Cloaked Figure
Arcane
8.5/10
CONS
PROS
CONS
- some bugs such as the loading screen error, strange NPC behavior, etc... (-0.5)
- pip-boy UI and layout + inventory is pretty messy and unintuitive. i usually love organizing my items in RPG's, in FNV it's such a mess that i struggle to want to do it (-0.25)
- one of the DLC's starts you off with a bunch of OP items, specifically the grenade launcher. the launcher allowed me to easily kill that group of Legion in that town in the south. they are portrayed as ruthless and intimidating killers and that was all great, until i pulled out the 'nade launcher and destroyed them when i was like level 2 or 3. DLC shouldn't give you a bunch of cheat items right off the bat (-0.25)
- the Legion headquarters being RIGHT ON TOP OF the bunker that Mr. House needs you to get into is very strange. took me out of the story a little bit. up until this point in the game i was very impressed with how FNV had presented an old school handling of factions. i had killed the Legion capo who had sacked that small town in the south, so i was hated by the Legion and had to fight off various ambushes from them. then all of a sudden this ISIS-esque faction welcomes me into their HQ because my dick is just that big? nah. this was a low point in the story. a bit of modernity creeping in - you HAVE to meet Caesar and get a taste of every faction on every playthrough. no. i was at war with the Legion at this point. what should have happened here is the Legion kills Benny and uses the chip to destroy Mr. House's bunker and progress the story from there. (-0.5)
- con not worth removing points over: that stupid bethesda style chargen where i can finetune the exact measurements of my guy's distance between his ears and upper jawline, whether his eyebrows point upwards at 45 degrees or 50 degrees, if he has a mole on his ass etc - stupid. skin color, age, hair style - that's all you need. when it's too complex the guy always ends up looking stupid.
PROS
- the strip is great. it could have used 2-4 more towers or casinos to really knock the "shimmering oasis in the middle of chaos" aesthetic out of the park but still, it's very impressive and one of the parts of the game that transcends into art
- the world seems alive and active outside of the immediate existence of whatever the PC is up to. sandbox done right. various side quests all make sense in the context of what's going on in the world of the game. the plethora of quests and the variety of what you do in these quests is great. very old school stuff.
- i'm only on my first playthrough but it's obvious the game has some decent replayability. not only with main quest choices but also different skills. probably 2-3 good playthroughs in this one and that's not something i say lightly, ie: i wouldn't say this for a lot of other games that allegedly have high replayability. barring what i said about one specific point in the main quest earlier, i feel like the game has decent C&C.
- solid dialog, writing, voice acting.