Fallout - New Vegas

No, it is still within the Fallout universe, but it goes for a totally different emotional direction. For example, it doesn't have the silly kind of humor that the first games had and New Vegas can have (fortunately someone in the process said they didn't like it, so they only made it an option). It has more of an emphasis on the war, and less on the Fallout 1 and 2 politics.

How can I be making this up the samaritan aspect if I actually listed a bunch of examples in my message, and I could have listed twice as man? Those people need those things.

Vegas is actually more human because it deals with survival and more than survival. Vegas NPC's only concern isn't about where their next meal is coming from, so they can do more. There's more trade, there's more politics, there's more specialization, there's more social class separation, there's more civilization. You have more human interactions about more stuff, which is part of why the games are different in the after-end-game. You don't have empty buildings in Vegas whose only purpose for being is scrounging stuff and reading computers - every decent-sized place in Vegas is part of a meaningful quest, usually more than one. Vegas has over 3 times the quests of Fallout 3. It's much richer and longer and more complicated and you get more choices, but at the same time it means more of an end to the game because there's no reason to go once you finish the quests associated with a place. I don't see how Vegas can have a Broken Steel type add-on without lots of additions. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather be doing a New Vegas quest than a DC endless activity. But I did all the quests, and now the only thing I have to play for is to make sure that the DC Brotherhood gets as many cameras as I can find because there's nothing like it in Vegas. It isn't much, but it's something. Until Duke Nukem is released.

We just have different ideas of what the root of Fallout is. The important stuff to me are the distant history, the 50's vibe, the vaults, the results of the FEV virus, the tech, VATS, and the general rules of play. I don't think the events at Navaro, the California Republic, the BOS, and so on are the important things. I mean, Fallout 1 story-wise could have easily been about a sword-swinging knight sent from a isolated castle to retrieve a magical crystal before the orc invasion takes place. It's the setting that makes it unique. I don't have interest in a fantasy game even if it had the same sort of political story as the Fallouts.

 

If you think appropriately of all the things you said in bolded then you would notice there's nothing fantasious about them. Those are political events that also take place in New Vegas...heck, already does in the real world. It's part of human nature. DC also have their fair bunch of politics too.

Right now I'm scratching my head.

Where exactly you stand for?
The same team of 1 and 2 finally grabbed the 3D environment and presented this game that you seem to admit it's better, still with strong connections to the Fallout roots. The emotional aspect you say is stronger in 3 and yet you say NPCs in New Vegas are "more human".

 

That's the point. They are not unique to Fallout. They aren't part of the core of what I like about Fallout. Maybe war never changes, but politics do. There are other stories to be told just in America, let alone in the rest of the world.

You are under the incorrect impression that I'm all "Fallout 3 rules and New Vegas sucks". I really, really liked New Vegas. There are many parts of New Vegas I'd like to see in a Bethesda Fallout 4. But what I don't want to see is continuation of the Fallout 2 story where the game is conveniently populated with refugees from the events of that game. Set it in New York or someplace far away from there.

 

I recently got the Honest Hearts DLC for Fallout New Vegas. I'm just part of the way through, but I'd like to talk about it and open discussion if anyone else is playing it.

It is a separate open area in Zion National Park in Utah. It isn't very big - maybe about the size of The Pitt, but all one area. It's hard to wander - it's all steep cliffs and rivers so you have to walk on specific paths or roads or waterways (which are marked on the Pip Boy map). The story opens with a scene that would have been more dramatic if every description of the game didn't spoil it for you. You spend all you time with various tribals with precious little technology in the world. However, the locals are well armed with bullet-based and melee weapons so don't worry about that. You are limited in what you can bring to the level, and the best is to get rid of all except one or two of your favorite weapons. Bring shotguns and sniper rifles if you have the bullets, every other type of non-energy gun will be provided. Bring armor, backup armor, everything related to health, and gun repair kits.

In the New Vegas style you get a lot more quests than you do in The Pitt, so don't worry about a lack of things to do. But the outside is rather sparsely populated with bad guys, and the Yao Guai's (the toughest things out there) are totally wimpy. The first group of quests aren't a challenge unless you are really low level, but presumably it will get tougher later. This is a great place for Survival skills - lots of plants and campfires. And it's great for Hardcore - lots of beds and infinite clean water everywhere so no more licking the bottom of radioactive toilets.

The story fills in lots of the New Vegas rumors in the Legion part of the world, such as goings on at New Canaan (post war Salt Lake City) and the Burned Man. But it as a serious "primitive society is great so lets bring in a white men to show them how to really do it" vibe, so if you are not a fan of Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai you will have a problem with this too.

It's rather a pain to install - you might have to refresh your game from Steam or fiddle with .ini files. And it still crashes, which gave me the opportunity to write this. Save often.

 

I have finished almost every quest in Honest Hearts. It was a bit underwhelming but at least you can get some decent XP. 50 XP for every White Leg that you kill is very generous IMHO. I would have liked to see an option where you can choose to team up with the bad guys like in The Pitt. Might have made things more interesting. The Survivalist journals made for an interesting background story.

I'm glad that every DLC will raise the level cap by 5. After four DLCs have been released you can have a character go up to level 50. After the third DLC comes out, I'll be able to have a charcter with 100 in every skill.

 

I finished Honest Hearts, and I rather liked it. The characters were good, although the voice acting for Daniel was pretty bad. And I think it ended up fun as well. You get some new perks, it introduces new weapons into the game. Unlike The Pitt (and kind of in keeping with the general difference between New Vegas and Fallout 3), there really isn't any reason to go back once you leave. You don't really get wild combat or get to play detective, but it's meant to be a more story driven adventure and the story was good to go through. I recommend it.

In the middle of the level the game was crashing so, so much. It was really a pain, but it got better later. There was also another weird bug - sometimes items in my inventory would get doubled. It started right away, and actually caused a big problem. I had to get down to 100 pounds to start the DLC, and I couldn't do it. Finally I dumped my Enclave armor, and it turned out that even though I put the armor in a chest, I was still wearing a copy of it. My inventory said I had one, and I had only picked up one, but somehow it doubled, including the weight. It happened with guns two or three times while playing in the DLC, and even after I left I ended up with a doubled Vault uniform when I was selling them to the Vault 21 lady. Weird.

 

Yeah, I am certainly no fan of the cute stuff. And we've already had two DLC's of "do what you are told" and this certainly looks like the third. But it could be good - there could be interesting history and maybe some new gameplay with a cybor PC and weird weapons.

But there's no use taking interesting weapons back to New Vegas if New Vegas stays like it is. I wish they would make a DLC that strongly refreshes the main New Vagas world, which just seems so lifeless at the near end of the game. And it shouldn't just be new bad guys, although new high level beasts would be welcome. There's so much you could do with the caravan storylines. The parts in New Vegas between the cities are so empty and so criss-crossed with roads is just seems a shame to have them empty. If Fallout 3 can have actual caravans that move around the world, it's a crime that New Vegas doesn't. More, bigger caravans. And troop supply trains. And visitors to New Vegas. And cattle runs. And prospectors. They could take the stuff that's implied in the game, make it reality, and it would be great.

If they don't want to do that, they should make the new place much more open and explorable, like Point Lookout. Honest Hearts is only about 21% walkable (compared to Lookout which is around 67%).

 

And some stupidly overpowered enemies.

 

Well, Anchorage was a kind of lame attraction so it isn't just New Vegas DLC's. And Honest Hearts looked really good and different and there were lots of things to do. It is roughly analogous to The Pitt. And Dead Money was very analogous to Operation Anchorage. I think given development times, that the sizes and complexity of those are understandable.

But it looks like that the next two (Old World Blues in June, Lonesome Road in July) will have linear stories in maze-like constructs like that instead of being exploration-oriented additions. I guess they have to use up all their story ideas from the Black Isle days.

 

I reloaded my character that could take the Mr. House/Independent Vegas route and played Honest Hearts first and Dead Money second.

I actually liked Dead Money a little more. I thought that Follows Chalk and Waking Cloud were quite dull and uninteresting compared to Dean Domino, God/Dog & Christina. I also liked how Dead Money changed things around a bit by making you wear a collar and stripping you down to nothing and forcing you to scavenge on your own. It really made me appreciate the stimpacks and powerups more (especially when you've built a character that's loaded to the hilt with tons of stuff). Dead Money can't really stand on it's own as a game but I thought it was an enjoyable break from the everyday routine of the Fallout NV world.

Honest Hearts OTOH felt like it could have been another set of side quests that got inserted into the main Fallout NV world.

 

Yeah, from my calculation, the New Vegas map is only about 52% walkable (or swimable) where Fallout 3 was in the 90's (although they had a similar number of map markers and NV had way more characters and complex places). But none of the recent discussions or descriptions of Lonesome Road indicate it will open that area. I don't know if that rumor is true.

I'll agree with you about the things you mentioned. Domino and God were charismatic and interesting. The tribals were just the Hollywood Indian cliché, and at times almost insulting. And Dead Money was more of a challenge (in fact, Honest Hearts wasn't really a challenge at all). But Dead Money was absolutely linear and there wasn't the exploration/discovery aspect that Honest Hearts had at least a little. And I really hate mazes. Hate, hate hate.

It's a little strange that you couldn't side with the White Legs even though you could side with Caesar in the main game. Your only option is to fight the Dead Horses, get the quest to find the map out of there, and leave. That choice is not exactly $10 worth of game.

 

Actually, I was thinking where in the New Vegas area you could have a Point Lookoutish add-on, and the pickings are slim. Reno is supposedly too wild, and there isn't much in the area until you get to Carson City/Lake Tahoe, which I assume is pacified under the NCR and thus boring, like the rest of California. Phoenix/Tucson is Legion land and even more boring. You can't walk across the Rockies.

I think the only hope is the Salt Lake City area. While SLC may itself be bombed and Ogden wiped out, it is a large sprawl with lots of cities that should offer lots of groups and conflict.

 

Better than nothing I suppose. The video that sinner78 posted earlier looks cool. I'll be eagerly anticipating Old World Blues.

 

Don't get me wrong - siding with the good guys will give you $10 of game. I just think they should have given more options given the nature of the main game.

 

Yep, it would have been cool if you could get something like The Pitt where you can side with the slaves or side with Asher.

Now when is Fallout 4 coming out?

 

The only things we know are that they are working on it, and it will use the same new engine as the recently released Skyrim. There are some minor hints it will be somewhere in the American Southwest, but nothing is certain.

 

There is still a glitch in Dead Money where you can wear clothing that gives you +1 Agility, return it to a vending machine, but the +1 Agility bonus won't go away. You can increase your Agility up to 10+ by doing this.

Patch 1.06 was recently released. They finally fixed some pesky inventory bugs that I was seeing (along with a lot of other bugs).