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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

Quote:

R. Lee Ermey

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.

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.

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

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

Preorder is in on Steam. Downloading now.

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.

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.

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

I imagine it'd be locked.

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

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.

Steam unlocks it at 10am Tuesday morning.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

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 ;)

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.

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.

Game is running. Jumping right into hardcore mode.

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.

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

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

And another review
http://www.giantbomb.com/fallout-new...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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

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...

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

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.

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.