Fallout: New Vegas

[Nachimir]

That's quite similar to this animation bug in Dragon Age too:

VDanX-beShQ

[Thompson]

What the...?

Is it a problem of head rotation going in the wrong direction? What I mean is, are they rotating the head on a point, but instead of saying 'head needs to rotate clockwise to 39 degrees' it's saying 'head needs to rotate to 39 degrees' without setting the direction leaving the engine to make an assumption?

Doesn't explain the massive inflation and explosion in Dragon Age but still...

[JonCole]

Just played for about two hours last night and an hour today and had a few random first impressions:

• The weapons mods are actually appealing to me, for some reason. My silenced, extended mag varmint rifle is actually quite effective.
  
• This game is a lot more brutal with respect to Fallout 3... you can immediately encounter tough-ass enemies if you wander too far from the prescribed path - giant radscorpions are a couple minutes walk from Goodsprings
  
• Ammunition is incredibly generous. I never feel like I'm rationing use of specific weapons to conserve ammo like I had to in FO3.
  

[Squid Division]

I agree with Jon.

The game isn't very hard for me. I have well over 300 hours in FO3 so I went Hard/Hardcore, and it isn't very noticeable. If the save system wasn't broken (autosave doesn't work if you quit out of the game) it'd be even easier. I'd almost recommend you don't play on hardcore. The only thing that has any effect is the stimpacks not healing instantly, and that's just annoying. Still, I'll finish it to get the stupid achievement since I want them all.

Also, want to gate the early portion of a game? Easy! Just fill the area around your starting position with

Deathclaws

!

[elmuerte]

hmm.... ok so unless I can actually find a collectors edition for the PC I guess I will hold off on this game until it's cheaper or at least fixed.

they could have caught these issues with a demo

[Squid Division]

Even though I just met him, I'm in love with No-Bark

'We got a chupacabra with an automatic weapon!

[CaptainFish]

Some sort of patch is live. Nick lays down the facts.

I haven't seen the patch notes, but hopefully this fixes the performance issues.

I wonder if it will fix the error I had where a computer terminal screen wouldn't show up and I had to reload, but I kept being treated to a blurry shot of my dude's arm.

Edit: Huh, it did fix the error of the 5 hours of progress I made today, all my saves are rolled back. I can't say I'll be too peeved if it actually runs better this time though.

[a purple future]

apparently it doesn't fix the performance issues but it does take care of the saves and various gameplay and quest bugs.

there's a kind of weird workaround out there that tricks the game into thinking you have a compatible video card. it's a little sketchy and you have to be careful where you get the file from, but it worked like a charm for me.

this is why i like pc gaming- between fan fixes, valve, and bethesda, it took less than a day to get a pretty severely broken game working pretty well. keep hearing about various console issues, sucks they have to wait.

[Squid Division]

There aren't any spoilers for this but if you know nothing about the game or don't want the main factions' identities spoiled, don't click.

I've been thinking about how this compares with FO3.

You're not on some save the world quest, you're just another guy wandering around the wasteland like everybody else, it makes me feel like Sanjuro or The Man With No Name.

One of the first ways I was able to quantify why it felt different than 3 was the other actors. They're mostly all human so far, and there are a lot of them. This isn't the deserted wasteland anymore; there are many people and many people grouped together with a common goal. It's not just supermutants and enclave anymore, it's all these factions.

And while 3 basically forced you to come to the same conclusion regardless of your alignment, it's very clear from the first town that you will [probably, I haven't beaten it] control the outcome of the final battle by choosing your side.

And the sides are fleshed out pretty well. The NCR are your typical good but-not-really-good guys like the Brotherhood were in 3. The difference is you actually see their struggle, mostly through their fear of and the actions of the Legion.

Which brings me to the Legion. Their actions early on set their tone and god damn is it brutal. You hear stuff on the radio about them doing the typical things Romans are known for and it's pretty funny...then you see it. I actually feel scared of running into the Legion for their reputation and because of how the game looms them over you.

I didn't always feel that way though, because I was neutral with both the NCR and Legion. I could safely watch a battle between them from a ridge through my binoculars, then go mop up the loot once someone won. The faction system is good, if still a little binary.

[Orv]

Which brings me to the Legion. Their actions early on set their tone and god damn is it brutal. You hear stuff on the radio about them doing the typical things Romans are known for and it's pretty funny...then you see it. I actually feel scared of running into the Legion for their reputation and because of how the game looms them over you.

Coming into Nipton for the first time actually got me a little off-balance. Despite not being a necessarily good character, I shot the Powder Gangers in the head to get them off the crosses. The Legion is actually, honestly, Roman-era brutal. They don't fuck around. It's the best faction I've seen in a while in video games.

Also on note of the Legion, slightly spoilery, but eh. In the first big interaction with them, I decided to kill their group. Obviously, the game does not want you to do this. One, it is an overwhelming force with overwhelming weaponry.

Second, shortly there-after (I presume upon reaching a certain status with Caeser's Legion) a squad of Legionnaire Assassins are sent after you. And they keep coming. I drove off the first only because I was in an NCR camp. The second, I fought (reloading frequently, I believe 9 times) for a half-hour before giving in.

I simply could not take these foes at my level and equipment register. I opted to reload before killing the occupational forces. I look at this situation both as A. The game is gating me, somewhat unfortunately, but understandable.

and

B. Awesome faction interaction.

So I'm not sure where I stand on the whole deal.

I didn't always feel that way though, because I was neutral with both the NCR and Legion. I could safely watch a battle between them from a ridge through my binoculars, then go mop up the loot once someone won. The faction system is good, if still a little binary.

I had a STALKER moment, similar to this. I found a group of Legion soldiers and NCR fighting on a road. Like many occasions in the Fallout 3/NV engine, I found this firefight because of gunshots in the distance. If there is one thing this engine does well, it's the sound gunfire in a giant wasteland.

I immediately follow it to this fight, watched from a fairly short distance away, and then looted everything I could. Which was all of the fighters except one. Now, because I was a lot closer to bullets than I probably should have been, the experience was ruined for me.

It was like STALKER, two sides duking it out without any interference/interaction from me, but the mood was ruined. One of the Legion Recruits was using a repeater rifle, and his head kept clipping down through the butt of the gun when he would bring it up to his shoulder. The AI in the game is not specifically tweaked to allow this to happen, so instead of a fairly dynamic STALKER AI fight, they all stood at 10 feet from each other in a circle and fired until all but one were dead.

I'm still enjoying the game, but that ruined the rest of the mystique of that play-session for me.

[Korax]

Also on note of the Legion, slightly spoilery, but eh. In the first big interaction with them, I decided to kill their group. Obviously, the game does not want you to do this. One, it is an overwhelming force with overwhelming weaponry.

I had no problem at all with that encounter (assuming you're talking about Nipton). I easily killed the few guys standing around outside and then went into the town hall and obliterated all the Legionaries inside. They've only sent one pair of assassins, and aside from their higher HP/Damage Tolerance making it take a few more bullets, they were just as easy.

[Nappi]

I lost interest in this game at some point before its release, but I don't know exactly how. I guess the gameplay videos just illustrated too clearly how "worn out" the engine really is. Which, I guess, is to say the game looks and plays exactly like Fallout 3, which I loved, did a couple of years ago. Is the story better or more interesting than that in Fallout 3, like some reviewers seem to be suggesting?

Shame about the bugs too, except for the rotating head one which clearly just shows how dazed and confused the player character is after waking up.

[CaptainFish]

First off I adore this game so far. Love the variety of weapons, love the western vibe, love the companion system, love the new faction designs. The new faction system is really cool. I think the way they handle recipes makes it a much more integral part of the game, and the ammo stuff is just awesome. I like that the repair max is no longer tied to your skill level. I like that some animals won't just instantly attack you on sight, they feel more like wildlife. I like that I can actually shoot a guy if I aim down the sights even if I have a terrible guns stat. I like how the weapon skills are more streamlined. This isn't NV specific, but I also like how all the guns are realistically modeled. Honestly, the revolver reload animation made me ecstatic to cowboy it up.

Since the patch introduced the save game error into my game, I lost a lot of progress and decided to start over with a gunslinger character as opposed to my smarty pants character because I like the way the guns handle outside of VATS.

I had a weird disconnect when I got to the NCR Correctional Facility where a faction lives.

When I got there with my first character, I had hated status, but I was still able to go in and establish a truce and do the related missions. He did have a high charisma, so maybe that effects how much you can piss off a dude with one action. Since I didn't know about faction armor on my science guy, I was having to kill lots of dudes before I got to the penitentiary.

However, when I got there with my gunslinger, who has terrible charisma, I was already at vilified status, even though I only fought the dudes in the shoot out mission. Perhaps my lower charisma caused me to lose rep faster. Paying the guard has no effect. Once I walk in the outside gate, he opens fire on me. If I bypass him and go inside and establish a truce with a generic dude, the named NPC shopkeeper still attacks me. I'm assuming this means I can't do any of the quests.

The biggest shame is that I can't do the take over of the NCRCF quest without talking to the convict leader first. That segment was one of the reasons I wanted to play a more gun focused character in the first place.

[Orv]

I had no problem at all with that encounter (assuming you're talking about Nipton). I easily killed the few guys standing around outside and then went into the town hall and obliterated all the Legionaries inside. They've only sent one pair of assassins, and aside from their higher HP/Damage Tolerance making it take a few more bullets, they were just as easy.

I think I was pretty underleveled for Nipton at the time, and come to think of it, that second set of Assassins might have just been random Legion. Either way, they kicked my face in pretty quick.

[Squid Division]

I hate the cowboy gun reloads because you can't interrupt them. It makes even less sense for them since you're putting one round in at at time.

Another thing I LOVE about the game is how they actually put most of the towns in the wasteland (like Big Town was in 3). Very few towns have a load screen before them to get into them (like Megaton/Tenpenny/Rivet City). It really helps with the atmosphere and doesn't slow down the game. Unfortunately there are more load screen towns around Vegas than in the rest of the game that I've found so far. For Vegas and

Freeside

it makes sense, but for the

Crimson Caravan place

it doesn't.

There's so much to do outside of combat in this game that the weapon stats feel like the least important. And Barter is ALWAYS coming up and I can never find a damn Salesman Weekly when I need to. By the way, the magazines are a great addition, since they allow you to get by some of the other aspects without having to specialize in it. Need to win a speech option? just use a magazine to push you over the edge of the points needed and you're good to go. This makes the perk decisions harder, and I actually chose the Comprehension perk.

^Basically the game goes a long way with the stats and items to shy you away from min/maxing.

I seriously need to find a Salesman Weekly for Vegas though. Anyone know where one is, or where a merchant that has one is?

[Squid Division]

Man there are a lot of quests in this game. I've completed 14 and have 12 active.

[CaptainFish]

I hate the cowboy gun reloads because you can't interrupt them. It makes even less sense for them since you're putting one round in at at time.

I dunno about other guns, but the .357 Magnum is definitely interruptible by firing.

[JonCole]

I've found that both the magnum and the cowboy repeater are really finnicky as far as reload interruption. Several times, it just hasn't let me override a reload in progress, often leading to my death. Other times, it lets me break the reload with no consequence.

I'm around... level 11, and I'm still finding myself weak in most combat situations. I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing wrong; the only thing I can imagine might be the problem is poor armor (still sporting Leather Armor) and low strength/endurance stats. Any general tips for me?

[mikemariano]

I'm still playing Fallout 3, so it may be some time before I make my way to New Vegas. I am curious, though, about one aspect of the combat:

Do enemies still run in a straight line towards you until they die?

This behavior took a lot out of my enjoyment of Fallout 3. A group of Raiders holed up in a home shouldn't abandon their hideout and chase me halfway across the map.

PS: I would like to commend Quintin Smith at Rock, Paper, Shotgun for essentially saying, "Shame on you, Obsidian, for not making a game as good as you should have." I suspect New Vegas is good enough for myself and many other players, but everybody needs a good kick now and then.

If only there were someone at Bethesda whose name we could curse....

[Squid Division]

Yeah I saw that RPS review. I disagree with about all he said in it. I feel like the wasteland is way denser and more populated with cool stuff that actually has stuff in it than 3. His review is more accurate of 3 than NV I feel like.

I do agree about the areas not being populated enough that should be, like the strip and casinos.

[Squid Division]

haha so now with the new patch, when I go to pick a lock, I have a black computer terminal screen covering the lock, so I have to pick by feel alone.

[JonCole]

Fuck the autosaving in this game. At first, I thought it was more generous than in FO3 because it seems to autosave every time you enter or exit a building. But there still isn't any safeguard for general exploring... 30 minutes worth of location scouting (about 15 - 20 discovered) thrown out the window.

[Squid Division]

3 has the same save system. Something always happens that spooks me about dying or locking up to remind me to save. Luckily it rarely actually happens.

[mikemariano]

Fuck the autosaving in this game.

Oh, that is a good question. In Fallout 3 you could stay on the overworld map for hours and never autosave, but to do anything useful you often had to go into buildings or subway tunnels, especially once you got into DC proper.

New Vegas seems to have fewer opportunities to shove you inside or underground. Have they really not adapted the autosave to react to that?

[CaptainFish]

Man these bugs are starting to grind my gears. They've fixed the save issue, seems it was related to steam cloud support, so that's disabled now. However, I was getting a bug where after I saved

the deputy

and returned to the Vikki Vance, everyone would just open fire on ED-E. Now it's happened at the Mojave outpost, it was tied to one named NPC in the back, so I didn't trigger combat until I finished talking to him. It's especially weird, because you think aggression against companions would be tied to you, but it's not. The NPCs will all open fire on him and then when he's dead they'll converse with me like normal. It might not seem like a big hassle, but I have to load when it happens and that means replaying content, and if I'm going into a store I have to make him wait outside, take all the loot he's carrying and limp over to the shopkeep, just to be safe. In general, my companion seems to start fights unnecesarily, ruining my stealth bonuses and such. I have him set to passive, which I thought would only make him engage enemies that have engaged me, but he seems to to just shoot any bad guy in sight. This resulted in me having to fight 2 Giant Radscorpion for no good reason.

I've made far too little progress in this game considering the amount of hours I've played.