NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer is the best thing to come out of the Obsidian camp, so far...Yep, they certainly did a great job with it.
Yep, they certainly did a great job with it.I don't think it's their thing. Never was -- just like Troika and Black Isle; which many of these Obsidian guys have worked for.
Obsidian is one of those companies that disheartens me on a technical level but wins me over with content and story. I just don't understand why they do such an unimpressive job when it comes to graphics and performance!
I'd understand it if they wanted to play it safe and not push the graphics boundaries but that should at least mean having a stable end result. It took them a while to fix NWN2, and even then it wasn't until MotB that it the engine was improved slightly. Even now, the game still suffers some serious performance issues in certain circumstances.Really though, Obsidian needs to hire some technical geniuses and optimizing experts -- b/c it never shows in their work on a brand new game release! And if it does show that the game runs well, that means the game's an expansion; and/or the game's been out for a while so numerous technical issues and bug issues have been stomped already!
An interview with J. E. Sawyer, the lead designer of Fallout: New Vegas, has been made available on Xbox Live. However, us untermenschen without a subscription have to settle for an overview:
1. New areas will open up for the player depending on your reputation
2. Not all weapons have mods
3. "You only buy mods from stores" - once bought you highlight the weapon you want to add it to in your inventory and apply it
4. They will cost you a lot of money
5. Hardcore is seperate to difficulty
6. Hardcore is more of a mechanical shift as opposed to just bumping up hp - he compares it to Ninja Gaiden
7. There is a dehydration meter
8. Dehydration meter will have impact o the player (most likely drop in stats)
9. Being out in the desert in the day, as opposed to night, will have a greater effect on your need for food and water
Link: Interview with JES, rundown. (http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1076566)
Thanks, CoolManDan, you're cool.
The new issue of PC Gamer US, with what they call "world exclusive" preview of Fallout: New Vegas, despite all the other ones we've already seen, has already reached the subscribers. Here's a summary of some interesting info (most of the article repeats what we already know from the British and German magazines):
* The box on the first page of the preview names Bethesda as both the publisher and the developer, while the article text itself gives due credit to Obsidian and discusses the devs' work on Fallout, Fallout 2 and Van Buren.
* New California Rangers wear modified LAPD riot armor. The trenchcoat guy from the teaser is identified as one in the article.
* Gun modifications will increase damage, ammo capacity, accuracy, rate of fire and more
* The player will be able to have two or three companions in their party
* With Raul the ghoul in your party, you'll start to pick up clues that he's more than just a simple mechanic
* Unsurprisingly, deathclaws and radscorpions are mentioned
* From the screenshot, Fore! indeed looks like an attack on the head, not groin, as mentioned in an earlier preview
* The dinosaur casino is identified as Dinky the Dinosaur
* NCR is described as large and powerful but bureaucratic.
* Chris Avellone: "It's a very amusing location design-wise. Vegas is like a whole city-wide amusement park. We can play on different themes, different styles. It's fun for the artists, it's fun for the designers... I don't know how much fun it's going to be for the programmers"
* J.E. Sawyer: "The Karma system is mostly the same as in Fallout 3, but checked less often. Mostly we rely on reputation, because that's what people know. Karma is just a general indicator of how much of a sonofabitch you are. If you murder people in secret, your reputation doesn't go down because no on knows you did anything, so you can maintain a good reputation but your karma has tanked really heavily. Karma does influence some things, but reputation is usually what most people in the world base their opinions of you on."
* Avellone: "We recognized that one of the strengths of Fallout 3 was that so much of the game revolved everything around Washington, D.C. That's your signature city. And to be honest, adventuring in post-apocalyptic D.C. is interesting. You're like, OK, I get it. I know what D.C. is like in the real world, I'd like to see what it's like in the real world when mutants are running around in the streets.
So, if we have a western version of Fallout 3, what's a key signature city that people will immediately gt when they hear the title. And also, what's interesting to us? So individually, Vegas came up for a number of people without a community discussion about it. That kept coming up. So we said, OK, if within this small sample group that city keeps coming up, and we understand why, that's the city to use."
Set three years after the events of Fallout 3, New Vegas puts you in the shoes of an unnamed courier making a delivery to someone in the Mojave Wasteland. Along the way, you’re intercepted by persons unknown, shot in the head, and left to die in a ditch. You’re found by Victor, a kindly robot with a cowboy-monitor-head, and rushed to the surgery at nearby town, Goodsprings, where the local doctor patches you up.
This smarter, more natural way of dealing with the world is one of the small but significant changes Obsidian is bringing to the table. It also means that the game will have several different endings too, instead of the single, potentially anachronistic, ‘man/woman saves the Wasteland’ finale. The overall aim of the game is for you to find out who tried to kill you, and why, so it’s safe to expect plenty of plot twists and ‘big revelations’ along the way. After all, this is the same developer who created the mighty, labyrinthine Knights of the Old Republic 2.
There are other tweaks too, which make this new Fallout more of a refined, deeper experience, like the ability to modify weapons with custom parts, or use all your core skills to influence conversations.
...
The weapon mods make for a slightly deeper experience too, and they add an extra element of strategy to the VATS combat. Some of the examples we saw were obvious things like ammo and shot-power boosts on pistols, mixed with more unusual, but very thoughtful, upgrades like reduced spooling time on the Mini-Gun weapon. Mods will also increase the value of your weapons too – handy when you’re flogging all your 9mms in the second half of the game to make way for more powerful fare.
Inside VATS, there’s also a special attack for each weapon you use. During the very first mission, we were shown how this works with the Nine Iron – in this case, it’s a vicious swing straight at the target’s nuts. We’re not sure how this particular strike works on non-human enemies with questionable genitals, such as Radscorpions (yes, they’re back along with a few new creatures like giant Geckos), and we’re also left wondering what the Fat Man’s special strike is… Still, it’s nice to have the (pretty painful) option, anyway.
I couldn't get into FO3 at all. I'll probably will give it another go at some point.
GOTY.
I did the vault and then explored for 30 minutes and that's about it.
It's also an enormous time sink, and he probably doesn't have that kind of time to burn.
Hahaha... 40 hours? Are you kidding me? I didn't even finish the game and my first play is still at I think 92 hours.
At any point in the game, you can switch to Hardcore mode, which was added for those who want more of a challenge.
In Fallout 3, you would heal instantly by using stimpaks, but with Hardcore mode in New Vegas, healing happens over time, so even if you use a stimpak, you'll have to seek out cover and wait a few seconds to recover. Similar to the radiation meter in the previous game, this time, you have a dehydration meter where you'll need to drink and hydrate, as well as eat certain types of food to offset negative status effects, which can eventually lead to death. Ammo will have weight, so you'll need to manage that accordingly. Project director Josh Sawyer mentioned that this is meant to provide more of a challenge, as well as immerse you into the world of Fallout.
Well crap. So much for carrying around 2500 darts.
There's also the reputation system, which tracks your standing with specific groups like the residents of Goodsprings and the New California Republic. This is separate from your good/bad karma and will determine how those groups react to you (hostilely or as friends) and even what kind of missions will be available to you. Obsidian gave an ironic example where the townspeople might fear you so much they'd actually tithe you with money and gifts when you passed through town, just to avoid your wrath.
OK, this one shouldn’t be that surprising. Fallout: New Vegas adds some new perks to the character mix. Want to know more? Here’s a little teaser.
“We’ve introduced a new dialog perk called terrifying presence,” says Sawyer. “It allows you to, when someone basically confronts you, instead of talking your way out of a fight you terrorize the person who’s threatening you to the point where they all run. It initiates combat, but they all run for the hills.
Some guy comes up to you and says, ‘Man, you just screwed with the wrong guy,’ and you’re like, ‘I’m going to f---ing cut your head off and wear it as a hat,’ and they’re like, ‘Holy s---!’ and he freaks out and as soon as it ends he and all of his crew just run. It gives you about five seconds where they’re just running in terror from you so you can just go off on them. But it’s just one of those things where every once in a while it just comes up in conversation and you can just lay it down.”
Oh, Fallout 3's companions. They were annoying, weren't they, often getting lost and stuck in endless pathfinding conundrums? Hopefully, that'll be a thing of the past, because in New Vegas you can control your buddies with a companion wheel interface. It provides all of the options that were present for managing your companions in Fallout 3 without having to go into dialogue. You can have them take stimpacks, change their status from passive to aggressive and switch their loadouts all with only a couple of button presses.
Fallout: New Vegas headed to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this fall. GameStop's listings indicate that the Collector's Edition will cost $70 on PC and $80 on consoles.
Our Chris was recently treated to a look at Fallout: New Vegas and the sweet words of Obsidian's CEO and project director fell upon his ears like gentle kisses.
The full list of Collector's Edition goodies follows below for your reading pleasure.
* "Lucky 7" poker chips. Each of the seven poker chips was designed to represent chips from the major casinos found on the New Vegas strip and throughout the Mojave Wasteland.
* A fully customized Fallout: New Vegas deck of cards. Each card in the pack has been uniquely illustrated to depict characters and factions found within the game. Use the cards to play poker, blackjack or Caravan, an original card game that was created by Obsidian especially for New Vegas!
* A recreation of the game's highly coveted "Lucky 38" platinum chip.
* A hardcover graphic novel "All Roads", that tells the story of some of the characters and events that lead up to Fallout: New Vegas. "All Roads" was written by Chris Avellone, the game's creative director, and created in conjunction with Dark Horse Comics.
* 'The Making of Fallout: New Vegas' DVD. This documentary DVD will contain exclusive video content, including interviews with the developers in which they take you from concept to creation and discuss topics such as story, setting, legacy of the Fallout franchise and more.
Aww, that sucks considering Fallout 3 had no DRM :P
The...I....FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU........
Maybe I should just wait for the inevitable Steam crazy sales (since Steam is required) AND/OR some sort of GOTY Edition w/ everything...
Those are relatively low system reqs compared to current games. They're basically the same reqs as Fallout 3, so I'm guessing they didn't change much in the engine.Basically, FO3 required a Single-Core 2.4 Ghz processor, 1 GB RAM, and GF 6800+ card or ATI X850+.
I'm looking forward to New Vegas but from what I've seen I get the feeling it's gonna be more like an expansion or "Fallout 3.5" since it takes a lot from the original.A lot of New Vegas to me doesn't seem really much new - agreed. The scenery, back-drop, and game-world looks like the biggest changes here. There's a few nice new things and tweaks - such as you can aim down the sights and certain melee weapons actually have special attacks of their own in VATS - but yeah, is there really anything else new here? :o
Chad (DS):
What are some things we’ll experience in New Vegas that we didn’t in Fallout 3?
Chris (Obsidian):
New ammo.
Gambling.
Wayne Newton.
A dinosaur with a gift shop in its belly.
Rockets.
Companion quest arcs that change their perks and their attitude.
Calling death beams from orbit.
Faction politics, both violent and passive.
Confronting a situation where you choose the bad guy…even if the bad guy is everyone.
More than one critical path.
Survival recipes.
Mantises.
Geckos.
Modding weapons.
Traits.
Confronting a situation where you choose the bad guy…even if the bad guy is everyone.
What does that mean? I'm having a hard time making sense of that sentence.
You haven't played enough yet.
Keep playing. And for the love of God do the main storyline before you get bored and quit playing altogether. It's not that long, and is actually very good.
It might be a timed exclusive.. We'll find out later.
New Vegas runs on the same basic framework that powered Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and it brings a lot of technical weirdness up from those games. Less than an hour in, I was staring at a guard, pacing back and forth to guard his post... 20 feet off the ground.
Enemies clip into the ground with an alarming frequency, often making them impossible to shoot. The game--a retail disc running on a new-model Xbox 360--crashed on me about a dozen times over the 33 hours I spent playing, often taking a significant amount of progress with it.
The load times and frame rate seemed to get randomly worse as I continued to play the game, with some simple scene transitions taking 20 seconds or more. The technical hurdles you'll have to make to stay interested in New Vegas are meaner and more frustrating than any Deathclaw or Nightkin you'll face in the game.
If you're the type of person who likes to watch for a patch or two before settling into a game, know this now: you probably don't want to play Fallout: New Vegas right away.
It's not a surprise that Fallout: New Vegas sticks closely to Fallout 3's structure and style. But if it weren't for the game's way-too-long list of technical issues, New Vegas would actually be better than its predecessor.
Instead, it's a well-written game with so many issues that some of you might want to take a pass, at least until some of this nonsense gets fixed.
Yet, for all its flaws, I'd consider taking a second run through it, if only to see how some of the game's finer points play out with different choices.
Wandering the wasteland now, two years on from Fallout 3, I’m both happy and disappointed. I’ve long wanted more of the same from Bethesda, and this is the hand that New Vegas deals. But while it’s good to be back, the leap from one game to the other isn’t nearly as large as it should have been. New areas, characters and factions, but the same clunky inventory and character models. Two years to stay exactly where you were.
Unfortunately, the Fallout: New Vegas experience is fraught with a pretty large range of bugs, some of which are hilarious and fun, and others which will just lock up the game. I found several crash bugs in both the 360 and PS3 versions, problems with the Caravan card game not starting properly, and plenty of issues with NPC pathing and animations (which, admittedly, that is pretty much par for the course for anything running on Gamebryo tech).
On the PS3, I saw some serious ragdoll physics freakouts, one of which sent a headless body flying about a mile off into the distance. Beyond that, it seemed like the 360 version was still superior, as it had antialiasing enabled for smoother visuals and seemed to be at least a little less prone to crash - and, according to a Bethesda press release, it'll get new downloadable content first, too.
One thing I want to note is that while I have found a lot of bugs, I haven't found one yet that ruined my save game or broke progress on a vital quest, but I would still recommend that when you play, you keep multiple save games just in case.
The PC version of New Vegas is, from a technical standpoint, the best one you can get and it even costs $10 less, but it's got its fair share of problems as well. It's got built-in mod support, higher-resolution textures and better visuals (on a well-enough equipped PC, at least - the system requirements have hardly increased since Fallout 3) and support for gamepads as well as a mouse and keyboard, giving you the precision required to make tough shots without having to lean on VATS.
Games for Windows Live, one of the most hated parts of Fallout 3 on the PC, has been dropped entirely and replaced with a full Steamworks implementation along with Steam achievements. Sadly, this version also seems to have many (if not most) of the issues and crash bugs that the console versions do, but at least on the PC you have a quicksave key to make saving your progress at any time pretty much instant.
I wonder if there will ever be a way to get New Vegas into FO3. It would be lovely to get a PC version that didn't fuck itself in the face by requiring Steam.I'd rather use Steam than the current cluster-fuck that is G4WL.
I'll likely wait and get an expanded edition with the DLC when it eventually comes out for PS3. I won't do Steam, so they can fuck themselves on that one, and I've found that I enjoy FO3 quite well enough on PS3, despite the lack of mod support (which is a damned shame).
I wonder if there will ever be a way to get New Vegas into FO3. It would be lovely to get a PC version that didn't fuck itself in the face by requiring Steam.
Unfortunately, Fallout: New Vegas isn't technically capable of supporting these high ambitions. Simply put, it frequently breaks in some of the most phenomenal ways. You can't mention any given aspect of its design without also mentioning a related bug--and the more you explore and the more you do, the more the game buckles under its own weight.
Your companion may not initiate a conversation with her elder, forcing you to reload a saved game or ignore the quest. A mutant for hire will respond to your request to continue the quest with the same dialogue that he delivers if you tell him you need more time. Scripting errors abound in which things that are supposed to happen never do, while in many other cases, inexplicable events occur that will boggle your mind. Locals will freak out and run around as if someone is brandishing a weapon and then stop and walk back to their assigned positions. A vendor might attack you unprovoked, even if you have a golden reputation in that town and are dressed in neutral clothing. Sometimes, it's unclear if you're unaware of a contributing factor or if the game is simply going bonkers. Not to mention frequent crashes on both consoles and corrupted game saves, which might cause you to lose progress. In addition, the longer you play, the slower the frame rate gets (on the Xbox 360), or the more noticeable the screen tearing and frequent pauses become (on the PlayStation 3). These are but a small number of the major bugs we encountered. Fallout: New Vegas is a technical mess.
Fallout: New Vegas is an expansive and complicated RPG that encourages you to see and do as much as you can. This is an explorer's game, always lavishing new and interesting quests on you and giving you a lot of flexibility in how you approach many of them. It builds upon Fallout 3's mechanics in interesting and esoteric ways, making it a comfortable evolution to one of 2008's best games.
It's unfortunate that it suffers from so many bugs and other inconsistencies. Role-playing veterans expect glitches in games this complex, but this one far exceeds tolerable limits for these kinds of issues. And yet as busted as it is, Fallout: New Vegas is periodically awesome and consistently compelling. If you've got the stomach for some technological lunacy, this is one gamble that will pay off.
It amazes me how pro reviewers end up recommending clearly broken games. The mark this game deserves is D, as in deficient. Imagine buying any entertainment hardware with this many issues, like a TV that hangs whenever it shows a blue sky (bsod?), or changes channels randomly. Then imagine some reviewer giving it thumbs up anyway. He'd be out of a job.
. . . they all pronounce Caesar “Kai-zar”, a mystery I never got to the bottom of.
I think anyone expecting Fallout: New Vegas to be anything more than the same was setting themselves up for disappointment in the first place.It never looked like from any of the previews that FO:NV was going to revolutionize anything. I think what it looked like was somewhere b/t an expansion pack (not a lot of new features) and a full-game (the game's size seems HUGE and LONG).
As far as the lack of any sort of dense population, I mean it's a Fallout game. Did everyone expect New Vegas to be a bustling center of NPC activity? I don't understand.If we're talking about NPC's w/ routines and doing things - I expect that from the Gothic series.
The game was updated a third time tonight, before release.
So far what I am expecting is more Fallout 3, new story. That's it really. I'm gonna try to approach it without prejudice, with the exception of the inevitable comparison to Fallout 3.
I'll let you know what my experience with it is like once I get a chance to play it (most likely tomorrow).
As you may have seen, we released a patch over Steam for PC users last night. While we didn’t release a full changelist, the patch contains quest and scripting fixes. It’s not a minor hotfix, it contains over 200 fixes in all. We are in the final stages of testing this update on both 360 and PS3 and we hope to have them out to users very soon.
We are also pleased to say that we have just released a second fix for PC users to address the autosave and quicksave issues that some people were encountering. That particular issue was never seen prior to release and it was extremely difficult to reproduce reliably, even after the game had launched. In order to fix this problem we have had to disable Steam Cloud functionality. It has been turned off, and we won't turn it back on until we're absolutely sure it will not cause any more problems. Please restart your Steam client to make sure you get the update.
We are also working directly with hardware manufacturers to improve performance for certain video cards. This is a driver issue, and not directly related to the game.
On consoles, we are aware that a small group of 360 users are seeing a DLC warning which is preventing you from loading save games. We are absolutely looking into this bug now, along with other reports of save game corruption. It is our highest priority right now that we find out what is causing it. In the meantime, we recommend you save often, and revert to an older save if this occurs.
As far as general memory and instability, you should see an improvement once the patch goes live, but we are continuing to work on this based on user feedback.
We want everyone to know that we are monitoring the forums and cataloging every single issue we see reported. We’re reading forum posts, we’re checking Twitter, and we’re reading Facebook comments. We aren’t able to reply to most threads, but we’re listening. If we see an issue, we have people here trying to reproduce it so we can fix it.
While there are definitely legitimate issues out there, we wanted to take a moment to address a couple of things that have been reported as “bugs.”
The now infamous Doc Mitchell video, while very funny (and horrifying) was not a bug. Unfortunately during our launch day, there was a brief window where Steam was pushing out corrupt or incorrect files. In the event that a user wound up with a corrupt meshes.bsa file, they would get that error. It was easily (and instantly) corrected by simply re-validating your files with Steam. At most, a handful of people ever saw that issue, and even then, only for a moment before fixing it.
We have seen forum posts where people are claiming they are not getting all of their perks. Again, this is not a bug. In Fallout: New Vegas, you receive perks every other level, not every level as you do in Fallout 3.
And finally, a quick tip: Be aware of your faction status before assuming the game is broken. Factions will react very strongly to you based on your current armor. If you’re wearing Powder Ganger or Caesar’s Legion armor, you will be shot on sight by the NCR (and vice versa). Also note that there are groups of renegade Powder Gangers (known simply as “Escaped Convicts”) who will shoot you regardless of your faction status.
Please post any issues you are having to our forums and we’ll do our best to fix them as quickly as possible.
Thanks,
The Fallout: New Vegas Teams at Obsidian and Bethesda
@XessiveIt was a pretty big update.. If I recall correctly, it was around 250MB. The update after that was around 17MB.
I'm glad you ain't hit any major bugs. That's good. :)
I bet w/ the new patch that fixes approximately 200 bugs - this thing been in the works for a while; maybe since the game went Gold, I'd guess?
That's like an epic patch. I'd love for them to compile patch log notes on that one. :)
@Xessive,I haven't gotten around to those yet. I have had temporary companions (per quest) and controlling them is via dialogue as in the original Fallout 3.
How's the companion wheel? Done any companion quests yet?
I haven't gotten around to those yet. I have had temporary companions (per quest) and controlling them is via dialogue as in the original Fallout 3.Oh, that bites that it's via dialogue i.e FO3.
They've definitely tuned and tweaked the gameplay around. Now, when you attack a target in V.A.T.S. if it moves behind cover your bullets will no longer "magically" go through and hit them, so you have plan your attacks and flank your enemies to make the most of your attacks. Sneak attacks seem to be much more deadly than before as well, racking up massive criticals and potentially killing most targets in one or two hits (granted my character's Agility is at 7).Sweet.
Glitches may give you a few minor fits, but the PC version of Fallout: New Vegas is not in the same rough technical shape as its console counterparts, possibly thanks to a sizeable patch delivered a day after its release.
That doesn't mean there aren't problems here. We encountered some bugs, such as a friendly quest giver inexplicably attacking us, even though he didn't show as an enemy on the directional radar. Characters might still randomly freak out as if you're about to attack for no discernible reason, only to return to their normal locations a moment later and act as if nothing had happened.
But we encountered only a few scripting problems, and the game never crashed. Most complex role-playing games suffer from technical hitches, and this one is no exception. However, the oddities in this version aren't exceptionally disruptive, which makes it easy to stay invested.
If you played Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which used the same game engine as Fallout: New Vegas, then you won't be surprised by some of the other minor foibles, although many of them seem exacerbated here. Characters get easily stuck on the environment and run in place, for example. There are also occasional pauses as you explore this gigantic world, and the frame rate tends to drop somewhat when there are multiple characters on the screen at once.
Nevertheless, striking lighting, smoother edges, better overall performance, and shorter loading times than on consoles make Fallout: New Vegas on the PC stand tall.
haha already?
We wanted to give you guys a heads-up regarding the latest progress on Fallout: New Vegas updates.
We’ve come up with solutions for the Xbox 360 save issue folks are reporting, along with a number of other issues being reported. We’re currently running final testing and certification on a comprehensive patch for all three platforms (PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), so we’ll have something available in the coming weeks. When we have more details, we’ll let you know.
In the meantime, an incremental update for PC should be going up by early next week that will fix the save corruption issues and problems with companions, as well as improve performance for NVIDIA users and resolve some issues reported with Havok.
Fallout: New Vegas has just received a massive patch, hopefully fixing many of the problems players have been having with the game since launch. Most notable among the changes are improvements to the game’s performance and fixes for save game corruption. Read on for the full patch notes.
The patch notes hit Steam News yesterday. Here they are in full.
* Companions now show up as waypoints on the map
* Companions will always fast travel with you, unless told to wait or sent away
* Fix: DLC error/save corruption
* Fix: Stuttering with water effects
* Fix: Severe performance issues with DirectX.
* Fix: Controls temporarily disabled after reloading Cowboy Repeater while crouched
* Fixed crash using the Euclid C-Finder while having the Heave Ho perk
* Fix: Entering the strip after Debt Collector causes crash and autosave corruption
* Fix: Using Mojave Express dropbox can cause DLC warnings
* Fixed crash when buying duplicate caravan cards from a vendor in a single transaction
* Crafting menu should filter valid (bright) recipes to the top of the list
* Fix: Sitting down while looking down a weapon’s ironsights leaves player control locked
* Fix: If a companion is knocked unconscious with broken limbs they stay broken on respawn
* Fix for varmint night scope effect persisting in kill cam
* Fix for giving companions armor that adds STR does not increase their carry weight
* Fix NPC Repair menu displays DAM as DPS
* Having NPC repair service rifle with forged receiver decreases CND
Fallout: New Vegas v1.2
This update addresses issues with the following areas:
- Pip-Boy Interface
- Repair Menu
- Caravan
- Weapons and Weapon Mods
- Hardcore Mode
- Perks
- Skills
- Crafting Recipes
- Crafting Menu
- Mojave Express
- Chems/Addiction
- Doctors
- Vendors
- PreOrder DLC Items
- Reputation System
- Radio Stations
- Companion fixes
- Companion Quests
And fixes for the following quests:
- Ain’t That a Kick in the Head
- By a Campfire on The Trail
- They Went That-a-Way
- My Kind of Town
- Boulder City Showdown
- Ring a Ding Ding!
- King’s Gambit
- For The Republic, Part 2
- Render Unto Caesar
- Et Tumor, Brute?
- The House Always Wins
- Wild Card
- Beyond the Beef
- GI Blues
- How Little We Know
- Oh My Papa
- Still In The Dark
- You’ll Know It When It Happens
- Arizona Killer
- Eureka!
- Veni, Vidi, Vici
- All or Nothing
- No Gods, No Masters
- Birds of a Feather
- I Put A Spell On you
- Come Fly With Me
- That Lucky Old Sun
- Don’t Make a Beggar of Me
- The White Wash
- Ghost Town Gunfight
- Restoring Hope
- Bleed Me Dry
- Aba Daba Honeymoon
- Tend To Your Business
- Wang Dang Atomic Tango
- Flags of Our Foul-Ups
- Debt Collector
- Talent Pool
- Left My Heart
- Someone To Watch Over Me
- Hard Luck Blues
Hi everyone,
The promised patch for Fallout: New Vegas is almost here! PC users will get it on Monday and console folk will receive it soon (we’re still waiting to hear the exact date).
As I mentioned in my previous post, this patch contains optimizations and stability improvements as well as balance changes.
Here’s a rundown of the balance tweaks we’ve implemented for this update:
Guns:
Automatic Guns - SMGs, the Assault Carbine, and the LMG are more accurate across the board. They're also more durable. 12.7mm SMG mag capacity increased to 21.
Shotguns - Buckshot has received a x1.2 inherent DAM mod. This slightly incentivizes using buckshot over slugs when enemy armor is not an issue. Magnum buckshot has a x1.3 DAM mod and a small amount of DT bypass. Spread for many shotguns has been lowered.
Hunting Rifle, Anti-Materiel Rifle - Hunting Rifle and AMR now have the lowest spread of all rifles. Hunting Rifle RoF increased, Crit Chance set to x2. Anti-Materiel Rifle's Crit DAM has been raised from 80 to 110 to make it more viable when compared to the Gobi.
Sniper Rifle, Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle - Sniper Rifle and Gobi now have a higher RoF and lower AP cost. Both have x2 Crit Chance. Gobi has increased DAM and much higher Crit DAM over the Sniper Rifle.
That Gun - That Gun is now a slow-firing hand cannon that does huge DAM firing 5.56mm out of a short barrel.
Hunting Revolver – Rate of Fire increased.
Service Rifle - DAM slightly lowered, firing animation changed to the one used by Marksman Carbine, RoF dramatically increased. Spread decreased.
Silenced .22 Pistol, SMG - Crit DAM and Crit Chance significantly increased.
5mm Ammo - Base ammo has 10 points of DT bypass. AP variants have 25 points of DT bypass. This affects the Assault Carbine, Minigun, and CZ57 Avenger.
.308 JSP - DAM mult reduced from x1.5 to x1.3. x2 CND degradation effect added.
Lever-Action Rifles - Cowboy Repeater, Trail Carbine, Brush Gun - RoF has been slightly reduced, AP costs have been significantly increased, and spread has been slightly increased. Cowboy Repeater Custom Action RoF increase has been reduced. La Longue Carabine spread has been significantly lowered.
Explosives:
Dynamite - Larger explosion radius.
Frag and Plasma Grenades – DAM increased.
25mm Grenades - Slightly increased DAM on the explosion.
40mm Grenades - Significantly higher DAM on the explosion.
Missile Launcher / Fat Man - Now have much better zoom FoV and good accuracy. Missile and Fat Man projectiles (not the explosion) have a large base DAM. Both are extremely effective on direct hits, but still potent even if a direct hit is not scored. N.B.: Listed DAM on weapons assumes a direct hit!
Energy Weapons:
Gatling Laser - Base DAM is higher. Against heavily armored targets, this is still a poor weapon. Against lightly armored targets, especially with Over Charge or Max Charge ECPs + Focus Optics + Laser Commander, it has extraordinary DPS.
Tesla Cannon, Tesla-Beaton Prototype - These now consume far less ammo per shot and can be fired several times before a reload. DAM is beefy with an additional 2 second DoT.
Pew-Pew - Lower ammo capacity, consumes far fewer ECs per shot. Still a two-shot weapon.
Melee and Unarmed:
Ripper, Chainsaw, Thermic Lance - DAM lowered, all ignore DR/DT.
Bladed Gauntlet, Mantis Gauntlet - Ignore DR/DT flags removed (were not supposed to be marked as such). Mantis Gauntlet animation/sound fixed.
Perks:
Splash Damage – Functions properly.
The Professional - 10mm Pistol, SMG added to perk list.
Thanks,
Jason Bergman
Senior Producer, FNV
Available on May 17, Honest Hearts takes you on an expedition to the unspoiled wilderness of Utah’s Zion National Park. Things go horribly wrong when your caravan is ambushed by a tribal raiding band. As you try to find a way back to the Mojave, you become embroiled in a war between tribes and a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burned Man. The decisions you make will determine the fate of Zion.
In Old World Blues, releasing in June, you will discover how some of the Mojave’s mutated monsters came to be when you unwittingly become a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. You’ll need to scour the Pre-War research centers of the Big Empty in search of technology to turn the tables on your kidnappers or join forces with them against an even greater threat.
Lonesome Road, available in July, brings the courier’s story full circle when you are contacted by the original Courier Six, a man by the name of Ulysses who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of New Vegas. In his transmission, Ulysses promises the answer as to why, but only if you take one last job –a job that leads you into the depths of the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms. The road to the Divide is a long and treacherous one, and of the few to ever walk the road, none have ever returned.
Back in May, Fallout: New Vegas publisher Bethesda Softworks announced a trio of DLC packs for its post-apocalyptic wasteland wanderer: "Honest Hearts," which arrived in May; "Old World Blues," which arrived in July; and "Lonesome Road," which was also planned for a July launch.
"We just wanted to drop in here and let you know that due to circumstances beyond our control, Lonesome Road won't be out this month," senior producer Jason Bergman explained in a Bethesda.com forum post. "We don't have an exact date yet, but we're working to get it out as quickly as possible. We'll be announcing the final date, along with a couple of other interesting FNV-related items in the near future," he added without specifying a new launch window for the third DLC pack.
As a peace offering, Bethesda showed off the first image of Lonesome Road, seen above. If that's what taking the high road gets you, how bad must the other one be?
Next year, the Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition will wander into stores across North America and Europe on February 7 and 10, respectively.
The Ultimate Edition includes all the previously released DLC packs: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Courier's Stash and Gun Runners' Arsenal. The buy-in for the Mohave Wasteland bundle bonanza will be $49.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and $39.99 for PC.
Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition follows in the footsteps of the DLC-heavy Fallout 3. If you never got around to walking through the Capital Wasteland, the Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition, which easily includes 100 hours of content, is going for $30 (or less) these days.
Good. I will wait until then, or maybe even a bit longer, for the price on the complete ed to drop. That worked out great for me with Fallout 3.I think the "waiting" strategy often works for most games that have the size or scope of BethSoft and Obsidian develop.
* Max level with all DLCs installed is 35.
* XP rate is halved.
* Base player health is quartered and level-gained health is reduced by 25%.
* Base Carry Weight from 150 to 50 (related perks/things have also been adjusted).
* Energy Weapon ammo weighs less than its nearest equivalent Guns ammo.
* Energy Weapon durability is in the same ballpark as Guns durability.
* Medium Armor has a small amount of DR proportional to its DT.
* Heavy Armor has even more DR proportional to its DT.
* Power Armor does not require a perk, but if you have the perk, the weight of the armor is essentially negated.
* Karma/Alignment values adjusted all over.
* H2O/FOD/SLP rates doubled, but the first threshold is moved from 200 to 400 (statuses roll over ever 150 after).
* Water and Food drop rates on NPCs is dramatically lower. It is difficult to stay out of Dehydration/Starvation by looting enemies.
* Water/Nuka-Cola/Sunset Sarsaparilla heal much less, but now all restore H2O (alcohols will as well, but at lowered values).
* Default Stimpaks are uncommon. A new variant, Stimpak, Expired is the default. It is not that great.
* The player's Workbench recipe now makes Stimpak, Homemade. It is better than Expired, worse than default Stimpaks, and has the PE penalty from Healing Powder.
* All Stimpaks have weight.
* Pre-Order items have been adjusted to be more well-balanced and not worth that much if you rush to Chet's to trade them in.
* A bunch of fixes I couldn't make during development because of load order conflicts, time, etc. E.g.: Automatic Rifle spread re-adjustment, putting the Police Pistol on the Cowboy List, Bozar on Grunt, Junk Rounds are now actual ammo variants you can make, etc.
* Some other stuff.
[...]
* fKarmaModKillingEvilActor from 100 to 5
* fKarmaModKillingVeryEvilActor from 2 to 30
* All (known) Feral Ghouls set to Neutral alignment
* Colonel Moore Alignment changed from Neutral to Evil
* Colonel Hsu Alignment changed from Neutral to Good
* Dam Centurion Alignments changed from Evil to Neutral
* Doctor Usanagi Alignment changed to Very Good
* Dixon Alignment changed from Neutral to Very Evil
* Jean-Baptiste Cutting Alignment changed from Neutral to Very Evil
* Gloria Van Graff Alignment changed from Neutral to Very Evil
* Alice McLafferty Alignment changed from Neutral to Evil
* Alice McBride Alignment changed from Neutral to Good
* Squatter Alignments changed from Neutral to Good
* The King's Alignment changed from Neutral to Good
* Contreras' Alignment changed from Neutral to Evil
* Westside Citizens and Militia Alignments changed from Neutral to Good
* Gomorrah Prostitutes Alignments changed from Neutral to Good
* 1E Junkies' Alignments changed from Neutral to Good
* Michelle and Samuel's Alignments changed from Neutral to Good
[...]
Why can't you just add your changes to the game in an official patch?
The short technical reason is ".esm inter-dependencies" and "load order errors". Sorry.
In addition to technical reasons, some of the mechanics changes make the game significantly more difficult (base health / stim changes) or at least more of a hassle (carry weight, stims having weight, H2O/SLP/FOD rate increase). I'd rather have people opt-in to those changes than make them the default in a patch.
Finally, the game's over. The ship has sailed. No one is working on it anymore. No testers, nothing. This mod is just me working in my free time. If I horribly botch something, you can just un-check the mod and go on your way.
Do you plan to reintroduce the armored vault 21 jumpsuit in your mod? If so, would it be by crafting or found?
Yes. It is for sale in Sarah's store at Vault 21. Both it and the Armored Vault 13 Jumpsuit now use the RepairVaultSuit list and have 200 CND. The Armored Vault 21 Jumpsuit grants 12 DT, +1 LK, and costs 2000 caps.
Will your mod add any removed/unfinished quests?
No.
MysterD
@jesawyer Does your FO:NV Mod require The Courier's Stash & Gun Runner's Arsenal DLC's? I only have the other 4 main DLC's.
jesawyer
@MysterD yes, sorry.
Much like earlier Obsidian game Knights of the Old Republic 2, what we got in Fallout: New Vegas was only part of what was planned, or even implemented only to be dummied out. Modders to the rescue! Investigating the source with forensic care (http://jul.rustedlogic.net/thread.php?id=15410), there are now many fixes available to do everything from turn Freeside back into the single map it was meant to be, to adding back characters that were cut. Better still, you can grab the necessary mods in a set of easy packages – right here! (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/users/3010984#)
There are more changes still to be made, but the ones on offer so far include full quests, missing characters, an in-engine version of the introduction, and several packs containing small changes that don’t warrant their own full mods. Check the descriptions for compatibility information though, as a few apparently don’t play well together (a Brahmin companion called Betsy and the new Open Freeside being the most obvious.) Head over here (http://jul.rustedlogic.net/thread.php?id=15410) for a preview of what might be coming back later.
Does hardcore mode come with permadeath, or just some more micromanagement of status stuff? I don't mean that in a negative sense, it sounds cool. I just never even looked at NV. With all the time I put into FO3 (well over 100 hours), I never finished it or even started any of the DLC. I can't justify picking up NV because of that.