Welcome to New Vegas (first impressions)

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 7:22 am

jetbaby wrote:Not really. The vault program was devised as a horrible societal experiment by a bunch of crazies. Very few Vaults were intended to survive, the bulk were "I wonder what would happen if...." scenarios.

retlaw wrote:It's always been my opinion that, with the various experiments and literally living in a hole in the ground, vaults pretty much sucked ass to live in. Safer than the wasteland, but still pretty miserable.

I only said that in a reference to their cleanliness. As in, they've already all turned to shit. Like Walter said, it'd be nice to see at least one functioning vault, and I added that it should look prim and proper, a nice 50's american household in cowboy-era America. I really don't like how the bethards made them look in comparison to the ones in the originals.

The point of vaults in Fo, in my opinion, is to present as stark a contrast as possible between safe, well nourished, well educated but pedantic and completely fucked-in-the-head dwellers and the downtrodden, malnourished, uneducated but hard-working, humble and down-to-earth outsiders. I'm hoping to be proven wrong but after 5 vaults in FNV that hasn't happened yet. (An hotel?!? Well, I shoulda seen that one coming.)

Obviously, from the outside, it's always going to be a shit place to live once you peel the pain and look underneath, kinda like you did on Vault 13 and City.

Anyways I just slept with and killed Benny while he was sleeping @ lev 24. Black Widow delivars.

Oh and one HUGE gripe. 5 casinos and not ONE fucking poker table? For shame.

Aonaran · Post by **Aonaran** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:25 am

I've already completed the game under the "Wild Card" option and am currently most of the way through the Caesar's Legion path in my second playthrough. It is pretty amazing how many different options are available to you even within a single quest. I've had to do some of the same quests in both storylines, but the end goal, as well as the various approaches available to me have been different in most cases. I love the shit out of that, and can only hope Bethsoft takes the fucking hint.

Also, I've found that no matter what path I take, I have to eat shit. I'll elaborate. Within every faction storyline, I've had to do things I was VERY uncomfortable with, leaving me feeling uneasy with the way I handled the situations put before me. I'm starting to get the feeling there is no such thing as a "clean" run. I love the hell out of this as well.

One other note. I am currently level 23, have 10 Endurance, a full suit of Remnant's Power Armor, 2 levels of Toughness and Subdermal Implants and there are still situations that I am put into where I can be killed in 3 seconds flat WITHIN the main storyline. Loving this game.

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:03 am

I have to agree with a lot of the things you've all been saying about this game, especially the fact that this game actually makes sense.

I think Retlaw wrote about it in his review thread, but the logic of everything in this game is far and beyond anything in Fallout 3. The locations, the level design, the dialogue, the quests...everything actually seems to be logical in implementation. Obsidian seems to have sat down and thought "Right...if I lived in the Mojave with some other people, how would we organize ourselves? What would the dynamic of our settlement be like? How would we actually construct our settlement?" On the other hand, Bethesda sat down with Fallout 3 and thought "What would be the coolest gimmick we could throw in? Wouldn't it be funny if there was some crazy woman obsessed with Nuka Cola living in her own village under a highway! And wouldn't it be even funnier that she has somehow survived the Supermutant patrols! HAHA"

Bethesda seriously took this "humor" aspect that was only ever slight nods to the audience in Fallout 1 and 2 and turned it into this overriding abomination. The "humor" in New Vegas is so subtle and rare that I'm not constantly wondering WTF the designers were thinking as I was with Fallout 3.

And the Brotherhood in Hidden Valley....this is so much more what the Brotherhood should actually be like. Political intrigue, conflict over succession...not just some happy-go-lucky bunch of wanna be saviors like they were in Fallout 3.

Anyway, I spent all day playing yesterday and I am severely behind on actual work so I might force myself to take a break.

Post by **Retlaw83** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 3:15 pm

*Possible spoiler ED-E spoiler*

Anyone else notice ED-E came from the Enclave base in Chicago, and in Fallout 3 they mention they've lost radio contact with the midwest Brotherhood from Tactics, which is based in Chicago?

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:07 pm

Dude after I gave ED-E away to be repaired by Lorezno he reappeared in Primm for some reason and didn't have a FUCKING thing on him. I had at least 2k worth of material on him when I had given him away.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:24 pm

SenisterDenister wrote:Dude after I gave ED-E away to be repaired by Lorezno he reappeared in Primm for some reason and didn't have a FUCKING thing on him. I had at least 2k worth of material on him when I had given him away.

Yeah, it was bad. But you'll get over it eventually. Currently I've got about 30k bottle caps just lying around (who the hell can carry that many bottlecaps? seriously?) and I've already purchased the two high-cost implants from NV med clinic and spent quite a lot of money upgrading weapons from Gun Runners. At this point in game I've noticed that I no longer scavenge for loot. I only pick up items that have VAL > 1000, throw them to my NPCs and sell them if I can be bothered. Sometimes I still eventually throw them on the ground (too much weight) since they'll stay there to the end of days unless I come and pick them up again.

Post by **Retlaw83** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:22 pm

SenisterDenister wrote:Dude after I gave ED-E away to be repaired by Lorezno he reappeared in Primm for some reason and didn't have a FUCKING thing on him. I had at least 2k worth of material on him when I had given him away.

Sounds like you need to go to the Brotherhood bunker and choke a bitch.

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:43 pm

How many of you are playing on hardcore? I'm playing regular right now but I'm thinking of turning it on to feel more hardcore.

rad resistance · Post by **rad resistance** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:23 pm

Poops do it. It's radical.

Yonmanc · Post by **Yonmanc** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:25 pm

You're playing regular Poops? You're missing out.

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:50 pm

Hardcore is the only game mode for this game, as far as I'm concerned. Anything less is cheating yourself out of a better experience.

Kash, I've got Jury Rig, which is awesome. I can use about any gun to repair another one, so I don't have to carry duplicates around. Now all I have to do is pick up and use whatever the guys I killed were using.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:11 pm

SenisterDenister wrote:Kash, I've got Jury Rig, which is awesome. I can use about any gun to repair another one, so I don't have to carry duplicates around. Now all I have to do is pick up and use whatever the guys I killed were using.

Exactly. I love how Stalker'ish the game gets when you have Jury Rig + Hardcore Mode + 100 in Repair

The traits Small Frame and Four Eyes also help a lot.

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:43 pm

My traits were Trigger Discipline and Good Natured. I wish it had something like Gifted but considering how important skill points are I can see why they left it out. Hardcore on Very Hard is the only way to play, I've watched a friend of mine play it on casual mode on his 360 and I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 12:48 am

SenisterDenister wrote: Hardcore on Very Hard is the only way to play.

Seriously. Playing like this is like Gothic meets Fallout. It's quite a treat.

Anybody else trying to rack up experience points by not directly taking any side but doing quests for both factions? It's the way to roll if you're aiming for an uber level by end game.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 12:54 am

SenisterDenister wrote:Dude after I gave ED-E away to be repaired by Lorezno he reappeared in Primm for some reason and didn't have a FUCKING thing on him. I had at least 2k worth of material on him when I had given him away.

Lol, same here. Bitch in the followers camp made off with 12 mantis eggs (and my shovel!) you need for a mission and I haven't found a single one after that. Plus she just up and vanishes from the mormon fort.

Went with small frame (and was going to pick four-eyes as well, but settled on good natured) and according to the game I've broken a limb 35 times. Fortunately hydra isn't that hard to come by.

And Poops definetly go with hardcore. The only problem with it is that it isn't that much of a challenge since there's food and water aplenty, so fear not. Packing brahmin beef alongside purified water is very reminiscent of packing salami, bread and vodka.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 1:01 am

Stalagmite wrote:
SenisterDenister wrote: Hardcore on Very Hard is the only way to play.
Seriously. Playing like this is like Gothic meets Fallout.

Mate, STR, END and AGI 1 on hardcore very hard still wouldn't come close to Gothic. Never has a game made me feel as inept as when after hours upon hours of playing, you STILL had to be escorted from one camp to another to survive an encounter with those fucking wolves.

Weird, but I kinda reveled in that feeling that you're not on top of the food chain. Made Gothic all the more memorable.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 1:05 am

Mostly I'm refering to going to a certain area with with baddies who are far beyond your level and being forced to go elsewhere. I haven't really experienced that kind of thing since Gothic.

Anyway, I'm growing quite fond of New Vegas and besides the crappy Beth engine I really dont see much wrong with this one. It's like a perfect example of modern society in a post apoc world. OMG WAR NEVAR CHANGEZ

Post by **Retlaw83** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 1:59 am

Last night, I used the Fallout 3 engine tweak guide (found at http://www.tweakguides.com/Fallout3_8.html) and applied the recommended tweaks for the .ini file - all the tweak info is identical, just the file name for the .ini is different. It tells you the file you need in the guide.

Since I did that the game has stopped hitching and stuttering and I haven't had a CTD.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:09 am

Stalagmite wrote:Mostly I'm refering to going to a certain area with with baddies who are far beyond your level and being forced to go elsewhere.

That comparison does make perfect sense but, oddly enough, I thought of You can't go there Guy before I thought of Gothic.

Wolfman Walt · Post by **Wolfman Walt** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:41 am

So. I was wandering the Mojave thinking I'm cool with my hunting rifle and my cool shades when suddenly a Deathclaw came and wrecked my shit up completely.