Ooh one thing I forgot to mention:
Combat outside of vats is a hell of a lot better! You can aim down the sights of your weapon now, and it just feels a lot more effective. Bullets aren’t landing 10 feet wide like in FO3. I’m only using vats when I’m getting swarmed, or an enemy is very close, otherwise I’m happy engaging as I would in a typical FPS, something I avoided whenever possible in FO3.
Tried out the game last night before I went to bed. Played through the opening sequences (which basically just sets up your character) and looted the Doc’s house before heading off into the wasteland. It was pretty cool, but seemed to be a bit more choppy than FO3 is on my system. Turned on Hardcore mode but have to see how that works out…going to give it a shot though. I may go back and restart again, since I didn’t select any traits last night (they were optional…you get 2 but the only one I might take was Wild Wasteland, if I can find out what it does).
Overall it was an interesting start…sort of a cool way to set up your initial character.
-XT
Yeah…but I still have no idea what “‘wackier’ versions of existing content” actually entails, and if it’s worth restarting to get it. 
-XT
Yeah haven’t found it either. The only smidgen of info I dug up is that apparently it was a compromise between some of the devs. Many wanted some “wacky” content to be include in the game, while others thought it didn’t really fit with the overall tone of New Vegas. Hence the trait.
Apparently the trait will unlock some new random encounters, at least one unique weapon (though you miss out on another unique weapon), and more references to the old Fallout 1 and 2 games.
That’s all I’ve managed to find out.
I’m beginning to realize why the strategy guide comes in at more words that War and Peace: Fallout: New Vegas strategy guide is bigger than War and Peace | PC Gamer
When you come across a Wild Wasteland place your Pipboy will tell you by saying […] (yes just a series of dots)
I found one but I was on an escort quest and missed whatever it was that was ‘wacky’ as I didn’t have time to explore.
I just picked up the Collector’s Edition pack. Extras: one oversized metal poker chip from Lucky 38, seven clay poker chips–one from each of the in-game casinos–a deck of cards, a hardback comic book depicting the events leading up to the game, and a “making of Fallout New Vegas” DVD. Everything is in a nice fake-leather box. All in all, worth the extra investment IMHO.
The chips are pretty close to what you’d expect to see in a, well, casino in a wasteland. Almost a bit too nice. The metal chip has some Morse Code on it…will have to look up a translation. The outer ring of the metal chip is a roulette wheel, with the ball in the “10” slot on one side, “7” on the other. I wonder if that has some significance in the game.
The cards are unusual in that their backs are different. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a deck of cards with differing backs. There are seven designs, from each of the in-game casinos. Each of the 54 cards has a portrait of a character in the game, with a quote from each. There’s also a card with the rules for a game called “Caravan”, which is a kind of Whiskey Poker-Dai Ben Fen knockoff. I’m not sure if you’re actually supposed to play Caravan with the cards themselves, seeing as the differing back designs help you to know what cards your opponents have, but in any event it’s not a particularly exciting game. (Psst, Lightnin’…next time tell ZeniMax to ask David Parlett for a a new card game :D)
FYI people are reporting corrupted or missing quicksaves. Mine so far have been fine but others have lost hours of playtime. Manual saves seem to be fine.
Answering my own question from before: Side one of the metal chip reads “112281” in Morse code, and side two reads “232077”. Make of that what you will.
So far, most of the characters have pronounced “Nevada” correctly. Glad they did their research.
I instead chose to invest my points in “Quicksave.”
You know, I wasn’t thinking I’d bother with Hardcore mode because I generally think a game should provide a sufficiently challenging experience in Normal mode. For an RPG, at least. ‘Easy’ is good enough for me in a pure FPS. Besides, Hard in Fallout 3 wasn’t really a lot harder given how it also made you level more quickly. But reading up on it, I think I’m liking the possibility of a struggle for existence.
Slow-working stimpacks - suddenly cover and evasive movement become really important (in Fallout 3, even from the beginning your best bet was to run up and get the barrel right in the motherfucker’s nose as soon as possible)
Ammo has weight - As obnoxious as it can be to have to run back-and-forth to fully loot a place, weightless ammo never felt right, especially when it was something like missiles. And frankly, I somehow seem to enjoy the mini-game of stash-management.
The PC must drink, eat, and have proper sleep cycles to stay alive. - The best mod I played for Fallout 3 made random loot less plentiful, and the sense of desperation was exciting. Of course, there is a sense of relief when you hit a certain plateau and your careful scrounging and diversification of tactics pays off. Suddenly you’re back to scraps not being urgent anymore.
Furthermore, the atmosphere potentially conveyed by the use of radiated water to stay alive was somewhat nerfed by the fact that there was never, ever any reason to do so. And foodstuffs for me were just TACOs (Totally Arbitrary Collectible Objects). The previous games also wasted the opportunity to make this resource meaningful.
Only a doctor or a doctor’s bag can heal a crippled limb. - Ye olde school-style. I’m guessing this means that there’s a reason to invest in the Medicine skill, since in Fallout 3 it merely meant that your vast collection of stimpacks functioned more efficiently.
RadAway heals radiation poisoning over time. - This doesn’t address any objection I had, but what the hell?
Although I still expect to rely heavily on VATS, so I hope that hasn’t been nerfed too badly, I’m looking forward to drinking water out of a busted toilet for reasons other than accidentally hitting the ‘use’ key.
I keep thinking that one day somebody will actually design a game that involves gambling to punish this kind of behavior.
You know, I was just wingeing on about the various ways in which Fallout 3 failed to challenge. It has occurred to me in the past that the reason for it is that it’s not written for hardcore RPG players who will absolutely denude the landscape of anything usable, sellable or which might make an interesting pile someplace. I myself was on my third character before I decided I wouldn’t take every goddamned bent tin can from Super Duper Mart. Plus, Fallout 3 seems to be made for people who can’t be bothered to grub seriously for XP, so they just throw it at you.
I think I’m going to restart my guy tonight and take the Wild Wasteland trait + start on Very Hard. I already saw a different outcome to one of the very first quests you get on a live stream, so it gives me a goal to shoot for right away.
Some games make random number rolls several steps in advance. So if you quickload, you will find that the result comes up the same every time, but not if you load a game from several minutes ago.
It looks like they increased the value of many trash items. Towards the end they won’t be worth your time to pick up, but an extra cap might be more useful at the start.
Played about an hour today; getting a few CTDs. One was from fast traveling, the other was firing a 9mm pistol. Otherwise the game seems good so far.
The Great War was on 23 October 2077 and New Vegas takes place in 2281.
And that’s what the roulette wheel numbers signify too…the one with “112281” has the roulette wheel on “7”, and New Vegas starts on 7/11/2281. The roulette wheel is on “10” on the other one, leading to a date of 10/23/2077.
Rats…thought it was going to be an in-game code. Guess not.
One other funny thing about the collector’s edition extras. The poker chips are in the odd denominations of $1 (white), $5 (red), $10 (blue), $20 (blue), $25 (black), $50 (black), and $100 (black). Typical chips would be $1 (white), $2.50 (pink), $5 (red), $25 (green), $100 (black), $500 (purple).
I love how the $50 Gomorrah chip was obviously “created” by defacing the $1 Vault 21 chip. Even before you play the game you get a sense of what Gomorrah is going to be like.
Seems one known Wild Wasteland encounter is a refrigerator that contains a fedora, a whip, and a skeleton.
Yikes - that thread’s looking a little tasty - not sure I fancy sticking my head above the parapet. In the end, I think technological considerations will take a back seat to financial ones. The steam copy is £30, PS3 copy is £50.