Alright Boyz, here we go!! Fallout New Vegas first impressions

[BYU 14]

Only 2 days away and I am more excited for this one that I was Fallout 3. Bringing back some of the creative team from FO 1 and FO 2, it seems this will be more in line with some of my favorite things from those versions. From the trailers the strip seems like a place you could lose hours on just exploring, gambling and engaging in whatever other vices are available.

Also loving that they have brought back some of the things from the first 2 versions like the SPECIAL system, traits and perks and the new hardcore mode as well, which will make things more immersive IMO.

It is refreshing to see that Fallout is going to offer options that challenge the player more, when so many games have been going away from this and dumbing it down in recent years.

[Big Fo]

I can't decide whether I will play with hardcore mode on or not.

On one hand it will make the game more challenging and realistic, perhaps making it more immersive. On the other hand it might just wind up being very tedious. And I kind of liked being able to carry enough ammo to outfit an infantry platoon even if it was kind of ridiculous.

[BYU 14]

I can't decide whether I will play with hardcore mode on or not.

On one hand it will make the game more challenging and realistic, perhaps making it more immersive. On the other hand it might just wind up being very tedious. And I kind of liked being able to carry enough ammo to outfit an infantry platoon even if it was kind of ridiculous.

The ammo was the one thing I thought about, but to be honest I don't recall ever getting that much of a stockpile in FOF 3. I am sure there will be living quarter where you can store excess ammo.

Guess it also depends on how much you can carry, I think bullets will never be an issue and see this affecting the big guns mainly. I will definitely start in hardcore and see how it goes.

Also didn't mention in the first post, but I am happy to see the Karma system back as well.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm pretty hopeful, hard to resist the urge to be optimistic.

Got the shipping notification from Wal-Mart on Friday, hopefully no slip ups between now & Tuesday.

[samifan24]

The hardcore mode only allows you to carry a limited amount of ammo and headshots are instant kills, correct?

[BYU 14]

The hardcore mode only allows you to carry a limited amount of ammo and headshots are instant kills, correct?

Correct on the ammo, not sure on headshots, but I imagine so.

[Big Fo]

The ammo was the one thing I thought about, but to be honest I don't recall ever getting that much of a stockpile in FOF 3. I am sure there will be living quarter where you can store excess ammo.

Guess it also depends on how much you can carry, I think bullets will never be an issue and see this affecting the big guns mainly. I will definitely start in hardcore and see how it goes.

Also didn't mention in the first post, but I am happy to see the Karma system back as well.

Even regular pistol bullets had weight in the first two Fallout games, I was assuming that would be the case here. But yeah, they didn't weigh much (and probably won't in F:NV).

Stimpacks restoring health over time instead of instantly will be another big difference if I play in hardcore mode, I won't be able to have my hit points go down to 10% then just go into the Pipboy and use a handful of those.

[Dutch]

Haha, I'm playing through Fallout: Tactics for the first time ever (because I'm bored as hell and only have a laptop) and the voice actor talking to me (a recruit in the Brotherhood of Steel) sounds familiar. And sure enough it's our favorite marine corp gunnery sergeant. :)

From iMDB...

R. Lee Ermey
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246614/) (Video Game)
General Barnaky (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0080047) (voice)

[SportsDino]

I think this will be a surefire win. It will be a tweak of the FO3 engine, but it'll be close enough that it will still have the allure for that group, but the tweaks I think address some of the cheesier gameplay parts of FO3.

Fallout 1/2 ammo weight was hardly a burden, and the insta-health after enough playing just got rid of the thrill of battle. I played FO3 with house rules just to get a sense of danger... I'm generally hoping for a more challenging game, and hopefully not in the sense that they make every monster take 20 shots to kill (which is what I felt about some of the 'challenge expansions' of FO3, although maybe that is just an aspect of my taking them on with lower level characters).

I like games that make you play smarter versus harder, so I'm hoping it delivers. Also the Vegas setting should be awesome, and these guys will probably deliver a more solid storyline and interesting quests.

[Groundhog]

Until the last 20% of FO3, I was always struggling for ammo. I can't recall how many times I found myself running backwards and firing a crappy pistol at a super-mutant's head over and over again.

I bought all the add-ons for FO3 on a Steam sale after finishing it, but strangely I haven't played through them yet. I'll definitely grab New Vegas at some point, but to be honest NCAA 11 and NBA 2K11 have taken up all my gaming time at the moment.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Until the last 20% of FO3, I was always struggling for ammo. I can't recall how many times I found myself running backwards and firing a crappy pistol at a super-mutant's head over and over again.

Just in case anyone is still playing for the 1st time I'll spoiler tag this but

IIRC any occasional ammo crunch was eliminated once I started trading with the vampire dude in the old subway & with the folks on the ship.

[RainMaker]

I can't wait for this game to get here.

[Tasan]

Preorder is in on Steam. Downloading now.

[jeff061]

I stockpiled ammo as much as I could. I traded all my goods in for ammo first and caps second. And bought every bit of desired ammo I saw from vendors. Same thing I did for the originals. Was pretty rarely hurting for ammo.

[Atocep]

I preordered and preloaded on steam a couple of days ago. I'm really excited about this game. Not just because I liked Fallout 3, but because the lead devs from Black Isle are the guys running the show on this one.

At times FO3 felt more like a typical Bethesda game than a Fallout game and everything I've read on this one makes it sound like this game has more of that Fallout feel to it.

[BYU 14]

I preordered and preloaded on steam a couple of days ago. I'm really excited about this game.

So is the preorder locked until Tuesday then or can you play early?

[Groundhog]

I imagine it'd be locked.

[EagleFan]

Isn't this a violation? A first impression thread for a game that isn't out yet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Happiness reigns at my house for the night. F:NV currently sits at the Athens, GA FedEx location, awaiting Tuesday delivery.

And yes, my son pondered more than once what the odds of successfully breaking into the facility might be.

[Atocep]

So is the preorder locked until Tuesday then or can you play early?

Steam unlocks it at 10am Tuesday morning.

[BYU 14]

Isn't this a violation? A first impression thread for a game that isn't out yet.

This is the pre-order version of a first impression thread :)

[Izulde]

I may pick it up right away or I may wait, as I've gotten back into Oblivion after hooking up my PS3 finally after two months of TV stand troubles.

[DeToxRox]

Going at Midnight to pick this up. Can't fucking wait.

[Mustang]

I lucked out in scheduling time off this week (Wed-Fri). Very few things get me to do a purchase on day 1 and this will be one.

[TroyF]

Until the last 20% of FO3, I was always struggling for ammo. I can't recall how many times I found myself running backwards and firing a crappy pistol at a super-mutant's head over and over again.

I bought all the add-ons for FO3 on a Steam sale after finishing it, but strangely I haven't played through them yet. I'll definitely grab New Vegas at some point, but to be honest NCAA 11 and NBA 2K11 have taken up all my gaming time at the moment.

Until the last 1% of FO3, I had a blast. The ending was so painfully poor that it ruined most of the game for me. Please, for the love of God, have a better ending. That's all I ask.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am very much looking forward to it. I pre-ordered it months ago. I will download it tomorrow night.

I really enjoyed the first one. I didn't even mind the ending all that much. I bought into it.

The game did get easy towards the end. Once I got over the 'ammo being a problem' hump and got that plasma rifle from the android, I never really had too many issues. I still enjoyed it. It was nice going from a guy scavenging around to an ultimate badass.

I need to get the expansions on super sale one day.

[TroyF]

I am very much looking forward to it. I pre-ordered it months ago. I will download it tomorrow night.

I really enjoyed the first one. I didn't even mind the ending all that much. I bought into it.

The game did get easy towards the end. Once I got over the 'ammo being a problem' hump and got that plasma rifle from the android, I never really had too many issues. I still enjoyed it. It was nice going from a guy scavenging around to an ultimate badass.

I need to get the expansions on super sale one day.


I couldn't buy into the ending at all. Not even a little bit. Now, if a particular person hadn't been in my party? Sure, I'd get it. But not with that person there.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I couldn't buy into the ending at all. Not even a little bit. Now, if a particular person hadn't been in my party? Sure, I'd get it. But not with that person there.

I had the same guy in my party and it still didn't really bother me. I am all about heroic sacrifices.

I think the reasoning behind why your ally wouldn't do it could have been much better. It really comes down to re-writing a simple line. Instead of "This is something you have to do" or whatever he said, he could have just gone, "I can't survive that level of radiation. It's too powerful even for me."

[mckerney]

Steam unlocks it at 10am Tuesday morning.

The time for Steam unlocking has been changed to midnight pacific time.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I need to get the expansions on super sale one day.

Not sure what system you're using but I think they either are or were on sale from XBL over the weekend

[Honolulu_Blue]

Not sure what system you're using but I think they either are or were on sale from XBL over the weekend

Thanks, Jon. I'm a PC guy, so I will just have to wait for a Steam sale to kick in. I figured there would be one right around the release of "Vegas", but apparently I will have to for some holiday sale or something.

I got "Fallout 3" for $19.99 off Steam, so I can't really justify spending almost $50 for the expansion packs.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thanks, Jon. I'm a PC guy, so I will just have to wait for a Steam sale to kick in. I figured there would be one right around the release of "Vegas", but apparently I will have to for some holiday sale or something. I got "Fallout 3" for $19.99 off Steam, so I can't really justify spending almost $50 for the expansion packs.

Nope, $50 to expand $20 would kinda suck. I've long since given up on remembering who plays on what systems around here, I have enough trouble remember which button to push when I'm playing myself ;)

[klayman]

I had the same guy in my party and it still didn't really bother me. I am all about heroic sacrifices.

I think the reasoning behind why your ally wouldn't do it could have been much better. It really comes down to re-writing a simple line. Instead of "This is something you have to do" or whatever he said, he could have just gone, "I can't survive that level of radiation. It's too powerful even for me."

That would have been a good compromise, I think. IIRC, they changed it in one of the expansion packs though (probably Broken Steel) where the character could end up completing the task for you, since you survived after in BS anyway.

[Atocep]

The time for Steam unlocking has been changed to midnight pacific time.

I had planned on sleeping tonight. Oh well.

This is the game I'm most excited about and nothing comes close until Witcher 2 is released early next year (hopefully).

[mckerney]

I had planned on sleeping tonight. Oh well.

This is the game I'm most excited about and nothing comes close until Witcher 2 is released early next year (hopefully).

I was hoping to stay up to play it, not sure that I'll make it. :(

And I'm with you on it being the game I'm most looking forward to this year. Not much coming out the rest of this year, but I'm exciting for The Witcher 2, Portal 2, Dota 2, and Gran Turismo 5 next year.

[Atocep]

Game is running. Jumping right into hardcore mode.

[Atocep]

If you're playing on PC it looks WAY better than 3. Overall textures are at a much higher resolution and people look more realistic.

Hardcore mode is already a bitch.

Only a couple hours in so far but it's everything I was hoping for.

[JonInMiddleGA]

One of the first full-on reviews I've read
http://www.justpushstart.com/2010/10/19/fallout-new-vegas-review/

[JonInMiddleGA]

IGN says 9 out of 10 (for PS3)
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/112/1128829p2.html

[JonInMiddleGA]

And another review
http://www.giantbomb.com/fallout-new-vegas/61-25933/reviews/

The early reaction seems to be pretty consistent: It feels like an enormous expansion (which is precisely what I was hoping for) more than a new game. The technical glitches are considerable, which isn't much of a surprise if you played 3. The world is pretty incredible & the 80 hours of gameplay (with side missions) is staggering.

About the only thing I've kind of changed my thinking about from reading is that I'm more likely to start in hardcore mode from the outset instead of going with the simpler mode. It sounds as though I can always drop down a notch, albeit at the expense of getting the hardcore achievements, if I find that I'm truly overmatched.

[Icy]

Damn, i'm getting interested and i didn't play Fallout 3 on Ps3.

Seeing the Steam offers, what do you guys recommend me for PC?

a) Fallout 3 GOTY (includes all DLC) for 50€
b) Fallout New Vegas for 50€

I like how the hardcore mode sounds in NV, but i have also been reading some reviews about the multiple bugs, while i guess that 3+all DLC will have some patches already to fix the bugs it had.

[RainMaker]

Sounds great. I didn't want them to screw with the game too much. I just wanted a different world and some cool stuff to explore. Everything I've seen from this makes me real happy. Should be here on Thursday and looking to spend the weekend digging through it.

[BYU 14]

Really liking the reviews and I agree with Jon, they make the hardcore mode sound even more appealing. That will definitely be the way I go.

Can't wait to hear some more impressions from folks here.

[JonInMiddleGA]

while i guess that 3+all DLC will have some patches already to fix the bugs it had.

FWIW, some of those bugs/glitches/quirks still remain afaik.

There's also some distinction between true bugs & inherent quirkiness, for example things like the paths that NPC's take in-game. As one reviewer mentioned this morning, it becomes pretty obvious when a character is trying to "hit their mark" before delivering a line. Occasionally there's circumstances where doing so just sort of looks funny.

Other things, like clipping or occasional collision detection failures are indeed bugs but they'll still pop up occasionally even in 3 (although I don't recall offhand many outright freeze/crash problems after the final DLC's).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Love this quote from another review
The map, though similar-sized to Fallout 3's, seems more jam-packed than ever – New Vegas is less a sandbox game than whole beach to play around in.
Fallout: New Vegas for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC | Game review | Technology | guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/oct/19/fallout-new-vegas-review)

[Honolulu_Blue]

I started downloading this right before I left for work this morning.

I am definitely going to be playing "hardcore" mode. It's not that I am all that great at these games or need a super challenge to make things interesting, but I love the scavenging/survival aspect of the whole Wasteland setting, so I am down with it.

Now I just have to figure out what kind of character I want to play...

[Tasan]

So who has gotten to play today? I am unlocking it right now on Steam.

[Mustang]

I haven't started playing yet, but I assume fast travel is still there when you look at the map. How does the game in hardcore handle that? Do you arrive in the same condition when you started or do you find yourself fatigued when you arrive?

[Honolulu_Blue]

I haven't started playing yet, but I assume fast travel is still there when you look at the map. How does the game in hardcore handle that? Do you arrive in the same condition when you started or do you find yourself fatigued when you arrive?

I think the latter, based on one of the reviews Jon posted.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sounds like you can't fast travel if you'd lose consciousness for any reasons (hunger, thirst, sleep) en route.

I'm playing, but oh so just barely. Just getting to the second building to visit after waking up at the doctor's office, trying to pay attention to everything & get back into "if it ain't moving, scav it" mode.

[Icy]

How much is it in $ in steam? if there is enough difference with the Euro price i'll ask any of you to buy it for me as gift and i pay back by paypal, hate to pay more without a valid reason. (it's also not available yet in Europe, until the 22nd)

[Izulde]

I played around for a few hours last night and a little bit this morning. I agree with the expansion pack to 3 feel to it, which is totally awesome. I started with hardcore mode right away.

You will get thirsty a lot, which is kind of a pain, but realistic. I wish I'd spent more points to increase carrying capacity, because it's very easy to load up on stuff and not find a buyer to sell your stuff off to (especially if you go on a murder spree...)

Note: In hardcore mode, not all headshots are instant kills, unfortunately. Sometimes you have to shoot somebody multiple times in the head before you kill them. Dings the realism a fair bit for me, although I see why they did it.

Too early to really say for sure, but so far it's been a lot of fun.

[DeToxRox]

Night class tonight + no work today means 7 hours of Fallout throughout the night.

I'm on 360 so keep that in mind, but the game is awesome. It is just a much deeper version of Fallout 3. Just a lot of stuff that happens along the way that is really cool to see.

Story seems a lot better then 3 so far, but I am not even done with Act I so far so we'll see.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feeling very paranoid about monitoring food/water/sleep right now, I'm just absolutely crawling through the first few sequences.

Good to get back to old habits like scavving tin cans & such. Not sure how long that'll be necessary but it served me well in 3, so I'll do it here as well. I'm not wild about the first few chances to use iron sights, maybe I'll like them better over time/different weapons.

So far, I'm getting much more of an Oblivion vibe from this than I did the first time around, although I actually played quite a bit F3 before Oblivion, so that's probably why.

[BYU 14]

I'm not wild about the first few chances to use iron sights, maybe I'll like them better over time/different weapons.


As I don't play a alot of FPS, can you explain what Iron sights are Jon?

[JonInMiddleGA]

As I don't play a alot of FPS, can you explain what Iron sights are Jon?

Basically you can now "aim" by zooming your view & look down old fashioned gun sights to do it. Previously in F3 you only had crosshairs of marginal accuracy to aim with, this is supposed to be more accurate (although darned if it feels that way to me so far).

[BYU 14]

Basically you can now "aim" by zooming your view & look down old fashioned gun sights to do it. Previously in F3 you only had crosshairs of marginal accuracy to aim with, this is supposed to be more accurate (although darned if it feels that way to me so far).

OK, I have seen that, just didn't know the term. I am not good at those games anyway, so thank god for VATS, at least in hairy situations.

[Groundhog]

Started playing FO3 again last night, trying to subconsciously tempt myself to buy New Vegas. :D

[Mustang]

Damn, how long does it take to unlock files on the preorder?

[Atocep]

PC Gamer and Joystiq both expressed disappointment in their reviews and I think it comes down to what you're looking for out of New Vegas. If you're looking for a huge step forward from Fallout 3 with a new engine, new gameplay, and other new features you'll probably be a bit disappointed.

However, if you're looking for a game that plays like Fallout 3, looks marginally better (at least on PC), and has the feel of the first 2 games in the fallout series rather than an Oblivion/Morrowind feel then I don't think you'll be disappointed at all.

A lot of subtle changes in this game. Fallout 3 was really easy later in the game and Obsidian made some changes to try and prevent that. The magazines you read for permanent skillups now only give a very short duration boost to skills. The bobbleheads that gave permanent attribute bonuses are gone as well.

There's much more of a focus on crafting items. You can make stimpacks later in the game, there's different foods you can make (a must in hardcore), you can make ammo, along with a large number of other things. It's really nice to see the number of things you can make since Fallout 3 limited you to 4-5 weapons you could build and nothing else.

[JonInMiddleGA]

You know what bugs me? NPC's walking through doors rather than opening them.

I know it's a little thing that has no impact on game play, I know it's just part of the way they do things, yada yada ... but it just irks me & kicks the immersion down for me.

Waiting to get back to playing, sooner or later my kid has to go to bed. Right now I'm trying my best to ignore whatever he's doing 15 feet away.

[Big Fo]

I might quit hardcore mode embarrassingly early, I don't mind worrying about food, water, and sleep but having to find a doctor each time one of my character's limbs gets injured is kind of annoying.

Is anyone with the PC version having framerate issues? I ran Fallout 3 maxed out and had few problems with the framerate but F:NV is stuttering fairly often.

[Atocep]

I might quit hardcore mode embarrassingly early, I don't mind worrying about food, water, and sleep but having to find a doctor each time one of my character's limbs gets injured is kind of annoying.

Is anyone with the PC version having framerate issues? I ran Fallout 3 maxed out and had few problems with the framerate but F:NV is stuttering fairly often.

You can get doctor's bags that will heal limb conditions.

I have a relatively high end PC and I'm having some framerate issues as well. Nvidia released new drivers yesterday and I'm going to try those. The steam forums said to try going to the advanced graphical options and turning the water effects all the way down. Didn't work for me, but others have said it worked.

[DeToxRox]

Apparently there is a potential fatal flaw in the 360 version where your character will not be able to move outside of looking around. The bug affects your saves too so you can't even revert back to those. Huge disappointment though I still love the game. Will suck though if this hits me as I did my buddy.

[Atocep]

I might quit hardcore mode embarrassingly early, I don't mind worrying about food, water, and sleep but having to find a doctor each time one of my character's limbs gets injured is kind of annoying.

Is anyone with the PC version having framerate issues? I ran Fallout 3 maxed out and had few problems with the framerate but F:NV is stuttering fairly often.


I think I just fixed my issue, but I'm not sure which change I made did it.

What I did was turn off "Threaded Optimization" in the nvidia control panel and enable "prefer maximum performance" under Power Management. Then I checked my graphical settings in game and the water changes hadn't saved so I turned both water options to low.

Game runs smooth as can be right now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Fun behind-the-scenes bit I found online tonight
The Bergman Files: Five Funny Bugs Eradicated from Fallout: New Vegas - Techland - TIME.com (http://techland.com/2010/10/18/the-bergman-files-five-funny-bugs-eradicated-from-fallout-new-vegas/)

Search around a bit there & there's also a good one with a few nuggets about the V/O process & some of the personalities they worked with.

[Big Fo]

I think I just fixed my issue, but I'm not sure which change I made did it.

What I did was turn off "Threaded Optimization" in the nvidia control panel and enable "prefer maximum performance" under Power Management. Then I checked my graphical settings in game and the water changes hadn't saved so I turned both water options to low.

Game runs smooth as can be right now.

Cool. I might try some of these tomorrow. I got some improvement by reducing the antialiasing and anisotropic filtering a bit but your solution sounds better.

[samifan24]

Although I just started the game I wanted to say that I already love Marty Robbins' "Big Iron" from the soundtrack.

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[Tasan]

Marty Robbins is a master. I'm glad to hear Big Iron is in the game.

[DataKing]

Got to play at least a little bit last night (work has been a giant pain in the rectum lately), and I must say I am enjoying it so far. Yes, it feels like an expanded-upon version of Fallout 3, but FO3 was one of my favorite games of all time, so you won't hear me complaining.

I'm playing hardcore mode, with no intention of turning it off. Not because I'm some sort of achievement junkie (if I was, I'd have bought it for the Xbox instead of PC), but because I enjoy the added challenge and needing to secure food, water, and a place to rest add to the immersion for me. One of my favorite mods to FO3 added something very similar. I also like the fact that you can be a bit more self-reliant, making some of your own food, meds, ammo, etc...limitations on that sort of thing in FO3 always irked me a little bit.

Now I can't wait to see what sort of madness the FO3 mod community comes up with. :)

[Mustang]

I must be having framerate issues. I don't notice it much with the graphics however, the mouse movement is crappy and is definitely not smooth

[samifan24]

Is anyone else having this problem?

I am attacked and die during the fight. When the game loads again my gun goes off automatically once and then again every time I take out a weapon using the x button (PS3). I've tried guns, machetes and even just my fists and the result is the same. I reassigned and even turned off the controller but still nothing. The only way I found to get around the problem was to completely exit the game. Am I the only one seeing this?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just ran across a classic Bethesda glitch. Several people typing, plenty of keyboard sounds ... no typewriters nor computers in sight. They're literally pecking away at thin air.

No harm done by it, was actually sort of funny to see.

I'll spoiler the location in case anyone wants to know
Ranger outpost, in the back where they tell you the CO is. Just before you get to him there are 2-3 clerk/typist types, working dilligently at their ghost keyboards

[BYU 14]

Is anyone else having this problem?

I am attacked and die during the fight. When the game loads again my gun goes off automatically once and then again every time I take out a weapon using the x button (PS3). I've tried guns, machetes and even just my fists and the result is the same. I reassigned and even turned off the controller but still nothing. The only way I found to get around the problem was to completely exit the game. Am I the only one seeing this?

Don't like the sound of this, do they just fire into the ground? I am picking up the PS 3 version this weekend, sounds like they have a few things to patch.

[RainMaker]

Jon, I sort of wonder if Bethesda has a lot of these glitches in on purpose, or perhaps just ignores them. It almost seems like part of the charm to the game is that it's kind of hokey like that. It's about the RPG elements and everything else, not the tiny details like opening and closing of doors. They don't want to be a true FPS, yet they don't want to really be a full-on RPG either. So they kind of mix the best of both and don't give either side enough detail to really make you corner the game into a stereotype.

And I should have this around 1pm and plan on spending my evening playing it.

[samifan24]

Don't like the sound of this, do they just fire into the ground? I am picking up the PS 3 version this weekend, sounds like they have a few things to patch.

No they fire straight ahead. Restarting the game sucks but I think I know the problem. I was button mashing while being attacked by a radscorpion and I died. I think the controller "ghosted" the attack button because I had it pressed down as I died. It's just a theory but as long as I can restart and it only happens once in a while I'm fine with it.

[Peregrine]

Bought the game last night, installed it and played it a bit. Looks good so far.

[Peregrine]

First patch is out - you may need to restart Steam to have it auto-install, that worked for me.

[Qwikshot]

Is anyone else having this problem?

I am attacked and die during the fight. When the game loads again my gun goes off automatically once and then again every time I take out a weapon using the x button (PS3). I've tried guns, machetes and even just my fists and the result is the same. I reassigned and even turned off the controller but still nothing. The only way I found to get around the problem was to completely exit the game. Am I the only one seeing this?


Had the same thing happen last night, very frustrating. I found a location and was cutting through enemies without issue. Then I entered an inner location, backed out when four or five guys rushed me and could not fire (VATS would do the action of aiming but never fire, regular firing would not work). VATS would only work if I exited out and pressed continue after lining up each shot...needless to say it didn't work too well.

Then it was gone...I can say that I hope that is patched because when I exited the building it autosaved so I died multiple times as the guards rushed out to greet me from exiting the building.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'll keep this vague to avoid spoilers, but hit a quirky bug last night during one of the missions. I'm looking down from a room above into an area that contained (supposedly) nothing but relatively friendlies (i.e. all greens on the heads-up), when I suddenly notice a red marker & start hearing generic "I've got you now" dialogue. Took me a few minutes to figure out that the "enemy" was actually one of my traveling companions, who was actually one floor above, just like me, but was behind me & to my right around a corner. He was essentially in two places at the same time, watching my bad with one incarnation & threatening to kick ass & take names with the other. Problematic since he frightened away someone that I have to speak to in order to continue the quest. Hoping a reloaded autosave will back me up far enough to fix it.

Location & more details here
This was during the mission with the ghouls & nightkin at the rocket factory. Third segment, where you talk to Mr. Bright before he goes to the launch pad, I'm peering down into the dimly lit bay below just taking in the scenery when I notice the red marker amidst the green, but couldn't VATS onto them to get their identity. Turns out it's the sniper guy from Novac, who has been running the quest with me. He's covering me from the hallway behind [i]and running around down below, scaring the shit out of the delusion human-who-thinks-he's-a-ghoul, now that asshole won't stop fleeing from me so that I can talk to him & get the next tasks in the mission

[BYU 14]

Annoying glitch, but still kind of funny Jon. :)

[cthomer5000]

1. Buggy: I've seen people stuck inside of bar countertops, ants stuck in rocks, weird level-up delays, and i swear one level-up didn't allow me to pick a perk. Also had some real bad slowdown/frame-rate issues after quick-traveling. Saved/reloaded and it was all good.

2. Plays like a full-on expansion really. Seems like less story to set things up, and more thrown right into things than in Fallout 3. Not that i'm complaining, i just don't think it's possible to really call this a standalone game. I think playing Fallout 3 beforehand would significantly increase someones enjoyment of this.

3. The world of Fallout and flower-picking from Red Dead Redemption: Together At Last!

4. The presence of 'magazines' alongside books confuses me a bit, clutters up my inventory, and doesn't really add much IMHO.

5. The various types of ammo, and the abilities to apparently create or deconstruct said ammunition is a tad overwhelming.

[cthomer5000]

Loving weapon mods.

Loving hardcore mode.

Finding the soundtrack a bit limited. Feel like i've heard "Johnny Guitar" by Peggy Lee about 50 times already.

[Peregrine]

Only weird thing I've seen so far (luckily) is that when some bandits attacked me and I killed them, all their stuff appeared in red so I had to "steal" it, and lost karma if I did so. Not sure what that's all about.

[JonInMiddleGA]

i swear one level-up didn't allow me to pick a perk.

You only get a perk every other level (unlike FO3 where it was every level)

The world of Fallout and flower-picking from Red Dead Redemption: Together At Last!

Straight out of Oblivion for me, except too few opportunities IMO.

The presence of 'magazines' alongside books confuses me a bit, clutters up my inventory, and doesn't really add much IMHO

I've started to get the hang of using those I think, the temporary boost has let me lockpick several times that I couldn't have otherwise.

The various types of ammo, and the abilities to apparently create or deconstruct said ammunition is a tad overwhelming.

It's kind of handy once you get the hang of it, but at first it was a bit much. Could have used a little more explanation IMO, a quick NPC tutorial from an appropriate character would have been nice.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Only weird thing I've seen so far (luckily) is that when some bandits attacked me and I killed them, all their stuff appeared in red so I had to "steal" it, and lost karma if I did so. Not sure what that's all about.

Happens occasionally, same thing occurred in 3 as well.

[samifan24]

I agree that the soundtrack seems limited. I've heard "Johnny Guitar," "Big Iron" and a few other songs way too many times already. I turned on Wayne Newton's Vegas Radio or went completely silent instead!

[thesloppy]

Been playing on Hardcore for a few days. Good stuff. I'll agree with others that say it seems like an expanded FO3, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. For whatever it's worth, a lot of the reviews said that a lot of the changes/tweaks weren't really evident until you get to New Vegas, which is 10 hours-or-so in (if you play straight through) and a point most of us probably haven't reached yet.

Got my first companion, at what seems a rather early point (I'm 7th level), and it's been a great help in hardcore mode, what with the companion's perk and especially an added 200wg carrying capacity.

companion spoilers : I repaired the robot at the courier post in Primm. It requires Science or Repair skill beyond the scope of most early characters, but you can also repair him if you have/find the right parts (can't remember what they were...like 3 scrap metal, 2 conductors, and some scrap electronics).

Its bonus perk expands your sensor range and ability, which is pretty nice, and as noted it can carry another 200wg, and doesn't need any armor/weapons/ammo/healing.

[cartman]

I've never played any of the Fallout series or Oblivion, so I guess I'll dive in and check it out.

[PurdueBrad]

Apparently there is a potential fatal flaw in the 360 version where your character will not be able to move outside of looking around. The bug affects your saves too so you can't even revert back to those. Huge disappointment though I still love the game. Will suck though if this hits me as I did my buddy.

Got stuck like this once but reverted to a save from 7 seconds before and it was all good.

[cthomer5000]

I've never played any of the Fallout series or Oblivion, so I guess I'll dive in and check it out.


I would highly recommend playing Fallout 3 first. It's an insanely good game.

[stevew]

Yeah. Def agree with CT.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Yeah. Def agree with CT.

I'll 3rd that. F:NV would seem, I dunno, maybe harder to pick up than 3 was, a little more seems to be taken for granted when it comes to knowing how to do certain things or something.

But maybe that's my long hours with 3 talking {shrug}

[Peregrine]

it seems odd, but this game is actually making me want to go back and pick up Fallout 3 again once I finish it. Something about the atmosphere of nuked-out DC just grabs me a bit more than the setting in this one.

[Atocep]

it seems odd, but this game is actually making me want to go back and pick up Fallout 3 again once I finish it. Something about the atmosphere of nuked-out DC just grabs me a bit more than the setting in this one.

I'm finding the locations in this one much more interesting than in FO3. I found the DC setting amazing at first, but after traveling through the subway for the 10,000th time it started get tiring.

[cthomer5000]

I'll 3rd that. F:NV would seem, I dunno, maybe harder to pick up than 3 was, a little more seems to be taken for granted when it comes to knowing how to do certain things or something.

But maybe that's my long hours with 3 talking {shrug}

There's a lot more taken for granted in the setup, IMHO. My friend drew parallels between this series and Grand Theft Auto 3 and GTA: Vice City - and I would agree. It's a complementary piece, not *quite* a standalone game in my opinion.

It's not essential, but I would certainly recommend someone play Fallout 3 first - firstly because it's a tremendous game, and secondly because i think it would increase someone's enjoyment of this game.


Something about the atmosphere of nuked-out DC just grabs me a bit more than the setting in this one.

I'm finding the locations in this one much more interesting than in FO3. I found the DC setting amazing at first, but after traveling through the subway for the 10,000th time it started get tiring.


I'm generally with Peregrine, but will concede that the subway crawl could get a bit tiresome at times in FO3. I played through twice, and in my first play-through I skipped like 99% of Downtown DC, simply because I had tired of the subway grind.

[thesloppy]

My initial impression is that FO3 had more of a wide-open feel that added to the impression that you were wandering the wasteland. Thus far, NV's slightly-more structure and slightly-less map has resulted in me getting caught up in a lot more quest and subsequent side-quests that border on the busy-work feeling that burns me out quickly on GTA. I kinda preferred the feeling in FO3 that was more sparse, and had me skulking along in the dark, just trying to avoid the random raider/mutant on my way from place to place, picking off raiding parties here and there....there's almost a little too much going on in NV, which seems like an odd complaint (and it is only a slight one, to be sure). Sometimes, I just wanna shoot and scavenge some stuff, but I get knee deep in a quest, and before I know it, that quest has branched off into two others, and I'm off fetching steaks for a mutated midget for a half hour.

...that said, I did just finish a particularly tedious set of missions, but it may have been more in-depth than usual as it (surprisingly) resulted in a companion. I'm 9th level now, still haven't seen New Vegas itself, but have picked up my second companion, which was a big advantage in FO3, and rare at this early level...we'll see how it pans out. I'm getting the initial impression there may be lots more companions in NV, as I've had plenty of other NPCs hint at me as well, and switching early and often may be encouraged.

[BYU 14]

Played for a few hours while the wife was getting her hair done, definitely a lot like FO3 early one (Good thing)

Enjoying scaving and having to plan and stockpile for travel. Also they are not kidding when they say stick to roads early on :)

No major glitches so far and I already like the side quests better than FO3 as they are much more robust, even at this early stage.

[Mustang]

Played about 10 hours with F:NV. Definitely has more of a expansion feel to it. While I appreciate the crafting piece with the workbenches, I just don't know how much I will use it as it seems like more of a hassle to try to remember what you need and collect it rather than just buying it outright.

When you become vilified, I really would like to avoid a karma hit by 'stealing' from the group you are against. Was fighting the Powder Gangers and couldn't take from their campsites without taking the karma hit.. seems rather pointless.

No other major beefs with the gameplay, just minor things here and there. Would be nice to have a food and drink tab though and be able to see my food/h2o/sleep status all on one HUD display. (Although, seems like that would be an easy mod).

I do love how you complete Boone's quest though. :)

[Peregrine]

When you become vilified, I really would like to avoid a karma hit by 'stealing' from the group you are against. Was fighting the Powder Gangers and couldn't take from their campsites without taking the karma hit.. seems rather pointless.


This part is really bugging me too. I've just slaughtered like 20 NCR goons, and then they are docking me for stealing a spoon from their camp?

[Big Fo]

While searching the web I came across this file that is meant to improve the frame rate of the PC version, in my experience it works really well.

d3d9 awesome perf fix at Fallout New Vegas Nexus - New Vegas mods and community (http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34778)

[BYU 14]

Got in a few hours tonight ans have to say I am liking this as much or better than FO3. The sountrack is getting tedious, but that is easy enough to fix.

Without mentioning specifics it is cool that I have already ran into a couple of people that asked me for help and then turned on me. The first time really surprised me and I stood there stunned as I got gunned down, taking a clean head shot before I could fire a round!

Playing on PS3 and did just run into that glitch where your gun goes off on reload after you die. Only happened once though. Also have had the Pipboy get stuck a couple of times, but closing and reopening solved that, so nothing major so far. Really enoying the game and from what I have read the point I am at (10 hours or less) is the most boring part, which has my hopes up that I will actually finish the game.

[JonInMiddleGA]

30+ hours in, not even trying to slow play, and I'm just now within the glow of the neon lights. Still haven't gotten there yet but at least now I can see 'em pretty good.

That's what I wanted for my $60, a shitload of gameplay, and it's delivering.

[Atocep]

30+ hours in, not even trying to slow play, and I'm just now within the glow of the neon lights. Still haven't gotten there yet but at least now I can see 'em pretty good.

That's what I wanted for my $60, a shitload of gameplay, and it's delivering.

I'm about 27 hours in and I just hit vegas and have been doing quests in the little towns outside the strip with a lot of exploring mixed in.

I've maybe explored 40% of the map, I don't think I'm halfway finished as far as what my final playtime will be, and I'm already thinking ahead to my second playthrough.

[thesloppy]

30+ hours in, not even trying to slow play,

Heh, seems like you went from 3 hours to 30+ awful quick there, Jon. Are you keeping up on sleep?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Heh, seems like you went from 3 hours to 30+ awful quick there, Jon. Are you keeping up on sleep?

Nope (check the time stamp on this post for example)

[Peregrine]

Really enjoying this game - 38 hours played and I've explored and done most of Vegas, but since I'm playing a bad guy I've certainly been skipping a good many side quests. Ave Caesar!

[Atocep]

Fuck Cazadors

[samifan24]

I have a question about a glitch during the "Come Fly with Me" quest.

So I find the ghoul who's locked himself in that room in the basement. He wants me to see if his friend is still alive in some other room (I'm sure she isn't). I went upstairs in the ghoul's room and he started shooting at me. What gives? Also Davison, the nightkin who talks, says to find the Stealth Boys for him and he and his nightkin will leave me alone, yet after I talk to him, the other nightkin still attack me. Why?

[Qwikshot]

I have a question about a glitch during the "Come Fly with Me" quest.

So I find the ghoul who's locked himself in that room in the basement. He wants me to see if his friend is still alive in some other room (I'm sure she isn't). I went upstairs in the ghoul's room and he started shooting at me. What gives? Also Davison, the nightkin who talks, says to find the Stealth Boys for him and he and his nightkin will leave me alone, yet after I talk to him, the other nightkin still attack me. Why?

I'm pretty sure bugs are involved.

I had the same thing happen concerning the sniper ghoul, but it seems that if you enter and explore the area he takes you for a baddie. I had no issue with the Nightkin and Antler, in fact, he was the only Nightkin I experienced in the basement.

[Atocep]

I have a question about a glitch during the "Come Fly with Me" quest.

So I find the ghoul who's locked himself in that room in the basement. He wants me to see if his friend is still alive in some other room (I'm sure she isn't). I went upstairs in the ghoul's room and he started shooting at me. What gives? Also Davison, the nightkin who talks, says to find the Stealth Boys for him and he and his nightkin will leave me alone, yet after I talk to him, the other nightkin still attack me. Why?

You can't go upstairs where the ghoul has holed himself up at until you do his quest. He doesn't trust you enough until then.

No idea on the other one. I just killed all of them.

[jetpunk2000]

There is no tracking of percentage done anywhere on the stats menu right? Trying to get a gauge of where I am. My save file shows over 13 hrs but I think that is counting time paused too( i tend to pause and do things and come back. I haven't done very much, a lot of exploring. I'm on my way to Novac right now so I don't think I'm anywhere near vegas.

[PurdueBrad]

Need some help. I'm with Boone, although I had the opportunity to pick up a different companion, but I like Boone's shooting ability. Problem is that he continues to complain about his limbs. How can I heal him? I've placed a doctor's bag in his inventory, he doesn't use it. Using a stimpack from the wheel menu isn't doing it either. Is there a way?

[SportsDino]

Haven't logged too many hours as of yet, but on the 360 version I've been thankfully bug free, but its probably only a matter of time. Reminds me of the Fallout 2 days pre-patch, basically save every five minutes when the action dies down in a rotation of about a half dozen saves (so you can easily track back your last five to overcome varying degrees of disaster).

If you never played any Bethesda game before, I'd suggest Fallout 3 over this one, the patches are pretty important for stability and being frustrated by bugs that will probably be fixed fairly soon will probably rob you of a good time once they clean up this game.

Loving hardcore mode, playing by my own house rules (if I die a death by more than a insta-kill, glitch, or unfortunate stumbling I couldn't expect, I need to restart).

One question, can you recover hp from sleeping in hardcore? I think food and water are the only things that help (and doctors of course). Or maybe I am not doing it right.

Difficulty seems harder than FO3 so far, which is good. Combat has a tension to it and it doesn't have to do with the enemy needing 50 shots to take down, feel like I'm doing good damage but need to watch my health carefully and not charge into a herd of geckos like a maniac.

Quests are pretty dense, I personally think the characters are slightly better done. If you are getting quest overload, really the best cure is to just avoid them. You don't really need to start down multiple lines of questing at the same time, if you go out and just explore you will be fine. However, they are going to stuff a lot of content in a small area, that is what they did in the early Fallouts. Eventually you'll appreciate having more to do with higher variety when you do want to get around to going down side stories and such, but at first its okay to just ignore them.

That is what I'm doing, I'm a combat weak scavenging trader. Other than opening up Goodsprings early on, I've just been surviving and trading, exploring light locations I don't think will wipe the floor with my guy (basically a trash picker instead of an uber badass of the wastes).

I first tried to play as an imbecile bruiser, but around Goodsprings at least it seemed all the dialogue options were exactly the same, not sure if its a bug or they programmed the 'tutorial area' in one way only. I moved to the scavver before leaving Goodsprings so I don't know.

Crafting is a similar thing, its very deep and at first intimidating, but just let yourself play without being perfect and when you want to go deep into it you will appreciate the variety of stuff to gather and build more. The game seems to drop you into the deep end of the pool right quick, which might be annoying the first 20 hours or so if you are a perfectionist (like me) but turns into gameplay to keep you from getting bored around the 40 hour mark. It is a balance, I've played so much FO3 that to me I know I'll be a lot happier because the Hardcore mode and crafting opens up a lot of 'exploring for fun, profit and roleplay'.

I'd give it a good initial rating and expectation of high number of hours and replayability, but probably in need of a lot of patching. I think the vegetation would be better if it was closer to Oblivion style in its quantity (much more frequent). It is a desert, but useful plants are so rare compared to random trees and grasses that I hardly am looking for them.

[JPhillips]

I've been seeing a lot of creatures getting stuck in the landscape. Is this common for everyone else?

[Peregrine]

Interesting type of character, SportsDino - I've through about trying a combat-light character but have never done it. My guy is a melee heavy hitter who is good with his hands (repair, science) and not much else. I view him as basically a loner so he is happy with his trusty robot companion and doesn't need anyone else. I haven't found many companions in any case - I've heard of Boone but by the time I talked with him I had killed a ton of NCR and he wouldn't speak with me. The only other one I've encountered had a high speech check, and didn't seem like a good fit anyway.

[SportsDino]

I tend towards roleplay oriented character design, if only Goodsprings had idiot dialogue I'd still be punching my way across the wastes.

To start, the issues/virtues of my scavver:

- The build is survival, repair, barter tagged, 1 perception, 9 luck, everything else avg 6ish.

- Low perception makes the radar near useless, but I always use visual checks of my surroundings and explore buildings swat style anyway so it doesn't do much, however the accuracy at range with guns is noticeably downward but not crippling with a rifle.

- I get a lot of critical hits, and with my bargain basement guns skill it has helped a lot.

- Tempted to try wild wasteland, but figured that would be an awesome incentive to replay the game entirely, so saved it for a future playthrough.

- Traited built to destroy: I've noticed the condition of my guns sucks, I pretty much scav a gun and shoot it to uselessness and stow it for parts. Been a bit of a struggle.

- Trait Good natured and my build let me easily do all the misc odd jobs in Goodsprings.

- My combat skills are complete garbage, but using stealth to pick off an early enemy and then lots of ammo you can survive. I also just avoid combat a lot, as long as you take the hint everyone tells you early on (avoid a certain direction) you can explore a lot of secondary and weaker primary sites to build up supplies through trade in Goodsprings.

- Higher survival and repair allows more crafting/cooking access, nothing beats gecko steak, yum!

- I am playing a character concept where I expect my character to be on the edge of poverty until he 'strikes it rich'. My build and tactics essentially burn through guns (and ammo, but I use the cheap stuff since I don't care about weapon condition). If you are trying to maximize caps early on, I'd suggest a good sniper build (as in FO3), you will conserve ammo with a high guns build utilizing stealth for the first shot (consider playing up your criticals too, I've found them useful). You also will conserve health that way, spend less on supplies, and probably not have too much trouble maintaining your gun.


I like this playthrough because I love the thrill from potentially losing at any point, and I understand I'm not able to jump into the harder quests right away (although this is a decent build for mapping and learning the world, as it can survive off the wild reasonably well, but even better it is weak enough to encourage you to go around hard points which means you stumble on little hidden junk you might miss).

I don't stay on the road, but if you go off it I'd suggest keeping a wary eye. I've seen a number of traps/beasties that I decided to save first and a couple times I threw away my character just to test the difficulty. A combat weak character got killed pretty quick in those incidents, so I decided to stop that and make a living by skirting around trouble (and done very well in a low stealth build, although I've had an exciting close call or three that I felt proud of when I survived even if my character was left with a slight limp for a good half hour :) ). Not having explored the entire world, the countryside is better designed than FO3 in my opinion, unfortunately in FO3 the enemies were to a degree leveled, so one day you would walk through and encounter a fly, a week later you always encounter nothing less than a yao gaui. I really dislike it even though I understand why they go that route in their design... this game at the very least isn't afraid to through up some areas where it will beat the crap out of you for treading there at a low level. I love that personally, it means I can take on tough situations with less resources, and steam roll through other spots I've already pacified and consider safe, but I don't know if this game will hold to that as I rise in level, its still early to make a judgment.

Anyway, less talking about the game, need to get back to playing it, haha, I'm such a fanboy.

[Peregrine]

I will point out that a melee combat character is a great way to get money - I have so much money I literally can't spend it all. Since melee weapons drop frequently from enemies, and are rarely sold at merchants, I have a constant supply of new stuff coming (and replacements for repair.) Any guns I find (except one as backup) I sell, bringing in tons of caps - the same for ammo.

[Izulde]

I've been building a guns expert with great speech skills... Until I saw there was a lot of stuff I wanted to do with a high science skill, so I'm veering off into building a guns/scientist/speech guy.

Having enough money to repair my guns is a bitch, as is having enough carrying capacity for everything in hardcore mode.

Plus, I hate selling miscellaneous stuff even though it serves no purpose in the game, as I like to collect.

I really should be focusing on one or two guns as my specialty and keeping that ammo type and gun plentiful and in top condition.

But then I run into the problem of having stupidly sold my rifle ammo early on and then getting a good rifle elsewhere. So it's hard to choose.

Game is really fun, though, and I'm wishing I had time to play it this morning.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having enough money to repair my guns is a bitch, as is having enough carrying capacity for everything in hardcore mode.

Companions, especially two of them, make a huge difference in carrying capacity. To the degree that I really think of them more as armed packmules at this point.

[DataKing]

A few early thoughts/perceptions/etc on the game:
As others have mentioned, the setting itself hasn't quite grabbed me as much as Fallout 3 did. There was something definitively post-apocalyptic about the ruins of DC that isn't present here. This feels more like the decaying world of Stephen King's Dark Tower series than it does the Fallout world, at least thus far.
I started my character with a sniper build (Guns/Repair/Stealth tagged), but I do my skill advancement a little differently. I keep track of the skills I've used over the course of the last level advancement, and then distribute my skill points roughly evenly among those skills. Not the most efficient method, I know, but it feels a bit more realistic to me. And with skill books, whenever I did this in FO3 I still ended up with 100 in all skills. I've also noticed that skill books seem to be more of a rarity in New Vegas, but they grant 2 points (3 with the Educated perk) when used.
I'm also a scavenger/pack rat, which has led to some issues thus far. So far the only merchants available to me are in Goodsprings and Primm, and they aren't able to keep up with the rate at which I accumulate stuff. And I have to sell often, since I grab everything that isn't nailed down and play hardcore mode. I also never use fast travel (ruins the immersion for me) and I tend to walk unless running is required (in combat). I sincerely hope I am able to secure a permanent home soon, so I can really start hoarding away guns/ammo/food/water/etc.
Haven't found a follower yet. I'm close to activating one, but I can't find another sensor module to save my life. I'm getting a little aggravated with that.Anyway, that's my experience thus far. I'm enjoying it, but not as much as I did Fallout 3. Hopefully that will change as I get more involved in the storyline.

[JonInMiddleGA]

but I can't find another sensor module to save my life.

Hmm ... how to be helpful & encouraging without being spoilerish?

I'd suggest that you think a bit more about the nature of those modules & how they appear to have been used in the gameworld; i.e. where sort of locations would you be likely to find them in quantity, rather than stumbling across one randomly.

[DataKing]

Thx. I just know I seemed to be stumbling over the damn things in FO3...was kind of expecting them to be plentiful this time around too...didn't give too much thought to specifically seeking one out.

[cartman]

Jesus Christ. Just had my first run-in with deathclaws. FML.

[thesloppy]

Is everybody else just as retarded as I am, when attempting to shoot without V.A.T.S. with a 360 controller? I'm trying to figure out if that's a combination of my own middling dexterity and/or my characters mediocre gun skills, and if I should improve/practice either/or one of those, or if I should just consider it a lost cause and focus on V.A.T.S. related skills and perks and not bother attempting to learn to shoot manually from the hip or at shorter range.

Any opinions?

[Eaglesfan27]

Is everybody else just as retarded as I am, when attempting to shoot without V.A.T.S. with a 360 controller? I'm trying to figure out if that's a combination of my own middling dexterity and/or my characters mediocre gun skills, and if I should improve/practice either/or one of those, or if I should just consider it a lost cause and focus on V.A.T.S. related skills and perks and not bother attempting to learn to shoot manually from the hip or at shorter range.

Any opinions?

Personally, I relied on V.A.T.S extensively in the original. Haven't picked up this version yet as I'm busy with other games and figure I will get it post-patch.

[JPhillips]

Jesus Christ. Just had my first run-in with deathclaws. FML.

I ran away from a deathclaw near Novac that decimated the populace there. Everyone outside died before I finally brought the fucker down.

[JonInMiddleGA]

was kind of expecting them to be plentiful this time around too...didn't give too much thought to specifically seeking one out.

I've seen what feels like at least 1-2 dozen so far, although not nearly as plentiful as the conductors. Sounds like you're just having a run of bad luck in terms of the places you've been vs places I went.

[samifan24]

Jesus Christ. Just had my first run-in with deathclaws. FML.

I've never killed one. I run when I see them.

[samifan24]

dola- For anyone doing the "Come Fly with Me" quest, please be aware that Davison will attack you for no reason near the end of the quest, even if you've done what he asks of you. This is an incredibly annoying bug.

[Peregrine]

dola- For anyone doing the "Come Fly with Me" quest, please be aware that Davison will attack you for no reason near the end of the quest, even if you've done what he asks of you. This is an incredibly annoying bug.

I don't know about anyone else, but he never asked me to do anything - I just walked in there, he said something like "You killed my people, so Antler says you die" and then I had to crush him with a sledgehammer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I don't know about anyone else, but he never asked me to do anything - I just walked in there, he said something like "You killed my people, so Antler says you die" and then I had to crush him with a sledgehammer.

+1

[thesloppy]

Hmm. I killed plenty of his people before I met him, and he was just fine and dandy with me, both before and after the quest. Go figure.

[JPhillips]

Hmm. I killed plenty of his people before I met him, and he was just fine and dandy with me, both before and after the quest. Go figure.

Same here.

[PurdueBrad]

Hmm. I killed plenty of his people before I met him, and he was just fine and dandy with me, both before and after the quest. Go figure.

+1

I do need some combat advice. I, of course, can't remember the name of the creatures that are tearing me up right now but they are bird-like and they hang out by the bootlegger's shack, by Vault 22, and one of the Ranger Stations. I do think their name starts with a c (like cadazones or something). What weapon should I be using on them because they've been crushing me, thanks in advance.

[samifan24]

I don't know about anyone else, but he never asked me to do anything - I just walked in there, he said something like "You killed my people, so Antler says you die" and then I had to crush him with a sledgehammer.

He was cool with me until after I killed the jailer and came back to see him, at which point he yelled that I touched Antler. It took me forever to kill him. A poisoned broad machete finally did the trick.

[Peregrine]

He was cool with me until after I killed the jailer and came back to see him, at which point he yelled that I touched Antler. It took me forever to kill him. A poisoned broad machete finally did the trick.

Poisoned machete? Wow, never heard of a poisoned weapon - where did you get it?

Also I think those birds are Cazadors. I haven't met them yet but they are supposed to be really tough - I saw on the forums that people were using modded 20 gauge shotguns, etc to try and kill them.

[Atocep]

+1

I do need some combat advice. I, of course, can't remember the name of the creatures that are tearing me up right now but they are bird-like and they hang out by the bootlegger's shack, by Vault 22, and one of the Ranger Stations. I do think their name starts with a c (like cadazones or something). What weapon should I be using on them because they've been crushing me, thanks in advance.

I'd rather fight deathclaws than cazadors.

There's no secret way to beat them, but I'll spoiler tag this for those that like to figure out tactics on their own.

They're really tough if there's more than one. The only way I've found to take out a pack of them is with a sniper rifle and a lot of patience. While hidden I'll snipe one, kill it, and immediately move further back into a hiding spot because any in the area will investigate. Then I repeat that until they're all dead.

If you don't have a good sniper rifle yet you could try sniping with a strong rifle that has good iron sights. If that doesn't work I'd honestly just steer clear of them. They're a major pain in the ass. I'm level 25 and I still avoid them whenever possible.

[samifan24]

Poisoned machete? Wow, never heard of a poisoned weapon - where did you get it?

I got the tribal "pack" card inside my game box which gave me tribal armor, some throwing spears, a machete and some poison right off the bat. I just figured out that I can put the poison on any melee weapon. It works out the same way that you poison a weapon in Morrowind or Oblivion if you've played those games. It was funny, though, because I couldn't understand why the poison was listed on my "aid" screen since it only took hit points away. It wasn't until I was in the heat of battle that I thought I'd try it and it worked. I have no idea where you can find poison to use in the wasteland, though.

[Atocep]

I got the tribal "pack" card inside my game box which gave me tribal armor, some throwing spears, a machete and some poison right off the bat. I just figured out that I can put the poison on any melee weapon. It works out the same way that you poison a weapon in Morrowind or Oblivion if you've played those games. It was funny, though, because I couldn't understand why the poison was listed on my "aid" screen since it only took hit points away. It wasn't until I was in the heat of battle that I thought I'd try it and it worked. I have no idea where you can find poison to use in the wasteland, though.

I believe you can make poison at the campfires.

[Peregrine]

Interesting - I haven't used any campfires, or really seen any since Goodsprings. I'll have to check this out - where can you find campfires, randomly in the wilderness?

[BYU 14]

Interesting - I haven't used any campfires, or really seen any since Goodsprings. I'll have to check this out - where can you find campfires, randomly in the wilderness?

I am under the impression there is also a way to make them eventually, or am I way off here?? If so that would be cool and would make sense if you scavenge wood, paper/fuel and something to start the kindling. If not possible would be a nice a addition.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting - I haven't used any campfires, or really seen any since Goodsprings. I'll have to check this out - where can you find campfires, randomly in the wilderness?

I had a lot of trouble with that myself & finally got so tired of the fast travel sequence to go back there that I cheated & looked for a list on the Fallout Wikia. Yeah, I know that's a little bit cheap perhaps, but my rule of thumb is that if something is becoming a significant detraction from my enjoyment of the game then I'll look it up, since the object is for me to have fun instead of being seriously irritated.

Generally speaking they exist in places you might expect given the name of the location; i.e. X Faction camp or whatever, as well as a number of very random ones. One of the reasons they seem hard to find, IMO, is that not all of them look like campfires, sometimes they're just a pile of wood that doesn't appear to be burning but which has the Campfire functionality. Finally, now that I've gotten into the Freeside area, I've got a new favorite which I'll spoiler

Crimson Caravan has a campfire that's easy to spot & it's between the entrance & the main office, so you literally walk right past it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Yeah, I know that's a little bit cheap perhaps, but my rule of thumb is that if something is becoming a significant detraction from my enjoyment of the game then I'll look it up, since the object is for me to have fun instead of being seriously irritated.


I play the exact same way. I don't mind a challenge or a puzzle, but as soon as it starts to become annoying or irritating, I hope online to find the answer. It's served me well. I don't have the time I once had and I'd rather spend my free time enjoying the game I am playing than getting frustrated at it.

I have only played about 3 hours or so of this so far. I've enjoyed it. Feels very much like Fallout 3, which is fine for me. I did have that massive frame rate issue (playing on a PC) during the fight in Goodsprings. Just made it to Primm and have done some exploring and killing. Not much else.

My current tactic in combat is a tried and true one. If in a city or building, I try to sneak around, get a shot or two off with a pistol or rifle, run around a corner and wait there, shotgun -- "I like to keep this for close encounters" -- at the ready. It's fun watching what a shotgun blast to the head does at very close range.

[Qwikshot]

I'd rather fight deathclaws than cazadors.

There's no secret way to beat them, but I'll spoiler tag this for those that like to figure out tactics on their own.

They're really tough if there's more than one. The only way I've found to take out a pack of them is with a sniper rifle and a lot of patience. While hidden I'll snipe one, kill it, and immediately move further back into a hiding spot because any in the area will investigate. Then I repeat that until they're all dead.

If you don't have a good sniper rifle yet you could try sniping with a strong rifle that has good iron sights. If that doesn't work I'd honestly just steer clear of them. They're a major pain in the ass. I'm level 25 and I still avoid them whenever possible.

I found a nest and cave in different locations that made things just pure hell. I didn't even bother to explore the cave. My companion and I do a decent job but I found that fire works pretty effective on the buggers.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ran into multiple glitches involving quest lines from The Atomic Wrangler.
-- Credited with completion of tasks on debt collection that I hadn't done (as far as I could figure out at least) on a task I didn't accept.

-- Then got asked to go hunt down someone that I had never met (although the dialogue was as though I had), accepted the mission & as soon as I ended the conversation all hell breaks loose 10 feet away. Sure enough there's the guy I'm after being gunned down by half the bar, including my companions. I walk over & collect the necessary item from him, turn it in & get rewarded. 5 minutes later I find his stripped body in another location, where I was apparently supposed to run into him.

[Peregrine]

Finally ran into cazadors - I have to say that melee weapons seem to work very well against them - I had no trouble taking out a couple at a time, though the poison is annoying.

[DataKing]

Has anyone else run into an issue with random NPCs going ape-sh*t on ED-E and killing it? Happened to me last night. I'd finally gotten him up and running, went to talk to Johnson to do some trading, and as soon as I exited the dialogue with him one of the locals decided to shoot up ED-E. Needless to say the little bugger was destroyed. :(

[Peregrine]

Yes I've had that happen a couple of times DataKing. The most amusing was when I was walking around in Freeside and while some Freeside Thugs were attacking, ED-E pissed off someone else and suddenly the street was a free-for-all with people breaking out weapons and a crossfire started.

[JPhillips]

Well fuck. I'm getting a crash on every save game file load and I can't find a solution anywhere.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Well fuck. I'm getting a crash on every save game file load and I can't find a solution anywhere.

By any chance did you scav a spacesuit somewhere? That's the only thing I've seen mentioned that causes a complete fuck-all-saves bug so far.

[JPhillips]

Yep, I took it from the guy outside Clark Field. That's really going to kill the game for me?

[samifan24]

Having a companion and taking part in faction quests make looting much, much easier.

[samifan24]

By any chance did you scav a spacesuit somewhere? That's the only thing I've seen mentioned that causes a complete fuck-all-saves bug so far.

I have a spacesuit and am not having any save game problems. I'm on the PS3.

[Peregrine]

I have a spacesuit on the PC, and no issues - but I guess it's just a weird bug.

[JPhillips]

Here's what I finally found on a Steam forum. The quest referenced is Come Fly With Me.

* Picking up the Space suit in this quest CAN, but not always, corrupt save files.

* The recent patch (unconfirmed if it's caused by the patch), entering the Repconn basement the 2nd time to talk to Jason after talking to him upstairs might corrupt all subsequent saved files.

I did both of these, so it appears that all my saves are corrupt and I'll have to restart. It will be a while before I come back to this game. Anybody who hasn't gotten to Come Fly With Me should be forewarned.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I have a spacesuit and am not having any save game problems. I'm on the PS3.

The early reports I read was that it was sporadic, my son scavved it & has not encountered any problems either, but some instances were being reported as early as Tuesday night. It seems that there's about an even split of opinion on whether it's the spacesuit that is the trigger to whatever kills save files or if it's something else within the Come Fly With Me quest line that does it.

Fallout New Vegas – Who Left All These Bugs Here? | Digital Vanity (http://va1n.gamervoices.com/2010/10/20/fallout-new-vegas-who-left-all-these-bugs-here/)

[cartman]

Looks like I found a save bug on the PC version. I was on the Black Mountain quest, and had taken out quite a few of the big baddies when I decided that was a good time to save and take a break. When I loaded it back up, all of the things I killed in the two or three minutes before the save instantly respawned plus 4 or 5 more. :(

[thesloppy]

Man, I prefer just a simply freeform scav to running the faction/city busywork missions, but for some reason I REALLY have to keep myself from gravitating towards the latter. Kind of like how I want to be someone a little chaotic, who toes the line of good and bad, but the same gaming conventions burned into my mind that keep pressing me towards the story quests, always make me tend towards goody-two-shoes behavior as well.

[Atocep]

I started looking forward to a 2nd playthrough being the biggest dick I could be so I pushed the story forward and finished it tonight. I clocked in at about 52 hours. I left quite a bit for a 2nd playthrough and could easily see a first playthrough topping 75 hours and possibly getting close to 100 depending on how slow you were going. There's a ridiculous amount of content in this game.

[Qwikshot]

Biggest issue I'm seeing right now is that I'm hitting certain quests and failing them because I missed the start point.

I wound up finding a vault (I don't think that's too much of a spoiler) and while conducting a sweep I got a notice that I had failed a quest...I'd figure there be some speech piece that would allow me to at least send me to the origin point to start the quest.

This is the second time I've had something like this occur, worse still, the failed quests don't even show up in the data on the pip-boy, so I can't even backtrack (which I guess makes sense since the quest is over).

I've also gotten a few minor quests that don't show up on the pip-boy quests, I've got to find them on a different screen as part of conversation bits...this is a little bit of a nag because certain areas hit you with a bunch of information and certain are relevant to a quest and some are minor stories that don't show up as bullet points for the quest.

I've been doing a bunch of the NCR quests and found McCarren Camp. I didn't get to the saboteur in time and the monorail was blown to bits, /now/ I can't get reinforcements for Bitter Spring (I asked at Golf and Forlorn and completed their quests to get additional troops) and unless it leaves it as is, there is no way to complete Bitter Spring. That's frustrating.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've got a can't-complete quest bug myself. There's a quest where you're asked to counsel soldier who was raped. I didn't do the speech check on my first encounter with her but the quest remains open. Unfortunately all subsequent encounters with her have her stuck in the closed script (i.e. not interactive) that refers to the mission that we were on when we first met.

[Voo]

I've got a can't-complete quest bug myself. There's a quest where you're asked to counsel soldier who was raped. I didn't do the speech check on my first encounter with her but the quest remains open. Unfortunately all subsequent encounters with her have her stuck in the closed script (i.e. not interactive) that refers to the mission that we were on when we first met.

Im not 100% sure, but I think you can talk to her squadmates or the guy in charge to further that quest.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Im not 100% sure, but I think you can talk to her squadmates or the guy in charge to further that quest.

Tried that, I've already gotten the mission though, I just screwed up on the dialogue. Figured I'd do all the conversational ones before getting to the heart of the matter, alas she shut down the conversation after one of the more benign options.

Apparently the glitch is connected to the fact that shooting started just as our initial conversation was finished, now she's stuck on telling me to be quiet because we've got a mission to do ... except that mission is over & we're in an entirely different location now :(

[JonInMiddleGA]

Is this game challenging? or too easy?

Honestly? I'd say it's a lot closer to too easy, at least on the default difficulty + hardcore. I've found a total of two things so far that I'm having trouble with but otherwise, at least for experienced players of 3 most everything else has been easy peasy.

[thesloppy]

Sigh. My biggest complaint is that I've had a remarkable number of lock-ups and crashes (maybe half-a-dozen), considering I'm playing on a 360. I haven't yet trained myself to save often enough, and I hate having to backtrack. Any other 360 players experiencing lock-ups?

[Big Fo]

I think the companion I have makes the game easier than it should be.

Boone is pretty damn good with his sniper rifle, I haven't even bothered getting him a better gun. Having him plus my guy with a high guns skill and all kinds of good weaponry means that we can take all kinds of creatures out from a distance. And I also have the robot too, who doesn't do as much damage but helps somewhat and gives the enemies another target to go after.

[Atocep]

I think the companion I have makes the game easier than it should be.

Boone is pretty damn good with his sniper rifle, I haven't even bothered getting him a better gun. Having him plus my guy with a high guns skill and all kinds of good weaponry means that we can take all kinds of creatures out from a distance. And I also have the robot too, who doesn't do as much damage but helps somewhat and gives the enemies another target to go after.

There's quite a few complaints on the forums about Boone making the game far too easy and removing some of the fun from the game since he kills shit so fast.

[cthomer5000]

Sigh. My biggest complaint is that I've had a remarkable number of lock-ups and crashes (maybe half-a-dozen), considering I'm playing on a 360. I haven't yet trained myself to save often enough, and I hate having to backtrack. Any other 360 players experiencing lock-ups?

I'm also on the 360 and I've had 3 or 4 full crashes, one of them seemed to be re-occuring, so i had to dial back one save.

I'm a compulsive saver though, so i never lose more than a few minutes of play.

[cthomer5000]

I started looking forward to a 2nd playthrough being the biggest dick I could be so I pushed the story forward and finished it tonight. I clocked in at about 52 hours. I left quite a bit for a 2nd playthrough and could easily see a first playthrough topping 75 hours and possibly getting close to 100 depending on how slow you were going. There's a ridiculous amount of content in this game.

I think I just crossed 30 hours today, and I feel like i've covered a lot - but i've also been making lateral moves for probably 15-20 hours. I layed off the main quest for quite a bit. Some of the most fun I have playing the game is looking through a scope/binoculars and seeing something off in the distance, seeing i have no map marker, and going to investigate.

[cthomer5000]

I got the tribal "pack" card inside my game box which gave me tribal armor, some throwing spears, a machete and some poison right off the bat. I just figured out that I can put the poison on any melee weapon. It works out the same way that you poison a weapon in Morrowind or Oblivion if you've played those games. It was funny, though, because I couldn't understand why the poison was listed on my "aid" screen since it only took hit points away. It wasn't until I was in the heat of battle that I thought I'd try it and it worked. I have no idea where you can find poison to use in the wasteland, though.

Sweet, didn't know this. I made poison and quickly wondered what the hell I could even use it for, but never investigated any further. I'm also pretty much a melee specialist, so this should work out nicely.

[samifan24]

How do you get binoculars?

[Big Fo]

I found a pair somewhere in the desert or in some town, but I forget where. I haven't seen them for sale in a shop though iirc.

I also had some to begin with, part of some bonus for preordering the game on Steam.

[JonInMiddleGA]

How do you get binoculars?

I noticed tonight, in one of the loading screen tips, that Legion Explorers typically carry them. Might have to piss off Caesar to get 'em ;)

Although to be honest, I had them from my pre-order but haven't used them a half dozen times in over 40 hours of gameplay. Once you get a scoped weapon, there's even less need for them afaic.

[cthomer5000]

How do you get binoculars?

I stole them from someone, but later got a pair as part of a residence.

I've seen 4-5 pairs in the game so far.

Once you get a scoped weapon, there's even less need for them afaic.

Agreed. I quickly modded out a Varmint Rifle soon after getting binoculars, and later acquired a sniper rifle..so haven't really used the binoculars since then, the scope does the same job.

[samifan24]

Ah so I really need a scoped rifle then. Thanks guys.

[SportsDino]

The same skills carry over from FO3, so it makes this game toward easy. If you don't play a smart build the challenge can get pretty hard, a giant radscorpion is a rough fight for my non-combat character, and I assume Deathclaws and Nightstalkers aren't much better, whereas in FO3 it seemed I had an easier time against those creatures.

I think the changes to how armor work are pretty significant to this, the penetration of your weapons is important from killing an enemy in a few shots to taking 50 to do so. However, if you keep chugging the main quest you'll pick up the gear you need to even out in a hurry. My problem was avoiding lots of quests and the main line, and then trying to trek into territory with low supplies and starter weapons.

To me the challenge is about right, if you want to play to make the game easier you can do so and play on default+hardcore with a decent challenge without feeling like you have to pull out your hair. If you want to make the game harder, you can do so by going after the harder material in the game before your character is built up. If you 'follow the road' I think the game will be easier because you are following the scaled difficulty path the designers built up to begin with.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Anyone else mildly bothered by the amount of replicated interiors/layouts from 3? Not the vaults which would make sense, but things like the Camp Golf main building being essentially identical to the mansion from the Point Lookout DLC. Also several of the industrial buildings are identical to the warehouse with the Chinese ghouls from 3.

[dubb93]

I'm pretty sure my game just bricked itself. SIGH, I think I'm going to put this game down for a while and pick it back up if they ever patch it up to the point where I don't feel like I'm going to waste my time playing it again. I'm still trying to reload past saves(I keep 4 going at a time) and trying other work arounds but I've been trying to work around this for a while and nothing has worked so far. Game had just gotten good too. Had just recently hit the Vegas strip after doing every side quest I had gotten ahold of prior to hitting Vegas. Lost alot of time here. Not real happy.

[dubb93]

They are all bricked at the same spot.



I leave the Tops Casino after having Benny bail on me. When I leave the casino the guys from the Legion and NCR approach me. From there when I go to head to the north gate of the strip and the game freezes.

If I teleport somewhere else the game will run but brick if I go to re-enter the strip at any point. Also if I teleport out all my saves from that point on are corrupt so I can only play as long as the 360 doesn't shut off.

[BYU 14]

Finding out what a valuable asset Caravan can be once you develop the right strategy. I have hit several big wins and in one stretch went from 300 odd to over 3000 caps in less than half an hour. Makes life a lot easier in hardcore mode. Kind of a fun little diversion too.

[Peregrine]

Finding out what a valuable asset Caravan can be once you develop the right strategy. I have hit several big wins and in one stretch went from 300 odd to over 3000 caps in less than half an hour. Makes life a lot easier in hardcore mode. Kind of a fun little diversion too.

I've never been able to play Caravan - tried a few times, but always the same. It shows my hand of cards and I have options to discard card (which I can do) and select card (which I've never figured out how to do.) I've tried clicking everywhere on the game screen, mousing over, etc, and that select card never "lights up." So I've never been able to play it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've never been able to play Caravan - tried a few times, but always the same. It shows my hand of cards and I have options to discard card (which I can do) and select card (which I've never figured out how to do.) I've tried clicking everywhere on the game screen, mousing over, etc, and that select card never "lights up." So I've never been able to play it.

It won't light up, it's just the one closest to you in your hand (on the right), which changes as you RS through them. Then you click select card, then pick a pile to place it on.

[Atocep]

I've never been able to play Caravan - tried a few times, but always the same. It shows my hand of cards and I have options to discard card (which I can do) and select card (which I've never figured out how to do.) I've tried clicking everywhere on the game screen, mousing over, etc, and that select card never "lights up." So I've never been able to play it.

Another tip if you're playing on PC is to use the arrow keys on your keyboard to change the stacks you're creating. Took me forever to figure that out.

[Peregrine]

I will give it another shot, but I don't know if I will have any luck - I never had any ability to change cards, all I saw was the 5 cards in my hand, and I never had the option to select card, no matter what I tried.

[samifan24]

The 30 cards needed to play Caravan can be purchased from various merchants for a couple of caps each, right? Or do I need different cards?

[SportsDino]

Get your deck from Ringo at the gas station in Goodsprings.

Caravan is a very easy game to win (at least against the first 5 people I've played) and a good source of free caps.

-----

I'm half tempted to sideline the game myself for patching reasons... I have a feeling I'll be entering the area with difficulties soon and I hate game-killers, and don't want to be spoiled searching the interwebs for workarounds and spots to avoid.

If anyone has finished the game, without spoiling it can you give your general impression of the ending? Was it interesting? About the only reason I can see playing through more than gimmick characters right now is if the storyline is worth the looksee.

If anyone has a good resource about confirmed spots that glitch the game that may be useful to, I think I'll look one up in the next couple days before I start my new character (my scavenger died brutally, next attempt is a mad scientist!). I don't mind mild spoilers if I can avoid getting into a situation my multiple save backups can't avoid (particularly if you scav an object and an hour later it can cause a crash, because I grab up near everything).

[JPhillips]

Come Fly With Me has he potential to kill your saves.

[BYU 14]

The 30 cards needed to play Caravan can be purchased from various merchants for a couple of caps each, right? Or do I need different cards?

You can get a basic deck from Ringo in goodsprings and then pick up loose cards from various vendors, which will allow you to have more than 4 cards of a single type in your hand (I.E 5 10's)

The Spoiler below has a good strategy that I use.


Make your hand of 30 to include 4 or 5 (if you get a loose card outside the basic deck) of 7's, 9's and 10's. Add 4 kings and 4 jacks, 4 sixes and 2 each of the following (assuming you have 4 of everything else) Queens, Aces and jokers.

Before you lay down your first card discard cards to get as many 7's, 9's and 10's as possible in your hand, keeping a couple of Kings and maybe a 6 and/or Jack as these allow certain strategic moves. Make sure the first card in each Caravan is a 7 or 10 if possible (Ace or 6 in a pinch). You do this because the hands must go in ascending or descending order (7-9-10) or (10-9-7) which add up to 26, which is the maximum amount possible to "buy" a Caravan. Work to get at least 2 hands at 26 and it won't matter what the computer does with the 3rd. Use Kings on you opponents hand to double their highest card and raise their bid above 26 or a Jack to remove their cards if they have a successful bid. You can also use a King on a 10 in your hand to double it then add a 6 (which also equals 26)

Once you have 2 hands at 26 and your opponent is lower, either get you thrid hand to at least 21, or let your opponent get between 21 and 26 since you only need to win 2 of 3 and start collecting your caps!

[SportsDino]

Ah thanks, that is useful to know, ironically that is about where my character met his end.

[JonInMiddleGA]

If anyone has a good resource about confirmed spots that glitch the game that may be useful to, I think I'll look one up in the next couple days before I start my new character (my scavenger died brutally, next attempt is a mad scientist!).

Not sure about the degree of spoilers in their bug list but I use
The Vault, the Fallout wiki - Fallout: New Vegas and more (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki)

for just about all my Fallout in-game questions. It doesn't seem to be moving as quickly or thoroughly for NV as it did for 3 though, and definitely be careful about where you click because it is, by nature, full of spoilers. But as I recall they maintain a regular bug list as it's own page.

[SportsDino]

Thanks, that is an excellent resource.

There are quite a few spoilers in the bug list but they are pretty necessary to describe the bug and don't seem to give out more details than they have to. Its not as bad as I thought, seems a lot of cases are just programmers forgetting to code for people playing through quests in an unexpected order, which are easy enough to avoid.

[RainMaker]

Is it normal to be hated by some groups and liked by others? For instance, while I was searching early, the Powder Gangers attacked me and I just assumed they were enemies and killed them. But whenever I go into their areas for missions and kill more, I keep getting notified that my status with them is worse. Was there really ever an option to have a good relationship with them?

I also don't get why my Karma goes down when I kill them and take their stuff. If they are my enemies, why is it going down?

And fuck those giant scorpions.

[jeff061]

Ran into the same thing. When you go to the prison they tell you to stay clear of camps because they will attack, otherwise they are cool with you. I assumed somehow the hostile powder gangers were from camps I didn't know were there. Didn't like how that was handled.

So far like the game, it has a more open feel than I was expecting after a few comments here. Really does have a good western type atmosphere.

However I still much prefer Fallout in DC.

[RainMaker]

So it's pretty hard to make the Powder Gangers happy? And I'm better off just treating them as an enemy?

[thesloppy]

I think your only shot at making the powder gangers happy is taking their side in the very first town you start in, and after that it's all downhill.

[Qrusher14242]

i cant seem to get the NCR Rangers to stop attacking me. I'm Neutral with NCR and the ranger i'm going to says Neutral. I'm also wearing NCR armor, but as soon as a i show up, they just shoot me on site :( I even tried leaving my companion behind, but nothing. Can't finish a couple quests because of this.

[jeff061]

I don't think security detail for factions likes you wearing their armor, so security may attack if you are "disguised" as them.

At least that was my understanding when it was explained in game, have not experienced it first hand.

[Qrusher14242]

yeah, i can walk around ncr troopers fine, but once i run into a ranger, they go hostile. I also have the Crimson Caravan hostile for some reason lol Must of killed someone a while ago that pissed them off.

[Peregrine]

What is your faction rating with the NCR? I have found that if the NCR hates you, wearing their armor will make you neutral to most of them, but some, like rangers, will still try to kill you.

[RainMaker]

I've been neutral to the NCR and have never had them shoot at me.

And if you have been good to them, how did you come across some NCR armor? :)

[Peregrine]

I've been neutral to the NCR and have never had them shoot at me.

And if you have been good to them, how did you come across some NCR armor? :)

Plenty of places to find NCR armor without killing them - tons of it in Searchlight, for one thing, as well as other spots.

[JPhillips]

I ran into a couple of Legion patrols with Boone, so now I'm vilified by the Legion. Guess this run will be the NCR storyline!

[Qrusher14242]

my rating with NCR is Neutral. No matter how many ncr quests i cant get it higher. It keeps saying 'NCR Infamy gained' (with the happy face), but no change.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Plenty of places to find NCR armor without killing them - tons of it in Searchlight, for one thing, as well as other spots.

Yep, there's at least one sidequest that produces some as well.

[Peregrine]

I have to say I wish they had gotten rid of karma altogether in this version. Breaking it apart into a bunch of different factions you can relate to makes sense, but then you're left with this overall Karma stat which means almost nothing, and produces some weird results. I'm getting really tired of gunning some innocent people down (no karma hit) then when you steal a toaster, boom, you're a bad bad man.

[DataKing]

I hate to say it, but I'm putting this on the shelf until they patch some of the bugs...it's reached the point of distraction for me, preventing me from really enjoying playing the game. A shame, really...but hopefully they'll fix it up soon and then I'll return.

[jeff061]

Hmm. I ran into a clipping issue with a rock once. That's about the only problem I've seen. Then again I'm not exactly searching the web looking for bug lists, I only know what I experienced.

I'm aware of the save corruption issue and that is unforgivable. But I run daily system backups, so I may lose a day(still would be pissed though).

[Peregrine]

I've run into a few (thankfully minor) bugs and that's it. I guess I've been pretty lucky - especially the save corruption seems horrible.

[RainMaker]

I have to say I wish they had gotten rid of karma altogether in this version. Breaking it apart into a bunch of different factions you can relate to makes sense, but then you're left with this overall Karma stat which means almost nothing, and produces some weird results. I'm getting really tired of gunning some innocent people down (no karma hit) then when you steal a toaster, boom, you're a bad bad man.
Same here. I like Karma for each town, faction, etc. But if a group despises me, why am I losing Karma for stealing from them?

[Eaglesfan27]

I hate to say it, but I'm putting this on the shelf until they patch some of the bugs...it's reached the point of distraction for me, preventing me from really enjoying playing the game. A shame, really...but hopefully they'll fix it up soon and then I'll return.

This is the only reason I haven't picked up this game yet.. the save corruption would just piss me off too much.

[Qrusher14242]

i've only had the pc version crash to desktop a few times. I have about 10 mods installed and havent hit too many bugs. Much less than FO3 for me.

[cthomer5000]

Just finished the game at nearly 50 hours. Had maybe 3-4 crashes, and none that weren't solved by just reloading.

I'm playing on XBOX.

Maybe i'm living a charmed life, but i just haven't seen the show-stopping bugs and corruption that other people have complained about.

[JPhillips]

And another save game corruption. AT least this time I could go back an hour and still play. I'm done with this until they patch the save game killers.

This time I think it had something to do with Vault 3.

[JPhillips]

New patch, but I'm not sure if all the save game corruption is fixed. The only thing I could find in the fix list on saves was:

Fix: DLC error/save corruption

I'll probably try to play again this weekend, but I'll stop if I get the save game corruption again.

[Tasan]

Fixes, at least for the PC/Steam version (I see 2 save game fixes):

Fallout: New Vegas - Version 1.1.1
Companions now show up as waypoints on the map
Companions will always fast travel with you, unless told to wait or sent away
Fix: DLC error/save corruption
Fix: Stuttering with water effects
Fix: Severe performance issues with DirectX.
Fix: Controls temporarily disabled after reloading Cowboy Repeater while crouched
Fixed crash using the Euclid C-Finder while having the Heave Ho perk
Fix: Entering the strip after Debt Collector causes crash and autosave corruption
Fix: Using Mojave Express dropbox can cause DLC warnings
Fixed crash when buying duplicate caravan cards from a vendor in a single transaction
Crafting menu should filter valid (bright) recipes to the top of the list
Fix: Sitting down while looking down a weapon's ironsights leaves player control locked
Fix: If a companion is knocked unconscious with broken limbs they stay broken on respawn
Fix for varmint night scope effect persisting in kill cam
Fix for giving companions armor that adds STR does not increase their carry weight
Fix NPC Repair menu displays DAM as DPS
Having NPC repair service rifle with forged receiver decreases CND

[Peregrine]

I have to say that so far, aligning yourself with the Legion becomes pretty annoying. So many quests are set up from NCR posts or NCR controlled areas, once you become a terrorist to them, I can't complete a lot of my quests. On the flip side, if the Legion hates you, basically so what - they are only present at a very few locations.

[mckerney]

Finished the main story yesterday, I'm definitely installing the mod that lets you keep playing after the ending tonight. I think I remember reading that the developers said that it would make sense and fit with the story why you couldn't, but it really doesn't. At least not with the ending that I got.

I also need to try and get the mod to add songs to radio New Vegas working, I'm really starting to hate that Johnny Guitar.

[Qrusher14242]

i like the CONELRAD radio addon. I've been trying to get the 100 song pack to work with Radio New Vegas, but sometimes it doesnt work right :(

[BYU 14]

i like the CONELRAD radio addon. I've been trying to get the 100 song pack to work with Radio New Vegas, but sometimes it doesnt work right :(

Much needed addition, I loved Big Iron at first, now it is grating so I play with no Radio.

[Peregrine]

I've been playing simultaneous games, but I just finished the game with my first character - a melee warrior working for Caesar. Have to say I liked the way the ending was presented.

[Izulde]

Is anyone else's game looping with a constant load screen when they try and get into the West Side entrance as part of the Vikki and Vance gun quest? It's really pissing me off since I forgot to save before entering it. Load screen's been running non-stop for 10 minutes.

[JPhillips]

Is anyone else's game looping with a constant load screen when they try and get into the West Side entrance as part of the Vikki and Vance gun quest? It's really pissing me off since I forgot to save before entering it. Load screen's been running non-stop for 10 minutes.

I had that happen on a different quest. Only solution was ctlaltdel.

[Big Fo]

I beat the game tonight and have some mixed feelings about it. I loved Fallout 3 and I think this game was even better. I found the writing, the characters, and the variety and kinds of weaponry to be superior to those aspects of Fallout 3. There were also more locations, even if a number of them didn't have much to explore or have any side quests related to them. But it must have crashed to the desktop 6-10 times in my 50 hour playthrough and maybe 5-7 other times I got stuck on some rocks and could no longer move my character, meaning I had to reload. I save a lot so it's not that big of a deal and in total I probably only had to replay an hour or two to make up for what I lost due to crashes/glitches but it was still annoying. I didn't have nearly that many issues during my initial PS3 playthrough of FO3 or my PC playthrough of the GOTY version.

Thoughts on the ending:

I wound up fucking over both the NCR and the Legion to establish an Independent Vegas. I did not like how easy the ending was. I was able to finish off the Legion by just letting some Securitrons take out a bunch of guys and then passing a series of speech checks with one of the Legion higher ups. Then the NCR was also easily defeated by my robot army.

I know it is the nature of these games but it is just annoying to have so much trouble with a radscorpion early on and then practically be able to sleepwalk your way to defeating both main factions and establishing an independent nation during the end game.

And when I took out Mr. House, it was very easy to eliminate 4-5 Securitrons with a quality gun and well developed stats (That Machine, level 30, 100 gun skill) and get out of his casino. After a number of life and death situations during the early and midgame I felt that it should have been more difficult. This guy controlled the entire town and I'm able to totally fuck him over, take over his place and kill him with minimal resistance? C'mon.

I suppose some of this is my fault. I played on the default settings. If I wanted to make it harder I could have ignored VATS, played on hard, done Hardcore Mode, not recruited companions (not that the companions did much of anything during the endgame), etc.

I will play this a second and maybe a third time through at some point (after some patches and maybe some DLC if it gets good reviews/impressions) because despite all of those complaints I think it's a great game. It's just that it could have been significantly better.

[Tasan]

Finished this today, with about 60 hours in. At level 20 I took the reveal map perk and explored quite a bit before running the endgame. Also, the game crashed almost half the time I traveled, towards the end.


I picked to make Vegas independent at the end. I'm definitely going back and changing that to see how everything ends up.

[dubb93]

For anyone running this on the 360 that experienced the corrupted game save issue. I just threw the game back in and tried my old save file that always led to corruption issues. I am absolutely shocked to report that my save files are no longer corrupted and I can resume the game as normal. I had to download a patch prior to playing but that patch must have been golden and it seems to have fixed my issue. I will spoiler my post about my issue incase anyone else had something similar and they can now resume their game as normal.

I leave the Tops Casino after having Benny bail on me. When I leave the casino the guys from the Legion and NCR approach me. From there when I go to head to the north gate of the strip and the game freezes.

If I teleport somewhere else the game will run but brick if I go to re-enter the strip at any point. Also if I teleport out all my saves from that point on are corrupt so I can only play as long as the 360 doesn't shut off.

[DataKing]

On a similar note, I played the Steam version quite a bit over the weekend, and have experienced none of the bugs and CTDs that were driving me bonkers when the game first came out. Looks like they've cleaned things up nicely.

[tyketime]

On a similar note, I played the Steam version quite a bit over the weekend, and have experienced none of the bugs and CTDs that were driving me bonkers when the game first came out. Looks like they've cleaned things up nicely.

Hmmm... if they have squashed the many bugs & crashes that were prominently featured in the game earlier, I may have to move this one up the wishlist. You're now pleased with the game overall?

[DataKing]

Hmmm... if they have squashed the many bugs & crashes that were prominently featured in the game earlier, I may have to move this one up the wishlist. You're now pleased with the game overall?

I am quite pleased with it now. But remember this is coming from someone who spent 500+ hours on Fallout 3...so I probably qualify as a fanboy. :)

Seriously though, stability-wise I have encountered zero issues since the last patch. And I am pretty happy with the gameplay overall. It pretty much works just the way that Fallout 3 did, but it is more difficult (which was needed...Fallout 3 was too easy IMO). Especially playing in hardcore mode.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It pretty much works just the way that Fallout 3 did, but it is more difficult (which was needed...Fallout 3 was too easy IMO). Especially playing in hardcore mode.

On that part I'm in the 180 degrees camp, feeling as though NV is significantly easier & finding hardcore mode no real challenge at all.

I'm around the 120 hour mark with a few more hours to go before completing my first game so it's not as though I'm unhappy or anything, just disagreeing about it being harder than 3.

[dubb93]

On that part I'm in the 180 degrees camp, feeling as though NV is significantly easier & finding hardcore mode no real challenge at all.

I'm around the 120 hour mark with a few more hours to go before completing my first game so it's not as though I'm unhappy or anything, just disagreeing about it being harder than 3.

I agree. I'm only 30 hours into this playthrough, but more often than not Boone has everything dead before I even go to shoot. And I couldn't imagine not playing Hardcore after playing with it. I wouldn't say it is a challenge but it is something new atleast.

[Atocep]

I agree. I'm only 30 hours into this playthrough, but more often than not Boone has everything dead before I even go to shoot. And I couldn't imagine not playing Hardcore after playing with it. I wouldn't say it is a challenge but it is something new atleast.

There are tons of complaints about Boone making the game too easy. I gave up on companions altogether because of it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Incidentally, just anecdotal of course, I've had more lockups in the past 2-3 days since the round of patches they've been releasing than I had in the previous 100+ hours of game play. Including a lockup in the middle of the final battle scene no less. That's on 360 for those keeping score.

[RainMaker]

On that part I'm in the 180 degrees camp, feeling as though NV is significantly easier & finding hardcore mode no real challenge at all.

I'm around the 120 hour mark with a few more hours to go before completing my first game so it's not as though I'm unhappy or anything, just disagreeing about it being harder than 3.
It's weird because I actually found myself having a tougher time. I haven't played as much, but I had some major problems with things like Deathclaws at the beginning.

[Tasan]

It's weird because I actually found myself having a tougher time. I haven't played as much, but I had some major problems with things like Deathclaws at the beginning.

How on earth were you tangling with Deathclaws at the beginning? I'm guessing you didn't listen to all the friendly advice the people in Goodsprings were giving out. Heed all warnings at the beginning, and stick to the roads and head south, or you're in for a world of pain.

[RainMaker]

How on earth were you tangling with Deathclaws at the beginning? I'm guessing you didn't listen to all the friendly advice the people in Goodsprings were giving out. Heed all warnings at the beginning, and stick to the roads and head south, or you're in for a world of pain.
I was never good at listening. It wasn't right at the beginning, but pretty close. Was near that mining town and they told me to go clear it out. The rape that ensued has scarred me.

[DataKing]

On that part I'm in the 180 degrees camp, feeling as though NV is significantly easier & finding hardcore mode no real challenge at all.

I'm around the 120 hour mark with a few more hours to go before completing my first game so it's not as though I'm unhappy or anything, just disagreeing about it being harder than 3.

Just out of curiosity, did you find Fallout 3 to be difficult at all?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just out of curiosity, did you find Fallout 3 to be difficult at all?

At times, yeah. The fire ants in particular gave me fits for quite a while, as did Glowing Ones/higher level ghouls.

[DataKing]

Hmm...OK. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I never really had any difficulty with Fallout 3, and only died if I was just screwing around (launching a mini-nuke at your feet tends to have harmful side-effects).

Personally, there are three things that I find have ramped up the difficulty in New Vegas:

I played quite a bit before adding Boone as a companion. Yes I agree, he does make things too easy sometimes. But I am also in the habit of leaving my companions at the entrance of indoor locations, using them as mules while I stealth-kill everything in sight...
Stimpaks being a HoT, rather than instant heals in Hardcore Mode. In normal mode it's just too easy to spam stimpaks if you get in trouble, but in Hardcore mode you can still get overwhelmed.
Fewer Perks and Skill Points. Lower skill points certainly have an impact, but I think the value of Perks tends to be overlooked sometimes. Receiving new Perks only on even levels is a significant nerf (as compared to Fallout 3) in my book.

[JonInMiddleGA]

126 hours & change and New Vegas is complete. Could have stretched that another 5-10 hours if I had been more thorough with the sidequests instead of skipping those I simply didn't have the patience for/knew I wouldn't enjoy or chosen a different ending option.

Found the finale to be surprisingly challenging. Also found the ending to be considerably more satisfying in terms of depth of detail than 3.

Probably take a day or two off from it before tackling the first DLC Dead Money.

[cartman]

A guy from England on vacation in Vegas spent a week traveling around taking pics and matching up places in the game with real life locations. A pretty neat read for those interested.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gaming/virtual-las-vegas-the-fallout-fans-ultimate-road-trip/story-e6frfrt9-1226055488463

[DataKing]

A little something for the Fallout fans out there...

[cthomer5000]

In retrospect this game just didn't grab me in nearly the way Fallout 3 did.

My biggest complaint was that vague dialogue options often had me end up siding with a faction against my actual intent. Late in the game a bunch of decisions sort of fell like dominoes, and probably half of them weren't quite what I *thought* I was doing.

I think Obsidian made some good design decisions and some bad ones, but in the end I think it was more a combination of a number of things not being quite as good as FO3 that just made it a much weaker experience.

I haven't even strongly considered playing any of the DLC for this, while it played everything for FO3 (though a few were weak there, admittedly).

Good enough game, it just felt massively underwhelming after Fallout 3. I probably had ridiculous expectations though, as FO3 would probably crack my all-time top 10 games.

[Groundhog]

In retrospect this game just didn't grab me in nearly the way Fallout 3 did.

My biggest complaint was that vague dialogue options often had me end up siding with a faction against my actual intent. Late in the game a bunch of decisions sort of fell like dominoes, and probably half of them weren't quite what I *thought* I was doing.

I think Obsidian made some good design decisions and some bad ones, but in the end I think it was more a combination of a number of things not being quite as good as FO3 that just made it a much weaker experience.

I haven't even strongly considered playing any of the DLC for this, while it played everything for FO3 (though a few were weak there, admittedly).

Good enough game, it just felt massively underwhelming after Fallout 3. I probably had ridiculous expectations though, as FO3 would probably crack my all-time top 10 games.

I co-sign this entire post pretty much. Finished it, but haven't touched it since. I actually thought that the part of the game up until you reach New Vegas was very solid, but it started to lose me around that point.

[mauchow]

I got it for $20 yesterday on amazon so hopefully its worth that.

[cthomer5000]

I got it for $20 yesterday on amazon so hopefully its worth that.

Definitely worth 20. Like I said, I think a lot of it for me was sky-high expectations.

If I had merely enjoyed Fallout 3 rather than obsessed over it, i'm sure i would have had similar opinions about New Vegas.

I actually thought that the part of the game up until you reach New Vegas was very solid, but it started to lose me around that point.

*Nods head in agreement*

I didn't like the layout, and there seemed to be surprisingly little going on in Vegas itself.

[DataKing]

Old World Blues DLC to be released July 19th.

[cthomer5000]

This game is on sale for 9.99 this week at Best Buy. PS3, XBOX, and PC

[ColtCrazy]

Guess I'm a little different toward this game. I loved Fallout 3, but I've really enjoyed this game more. Part of it is the addition of gun repair and other little things. A lot of it is the openness of the desert around Vegas. I agree that Vegas itself isn't as exciting and I prefer to stick to the areas around and away from it.

I haven't bought any DLC yet. Dead Money doesn't sound interesting at all. The second one does, and I may eventually buy it for the XP cap increase and the chance to learn about Burning Man.

I've been so into NBA2k11 lately that I haven't played this in a bit. Hoping the next DLC is inspiring enough to get me back into it.

[Atocep]

I'm on my 2nd playthrough of New Vegas and I've enjoyed it more than FO3 (which I ended up with over 200 hours played).

The really enjoy the vagueness in some of the dialogue options. I'm not much of a fan of the Bioware approach to dialogue options where you have an obvious Good, Bad, Neutral option. I like not always knowing how someone will react to something I say.

The Main storyline and ending are far superior to FO3 as well. I actually felt pleased with how NV ended whereas when FO3 ended it almost felt like I had wasted a hell of a lot of time.

I do agree that Vegas is a letdown. It's impressive when you first get there but you quickly feel kind of boxed in and the feeling of openness that makes the game so great disappears.

One last thing, can I trade Mr. New Vegas for Three Dog?