Fallout: New Vegas

[DarthParametric]

Ah, of course, I forgot that Avellone developed TSL by himself.

 

As J.E. Sawyer (New Vegas project lead) said recently:

 

This is not the result of one person's ideas, the fruit of one person's labor.

 

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/vault/diaries_diary14-10.18.10.html

[Darth Crados]

Well, bought it for pc, attempted to play it and... well, I don't know why but there are a funny set of graphic problems, such as the game breaking a lot, an annoying lag, and other similar things.

I've been searching, and it appears it's happening to others: http://segmentnext.com/2010/10/19/fallout-new-vegas-errors-crashes-freezes-fixes/

My problem is likely number two, although I've read that there were some annoyances regarding Nvidia graphic cards. They say it's recommended to update the drivers, it seems Nvidia doesn't enjoy the prospect of making drivers compatible with Windows 7.

On the game: tried to play it for half an hour, and it seems nice. the hardcore feature seems like a very nice (and challenging) addition to the game. Hope I get to play it, once this matters are corrected.

[DarthParametric]

People with similar issues have reported much better results using an older DX9 DLL. You can grab one here - http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34778

[Darth Crados]

People with similar issues have reported much better results using an older DX9 DLL. You can grab one here - http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34778

 

Just... wow.

Thanks a lot Darth Parametric! Solved the problem.

Well, I think it's time to take on the new Wasteland

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Well, Iv'e only set a two hours mark on west coast Wasteland and I haven't run in any bugs yet (although I accidentally shot a wastelander and Sunny Smile's dog Cheyenne when sniping those Geckos, but in this case the player is bugged, heh). Goodsprings seems like a fair start, at least better than the cramped and limited Vault from F3. I'm yet to see the challenge of Hardcore mode, but the fact that I've already found multiple sources of clear water and wild animals' meat (no iguanas-on-a-stick yet, though I'm wondering what their nutritional value is this time around) makes me think it wasn't a foolish choice.

 

Now I'd like to see how well the reputation and faction systems works as I'm really looking forward to make friends with Caesar's Legion.

[mimartin]

The tutorial around Goodsprings is not a fair indication of the difficulty of the game. I went through Goodsprings now three times before finding a proper setup to actually have a chance to survive in the waste. First time, I was thinking hardcore was going to be a breeze until some Jackals along the way changed my mind.

 

About 9 to 10 hours in with this PC, no bugs, but one crash. Nothing major to me having lived with that type of thing in Fallout 3, save early, save often.

[Mav]

yeh, I'm about 3 or 4 hours in, and so far this was the only glitch I've come across and I found it quite entertaining...

 

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[Ctrl Alt Del]

^ Oh, God. So that is Cheyenne's necklace is made of. I honestly thought it was meant to be there.

 

So, I just found something I think is quite cool. Remember that time in KotOR 1 where you'd get dressed as a Sith Trooper to get to the Lower City of Taris? Apparently, dressing as a member of a certain faction can fool most of them into thinking you're a member of said faction too. Maybe it's nothing new but I really just found out.

[DarthParametric]

Yeah there's factional clothing which has the same effect for you wearing it as it would for any NPC. So wearing a Ceasar's Legion skirt will mean you get attacked by NCR, wearing Powder Ganger clothes means you will get shot at by pretty much everyone, etc. It's an interesting mechanic because typically in games that sort of factional disposition thing is coded into the NPC itself rather than the equipment, so it potentially opens up some useful avenues for modding.

 

I'm making my way through the game at the moment. I have to say that so far I am a tad disappointed given the glowing praise heaped on it by the early reviews (but I shouldn't be surprised given that Oblivion and Fallout 3 received the same sort of gushing). It has that same sort of emptiness as FO3 which bored me to tears. I get that its a wasteland and all that, but trudging over an endless barren landscape where there's nothing but empty and broken buildings with the occasional animal attack is really not super fun IMO. FO1 & 2 skipped over that for the most part with the overland map and focused on the centres of habitation (aside from random encounters). Arguably that was just a limitation of the engine, but I don't think the primary focus of either game was intended to be endless trudging through nothingness.

 

And of course there are all the bugs. Thankfully probably not as many as is usual for a Obsidian game, and, to be fair, a lot are probably a legacy of pre-existing issues with the engine (like the hovering items bug that has been there since Oblivion). One that has struck me a number of times is enemies clipping partially or fully through terrain and becoming invulnerable (yet seemingly still able to attack me). Not a bug, but the most annoying thing is all the invisible walls - god I hate those, especially in an open world game like this.

[Pavlos]

I get that its a wasteland and all that, but trudging over an endless barren landscape where there's nothing but empty and broken buildings with the occasional animal attack is really not super fun IMO. FO1 & 2 skipped over that for the most part with the overland map and focused on the centres of habitation (aside from random encounters).

You can quick travel, you know.

[DarthParametric]

Only after you have hoofed it all the way to the location to discover it in the first place.

 

I've run into a bunch more bugs, one of which seems apparently widespread and causes you to fail an NCR quest regardless of what you do. There's also a weird one which at least a few other people have encountered as well that seemingly swaps the sex of your PC.

[Sabretooth]

About 15 hours in, my thoughts.

 

- The opening is pretty damn stylish, but after that the game becomes pretty empty, as Parametric notes. There's little variety in graphics or gameplay, and if you've played 5 hours, you have the hang of it. The desert, that is. I still haven't entered New Vegas, which looks pretty splendid from afar.

 

- Story is nothing special so far. While it's head and shoulders above FO3's I-want-my-daddy and FO1's I-can-haz-water-cellz, it's more in line with an Elder Scrolls story than anything; you're involved in something - get to the bottom of it, at your own pace, of course.

 

- Input lag, input lag, input lag. Shooting is not fun, melee is suicide and I spend most of my combat time in VAT, or hoping my companions finish my enemies before I have to deal with them. Actually, if they fall, I run.

 

- I think I have the broken NCR quest as well (Station Charlie?) It seems to be obvious a flaw to make it to the final game. : /

 

@CAD: The Help tips say so as well. You're also warned that if you wear the outfit of say, Legion and approach the NCR, they will attack you on sight. Unless you strip first. Then they won't attack you.

 

- Factions are, so far, rather uninspiring. As much as you'd think there's grey here, it's pretty black and white. Legion is black, NCR is white. Plain and simple.

 

- The characters don't seem real. There's no emotion, no joy, no life associated with them. It seems they just sleep at night and either mend the shop at day, or go around with guns. In contrast, STALKER manages to create a much more heartfelt atmosphere without having to add in any kitschy stereotypes.

 

- The entire selection of songs doesn't seem to be cycled. You can only hear like 4-6 songs on the radio looping over and over, instead of the full list of 45. Maybe they're saved for Vegas?

[Darth InSidious]

I preordered this through Amazon with free delivery, so I was expecting it to arrive sometime next week. Instead, it arrived today (hurrah, etc). So far I've played for about 3 hours (at which point, more or less, the game crashed), and am still in Goodsprings.

 

It's OK so far, but it has yet to really impress me particularly. Partly I'm still figuring out the controls/etc, not having played FO3. The writing is pretty good so far, the graphics are fine (although people all look slightly bizarre), and the sound design is overall pretty good. I find myself in agreement with Darth Parametric about having to walk - or run - everywhere - it's slow and dull.

 

One oddity I've run into so far is that 16:9/1366x768 aspect ratio/resolution messes with screenshots horribly, so have had to switch to 1280x720; not sure why, but it's nothing major.

 

Anyway, screenshots of the Amazon pre-order bonus (tribal pack) below, for people who haven't seen it:

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The pack consists of tribal raiding armour, a broad machete, five bleak venom doses and ten throwing spears.

[DarthParametric]

For those that didn't pre-order or would like a different bonus, there are equivalents of the 4 bonuses using vanilla assets available here - http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34812

 

The only difference is that mod doesn't include the canteen or the binoculars, but there's a separate mod for the canteen here - http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34998 (although it needs an update as it accidentally has dependency on one of the official DLC files apparently) - and the binoculars are useless (but if you really want a set you can buy them from merchants anyway).

[Achilles]

the graphics are fine (although people all look slightly bizarre)

I find myself reminded of VtM:B for some reason.

[DarthParametric]

I think certain Source faces are probably better actually in some regards, even older ones like in Bloodlines. The Oblivion/FO3/NV faces all have a bit of an unnatural air about them. That's probably a legacy of their particular implementation of the FaceGen system coupled with the limitations of the models the engine can handle.

[Sabretooth]

Most of the faces are alright, but any woman with a Moira face I want to kill.

[DarthParametric]

Most of the female faces seem to suffer the same problem as Moira - they have what would appear to be a facial hair issue. Maybe I'm picky, but I really draw the line at a woman with a moustache.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

^^

^

I suppose it's equally honest to say it's nearly impossible to make a good looking PC yourself. Having played F3 before NV (although it was a bit better than Oblivion), I never even tried and settled for making it look like me instead.[self-depreciation]

[DarthParametric]

It doesn't help when they put it inside that terrible small and obscuring UI overlay so you can't actually see what you are doing. I thought Bioware did a pretty poor job at making a decent UI for a FaceGen character creator with the horribly underlit ones in DA and ME/ME2, but the FO3/NV ones take the cake. Proof again that form really doesn't trump function (a fact that is repeatedly shown to beyond the grasp of game developers).

[Ctrl Alt Del]

It doesn't help when they put it inside that terrible small and obscuring UI overlay so you can't actually see what you are doing. I thought Bioware did a pretty poor job at making a decent UI for a FaceGen character creator with the horribly underlit ones in DA and ME/ME2, but the FO3/NV ones take the cake. Proof again that form really doesn't trump function (a fact that is repeatedly shown to beyond the grasp of game developers).

Still, I might be wrong, but the character creator gizmo screen looks a little less darkened and blurred on NV than it was on F3? Still doesn't help much, though.

[DarthParametric]

Yeah they made it a bit clearer (the one in FO3 was terrible), but it's still not much chop. Sometimes they get a bit too carried away with the whole retro-50s thing and that's one result.

[Tysyacha]

How's the roleplaying in this game? By this, I mean:

 

--Are there multiple dialogue options, including ones that you get ONLY if you have the right skills and/or stats (Intelligence, Charisma, Strength, etc.)?

 

--Can you "hit it off" with any of your companions, either male or female?

 

--Do the NPC's seem like they have a personality when they give you quests?

 

--Are there certain quests/dialogue options you can and can't do because you're in good (or persona non grata) with certain people and factions?

 

--Any hunka-hunka burnin' love (or at least burnin' lust) options?

 

--Do minor decisions' outcomes show up in the game as well as major ones?

 

--Do you think the RPing experience is just as satisfying as all the killing?

 

If the answer to your last question is "no", what games should I wait for?

 

Thanks!

Tysyacha

[Ctrl Alt Del]

How's the roleplaying in this game? By this, I mean:

 

--Are there multiple dialogue options, including ones that you get ONLY if you have the right skills and/or stats (Intelligence, Charisma, Strength, etc.)?

Yep.

--Can you "hit it off" with any of your companions, either male or female

Can't say much about NV yet, Tysy, but judging by F3, then no. Although you can have a good time with hookers and the like, party members are scarce and you'll find yourself running solo most of time. Yeah, that's it, party memebers are more of hindrance than a helping hand. Especially if they're using melee weapons and constantly get between your gun and the enemy.

 

--Do the NPC's seem like they have a personality when they give you quests?

No, God, no in F3. As for NV, word is that there's more soul on the game, but I'm not sure yet.

 

--Are there certain quests/dialogue options you can and can't do because you're in good (or persona non grata) with certain people and factions?

Yep.

 

--Any hunka-hunka burnin' love (or at least burnin' lust) options?

Refer to your second question.

 

--Do minor decisions' outcomes show up in the game as well as major ones?

Yes, kinda. There are permanent character features called "Perks" that you can select as you level up AND, seldomly, by doing certain stuff on your playthrough. Like in F3, when after storming a Giant Fire Ants anthill and completing a related quest, you get a fire resistance perk.

 

There's also the fact that most of the NPCs, except for the main storyline ones, are killable. So shoot a store clerk/owner dead and you will never be able to buy from him/her again. One more thing is the multiple ways you have to do a quest.

 

Plus, consequences are supposedly expanded with the new factions/reputation mechanic, since your deeds can get you aligned with a certain faction while shunned by another, or accepted and acclaimed by a group and hated by some other.

 

--Do you think the RPing experience is just as satisfying as all the killing?

Hard to tell. Personally, I don't think I'd play this game if I couldn't shoot/hack/slash anyone. At least Hardcore mode makes it look more RPGish.

[Mav]

Yeah, that's it, party memebers are more of hindrance than a helping hand. Especially if they're using melee weapons and constantly get between your gun and the enemy.

I dunno about that...

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I've been wandering the wasteland a lot and sometimes I'll randomly get that cinematic camera because Boone just sniped someone's head off... it is randomly awesome, and he's also helped out with thinning numbers in a straight fight, like the time I accidentally wandered into a Nightstalker nest. I also use ED-E, but "he" is more beneficial for "his" perk which spots enemies from further away.