Fallout: New Vegas

Joe_M · 2011-07-22T22:35:18.000Z

I just went sprinting across the wasteland to find some Powder Gangers in the hopes that my being disguised as one of them would allow me to liberate a few boxes of ammo without a karma penalty. Sadly, no. I hope they can work something like that into the next FO game.

Equisilus · 2011-07-23T03:46:31.000Z

TheWombat:

Stealing is not context-sensitive, it seems; even if you’re in a pitched battle with bad guys and their stuff is marked in red, it’s a karma hit if you take it. You can blow their heads off no problem, though. It appears that objects are either flagged to be lootable without issue, no matter what your faction standing is, or to cause karma hits when looted (stolen), again, regardless of your faction standing. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that you can have all sorts of relationships with all sorts of factions, or something.

Ah, thanks for that explanation. Karma system sucks then. I guess I’ll stick with my never-stealing policy (unless it’s for the greater good) in my current game.

Lovin’ New Vegas overall. It’s taken over as my primary game to play right now.

Chris_Gwinn · 2011-07-23T05:27:40.000Z

It’s not a very big karma hit, and karma doesn’t seem to matter very much in NV. I was playing a good character on hardcore and would occasionally steal things I needed. My karma was at the max level by the end anyway. Rep is way more important.

Skipper · 2011-07-23T06:25:40.000Z

Matt Perkins:

See, and I feel the exact same way…reversed. If you remove vegas from the equation, there are so many interesting nooks and crannies to visit in F:NV I just explore and explore. And leave New Vegas alone for as long as I can.

I’m split to be honest, but one thing is for sure, combat and survival mode is so much better in NV that I’m not sure I could ever consider Fallout 3 better.

I still have yet to finish NV and yet to load a DLC. I will once I get closer to the end. And besides a better follower mod for Veronica, I’m mod free. Survival mode is tough, and I really like that.

TheWombat · 2011-07-23T07:58:37.000Z

Chris Gwinn:

It’s not a very big karma hit, and karma doesn’t seem to matter very much in NV. I was playing a good character on hardcore and would occasionally steal things I needed. My karma was at the max level by the end anyway. Rep is way more important.

Very much this. My first play-through, I was really conscious of karma. Then I realized, by the end, that it didn’t really matter, so my next time through I was pretty much a klepto.

Rock8man · 2011-07-23T08:01:13.000Z

I haven’t played New Vegas yet, but I was the same way in Fallout 3 eventually. In the beginning I was really watching the Karma when I started the game on the 360, but when I realized what a small hit stealing was, I didn’t worry about it at all when I restarted the game later on the PC version. I just stole whatever I wanted to steal, and I still had very good karma.

TheWombat · 2011-07-23T09:29:44.000Z

Rock8man:

I haven’t played New Vegas yet, but I was the same way in Fallout 3 eventually. In the beginning I was really watching the Karma when I started the game on the 360, but when I realized what a small hit stealing was, I didn’t worry about it at all when I restarted the game later on the PC version. I just stole whatever I wanted to steal, and I still had very good karma.

Yeah, the karma boosts for waxing bad guys far outweighs the hits for stealing stimpacks or whatever. It’s a very odd system–walking up and killing people without immediate provocation is rewarded, but lifting a trivial item from someone who just a second ago was trying to kill you for no reason, that gets you a ding.

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2011-07-23T10:59:26.000Z

Chris Gwinn:

It’s not a very big karma hit, and karma doesn’t seem to matter very much in NV. I was playing a good character on hardcore and would occasionally steal things I needed.

Karma only affects certain companions who won’t stick around if it’s too negative, so I see it mostly as a role-playing thing. Personally, if I don’t like the object’s owner - such as the flagged copy of Lying, Congressional Style inside the NCRF, technically “owned” by those murdering convicts - I’ll “steal” it in good conscience.

Razgon · 2011-07-23T12:37:21.000Z

On my second playthrough myself right now - and for some reason I now have two companions? Both EDI and Boone? I didnt think that was possible, actually.

TheWombat · 2011-07-23T12:39:40.000Z

Razgon:

On my second playthrough myself right now - and for some reason I now have two companions? Both EDI and Boone? I didnt think that was possible, actually.

ED can be a companion along with any of the others. He’s sort of a freebie.

Alistair · 2011-07-23T12:57:23.000Z

Does the new DLC (Blue whatevers) remove companions as the others do? I’d kind of like to take the old-timers along.

nKoan · 2011-07-23T13:21:52.000Z

TheWombat:

ED can be a companion along with any of the others. He’s sort of a freebie.

Sort of, you can have one human and one non-human companion. Ed-E and Rex are the only two non-human companions, so you can have one of them along with one other regular human companion.

TheWombat · 2011-07-23T13:53:03.000Z

nKoan:

Sort of, you can have one human and one non-human companion. Ed-E and Rex are the only two non-human companions, so you can have one of them along with one other regular human companion.

Yeah, I’ve always had either ED-E or Rex, so I wasn’t sure whether Rex counted as a non-human (or, rather, as he’s obviously not human, as a non-organic).

Sarkus · 2011-07-23T14:02:19.000Z

Alistair:

Does the new DLC (Blue whatevers) remove companions as the others do? I’d kind of like to take the old-timers along.

It’s like the others - you go alone. Like Honest Hearts you are allowed to go back after you finish the story, though how much that will be worth depends on how much of the area you cleared while playing. One thing I don’t like (I’m not far from finishing now) is that enemies respawn in the same places. I’ve also had a few instances where I suspect enemies spawned around me after I had fast traveled to an area, but I’m not 100% sure of that.

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2011-07-23T16:31:16.000Z

Sarkus:

One thing I don’t like (I’m not far from finishing now) is that enemies respawn in the same places. I’ve also had a few instances where I suspect enemies spawned around me after I had fast traveled to an area, but I’m not 100% sure of that.

The base game does that as well, for certain locations. Places with generic Jackal gang members like the gas station just north of Novac, for example. I had a tendency to fast-travel there for the campfire, and I got shot at a couple of times immediately after arriving.

TheWombat · 2011-07-24T10:27:14.000Z

Also, in some areas in the Big MT, you’re actually doing stuff within the context of a sort of virtual, simulated testing environment, so each time you run the “tests” things do respawn. Mostly; sometimes they stay dead.

Sarkus · 2011-07-24T12:00:10.000Z

TheWombat:

Also, in some areas in the Big MT, you’re actually doing stuff within the context of a sort of virtual, simulated testing environment, so each time you run the “tests” things do respawn. Mostly; sometimes they stay dead.

No, I’m talking about places right outside the central dome. For example if I go out the front door and around to the left I will always run into three lobotomites by one of the sat dishes. The same sat dish, every single time. They are standing there. So there are definately respawning enemies.

TheWombat · 2011-07-24T12:49:57.000Z

Sarkus:

No, I’m talking about places right outside the central dome. For example if I go out the front door and around to the left I will always run into three lobotomites by one of the sat dishes. The same sat dish, every single time. They are standing there. So there are definately respawning enemies.

Also, the roboscorpions tend to show up in certain spots.

Sarkus · 2011-07-24T14:37:45.000Z

I finished Old World Blues today. I got plenty of gameplay out of it as I explored the entire world and there are something like 35 locations in it. You can easily miss most of them as the main plot only requires travel to half a dozen of them. But if you do that you miss most of the upgrades and loot, of which there are plenty of both.

I don’t think there is any question this is the best FNV DLC. Plus you can go back at anytime and the world actually does have a post-completion sense to it.

XPav · 2011-07-24T15:44:39.000Z

Just finished Dead Money (I have a baby).

The beeping collar was the most annoying thing ever. The second most annoying thing ever were the monsters.

I am also annoyed that I didn’t get the achievement for using my 100 hack skill on the turrets to kill Father Elijah. Weak.