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Fallout: New Vegas [split topic]

Started by surreal, June 05, 2010, 01:53:26 PM

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Mister Six

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on January 19, 2012, 03:24:06 PM
That's the one I've just started, and I thought I recognised the Big Bad's voice. I'm a few levels too low to take it on, I think, but I'm still having a heck of a time doing it.

Dr Venture is one of the scientists - the big bad's voiced by someone else... I forget who. But yeah, it's fun. If you're at a low level and determined to go through all the DLC, do Honest Hearts first. It scales up and down, unlike the others (particularly Dead Money, which should only be tackled at level 21+. I'd also suggest the light step perk...).

Famous Mortimer

I feel like I've gone through the entire thing a few levels too low - I'm getting towards the end of it, and have encountered a path I need to go down absolutely covered in those bloody robo-scorpions. Still, it's a challenge, and I'm having to work out ways to get through these guys with my limited resources and weakness. I also did the first few hours of it without realising that big white thing in the middle of the room is a computer which sells you things and repairs your equipment, which makes it all a bit easier.

NaCl

Fallout is truly the king of Vidao Gomes.

Famous Mortimer

Just finished it, on about 55 hours of gameplay, and although I dawdled a bit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went for the
Spoiler alert
independent Vegas
[close]
ending, even though it was fairly obvious that
Spoiler alert
Yes Man is going to come back as a baddie, if they decide to do a sequel to this
[close]
. Still, a great world, and although if they do another one I'd like to see them extend the their colour scheme a bit (why does no-one in this world tidy up their property, or throw a coat of paint on a wall?)

Mister Six

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on February 01, 2012, 06:48:13 AM(why does no-one in this world tidy up their property, or throw a coat of paint on a wall?)

Yeah, that annoyed me a bit. Especially in the hotel-type place, somewhere on the outskirts of New Vegas, where some of the hotel rooms have skeletons in them. Skeletons? Really? So people go in and out of this building every day at all hours, but nobody notices a couple of rotting bodies in the back rooms? Such a weird thing for a game that's so exquisitely realised in so many other ways.

Viero_Berlotti

I've never thought of the Fallout games as being particularly realist though. The Fallout universe has always had a sense of cartoon like exaggeration to it. So things like skeletons in hotel rooms don't stand out as being incongruous to me.

Consignia

Yeah definitely, I really like the fact the Fallout universe doesn't take itself so seriously. I don't think I could stomach the series if it was a po-faced apocalyptic sci-fi setting.

Paaaaul

Fallout:Universe will be amazing. I would never leave my house.

Mister Six

Quote from: Viero_Berlotti on February 01, 2012, 10:20:09 PM
I've never thought of the Fallout games as being particularly realist though. The Fallout universe has always had a sense of cartoon like exaggeration to it. So things like skeletons in hotel rooms don't stand out as being incongruous to me.
The Fallout games are indeed pretty absurd, but they're usually pretty good about placing the absurd in a plausible environment. It seems bizarre to put so much effort into NV's political and social conflicts and then leave a load of skeletons dotted about in peoples' homes.

Famous Mortimer

I like how when you kill someone in a busy area, their body stays there forever.

After getting Fallout back in my head after trying Fallout 2 again with the free giveaway, I remembered hearing something about a huge fan made mod being worked on for New Vegas that threw you into a new huge wasteland with new quests and such.

After looking into it, it's called Project Brazil, and it's being released episodically. The first part is out and I spent tonight playing right through it.

Bloody hell. It is one proper mod. I read warnings that it was short, but it took me maybe 5 hours? Give or take. It has all new story, all new cinematics, all new professional dialogue recorded, and seems to have fairly contrasting branching storylines. It really does seem to be inspired a lot by the Fallout 2 way it (at least attempted to be) where you could play almost anyway. Choices seem to matter and peoples dialogue and opinion of you seems to shift depending on your actions. It seemed every single dialogue exchange allowed me different options depending on my stats and such. Seems like it has a bit of replay value, potentially.

The writing and characters themseves are also really top notch. The voice acting is really good, especially as this surely must have no budget. Beats the Fallout voice-acting, competing against Liam Neeson phoning in his dialogue and the other 5 voice actors that voice everyone else in the wasteland. This has more variety and more enthisiasm. So far I enjoyed this way more than I did any of the Fallout 3 or New Vegas DLC. It is just really bloody good.

It's all free and it's been worked on by a small team for years, and it lacks a lot of polish compared to the actual 'canonical' games. I just want people to realise that before they jump right in expecting a Brand New Fallout expansion or something. I had a few crashes and there's small niggles here and there, but overall, for a mod of this ambition and size, it worked almost perfectly.

So far, it starts you off in a brand new Vault, which is a really quite large hub world, and you do your quests and side-quests in there. And it ends when you enter the wasteland, although you are allowed to wander the wasteland after that if you like. It's really big, and it seems to be all done, with items and a few monsters and raiders about, but it's fairly rough and unpopulated. There's nothing to see out there till the next episode's released.

It had 3 whole radio stations with news updates and DJs on top of it all that I really didn't get around to listening to. One of which is a rock station that seems to play fairly totally and universally out of place, like The Hives and such. But who cares. It's their interpretation, and honestly, the amount of detail and history you can find of the world really does seem to fit in with the Fallout universe. It genuinely does feel like another Fallout game, to be honest. And the story moments and dialogue tends to be a lot more interesting than the stuff you find in the other Fallout games. Although, I guess that's not that hard a challenge.

Anyway. if you enjoyed the Fallout games and own New Vegas on PC, then I highly recommend you get this game.


syntaxerror


Famous Mortimer

Good to hear, because I love the Fallouts. Time to dust off the gaming laptop.

Zetetic


Zetetic

Quote from: Bored of Canada on December 15, 2013, 12:46:19 PM
It's all free and it's been worked on by a small team for years, and it lacks a lot of polish compared to the actual 'canonical' games.
The mind boggles.

Quote from: syntaxerror on December 15, 2013, 02:07:05 PM
Is it set in Brazil?

Nah. Set in California, I believe. The Brazil name comes from yhe song Brazil, which plays in the game, likely inspired by the Gilliam film.

Quote from: Zetetic on December 15, 2013, 09:47:50 PM
The mind boggles.

I was saying obvious things but I did want to temper expectations after my glowing praise. Didn't want people expecting a new Fallout Game and then getting an unfortunate wake up call. But I also wanted to explain that despite those beginnings, the level of high polish on this is remarkable. It does seem like they're ramping up to release the second and final episode and it seems like if this level of detail and effort maintains itself, it could be almost the size of Fallout 3.

Mister Six

I returned to New Vegas this week to mop up the Lonesome Road DLC, which I never finished, I think because I started it around the same time my life got swallowed up by Skyrim.

Despite being very samey looking all the way through (though fans of Fallout 3's urban decay will like it), I thought it was a worthy entry to the series, and pleasingly vast, if fairly linear.[nb]The NV DLC hits three for four, I think, with only Honest Hearts being a letdown.[/nb]

So now my lad's at level 50, a god in almost every stat, and I've played for a shade over 133 hours. And yet a leisurely stroll around the bottom-left of the wasteland has netted me three Sunset Sasparilla bottlecaps and a new location on my map. I'm still discovering shit in this game! My god.

I'm salivating for Fallout 4 now...

Mobius

Fallout 4 is going to be sooo far away but I can't wait either. I much prefer New Vegas to Skyrim because there's more conversation choices, and the quests/factions feel more involved.

I've been playing with this mod lately http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/38719/?

It basically adds loads of new areas to the game, and it's pretty well done. Some rock hard enemies, new weapons etc.

I love exploring but find that once I actually hit New Vegas (and the multiple paths open up) it's a bit too overwhelming. I tend to explore everything outside of there (including DLC) and end up ridiculously overpowered by the time I talk to Benny.

Fry

After playing through the vanilla game on release (and loving it to bits) I purposefully completely avoided the game so i can go back through it all fresh. I realised that in the time between buying it and now I purchased literally all the DLC and Add-ons - then completely forgot about them, so now it's probably a good time for me to roll a new Abednego (for some reason I name quite a lot of my RPG characters either Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego. Or Camila José if I want to play as a fiery hispanic woman - I quite like to do that too) and give it a whirl.

Is it worth modding up, do you think? or should I just play through it as god intended once with all the DLC?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Fry on August 05, 2014, 12:38:24 PM...Is it worth modding up, do you think? or should I just play through it as god intended once with all the DLC?

Yes, it's worth modding. As well as adding new content, there are many mods that enhance existing content, such as graphics.

Personally, I would say do a Google search for 'best fallout mods' or have  look at Nexus Mods and see what grabs your fancy. If nothing does, then great play it vanilla but I'm sure there will be at least one or two that does.

For me, it's essential to mod the radio stations, so there's a selection of stations or songs I've chosen myself.

Incidentally, the lead director of the game, J.E. Sawyer released a mod  (maybe two?) he created for his personal playthroughs; in the past, IIRC, he mentioned that there was stuff he would ideally liked in the released game, but the difficulty might put people off. Also, New Vegas was influenced by the mods people made for Fallout 3.

Mobius

I'd definitely play through without any mods first. Mods are great, but it's hard to come back from them, I find. Once you've exhausted the official content then the mods add loads more replay value, but there's more than enough without them (the DLC are all great, and tie together well with eachother and the main story)

I've started so many new saves over the past few weeks with various mods and tweaks, and inevitably end up using console commands or becoming too bogged down in loot and bits and bobs. It can be a bit much. I've seen people with 150 mods enabled which is insane.

That Project Brazil mentioned earlier sounds ace, but mostly I use mods that reduce crash frequency, and improve the save system. My computer isn't too great, so I can't really make the most of the mods.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Mobius on August 05, 2014, 01:04:40 PM
I'd definitely play through without any mods first. Mods are great, but it's hard to come back from them, I find. Once you've exhausted the official content then the mods add loads more replay value, but there's more than enough without them (the DLC are all great, and tie together well with each other and the main story)...

Yeah, I would  tend to agree about mods that add content. In terms of content, there's plenty in the game itself without adding – I think my first playthrough was about 130 hours without any DLC.

That said, personally, I really use mods that improve features of the game, rather than to add content in terms of stuff to see and do. There's a UI mod for the Pipboy that is larger than the default one and navigating it is a lot easier, which I found brilliant. The only mods for me that are essential are that one and something to extend the radio. 

Mister Six

Yeah, I clocked 131 hours at the end of the Lonesome Road DLC, and that took me through all the downloadable content and up to the point where you make your final choice of allegiance
Spoiler alert
regarding the chip, the NCR, Caesar and The Yes Man
[close]
, so I reckon if I could be bothered to finish it up again, I'd be looking at another five hours on top of that.

Quote from: Mobius on August 05, 2014, 11:40:22 AM
Fallout 4 is going to be sooo far away but I can't wait either. I much prefer New Vegas to Skyrim because there's more conversation choices, and the quests/factions feel more involved.

Definitely. What really attracts me is that the world building in NV is so solid, and the recent history of the place is so tangible -
Spoiler alert
the town you wake up in is under attack by criminals who've escaped from prison. Why? Because the NCR couldn't keep a firm enough grip on it. Why? Because Caesar's Legion have pulled them away from the area. Why? Because they both want the Hoover Dam. Why? Because it controls the electricity for the region - making it essential if they want to overthrow Mr House. Why? Because he's got NV locked down, and is well into the surrounding communities. And so on and so on.
[close]
Meanwhile, Skyrim felt like a bunch of unconnected cities that have just been plonked down on a map.

I also love that the world is so reactive. Skyrim's sole concession to player choice was two essentially identical groups with absolutely identical mission trees, whereas NV offers four main alliances, each with their own unique quests and content, and each mutually exclusive from the others. It also got on my wick that I could be the head of the Wizard's Guild, the lead Adventurer, the King of the Thieves AND a master assassin simultaneously, and virtually no one in the outside world notices or gives a shit, beyond a little bit of colourful speech.

Mister Six

Fry - when you start playing New Vegas, do please put off doing any of the DLC at first - at least until you reach the gates of New Vegas. Most of it is only possible with higher levels anyway, but it'll spoil the flow of the game if you go in too early.

If you're looking for an order, do Honest Hearts first - it scales with the levels and is the dullest of the four. It's not actively bad, just lacking in stand-out characters and missions, and feels like an extension of NV, like something trimmed off the side of the main game, rather than a special little world unto itself.

Tackle Dead Money next. It's very different from the rest of NV, being more linear and structured half like a survival horror game (lots of conserving ammo and using melee/hand-to-hand combat) and half like a stealth game (avoiding indestructible patrolling holograms). I'd highly advise picking the 'light step' perk - the one that stops you from triggering mines and the like - before starting this one. Don't start it lower than level 20. I think I did it around level 25 and found it pretty tough.

After that, Old World Blues is a corker. A big area to explore with loads of fantastic characters voiced by Adult Swim alumni, and a bunch of awesome weapons. It's really smart and very, very funny. My favourite of the DLCs by far. It's supposed to be for players who are 15+ though the characters level and get really tricky at 40+. I got through it, though, because I'm double plus hard and that.

And save Lonesome Road for just before you enter the final part of the game - the bit where you make your choices as to which side you'll choose. You can do it before then, but it feels very 'final', and doing it earlier would detract from the flow of the game. It's tough - I died a bunch even though I was almost at the level cap - and if you've got any perks that make deathclaws and other abominations easier to handle, they'll come in useful. Very well written, though, and there's some lovely character work for the ED-E companion.

Fry

This has made me really excited to jump back in now. I'm going to properly role play in character and everything. And for the first time ever I am NOT going to roll a stealth character.

Mobius

Best way to play, I've found. Create a bit of a fictional background to justify your decisions and you feel more invested. I love reading log notes on computers and all that, fleshing out the world by exploring nooks and crannies.

I've pumped so many hours into this game and still find new quests or zones I didn't know existed.

I'd recommend the mod called CASM. it doesn't require any work at all, and creates a much better save system that means you won't get 'corrupted saves' (a problem with their engine)

There's a few good mods that don't affect gameplay but increase performance. 'Better Game Performance V5' , 'New Vegas Anti Crash' , 'NVSR' (New Vegas Stutter Remover) - I've used all of these on my fairly shite PC, and haven't had a single crash or anything which for a Bethesda game is quite incredible.

I'm going to fiddle with 'ClutterBGone' and 'Performance of the Gods' tomorrow, which apparently remove a shitload of useless items from the game and pointless stuff like underwater rocks. All with the aim of increasing gameplay/stability without affecting the world. There's a lot of shit in there that affects lag and framerate.

These are all on that Nexus site, but for god's sake don't tick the 'adult content' box.

Van Dammage

I played as a Legion spy. Went around to NCR bases (Is it NCR? haven't played in a while) stealing stuff and killing soldiers. Very fun with a high melee level, or unarmed.

Cold Meat Platter

I recommend the Sprint Mod - as you would expect this gives you a limited sprint at the expense of action points.
Also Quick Trade - pressing right mouse button takes you straight to the trade screen of an NPC or your follower's inventory without having to initiate dialogue. Doesn't sound like much but it saves a lot of fevered button presses and curses if, like me, you lack patience.

Fry

I attempted to start playing last night, but spent 2 and a half hours downloading and configuring mods instead[nb]Project Nevada, Weapon Mods Expanded, Fellout, a bunch of texture and model re-designs, the 4gb ram one, a few radio stations and mods to make the casinos and the strip more populated - I remember getting to the strip on my first playthrough and being disappointed with how sparse it is. Felt it wasn't how it had been built up to be in the game.[/nb].


Tonight though! Whew, here we go.

Wilbur

This has been sitting in my Steam account for ages I never even finished the tutorial. After all this talk about it I have dusted it down and am about to embark on another life wasting mission. It had better be good !

Ta

W