DeepT
2761
So is the consensus that a melee build really isn’t viable?
Sarkus
2762
I haven’t tried it but there is a companion that is primarily unarmed that is arguably unfairly effective and I had another companion that was rocking a certain melee weapon mid-game to the point where super mutants were going down in two hits. So that leads me to think that done right both are viable options.
I’d say not.
For my second character I went for a melee build, and despite getting 100 melee, 70-something sneak, with 10 endurance and 10 strength, it’s not working out so well. Enemies are content to backpedal and snipe at you. One-hit kills are hard to come by, and packs of foes are brutal. I almost died in the NCRCF, and I can’t imagine doing Vault 34 like this.
Guns remains the best build. I tried Energy Weapons, but lasers are so pathetically weak that I swear a 9mm is better. Plasma is slightly better but nowhere near good enough for the cost.
I just played 5 hours straight, for a total (for now) of 26.5 hours. And i have to say: omg, this game is amazing! A great mix of Fallout 3 and Fallout 2. The “true” Fallout 3.
And after 26 hours i had zero quest-related or companion-related bugs, and only 2 ctds.
45 Hours.
Really really digging this game. For those that haven’t reach New Vegas proper and are still wandering the wastes, things get “very” interesting when you finally reach The Strip.
Fallout 3’s main quest, which is terrible, is clearly shown as an abomination in contrast to this game. New Vegas does everything I hoped for in a fallout game. An open field where I can help and/or screw over whoever I want. Doors open and close. The choices are mine.
Agree that this is the real Fallout 3. Fallout 3 might as well be called Fallout: DC or something.
FWIW, although the laser pistol is indeed very weak, it’s easy to overlook the fact that, in New Vegas, flamers are energy weapons. I am finding my Incinerator -quite- effective.
Yeah, and you can pick up an Incinerator in Primm, which is ridiculous considering how crazy powerful that thing is.
Jazar
2768
That’s a shame. I was an awesome Kung-Fu master in Fallout 2.
Yes that really is a powerful weapon early on it seems.
DeepT
2769
I have a gun build through this play-through, along with 100 sneaking. I was hoping for a 2nd play-through with a very different experience. Using lasers vs guns doesn’t really seem different to me. Any suggestions?
I have not played with energy weapons, but the biggest thing for me with guns was acquiring scopes and silencers, along with ED-E and Boone. Their character perks are tremendously powerful in tandem. I don’t know what there would be to make the overall ranged paths significantly different, beyond choosing outlier weapons like heavy guns and bigass rifles.
It’s funny, because this is pretty much how my first encounter with Fire Geckoes went. “Oh, they’re blue. They must be a little tougher. Why is it opening its mouth? OH GOD THE BURNING!”
Well, I only got to about level 14 with that build, so it may be more viable with better armor than the combat armor I was sporting at the time. It doesn’t help that I had Kamikaze as a trait either :)
It’s great for tight areas, but if you get into a larger room and you’re trying to chase down a foe who’s backpedaling as everyone else is shooting at you, or worse, if you’re in a melee fight with an opponent who chooses to block often, the damage adds up.
That’s not to say melee skill is useless, but keep your gun decent too.
I also might have done better with a 10 intelligence score to start for the extra skill points. Who knows?
I use that companion and while she does some nice damage, she dies in exactly 5 seconds to a deathclaw. The sniper seems better in every way, but his attitude annoyed me too much and i like her to some degree. To be fair, i am only around level 12ish so she probably is around the same and not wearing full powered armor.
Maybe once they get power armor they will be viable against high damage dealing enemies. They do seem very good against steady damage dealers such as humanoids that normally take a while to kill and don’t deal insane damage.
Obsidian added a bunch of new damage perks/fun stuff to make more people choose unarmed/melee, but they didn’t do anything to make up for the huge loss in survivability the removal of VATS mode invulnerability caused. They also made toughness less effective to boot. Can’t do much damage if a deathclaw eats you in three hits.
As a whole, i feel like everything without heavy armor dies quicker, including the player. If you’re shooting people from range it sort of evens out, but if you’re meleeing you have to take all of that damage instead of kiting them or hiding behind an inactive nuclear bomb.
mtkafka
2774
melee/unarmed is still very useful. you can save alot of ammo with those skills. though i wouldn’t reccomend it as a sole focus… its great as a complementary combat skill.
and deathclaws are not the testbed of your combat skills, they are meant to be tough. i really wouldn’t expect non combat focused characters to take them out. killing deathclaws is OPTIONAL. you can finish the whole game without ever fighting one. but it is something to shoot for with a min max playthrough.
as well, you really don’t have to have uber combat skills to finish the game on hardcore normal… i had 65 gun and 55 energy at level 23 when i finished the first time. and through most of my game i had gun below 50. the real meat of the game essentially is choices and ‘roleplaying’.
melee/unarmed is a combat focus though and it is more perk heavy than any other combat specialization (probably, i am actually too lazy to count them all).
If melee/unarmed at max has a much harder time dealing with end game enemies, it means the weapons aren’t balanced. Nothing more, nothing less. It is annoying that the weapons aren’t balanced in FNV (and they clearly aren’t even ignoring melee/unarmed), but i can’t really complain when they haven’t been in every fallout game i’ve ever played except maybe tactics.
mtkafka
2776
they are pretty much balanced imo. you can use a combat knife to take out most enemies with avg melee, which is more than was possible in fallout3. you just cant compare weapon balance with DEATHCLAWS, it would be like comparing all combat with Legate. plus its not realistic to see a non mutant human take on deathclaws melee/unarmed and win easily (you can’t even do that with guns!)… youd have to be a supermutant/nightkin. hey … maybe a DLC! deathclaws are Fallouts mini dragons! (at least in FNV). anyway, i have one characer who is pure melee with a little guns and he is doing much better than any of my other characters in early to midgame with regards to combat.
Yeah, one really cool thing about this game is that it’s more RPG-like than FO3; it’s much more FO2-ish. A high Speech character is very viable, and melee with some of the better weapons in particular can be brutal.
I found Energy very very effective; high Energy skill + Gauss Rifle (or RCW or whatever the laser tommygun is) at close range) can be quite nifty.
ElGuapo
2778
I targeted an enemy that was about 10 feet underwater (a lakelurk) using my hunting rifle with VATS. Is that allowed, or a bug? It gave me about a 50% chance to hit so I took it a few times and actually killed it underwater. The death cam showed it get hit, killed, and start floating. How cool is that?
ShivaX
2779
Melee is just fine imo.
Pack some grenades or a rifle for runners, you don’t even really need all that much skill to be effective with them. Of course running into a room full of guys with guns with a knife isn’t going to end well for the most part, but with most of the melee weapon special moves its not that bad, especially if you can lob a frag grenade while you’re closing the distance.
Wolff
2780
Melee is super viable, its what all my playthroughs have been lately.
On my legion playthrough I was smashing Deathclaws with the super sledge. I guess it depends on your build. IMAO anything other than 9int/9end is gimping yourself.
Important perks to take are toughness and piercing.
Early on if you walk face first into gatling fire you will die. I don’t think I’ve ever had a situation where I was forced to fight in an open room, you can always duck back around a corner.
