Fallout New Vegas is the best Obsidian game ever

[rusty_shackleford]

NCR wants to control the dam to provide electricity to the Wasteland. To elevate the living conditions of the population (Legion does not even accept modern medical procedures for their soldiers, they are anti-development and anti-science group). NCR has ideals of democracy, personal freedom, self-determination. Ofcourse, they are far from perfect, but Pax Californiana seems more acceptable to most people than what the Legion offers. That's why Caesar always makes an offer at gunpoint.

NCR being a democracy is laughable, it's essentially an oligarchy.
NCR wants control of the dam likely because their brahmin barons demand it. Did you even play the game? They purposely divert power away from the people living there to their home areas. NCR has one message to the citizens of the Mohave: "Fuck You."

Caesar has quite a bit of dialogue on this btw

So things ran smoothly, more or less. And as soon as she was gone, as soon as there really could be "democracy" - what happened then?
...
Ever since losing its queen, the NCR has been weaker, more diffuse. Democracy has been its weakness, not its strength.
...
Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of citizens. The NCR is a loose conglomerate of individuals looking out for themselves. It's lost virtue. No one cares about the collective, the greater good.

The power of the NCR was taken away from what was essentially a benevolent dictator and put in the hands of globalists brahmin barons that simply care about themselves. They're using their best trained and equipped troops to protect Brahmin baron land with complete disregard for the lives it will cost.

The Courier: "What about the troopers?"
Hanlon: "You've seen it yourself. Some of them don't even have proper service rifles or armor. Our heavy infantry, power armor units, they're back in NCR territory protecting the interests of Brahmin barons against small-time raiders. Brahmin barons only have one vote at the ballot box, but they have a lot of money to throw around."

 

[Galdred]

You are absolutely correct:

Knights of the Old Republic 2 - Good start but quickly devolves into an angsty typical post-PS:T Avellone nonsensical emo journey through some PMS take on Star Wars that the defenders call "deconstruction" of the setting. Remove the "con" part for this con of a game, and you would be about right. And that's before we even get to crappy combat, biowarean hub structure, unfinished parts, and so on.

Neverwinter Nights 2 - A long slog of a mediocre RPG with arguably some of the worst maps ever. When your forest of open field looks like a room, something is very wrong.

Mask of the Betrayer - Quality writing, and some other stuff, but it's a 20 hour expansion pack. Not to mention crappy high level DnD combat, NWN2 engine, etc.

Alpha Protocol - Horrible game. Random maps around the world, time limited dialogue (WTF), cringy action and stealth gameplay, broken balance, story that makes you want to drink alcohol. How is this #29 on the list?

South Park - Enough said.

Pillars of Eternity - Vastly inferior version of 20 year old games.

So yeah, New Vegas is the clear winner, and it's not even close. Not that it's a great game, but with some combat mods, you can turn it into a decent combat system, and the story/writing/lore are very solid. Open world lends itself well to exploration, and plenty fo C&C. So all the bases are covered.

I could not force myself to finish it because I found the FPS elements weak (compared to say, any of the Deus Ex, or even Mass Effect's TPS combat), and the inventory management ended up being as bad as in Fallout 1/2, but in a different way.
Which combat mods would you recommend?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I could not force myself to finish it because I found the FPS elements weak (compared to say, any of the Deus Ex, or even Mass Effect's TPS combat), and the inventory management ended up being as bad as in Fallout 1/2, but in a different way.
Which combat mods would you recommend?

Well, you have to realize that F:NV uses a Bethesda engine, which means it will suck ass out of the box. But the good news is that ranged combat can be salvaged even in a bethesda engine, unlike say melee combat (no amount of modding will ever make Skyrim combat decent). See steps below.

1. Gotta remove the inane hitpoint bloat which dulls the combat - The best mod for this is Project Nevada: Combat Rebalance module, with Sawyer's Mod being second. Both significantly lower hitpoints for everyone (character and enemies), but PN does it even better. The end result is a more shootery experience, where you kill stuff fast but stuff also kills you fast.

2. Forget VATs exists - not joking, don't ever use this retarded sub-system. Just play it like a shooter.

3. Install the No Neos mod from the nexus. By default, enemies in F:NV dodge sideways like retards at close/medium range. This is yet another brilliant design decision by Bethesda to encourage you to use VATs, but it makes first person shooting a pain. This mod removes that, and enemies move realistically.

4. Play in Hardcore mode, as it makes Stimpaks work over time, otherwise they are basically cheat mode.

5. Try to use single shot weapons (e.g. rifles, pistols, shotguns) as opposed to automatic weapons (e.g. submachine guns, minigun, assault rifles), as automatic fire is not implemented well at all in this engine. Also, try to wear light armor, as heavier armos will functionally return you to square one with point 1, ie hitpoint bloat.

Now, if you really want to enjoy it, name your character Clint, give yourself nine agility and wild west themed perks, wear the sheriff's duster and cowboy hat, and quick draw in combat with say the beautiful Ranger Sequioa revolver. Then, combat becomes really fun.

 

[Sweeper]

New Vegas is the best Obsidian game ever

More like New Vegas is the only truly great Obsidian game ever. In a lot of ways it's a return to the original Fallouts. Writing quality(pretty much everything from characters, to factions, to world building), choice and consequence, and of course the continuation of the west coast saga. It's all reminiscent of 1&2. But it's still an FPS game in Gamebryo.
Which I don't mind that much since Fallout's always been more about the atmosphere, setting and writing for me.
Caesar's Legion. Lawful evil but in a way that makes sense for a post-apocalyptic faction that's hellbent on conquering and unifying everything, and ultimately the best choice for the Mojave, if you're not a moral fagging brainlet.

Spoiler

But the DLCs are where the game's writing truly shines. I can't tell you how much I love Joshua Graham and Ulysses. Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road alone make F:NV worth buying.

nope

You really put Alpha Protocol above New Vegas?

and kotor2

and motb

and dungeon siege 3

faggout new faggot is fallout 3 with a different coat of paint

Yes, but underneath the shallow exterior, lies an ocean of depth. The change from cavalier oblique (Yes, not isometric. Yes, I'm this much of a faggot), turn based, to first person, real time is the only real major difference between 1&2 and NV, this only effects the combat. And lets be honest here for a second, combat was never Fallout's strong suit. Are you really gonna tell me that Fallout 1 & 2 combat was something exceptional?

Regardless, NV is the closest Fallout will ever get to the originals. It's Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 type shit from here on out. Be fucking glad NV happened.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

More like New Vegas is the only truly great Obsidian game ever..

Stick of Truth is surprisingly good.

 

[Sykar]

NCR wants to control the dam to provide electricity to the Wasteland. To elevate the living conditions of the population (Legion does not even accept modern medical procedures for their soldiers, they are anti-development and anti-science group). NCR has ideals of democracy, personal freedom, self-determination. Ofcourse, they are far from perfect, but Pax Californiana seems more acceptable to most people than what the Legion offers. That's why Caesar always makes an offer at gunpoint.

NCR being a democracy is laughable, it's essentially an oligarchy.
NCR wants control of the dam likely because their brahmin barons demand it. Did you even play the game? They purposely divert power away from the people living there to their home areas. NCR has one message to the citizens of the Mohave: "Fuck You."

Caesar has quite a bit of dialogue on this btw

So things ran smoothly, more or less. And as soon as she was gone, as soon as there really could be "democracy" - what happened then?
...
Ever since losing its queen, the NCR has been weaker, more diffuse. Democracy has been its weakness, not its strength.
...
Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of citizens. The NCR is a loose conglomerate of individuals looking out for themselves. It's lost virtue. No one cares about the collective, the greater good.

The power of the NCR was taken away from what was essentially a benevolent dictator and put in the hands of globalists brahmin barons that simply care about themselves. They're using their best trained and equipped troops to protect Brahmin baron land with complete disregard for the lives it will cost.

The Courier: "What about the troopers?"
Hanlon: "You've seen it yourself. Some of them don't even have proper service rifles or armor. Our heavy infantry, power armor units, they're back in NCR territory protecting the interests of Brahmin barons against small-time raiders. Brahmin barons only have one vote at the ballot box, but they have a lot of money to throw around."

The Legion on the other hand outright steals, murders and enslaves whomever they can their dirty hands on. They do not just say "fuck you" they do screw you right away one way or the other.

 

[roll-a-die]

SNIP

The Legion on the other hand outright steals, murders and enslaves whomever they can their dirty hands on. They do not just say "fuck you" they do screw you right away one way or the other.

Incorrect, traders are utterly and completely safe so long as they trade with the legion on legion lands.

The Legion in some ways I think was supposed to be modeled around the Mongols in terms of their actuality, in fact the Burned Man and his plot line is rather similar to Chingis and his blood brother.

And to be clear I mean in terms of actual structure and presentation. Rather than in terms of what is presented on the surface. Which is shitty roman larpers.

And like the mongols they are very careful about trade. During the time of the Mongols control of the Silk Road, raiding and theft was so rare on merchants that it was said you could walk from Baghdad to Beijing with a gold bar on your head and see no trouble.

Even beyond that. There's also a real lack of looting that you can see in the town across from the NCR station. Even a quick raid like that should have had massed destruction, and looting, but the houses everywhere in the settlement are full of loot. And even the town center is unlooted. This indicates to me that either this raid was something special(Hint it's not, it's implied later that this kinda of stuff is par for the course for the legion.) or possibly Caesars Legion don't actually loot, but rather take human gains in the form of slaves. Which is again, par for the course with the Mongols, or even the Romans.

So yeah. There's that.

 

[Beastro]

NCR being a democracy is laughable, it's essentially an oligarchy.

Which given the alternatives kicking about is the only viable nation, even if the Mohave becomes a colony/outlying territory for the time being.

The power of the NCR was taken away from what was essentially a benevolent dictator and put in the hands of globalists brahmin barons that simply care about themselves. They're using their best trained and equipped troops to protect Brahmin baron land with complete disregard for the lives it will cost.

Again, the better situation than others, especially given the world they live in.

IMO, the world of Fallout is no place for "democracy" as people like to throw the word about today and it would remain that way for centuries. It's clear most, if not all of America's legacy Anglo-Saxon culture is dead and thus the primary driver behind representative government and the culture that made it work in the US is gone.

 

[Black Angel]

Yes, but underneath the shallow exterior, lies an ocean of depth. The change from cavalier oblique (Yes, not isometric. Yes, I'm this much of a faggot), turn based, to first person, real time is the only real major difference between 1&2 and NV, this only effects the combat. And lets be honest here for a second, combat was never Fallout's strong suit. Are you really gonna tell me that Fallout 1 & 2 combat was something exceptional?

Just because 1&2's combat are nothing to write home about, it's no excuse to have shitty combat for New Vegas. Yes, it's because of Bethesda's engine that they had shitty combat, but you know what else is lost in translation from isometric, turn-based to first/third-person, real-time format? The freeform interactivity that the originals had. No longer can we solve problems by using our own wits and manually right-click on objects and NPCs on screen and choose what interaction we want to have with them, either 'Look At', 'Use Item', 'Use Skill', etc etc. Instead, in 3/NV's format, you just straight interact with stuff and the game immediately decides what you can and gotta do, and the only choices you had is either you want to do them or not. Having options are still there, like whether or not you want to use your skills or use items, but the game tells you how much skills you need to pass the check or what kind of items you need exactly and how much of the items you need, instead of having the players figure it out by themselves, or risk attempting using average skills and let the dice rolls decides the outcome.

And then, there's the shitty lockpicking and hacking minigames. These are one of the worst antithesis to any proper RPG design. Instead of letting the characters skills handle the lockpicking/hacking (and instead, the skills only determine whether or not you can attempt based on arbitrary, rigid threshold), the outcome of whether or not you succeed picking that lock or hacking that terminal is decided by players dexterity as if it's some lockpicking/hacking simulator. You know what's better solution to this problem? Let the characters do the lockpicking/hacking sequence by themselves a la VTMB. Thankfully, a solution exists in form of a mod, called 'Immersive Minigames'.

Also, I haven't mentioned the lost of critical failures mechanic. No longer can you suddenly jammed that lock because your character happened to screw up. No longer can you suddenly lose an entire magazine of your ammo, or dropped your weapon, or suddenly hit yourself in melee/unarmed. There's that weapon jamming mechanic that might happen from time-to-time after reloading because of low-weapon condition, but that's nothing compared to the robust critical failures moments that 1&2 had. There's not even a Jinxed trait in New Vegas, ffs!

Lastly, have you played Fallout 1.5: Resurrection and Fallout of Nevada TC mod for Fallout 2? If you have, then you should understand what I'm talking about. Fallout 1&2, especially thanks to their engine, were the height of cRPG experience from what I know (since, if you haven't know it yet, I'm yet to experience any other RPGs older than Fallout 1&2), and while they were made to emulate P&P experience, 1.5 and Nevada proven that with the engine, they could achieve much more. We can argue that 1, 2, and NV were quite on par based on overall quality of each, but 1.5 and Nevada beat them all by a thousand miles.

Regardless, NV is the closest Fallout will ever get to the originals. It's Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 type shit from here on out. Be fucking glad NV happened.

Nah, this argument just reeks of that exact same argument repeated by Bethestards saying how we should all be glad Bethesderp 'popularized' Fallout with Fallout 3. I'm not glad NV happened, I'm sad. We don't get to see how Van Buren is really going to be, and New Vegas only reminded me of glimpses how it could have been. Not to mention the spirit of the original Fallouts lived on thanks to 1.5, Nevada, and couple other fanmade TC campaign mods, it's kinda bittersweet really. It's like listening to Maybe, except yes, I think of them, when I'm all alone with New Vegas. Yes, I sit and sigh, wishing Van Buren is near (or real, for that matter). Yes, I asked 1&2 to come back again, only to have 1.5 and Nevada whispered, 'Maybe...', to my ear.

 

[AW8]

Back to gameplay, has anyone played NV with a 'no fast travel' mode? Or combined with some of the alternate fast travel mods? It seems like playing hardcore survival is utterly redundant when at any moment you can just fast travel to a doctor for healing, or a shop/storage to quickly build up stupid amounts of loot.

I always play without using fast travel/only using fast-travel sparingly. One of my favourite things about FONV is the Legion Assassins/NCR Hit Squads, and they never spawn if you fast travel from settlement to settlement. One of my favourite memories from the game is fighting off a Legion Assassin attack, getting crippled legs, and then limping through the desert to the nearest doctor since I had no Doctor's Bag, spying around nervously for Giant Radscorpions or Nightstalkers along the way.

As for fast travel mods, I've used the Speed-E Wheels mod that adds fast travel stations around the world. It works well, allowing limited fast travel around the world for a cost, without completely removing the threat of faction assassins. But unfortunately the prices were way too cheap from what I remember, and while having to repair the stations before activating them makes sense, it was a big hassle to carry around batteries and stuff in order to repair a fast travel station you came across.

I've also played with Mobile Truck Base, which is pretty cool. It's a player home and a fast travel station in one, that you can move between predefined locations. The truck runs on flamer fuel, which I liked because it gives the item an additional and logical use. Unfortunately, there is a big design problem in which you have to walk to a location first before you can "drive" your truck there. Which means it's not enough to walk to a new location, you have to walk all the way back to your car before you can fast travel between them. And if you explore across the world and forget your truck back home, you're gonna say "fuck it" and break your "no fast travel"-rule to get back to your truck.

The conclusion is that since Obsidian didn't design for players not using fast travel, there isn't an easy way to mod in an alternative that also makes sense in the world. In Skyrim Bethesda added horse carriages outside the major cities, which allowed modders to simply beef up their costs and place them outside the small cities as well, then disable normal fast travel and suddenly you have a limited fast travel system that might win out over walking if you got the money.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Fallout: New Vegas is the only Obsidian RPG worth playing.

 

[Bigg Boss]

KotOR 2 is worth playing. Maybe not all the way through but at least to try it. You might like it. Just stick it in for a minute.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I'm replaying FO3 and enjoying it.

 

[DragoFireheart]

KotOR 2 is worth playing. Maybe not all the way through but at least to try it. You might like it. Just stick it in for a minute.

Kotor 2 is forgettable.

It's actually a hidden blessing that New Vegas won't get a sequel: Bethesda doesn't seem interested in touching the West Coast too much and may leave it alone.

We can cherish the Original Trilogy of Fallout (New California Republic series): Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas.

I think if Bethesda wanted to shit on every detail in the west coast they would have already, but they did not. They can keep making the east coast decline and it's unlikely they'll touch New Hampshire so I don't give two shits (DC is a shithole and Massholes can fuck off).

 

[Drax]

Back to gameplay, has anyone played NV with a 'no fast travel' mode? Or combined with some of the alternate fast travel mods? It seems like playing hardcore survival is utterly redundant when at any moment you can just fast travel to a doctor for healing, or a shop/storage to quickly build up stupid amounts of loot.

I always play without using fast travel/only using fast-travel sparingly. One of my favourite things about FONV is the Legion Assassins/NCR Hit Squads, and they never spawn if you fast travel from settlement to settlement. One of my favourite memories from the game is fighting off a Legion Assassin attack, getting crippled legs, and then limping through the desert to the nearest doctor since I had no Doctor's Bag, spying around nervously for Giant Radscorpions or Nightstalkers along the way.

As for fast travel mods, I've used the Speed-E Wheels mod that adds fast travel stations around the world. It works well, allowing limited fast travel around the world for a cost, without completely removing the threat of faction assassins. But unfortunately the prices were way too cheap from what I remember, and while having to repair the stations before activating them makes sense, it was a big hassle to carry around batteries and stuff in order to repair a fast travel station you came across.

I've also played with Mobile Truck Base, which is pretty cool. It's a player home and a fast travel station in one, that you can move between predefined locations. The truck runs on flamer fuel, which I liked because it gives the item an additional and logical use. Unfortunately, there is a big design problem in which you have to walk to a location first before you can "drive" your truck there. Which means it's not enough to walk to a new location, you have to walk all the way back to your car before you can fast travel between them. And if you explore across the world and forget your truck back home, you're gonna say "fuck it" and break your "no fast travel"-rule to get back to your truck.

The conclusion is that since Obsidian didn't design for players not using fast travel, there isn't an easy way to mod in an alternative that also makes sense in the world. In Skyrim Bethesda added horse carriages outside the major cities, which allowed modders to simply beef up their costs and place them outside the small cities as well, then disable normal fast travel and suddenly you have a limited fast travel system that might win out over walking if you got the money.

MTB is graet. Only small thing that annoys me is that ed-e can't handle reduced spaces and ends up like a philadelphia experiment freak.

 

[Bigg Boss]

KotOR 2 is worth playing. Maybe not all the way through but at least to try it. You might like it. Just stick it in for a minute.

Kotor 2 is forgettable.

It's actually a hidden blessing that New Vegas won't get a sequel: Bethesda doesn't seem interested in touching the West Coast too much and may leave it alone.

We can cherish the Original Trilogy of Fallout (New California Republic series): Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas.

I think if Bethesda wanted to shit on every detail in the west coast they would have already, but they did not. They can keep making the east coast decline and it's unlikely they'll touch New Hampshire so I don't give two shits (DC is a shithole and Massholes can fuck off).

I cherish Fallout Tactics as well. If New Vegas can be claimed then it can.

 

[Santander02]

NV is my real Morrowind with guns...and an infinitely better dialogue system, Obsidian should really have another crack at an FP exploration based RPG, they clearly have the talent for it

 

[Agame]

NV is my real Morrowind with guns...and an infinitely better dialogue system, Obsidian should really have another crack at an FP exploration based RPG, they clearly have the talent for it

And their writing is infinitely better when its concise and to the point, and they use the gameworld for world-building rather than giant text blocks of purple prose.

 

[Santander02]

rather than giant text blocks of purple prose.

>Insert POE's lore info dumps joke here

Pillars even has the Wikipedia style hyperlinks...Even though I mentioned Morrowind, some things from that game shouldn't be imitated.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

rather than giant text blocks of purple prose.

>Insert POE's lore info dump joke here

Pillars even has the Wikipedia style hyperlinks...Even though I mentioned Morrowind, some things from that game shouldn't be imitated.

Was the 'hover for more information thing' unique to Tyranny or did PoE have it too?
I liked it because it let me easily refresh my memory on various characters/locations.

 

[Agame]

The conclusion is that since Obsidian didn't design for players not using fast travel, there isn't an easy way to mod in an alternative that also makes sense in the world. In Skyrim Bethesda added horse carriages outside the major cities, which allowed modders to simply beef up their costs and place them outside the small cities as well, then disable normal fast travel and suddenly you have a limited fast travel system that might win out over walking if you got the money.

One of the many terrible decisions Bethesda has made post Morrowind is allowing fast travel anywhere anytime, they should have stuck with the 'carriage' system. You actually begin to appreciate the environment and you also have to think about item management when you need to plan how to get somewhere and back that isnt a hub town. Considering their games are only good as walking simulators I think they really messed that up.

Not sure if NV is really designed to be played with no fast travel, the map is created in a very linear loop traveling round from Goodsprings, and the locations are a lot more narratively driven meaning you will most likely go to them through a quest. There is the occasional higher level stuff here and there that I guess you are meant to go back to. But very different to Bethesdas style of densely packed stuff to be found everywhere you go. I may do a no fast travel run of NV, but not sure as it means I am more likely to stop playing before I get to the end.

 

[FreshCorpse]

rather than giant text blocks of purple prose.

>Insert POE's lore info dump joke here

Pillars even has the Wikipedia style hyperlinks...Even though I mentioned Morrowind, some things from that game shouldn't be imitated.

Was the 'hover for more information thing' unique to Tyranny or did PoE have it too?
I liked it because it let me easily refresh my memory on various characters/locations.

Pillars 1 did not have it.

 

[mfkndggrfll]

New Vegas is one of the worst games ever made by Obsidian, same trash tier as PoE.

Postal 2 Paradise Lost > New Vegas > F2

 

[Lord_Potato]

 

[Okagron]

New Vegas is one of the worst games ever made by Obsidian, same trash tier as PoE.

Postal 2 Paradise Lost > New Vegas > F2

Please tell me again that Vulpes Inculta is the leader of the Caesar's Legion. Retards that never played the game they are saying is shit and yet think they have an opinion on it.