Fallout: New Vegas

[Briosafreak]

And I’m not fond of any media blackouts - to me, that’s like not allowing critics to review your movie until it’s out.

I generally agree, but it was the same thing with Fallout 3. I’ve only played 3 hours of NV, and it has the same issues of Fallout 3, not more not less.

[Cubit]

And I’m not fond of any media blackouts - to me, that’s like not allowing critics to review your movie until it’s out. It generally means that there’s something wrong.

I’m no fan of embargoes either, but enough publishers do it that it really has no connection to the quality of a game.

That’s about one step up from pirating the game outright. You’re still stealing, though this time from Gamestop rather than the publisher.

Huh?

[Scotch_Lufkin]

Look, I played Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360. This isn’t like that. I hate to disappoint you guys, and I know what it’s like to hear bad things about a game you’re psyched to play, but what I’m experiencing with Fallout New Vegas is a whole other ballgame in terms of being a technical mess.

For instance, I’m at a part now trying to move through really close quarters dotted with monster closets (nicely explained in the in-game fiction, BTW). If I use my Incinerator, which is a flamethrower perfect for this situation and currently my weapon of choice, it locks the game up. Every single time. Without fail. This is repeatable. Clearing the system cache does diddly to address the problem. Therefore, my high science, high energy weapon dude gets to work his way through Vault 22 with a laser rifle he normally uses for longer range engagements. Yay. Great. Thanks. Can’t wait to see what other stuff is so thoroughly borked.

I don’t really care whose fault it is, but this is pretty damn frustrating and not the sort of thing I’d expect from a game that isn’t called, I dunno, Gothic.

-Tom

I wonder if that specific issue is repeatable on the PC or the PS3, or if it’s specific to the 360. I knew without being told the vanilla release of FNV would be buggy as hell, just look at Fallout 1 and 2! However, I’m actually not seeing as many reports so far as I’d have thought. Eager for the review embargo to be lifted, and a little nervous there WAS an embargo to start with…

[tomchick]

Well, it’s not just the flamethrower. Now the game just locked up during a battle when I was using the laser rifle.

This is really discouraging. I’d worry that my Xbox 360 is dying, but I just played a half hour of that dull Medal of Honor game just to see if there were any problems there.

 -Tom

[Briosafreak]

If I use my Incinerator, which is a flamethrower perfect for this situation and currently my weapon of choice, it locks the game up. Every single time. Without fail. This is repeatable.

On the PC people were having that when cars exploded, when using the flamethrower (it was a wav, a sound problem) and so on, in Fallout 3. Again it’s not new, what is surprising is that the memory leak problems that were fixed on an update for the XBox360 are present again. That was unexpected. And the floating things problem is also back, this will only disappear when (hopefully) they change engines for their next games.

[Daggerlab]

Well, it’s not just the flamethrower. Now the game just locked up during a battle when I was using the laser rifle.

This is really discouraging. I’d worry that my Xbox 360 is dying, but I just played a half hour of that dull Medal of Honor game just to see if there were any problems there.

-Tom

Any reports from your friends/colleagues on whether the same issues exist on the PS3? Just curious.

[zengonzo]

That’s about one step up from pirating the game outright. You’re still stealing, though this time from Gamestop rather than the publisher.

Gamestop gets an unopened copy back (better condition than they’re accustomed!), and gets to hold your money for two weeks.

I think they’ll be OK.

[serling]

The glitches I’m getting are more cosmetic in nature. They seem pretty consistent with what you’d experienced in terms of wonkyness from the Fallout 3 engine. Mostly based on physics, collision detection, etc. Some slowdowns as well, but very random.

I’ve had the game lock up only once, when I stepped on a mine. So don’t step on mines, people (!).

Other than that I think the game is horribly mediocre. But more on that later.

[Jazar]

More specific than exploration, what I loved about Fallout 3 was the interpretation of a retro-futurist post apocalyptic universe and also discovering many of the small subcultures that have developed over the centuries from it. What great imagination and setting artistry!
Unfortunately, my sensors have not picked this up from New Vegas. Please, somebody show me wrong.

I have concerns with this as well. I wasn’t thrilled when I heard that New Vegas wasn’t really damaged by the apocalypse. I like the rugged survival of the wasteland. Glitzy Vegas is the polar opposite.

[Blackadar]

Gamestop gets an unopened copy back (better condition than they’re accustomed!), and gets to hold your money for two weeks.

I think they’ll be OK.

Someone paid for shipping to GameStop. I guess I was brought up differently. But this isn’t the time/place for this discussion, so back to FO:NV…

[zengonzo]

Someone paid for shipping to GameStop. I guess I was brought up differently. But this isn’t the time/place for this discussion, so back to FO:NV…

Time enough to denigrate my parents, surely - but that aside, Gamestop retains a copy for which shipping had been paid. You can make an argument that it borders on sleazy, yeah, but that argument could be made about Gamestop’s legitimate business.

It sure ain’t one step up above piracy, in any case. More like one step below renting.

[Blackadar]

Time enough to denigrate my parents, surely - but that aside, Gamestop retains a copy for which shipping had been paid. You can make an argument that it borders on sleazy, yeah, but that argument could be made about Gamestop’s legitimate business.

It sure ain’t one step up above piracy, in any case. More like one step below renting.

Brought up differently =/= brought up better…just a different set of morals in this case. Ok?

[B]

Other than that I think the game is horribly mediocre. But more on that later.

[/B]
Oh, please tell. You can’t leave it at that! :)

[zengonzo]

Brought up differently =/= brought up better…just a different set of morals in this case. Ok?

A Gamestop killed my parents.

[Lizard_King]

Brought up differently =/= brought up better…just a different set of morals in this case. Ok?

There’s always room for more conversation when you selectively apply personal morality to the individual human on one end of business relationships. That is the mark of a different upbringing, to be sure.

[dtolman]

There’s always room for more conversation when you selectively apply personal morality to the individual human on one end of business relationships. That is the mark of a different upbringing, to be sure.

Gah - I thought you guys were talking about the gameplay! You can’t leave this kind of stuff dangling on the top of a page :)

[Cubit]

I have concerns with this as well. I wasn’t thrilled when I heard that New Vegas wasn’t really damaged by the apocalypse. I like the rugged survival of the wasteland. Glitzy Vegas is the polar opposite.

I’m the opposite. After 100 hours in Fallout 3, I grew tired of the depressing DC wasteland. It will be nice to have a change of scenery with NV.

[Bahimiron]

A Gamestop killed my parents.

That bridge killed my father!

[MSUSteve]

Its kind of like buying a PC. Dell and its kin are still in business because most people can’t hit Newegg, buy a lot of parts and put together a powerhouse machine for a fraction of the price the big boys ask.

The last time I priced out a new rig, Dell was able to send me one for about the same price I would’ve paid to build it myself. I love my XPS 420.

So what type of characters are people going to be playing on their first playthrough?

My plan is to play the same sort of character I played in FO3. Small arms with repair and conversation abilities. Why?

Every fallout game has had balance problems and fallout 3 was no exception (small arms were way overpowered compared to other weapon types in the base game, especially compared to energy weapons).

Small arms were plentiful and had good power and applicability to a lot of situations. Energy weapons were cool, but I wasn’t able to find them in a sufficient quantity to rely on them as my mainstay weapons until later in the game, any by then I’d focused on what I was able to keep in supply: small arms. Explosives are similar in that they’re good for some encounters, but a lot of the time they’re impractical, whether because of splash damage, ammo availability or weight. We’ll see how it goes in New Vegas I suppose, but I expect to find plenty of assault rifles, pistols, and repeaters.

[Lizard_King]

Gah - I thought you guys were talking about the gameplay! You can’t leave this kind of stuff dangling on the top of a page :)

Sorry about that.

[TheWombat]

Small arms were plentiful and had good power and applicability to a lot of situations. Energy weapons were cool, but I wasn’t able to find them in a sufficient quantity to rely on them as my mainstay weapons until later in the game, any by then I’d focused on what I was able to keep in supple: small arms. Explosives are similar in that they’re good for some encounters, but a lot of the time they’re impractical, whether because of splash damage, ammo availability or weight. We’ll see how it goes in New Vegas I suppose, but I expect to find plenty of assault rifles, pistols, and repeaters.

Interesting; that was kinda true on my first playthrough of FO3 but on the second and third go throughs I found scads of laser rifles/pistols, and once you hit the Mothership it’s all alien tech anyhow for the rest of the game. Chinese Assault Rifles I still find hard to find though.