Necessary technical prep for New Vegas

[Blaine]

You know, I have never played this game. Really, is it really as good as they say or was it just a light in dark times?

It's as good as they say.

It has its quirks beyond any doubt, but it makes right proper use of world-building and conveys a living, breathing world peopled by characters with diverse and realistic motivations; offers quite a bit of of choice and consequence, both before and after the ending slides; has many factions with diverse motivations in all shades of grey (except for two of them, both of which are Sawyer's fault) and separate reputation tracking for each; and perhaps most importantly manages to nail true Fallouty-ness in its own unique way in tone, atmosphere, black humor, dialogue, and good writing and quest design.

Your typical Fallout 3 or Fallout 4 NPC is just a pointless mannequin wearing a LOL THEME! costume in a LOL THEME! town or city, there only to dispense terrible unconnected writing or poorly-designed items. Holy fuck, I'm furious just thinking about it.

There's one other non-technical mod that everyone should have, the CONELRAD radio station, which implements a station packed with 50+ Cold War-era PSAs, American bluegrass, and pop hits from the relevant eras: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/35061

 

[Trashos]

Dead Money and OWB are the best dlc. Although I do enjoy Honest Hearts too, despite its flaws (I like the Survivalist story, the map, and I find Joshua's voice acting awesome).

You know, I have never played this game. Really, is it really as good as they say or was it just a light in dark times?

Combat is not its strong point. But yes, it is an amazing game with mind blowing world building. I must have logged about 1k hours, and will surely replay it at some point.

 

[Blaine]

The combat is still far better than Fallout 3's, though, and in particular moves away from VATS being an I Win button, making it more of a limited strategic resource that doesn't convey free invincibility. This is in part because many of the enemies are extremely fast and aggressive.

Also, Black Mountain Radio singlehandedly redeems all of the damage Bethesda caused to the image of Super Mutants. I'd go so far as to say it's the pinnacle of Super Mutants in the series lore, The Master notwithstanding.

 

[RoSoDude]

I'm having a really really good time with it so far, though I have to concur that the combat is only passable at best -- its best point is that it offers you a ton of ways to deal with enemies. VATS isn't as broken as I expected it to be, but the companion system has completely thrown away any tension once associated with the combat. I just walk around leisurely while my robot pal ED-E and my lady friend Veronica alternately fry and smack enemies in a mile radius to farm XP for me. It's a bit ridiculous. I wonder if this effect levels off at all, since Very Hard + Hardcore mode was already pretty darn forgiving.

As for what's actually good, it's the multiple solutions afforded to me according to my character build. I've felt rewarded for investing in weapons/repair/science skills, while I've missed opportunities available to other character builds due to my exceedingly low charisma/speech/stealth scores. Major highlights were when I read a cooking magazine I found in a mailbox to bluff my way into convincing a guy I knew how to handle explosives, and when I used my science skill to reprogram an old casino robot into the new mayor for a town. The quest design is sending me around the world in a nice manner, and the world itself is an interesting place to explore with unique stories around every corner -- I couldn't stop laughing midway through the quest in the rocket factory populated by ghouls, and I won't spoil why. I've only just made it to the Strip and I hear the game gets more involved past this point, after which my endorsement will probably be even stronger.

 

[Blaine]

Making it to the Strip is maybe 1/3rd of the way through the game depending on how much you uncovered along the way. The second third will be thoroughly exploring the rest of the wasteland, and the third third will be the collective DLCs.

Unfortunately, as always, I've completely forgotten the location of the Ratslayer, AKA the best gun in the game. I also chose an install option with my UI mod to eliminate the hollow triangles that indicate undiscovered locations, and since it's in some random cave, I'll probably find it around the end of the entire game.

 

[Trashos]

the companion system has completely thrown away any tension once associated with the combat. I just walk around leisurely while my robot pal ED-E and my lady friend Veronica alternately fry and smack enemies in a mile radius to farm XP for me. It's a bit ridiculous. I wonder if this effect levels off at all, since Very Hard + Hardcore mode was already pretty darn forgiving.

Companions are indeed broken in the base game, although at least they can die in hardcore mode. I play without companions myself (sometimes I take ED-E as a pack mule and park him outside the vaults, for example).

 

[Jarpie]

If you set your charisma to 1, they are not as OP, but even then I rather play without them.

 

[Blaine]

Yeah, but all of the companions are cool, well-written, well-acted, and have good backstories and related quests—even Joshcade Sawyon.

 

[Nano]

Dead Money and OWB are the best dlc.

Dead Money yes. But I'm baffled as to why OWB is so well liked when it has hordes of damage sponge enemies at every corner as well as boring, endlessly repeating quests. (Seriously, what was up with that high school? I thought the game was bugging out on me.) Yeah, the characters were funny, but that wasn't enough for me to make up for the awfulness.

 

[Jarpie]

I liked the story of OWB, and the ending slides were worth it, if you got the good ending at least.

 

[shihonage]

You know, I have never played this game. Really, is it really as good as they say or was it just a light in dark times?

Fallout: New Vegas is a significantly less moronic Fallout 3. But Fallout 3 was so overwhelmingly and completely moronic, that this does not elevate New Vegas to the level of being a good game.

 

[Trashos]

Dead Money yes. But I'm baffled as to why OWB is so well liked when it has hordes of damage sponge enemies at every corner as well as boring, endlessly repeating quests. (Seriously, what was up with that high school? I thought the game was bugging out on me.) Yeah, the characters were funny, but that wasn't enough for me to make up for the awfulness.

Very charming and funny (doubly so when one realizes the dark themes), and it is not a walk in the park either. The Sink is my favorite home base ever. But yes, I am not going to defend bullet sponges and level scaling. Didn't claim it is perfect.

That said, I prefer Dead Money myself, which I consider to be MCA's 2nd masterpiece. But I am always happy to play OWB too.

 

[Master]

You know, I have never played this game. Really, is it really as good as they say or was it just a light in dark times?

If you liked Fallout 3 you will like New Vegas too.

 

[Jimmious]

If you really liked Fallout 3, you anyway have low standards so you'd probably like anything

 

[Piotrovitz]

Vanilla F3 as a RPG is a turd indeed, but with Wanderer's Edition and cranked up difficulty it can be mildly entertaining survival simulator. Constant ammo shortage, limited skill points narrowing your build, gimping VATS, getting radiation sickness like 10x times faster, relying on chems to survive tough fights etc. Still, this doesn't lower the retardation level of main/side quests and every other aspect of the game, but it's pretty playable that way if you're looking for certain experience. TBH I like DC ruins way more than the Strip, with it's constant running back and forth through dozens of gates and empty streets.

This doesn't change a fact it's a turd, and NV is lightyears ahead. And OWB is one of the best DLCs ever released, truly in the vein of original Fallouts (retro sci-fi/over the top black humour and all that)

 

[Piotrovitz]

If you set your charisma to 1, they are not as OP

They're OPd even with 1 CHA, best to roll without them or just pick one as a packing mule, and only if you're playing with Project Nevada and severely limited carrying capacity.

 

[Zero Credibility]

I'm also in the "confused about people loving OWB" camp. The story itself is very, very silly, and the gameplay now even more bleh with bullet sponges everywhere. Now Dead Money, that's the good one. Especially if you get there early, it makes you fight for survival in a hostile environment. Something that is sadly missing from rest of the game.

What else, Honest Hearts is pretty and pretty forgettable. At least it has the Survivalist, and his gun is pretty much the ultimate firearm in the game. That thing just tears everything apart - deathclaws, power armor, everything. And the biggest problem I have with the Lonesome Road is how boring Ulysses is as an opponent. All he does is ramble incoherently, and I quickly start wondering why am I taking a stroll through irradiated hell just to confront this prick? Fuck him, if he wants to tell me something let him come to me instead, if not he can rot there.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Honest Hearts is awesome if you disable the autopilot on compass and actually have to explore everything.

 

[Jarpie]

Survivalist and Keith Szarabajka voicing Burned Man saves Honest Hearts being utterly forgettable to being decent trek through. I remember reading some comments somewhere about Szarabajka being shit, which I can't comprehend, he has great voice and imo his voice acting fits Joshua Graham.

Dead Money is the best dlc though, most interesting story from the four of them and you actually have to fight to survive. Shame that you can't get Dean Domino to be your companion in the base game.

 

[Blaine]

Honest Hearts is okay for what it is.

The quasi-Native American tribals and associated setpieces are all right, I suppose, but they don't channel Sulik the way I might have liked. Also, they come off a bit cheesy and hackneyed, like white people LARPing Indians—which is pretty much what's happening, although Obsidian of course is careful to be respectful. Still, I'd rather have cheesy fake-Indians than modern-era, fully metastasized SJW cancer of some sort.

Zion... well. This very old, chunky, clunky, low-res game can't do Zion justice. It's much better suited to shitshacks, concrete tunnels full of junk, weather-beaten military and civic stuff, etc. A desert is the perfect type of wilderness for Gamebryo circa 2008-2010, but unlike the Mojave, Zion is much more than a desert.

As for Band-Aid Man's pistol being OP, well, a lot of weapons are, with the right perks. What's really OP if we're talking about DLCs is:

• Honest Hearts — mass quantities of good consumable ingredients and powerful recipes
  
• Dead Money — protip for those who haven't played: stockpile all cigarettes, packs and cartons, or you'll cry later due to some super-OP shit from this DLC
• OWB — actually not too sure anymore, it has The Sink of course, special junk recipes like Dead Money, special perks, some strong weapons, I know there's one thing in particular though
• Lonesome Road — memory's a bit hazy here, but I know there are some great (and fun) armor and weapons

Of course at this late date, it's all academic, because who the fuck doesn't have the DLC and add-ons?

 

[Gord]

Currently the game's running <90 FPS (my monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate) in exteriors and everything's a tad jittery when moving the viewport, which is obviously completely ludicrous on a machine with my specs that should be able to run the game at approximately 900 FPS. I remember experiencing a similar phenomenon years ago (though on a 60Hz monitor), which I eventually managed to fix.

Unless FO:NV is different in that regard, which I doubt, the Gamebryo-Fallouts are better played at 60fps, since otherwise the physics subsystem tends to brake and go haywire.

 

[Sigourn]

You know, I have never played this game. Really, is it really as good as they say or was it just a light in dark times?

New Vegas is one of those rare games where mods actually make it great. That's because the layout is fantastic: quests, paths, RPGs mechanics, and so on. With mods you can bump up the difficult up to eleven and make your build make a damn difference when it comes to gameplay.

As for guides, I'll simply recommend mine. Just make sure you guys install only what you feel like installing, because I don't recommend following this guide to the letter anymore, mostly because a lot of mods are personal preference and by no means "NEEDED", even if I wouldn't play without them.

Chances are, if it isn't on my mod list, it's shit or I haven't heard of it. In the case of very, EXTREMELY popular and well-known mods, then it is definitely shit (A World of Pain, for instance).

 

[Blaine]

Chances are, if it isn't on my mod list, it's shit or I haven't heard of it. In the case of very, EXTREMELY popular and well-known mods, then it is definitely shit (A World of Pain, for instance).

Wew, that's a lot of mods. You must have spent more time installing and fine-tuning than you did actually playing the game. A lot of the things addressed by your mods I'd rather just live with and move on rather than spend so much time modding. For example, you have more body, face, head, and equipment replacers than I have non-technical mods. The Character Overhaul I'm using is quite good to un-derp faces, and the rest I'll live with. I wouldn't mind having body and equipment replacers, but once you go down the slope of improving and enhancing and fixing literally everything, there's no stopping.

Still, those collision mesh mods look downright mandatory. Might have to grab those.

I'm currently trying that "Essential Visual Enhancements" super-popular mod, and so far I like it. It makes explosions and energy weapons effects LOUD and EXTREME and fancies them up considerably without making them cartoony, and why not? Might as well. It's better than the weak-ass pops and zaps that the game originally came with.

 

[Sigourn]

Wew, that's a lot of mods. You must have spent more time installing and fine-tuning than you did actually playing the game. A lot of the things addressed by your mods I'd rather just live with and move on rather than spend so much time modding. For example, you have more body, face, head, and equipment replacers than I have non-technical mods. The Character Overhaul I'm using is quite good to un-derp faces, and the rest I'll live with. I wouldn't mind having body and equipment replacers, but once you go down the slope of improving and enhancing and fixing literally everything, there's no stopping.

That's why I don't recommend following it to the letter: I personally can't live with potato characters, but I don't like FCO either or NVR. I prefer simply to use NVCE, which overall corrects the more potato heads. I've spent a lot of time on New Vegas, many different playthroughs and many hours modding, so I kind of know what I'm dealing with and what is a "avoid".

Good luck, the game is great with a few mods, and I think it is criminal Obsidian had only 18 months to make it and a console market to appeal to.

 

[Jarpie]

Too bad those couple mods which opens up The Strip and Freeside into big areas tend to screw up the game from what I've heard, even with the new game started. I've seen couple mods around which adds quests etc to the Legion, but one potentially good didn't add whole lot, alternate ways to play couple of quests for the Legion etc, could try for some play through.