Fallout New Vegas...7 days...

[Vintage Paw]

i'm quite surprised that you didn't like fallout 3.

I thought I'd love it. It sounded awesome. It still sounds awesome. I think I'm just rubbish. I think I fall more on the side of the player who likes to be handed fun on a plate, rather than that of the player who likes to have to walk through a barren landscape for hours only to get killed instantly because some huge brutes suddenly appear but the game hasn't let me find any kind of meaningful armament/armour and ohmygod it's so bleak.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

I thought I'd love it. It sounded awesome. It still sounds awesome. I think I'm just rubbish. I think I fall more on the side of the player who likes to be handed fun on a plate, rather than that of the player who likes to have to walk through a barren landscape for hours only to get killed instantly because some huge brutes suddenly appear but the game hasn't let me find any kind of meaningful armament/armour and ohmygod it's so bleak.

i thought the learning curve was good, you have to be cautious and cute to start with, sneaking around and slowly ingratiating yourself with people, before attempting to do too much cross-country stuff. later on, as you get tougher, you still need to be tactical and thoughtful about many missions and it's amazing how much variety there is when you go back and say and do different things. the bleakness works well against the interactions with people, it's funny how hard it can be to play it as a bastard, cos you feel proper nasty stabbing (or shooting) people in the back. when you reach the oasis, the greenery stands out as positively gorgeous, it's little touches like that which make it so good imo.

god, i sound like a fanboy...

 

[Orang Utan]

Spent 5 minutes stood in GAME the other day with the case in my hand debating whether to buy this. Thing is, I played F3 for all of about an hour before I got pissed off and never touched it again.

1) I don't like first person perspective on a console
2) third person perspective in F3 was shit
3) I like a challenge, but I found F3 too annoying with the difficulty of finding ammo, of things breaking, etc.

I want to feel the FNV love, I really do. But I'm scared I won't like it.

Urban, will I like FNV?

i never had trouble finding enough ammo, i always made sure i stocked up bigtime though, with all the guns. use a walkthrough. i would never play a game like this without my laptop on my lap to help me out.

 

[Orang Utan]

i thought the learning curve was good, you have to be cautious and cute to start with, sneaking around and slowly ingratiating yourself with people, before attempting to do too much cross-country stuff. later on, as you get tougher, you still need to be tactical and thoughtful about many missions and it's amazing how much variety there is when you go back and say and do different things. the bleakness works well against the interactions with people, it's funny how hard it can be to play it as a bastard, cos you feel proper nasty stabbing (or shooting) people in the back. when you reach the oasis, the greenery stands out as positively gorgeous, it's little touches like that which make it so good imo.

god, i sound like a fanboy...

it's a shame you can't kill children in it though

 

[Vintage Paw]

i thought the learning curve was good, you have to be cautious and cute to start with, sneaking around and slowly ingratiating yourself with people, before attempting to do too much cross-country stuff. later on, as you get tougher, you still need to be tactical and thoughtful about many missions and it's amazing how much variety there is when you go back and say and do different things. the bleakness works well against the interactions with people, it's funny how hard it can be to play it as a bastard, cos you feel proper nasty stabbing (or shooting) people in the back. when you reach the oasis, the greenery stands out as positively gorgeous, it's little touches like that which make it so good imo.

god, i sound like a fanboy...

Hmm, now see after I left the bunker/vault place thing at the beginning, I pretty quickly ended up at Megaton. Once there, there were a couple of quests I picked up, but they all seemed to involve stuff I couldn't do yet because I wasn't levelled up enough, or hadn't got the required perks or whatever. So I set out to wander around a bit. Which quickly got me killed. A lot. So I got pissed off and never played it again

 

[Vintage Paw]

i never had trouble finding enough ammo, i always made sure i stocked up bigtime though, with all the guns. use a walkthrough. i would never play a game like this without my laptop on my lap to help me out.

I've contemplated this, but resisted it because something in me gets annoyed if a game is so obscure (to me, at least) that it requires a step-by-step guide to enjoy it.

 

[Orang Utan]

i have to use them for all games! it avoids a lot of wasted time exploring.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I think that maybe I just don't like huge massive totally open world games. The games I like are open yet linear-ish, in that there is a lot to do and explore, but there is a story that will guide you through it to a greater or lesser extent, but not necessarily in a set order. Think of it as guided freedom.

I had similar problems with Oblivion, although it was easier to play and I stuck with it a little longer. Got to the first city, did a few things, wandered across the map to a town, left, raided a dungeon, got fed up.

 

[tommers]

wasted time exploring.

does not compute.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

it's a shame you can't kill children in it though

*shifts up the seat from OU*

I've contemplated this, but resisted it because something in me gets annoyed if a game is so obscure (to me, at least) that it requires a step-by-step guide to enjoy it.

i don't think it is that obscure really, but it is worthwhile following the main story for a bit, just to get the hang of things and find out whose who and what's what, so chatting with all and sundry in megaton before doing so much exploring outside and getting into the marvellous side missions.

and the guilty pleasure of blowing megaton to bits this last time aftering slaughtering the inhabitants was a blast....psycho killer, qu'est que c'est....

 

[Orang Utan]

gets boring after a while - eventually you need to get on with the story and that's where the walkthrough comes in. you might miss stuff if you don't use one.

 

[monkeypig]

gets boring after a while - eventually you need to get on with the story and that's where the walkthrough comes in. you might miss stuff if you don't use one.

Walkthroughs are fine, once you've already reached that point where you'd have given up without it!

 

[Voley]

If you didn't like Fallout 3, VP, I doubt you'd like this. It's very similar.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Thanks everyone. Might give F3 another go at some point, but unless I can get into that I shan't buy this.

 

[Orang Utan]

Walkthroughs are fine, once you've already reached that point where you'd have given up without it!

not necessarily. they help if you don't want to go through all that desperate wandering about and want to get stuck into the missions/story. i haven't got time to get desperate!

 

[monkeypig]

If you didn't like Fallout 3, VP, I doubt you'd like this. It's very similar.

good more of the same can't wait. I just can't bring myself to pay over 35 squid for a game.

 

[Voley]

good more of the same

That's exactly what I thought after playing half an hour of it. There's been a few tweaks but after playing an hour or so it looks like it's the same thing of amass loads of weaponry/ammo, kill stuff, have the occasional moral dilemma about doing the right thing or being a total shit and generally wander off into the sunset blasting radioactive scorpions. of course it might all change into Super Mario Kart when I get to Vegas, but it looks unlikely from what I've seen so far.

 

[Dandred]

After 7 hours turned off hardcore

Been great since....

On very hard but thank god. Food, Water, Sleep was pissing me off.

I like to drink a few beers and play .

I seem to just wander around and find people do some stuff and then 3 or 4 quests have been updated and finished before I had chance to realise what had gone on.......

 

[Epona]

I have just got to the outskirts of Vegas and damn this game is good. I'm especially loving the faction relationships and reputations system, it all becomes much more complex and gritty in the seedier urban areas. Also liking the companion system, it's much easier to tell your companions what to do in this game, I never bothered with them in FO3 (apart from recruiting Dogmeat and having him stay at home in Megaton, I could never quite bring myself to let him wander off or put him in danger!).

Also loving the fact that the levelling system is more balanced, you're not going to be god-like with maxed out stats and skills, it forces you to specialise a bit more. I like hardcore mode, but I'm considering getting a mod that removes the healing factor from food items, so that food is for hunger and chems are for healing and bonuses, that way you're not assuaging your grumbling stomach every time you're wounded by using food to heal.

The only thing I'm slightly miffed about is that I haven't yet found a sniper rifle, they do exist but they don't seem to be that common and I do prefer a stealth + critical-headshot-from-200-yards style of play, at least when outdoors. I might have to look up where I can get one if nothing shows up soon!

 

[Orang Utan]

II'm considering getting a mod that removes the healing factor from food items, so that food is for hunger and chems are for healing and bonuses, that way you're not assuaging your grumbling stomach every time you're wounded by using food to heal.

why makes things more difficult intentionally?

 

[tommers]

what are the bugs like? I've read reviews that say they almost ruin the game... is this true?

I'm contemplating getting the PC version....

 

[ohmyliver]

not quite as far in as you, but yeah the faction/reputation system is good, not tried hardcore mode, although I get the occasional message about taking a sip from my vault 13 flask

 

[ohmyliver]

what are the bugs like? I've read reviews that say they almost ruin the game... is this true?

I'm contemplating getting the PC version....

I'm not that far in, and have only played for about 6/7 hours so far, but I've only really seen a bit of dodgy collision detection... had a bit of slight jerkyness, but setting both the game launcher, and game executable to run in compatibility mode for xp sp3 (I've got win 7 home premium) has fixed that....

 

[Epona]

what are the bugs like? I've read reviews that say they almost ruin the game... is this true?

I'm contemplating getting the PC version....

Let me try to explain it as I see it (mostly from hovering around the official forum which has pretty much descended into warring factions, much like the game itself). There are 3 groups of people with differing opinions on the game.

1). A minority of console gamers mostly in the US who were hit with a number of showstopping bugs on US release day and had to wait a few days for a patch who were very vocal about their complaints and still aren't happy, a lot of them also don't like other elements of the game that make it more RPG than FPS such as weapon modifications and having an inventory, and experiencing an occasional small graphical glitch of the type common to that game engine, they just can't cope with that sort of thing.

2) PC Players who are morally/ethically/conspiralooniorally opposed to downloading Steam and are making a mountain out of a molehill about Steam authentication in fear that their tin hats won't protect them from this awful 'malware', and want to see Bethesda burn in hell for all eternity for requiring Steam authentication.

3) People who think the game is the best new gen RPG released in recent years and who haven't encountered any major bugs whatsoever. These people are mostly PC gamers, that version of the game had fewer initial teething problems, and that group includes many FO1 & 2 fans also.

I am in the third group. I played it for 16 hours solid in one go (yes I know that's not good for me) and 30 hours in total so far - PC digital version from Steam - and have not had any bugs or performance issues whatsoever, not in the slightest, running it on ultra-high graphics settings. Not A Single Bug.

If you loved FO3 and relish the thought of more of the same - get New Vegas
If you liked FO3 but thought it could have been darker, grittier, had a better story and dialogue, and allowed you to take sides more and have more complex faction choices rather than just playing along with the BOS and only being able to switch sides at the last minute - get New Vegas
If you loved Fallout 1 & 2 but didn't like the simplified RP elements of FO3 - get New Vegas.

It's a fantastic game, and although a minority are experiencing some bugs, patches are being released thick and fast (Bethesda and Obsidian have always been great at post-release support) and most have already been fixed. Reviews rarely get re-written to take into account the release of a patch within hours of the game being released, and therefore don't reflect the current playability of the game.

 

[Dandred]

I'm in the 3rd group, no problems at all, no bugs yet .

Splendid game

 

[ohmyliver]

perhaps we should rename the thread "Fallout New Vegas or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bugs"

 

[Voley]

The only bug I've encountered is very occasional jerkiness. Nothing else at all.

 

[tommers]

OK cool.

 

[ohmyliver]

Just managed to prise my self away from it. This is the game that lovers of fallout 1 and 2 hoped fallout 3 was going to be. Have after much dithering thrown my lot in with ncr. It wasn't the brutality of the Legion, more the whining enhabitants of various towns, and that woman selling a pregnant woman into slavery. They need government, god damn it, and that ncr sniper npc is quite the sharpshooter

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Been playing most of the day. It's very similar indeed to Fallout 3 but that's absolutely fine with me as I loved it (in fact it's quite nice to get a new game and not have to spend a while getting a feel for the controls.)

It has hung up on me a couple of time though which is irritating.