Fallout: New Vegas

[Dhalin]

I didn't see a thread about this anywhere, did anyone try this yet?

I bought it yesterday and played it for several hours.

Even after mastering Fallout 3, doing nearly every single quest, and all of the DLCs, I found that even though the game uses much of the same engine, there's still plenty of new stuff and it doesn't feel like "Just another DLC for Fallout 3" like I've heard some people say before the game's launch.

The game's story has me hooked already; plenty of mystery flying around and the new things to do are nice too.

I'm glad I bought this game, it should keep me busy for awhile lol.

[Riaken]

Fallout: New Vegas is getting some great reviews. I don't mind the it's more of the same, was a fantastic game and have it on my x-mas list.

[velveeta]

prolly won't be getting it for a while, even if i asked for it for xmas, still wouldn't have the necessary time to put into it until i got a job...
makes me sad, i love this series - like dhal, i have mastered the first two plus tactics...

[Dhalin]

Never tried the first two; I only learned about FO starting with FO3.

Aren't the first two (at least the first one) DOS-based? if so, you'd need an emulator just to run them lol.

If only we had more video game companies like Blizzard, Valve and Bethesda, we'd have a lot more awesome games floating around.

[Romirez]

i got it....it's pretty awesome! such a huge fan of fallout. this should tide me over until Gran Turismo 5 is released...that, or Episode 3 for Half Life 2(yes, i'm a Valve Software fanboy.).

[Dhalin]

After playing one play-through (as far as I can tell, there are 4 "main endings"), I think I found my only two beefs about the game:

1). I'm still trying to get used to the DT system. Unlike FO3, which gave you straight Damage Reduction %, the whole thing about FO:NV is "Damage Threshold". Basically, armor subtracts an X amount of damage from whatever you (or your enemies) do.

At first, this sounds like this should be awesome, and when I first heard about this a couple months ago, I was like "yay!" but I didn't stop to think that it helps the enemy more than it helps you. Armor in FO:NV is absolutely ridiculously expensive (4,000 caps for _medium_ armor with a DT of 17-ish) and when you consider the high cost of maintenance, the "Jury Rigging" perk (which expands what you can use to repair something) is an absolute MUST if you want to survive, unless you want to be blowing 4,000+ caps every few battles to run back to that one shop to get new armor.

Meanwhile, everything that you run into, from scorpions to guys are showing up with high levels of DT, and you see that annoying little shield icon next to their HP. If you took lots of Repair (for Jury Rigging as mentioned above), Lockpick, and Science just to get into anything (75%+ of locks/hackable computers you find are Average or harder, even right near the beginning of the game), that means your offensive skills like Guns or Melee Weapons are a bit lacking anyways, and nearly every gun has a DAM rating of 15 or less. As you progress through the game, anything that's not a raider, powder ganger, or measly little bug seems to have DTs of at least 10-15, if not higher. They love giving you LOTS of Low DAM, High DPS weapons like Machineguns.

Thankfully, all of this can be gotten around by using Melee Weapons. They vastly improved them in this game, I haven't found a melee weapon yet (even at low skill) that fails to reliably punch through the DT of average creatures. But, the trouble with using Melee Weapons, is... well obviously, you gotta get up in its face while its blowing your head off.

Stimpacks unfortunately have a nasty side-effect, take too many of them and you're blasted with an addiction debuff (-1 Str, -1 Agi). You can't just take an infinite number of them like you could in FO3.

So yeah, anyways, I'm not sure I'm liking this DT system, I'm finding it works against me more often than it works for me. Maybe it'd turn around late-game, but in FO games, the trouble has always been early-to-mid game more than it ever was late game. FO3 and FO:NV both start off easy, then get ridiculously hard, and then start getting easier once you get a massive stack of caps, armor, weapons, and skills. IMO, they should make the curve a little smoother.

2). For my 2nd beef, I'll have to hand it to some enemies being ridiculously overpowered. One of the vaults in the game is littered with plantlife, for example. I was wearing some medium combat armor (that I bought for 4,500 caps IIRC). I was armored up pretty good, and I was sneaking around in this place, when I got attacked by some kind of.... plant monster. Said monster proceeded to kill me in 3 hits flat. I'm like "okaaaay." so I loaded it up. Oh nice, it has a high DT (see above). That's even nicer. Can't melee the thing to death; its hits knock you back and disorient you.

Seriously, that's getting to be very annoying when you're getting knocked around and dazed by everything, even when wearing some pretty good armor. I won't even get into the "last boss" of the particular faction I joined (to avoid spoilers), but let's just say that he was so ridiculous, that lowering the game's difficulty down to Very Easy was the only way to feasibly beat the stupid thing. His melee attacks hit so hard, that he shaves off 30%+ of your HP in *one* hit and sends you physically flying backwards and that effect also stuns you for nearly 3 seconds. He's also got 2 buddies with Ballistic Fists (which do the same). Basically, you get a couple shots off then he and his buddies stunlock you.

Any kind of super mutant (or Nightkin) are also a bit ridiculous for this. They knock you all over the place, and have stupidly high DTs, where nothing works on them reliably.

Stun Locks in video games only annoy me very greatly, I hate watching my character get pounded to death and not being able to do anything about it. It is one of the main reasons I refuse to PvP in WoW, and why I won't touch Undead/WA in Istaria any more than I absolutely have to. It is one of my highest Pet Peeves in video games and it was kinda disappointing to see it in a Fallout game.

With all of that said, it may almost sound like a rant, or I dislike the game. I really don't, I love the game. I figure, for all of the great things that have been said about it, some people could be scratching their heads and saying "OK, I know there's a catch here somewhere..." so I thought I'd post what I thought was the catch, at least from the eyes of someone who didn't somehow manage to magically super-power his characters from the start like some people seem to.

[Dhalin]

Okay, since I posted last with complaints about the game, I'll turn that around and post a few more things that I've found that I am really liking:

1). The Sniper Rifle. Oh God. I love this thing! It actually feels like a sniper rifle now, moreso than it ever did in FO3. The FO3 version was O.K. but sometimes when you snipe a raider, super mutant, etc, it didn't seem like it did anywhere near the damage it should have. The NV one does a LOT more damage. Even at 25% CND, the weapon does over 100 DPS. One shot will kill most light armored targets, even without a sneak attack, if shot in the head.

2). Weapon Repair Kits. Being able to make your own Alien Epoxy equivalent? Oh yes. They aren't weightless like the aforementioned epoxies (they weigh a mere 1 WGT), but the fact you can make your own is just awesome. The materials aren't too bad, common junk items you find laying around just anywhere. They are certainly cheaper cap-wise than repairing a weapon at an NPC, and cheaper than using similar weapons depending on what it is you're repairing. The combined total cost is like 20 caps or less for the whole set of materials, even if bought from a vendor. Meanwhile, the thing seems to add a good 30% or more CND onto your currently equipped weapon. That's worth much more than 20 caps on anything worth using it on. Sniper Rifles, Chainsaws, Carbines, all of these are worth 2k+ fully repaired. I only wish they had armor repair kits... but then I suppose that's what Jury Rigging is for.

3). While we're on that subject.... I'm going to again praise that awesome, awesome perk that is Jury Rigging. Most armor you find from fallen victims is useless to you -- equipping it makes you look like the people you're killing. Problem is, if you made enemies with Group A, then Group B are likely your friends and you can't wear the armor full-time without Group B attacking you because they think you're the enemy. Jury Rigging allows you to use the scads of faction-based armor to repair your own non-faction armor! The only requirement is that the type (Light, Medium, Heavy) matches the type you're currently wearing. Imagine, killing some wimpy raider for a suit of Metal Armor, and using that to repair your badly damaged Power Armor.....

4). Sunset Sarsaparilla. Instead of instant HP recovery like in FO3, everything except Stimpacks are HP over time. Some of them can be quite strong (Bloatfly Sliders, you can make at the beginning of the game, is 4HP every second for 18 seconds! There's also Nuka-Cola Quartz, which is 6HP for 18s IIRC). You can pop one of those, and have some constant HP regen during battle. If it wears off, pop another. Sarsaparillas have no rads and no addictions, so you don't have to worry about getting irradiated or addicted and are found nearly everywhere.

5). Survival. As mentioned above, Bloatfly Sliders (eeew...) are great for restoring one's health during battle, and can be made at the beginning of the game (it only takes 20 Surv. Skill, 1 Bloatfly Meat, and 2 fruits from a common plant). Higher ones still are even more awesome from what I could see looking through the list. Also, even though it takes Science instead of Survival, you can make your own Stimpacks too, if you should start running low. The ingredients aren't really that bad either, though I've been having troubles finding Syringes.

6). Hand Loading. Whoever thought of this, was a genius. You can make your own bullets. It seems as though half of the time you shoot, your character quietly keeps the spent casing or hull of the ammo you're shooting, and when you kill people who use guns, they oftentimes have empty hulls/cases as well. You also find them by the bucketload in nearly every container in the game. With a little Repair Skill (you're trying to PL that to 90 ASAP for Jury Rigging, RIGHT!?), you can turn that stuff into ammo!

*One* Scrap Metal gives you 200 lead, so go out and get a few Scrap Metals, get lots of lead, the casings... the only things I can't seem to find are the Primers and the Powders. You can break down bullets, I know. So if you find yourself getting a ridiculous amount of ammo (a lot like the 5mm ammo in FO3, I never used Miniguns), you can break it down and turn it into something more useful, say, 9mm or 10mm.

So there you have it, if I find anything else simply awesome, I'll include it in the thread, while trying to avoid spoilers.

[Dhalin]

7). Aiming in general. I already mentioned the sniper rifle (I forgot to mention the bright red crosshairs, perfect for low-light environments!), but ALL weapons without scopes got a huge upgrade in the aiming department. Nothing like sniping someone from 150+ yards away with a 9mm pistol without the use of VATS. Now that they give us that awesome aiming ability, I've never found a need for VATS anymore, unless I need to guarantee head, weapon, or leg shots anymore.

[Frith-Rae]

LOL always love me a good sniper rifle! I stil remember the lovely effects in Unreal with the sniper rifle and the scope, even at hundrds of yards, getting a full on headshot and having it go splat and drop...

Love me some sniping...

[Dhalin]

Another thing I like to mention about FO:NV:

There are "Challenges" found in the game (some give you achievements, some give you perks) that give you XP upon completion.

I was playing the game and had just gained a levelup, and then, just as I looted the guy's body, I completed a challenge called "Questin' Mark" which wants you to complete 5 quests. I promptly gained 1,100 XP which was enough to ding me _again_. lol. That was cool!

Most of these challenges only give a couple hundred XP (even that's nice!), but some of them give much more. The ones involving "Kill X of Y Type" give you a small bonus perk that you deal slightly more damage to that type of enemy (Insect, Mutated Animal, Abomination, etc).

There are also fun challenges like "Cripple 20 heads" or "Cripple 50 limbs" and then, who can forget the one called "Lord of Murder Mountain" I think it is called, where you have to kill 700 of anything... I think I'm on about 300 now. lol.