LadyCrimson

I just like Davison's Bumper expensive sword. But yea, he does have some cool dialogue.

I'd like to confirm that doesn't work for me, either. As soon as I went into online mode, Steam auto-downloaded the patch, despite my having that setting checked. Edit: also, that Boone now acts buggier/crazier than before, since the patch. Nothing major, but he goes melee a lot more often (draws it for a few seconds then suddenly switches to his rifle) and graphical glitches like his rifle being upside down or stuck to his chest when he holsters it. Last time, completely uninstalling the game and re-downloading it from Steam helped (not from backup) but I don't feel like spending an hour+ waiting for the download yet again.

It's called I didn't play dress up or with dollies when I was a child, and now thanks to the power of computer games, I'm making up for it.

P.S. I hear sometimes he can be bugged, tho. Oh, and @ Thorton_AP, there's the one quest that uses tin cans...so I stick those in a container too. lol.

No, you can talk to Manny. The key is

Anesthesia (appendectomy) didn't make me feel nauseous...but it did make me appreciate being out cold for serious pain. Next time I need any major surgery I want to be put into a coma for three weeks. Glad it went well, Hurl.

I don't want her naked, I want her to wear non-armor. The idea of running around killing in dirty pre-war dresses...the wild female duo...would amuse me. Besides, I imagine she'd look better in this hat than Boone does.

Since I can't get Cass with low Barter/Speech, I tried Veronica a while, with one of my now far-too-many characters/save games. Those lines she says every single time I open her inventory drove me insane. The fact I can't play 'dress up the paper doll' with her like I could with Boone was disappointing. I mean, I can get Boone down to his skivvies since his Grunt Armor is removable from his inventory, unlike Veronica's robe thing. All companions should be able to get down to their skivvies, it's like a game law! After an hour of her inventory lines, however, I ditched her. Even thought about killing her, especially when she said "Everyone always says that" when I told her we must part. But I left her alive....for now. Time to see if I can get Arcade w/out any skill checks...

Using small frame as well, because it does make it harder. But yeah, not using hardcore mode. It sounds nice in theory but I have a hard enough time thinking about quests/locales/npc's & other data, let alone checking a thirst meter or however it works. If ammo had weight, I'd leave most ammo in a room and only carry the two types I actually use. The only thing I use the benches for anymore is repair kits so everything else gets sold. In terms of carry weight...so far all that does is make it much simpler to make cash - a big time-spent advantage. I don't switch weapons much. I am firmly stuck on snipers, so I use the Varmint until I find something better, (usually the .357 rifles) then the Sniper. I keep one lighter weapon like the 10mm and spiked knuckles for 'extra'. Everything else that gets put into my inventory gets sold, or put into a container in a hotel room until I need it. Killing 10 bandits along the road & I have 10 rifles and 10mm guns + all kinds of other things to sell. >.> 1st time I kept a lot more, but now familiar w/what I need/don't need so... I think some of it of course is the foreknowledge, like with most games. The 1st time thru Repconn I was "only" on Norm. difficulty and lvl 6 or 8, and it did take me a while, partly because of I had no weight-mod then and constant trips back to town, lol. I'm guessing you'll find a 2nd time through there not quite as tough. Although if you were using energy weapons, maybe that's part of it? The way some here were talking, sounded like they can be a little weaker early in the game? Oh and btw, there is an almost-peaceful solution to Repconn that doesn't require you to fight many of the nightkin if you want. But I kill 'em anyway. :D My current set up with the very slow leveling/decreased exp. for killing etc. has been working out fairly well. I'm not dying (yet, still early), but it's definitely starting to feel a bit more challenging. Not just for combat, but because I can't do most skill checks. It makes for a certain type of non-combat related (kind of) challenge. It's awesome! heheh

I now have this bug, since getting the 1.2 tiny update. Before I only had a slight delay before I could fire after reloading sometimes, but controls didn't freeze. Now when I reload they do freeze, and not just when crouched. Also, I couldn't reinstall the older version from Steam's backup, since Install from Backup wants me online/steam to work, and then it installs the new stuff at the same time. This is why I prefer systems that allow me to do my own patching w/separate patch files.. Sigh.

Never mind, I suddenly remembered. Another brainfart.

Well, it's going to depend on your build/stats/skills as well as your strategy - eg how much combat you purposely avoid, either by sneaking or dialogue options etc. Since you can easily reach Freeside/NV with only having to fight the occasional bandit but still having plenty of caps to get into Vegas if you want, it's not hard at all. Actually, you can even get to Vegas via the deathclaw direction. But because Novac is my first fave area I do it first (I usually skip Primm/ignore Powder Ganges entirely....). Currently I'm lvl 2 and almost in Novac & I've wiped out every jackal bandit, idle convict, occasional small radscorpion & non-glowing zombie etc. with out much trouble at all. Yesterday w/a different chr. I did the entire Come Fly With Me/Repconn at lvl 3. Since I had foreknowledge, it took about 20 minutes. I came close to dying a few times, but that's it. In Very Hard/non-hardcore, I'm not saying it's super-duper-easy (w/out a companion)...but as a sniper/gunner, it's not hard at all. I still hardly ever have to use a stimpack in combat and the caps still pile up like mad even tho I'm not exploring much at all. I stick to main road, skip Primm, etc.

Reporting that the new patch does NOT make my need for the .dll fix go away, as some websites are saying it might. Tried removing the .dll and in Red Rock (or any area that has a lot of objects/partially underground objects like rocks), in certain spots fps still dipped into the low 20's or worse. Put the .dll back in, goes back up to 60-70fps. Oh well.

Starting over again (w/same chr., I reload a save in DocMitch's house) because I can't stop fiddling with the exp. stuff/deciding what I want out of it. xpbase at default of 200 xpbumpbase to 500 (from 150) (will need 3 or 4 times exp to reach lvl 20 I think) xpRewards for hack, speech and pick lock cut by half xpRewards for killing enemies/npc lowered so nothing should give me more than 10xp rewards for area/secret discovery set to 1 instead of 10. Should at least make getting to lvl 16 take a good while, and getting to lvl 22+ take a very long while, if ever. I'll self-gimp a bit more & stick with this one until level 12 and see how it goes.

Oh...I see. I've never had them get lost via Fast Travel etc. so that didn't occur to me. Would make sense!

I haven't done any implants yet. The thought gives me the heebie jeebies.

Ohhhh so that was a bug? I just thought it had some kind of reload delay for the weapon. lol! Well, cool. Hm. Wonder what those issues were. That's nice for the more casual players, definitely. Saw many posts where ppl didn't find anyone but Boone until way late in the game. ...if they do fix the companions skill scripting, it'll be very interesting to see how much it really does affect them. Personally I don't think it will that much overall, except for Boone's low-level super OP'd. They're still aimbots who will always far out-beat the player in speed & accuracy while shooting/fighting. I tried lowering Boone's Luck to 1 & his END to 5 in GECK and he was definitely less durable/accurate overall but he's still a beast at low levels because of the skill number bug I guess, so I put him back to original.

I was disappointed with the headgear. Except for aesthetic or comic value (try putting a motorcycle helmet on Boone....) everything but the beret felt extraneous (for a gunner/sniper at least). Side Tag note: I took the Four Eyes and "your limbs are easily crippled" perks and the latter does make a big difference in how fast my limb condition deteriorates/need more stimpacks to keep them healthy. So I think I'll keep it & not offset it with that other perk (adamantite skelie?). It's nice having 6/9/4/4/7/7/7 with (edit, wait, sorry, I did take 1 intense training I think...). Plus I always wear sunglasses anyway, because it looks cool.

The voice files indicate there's a lot of such tiny lines companions can say but for some reason during course of play most won't ever hear them. I don't know what triggers them all. Every great once in a while Boone says something new, and it does make me laugh. I wanted to try Cass in my current test/play but since I'm lvl 3 with a Barter & Speech of about 14 each, I can't pass the quest that makes her available to recruit. ::sadpanda::

I was wondering that myself in regards to the Finesse perk...if I already have 8+ Luck, is there a point to taking it etc. Since Boone has 6 Luck/Crit and they gave him a hat that's +5Crit I don't think it's capped at 10. It sure felt like having high Luck, beret, and Finesse made a big difference in my run & gun crits when combined together, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Edit: the wiki says, for Fallout 3 : The maximum possible base critical chance is 18% with ranged weapons, and 33% with unarmed and melee weapons. The base critical chance is modified by a weapon's critical multiplier to obtain the final chance to score a critical hit. Also, a +15% critical chance bonus is added to all attacks in V.A.T.S. The problem is I'm not sure if they changed how it works for NV.

Remember when I said I wish there was a subtle romance option with Boone? Just wanted to say I don't anymore. Not in terms of the game plots anyway (inside my head might be another story). His tale is so woeful that it would seem rude to romance him. Not that kind of character. I very much liked roleplaying his one friend in the world, tho. It still made me feel 'special' so that was good enough. :D In terms of XP....I do love making my character more powerful, but that doesn't always mean more actual xp or skill points...new gear and tactics are just as important from my perspective, especially in this game seems like. But since I can get high lvl weapons at lvl 3 w/hardly trying, I focus on trying to change the former. And yeah, there's always going to be those few certain clusters or quest groups that can be difficult to deal with. I just want the whole game to feel more overall challenging plus have those few very tough spots. If those deathclaws ignore DT (which is cheating, I agree) then from now on I'm going to fight them all wearing my skivvies! Maybe it'll scare them into submission.

@ cant - never felt insulted! Was just saying how it's strange because I do think of myself as much more than a casual player, but not a particularly hardcore one as I'd define it. And especially the past few years, not much of an active one either. I do tend to become very obsessive compulsive when a game (or anything else) truly grabs me & that's when I get hardcore...and start posting on forums...but it's not super typical. It's like how I'll make time to watch all the baseball games, but I don't care about stats/trading at all & couldn't tell you who's in the Hall of Fame or why...

After roleplaying his friend & enjoying his story/chr etc., I now find his dour & serious demeanor to be absolutely hilarious to poke fun with! Which reminds me: (it's only 7 seconds long) And if you don't want to watch even 7 seconds:this time Boone REALLY wants his beret back... ...it's more funny when you hear him say it, tho, imo.

There's a broken fridge near Goodsprings, with a skeleton in it, that spawns the 'fancy gambling hat' or something...(for female chrs. it's the purplish one w/the feather)...that's Wild Wasteland too. From what I understand, beside the weapon replacements, a lot of WW is mostly dialogue related.

Yeah, I'm having similar experience as mkreku, only I'm still lvl 3 (enforced by my quickie modding). Each 'next better' weapon seems to increase dmg exponentially even with skills only at lvl 30 or 40. I can't initiate any dialogue skill-checks at all, and I'm certainly not getting "all critical kills" but I'm still punching through most things because of the weapons that drop from relatively easy enemies early on (like Legion & cowboy repeaters). I know where the risk-free sniper rifle is but I'm leaving it alone for now. heh For kicks, I'm considering letting myself level naturally until about 8 and then activating a mod where I'd need a billion xp to reach lvl9, so I'd have to plan skill use very carefully...and see if I can beat the game at that level. If I don't quite make it, that's ok...I just find it really fun trying. Edit: @ cant - It's odd because I wouldn't normally think of myself as 'hardcore' but games like this I guess I am. What I find entertaining/challenging can get a bit quirky! heheh