FO: NV (Spoilers)

[Guest Slinky]

They also defended their right to carry arms in vault 34 really swell

[HoonDing]

Uh-huh. Their supposed destiny was to fly out and bomb the ignorant savages. After hearing that, I just pulled out my gun and started shooting.

[Tale]

Uh-huh. Their supposed destiny was to fly out and bomb the ignorant savages. After hearing that, I just pulled out my gun and started shooting.

Obviously, when they said "bomb" they were referring to a leaflet campaign.

[Guest Slinky]

They might want to change their material for leaflets to something little more stable, since the drop-off mission on Dam nearly exploded the thing to orbit.

[Cantousent]

Earlier tonight I did the Return to Sender quest and this time I told Hanlon I would have to turn him in. The speech tha he gave was actually quite short, less than ninety seconds, I'm sure, and it was also pretty well written and well delivered. I think the designer who did that one really deserves a pat on the back. Two gripes, however.

 

The first thing is that the audio when he delivers the speech doubles. How sad that such a poignant moment would be undone because of such a simple bug. I cannot help but think that someone on QA must have documented the glitch. Luckily, the speech is also inserted as a note, but that's after the fact. The impact of the moment is derailed by the mistake in the first place.

 

The second thing really isn't a gripe so much as 'too bad' sort of thing. It's entirely appropriate that his weapon, which appears to be a unique named weapon is red, which means you must steal it, and the ranger comes into the room and stays there which means you have to steal it right in front of him. Frankly, I can't bring myself to steal the poor bastard's weapon in the first place and it's fitting that only someone so low as to steal the noble ol' feller's weapon would be able to get it in the first place, but it's still too bad.

 

Overall, I think Chief Hanlon is good in that he has excellent dialogue, but the player need not read or hear any more than he must. The voice actor sounds a little weird, but I think he pulls off the idea of an old ranger very well.

 

As a side note, I took Boone's beret for the first time today and I laughed out loud when he asked to have it returned. hahaha

[Guest Slinky]

The second thing really isn't a gripe so much as 'too bad' sort of thing. It's entirely appropriate that his weapon, which appears to be a unique named weapon is red, which means you must steal it, and the ranger comes into the room and stays there which means you have to steal it right in front of him. Frankly, I can't bring myself to steal the poor bastard's weapon in the first place and it's fitting that only someone so low as to steal the noble ol' feller's weapon would be able to get it in the first place, but it's still too bad.

I think I read somewhere that you could just pick it up (Z button) and drag it to somewhere out of the eyes of the Rangers and then steal it. It's still stealing but you avoid the "Stop, you criminal scum!" scenario.

[HoonDing]

Ranger Sequoia isn't unique. Veteran Rangers carry it as well.

[MrBrown]

I think I read somewhere that you could just pick it up (Z button) and drag it to somewhere out of the eyes of the Rangers and then steal it. It's still stealing but you avoid the "Stop, you criminal scum!" scenario.

 

You can steal anything in the game this way. You still get negative karma, but no one gets hostile. It's useful for getting limited stuff like books, or getting money early on.

[HoonDing]

Has anyone tried dragging Hanlon's corpse out of the room? Or mutilating the corpse while the rangers are watching?

[LadyCrimson]

@Cant - have you tried overloading Boone's weight capacity yet?

[Tigranes]

I've just finished my 2nd playthrough with my Explosives player, siding with Mr. House (first time was Science/Speech, Independent). House becomes a lot more likeable when you get to know his full plans and such, actually - quite a solid option for the future of New Vegas. I thought it was a bit silly I *had* to blow up the Brotherhood, and even sillier that Veronica didn't say a thing about it when I left her waiting outside the bunker, but it might be a consequence of the bugged Veronica quest I could never finish.

 

on Very Hard with XP nerf I explored 180 locations but still finished at level 26, and it was actually very difficult at the end - had to Stealth Boy then use the ARCHIMEDES on Deathclaws at Quarry Junction, and hope they all cripple their limbs in the process - also used up the Holy Hand Grenades that way. Still had a lot of reloads. End battle was very tough as well, I lined up all ten C4 explosives I had gathered throughout the game but missed the Legate by a bit and only took off half his health, and had to sacrifice Veronica to line up some explosives.

 

Thinking of Unarmed Ninja for the third playthrough, and finally go for the Legion - see how badly I can screw up the NCR on the way. Tagging Unarmed, Sneak and Survival, and fighting the temptation to keep Speech/Science as low as possible and spend the points on Barter, Lockpick, some Explosives, etc. I could take perks like Hunter (+animal damage), Mister Sandman, Night Person, Piercing Strike... Kinda sucks though, looking through the perk list it seems many perks that improve melee/unarmed have a melee skill requisite. Hrm.

[entrerix]

i HIGHLY recommend using the geck to change the perk requirements for those. just get rid of the melee requirements for the H2H perks and vice verse, it makes way more sense and allows you more freedom in your build.

 

I also lowered the level requirement on jury rigging to level 8. I have more fun that way.

[Tigranes]

Oh, I think I might. I've started the game already but it should work - makes sense, after all.

 

We'll see how it goes though, in the first few hours I've found that combat mostly involves running around in circles spamming left click with the baseball bat, hoping to connect on something. Due to the nature of the enemies (i.e. not really a lot of humans) the melee combat feels way worse than Morrowind or Oblivion.

[entrerix]

i did a melee build and didn't really have that much fun either, i just ran through the storyline (it was my first and only legion playthrough) to see what it was like, it was worth doing once, and i beat the game in 16 hours which is about as much of a speedrun as I'm ever going to do lol

[Starwars]

I've just finished my 2nd playthrough with my Explosives player, siding with Mr. House (first time was Science/Speech, Independent). House becomes a lot more likeable when you get to know his full plans and such, actually - quite a solid option for the future of New Vegas. I thought it was a bit silly I *had* to blow up the Brotherhood, and even sillier that Veronica didn't say a thing about it when I left her waiting outside the bunker, but it might be a consequence of the bugged Veronica quest I could never finish.

 

on Very Hard with XP nerf I explored 180 locations but still finished at level 26, and it was actually very difficult at the end - had to Stealth Boy then use the ARCHIMEDES on Deathclaws at Quarry Junction, and hope they all cripple their limbs in the process - also used up the Holy Hand Grenades that way. Still had a lot of reloads. End battle was very tough as well, I lined up all ten C4 explosives I had gathered throughout the game but missed the Legate by a bit and only took off half his health, and had to sacrifice Veronica to line up some explosives.

 

Thinking of Unarmed Ninja for the third playthrough, and finally go for the Legion - see how badly I can screw up the NCR on the way. Tagging Unarmed, Sneak and Survival, and fighting the temptation to keep Speech/Science as low as possible and spend the points on Barter, Lockpick, some Explosives, etc. I could take perks like Hunter (+animal damage), Mister Sandman, Night Person, Piercing Strike... Kinda sucks though, looking through the perk list it seems many perks that improve melee/unarmed have a melee skill requisite. Hrm.

 

Looking at the GECK and mods, it appears there was originally plan for an alliance between House and the BoS but I honestly think it makes more *sense* to not have that. Like House says, it's not likely that the BoS would accept House's own particular high-techs for very long.

That said, I think it's a bit of a shame that we have to deal with the BoS for the three main factions, and aside from possibly the NCR (and even then it's pretty likely, given the pre-requisites for a truce), we have to destroy them. Again, given their presence it makes sense but sadly it kinda takes the replayability down a bit for the main quest. Same with the Boomers I think?

 

How did you think Explosives worked out all in all? I haven't tried it yet.

[LadyCrimson]

We'll see how it goes though, in the first few hours I've found that combat mostly involves running around in circles spamming left click with the baseball bat, hoping to connect on something. Due to the nature of the enemies (i.e. not really a lot of humans) the melee combat feels way worse than Morrowind or Oblivion.

Yeah....I have liked melee in a few games even tho it's not usually my thing, but all my attempts in NV have ended up exactly like that. Enemy runs towards me, I smack it with my spiked knuckles or bat or whatever. Enemy moves a little, I keep flailing away with the mouse clicks and they either drop dead in 2 seconds or I break a limb or two and have to chase them around as they flee. Melee is definitely powerful - I took out the special Legion 4-groups that show up when you're Vilified with spiked knuckles when I was lvl 5 (there were also 8 bandits, and Boone was taking forever dropping the entire grouping w/his default rifle so I waded in) - but utterly without any feeling of achievement, imo. Just random chaos. Not fun in a game, for me.

[LadyCrimson]

Oh...I know you get those special moves, but they only work with VATS, right? And since I don't use VATS....

[WorstUsernameEver]

Oh...I know you get those special moves, but they only work with VATS, right? And since I don't use VATS....

 

Actually there's a few special moves that you can get taught in game that work real-time.

[LadyCrimson]

Care to elaborate on which ones those are? I don't think it would help too much with my liking melee, but I'm willing to give it a shot. At least it might be more entertaining than madly flailing and chasing. Oh how I hates melee-chasing. Diablo1 and warrior vs. succubi taught me that.

 

(edit)I gave Arcade & Boone fire axes once. They killed everything, but it was so aggravating watching them chase enemies for miles to get those last swings in... lol

Edited December 9, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[sorophx]

the passive ones, like that skill that knocks enemies down?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Well, strictly "melee", I'm not sure if there's any move. "Unarmed" has at least 2 that I remember, one you can get from Veronica and one from the ex-ranger in Novac.

[LadyCrimson]

the passive ones, like that skill that knocks enemies down?

I was able to stunlock enemies, so I'm not sure what the benefit of knocking them down, over that, is? Granted probably wouldn't work on deathclaws.

 

"Unarmed" has at least 2 that I remember, one you can get from Veronica and one from the ex-ranger in Novac.

Hm. I've gotten the one from the Ranger but never tried it since I assumed it was VATS. Guess I need to figure out how to use it/read more carefully. Veronica...I'll have to skip that one because I can never keep her around long enough.

Edited December 9, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[WorstUsernameEver]

She teaches you the move as long as you give her a Formal Dress or a White Glove Society Dress, so you can really just hire her to give her that dress and then dismiss her when she's taught you the move. Take into account that it's fairly buggy and that in certain conditions the perk may not be added to your character.

[Tigranes]

Explosives was pretty fun but it can't sustain you for the entire playthrough. No matter what you do there simply aren't enough explosives, and you have to back it up with something else - for me it was guns - and the thing about that is, guns are so good in this game that you start to feel like you're sabotaging yourself deliberately, at times.

 

However it *is* very fun, especially, I'd say, up to level 7-8 and up to the point you get a follower. Much more fun than with guns, the feeling of sneaking up on people and lobbing dynamites at them and trying to get them all in one.

 

I've now made the GECK adjustments to several melee/unarmed perks, so I will go full Unarmed as soon as I find some power fists. Backing up with explosives, melee is pretty fun so far - last night I ran into that area with radscorpions near the Mojave Post, and found that the Sledgehammer is the only thing I have that can overwhelm their DT. Queue lots of running and lots of swinging. In the end I was out of health, stuck in that little caravan camper, with a Giant Radscorpion waiting outside but too big to come in - the only one with enough DT to resist the sledge. In the end I had to wait, wait, then make a break for it and run all the way back to Primm.

 

edit: you also learn a move from the Great Khans if you are Accepted by them, throwing sand in people's faces. I also remember that there's another unarmed move you can learn from someone, if you have 75 Survival... but I forget.

[Thorton_AP]

Can't you craft explosives?