Expansions / DLC info.

[RedRaven]

 Xbox360 players are the first to be treated to an expansion for NewVegas.


"Dead Money" comes out on December 21st. Will raise level cap to 35 and has new achievements and perks.


Hopefully they will follow a similar pattern form Fallout 3 and we can look forward to several releases for all platforms before too long.

[PZ]

 :-X

That's good news - it's always nice when a new game benefit comes out, especially if it is free  :-()

[Fiach]

As with FO3, I hit level cap before I finished and had to wait for Broken Steel, to reaise the level cap, so I could finish it, So I'm looking forward to this DLC.

I much preferred FO3 to FONV, I'm not quite sure why, maybe FO3 was so new and exciting, that FONV is just more of the same, may have dulled my appreciation for it somewhat.

[PZ]

I had somewhat the same thoughts as I started the game and asked myself "is this it?"  I was expecting much better in the way of graphics, etc., after all of the press and trailer videos.

[RedRaven]

 I get where both Fiach & PZ are coming from, for the first few hours of play it does seem very much like a slice of the same pie. I played FO3 when it came out and had finished it before any expansions were released and could not be bothered to play through them.


The thing I'm really beginning to appreciate about New Vegas is the size and scope of the story. After playing for around 6 hours some games are over (Battlefield Bad Company 2, Call of Duty etc.). Where as New Vegas is only just getting going. Currently at 76 hours of play, and estimate could achieve 1 of the 4 endings in 5 - 10 hours. And that is with only 60-70% of locations found and many missions and possibilities still undiscovered.


Went hunting around the net to find out how long the game is on average. Turned out to be of little use, one person said had done it in 18 hours and I found a post somewhere by someone saying had notched up 280 hours !!! (my guess of 5-10 to finish could be well off).


Looking forward to reaching the end in order to start again and try to get there by a different path and selection of choices.


  One last thing, in terms of its Open World status it follows FC2, when you get to the end it is the End. How you get there is pretty much open. One point very early on I ventured north and Victor appeared warning me to turn back which is similar in some ways to the split map from FC2. Saved and ignored him only to be killed within minutes by giant evil insects.


Well, back to the Desert. 8)

[Fiach]

It was 40+ hours for me Red, for a fairly thorough playthrough, did mostly NCR/BoS, the roman guys glitched on me, I couldnt hand in quests as I kept getting attacked even though I had some forgivness item (dont remember the name now).

On saying that I didnt do the different family quests at the casinos as they were boring tbh.

[PZ]

Good to know about the main story line - I'll probably go in to complete at least that part one of these days.  I read somewhere about there being so many quests, you lose track of the main story - true?

[deadman1]

Good to know about the main story line - I'll probably go in to complete at least that part one of these days.  I read somewhere about there being so many quests, you lose track of the main story - true?

Yes that´s a real danger. The number of sidequests far exceeds that of FO3, at times it seems like every NPC you meet has a quest for you  :-\

[Fiach]

I wouldnt say that, I think its more focused than FO3, the problem for me was, regardless of which faction you choose .... they are all dicks and none have any real saving grace, which eventually when I chose a side and won, it left me feeling unfulfilled, you cant play a polarised good or bad character, which made me come away, with the bitter taste of "meh", in my mouth.

[deadman1]

I wouldnt say that, I think its more focused than FO3, the problem for me was, regardless of which faction you choose .... they are all dicks and none have any real saving grace, which eventually when I chose a side and won, it left me feeling unfulfilled, you cant play a polarised good or bad character, which made me come away, with the bitter taste of "meh", in my mouth.

I recognize the "meh" feeling. In FO3 you had a defined "bad guy" in the Enclave but as you say, in NV none of the factions come out as the "good guys". It´s probably a little closer to how things would be if NV took place in IRL but I still prefer a game to have a more defined set of foes.

[PZ]

It would be nice if there was at least some saving grace to be had with each of the factions, so you had a moral decision to make when playing.

[RedRaven]

Not quite got to the end yet but got to agree about the factions so far. Not suffered any glitches with missions but get the occasional crash, thought those days were behind me when started on the PS3 - hahahahaha, foolish notion that turned out to be.


To me it seems like a case of "art imitating life". Maybe its Obsidian / Bethesda making a socio-political statement about the nature of different or opposing ideologies.


After thousands of years of human culture and civilization many differing ideologies have still to find a way to co-exist. Sure its simplified a lot in the game.


As Lord Acton said "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men".


Then again I could be reading too much into it! Though it would not be the first or last game to make a statement concerning current global politics.

[PZ]

 :-X

[Ricamundo]

Im currently on playthru #2, and yes, i would say that its fairly easy to lose sight of the main quest at times, SPOILER>>> but i didnt find the main quest, or the ending all that interesting to be honest. really, what makes the game fun, is the openness and the mods, some of which are keepers.

There are 2 or 3 mods that extend the levels. I use the 100 level version, lol. Also the perk every level is handy, although i havent tried the mod that adds several new perks.

I have to mention thio, that due to rather annoying crashes, i had to de activate some of my more recent mods. >:(( Not sure if its my weak system, or a conflict, but yesterday, after turning off about 6 mods, things ran perfectly.

I think the most annoying thing, besides the crashes, is the sheer number of overlapping quests. For every quest you decide to proceed with, you get "failed quest" messages for others. On the main quest, in the Lucky 38, i made a decision that started a quest, then immediately failed it. wtf?? ::)

[Fiach]

Yeah I found that weird initially, I killed a dude in some town store that wanted medecine, he was really annoying, thenh a series of quest fails popped up. Its irrelevant though, its an indicator that you have killed someone that is part of a series of quest chains, so you can reload a previous save, if you are unsure about missing those quests.

The same thing happens, when you kill a faction leader, you will see a ton of their quest progressions listed as failed. Personally I think its handy, I have often killed NPCs and afterwards had major DOH! moments, when I find out too late that they were part of important quest chains and it was too late to go back.

As regards losing sight of the main quest I really never found that to be the case, the game always seemed to keep me on track (apart from a glitch with the Legion, which is documented as a glitch with the Devs). Even if you are killing the crap out of every faction, you will eventually get to a point in the game, where you receive a Get out of Jail card for each of them forgiving you of past crimes, to get you back on track. Even if you miss factions, when you meet a certain character they give you a list of all factions to visit for possible allies, which can be ignored if you wish.

The best series of quests I recall were the mutants with the rocket ships, The BoS series and the Nellis AFB plane recovery, The Mutant radio station was great too. (left vague for SPOILER reasons :).

[PZ]

Some of those quests sound interesting  :-X  I've also experienced the failed quest message, but as you gentlemen indicate, it is due to actions of my own  >:D

Ric - if some of those mods you deactivated are favorites, you might experiment with the load order to see if that helps.  Because these mods are created by different people, they can easily have conflicts that might be resolved by changing the order in which they are loaded.  Of course, the possibility also exists that a mod written by one person causes a critical failure in another, leading to a crash.

[RedRaven]

There are 2 or 3 mods that extend the levels. I use the 100 level version, lol. Also the perk every level is handy, although i havent tried the mod that adds several new perks.

I miss my PC  :'(


Just hit level 30, max I can get until they expand it through other releases.

[Fiach]

Yeah I had to get the 360 version, got my PC about 3 weeks later :(

On saying that, its nice to play some games on a couch with a WS TV ..... feels more civilised lol :)

[PZ]

My favorite platform is the PC because of the modding capabilities, and the graphics are just plain better in every game that I have in my collection (I can't wait to get AC Brotherhood for the PC to see how it compares to the 1080p on the PS3).  However, my wife is a late riser, and I wake up at 4-ish in the morning - that leaves me a couple of hours of gaming in bed.  My setup is a flat panel mounted on the wall at the foot of the bed, and the PS3 immediately beneath.  A wireless headset completes the package so she can be sleeping while I'm gaming - coffee on the side table  :-()

[Art Blade]

to play some games on a couch with a WS TV ..... feels more civilised lol :)

^+-+ :-X

[deadman1]

I just found out that the "Dead money" DLC will be released for PS 3 and PC on Feb. 22, and that there is an additional three DLC:s coming out this year.  >:D

[PZ]

That's good news  :-X

[PZ]

There is a group that is working to integrate FO3 plus the DLC into FNV, and are almost done.  They way they say it, you will need to copy some of the FO3 .BSA data into the FNV folders, plus use their .ini and .esp/.esm mod files.  Once installed, you should be able to start a new game in the capital wasteland (through the FNVengine), complete all the main missions, and then through further story line be captured by Benny and eventually taken to Docs house where you will pick up with the FNV missions.  You should also be able to freely travel between the Mojave, capital wasteland, and any of the DLC by train.  I think it will be great fun to do both FO3 and FNV areas/missions, etc., in a single game.

One of the developers testing the mod has "lots of FO3 mods installed" and they all w@&k - this looks to be a very cool mod.  :-X

Just checked and Dead Money is $9.99 on Steam