Slowtrain

As a solution it would appear to cause more problems that it solves. If it was people at the top of the income pyramid getting axed it might have a more positive effect since the amount saved per rolled head would be greater. But since it's going to be the people at the top making the cuts, we all know it is going to be the broom pushers and the coffee makers getting the axe. So in the end, you're going to be left with 500,000 relatively unskilled people trying to find a way to survive on top of your all ready unemployed while all the big money people wil still be collecting gov't paychecks. ANd of course, even less work will be getting done since people with the big paychecks rarely do any actual day to day work. So good luck with that.

Generally in Bethesda's games that use this engine, turning off all autosave functions (save on travel, save on rest etc) is considered pretty much mandatory to minimizing lock-ups. Not that it affects everybody or anybody all the time but it's a known culprit for crashes.

iirc, the fan patch for Oblivion had something in excess of 1000 fixes, which was after Bethesda's original patches. That's just the way these games are. I fully expect to be saving every 2-3 minutes and hard-locking every hour or so just like I have with both Oblivion and FO3. That's just the way it is. These problems aren't getting fixed at this point. Doesn't make the game any less worth playing.

Immersion (or what makes it/breaks it) can be subjective but it is certainly not meaningless.

That implies standards exist in the first place. I disagree.

*Shugs* hardly. but whatever.

k. Fair enough. I can see that.

I don't know why people are even bothering with the reviews. It's obviously going to be a worthwhile game if you enjoy the core FO3 gameplay mechanics. If you don't, then probably don't bother. This is not an original IP or even a new iteration of an existing IP where we don't know what to expect. On the contrary we know exactly what to expect. For good and for bad.

To me, the fact the reviewer bothered to take a screenshot of the npc "typing" at the invisible typewriter tells me all I need to know about where they are coming from. Yeah, the AI got messed up in its animations. A) It's a super minor issue. B) It's been happening for years with this engine Big deal. IMO, the reviewer was simply looking for ways to back his "FO3 = OMG buggy" thesis. Not the kind of approach I'm looking for in a game review.

The bethssoft version of this engine has flaws and problems that have been around now for a long long time. Obiously they are either not-fixable or too difficult to bother fixing. Don't review the engine. It sucks. We know. Review the game.

Reading that RPS impression made me shake my head. Are game reviewers really as uniformed and ignorant as they appear to be? Or is it merely some clever ruse in a bid for global power? Cretins.

Probably true. Though I really dislike level-scaling in an crpg, if it's a pretty linear crpg than scaling is less of an issue. That being said, level-scaling is never a good sign.

Here I was expecting them to say the original was meaningless and they spit on it. Would probably be a more honest reply.

Is leaning in?

Excellent news that stats have more effect in the RW. Excellent. Perception? Critical failures are always great.

Dart gun is ludicrously overpowered. Once you take away the speed of high level enemies they become way less dangerous. First time I made the dart gun I played around with it a bit until I realized how game breaking it was, the tossed it in a locker with the fatman, never to be used again. edit: a much better implementation of the dart gun would be to have the effect be very short-lived and extremely slow-firing, requiring more tactical thought to its use. But Bethesda is pretty ass when to comes to that sort of complexity with its combat mechanics.

I usually went at them with a shiskabob or a sledgehammer. Took quite a while and a lot of stimpaks. I would always take my armor off first since it did little good and was usually dust in just a few blows anyway. The first time I encountered the one by the railway tunnel, I was only level 4 and it took me completly by surprise. I only survived because as I was backing away, my character fell off a rail bridge and the behemoth had to run around the slope to keep chasing me. Then I was able to cripple it with a landmine and since it couldn't run fast anymore at that point I was able to just keep tossing mines into its path until it died. One of my Fallout 3 highlight moments.

Big big enemy that is incredibly easy to kill and has pathfinding problems. But I don't really hate it I just think that he doesn't belong on the West Coast. Oh. I always found them fairly difficult to kill, more so than most other things anyway, so I always think of them fondly for that reason. Generally my most difficult fights. But, ok on the WC part. I'd rather not see SM at all anymore, truth be told, but I guess they are too much a part of Fallout lore to ever go away at this point.

Wait. Why the behemoth hate? Weren't there only 4 in the whole game or something? At least they were a significant enemy (one of very few) in the vanilla game. I'd like to see some bloatfly hate. Let's put the hate where it belongs.

I usually turn the music off and just go with ambient world sounds. ALthough ambient sound work has improved somewhat over the years, it could still be a lot better. Ambient sound only makes for a more evocative experience vs some cruddy background muzak.

Can some one cut and paste that review for FO:NV, please?

Ah yes, the notorious and frightening BDS. Be afraid.

ballot stuffing is a cherished internet timefiller.

True. If fast travel actually carries some sort of risk in HC mode, that would be great.

Isn't that a completely pointless perk? If you are someone who already uses fast travel, all you have to do is load up just short of your carry weight and fast travel back and forth a few times. A better way would have exceeding max encumberance not force you to a slow walk. THat would be useful.