FO: NV (DLCS) Discussion

[Gromnir]

brings us back to cost. Gromnir applauds the redux: fix the inequities 'tween base game weapons. is bad when there is clear win weapons, and if the dlc fixes such, then we thinks that is fantastic. am simply wondering if such fixes deserves a price tag that is equivalent o' 40% o' the gameplay dlcs. perhaps is quibbling on our part. yeah, josh efforts looks commendable (whether it works as planned or not,) but the commercial aspect o' paying for what amounts to a fix is kinda greasy. and yeah, we used lame "fix" pun purposeful, and we won't apologize for doing so.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Lexx]

So, some weapons can be bought from traders, but what about the rest then? Will they be hidden in the gameworld, like the unique weapons that are in the game already, or will NPCs walk around with them?

 

 

/Edit: Btw. I find it interesting, that GRA costs 40% of the previous DLCs. I would have thought it's even less expensive, because you have no new written text, no new NPCs with voices, no new big scripts, no new world space, etc. I can't really imagine that. Are the new models and textures so expensive?

Edited August 26, 2011 by Lexx

[Walsingham]

I've been following the discussion for the last few pages and had a couple of thoughts:

 

1. Having a DLC which just appeals to a market subsection is perfectly sound business sense, and I have no objections artistically. If I did I would just not buy it.

 

2. I wonder how many forum members would be complaining if there were a DLC which only added more roleplaying chats?

 

3. If I could choose a single weapon for DLC it would be an engine which modified my favourite weapon in some way which reflected how I used it. So it became 'the courier's' sequoia/pumpshotgun/varmint rifle. With a bonus improvement if the weapon was 'vanilla' to start with. Tweak the sheen a little, maybe alter the grips? Decrease reolads, target specific damage, a bigger boom noise?

[Gromnir]

I've been following the discussion for the last few pages and had a couple of thoughts:

 

1. Having a DLC which just appeals to a market subsection is perfectly sound business sense, and I have no objections artistically. If I did I would just not buy it.

 

2. I wonder how many forum members would be complaining if there were a DLC which only added more roleplaying chats?

 

lord knows we never questioned the effectiveness o' the business practice in play. sure, we likened to a drug dealer stringing out a junkie, but that don't mean the business approach is flawed. is very effective even though perhaps Gromnir indulges in a smidgen of hyperbole... but not too much. additionally, am imagining that if obsidian decided that the dialogues for some o' the joinable npcs were indeed kinda weak and created a $4 dlc just to fix shortcomings o' core game joinable npcs, (and the honest hearts joinables?) we suspect that there would be some raised eyebrows, no?

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited August 26, 2011 by Gromnir

[Walsingham]

I don't see why a dialogue expansion would be a rotten thing, per se. Anyone shrieking 'this should have been in the game to start with' might just as wlel have said that bout the guns. And they'd be just as retarded.

 

Actually, now I think about it, surely more dialogue would make sense? Particularly given the interplay between some joinable NPCs and the various DLC.

 

You already have dialogue options added after visiting the Sierra Madre. You could send the mutant to Zion to pick flowers, or that godawful scientist chap to big MT. Or regale Rose with novel drinks collected on your travels... the possibilities are pretty much endless.

[Lexx]

Patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter for sure could get some additional lines. I'd pay 5 bucks for it, too.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter for sure could get some additional lines. I'd pay 5 bucks for it, too.

 

Don't give them ideas.

[Walsingham]

Patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter for sure could get some additional lines. I'd pay 5 bucks for it, too.

 

Well, I guess incidental voice acting wouldn't/shouldn't be the original actors. They could farm that out for a few grand, surely?

[mkreku]

OMG, it isn't until now that I understand that there IS no unique antimaterial rifle in New Vegas! I have never fired even one shot with the antimaterial, because I've refused to buy it in a store. Always waiting to finally be able to find that unique one that MUST be hidden somewhere in the wasteland.. Argh

[Enoch]

OMG, it isn't until now that I understand that there IS no unique antimaterial rifle in New Vegas! I have never fired even one shot with the antimaterial, because I've refused to buy it in a store. Always waiting to finally be able to find that unique one that MUST be hidden somewhere in the wasteland.. Argh

If you do Honest Hearts with a high-level character, you'll find a fair number of them.

[WDeranged]

I don't see why a dialogue expansion would be a rotten thing, per se. Anyone shrieking 'this should have been in the game to start with' might just as wlel have said that bout the guns. And they'd be just as retarded.

 

I've often thought the same thing, I'd gladly pay for a DLC which adds more dialogues, I'd be even happier to pay for a "Lore Pack" of some kind, one that adds more inconsequential stuff like clutter, notes and computer terminals to the world, I can't ever get enough of that stuff.

[Walsingham]

I don't see why a dialogue expansion would be a rotten thing, per se. Anyone shrieking 'this should have been in the game to start with' might just as wlel have said that bout the guns. And they'd be just as retarded.

 

I've often thought the same thing, I'd gladly pay for a DLC which adds more dialogues, I'd be even happier to pay for a "Lore Pack" of some kind, one that adds more inconsequential stuff like clutter, notes and computer terminals to the world, I can't ever get enough of that stuff.

 

Amen to that, brother.

[Lexx]

Heh, looks like my savegame is broken again. Yesterday I was traveling to Hoover Dam, because I wanted to make some screenshots. There I realized that lots of barrier stuff on the rim was missing. First I thought it was removed with a patch due to performance issues, but then I saw that even all the power pylons and the metallstuff was missing. Checked it out in the GECK and there everything was fine... Oh well, it probably will have no influence on Lonesome Road, so I don't care for now. After the DLC release I can still start a new game, if I am in the mood for it.

[Walsingham]

I just started a new game, which I expect to last me until Lonesome Road.

[Gorgon]

When ?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Lonesome Road Holotape #1

[Walsingham]

Lonesome Road Holotape #1

 

My boot started twitching when I listened to that. I think it has a rendezvous with his ass.

[HoonDing]

Lonesome Road Holotape #1

[intelligence] So you fight the Good Fight with your voice on a holotape?

[Tale]

His annunciation is very unnatural. I mean, he's pronouncing the words themselves fine, but it's very... is rigid the right word? Monotone? Maybe that's it.

[pmp10]

His annunciation is very unnatural. I mean, he's pronouncing the words themselves fine, but it's very... is rigid the right word? Monotone? Maybe that's it.

It sounds like it was assembled from separate words and sentence fragments.

There is completely no proper tone or flow to the monologue.

[WDeranged]

It does sound a bit odd, kinda like comic book writing spoken aloud, I'll bet it sounds less jarring when it's in the context of the game, alongside the music and ambience.

[Gromnir]

It does sound a bit odd, kinda like comic book writing spoken aloud, I'll bet it sounds less jarring when it's in the context of the game, alongside the music and ambience.

 

have you ever read chrisA stuff? is frequent overwritten to a comical degree. a noteworthy example o' this failing is the dog/god dialogues and epilogue from dead money. on the other hand, chrisA does come up with some uniquely compelling characters, but he is just as likely to indulge in the comic book silliness you identify. he writes like a young author. am gonna guess that the thing that has hurt chrisA the mostest since planescape is his reputation. mr. avellone needs a take-no-prisoners editor to review his work and point out the heavy-handed nonsense that creeps into his writings. unfortunately, established writers often find it more difficult to gets good criticism than does tyros. for some folks it is harder to criticize updike than joe shmoe, eh?

 

'course, am only guessing that the writing you reference is chrisA... and the fact is that we didn't read the linked material 'cause we not like to be spoiled. even so, when we hears obsidian writing being described as cartoony or comic book, we cannot help but thinks o' dove from motb, god/dog from dead money, and a half dozen other characters that suffered from chrisA overindulgence.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps visas mar may be the worst example o' the comic book silliness we can recollect, but am having a foggy 'membrance that a writer other than chrisA were responsible for most o' the blind sith's lines in kotor. could be wrong.

Edited September 7, 2011 by Gromnir

[Walsingham]

I don't know what you could have against dog/god. I thought he was rather eloquent and moving FOR A SUPER MUTANT.

[Gromnir]

I don't know what you could have against dog/god. I thought he was rather eloquent and moving FOR A SUPER MUTANT.

 

yeah, "moving" in a cartoony kinda way. is too bad that the pc were not voiced, 'cause when we told dog/god (paraphrased) to be or flow like water, it sooooo needed a bruce lee impersonation. and am not even gonna detail the maudlin camp that were the dog/god positive epilogue. however, just as sawyer recognized that crpg fans demand very little o' the mechanics in games, we has observed that crpg fans tends to be far more accepting o' bad writing in games than they is o' writing in other media. some o' that is understandable as games gots different limitations than does drama, novels and even comic books. even so, as there is instances o' quality writing in games, there is obviously nothing that makes such admirable attempts impossible.

 

am recalling a crpg roundtable in which chrisA noted the overwhelming importance o' character concept in crpg writing. is possible that chrisA has over-invested in his own theory, 'cause his dramatis personae tend to suffer from the wacky. 'stead o' making compelling through what the characters does, chrisA takes the shortcut and makes unique by having 'em suffer from mpd or similar oddities. he then gives his freak show menagerie dialogs that is overdone and a bit campy. there were a novel written in the late 80s or early 90s... were called geek love. the characters were actual freak show oddities. the thing is, while the situations and characters o' geek love were obviously unusual, the albino dwarf and fish-boy were both very human and genuine.

 

is our opinion that mr. avellone is far too reliant on the wacky concept. even so, he did ravel... and we liked kreia, dean domino, and many other chrisA characters quite a bit. as a whole, planescape is still our favorite crpg, and we enjoyed dead money Writing if not the gameplay. we applaud much o' chrisA work, but like any young author he tends to overwrite. the thing is, he ain't a young author no more.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

(edit: might need a new keyboard as we had multiple missing "t"s in our post. fixed)

Edited September 8, 2011 by Gromnir

[Pop]

The sentence fragment thing is more or less lifted straight from Rorschach. Laborious to read, harder to listen to.