian.

[OptimoPeach]

Any really good side quests I should do? I've done basically everything involving the main story and have a save just before the stuff with the dam but I want to dick around in the Mojave a little bit more. I'm only at ~35 hours and level 20-something and I feel like I've hit a wall. I think the main way I found new content and quests in FO3 was looking up unique gear (A3-21 Plasma Rifle, Terrible Shotgun, Lincoln's Repeater, Xuanlong Assault Rifle, Ranger Battle Armor, Ledoux's Hockey Mask, Ghoul's Mask, etc) and then going for it, but that hasn't worked so well this time

[Madrun Badrun]

wow really, I'm at 80 hours in and just got to ceaser's camp.

Doing the brotherhood quests to go to the vaults, the novak quests to do the ghouls in spaceship quest, and the collect eggs quest from the chick in that sewar areana place for some fun animal killing quests.

[Stoney Mason]

I put in about 55 hours. And based on the unexplored icons left I could have put in another 20 or 30 hours minimum. Probably more.

But then I tend to be very slow when I play these style of games. Saving constantly, constantly fucking around with my inventory, etc.

[Himu]

If I loved Fallout 3 how will I enjoy this? Also, does this game still brick ps3 systems? Or would I be better off getting Oblivion?

[Great Rumbler]

If I loved Fallout 3 how will I enjoy this?

There's really no reason why you wouldn't like it, unless you're just burned out on the formula.

[brawndolicious]

You'll probably enjoy it if you liked FO3.  It doesn't feel as fresh as that did but the game mechanics have been improved and dozens of skill books and bobbleheads have been replaced by just four skill books for each skill and implants for your attributes, it's a lot easier for power levelers.  I'm really disappointed that theres so few energy weapons compared to FO3.

One thing I would not recommend is playing on Hardcore mode, at least not on your first playthrough.  It doesn't really add anything and it just makes it harder to explore since you can't go too long without water or whatever.

One of the biggest problems I have with the game is that past level 15, there isn't really any enemies that are that challenging by themselves.  The final battle just has hordes of cannon fodder to shoot through.

[Yeti]

I wish I knew when the next DLC comes out. I hit the level cap of 35 already, if it comes out soon I'm just going to hold off on playing more.

[Madrun Badrun]

You'll probably enjoy it if you liked FO3.  It doesn't feel as fresh as that did but the game mechanics have been improved and dozens of skill books and bobbleheads have been replaced by just four skill books for each skill and implants for your attributes, it's a lot easier for power levelers.  I'm really disappointed that theres so few energy weapons compared to FO3.

One thing I would not recommend is playing on Hardcore mode, at least not on your first playthrough.  It doesn't really add anything and it just makes it harder to explore since you can't go too long without water or whatever.

One of the biggest problems I have with the game is that past level 15, there isn't really any enemies that are that challenging by themselves.  The final battle just has hordes of cannon fodder to shoot through.

Ya that is really my biggest complaint too.  At like level 12 I was god-like except for deathclaws, and those poisonous fly things, if you accidentally walk into one of there big nest areas.  This is why I liked the DLC, it was actually a challenge.

[brawndolicious]

Yeah I think I'm going to wait like a year or so and do a hardcore playthrough of the GOTY edition with all the dlc.

I can handle death claws since you can cripple them from far away but cazador nests are the worst thing ever.  It's the main reason I want Ed-E when traveling the wasteland,  so that I can spot them and avoid them.

[BlueTsunami]

Cazadors are manageable from a distance but yeah, they swarm and when that happens its usually game over (even with the best armor in the game). I think thats cool though since, even at the end game, you still stop in your tracks when you see two or more cazadors off in the distance. My strategy for them is to snipe one or two in real time and if I draw some more I can start picking them off from a distance with VATS. They're vulnerable if you take out their wings (they fall and go prone which lets you unload on them).

[Stoney Mason]

Apparently three more DLC packs are coming although honestly I'm burnt out on the game.

Fallout: New Vegas, which launched this past October, is an open-world RPG that could easily suck a hundred hours or more from your life. But if you simply can't get enough, you'll be glad to know that there's more DLC coming your way.

A single piece of DLC -- Dead Money -- has already been released to Xbox 360 gamers, but that DLC is coming to the PlayStation 3 and PC on Tuesday, February 22nd.

Additionally, Bethesda and developer Obsidian have three more DLC packs planned for the coming months, and they plan on releasing them on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC simultaneously.

[Bebpo]

I'm less excited because I lost my save, so I'll have to borrow someones to do the DLCs and it won't be my character, but then I'm sure as hell not putting another 40-60 hours back into the game again just for the DLCs.

At least they'll be simultaneous releases on PC.

[pilonv1]

Great to hear there's more content, but I'm going to wait till they're all out and do a super run.

[Stoney Mason]

Bethesda’s confirmed details and dates for the three upcoming episodes of Fallout: New Vegas DLC that will stretch into July.
 
As previously speculated, the first episode is known as Honest Hearts. That’ll launch on May 17 on Xbox Live Marketplace for PC and 360. It’ll release the following day for PS3, assuming PlayStation Store is back by then.
 
Honest Hearts takes place in “the unspoiled wilderness” of Zion National Park in Utah, as you go on a expedition there until you see your caravan being ambushed by “a tribal raiding band.”

You’ll find yourself caught up in a war between tribes as well as a conflict between a “New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burned Man you try to make it back to the Mojave,” with the outcome depending on the choices you make during the quest.
 
The next two episodes, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road, launch in June and July respectively for PC, 360 and PS3.
 
Old World Blues sees you as a lab rat in a science experiment gone wrong, while Lonesome Road will bring the courier’s story to an end as you’re “contacted by the original Courier Six, a man by the name of Ulysses who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of New Vegas. In his transmission, Ulysses promises the answer as to why, but only if you take one last job –a job that leads you into the depths of the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms.”
 
So far, Fallout: New Vegas seen one piece of DLC, Dead Money. Having first release back in December for Xbox 360, the DLC launched in February for PS3 and Games for Windows.

[Great Rumbler]

Those all sound pretty cool. I never did get Dead Money, but I may have to get these.

[BlueTsunami]

I wonder if Bethesda laid off those from Obsidian after all the DLC stuff was finished :/

[demi]

Why do they take Fallout like it's some fantasy world with "legends" and "destiny" - re: Lonesome Road

[Great Rumbler]

I wonder if Bethesda laid off those from Obsidian after all the DLC stuff was finished :/

Huh? Bethesda wouldn't have anything to do with Obsidian's layoffs, other than not contracting them to do anymore work.

[BlueTsunami]

I wonder if Bethesda laid off those from Obsidian after all the DLC stuff was finished :/

Huh? Bethesda wouldn't have anything to do with Obsidian's layoffs, other than not contracting them to do anymore work.

Always forget that its Zenimax that presides. Referring to his...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428541

Six people and two interns, the initial thread (without all the info) made it seem more catastrophic (or maybe I was reading into it like that)

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, the original thread and news articles made it seem like the company had taken some huge blow. They've got around 130 employees, as of 2008, so dropping 9 [and three of them interns] really isn't that big of a deal [except for the people who got fired].

[Joe Molotov]

Six people and two interns

They finally found out who had been sneaking into the source code and adding all those bugs to their games, those bastards!

[Great Rumbler]

Since I've been playing New Vegas again, I'll update this thread on what's going on with the modding community:

FOMM [if you use mods, you need this to manage them]

Beware of Girl [for manly men] or Type 3 Body and Armor Replacer [if you're Professor Prole]

Nevada Skies [better skies and lots of weather effects]

Fellout [gets rids of orange haze and provides better weather effects, also adds darker nights]

New Vegas Bounties Part 1 and Part 2 [hunt down bounties for fun and profit]

Electro City [more lights and better lights, works well with Fellout and Nevade Skies]

A World of Pain [lots of new locations with new enemies and loot]

Weapon Mods Expanded [more weapon mods]

Interior Lighting Overhaul [more realist interior lighting]

Willow [fully voiced companion with associated quests, by far the best companion mod out there]

POCO BUENO Texture Pack [updates a large portion of the texture in the game, there's also a version with textures even more massive]

New Vegas Restoration [makes the Strip not look like a total garbage heap]

[pilonv1]

Those all sound pretty cool. I never did get Dead Money, but I may have to get these.

First half of Dead Money is TERRIBLE. There's so little freedom because of the stupid designs. Can't wait to put this one behind me and get on to Old World Blues

[D3RANG3D]

Since I've been playing New Vegas again, I'll update this thread on what's going on with the modding community:

FOMM [if you use mods, you need this to manage them]

Beware of Girl [for manly men] or Type 3 Body and Armor Replacer [if you're Professor Prole]

Nevada Skies [better skies and lots of weather effects]

Fellout [gets rids of orange haze and provides better weather effects, also adds darker nights]

New Vegas Bounties Part 1 and Part 2 [hunt down bounties for fun and profit]

Electro City [more lights and better lights, works well with Fellout and Nevade Skies]

A World of Pain [lots of new locations with new enemies and loot]

Weapon Mods Expanded [more weapon mods]

Interior Lighting Overhaul [more realist interior lighting]

Willow [fully voiced companion with associated quests, by far the best companion mod out there]

POCO BUENO Texture Pack [updates a large portion of the texture in the game, there's also a version with textures even more massive]

New Vegas Restoration [makes the Strip not look like a total garbage heap]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

Not having 50 in NV

[pilonv1]

Old World Blues

[Himu]

ahahahhaah what the fuck

[fomalhaut]

What I don't like about the faction system is that it exists only to punish you. The rewards are pretty shitty, so the main way you feel it during the game is when it's working against you- i.e., you can no longer go to place x or do quest y because your faction rating it too low.

In that way it's a lousy gameplay element because it's strictly negative.

No way, it's a perfect balance except for Kaisar's Legion which is unfortunately limited.  This is how real rpgs are supposed to work; You pay for your actions, and are rewarded too.   This is probably one of the few games except Demon's Souls made with an old school mentality to design, and it pays off oh so well


Note: This is probably my game of the generation so my mentality on every pore of the game may be a bit biased.  I could go on about its faults for quite some time, but in comparison to Hammurabai's Code of bullshit in Fallout 3, that's quite alright. 

[pilonv1]

I love it too but it has the same problem that Fallout 3 has, once you get to X level all the combat becomes trivial and just gets in the way of quests and character interaction. It's quite rare you find a challenging fight after a while.

[fomalhaut]

that's unfortunately a big plight of most end game Cprg's i've played, it's so hard to balance between challenge and the rightful fact that you earned being top dog.  Baldur's Gate does this over a period of 2 games

i totally agree, but how would you balance it?  simply beefing stats would be no solution, the only thing i'd say is to give the A.I., well, A.I.

many of the mods sort of address these issues, FOOK and Project Nevada