I’m foaming at the mouth for the workday to end so I can get home and start downloading. Here’s hoping it’s better than Dead Money.
Not much in the way of reviews (yet), but I think I’ll take the risk and download it tonight. It’ll keep me busy while I wait for others to try and report on LA Noire.
Playing it now. I’m only a tiny way into it and I already like it much better than Dead Money. I already met Joshua Graham and he is one cool character. I don’t know who they got to do his voice, but the actor is tremendous. Already picked up a couple of the new weapons. The 1911 is nifty and I enjoy having it because it is a favorite RL pistol of mine. The Mormons and Indians theme is intriguing, too.
After two hours of play, my impression is: more of the things you like about Fallout, with little of the things you don’t. Yeah, it’s “more of the same”, but in a good way.
Finished a quick main quest only run through last night. My only real criticism is that, as in Dead Money, the designers used making it difficult to get from point A to point B to add fake difficulty and make the game seem longer. The new weapons are okay, but disproportionately powerful. The 1911 and the submachine gun are both supposed to be .45 acp weapons, which should make both less powerful than the basic 10mm pistol and submachine gun from the main game. In game, they outclass the 10 mm, 12.7 mm, and .44 magnum weapons. A minor criticism is that the companions are needlessly chatty. I much prefer Boone’s and Ed-E’s laconic ways.
Got it, played it, finished it.
Dead Money really reminded me of The Pitt DLC from Fallout 3, with its harsh, claustrophobic feel and not quite human enemies (trogs/ghost people). Honest Hearts reminds me more of Point Lookout with its tribals and open spaces.
I’m expecting Old World Blues to be more Mothership Zeta (confined space - the Big Empty - with lots of high tech loot), with Lonesome Road to be more Broken Steel crossed with Op Anchorage, in terms of extending the story…given the name and DLC nature I’m expecting it to be fairly linear with some new loot.
Overall I enjoyed it. Thought it was a bit better than Dead Money, which annoyed me a bit by stripping my gear and slowly killing me. Liked the characters more in Honest Hearts, Graham particularly. Must say in DM and HH I like the continuity nods, being able to tell Graham that I personally took down Caesar and what have you (taking Ricky down a peg with your knowledge, for instance). The dev team does a good job of making your Courier yours, not railroading you into saying things you wouldn’t.
The scenery’s a nice change from the desert of the Mojave, too.
What did you do in the end?
I sided with Graham, wiped out the White Legs. For some reason (maybe very good karma?) I could only ask that Salt-Upon-Wounds be spared or faced in battle, so took him down in battle. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna listen to that Daniel wuss and let a bunch of thugs boss my Courier about. Got a good ending, although I regret telling Follows-Chalk to see the world, as he ‘was never seen again’. Oops.
Better than Dead Money, but still not great. The new scenery was a nice change, but the plot just didn’t engage. I didn’t care for either of the ‘good guy’ tribes, was quite happy to wipe out the tribe of guys who’d been taking potshots at me throughout, and found the lack of buildings and humans a bit dull. The mission to take down the Ghost Of She was fun, but the rest left me cold and glad to get back to the main game.
I had gotten it a few weeks ago, but only started playing yesterday. Do you want spoiler tags for stuff in it, or want to have an open discussion? I’d like to ask a bunch of questions about what’s happened to me so far if you want to have an open discussion.
-XT
I got it on principle a few days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps a little on the short side (I agree with the long travel time as a “Fake Difficulty” comment earlier) and the lack of “inhabitants” was a bit disappointing, but overall I enjoyed it. It was a lot less depressing that Dead Money (which I also enjoyed) and the scenery was really nice, too- a change from the Mojave setting in the regular game.
I did wonder about the enemy tribe carrying high-end, military-grade weapons, though- It’s mentioned in-game that the tribe broke into a National Guard armoury to get them, but I’ve done several play-throughs of New Vegas and never encountered an Anti-Materiel Rifle “in the wild” (except for sale from a couple of the arms vendors), yet when searching defeated foes after an early encounter in Honest Hearts I found two Anti-Materiel Rifles, a Thompson SMG, and a Riot Shotgun. I found quite a few more over the course of the DLC, which has been very useful for my character!
I’m not complaining (They were pretty sweet acquisitions, after all) but found it interesting all the same.
Incidentally, I will say that I really liked The Survivalist/Father In The Caves unmarked free-form quest; a great story which made me look at an earlier location in the main quest in a new light.
Definitely looking forward to Old World Blues which is due out sometime between “Nowish” and the end of the month, too.
I more or less agree. Still, some of the loot is nice - my guy is now walking around with Desert Ranger Armor, Daniel’s hat and a silenced .45, making him the coolest-looking mofo ever to grace the Mojave.