Fallout New Vegas

[Hipolito]

After about 200 hours in the Mojave Wasteland, the Courier finally cashes in her chips and retires under a shady cactus with a nice atomic cocktail in one hand. As she sips, her feet resting on the head of a man once known as Cook-Cook, she quietly reflects on the whole experience ...

The previous Fallout games were pretty good at making you care about your character from the beginning. You grew up in a community, had bonds with people there, and were about to go alone into the big scary wasteland. In Fallout: New Vegas, you know nothing about yourself except that some guy named Benny shot you. You never really have any background except the one you choose to develop over the course of the game. So I had trouble getting emotionally invested in the story. I always felt that I was just passing through.

Despite that, I liked the faction interplay that starts when you reach New Vegas, and all the choices you could make to tip things one way or another. NCR is a boring faction, but the casino bosses are fun to deal with.

Outside of Vegas, Vault 11 stands out as one of the best Vaults in the Fallout series, simply for the story it tells and the way it ends. The Boomer museum tour was funny. And the Legion leader provides some of the most intelligent conversation of any Fallout game.

Speaking of conversation, there were some highs and lows in dialogue. On the high side, I liked how skill checks were represented so that you always knew whether you'd succeed or fail. And even if you failed, the resulting dialogue was amusing.

On the low side, the game lacked special dialogue for low-intelligence characters like there was in Fallout 1 and 2. My character was Carla Vargas, seester of Carlos Vargas from my Fallout 2 AAR. She had an Intelligence of 1, but this rarely affected conversation. The moments when I got derpy dialogue were so few that they were jarring when they happened.

What Carla lacked in smart she made up for in smash. I focused on Melee/Unarmed and kept the difficulty on Very Hard. Even then, the game was usually not that difficult. My companions did so much damage they often ended the fight before I could reach the enemy. The DLCs were brutal, though, since they didn't allow me to bring companions.

My favorite companion was Arcade. I really liked his personality, and he had a great personal quest that builds on his fascinating history. Lily was cool, too. Raul was worth meeting because of his connection with the hilarious Tabitha and Rhonda. I enjoyed befriending Rose of Sharon and then ... well. I didn't much care for the rest of the companions.

I played with Hardcore mode enabled. This meant that I had to eat food, drink water, and sleep, otherwise I'd suffer penalties and eventually die. This was challenging at first, but soon I was able to keep my needs satisfied consistently. The exceptions were two of the DLCs which didn't have abundant supplies and didn't allow me to return to the Mojave to restock. But even in the worst situations, I never died from hunger, thirst, or lack of sleep. I enjoyed playing in Hardcore mode because it gave me a stronger connection to my character and the consumable items in the game.

As for the DLCs, here's what I thought of them:
- Dead Money: The designers put an impressive amount of work into this, but I did not enjoy it at all. The tacked-on stealth/survival gameplay was annoying.
- Honest Hearts: Not very interesting overall but had an excellent side story told through log entries.
- Old World Blues: Brimming with humor and stuff to do. But in my compulsion to explore eveything, I grew weary of the repetitious combat and resource scarcity.
- Lonesome Road: Not a great conclusion to the DLC story arc, but I enjoyed the super-difficult optional area.

My list of mods worked quite well for me. In addition to those mods, I played two player-made adventures: Tales of the Burning Sands and Autumn Leaves.

Tales of the Burning Sands has a good first act with interesting puzzles and story, well worth experiencing. After the first act, though, I quickly became bored and stopped. If you play this mod, you may want to wait until you've done everything else you want to do in FNV, as it changes the loot system in ways you might not like (I didn't).

Autumn Leaves is a long (about 8 hours), conversation-heavy adventure about a Vault-sized library that was built before the War and is now run by robots with personalities. At first, I found the pace tedious and the conversation pretentious, so I quit early. Later, when I was in a better frame of mind, I tried it again and loved it. Talking to the robots and uncovering the library's history is so fascinating. Autumn Leaves is the best time I had in FNV!

Overall, though, Fallout: New Vegas was a mixed bag for me. No Fallout sequel has captured the magic of the original Fallout, in my opinion. I'll probably play Fallout 4 someday, but given what I've heard about it, I don't expect it to capture the magic, either.

[dbt1949]

I just finished this again myself. I called myself.........The Courier.
The game was a lot buggier than the previous times I played it. Probably thanks to Win 10.
I like to go with Yesman as I don't care for any of the other factions.
The only DLC I really care for too much is The Lonesome Road. As a matter of fact I like it better than the main game. I never have gotten all the nukes.
I never have figured out how to get inside the Enclave cave.
I also never used companions much. In a particular onry area I'll use one as cannon fodder but overall they're in my way too much or giving me away while sneaking. There is a perk for that later in the game but by that time I don't need it.
My whole approach to the game is sneaking. Therefore I can get away with lighter armor. Sniper and 50 cal rifles are my staple. I try to acquire the 12.7 mm SMG for backup as soon as I can. Making do with the 10mm SMG until then. 5.56mm is underpowered as far as I'm concerned. Cowboy arms are too slow and reloading them is too slow. The Hunting Shot gun (later the Riot gun) is ideal for close range.
And in closing I'd like to say.............FUCK THEM FUCKING CAZADORES.

[TheMix]

FUCK THEM FUCKING CAZADORES.

QFT!

A-damn-men!

[dbt1949]

And Legion Assassins that can take 24 hits from a 12.7mm smg even tho they wear light armor.
Tougher than BoS.

[TheMix]

My vague recollection (it's been a while) is that there are two options for them... 1) shoot the legs to slow them down, and (then) 2) wait for them to open their "faces" up in preparation for blasting you... then shoot them in the face. As I recall, it only takes one or two shots to the face to take them out.

[Kasey Chang]

FNV is buggy, but then there are tons of "bugfix" patches one can load with the add-ons. And autosave add-on makes recovery from crashes easy.

[Daehawk]

I played with a bunch of mods. It did have some issues but other than the first two FO games it is by far my favorite of the last 3 ones.

[NickAragua]

Man, it's been a while since I played this game. Don't really have a desire to go back, though, I think I got through just about all the vanilla game had to offer (with some bugfix/convenience mods).

As I recall, the only way to get into the Enclave cave (the one out by the snowy mutant resort?) was to:

Spoiler:

Have Arcade Gannon in your party and do his loyalty quest. After that, once you get to the final preparation stages of the main game, there'll be some kind of conversation option with him to get his father's old buddies to help him out.

[dbt1949]

After writing that I looked it up online.

[dbt1949]

FNV is buggy, but then there are tons of "bugfix" patches one can load with the add-ons. And autosave add-on makes recovery from crashes easy.

One of my most persistent bugs was not being able to load a saved game. I don't know that an autosave mod would help. There is a walk around to load a game but you have to close the game. So far the only way I can do that is reset my computer.

[Daehawk]

About the closing problem...were you using the stutter remover mod?

[dbt1949]

dbt use no mods.

[Daehawk]

Ah ok. Knew there was a shut down problem if using it and the fix. No idea then. Maybe just a bad install.

[MonkeyFinger]

FNV is buggy, but then there are tons of "bugfix" patches one can load with the add-ons. And autosave add-on makes recovery from crashes easy.

One of my most persistent bugs was not being able to load a saved game. I don't know that an autosave mod would help. There is a walk around to load a game but you have to close the game. So far the only way I can do that is reset my computer.

Hell, the 360 version had the same problem.

[dbt1949]

Ah ok. Knew there was a shut down problem if using it and the fix. No idea then. Maybe just a bad install.

Four installs and same problem.

[Alefroth]

FNV is buggy, but then there are tons of "bugfix" patches one can load with the add-ons. And autosave add-on makes recovery from crashes easy.

One of my most persistent bugs was not being able to load a saved game. I don't know that an autosave mod would help. There is a walk around to load a game but you have to close the game. So far the only way I can do that is reset my computer.

That was my only issue as well, and I got around it by turning off autosave and just having a bunch of manual saves.

[Cylus Maxii]

I'm trying to get this setup and play through it. I'd like some definitive mod suggestions for improving the graphics, please. I don't plan to mod the game play unless you can make a good case for balance or utility purposes. So, whatcha got?

[Daehawk]

I must have used 50 mods but to name one off the top of my head I cant do it.

New Vegas Nexus - THE place for MODS.

Their TOP mods of all time - non adult section

top mods of all time ADULT section

EDIT: Looking around there I know I had these mods in use.

Willow
NMCs texture pack
Nevada Skies weather
EVE weapons effects for energy weps
New Vegas Bounties This is pt 1 of like 2 or 3,. All fun.
ELECTRO City - lighting the wasteland

Looking for my old posts on NV I came across hipolitos FONV mod guide. Not sure how much help it is now days but here is the link to it.
hipolitos NV mod guide

[Kasey Chang]

I have more than a dozen, that's for sure.

* NVSE (NV script extender) NOTE: Also see JIP LN NVSE Plugin extension (NVSE extension)
* YUP -- Yuki's unofficial patch NOTE: Also see "Unofficial Patch Plus"
* FNV 4GB patch
* NVAC (deprecated?)
* NV Stutter remover (?)

* FOOK -- Fallout Overhaul Kit
* Project Nevada -- note: also see FOOK + Project Nevada Convergence

* WME -- weapons mod expansion
* WMX -- weapon mod extended, similar to WME but not quite the same, you *can* run both, but probably just choose one
* WMM -- weapons mod menu
* WMVM -- weapon mod vending machine
* JIP Selective Fire -- UI weapon switching

* EVE -- enhanced visuals for energy weapons
* AWOP -- "A World of Pain" underground caves
* iHUD -- obvious
* NVEC + NVCE NV enhanced content + NV character enhancement
* WARZONES -- adds "Barstow" and other encounter areas where factions battle each other in the background and you can be caught in the middle
* More Perks
* More Traits
* CASM -- auto save manager
* Mission Mojave -- FNV community patch
* RWD -- realistic weapon damages
* Realistic Headshot
* Ragdoll Overhaul
* dD Enhanced Blood textures
* Flashlight
* AmmoCollectingFPS Style
* HUD Extended
* Craft Overhaul
* Mod Config Menu
* DarNifired UI

These generally are not visual mods, and there are a TON of visual mods for those with the hardware to run it.

[Cylus Maxii]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I already have NMM installed. I just had little idea where to start with mods.

I will take a look at the gameplay mods too. I just normally avoid them since they are hard to balance out. I like the content mods like bounty hunting. I hadn't really thought of those.

[Archinerd]

I haven't played in years, but any mod list I would create would be built around J.E. Sawyer's mod. He was (lead?) designer on the game. His mod tweaks some balance and mechanics and is sort of a Director's Cut version of the game.

[Blackhawk]

It's also known for making the game extremely difficult and unforgiving.

[Archinerd]

It's also known for making the game extremely difficult and unforgiving.

Surviving in the post-apocalyptic wasteland should be hard.
I may have used some mods that made it a bit easier on myself too but I don't remember.

[Archinerd]

The Sawyer mod is "ultra-realism". Beware, as it makes the game EXTREMELY difficult. I think it also adds environment stuff like thirst, food, and so on. Remember, not all the stuff in the wasteland is edible... or at least edible without suffering some... consequences.

Well actually its a step down from Arwen's Realism tweaks. I tried that out too but it was too much wasteland sim. I think Sawyer's mod strikes the right balance between game and sim myself. I will concede that it may not be to everyone's tastes and perhaps it shouldn't be a blue one on my list.

Guess not. Here's what I said about it last time somebody else said it made the game hard.

Anyway, that's my thoughts. If you are looking for a more casual play through than I was then maybe JE Sawyers mod isn't for you.

[Blackhawk]

It's also known for making the game extremely difficult and unforgiving.

Surviving in the post-apocalyptic wasteland should be hard.

That depends on the wasteland, and some people don't equate difficulty with fun.

[Kasey Chang]

Fallout related, but NOT as a game...

"Cubefold" paper-craft Fallout related figures

You need card-stock in A4 or letter size, color printer, knife, scorer, and glue (dry preferred)

The kirk and spock kit was cute, but the link I have has Vault-boy, BOS Power Armor, and Enclave Power Armor. It's bobble-head cute.

[Blackhawk]

So, it looks like I've reinstalled. I've been painting the Fallout: New California board game miniatures lately (which are based on New Vegas), and it reminded me of the fun I had with the title. It is also the only Fallout title I've only played once, and that was eight years ago, long enough that I've forgotten the specifics. Besides, I could use a change of pace from my usual fare.

I was surprised to find that the modding for this game is surprisingly polished and up to date. It hasn't been neglected in the years since release. I also found this video series by Gopher (a very well respected ES/FO modder/presenter.) The only change I'd suggest is to skip Project Nevada entirely as described here (the link also gives much more stable alternatives.)

I also tried Vortex Mod Manger (the new Nexus manager) for the first time. If you're just modding to play and aren't doing insanely complex mod orders, I highly recommend it. It's amazing how much of the fiddly headachey stuff of ES/FO modding has been automated with it. It has LOOT/BOSS built in, for instance, so you never have to worry about your load order. Just install and it does the rest. It's so much easier than it used to be.

[Daehawk]

I replayed Fallout 3 I think it was 2018. Im not sure when I could ever return to New Vegas. I love it and its much better than Fallout 3 but I modded it way up and spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours living in New Vegas. I doubt I could ever go back.