[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

Did you ever sit down and put some laps in Fallout 3? IMO for $20 there's not really a better dollar to game ratio available...

Not really a fan of survival, desolate wastelands, or having the use the VATS system.

[sek929]

It's way more fun than you think it is. VATS, that is.

Other than that, if you don't get a stiffy from post apocalyptic survival games then it probably isn't for you. There is plenty of searching and looting though, which I assume is up your alley.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Other than that, if you don't get a stiffy from post apocalyptic survival games then it probably isn't for you.

We know it's not. Maybe it's just the veneer, but I got the feeling New Vegas would provide a less burdensome experience.

Originally Posted by sek929 

There is plenty of searching and looting though, which I assume is up your alley.

Borderlands is about the right amount.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

We know it's not. Maybe it's just the veneer, but I got the feeling New Vegas would provide a less burdensome experience.

I hope there is 'more' to do this time around. I got plenty of enjoyment simply discovering new areas, and there were a lot of quests to do, but eventually there is literally nothing else left but exploring and looking for the upgraded weapons.

[The Final Dakar]

Know Who Your Friends Are In Fallout: New Vegas

[Kevin Bogues]

Two days until release, I know fatty and I are both picking this up, anyone else?

My plan is to do my normal playthrough with full exploration and missions and then go back for round two in Hardcore mode.

Usually I'm one to wait on a few reviews to trickle in but honestly this game can do very little wrong, with fallout 3 in my top 5 all time games, I don't expect this to surpass F3 but I know there's over 100 hours of wasteland exploration to be done and that's good enough for me.

[exca1ibur]

I'm in on this one, for sure. Didn't care for Oblivion, but Fallout was great.

[sek929]

I've decided to start on Hardcore mode seeing as F3 was, more or less, pretty damn easy even on the hardest skill setting.

The game should be waiting for me when I get back from work on Tuesday.

[jokell82]

I plan on waiting for a price drop. Haven't had much time to play video games, so I don't see the need to spend $60 on a single player game.

[subego]

Had it on pre-order for months.

As it turns out though, it'll take me awhile to get to it. I started playing Baldur's Gate again.

Worst case scenario though is I have some DLC waiting for me. No complaints there.

[subego]

Roll the dice: Ars reviews Fallout: New Vegas

"There are also new radio stations to listen to while you walk through the Mojave, including one hosted by Mr. New Vegas, voiced appropriately by Wayne Newton."

Awesome.


The review is kind of harsh though. I guess it's buggy, which is not awesome.

[subego]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Not really a fan of survival, desolate wastelands, or having the use the VATS system.

What kills VATS for you?

I admit, I like it somewhat because I'm a little weak on the FPS front, but slow-motion head explosions never get old.

[sek929]

F3 was damn buggy too, kind of a pitfall in making such an enormous game.

It was frustrating, but Fallout's rigorous auto-save feature meant I never had to replay any significant amount of the game to get back to where I was.

In short, I was expecting it to be as buggy as F3.

[The Final Dakar]

Jesus, if I never picked up on any glaring technical issues from the way you guys speak (DLC reviews aside). I'm glad I've stayed away from the series now.

The load times mentioned in the reviews are particularly harrowing.

[subego]

I played F3 late enough in the cycle they had patched it up pretty well.

In over 200 hours I got stuck on a polygon once, and I was trying to do something weird anyway. I'd get a freeze maybe once every 20 or 30 hours, which seems reasonable. I had read (and was worried) about a gamebreaker, but they fixed that too.

Load times were on the long side, but they dole out useful bits of information on the load screen (and a funny slideshow), so it's not totally agonizing. It could use a minigame though.


BTW, my copy just came to the door while I was writing this.

[sek929]

My game froze about once every session. I experienced some really ridiculous graphical glitches and very silly character behavior.

In fact, when I reviewed F3 I gave it a B simply because of the glitches, otherwise the game is an A+ IMO.

Also dakar, the loading screen tells you very useful stuff, plus if you are listening to one of the radio stations the music does not get cut off right at the onset of loading, it continues playing until there is a proper break in the song for it to stop. Not to mention, wandering the wasteland means that you won't see a loading screen ever, unless you enter a building or other new structure apart from the wasteland.

[sek929]

3 hours in, completed the 'training' beginning area and here are my impressions.

•They added an assload of new features. Ammo types, food recipes, gun upgrades, card games, etc. Staggering amount of information to digest right now.
•This is Fallout 2. You start with the same weapon, the first recipe you get includes the same ingredients, the first enemies are the same. Very excited because even in my single playthrough of F2 I noticed there was a lot more 'fleshing-out' of the game than in F3.
•Load times are exactly the same as F3, and therefore not annoying in the least.
•Hardcore mode has yet to bite me on the ass, only concerns are that crippled limbs no longer heal with stimpacks, and your thirst can easily get out of control. Luckily the beginning area has plenty of fresh water, but this should definitely be a challenge.

Take Fallout 3, add a heaping amount of new RPG features and a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor...that's been Vegas so far. Bogues was so exited he signed on and invited me to a party chat to get my impressions.

[subego]

Originally Posted by sek929 

only concerns are that crippled limbs no longer heal with stimpacks

Without having played it yet, most of the hardcore options seem doable, if tedious. This one seems way too hardcore. It seemed like I got my legs blown off every 20 minutes in F3.

Are you going to do it legit, or go back to a save if you get whacked too hard?

[sek929]

Legit all the way through.

So far, concerning crippled limbs, watch out for bear traps/mines because having a crippled leg and no doctor bags can really put a damper on any expedition...

Not overly difficult so far, though I did head in one fateful direction than resulted in instant assrape.

[Brien]

I've been looking forward to this since Obsidian has many of the Fallout 1 and 2 developers on board, but not glad to hear about the bugs and load times.

[subego]

Originally Posted by sek929 

My game froze about once every session.

That's what I said. Every 20 hours.

[sek929]

7 hours played yesterday and I have some more impressions.

•The game locked up on me once, but was during a fast travel. I've heard around the tubes that the auto-save system might actually be to blame for most of the game crashes, and people have said that F3 became very stable once auto-saving was disabled. However, the auto-save feature has saved my ass enough to warrant me dealing with a freeze now and again.

•Don't forgo listening to every characters extended dialogue tree, there is a lot more humor in NV than F3 and it makes for an interesting listen.

•Iron sights are now usable, and actually quite handy

•VATS lets you know when the gun and/or ammo you are using does not meet the armor threshold for the enemy. Pretty nifty.

•Now that you need water all the time, you are forced to drink from irradiated sources far more often. I found F3 to be quite a bit light on having to worry about radiation sickness, which is odd for a game called Fallout.

•When you kill an enemy from a faction, you can wear their uniform and are now disguised as a member. Very useful and very cool. Just don't forget that some factions are universally hated, and you might need to switch outfits often.

Now, my one worry/complaint:

F3 didn't run amazingly smooth, far from it, but Vegas seems to have more noticeable pops and skips in the gameplay, especially when things get heated. I like to empty VATS and finish my enemies off by hand, and this inconsistency in game smoothness kinda screws me up. I've heard Obsidian and Bethesda both have a penchant for buggy games, and I really hope the number of bugs hasn't increased since F3, which lost points for those bugs. Of course in a shooter like CoD this skipping would be all but game-breaking, but for a game more focused on RPG elements it isn't so bad.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Eh, well by the time I'd get the special .44 I usually have an armory of weapons.

My main weapons are usually Ol Painless (special Hunting Rifle), .308 Sniper, A321s Plasma Rifle, Alien Blaster, Nuka Grenade and Bottlecap Mines.

One of the first weapons I try and get is the Xuanglong Assault Rifle (special Chinese Assualt Rifle). At full condition it deals an amazing amount of damage per shot.

Yes, that and Ranger armor is an amazing combo that got me most of the way through the last 15+ levels I think. Some of the special sniper rifles, with the knockdown bonus, are great against big enemies b/c of that interrupt.

New Vegas looks to be really fun, btw. Graphics are stunning, subtly different (on 360).

Does anyone know what the "special reward" is for playing in "realistic mode."?

[sek929]

Finboy, if you enjoyed F3 then New Vegas is really a thing to behold.

Better/more interesting dialogue, more weapons/weapon upgrades, more skills/more special abilities...more everything

Barring any game-breaking bugs I already proclaim Vegas to be a far superior game to Fallout 3.

[sek929]

Wow, the scope of this game is really impressive. The overall map size is the same, but the contents therein are so vastly superior to anything in F3 that my mind is sufficiently boggled.

On approach to New Vegas to follow the main quest line I thought I would arrive in the city any minute. Hours later I had accrued multiple quests, met dozens of NPCs with dialogue trees, traversed a vast working farmland and I am still not within the city.

If Fallout 3 won game of the year, then Vegas deserves it, no doubt in my mind.

NV is everything I wanted it to be, and so much more. Well done Obsidian.

Haven't experienced any more bugs/crashes/glitches now at 15 hours in, not bad. I think the stories of NV being riddled with more bugs than F3 were greatly exaggerated.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

If Fallout 3 won game of the year, then Vegas deserves it, no doubt in my mind.

It'll have to pry it from Halo's cold, dead hands.

 

BWAHAHAHAHA

[jokell82]

So what's with the backlash online about this game? I haven't been keeping up at all.

[The Final Dakar]

I haven't noticed backlash, unless you mean all the talk about it being just as buggy as 3, which frankly is deserved if its true.

[jokell82]

Dunno, just read something on Reddit about how it was an "internet crime" to purchase the game for 360. Didn't know if there was something I missed.

[Kevin Bogues]

Fatty everytime I see you playing this it makes me want to put the disc in, I'm holding my self back until I make Lt in reach

Tell me about hardcore mode, now that you are further in do you think it's the preferrable choice for playing? Although I'm no fallout veteran we both know I put well over 150 hours in f3

Please tell me the side missions are of the quality and narrative enjoyment of F3, those quests were generally just as good if not better than the actual "story"

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

Dunno, just read something on Reddit about how it was an "internet crime" to purchase the game for 360. Didn't know if there was something I missed.

It looks like this set it all off.

New Vegas’ technical shoddiness bears heavily on the game, and outright malfunctions aren’t rare occurrences. Walking through the wasteland, texture and object popping presents near-constant distraction. Elsewhere, the jerky framerate clunks and grinds in a bid to spoil your enjoyment of the artistry on offer all around. On four occasions during our playthrough, the game simply crashed. Then there’s a scorpion embedded in the road, its exposed stinger waving lamely; a coyote jogging on the spot; a Deathclaw forever foxed by a miniscule rock. Enter a room and crowds will often spawn in the centre and jerk around a particular point before settling down like good NPCs. An outfit will change in a blink when the day-night cycle switches. These aren’t exceptional instances - they’re ingrained in your journey.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

Tell me about hardcore mode, now that you are further in do you think it's the preferrable choice for playing? Although I'm no fallout veteran we both know I put well over 150 hours in f3

Play on hardcore. It doesn't make the game unplayable by any means and adds an element of survival that was desperately needed in F3, IMO.

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

Please tell me the side missions are of the quality and narrative enjoyment of F3, those quests were generally just as good if not better than the actual "story"

Bogues, this game is ****ing ridiculous. Just on approach to the strip I encountered dozens of NPCs and added over 9 quests.

Side quests are 100x more plentiful. Dialogue options are 100x more interesting. Each quest has a myriad of ways to complete it, sometimes involving people from other quests. Inventory management is more interesting (hardcore), there is more perks, more player mods (aid), more more more more.

In short, Vegas makes F3 look like a blank canvas, and I'm just 15 hours in.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by jokell82 

Dunno, just read something on Reddit about how it was an "internet crime" to purchase the game for 360. Didn't know if there was something I missed.

Whoever said that is talking out of their ass and/or purposely exaggerating to get pages hits.

Most of the engine bugs and oddities that were present in F3 are still there. Obsidian has quadrupled (if not more) the amount of NPCs and friendly outposts, so yeah, once and while someone is staring at a wall.

Considering the scope of the game, and everything they've added, it doesn't bother me in the least. Maybe an on-rails game like CoD or Bioshock would deserve hate if they had as many bugs as the Fallout series, but point out a game as large and complicated as the Fallout universe (and as I've said, way more so with Vegas) that doesn't have any quirks.

I'll take a slightly buggy yet adventurous and unique game like Vegas over some polished boring re-hash like Halo any day of the week.

[sek929]

My quest menu is now to long to view on one screen.

Jesus this game is epic, like, the most epic game I have ever attempted.

[Kevin Bogues]

Still haven't had a chance to pick up my copy from it's release day delivery, decided to pop in F3 to get my wasteland fix and to finish up the final two achievements .

I'm getting anxious to play new Vegas, and by playing some F3 today my anxiety is getting worse... Much worse.

[sek929]

Dammit Bogues, play this game and promptly come here to talk about how amazing it is!

[Kevin Bogues]

I want to play this game nowwwww

[The Final Dakar]

How do you not have it?

[Kevin Bogues]

Long story but my townhouse has terrible mail and my mailbox is the size of a loaf of bread, everytime I have an abnormal delivery (i.e anything but an envelope) it gets sent back to and I have to try and retrieve it. So I had my release day delivery sent to my parents but I have been unable to get there between work and sleep.

I'm not happy about it.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

Long story but my townhouse has terrible mail and my mailbox is the size of a loaf of bread, everytime I have an abnormal delivery (i.e anything but an envelope) it gets sent back to and I have to try and retrieve it. So I had my release day delivery sent to my parents but I have been unable to get there between work and sleep.

I'm not happy about it.

Oh, I understand. My place has small mail slot. Shipping packaged games are about the only thing that fit in it. (Speaking of which I got confirmation Fable shipped an hour ago)

So, does that mean you'll be around to take a tour of my map tonight Bogues?

[sek929]

I can only assume I am around 3/4 of the way through the main quest line, and seeing as Obsidian was retarded enough to make the main quest end the game, with no returning to scoop up side-quests, I am heavily involved in exploration and side-quests.

First, the bad.

I encountered three rather large bugs, which have finally entered the realm of unnaceptbale in my mind. I'll keep stuff real vague as to not give anything away, but I suggest Bogues PMs me eventually so he doesn't fall into the same traps.

First major unforgivable bug involves my robotic companion* It isn't much in a fight, but an extra 200lbs of inventory storage is far more useful than a dodering AI buddy attemtping to help me. I didn't have anything earth-shaking in his inventory at the time of the bug, but several useful outfits (with bonuses to Charisma and Barter) and a handful of extra ammo to sell. After completing a quest to upgrade his armor and weapons, I found that all of my stored inventory had disappeared entirely, **** off. Now when I give him any armor items that belong to a certain faction, it tells me "this character cannot wear this outfit" and drops it on the ground. It told me the same message before, but still allowed me to store faction armor in his inventory. Very annoying when I want to collect damaged armor that weighs 45lbs a pop.

Second bug involved a broken quest. When a map marker appears and turns out to be a Vault, I get a huge boner and head there right away to scoop up some swag. I fought my way through hordes of 'Raiders' all the way to their boss. I kill the boss and a get a 'quest failed' prompt, for the quest to kill the Raider boss. WTF? I might not have gotten the quest yet, and I didn't need to get it completed without talking to the appropriate channels, but I killed the guy...how does that fail the quest to kill him?

Third, and almost most annoying, glitch is an area I cannot explore because doing so has locked up my 360 3 times in a row. This is at different points in the area while doing completely different things. I am now avoiding the area, but on one of my failed trips I found sweet swag there. Sigh.

Minor annoyances.

VATS sometimes just doesn't want to engage, usually in the heat of battle while I am taking huge damage. Framerate within the New Vegas Casino Strip is poor at best. Loading times seems to get longer and longer as my gaming session wears on, at first loading times are quite quick, but hours and hours in they start to lengthen. Most Casinos and big gun shops take all your weapons before you enter, which is fine by me, but it erases my weapon binds (D-pad) every time. So when I exit said establishments I have to re-bind my weapons again...annoying, they should have let me save binds as presets. When gambling in a Casino you have to first exchange currency for chips. There are three currencies in the game so sometimes you have several different types to exchange. With two of the currencies you are able to specify a total amount you want taken in exchange, but for one currency you have to exchange one 'note' at a time for chips. When I've got 80+ 'notes' to turn in for chips that means using the same menu 80 ****ing times...who missed that one?

Now the good.

The world is way more full, more alive than Fallout 3. In F3 some towns would be populated by a total of 6 people, not so in Vegas. Just one building within one town may contain dozens of NPCs. People are growing crops, making weapons, shipping goods, etc... It seems like this wasteland community can actually sustain itself. Good vs Evil is more blurry than ever. I've stayed on the good side of most everybody just as to not burn any important quest bridges, but it hasn't been easy. Hardcore mode has finally started to become a challenge, and I am faced with dehydration a lot more than I expected, but it makes the game very interesting.

More to come, lots more.

*The companion system is vastly improved, in fact, I can't imagine it being done any better. Talk to your companion brings up a chooser wheel with all the pertinent options, hit b exits it. Fast and easy and a great help when you have limted inventory space.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

I can only assume I am around 3/4 of the way through the main quest line, and seeing as Obsidian was retarded enough to make the main quest end the game, with no returning to scoop up side-quests.

Ugh, who does that nowadays? Some other game I really liked did that, but I can't think of it off the top of my head.

Originally Posted by sek929 

I encountered three rather large bugs, which have finally entered the realm of unnaceptbale in my mind. I'll keep stuff real vague as to not give anything away, but I suggest Bogues PMs me eventually so he doesn't fall into the same traps.

Does this make those poor reviews and outrage more justified now?

[sek929]

Well there's being mad at the faults, and then over-exaggerating and saying that Bethesda is robbing people of 60 dollars.

I am still enjoying the game greatly, and I still think overall it is a much better game than Fallout 3. From what those reviews say you would think that, at nearly 50 hours played, I would have encountered way more bugs and problems than I have. In fact, all three of these problems have only cropped up in the last 5 hours or so, not nearly the epidemic some reviews predict.

Still, my overall head-strongedness about defending these faults has dimished, it is obvious the game needed more time in the QA department. I haven't looked at a single guide or FAQ about NV yet, but I feel that looking at an extended found bug list might be in my best interest at this point.

As for the end of the game, there was such an outcry about F3 doing the same thing that Broken Steel DLC made the world explore-able after the end mission. Why the hell these developers tread the same ground this time is really baffling. In a game where the main story occupies only about 50 percent of the total gameplay it is really, really ****ing stupid to have the game end at the main quest.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

From what those reviews say you would think that, at nearly 50 hours played, I would have encountered way more bugs and problems than I have. In fact, all three of these problems have only cropped up in the last 5 hours or so, not nearly the epidemic some reviews predict.

Reasonable.

Originally Posted by sek929 

As for the end of the game, there was such an outcry about F3 doing the same thing that Broken Steel DLC made the world explore-able after the end mission. Why the hell these developers tread the same ground this time is really baffling. In a game where the main story occupies only about 50 percent of the total gameplay it is really, really ****ing stupid to have the game end at the main quest.

Maybe it's to "entice" later DLC sales?

[sek929]

They needn't entice me, all the DLC they release is as good as bought.

I read that F3 had around 90 quests total, NV has 160+ total. I would hazard a guess than the main story contains about 55-60 quests, maybe a bit more, still thats nearly ONE HUNDRED quests that could be left out in the cold should you finish quickly. Not to mention, I just hit lvl 20 and the lvl cap is 30, so I could have actually finished the game before lvl 20 and left a hundred quests undone and 10 lvls unreached.

Stupid.

[Kevin Bogues]

Finished up my final two F3 achievements just in time, going to grab my copy after work thursday from the rents place.

I expect friday to be an explosion of New Vegas... put me down for excited.

New Vegas Patched for consoles
I'm hoping this first patch will fix any issues for missions you encountered fatty but PM sent for clarification

[Kevin Bogues]

Originally Posted by sek929 

They needn't entice me, all the DLC they release is as good as bought.

I haven't even played this game yet and i can confidently say i will purchase all the DLC.

[sek929]

I was posting on a gaming forum regarding NV's bugs and it seems like the majority of game-breaking bugs occur on the PC side thanks to the variety of different machine specs.

Some 360 players experienced problems with quests I completed without a hitch, some people have beaten the game with no crashes, some people encountered enough bugs in the beginning of the game that they shelved it.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to most of the bugs and loading times vary wildly as well. Several users reported that the strip consistently had terrible frame rates while some people say the strip loads in a flash and runs fine.

At any rate, I fall in the middle. Sometimes, in the strip, it will forgo the loading screen but it'll be a slide-show for 10 seconds. When it does go to the screen, the fps will be fine.

I'm curious to see what kind of experience Bogues has. I still say, for the most part, the comment that this game is totally broken and a waste of money is entirely hyperbole.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

I was posting on a gaming forum regarding NV's bugs and it seems like the majority of game-breaking bugs occur on the PC side thanks to the variety of different machine specs.

I'm curious to see what kind of experience Bogues has. I still say, for the most part, the comment that this game is totally broken and a waste of money is entirely hyperbole.

I think it's mostly the PC community. They're tolerance for BS seems lower.

I'm sure I've said this before, one of the reasons I'm pro-console.

[exca1ibur]

It IS buggy, that is a fact. Just playing last night and had 5 freezes and 2 crashes, SINCE the update. I also run into the Nelson bug where I got a fail quest ( I just reloaded and did it again, worked fine).

Great game overall, but it does have more bugs than the first, from what I have experienced no doubt. Honestly this it the buggies console game I've ever experienced. That said this is a fun game, or I would have taken this one back as well.