FO: NV (General Discussion)

[Niten_Ryu]

Steam just upgraded game to version 1.1.1

 

• - Companions now show up as waypoints on the map
  - Companions will always fast travel with you, unless told to wait or sent away
  - Fix: DLC error/save corruption
  - Fix: Stuttering with water effects
  - Fix: Severe performance issues with DirectX.
  - Fix: Controls temporarily disabled after reloading Cowboy Repeater while crouched
  - Fixed crash using the Euclid C-Finder while having the Heave Ho perk
  - Fix: Entering the strip after Debt Collector causes crash and autosave corruption
  - Fix: Using Mojave Express dropbox can cause DLC warnings
  - Fixed crash when buying duplicate caravan cards from a vendor in a single transaction
  - Crafting menu should filter valid (bright) recipes to the top of the list
  - Fix: Sitting down while looking down a weapon's ironsights leaves player control locked
  - Fix: If a companion is knocked unconscious with broken limbs they stay broken on respawn
  - Fix for varmint night scope effect persisting in kill cam
  - Fix for giving companions armor that adds STR does not increase their carry weight
  - Fix NPC Repair menu displays DAM as DPS
  - Having NPC repair service rifle with forged receiver decreases CND
  

[Cantousent]

One thing about experience is that I'd like to see all non-quest experience out of the game. I'd like to see all non quest experience out of all straight RPGs. The player should get experience based on the outcome of the quest, not the method. There might be five ways of completing the quest, but two methods yield the best results. In those cases, I can see offering added exp for the optimal results. That way, the player is still reward for investing in, say, speech and/or science, but the character doesn't get an added reward for actually using the skills. Instead, using the skills yields a better result and thus more experience.

[Thorton_AP]

Overall I am disappointed with many of the Lady Killer-like options too. Though they do seem to be pretty powerful when you use them, which is probably why they are less common.

 

Unless I missed a whole load of dialogue options, I can only recall being able to use it two or three times.

 

 

I should clarify: I'm disappointed with the LACK of many. They didn't exist as frequently as I would have liked.

 

 

Also, for those commenting on difficulty: How challenging is the game if you just do the crit path?

Edited November 10, 2010 by Thorton_AP

[Tale]

Define challenging. Supposedly there's a pascifist route, but I'm trying to figure out the specifics.

[Thorton_AP]

Nothing particularly gamey or artificial. If you just went and followed the main quest along the way without traveling off the beaten path, I'm curious how difficult the game is. I found the Nightkin under REPCONN to be very difficult personally, until I picked up Veronica (and I'd argue picking up veronica is non-crit path but alas).

Edited November 10, 2010 by Thorton_AP

[Tigranes]

Well as my first playthrough I followed the main path until Boulder City, stopping by anything interesting I saw on the horizon and poking my head in. Pistol, picking up Boone then ED-E soon after. Nightkin were nearly impossible, although they drop so many stealth boys that you're almost meant to use them, and there were a few hairy moments, but I'd argue that it got way too easy after picking up Boone. I stuck with him to see the companion content, but I think the game would have been much better balanced without companions on Hard/Hardcore.

[Monte Carlo]

One thing about experience is that I'd like to see all non-quest experience out of the game. I'd like to see all non quest experience out of all straight RPGs. The player should get experience based on the outcome of the quest, not the method. There might be five ways of completing the quest, but two methods yield the best results. In those cases, I can see offering added exp for the optimal results. That way, the player is still reward for investing in, say, speech and/or science, but the character doesn't get an added reward for actually using the skills. Instead, using the skills yields a better result and thus more experience.

 

Fine, but it should be an optinal tick-box thing.

 

I like XP for killing critters, it's another one of those rpg lines in the sand.

[Cantousent]

Monte, I don't think it will ever happen in a major title. Players like themselves some kill xp. It just makes balancing experience a bit harder with some folks leveling too quickly for their tastes and others feeling underpowered by midgame.

[LadyCrimson]

Also, for those commenting on difficulty: How challenging is the game if you just do the crit path?

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.

Edited November 10, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[Spider]

Monte, I don't think it will ever happen in a major title. Players like themselves some kill xp. It just makes balancing experience a bit harder with some folks leveling too quickly for their tastes and others feeling underpowered by midgame.

 

It's done in Vtm: Bloodlines, Star Siege (shudders) and Mass Effect 2. I don't recall there being any backlash in regards to the xp system for any of those games.

 

Especially in Bloodlines it worked fantastically well and I agree that's how RPGs should do it.

[mkreku]

Personally I always feel combat is a waste of my time if I have nothing to gain from it. I prefer getting experience points for winning.

 

If I could choose whatever I wanted, I would prefer much less combat in games in general.

[Cantousent]

It's done in Vtm: Bloodlines, Star Siege (shudders) and Mass Effect 2. I don't recall there being any backlash in regards to the xp system for any of those games.

 

Especially in Bloodlines it worked fantastically well and I agree that's how RPGs should do it.

I didn't know that, Spider. I've only played Bloodlines out of those titles, but I thought that particular game was the only one that really lived up to the Troika hype. I also didn't realize that it didn't have combat xp, but I also seem to recall that Bloodlines was combat light.

[Niten_Ryu]

If I could choose whatever I wanted, I would prefer much less combat in games in general.

 

I agree. Few well designed encounters with all named mobs would be much better option then hordes of cannonfodder.

[HoonDing]

Imagine not getting any XP for slogging through all the combat in the Deep Roads.

[Orchomene]

Idem. I think that there are too many combats in RPGs to my taste. I can enjoy a combat when I have to find some tactics, but find tedious the repetitive fights that are most of the fights in RPGs (in general, there are some exceptions).

[Humanoid]

I've made my feelings about combat in CRPGs known often enough. I don't have a problem with it per se, but it's development effort put into something I tend to just skip past. I'd much rather the devs spend time with other aspects with the game than fine-tuning a detailed, balanced combat system. So yes, I'm advocating the hiding of substandard combat systems by making combat scarce.

 

 

If an average playthrough only had say, a half-dozen to a dozen times where the violent option be taken, then the choice to engage in combat becomes more a character decision than a gaming one. The violent path does not even need to be tied into combat systems given the now fairly accepted stealth takedown mechanics (which is so simple it doesn't really need to be called a mechanic) and the occasional dialogue-based violent option (the "execute" option if you will).

 

 

But yes, I'd wholeheartedly support either getting rid of all the filler combat, or at least awarding no experience for them. Either option would make experience systems much easier to balance without hiring a chartered accountant. Once you cut out those, you have quest XP and 'Important Fight' XP. Important Fights are basically quests, and so can be considered and balanced with the whole character growth system as a quest. Tabulate all the quests and 'quests' and it should be fairly straightforward to regulate the levelling process.

 

 

More simplistically I suppose there'd be lazy option of just cutting out XP from combat after a certain threshold (upped per level).

[MrBrown]

RE: Lady killer and associated perks: Unpatched, you were able to use Confirmed Bachelor to get free repairs out of Major Knight. Talk about broken. It doesn't seem to be a bug though, since the dialogue seems to imply it.

 

 

 

Recently, I've been attempting to break the game by getting the good equipment as early as possible. Currently I have a character that got a Gauss Rifle, Plasma Caster and the Intelligence Implant on level 1, and Reinforced Combat Armor MkII and the YCS/168 by level 2. Haven't tried getting power armor early, but I think it's possible. Power Armor training, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be.

[funcroc]

Guardian - Fallout: New Vegas designer Josh Sawyer on post-apocalyptic games

[sorophx]

cult post-apocalyptic action RPG series

what?

[Pop]

Fallout existed prior to 2008.

[Thorton_AP]

Well as my first playthrough I followed the main path until Boulder City, stopping by anything interesting I saw on the horizon and poking my head in. Pistol, picking up Boone then ED-E soon after. Nightkin were nearly impossible, although they drop so many stealth boys that you're almost meant to use them, and there were a few hairy moments, but I'd argue that it got way too easy after picking up Boone. I stuck with him to see the companion content, but I think the game would have been much better balanced without companions on Hard/Hardcore.

 

 

Boone is pretty much an I win button at the early stages. Especially since his guns skill is bugged out at low levels.

 

He's also not crit path though.

[Thorton_AP]

Also, for those commenting on difficulty: How challenging is the game if you just do the crit path?

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....).

 

The ability to get places isn't an indicator of difficulty IMO. Try beating the game without going off the crit path at all/very much is more along the lines of what I was asking.

 

 

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.

 

I'm going to give this a try too. I'm surprised you're getting much money at all to be honest. To be honest it sounds like you're probably better at the game than you give yourself credit for. There's no way I could have done Come Fly With Me at level 3 unless I was exceptionally/ridiculously patient. The Nightkin smash me in the face too much. I needed a party member in order to do it without burning through all my stimpacks/food/doctors bags. Though I am playing with small frame so I'll be inclined to break limbs. But I am not self gimping my character. I didn't full on specialize in guns, but I do have decent guns (and energy weapons skill), with a luck of 8 (9 by the time I went back to Repconn factory).

 

 

 

EDIT: I'm also playing on Hardcore mode so I cannot use stimpacks to restore limbs, and I also didn't tweak the inventory system to allow me to carry more items. With ammo taking up weight in hardcore, I may have less options that you have for slaughtering stuff.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Thorton_AP

[LadyCrimson]

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

[Thorton_AP]

This was my second time through Repconn (I have beaten the game once already). The first time I had Boone which made it significantly easier. This time I tried alone and I didn't want to use up all my Doctor's Bags since stimpacks do not heal limbs. (Playing on Hardcore also encourages me to put some points into Survivalist to get the most out of my food and water, so that I don't over burden my inventory with them.) I used the .357 against the mutants though, not the energy weapons (though the RCW did fine after I returned with Veronica helped out).

 

Although I don't have the OCD to pick up everything though so the weight limit is not an issue for me. Besides, I have high luck so getting money is no problem. If it's not worth more than 100 caps in value on the info screen when picking it up, I don't bother anymore. A friend of mine pretty much traded in every tin can he found.... ugh that would have been a nightmare.

 

I'm unaware of a peaceful solution to the Nightkin problem. I considered just murdering the ghouls to appease Manny so he can tell me where Benny went, but whenever I bump into the named Nightkin NPC he gets ragey on me. No option to talk.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'm not sure about the exact condition, but I'm fairly sure that killing a certain number of Nightkins makes him angry. I did kill some Nightkins in my first playthrough but left most of them alive (I didn't have Boone with me! ) and he was willing to talk to me. May have been the character's sheer charisma though.