Welcome to New Vegas (first impressions)

[jetbaby]

Yes. Just tell him to wait somewhere. NPCs are pretty shit except for EDE with the armor upgrade. He doesn't do any damage, really, but he's tough and can carry a lot of shit. Especially since I'm losing 25 of 190 lbs to that godforsaken Van Graff combat armor that I cannot remove because I broke the game by stealing it, apparently.

[Stalagmite]

Cas

The companions are all quite terrible. Far too much of a hassle to keep intact for ultimately dubious returns.

Yeah I think I'll let the Van Graff's fry her after all and get the XP. Never liked companions when the feasibility to go solo is quite feasible.

[Tofu Man]

(...) NPCs are pretty shit except for EDE with the armor upgrade. (...)

Ditto, I mostly juse use it to get the the PER bonus, detecting enemies from a couple of miles away is more than useful. If it wasn't for the low STR on my char, I'd have it waiting at home tho.

(...)Never liked companions when the most they bring to the table is dying on you every other deathclaw/cazador encounter, besides making sneaky landmine+sniper tactics impossible.

Next time Raul complains about crawling on the dirt, I'll blast his kneecap off.

[Kashluk]

I was invited to go see Caesar at the Fort. Will he still fire on legionnaires as soon as he comes within range?

Yes. All Legionaries will be hostile to you, even if you tell Boone to 'wait here'. You need to tell him 'I don't need you right now' and make him return to Lucky 38 (or somewhere else). After that Caesar's troops will stop shooting at you.

[Cakester]

I was invited to go see Caesar at the Fort. Will he still fire on legionnaires as soon as he comes within range?

Yes. All Legionaries will be hostile to you, even if you tell Boone to 'wait here'. You need to tell him 'I don't need you right now' and make him return to Lucky 38 (or somewhere else). After that Caesar's troops will stop shooting at you.

That isn't true.

[Aonaran]

(...) NPCs are pretty shit except for EDE with the armor upgrade. (...)

Ditto, I mostly juse use it to get the the PER bonus, detecting enemies from a couple of miles away is more than useful. If it wasn't for the low STR on my char, I'd have it waiting at home tho.

(...)Never liked companions when the most they bring to the table is dying on you every other deathclaw/cazador encounter, besides making sneaky landmine+sniper tactics impossible.

Next time Raul complains about crawling on the dirt, I'll blast his kneecap off.

You guys do know you can use the "wait here" function to park them in a safehouse or bunker and STILL get their perks without them, right? That alone makes just about all of the companions more than useful.

[Blargh]

Found the companion perks to be marginal. Especially when certain area transitions seem to cause them to teleport directly to your location regardless of prior instruction. Also, they do not seem to understand the meaning of 'passive'. Yes, yes, Veronica, go off into the tunnels and chase those frigging ghouls and die pointlessly, exactly what I asked of you.

Also, am amused by the 'trust' system certain characters employ with regard to their 'quests'. What's that, Boone ? I haven't exterminated enough of those cos-playing fucktards for you to confirm various suspicions ? Perhaps if you weren't quite so much a bloody aim bot, circumstances would be different.

Suffice it to write that I am glad that Obsidian were sufficiently compassionate to diverge from the Bioware approach to NPC design.

[Aonaran]

Crush Raul's dreams and you get 75% reduced weapon deterioration. Also ED-E's perk is nearly essential.

[Wolfman Walt]

God. I feel so alone in this discussion. I rather like the NPC's. Right now I got Rex and Veronica and they've thus far stuck pretty close to me and even if they didn't, they'd just go and fuck shit up. I've only had Rex die on me once when he decided to kill everyone in the fucking fiends base on his lonesome and couldn't finish the last one. So really? I dunno. I like the NPCs. Their AI can be kinda buggy, but otherwise? I think they're pretty damn helpful.

[SenisterDenister]

Same boat as you, Walt. The only thing I dislike about Boone is how he steals seemingly all of my kills and then insults me because of it... and path-finding.

[Retlaw83]

I've only really had Boone, Veronica and ED-E as companions, but I am routinely shocked by the amounts of ass they kick. I've had small things I could have smoothed over if I was alone turn into bloodbaths when Veronica decides to punch off everyone's face.

To quote Veronica: Punching. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

[Kashluk]

I was invited to go see Caesar at the Fort. Will he still fire on legionnaires as soon as he comes within range?

Yes. All Legionaries will be hostile to you, even if you tell Boone to 'wait here'. You need to tell him 'I don't need you right now' and make him return to Lucky 38 (or somewhere else). After that Caesar's troops will stop shooting at you.

That isn't true.

Tried & tested. It is true on my copy, don't know about yours. I had to leave Boone to Lucky 38 when I wanted to to Caesar's Legion -related quests.

[Yonmanc]

I had Boone, who died in a vault, Cass who I sold out to the Van Graffs, EDE who got his sit ruined by some Geckos, and Veronica, who died RIGHT at the VERY end of the game, second to last punch.

Haven't met Raul I don't think, and I kicked the shit out of Rex along with the rest of those Elvis guys.

[Blargh]

Ahaha, left Boone at Cottonwood while I went over to say HELLO to Caesar - and while I didn't do exactly what Caesar demanded of me, he seemed incapable of comprehending any form of deviance from his immaculate plan, even from one who had (as he noted) previously monkey wrenched his stratagems repeatedly. Net result : Accepted reputation with the Legion. Perplexing.

Upon return to Cottonwood, Boone graces me with his HOW DARE YOU NOT HATE THEM AS MUCH AS I DO speech, which I placate with evasiveness. This leads to him initiating conversation over and over and over an - until I shot him in the face.

Ahahaha, Obsidian.

[Blargh]

Throwing Nukular waste on Cottonwood was amusingly poetic. Pity about those slaves . . .

[Stalagmite]

Ahaha, left Boone at Cottonwood while I went over to say HELLO to Caesar - and while I didn't do exactly what Caesar demanded of me, he seemed incapable of comprehending any form of deviance from his immaculate plan, even from one who had (as he noted) previously monkey wrenched his stratagems repeatedly. Net result : Accepted reputation with the Legion. Perplexing.

Upon return to Cottonwood, Boone graces me with his HOW DARE YOU NOT HATE THEM AS MUCH AS I DO speech, which I placate with evasiveness. This leads to him initiating conversation over and over and over an - until I shot him in the face.

Ahahaha, Obsidian.

[rad resistance]

I found a XP glicth during the Flags of our Foul-ups side mission. Talk to Razz and pass his speech check keep pressing it to gain 40 XP per press.

[jetbaby]

You guys do know you can use the "wait here" function to park them in a safehouse or bunker and STILL get their perks without them, right? That alone makes just about all of the companions more than useful.

I knew about it, it's just a bit gamey for me. Not in my tastes. If I want to benefit from their companionship I have to endure the negatives as well.

God. I feel so alone in this discussion. I rather like the NPC's. Right now I got Rex and Veronica and they've thus far stuck pretty close to me and even if they didn't, they'd just go and fuck shit up. I've only had Rex die on me once when he decided to kill everyone in the fucking fiends base on his lonesome and couldn't finish the last one. So really? I dunno. I like the NPCs. Their AI can be kinda buggy, but otherwise? I think they're pretty damn helpful.

What difficulty and are you on hardcore? I had several dozen loads because Rex continually died after zipping across the battlefield to fight Cazadors or just box with that guy with the flamer/shotgun/laser rifle/whatever that inevitably ended in his demise. Cass was slightly better until Combat Armor is no longer sufficient [i.e. deathclaws, Cazadors, etc]. Their stories are generally quite entertaining and well worth playing through, their damage output is, on the average, quite beneficial, but they fall left and right and it's quite annoying.

Edit. I think I'm going to go fry Cass and pick up Veronica.

[Wolfman Walt]

Hardcore and I believe on hard, but I suppose to each their own. I rarely have to load because of them dying, but it does happen occasionally. Generally, I more of have to load because of other bullshit more so than my companions unless they just REALLY fuck up and get lost in the wild blue yonder and I can never find them again.

[jetbaby]

Fast travel pops them to your side.