Luckmann

You can't throw an EMP at the lock, and open it up? I can understand how "using" an EMP to open the lock doesn't work, but can't you throw it onto the lock?

For example, if I somehow become a part of the NCA Rangers, it's likely that I'd want to wear the New California Ranger Armor. Likewise, I'd probably like to dress up any companion I've got in a similar armour.

Yeah, this was already in FO3, as you said. What I'd like is to decide what gear they wear, as opposed to automatically equipping whatever has the highest DR. If you asked them to carry a pair of sunglasses, they'll automatically equip them. If you gave them a helmet, they'd automatically equip that. And so on. There are many reasons I wouldn't want someone to run around in power armour, for example, just because I asked them to carry it. Maybe I want them to wear a sheriff's duster, or use a shotgun instead of an chinese rifle.

Eh.. when asking them not to screw Fallout: New Vegas up, they're sorta asking for the impossible. They can only produce something as great as what they have to work with. Using Fallout 3 as a base doesn't really allow them to return to the greatness that was "Walking out of Vault 13".

Albatross- 21 (+1) - Just because. Conrad Marburg- 12 Henry Leland- 20 Konstantin Brayko- 17 (-1) - Because of all the gay leopards that had to die for his jacket. Omen Deng- 24 SIE- 22 Scarlet Lake- 26 Sis- 26 Steven Heck- 21

Also, I'm looking forward to trying the weapon modding, which supposedly is reflected on in-game models, which is always great to see. And the Companion Wheel may actually mean that I'll be using companions at all, this time around. Hopefully they've also added some control over what gear they use, instead of a reverse-pickpocket system in where they wear whatever the hell they please, no matter how useless.

League of Legends and Alpha Protocol. :3

Oh, that'd be amazing. It should be entirely doable. I have no idea how. But it should be. I can't see why not. I probably wouldn't use it all the time, but if it could replace my casual clothes, I'd use those for a few key missions.

While I don't agree with his deduction as to why traits weren't in Fallout 3 (it's a weak excuse at best), I agree with most everything else. Out of all the things mission from Fallout 3, traits were one of the things I missed the most. Now, if they could just get rid of the mission compass and fast travel, too...

In FO3? Bethesda pretty much abandoned the "open world" approach with Oblivion, and started instancing every little sideroom, which naturally carried over into Oblivion TC: Fallout. It's some kind of engine/console limitation. It's entirely possible to make a completely open world, but it's taxing on the system, and consoles would never be able to handle it (don't get me wrong; it's taxing on a PC too. The difference is just that PCs can be upgraded to something useful). The result was pretty much "Capital Wasteland: The DC Maze". Had to go through mazelike subways to get from point A to point B, instead of climbing some rubble. I suppose it would've been even more silly to have a big door separating two parts of Pennsylvania Avenue, to allow for a load screen.

I agree with this. There have been many, many horrible, game-breaking bugs in the history of gaming. But none so infuriating as the ones that corrupt your savegames, for any reason.

Only because New Vegas appears to be a step in the right direction. Fallout 3 have done irrevocable harm to Fallout in almost every department, but we can only work with what we've got. Small victories, I suppose.

You're saying that like it's a bad thing.

Does Yao Guai even spawn anywhere near Megaton? The seriously worst things I ran into early-game was the Giant Ants and Molerats, which yes, can be a handful depending on your stat allocation and gear. That said, I can't imagine the vast majority of new players not following the initial course - a course that the game pretty much holds your hand for, with fast travel and compasses. Fallout 3 were a great many things, far from all of them good, but it certainly wasn't hard, unless the definition of "hard" is "I died once or twice in the beginning, before I had learned the game". That's not the mindset of a casual gamer. That's the mindset of a reject.

Oh dear god in heaven, what an utter and complete asstard. Everything that is wrong with Fallout, from Fallout:BOS (POS) to Fallout: Bethesda Edition is directly his fault. Burn the witch!

Talk about backwards.

I just skimmed through the thread but I couldn't see much said on Herve Caen, a name that, in my mind, appears new. Could someone jog my memory or give me the lowdown? Why the hate? Also, thanks for the link. I'm a fan of the pre-FO3 Fallout games, even though I have little faith in MMOs. This could pretty much go either way, although I'm not keeping my hopes up. The herpa derp FO3 crew will no doubt be all "But it's not Bethesda, the original fallout devs, lol" and the Fallout crew is likely wary due to the extreme change of focus.

It's just extremely annoying that they don't persist through saves, making it hard to justify using grenades as traps, since you never know if you're going to have to reload. This hit me in the end of the ruins in Rome. Trapped the entire place and had so much fun watching everyone burn to death, with flashbangs covering my back (allowing me to pick off the last two as stealth attacks). Had to reload, and not only were my mines gone, but also my grenades (which I had used as mines). Had to go the old and boring way of manually shooting them all down. Booo-riiing. That said, those are great suggestions.

For my first entire playthrough, I rarely used most gadgets. After a playthrough as a non-sneaker, I learned the value of all gadgets, since I could no longer rely on stealth and silent takedowns, leading to a liberal use of grenades, first aid and the sound-maker-thingymajig. Then, when going back to playing yet another sneaker, I carried the experience of liberal gadget-usage with me, not only making the game much easier, but it also felt a lot more tactical, for some reason (you'd think that it'd be less, really). Explosives are a bit lackluster, but flashbangs and incendiaries are nothing short of amazing, capable of clearing out entire rooms. When you know an ambush is coming, or quick spawns of enemies, it's extremely gratifying to fill an area with incendiaries attached to walls or the floor. The sound-maker-thingymajig almost feels exploitative, to a good sneaker, allowing you to make enemies come out from cover at great distances (allowing sniper takedowns, for example) or to have them turn around, allowing you to sneak up for a backstab. I'd like to see more gadgets and more inventive gadgets, but the truth is that if you can learn to use gadgets, they are amazing and will make your life much easier, even if they aren't an absolute necessity anywhere in the game.

After playing one Gun-Ho playthrough and two sneakerish, I do have to say that I prefer a Stealth/Sabotage/Pistol character. In the end, you're just sneaking left and right, running into rooms invisible and killing everyone, and throwing flashbangs and incendiary grenades left and right. It's just amazing. Whatever you do, don't underestimate flashbangs. It blinds all the enemies and apparently, that is what determines whether you can do covert attacks on them. A single flashbang can allow you to run into a room, or quickly dispose of up to 4 people, maybe more if you're lucky with the attacks (some are near-instant, others take longers). Outright stabbing them is usually quicker than a non-lethal takedown.

This + SisAnd Albatross is paired up with Sis. Two people of awesome for the price of one. The scarf got me on board. And Sis was a great character, just wish there could have been some communication mute yes, not knowing how to email??? I like to imagine that Sis knits his scarfs.

It doesn't. Only main checkpoint save, as well as last savehouse save are the one overwritten, if you decide to play with other character. All manual saves stay fine. Also, when inside savehouse, if you do manual save after buying things from clearinhouse, reply mails and do other stuff, that info will be saved properly. Of course, manual saves inside mission are nothing else then backups of last mission checkpoint, as usual. Doesn't really solve the issue, though. It wouldn't be a problem if we could name our saves, but saves in Alpha Protocol are extremely nondescriptive. There's even a limit on the number of saves, so you'll eventually have to start removing saves just to squeeze new ones in there, without knowing which save is where, or with what character. Lumped together or not, I can't tell one lump from the other.

Albatross- 20 (+1) Nooo! Albatross is awesome I tell you! Awesome! Stop nuking my bro! Conrad Marburg- 13 Henry Leland- 19 Konstantin Brayko- 18 (-1) Drugs are bad, mmm'key? Omen Deng- 24 SIE- 22 Scarlet Lake- 26 Sis- 26 Steven Heck- 22 <snip>

Technically, I can "end" the game, but I can't actually finish it, no. The map/objective's screen doesn't update, nor does it take these two finished objectives ("Escape Greybox" is even a main quest - so it can't be not-finished) into account on the mission accomplished screen. I'm not so much "worried" about it as wanting to find a solution to it. And yeah, I can't possibly imagine what those mission objectives would otherwise be. Two objectives display as unfinished, despite being finished, and I just happen to be mission two objectives on the mission accomplished screen. It's a bit too consistent to be a coincidence.

If you've got Toughness and like getting close, I'd say Shotgun. For everything else, SMG. SMGs are extremely terrible at low levels, but at higher levels, they actually become amazing.