fallout: new vegas

[MarcusAurelius]

cause it deserves it's own thread.


wtf, i can't pick the realism mode on first run? F that.

[Tom the Cat]

[MarcusAurelius]

nevermind, i guess it's not pickable in game options, but only when you actually start the game. UI fail.

also, fuck you TtC. stick with your gay mac-friendly flash games.

[Tom the Cat]

[floor punching mummy]

:salute:

is that smiley doing a SIEG HEIL?

[Wycked]

Just started it up, and went right to Hardcore mode. It says water is important, but my dude seems to be automatically drinking from the canteen. So... is it?

I also got the preorder bonus, the "Classic Pack" which gives you the Armored Vault 13 Jumpsuit (slightly better armor than what you start with), Vault 13 Canteen (which seems to automatically water my dude, but less than drinking from water fountains or toilets, or even bottled water), a Weathered 10mm Pistol (somewhat better than the other weapons you can get at the start), and 5 Stimpaks. For a "bonus," pretty fucking weak.

[nippletwister]

But what did you WANT?

[Cody]

anyone not go hardcore mode? and if so, why?

[Gretyl]

I ordered from Amazon and have yet to receive my preorder bonus.

[Talenos]

I had to order from Sears.com to get the collector's edition, so no pre-order bonus for me. I'm going "real" hard core.

[MarcusAurelius]

Graphics are improved, but geez, same settings as the last game and my gtx260 is sluggish as hell

Posted with TouchBB on my iPhone

[Gretyl]

clurrly you lack the gee-pee-yewzzz

[MarcusAurelius]

so do i get another gtx260, or do i pony up for a 480.... hrrmmmmm

[Wycked]

But what did you WANT?

I didn't even know there was a preorder bonus to begin with. But it seems kind of insignificant and weak to be considered a bonus.

[Gretyl]

ugh, natural light? what's that?

[Talenos]

So Sears.com emailed me to tell me the CE I ordered was out of stock and they credited back my account

Luckily Amazon seemed to have some back in stock and I have prime, and already got the shipping notice

[Gretyl]

apparently there are a few show-stopper bugs in here... I'm ~23 hours in and hope I don't get bit by any of them.

[Gretyl]

For the rekkid, I'm on PS3 and only seen three lockups that were non-recurring, and had a companion who disappeared for a few indoor sections while I was randomly sewer-crawling.

[MarcusAurelius]

haven't really gotten into new vegas yet, but.... given just how "open" F3 was, i'd say the lack of bugs was nothing short of amazing.

[floor punching mummy]

i was majorly frustrated at how unstable F3 was. annoyed to see they didn't learn anything this time around. glad i didn't pony up $50 for a game with such glaring errors.

[Pokaris]

anyone not go hardcore mode? and if so, why?

Me, laziness.

I like to shoot things in the face, and having to do things that don't involve face shooting detracts from my enjoyment of the game. I don't save a lot, so it tends to make my life easier than the quicksave, quickload bit.

Anyone else having trouble with saves not being numbered right? Mine are just like 001, 002, 003, 004 and then it will start over. Wondering if this is an SSD thing or not. I don't remember F3 doing this.

[Gretyl]

might's well log 'em as I see 'em. just got lockup #4 after clearing out scorpion gulch

[MarcusAurelius]

i was majorly frustrated at how unstable F3 was.

example? i honestly don't remember any bugs during long playthroughs on 360, and then didn't have any issues with a bit less game time on pc.

[Pokaris]

i was majorly frustrated at how unstable F3 was.

example? i honestly don't remember any bugs during long playthroughs on 360, and then didn't have any issues with a bit less game time on pc.

I think I locked it up once on a pretty crappy rig on PC. No issues so far on Ultra High on PC this time around (other than the save numbering bit).

[Arch_Bushmaster]

i could use some quest help, google was no use

the quest is called Left My Heart, i've killed everyone in Cottonwood Cove, and i've deactivated the 3 slave collars. when i talk to the mother she still asks me if i'm going to free them... what else do i need to do to free them?

[floor punching mummy]

i was majorly frustrated at how unstable F3 was.

example? i honestly don't remember any bugs during long playthroughs on 360, and then didn't have any issues with a bit less game time on pc.

example? what, you think i log these things? ;-p more fucking crashes than i could count. sometimes i'd play for hours no prob, and other times it'd crash every half hour. no noticeable correlations between crashes and anything else.

[MarcusAurelius]

i dunno man. in the games that i remember specifically being buggy, i remember why. just sayin.

[floor punching mummy]

well that's the thing, it was totally random. it wasn't "enter a certain area and it freaks out" or somesuch. it was really aggravating.

[Cody]

god damn game's become unplayable. I was having fun for a long time with relatively few bugs or glitches. I've just gotten to the point where I've almost entered downtown Vegas and now it seems to freeze about every 10 minutes. I definitely can't play any more until they fix it up a bit.

[Gretyl]

360? I don't see any repeatable (time- or action-based) lockups in the Strip on PS3

[Talenos]

i was majorly frustrated at how unstable F3 was.

example? i honestly don't remember any bugs during long playthroughs on 360, and then didn't have any issues with a bit less game time on pc.

example? what, you think i log these things? ;-p more fucking crashes than i could count. sometimes i'd play for hours no prob, and other times it'd crash every half hour. no noticeable correlations between crashes and anything else.

stack trace or it didn't happen!

[Talenos]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010 ... utrage.ars

[Gretyl]

I'd agree with that on all points. Gamers get what they deserve, multiplied by the $60 price tag.

Also, I love this portion of Ars' original review:

But really, for all of its grandeur and epic narrative, New Vegas is a game of small moments. Seeing a group of starving children chasing a giant rat and then eating it raw. Entering a town filled with charred corpses nailed to crosses. Or simply seeing the sunrise while listening to Johnny Cash and realizing you've been walking the entire night. These moments make the world feel real and are equally as satisfying as reaching a new experience level or surviving a close battle.

[MarcusAurelius]

sooooo different developer = shittier QC?

i played the leaked version of fallout3 for 360 a full month before release, and i honestly don't remember a single bug. it was actually distinct in my memory that a game so massive could be so well polished.

glad i'm not gonna have time for a while to spend the requisite 50+ hours this game deserves.

[Gretyl]

I'd emphasize the plus there. This game feels like it has ~60% more content than no-DLC Fallout 3 had.

[MarcusAurelius]

sweet jebus.

[Wycked]

I haven't had a whole lot of time to play, but on the PS3 I haven't really run into any issues. Yet. Every so often it'll hang up for a fraction of a second, but otherwise it runs a lot more smoothly than FO3. And I would also emphasize the +... Before i got rid of FO3 I think I was at somewhere between 110 and 120 hours of play after all the DLC. If this game has more than all that before DLC... holy crap.

[Gretyl]

No, I'm claiming this game's more than half-again as large as Fallout 3 was at-release. I've got ~50 hours on my first character and have more than a few sidequests+branches left over for my mega-bad and mega-neutral playthroughs.

[Gretyl]

Keep getting distracted from the main questline with useful character plot points...

[Cody]

Are you playing it three times just to play it three times so you never have to worry about the consequences of your actions because you get to see what they were? I think it's more exciting to accept that there will be consequences for performing certain actions and just let the cards fall where they may.

[Gretyl]

"never have to worry"? No, I'm playing three distinct character concepts to see how far I can actualize each one. You have an odd perspective on RPG's, guy.

It's probably clearer for me to say I'm doing three-and-a-half playthroughs: House replacement (House support), Legion support, NCR support.

[Cody]

No, you have an odd perspective on RPGs. You're not playing a role. You're playing all of the roles. You're not getting the experience of pissing off some faction and never being able to talk to them because you can just load up your other file.

[Reagraham Lincool]

That well of gaming experience is already poisoned merely by knowing that the option to replay the game exists. A game that wouldn't give you that option would be cool, but if it's there...

[MarcusAurelius]

Are you playing it three times just to play it three times so you never have to worry about the consequences of your actions because you get to see what they were? I think it's more exciting to accept that there will be consequences for performing certain actions and just let the cards fall where they may.

i don't have it in me to play evil. in F3 on a second playthrough i nuked megaton, and then couldn't go on when moira brown showed up as a chipper ghoul

[Gretyl]

No, you have an odd perspective on RPGs. You're not playing a role. You're playing all of the roles. You're not getting the experience of pissing off some faction and never being able to talk to them because you can just load up your other file.

"other file" is a completely different character. Why is it antithetical to the genre to play more than one character?

[Tom the Cat]

ITT Cody's never heard of "alts"

[Santa]

That well of gaming experience is already poisoned merely by knowing that the option to replay the game exists. A game that wouldn't give you that option would be cool, but if it's there...

The only way that option would work would be to add cost to each character generation.

Could be an interesting business model. $10/character spawn?

[Santa]

so do i get another gtx260, or do i pony up for a 480.... hrrmmmmm

480s are a ripoff, especially with the mid-level 6 series ati just put out.

[Cody]

No, you have an odd perspective on RPGs. You're not playing a role. You're playing all of the roles. You're not getting the experience of pissing off some faction and never being able to talk to them because you can just load up your other file.

"other file" is a completely different character. Why is it antithetical to the genre to play more than one character?

You're not playing a character. You're playing all of the characters. Video games are about interacting with your world and experiencing the consequences of doing one thing instead of a different thing. You are denying yourself that level of interaction by doing all of the things. There's no point in playing a video game any more. You might as well be reading a book.

[Gretyl]

I disagree. My experience is not less "gamey" for expanding beyond a single narrative thread. I'm still bound by the systems of the game to the consequences I choose for each character, so it's not like I'm console-hacking the quest rewards or other godmode hucksterism.

Were you the kind of kid to rip out the pages for options you didn't pick in CYA books?

[Talenos]

They need to bound your save file to your social security number, so everyone only gets one save!

[Santa]

No, you have an odd perspective on RPGs. You're not playing a role. You're playing all of the roles. You're not getting the experience of pissing off some faction and never being able to talk to them because you can just load up your other file.

"other file" is a completely different character. Why is it antithetical to the genre to play more than one character?

You're not playing a character. You're playing all of the characters. Video games are about interacting with your world and experiencing the consequences of doing one thing instead of a different thing. You are denying yourself that level of interaction by doing all of the things. There's no point in playing a video game any more. You might as well be reading a book.

An awesome choose your own adventure book!

[Tom the Cat]

Cody, you seriously only ever play one character down one path of an RPG?

Man, that's boring.

[Gretyl]

Seriously, that position seems extremely backward to be genre-defining. If consequences and their stickiness is What Matters™ in RPG video games, then more games would prevent restarting after death, don't you think?

I agree it's an interesting design choice, and I like playing those games too, but the stickiness is totally separable from the genre. This is a good thing, not omgh4xx.

[MarcusAurelius]

i kinda agree with cody. i can count on one hand the number of games i've completed more than once. actually, probably on 0 hands.

[Talenos]

There's a game you can play where you don't get any redos and have to face all the consequences for your action. It's called real life.

[Cody]

Cody, you seriously only ever play one character down one path of an RPG?

Man, that's boring.

Look, I just think it's specifically silly that Gretyl is playing all three dudes simultaneously. When playing a game like this, it's good to have consequences. If I can kill all the bad guys and steal their treasure, then log in on my other character and infiltrate the bad guys' camp and find out why they were protecting that treasure in the first place, then I'm robbing myself of an experience back on my first guy.

This argument I am making does not apply to replaying the game once it has been completed.

[MarcusAurelius]

oh he's doing them all simultaneously? i didn't catch that. that's extremely retarded and would ruin a game for me.

[Gretyl]

This argument I am making does not apply to replaying the game once it has been completed.

That's what I'm doing, goofus. I haven't started the other two-and-a-half characters yet.

oh he's doing them all simultaneously?

no.

[Tom the Cat]

This argument I am making does not apply to replaying the game once it has been completed.

Well, good. Because that's what he's doing and that's what I do all the time. I thought you'd gone off the reservation!

[Wycked]

I guess I don't understand why wanting to thoroughly explore every aspect of something you paid money for is a bad thing. I'd play through to see how things are as an evil character, but I barely have the time to play through the game once, let alone two or three times. But that's a game this huge. I've done similar things in other games I did have time for, like playing through all 13 endings of Chrono Trigger. You paid for it... it's there for you to play. Who cares how you do it.

[Cody]

This argument I am making does not apply to replaying the game once it has been completed.

That's what I'm doing, goofus. I haven't started the other two-and-a-half characters yet.

oh he's doing them all simultaneously?

no.

ok, well I guess when I read this I interpreted it as you saying you're almost done with your first character but have a ways to go (more than a few sidequests+branches, but less than all) with your other two characters that you've already started.

No, I'm claiming this game's more than half-again as large as Fallout 3 was at-release. I've got ~50 hours on my first character and have more than a few sidequests+branches left over for my mega-bad and mega-neutral playthroughs.

[Gretyl]

I almost started one of the alts last night, but chose instead to wrap up my main first. Definitely interested to see how they wrap up this ball of shit I've started.

[nippletwister]

Funny, I always think of this issue while gaming.

What kills me is that I stop making choices in the game world for game-world reasons, I end up thinking meta and make choices for programming and storyline reasons, which seems like a design flaw especially noticeable in games with a good/bad dynamic.

[Tom the Cat]

I guess you're just a bad roleplayer