Holy crap, this game is pissing me off. It keeps freaking crashing all the time. FO3 had a few bugs and it did crash from time to time but this is way worse. How is that even possible given that they are the same freaking engine?
Holy crap, this game is pissing me off. It keeps freaking crashing all the time. FO3 had a few bugs and it did crash from time to time but this is way worse. How is that even possible given that they are the same freaking engine?
It crashed once every session for me. All in all, not too bad for me, but clearly it's still unfinished. If someone's thinking about getting it, I'd wait until Christmas before playing it so they can patch it better.
For example, I got three different pipboy bugs, two of which forced me to go to an earlier save so I could continue playing at all. Then there's a valley that's supposed to be under sandstorm, but the sand is only there during nights. During a moment in the main quest, all the female troops in a certain area were in their underwear.
After the NPC framerate issue, the second worst bug was that a companion stops following you and fighting for the rest of the game after one specific thing happens, and you can't really avoid it if you want to do something specific with that companion.
I'm sure there were others.
The weirdest for me, and I don't if this is something they'll fix, was that even though I had the drawing distance at max, some objects didn't appear until you got closer to medium distance. Also, lots of flashing textures in the distance.
Boy was the final fight tough on hardcore mode. Didn't expect that after F3. It might have been partly because I didn't bring a suitable weapon, though, and I had to send my companion away because the enemy AI just went after her first and swarmed her, killing her very easily again and again. But really, for some reason it was like the hardest, most panicky, chaotic, ridiculous Benny Hill fight ever. I lost my patience pretty quickly and turned down the difficulty from Hard to Easy, which I've never had to do before. The difficulty was fairly comfortable until then.
I liked the dialogue and voice acting a lot better than in F3. Got kind of tired of the ugly engine and the irritating companion AI, and pretty much the whole Fallout thing, so I didn't go to some of the places at all, although I did visit most of them. My impression is that it's not quite as big as F3 but there are definitely a lot more quests and plenty of places to visit, especially for someone who has already played the crap out of F3. I laughed a couple of times too.
Won't go into the story so as not risk spoiling anything, but I must say its structure is the kind that makes me second-guess the game designers a bit too much as I make my choices.
Interesting names in the voice actor credits. Like I said, pretty good performances. Neeson and McDowell were good in F3 but most of the other characters had no flavor. Also, the longest credits ever in a game I think. It's like it was daring me to watch it to the end.
Then there's a valley that's supposed to be under sandstorm, but the sand is only there during nights.
SPOILERS!
Hidden Valley? I'm just starting the quest line there and I was just told by an NPC that the sandstorms are controlled and that they only use them to hide incoming/outcoming troops.
Hidden Valley? I'm just starting the quest line there and I was just told by an NPC that the sandstorms are controlled and that they only use them to hide incoming/outcoming troops.
Could be. I just noticed that it was always on at night and never during the day and it seemed to glitch when I transitioned. My recollection was that the person said that it was there always to prevent detection of the bunkers. Like they put some light metal in it to cover their hideout - from Mr. House for example.
But you're probably right. The military people make me tune out a bit usually. I guess when you have a buggy game you start seeing them everywhere. The companion bug was very bad. Probably not universal but I see others have had it too.
EDIT: Maybe I got the idea from the fact that there was a dialogue option asking about the sandstorm, and because I had come during the day, I had never seen it at that point.
Last edited by Henry Fool; 11-01-2010 at 04:20 PM.
Pretty far into the game now - but it's slowly but surely turning into a buggy mess.
Lost both my companions meaning I can't progress along a certain quest. And this is a minor spoiler but it's worth knowing before hand... DO NOT COMPLETE VAULT 11.
Spoiler!
There is a faction bug that causes all the robots in the Lucky 38 to attack you on site if you kill the turrets at the end of Vault 11.
I've resorted to loading a save nearly 6 hours before I did a bunch of quests, dismissed both companions and am completely avoiding the areas that caused ridiculous bugs. And to top it off, my load times just keep going up - at one point it took 8 minutes to load a save game (Xbox-360).
Still a great game... but if you're on the fence, wait for more patches to come out. At times the game just devolves into an exercise in frustration.
BTW... this game is definitely not for children at all.
Nipton creeped me right out. Any time I walk past it I strafe so I don't have to look at the town. Playing at 3am with the lights off doesn't help either...
Nipton creeped me right out. Any time I walk past it I strafe so I don't have to look at the town. Playing at 3am with the lights off doesn't help either...
I played Vault 34 (the vault with all the radiation) at about 3am. That was creepy too!
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
I seem to have to use ridiculous amounts of ammo to kill some creatures, like the nightkin. Plus it doesn't matter what weapon or ammo I use, I get the solid red shield indicating that the weapon I am using is mostly ineffective.
I'm only 7th level, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the tougher creatures live - there's one-shot bark scorpions near deathclaws, or wimpy ghouls 1 level above nightkin. In Fallout 3 you could could play without the lame companions, I'll be very disappointed if I have to bring a couple losers along to get through some of the quests.
__________________
Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
I seem to have to use ridiculous amounts of ammo to kill some creatures, like the nightkin. Plus it doesn't matter what weapon or ammo I use, I get the solid red shield indicating that the weapon I am using is mostly ineffective.
I'm only 7th level, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the tougher creatures live - there's one-shot bark scorpions near deathclaws, or wimpy ghouls 1 level above nightkin. In Fallout 3 you could could play without the lame companions, I'll be very disappointed if I have to bring a couple losers along to get through some of the quests.
Your character is too weak to go against those enemies. They do warn against going north from the first town and straying too far from the roads.
I really liked that about the game. The creatures live in specific places and you have to be careful at times, as opposed to them just leveling with the character. It creates suspense which was lacking in F3. You have to think about who you're going to attack.
I like it when sometimes you just end up in a bad place and have to flee. I doubt you need the companions to complete the quests - apart from the quests that specifically involve those companions.
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Fool
If it's any consolation, Yahtzee went north too and was killed by - flies?
Well I haven't stooped to dying to a fly yet - I've died 3 times, as I use a StealthBoy right quick, then run (well - sneak) away screaming if I am in danger of being overmatched or overwhelmed. I did make it through to the environs of Vegas by ghosting past all the critters to the north at night.
I have figured out one way to get lots of cash is by hunting Legion at the various points where they frequently spawn, so now I am 10th level and I have craploads of ammunition and some upgrades on my weapons. The upgrades are critical - I think I was expecting to find better weapons, but other than a .44 Magnum pistol, I have pretty well the same stuff I had 5 levels ago.
I'm a little underwhelmed by the weapons in the game, really - why do I need a 9MM/10MM pistol and SMG - one caliber would be sufficient. The silenced .22 is pretty well useless - sneak up on a sleeping Legionary, put 3 rounds into his head from 2 feet away and he's just somewhat injured... the assault rifle is also junk. I pretty well just use the cowboy repeater at medium range, the varmint rifle (scoped) at long range, and one of the magnum pistols in close (as the shotgun is weak against anything with armor, which is 3/4 of the creatures).
It's supposed to be 2077, and I have no more firepower than some well-heeled cowboy in 1877...
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Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
I think one of the few times I died was to those flies as well, the ones with the orange wings.. don't underestimate them!
Cazadors I think they were called and you're right. They'd even sting right through my power armor like it was nothing! They seemed a little overpowered but I think it's great that the game surprises you like that.
In New Vegas, don't be afraid to buy weapons even though they're pricey. Many of the best ones I never came across elsewhere for free. Like antimateriel rifle, which was great for deathclaw hunting. Especially if you play without VATS, all the variations of the hunting rifle are good because you can drop enemies from very long distances.
I found that there were actually way too many weapons to properly try.
Well I haven't stooped to dying to a fly yet - I've died 3 times, as I use a StealthBoy right quick, then run (well - sneak) away screaming if I am in danger of being overmatched or overwhelmed. I did make it through to the environs of Vegas by ghosting past all the critters to the north at night.
[...]
There are many ways to play the game, that much became clear to me, but there are also narrative reasons why it wants you to take the long trek to New Vegas using the roads. You see the land and meet characters and get a sense of what is happening in the Nevada desert. That was one of the best parts of the game when it was still too dangerous to go exploring too far and I just went from town to town following the roads.
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Fool
That was one of the best parts of the game when it was still too dangerous to go exploring too far and I just went from town to
town following the roads.
I can understand that approach - I just like wandering all over the place with no real goal. Sort of like an armed hobo of the wastes, instead of a hero.
__________________
Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
I have to take them out one at a time with a sniper rifle because if 2-3 come at me I'm toast.
The only good weapon I have found is the sniper rifle - everything else hits for ridiculously tiny damages (20 or under). Explored a crap ton of places and never uncovered anything decent aside from "That Gun", but even it is fairly shoddy. My fists with Spiked Knuckles do nearly 50 damage and can do full damage against most armored foes - mean while my Assault Carbine does a measly 16 at full condition.
I could go online and google some good weapon locations, but that's cheating. Ahh well, I finished the game using about 5 shots from a sniper rifle and my speech skill. Next playthrough will likely be as an energy weapon user since those don't get blocked by armor.
Also, I found 3 mini-nukes and a fat boy launcher. That was fun for a laugh.
I mentioned earlier - I ditched all my companions. They are too buggy and can actually prevent you from advancing along the main quest. For what they bring, it really isn't worth the trouble. Hopefully this gets patched, but it is Bethesda...
