Mods for first playthrough of Fallout New Vegas

dothog

dothog

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I'm thinking of getting FNV...I missed the steam sale, but next time it pops up with any kind of a discount, I'm gonna buy it.

Anyone have any recommendations for mods for my first playthrough? I've searched around on google, and the "Top X mods for FNV" type lists tend to be written for people who've played it more than once. It's hard to separate the mods that improve performance/graphics (would be good for a first playthrough) from those that add content/change mechanics (probably not good the first time through).

There also seems to be many mods per desired effect, and I'm sure they conflict in crash-tastic ways. So I'd like to pick up the best mod per effect.

I'll keep searching around, but I was hoping for a first-hand account from a CAG. Thanks!
 
The only mods that I thought really improved my playthrough were Nevada Skies and WMX. The former adds a full weather system and better looking nights, the latter adding a ton of weapon mods that just made your favorite gun stand out more.
 
I second Hydro's recommendations of Nevada Skies and WMX. I also recommend Electro City. It adds a ton of lights to the highways which is helpful since Nevada Skies makes the nights very dark.

If you find yourself getting sick of the music a few hours in, there are some pretty sweet radio mods too. The ones I listened to the most were Secret Stash and CONELRAD 640-1240. Secret Stash just expands the library on the Mr. New Vegas station. CONELRAD 640-1240 is made up of songs about bombs and a lot of them are anti-communist. They also play authentic civil defense radio snippets from the 1950s. Fits the Fallout universe perfectly.
 
[quote name='DukeEdwardI']I second Hydro's recommendations of Nevada Skies and WMX. I also recommend Electro City. It adds a ton of lights to the highways which is helpful since Nevada Skies makes the nights very dark.

If you find yourself getting sick of the music a few hours in, there are some pretty sweet radio mods too. The ones I listened to the most were Secret Stash and CONELRAD 640-1240. Secret Stash just expands the library on the Mr. New Vegas station. CONELRAD 640-1240 is made up of songs about bombs and a lot of them are anti-communist. They also play authentic civil defense radio snippets from the 1950s. Fits the Fallout universe perfectly.[/QUOTE]

Not only do I second his seconding of my suggestions, but I second his. I almost forgot about the Secret Stash which adds mostly songs that quests were named after because it just blends so seamlessly with the vanilla game. I also forgot Electro City which I had installed paired so nicely with Nevada Skies.
 
Thanks for the tips! If anyone else has any others, please chime in.

For now I'm planning on getting...
  • Fallout Mod Manager
  • Nevada Skies
  • Electro City
  • Weapon Mods Expanded (assuming this is WMX mentioned above)
  • MTUI (decreases font size to reduce menu scrolling)
  • Centered 3rd person camera
  • iHUD

Many Top X lists mention Project Nevada, but the descriptions vary. Seems like it adds more content, and I'd like to play through the original content before I explore extras. If anyone knows anything about Project Nevada, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I'll also add one of the radio mods (in keeping with the FNV theme) when I get sick of the in-game radio.
 
I'd avoid Project Nevada for you first go through. It drastically modifies the way the game is played. Definitely a good thing to look in to for a second one though, keeps it from getting stale.

@Maxim, yes, you can get achievements still, and I'm not quite sure what you mean about the spyware.
 
I got it at a local Target for $15. Not a big discount, but good enough for me.

I had no prior experience with Fallout games prior to FNV. I don't know why, if someone I knew had told me about the game -- "It's parts Mad Max & Old West exploration/survival with screwball 40/50s era perspectives" -- I would have jumped right in. But I glossed reviews and just overlooked it somehow. Big mistake.

This is really fun sci-fi, and it seems like they've got a lot of story they want to tell. The American Southwest is really rich with strange history, they're grabbing on to some of it. I wish they'd have been more courageous when it comes to religion, only in the SW could something like LDS or Scientology become as big as they have -- would've been cool to see that featured. But then they're probably afraid of singling out a faith, and they've got to include more faiths, and then it's just a clusterfuck. Fair enough, no LDS or El Ron allusions.

I've spent a couple monster play sessions getting myself up to Lvl 21 on normal difficulty. I could (and just did and thought better of it) write pages on the fun I'm having. I guess I have a few questions for those who know, and yes, I'll get around to googling, just thought I'd throw them here for conversation's sake:

1. Does "fast travel" stick on all levels of difficulty? I can't believe that's so. Are they basically leaving foot travel up to the player, and saying, "If you play hardcore, it's up to you not to use fast travel -- we'll still leave the feature in"? Are there vehicles instead of instantaneous fast travel in the hardcore mode?

2. Am I supposed to take VATS seriously? Is it a last resort type deal? I get the feeling from the perks and from the slo-mo graphics that the game really wants me to use VATS, but why the hell would I? If I snipe from hidden I get x2 crit dmg on the first hit (it's always a sneak). There's no possible way VATS can beat that.

2b. Am I supposed to take the laser weapons seriously?

3. I wish the Karma system was more transparent. I probably need to RTFM on this, but does Karma *do* anything? I can see that faction matters, and I know I don't want to get caught stealing. I can't tell what Karma does. Is it directly tied in with faction? Or is it a good/bad alignment thing? It's really hard to tell.

4. I've got my sneak up to 94 or 95. I still can't pickpocket anything other than shells/casings/keys from marks. I don't get it. There's probably a lot about picking pockets that I'm missing out on.

It's a terrific game, I can't believe it doesn't have a steady following around here given the extent of mods and the depth of content and gameplay. And that doesn't begin to mention expansion packs.
 
[quote name='dothog']I got it at a local Target for $15. Not a big discount, but good enough for me.

I had no prior experience with Fallout games prior to FNV. I don't know why, if someone I knew had told me about the game -- "It's parts Mad Max & Old West exploration/survival with screwball 40/50s era perspectives" -- I would have jumped right in. But I glossed reviews and just overlooked it somehow. Big mistake.

This is really fun sci-fi, and it seems like they've got a lot of story they want to tell. The American Southwest is really rich with strange history, they're grabbing on to some of it. I wish they'd have been more courageous when it comes to religion, only in the SW could something like LDS or Scientology become as big as they have -- would've been cool to see that featured. But then they're probably afraid of singling out a faith, and they've got to include more faiths, and then it's just a clusterfuck. Fair enough, no LDS or El Ron allusions.[/QUOTE]

One of my favorite things about Fallout, and I guess video games in general, is they exist in their own universe. I'm glad they don't have any ties to real religions. That said, there is a quest chain up that alley called Come Fly With Me. Look in to it. Point Lookout for FO3 also had some kooks.

[quote name='dothog']I've spent a couple monster play sessions getting myself up to Lvl 21 on normal difficulty. I could (and just did and thought better of it) write pages on the fun I'm having. I guess I have a few questions for those who know, and yes, I'll get around to googling, just thought I'd throw them here for conversation's sake:

1. Does "fast travel" stick on all levels of difficulty? I can't believe that's so. Are they basically leaving foot travel up to the player, and saying, "If you play hardcore, it's up to you not to use fast travel -- we'll still leave the feature in"? Are there vehicles instead of instantaneous fast travel in the hardcore mode?[/QUOTE]

There is fast traveling in hardcore, but it wears down on your food and water levels if you use it. FO3 had a mod that only let you fast travel if you had gas and a vehicle, but NV doesn't have anything like that as far as I know. If you really want to go "hardcore" though, I would highly suggest turning off the UI. Makes the game sooo much harder.

[quote name='dothog']2. Am I supposed to take VATS seriously? Is it a last resort type deal? I get the feeling from the perks and from the slo-mo graphics that the game really wants me to use VATS, but why the hell would I? If I snipe from hidden I get x2 crit dmg on the first hit (it's always a sneak). There's no possible way VATS can beat that.

2b. Am I supposed to take the laser weapons seriously?[/QUOTE]

a) VATS can be really useful when you're in a pinch, but I opt to not use it, and so can you. As you mentioned, there are tons of perks that make it better, but you can just as easily not use them.

b) Why wouldn't you? Like any weapon, you need to skill up in it for it to be useful. Some enemies are more resistant to energy weapons than ballistic ones though.

[quote name='dothog']3. I wish the Karma system was more transparent. I probably need to RTFM on this, but does Karma *do* anything? I can see that faction matters, and I know I don't want to get caught stealing. I can't tell what Karma does. Is it directly tied in with faction? Or is it a good/bad alignment thing? It's really hard to tell.[/QUOTE]

The more I read your questions, the more I want to send you over to Fallout 3. Pick up the GotY edition when you can, great game. A chief complaint from many people about it was that karma was way too thick in it. In NV, it's a lot more about factions than it is karma, but some people will react differently depending on your karma. It's way more subtle in NV though.

[quote name='dothog']4. I've got my sneak up to 94 or 95. I still can't pickpocket anything other than shells/casings/keys from marks. I don't get it. There's probably a lot about picking pockets that I'm missing out on.[/QUOTE]

Not really, I find that pickpocketing is almost 100% about quick saving/loading endlessly. To be fair though, you can't expect to steal someone's hat without them noticing. It's not a great system though.

[quote name='dothog']It's a terrific game, I can't believe it doesn't have a steady following around here given the extent of mods and the depth of content and gameplay. And that doesn't begin to mention expansion packs.[/QUOTE]

Indeed it is! There haven't been nearly as mods as there were for FO3, but there are still plenty of quality ones with more to come, I'm sure.

Like I said, if you like NV, pick up FO3. It's certainly different in many respects, but it's still in the same ballpark.
 
I'll definitely try out the GotY edition of Fallout 3, the question is just When? It's gonna take hundreds of hours of gameplay before I feel like I can rightfully move on from FNV. I'll probably wind up springing for the FNV expansions, too.

I did go through the Come Fly with Me events, by the way. I was thinking of the historical aspects of the SW and religion, that's just more a kooky spaceship cult. That was a great quest. I tried to broker a peace with the nightkin in the basement, but after a few minutes they wound up attacking me unprovoked. So I said to hell with it and killed em all. I really wish I had my Science skilled up so I could've messed with the navigation at the end, with a magazine's +10 I was *just* under the threshhold and had to watch them fly off.

Plus, my speech was just short of telling the human dude he wasn't a ghoul. That was a bummer, I would've liked to wise him up. That was the quest that convinced me I needed to be pumping more skill pts into speech, before that I had focused entirely on lockpick, sneak, repair, and guns. The game is a ton more fun -- and there's lots more hidden XP bonuses -- with good speech. Also, science, I gave that a gradual boost while I was getting speech up.

I hit Novac pretty early, I think. That was Boone's town, that was where I first joined up with him and then left him in a hotel room. His rifle shots were too powerful, even on passive he was jumping mobs before I had a chance to react. I set him to melee and then the mobs wouldn't die, but Boone would just get in my line of fire. Dude's a pain in the ass, but I love that beret he gave me and the Spotting perk is very convenient for sitting at distance and picking mobs off.

Companions in my experience are walking briefcases, I've tried to talk with them in the hopes it gets me somewhere, but only ED-E has yielded a quest -- through him I wound up going to the Brotherhood for his quest upgrade, and through that I indirectly acquired the big Brotherhood quest Still in the Dark (I think that's the name). That was the one I've just recently finished, it took me through at least 6 XP lvls in tracking down people, getting repped up at Nellis while I was there, then tracking down the 3 vaults and crawling those. That was a lot of fun.

I could write about the game all day. I have a great time without quests, I definitely have explorer tendencies in any game I play, and this game doesn't necessarily reward that behavior but it accommodates it. With my very first character, I struck out from Goodsprings at Lvl 1 to see New Vegas. I was about to give up, but I hit Black Mtn and then the draw distance and elevation let me see the NV skyline. That was it for returning to Goodsprings for a long while.

I knocked around and wound up in the Strip, hit the blackjack tables (I took +8 luck to start), and returned back to Goodsprings with 24k caps and just barely at lvl 2. It was a fun diversion. It wasn't until I hit NV a second time in just wandering around out of curiosity that I saw I could've gotten implants early on, so I went back to my earlier saves and re-played the game with as many implants as I could get at lvl 2. That made an even bigger difference in the ease of it.

It's hard to believe that with all the time I've put in, I've still only seen 40% or so of the map. From what I can tell, at least, it looks like there's a lot of locations I've yet to touch. It's a great game. It's buggy, I don't know how many times important NPCs have just vanished on me, but it more than makes up for that in other ways.
 
New Vegas is pretty amazing with the amount of content it has. FO3 didn't feel as full, but its story felt a little more guided and coherent, which is a good thing to me.

I always max speech in any RPG. I always opt to talk my way out of a fight if I can, I don't know why. Amazingly enough, I just don't like killing people when I don't have to! Fallout 3 has a terrible stat check system though, it's a % chance based on your skill. So even with 0 speech, you can pass some gnarly checks with quicksave/load. New Vegas is way better in that regard.

As for a guess when you'll feel finished, I got through the main quest and just started A-Zing side quests, hit about 30 hours and called it quits. That doesn't even consider the 3 DLC packs I have sitting there, yet to be played.

As for companions, they all have quests, some better than others. Boone's is pretty good, and so is Veronica's, if you're interested in getting an in with the brotherhood of steel. Some of them are pretty lackluster, like Cass and Lily's. I would suggest checking them out though, they're quests with a much more 'human' component to them then the usual run'n'gun ones.

You're making me miss the game, it's about time I dusted it off and got cracking on those expansions.
 
[quote name='dothog']I'll definitely try out the GotY edition of Fallout 3, the question is just When? It's gonna take hundreds of hours of gameplay before I feel like I can rightfully move on from FNV. I'll probably wind up springing for the FNV expansions, too.

I did go through the Come Fly with Me events, by the way. I was thinking of the historical aspects of the SW and religion, that's just more a kooky spaceship cult. That was a great quest. I tried to broker a peace with the nightkin in the basement, but after a few minutes they wound up attacking me unprovoked. So I said to hell with it and killed em all. I really wish I had my Science skilled up so I could've messed with the navigation at the end, with a magazine's +10 I was *just* under the threshhold and had to watch them fly off.

Plus, my speech was just short of telling the human dude he wasn't a ghoul. That was a bummer, I would've liked to wise him up. That was the quest that convinced me I needed to be pumping more skill pts into speech, before that I had focused entirely on lockpick, sneak, repair, and guns. The game is a ton more fun -- and there's lots more hidden XP bonuses -- with good speech. Also, science, I gave that a gradual boost while I was getting speech up.

I hit Novac pretty early, I think. That was Boone's town, that was where I first joined up with him and then left him in a hotel room. His rifle shots were too powerful, even on passive he was jumping mobs before I had a chance to react. I set him to melee and then the mobs wouldn't die, but Boone would just get in my line of fire. Dude's a pain in the ass, but I love that beret he gave me and the Spotting perk is very convenient for sitting at distance and picking mobs off.

Companions in my experience are walking briefcases, I've tried to talk with them in the hopes it gets me somewhere, but only ED-E has yielded a quest -- through him I wound up going to the Brotherhood for his quest upgrade, and through that I indirectly acquired the big Brotherhood quest Still in the Dark (I think that's the name). That was the one I've just recently finished, it took me through at least 6 XP lvls in tracking down people, getting repped up at Nellis while I was there, then tracking down the 3 vaults and crawling those. That was a lot of fun.
[/QUOTE]
You need to get Veronica.
 
Yeah, I ran into her at the 188. I might check out Veronica on another playthrough, but unless her perk beats out either ED-E or Boone's, I'm sticking with those two until somebody better comes along. I'm too creeped out by mobs and keeping them from killing me to part with those perks.

I could be convinced to lose Boone -- maybe -- if her perk beats Spotting. But Eddie's my eyes out in the wasteland.
 
her perk is shit honestly. she more than makes up for it in combat and her questline though.

her perk just means shes a portable workbench.

i roll with ed-e and veronica and found boone's perk to be also useless.

ed-e's makes it so you can see enemies at max distance on your compass. once you know which direction to point by seeing those red lines on the compass, just start spamming V in that direction. Your VATS system will pick them up and act like a time stopping megascope, negating the need for Boone's perk. you don't even have to fire in VATS, it'll just show you where everything in range is, just tab between the targets.
 
I've noticed that VATS will scroll to enemies that I wasn't aware of. That method seems like too much effort to me, I prefer Ed's awareness coupled with my scoping in and finding and securing a spot to pop a cap. In that case, the red highlight from Spotting just makes the mob stand out a bit more. It's not a necessity -- like I said, I'm willing to lose it -- but it's a big convenience.

Also, I don't want any companion for their combat. I prefer soloing mobs, and Ed seems to be most capable of staying the hell out of the way when set to Passive. Plus he gives me the extra storage capacity I prefer to hold my frag/plasma mines, non-power armor, shovel, sasparilla, and a bunch of weapon repair kits.

I played a tiny bit last night and wound my way down to Camp Searchlight. I was dicking around, kind of skirting Cottonwood Cove for the Great Khans drug runner quest, and all of a sudden I happened on the Gobi Rifle at that cute little Sniper's Nest location. HOLY SHIT.

With my high chance to crit, and with sneak shots criting automatically, I'm one-shotting everything with the Gobi. The Sniper Rifle was good before, but the Gobi seems to put me just over that magical number that makes a body shot lethal. I went to deathclaw country, found a place to snipe, and capped a bazillion deathclaws in a shot a piece. That thing is crazy OP. I love it.

In my first playthrough, the acquisition of the Gobi convinces me that pumping skill pts into lockpick is the way to go, I've been able to get so much gear from picking locks that were probably supposed to be way over my head when I first encountered them. The skill I regret maxing early was Repair. It hasn't made a big difference in how I play the game, I think points there aren't wasted, but I probably should've put them in Speech early on instead. And the jury's still out on maxing Sneak early -- with how difficult it is to pick pockets, and with the fact that I've had mantises find me even when I'm crouched and hidden, I'm wondering if Sneak is all that great. I just want to know how it works.

Very soon I will cut the bullshit and google this business, for now I don't want to spoil anything.
 
The Gobi is definitely badass, behind That Gun (which I have no idea why I like so much), it's my most used.

Anyway, since this has become more of a discussion thread, let me start a new topic. Honest Hearts. Is it just me, or is this DLC absolute shite? So far, it's just been fetch quests in a super bland environment with Native American wannabes and no memorable characters. I feel like I have no motivation to do what I'm supposed to do. So far, definitely NOT worth the buy. I hope the other two are better.
 
Yeah, start up a new topic, I'll probably be playing FNV and/or F3 for a while so I'll be in there.

I picked up That Gun, too. It looks a little like Deckard's gun. I don't really use it, but I've held on to it like I've done all the other specials I've picked up. For some reason I prefer my 10mm, it's nothing special but we've grown close. Thanks to WMX it's fully modded and it's a nice piece. Silenced with a big clip. It's handy.

Right now I'm trying to decide on a mid-range gun. I've been using the Battle Rifle, just because it's a .308 and I like having two weapons (the Gobi and the BR) working off the same ammo pool. Ammo isn't weighted for me in Normal, so it's not the weight of it, I just like being able to break down everything and hand loading a lot of badass .308 JSP.

As for Honest Hearts, the only thing I've done online is check out reviews on the expansions, and it seems like they've received a lukewarm reception. I'm sure Steam will eventually cut them drastically, that's when I'll jump in.

I'm just now doing a lot of Freeside stuff, and I'm starting to realize -- in full -- the unnecessary convolution in the story. I'm getting the feeling that in the end I'm supposed to pick NCR, Legion, Mr. House, or "something else." What worries me is that everybody's acting like I'm done with the Brotherhood/Fellowship, and that bugs me because of everyone's vision for NV and the Mohave, it's their vision that seems the most sensible. I'll have to learn more about them.

And I still don't get Sneak or pickpocketing.
 
For a mid range, I'd highly suggest the La Longue Carbine. I'll let you decide if you want to look up where it is.

Be careful about WMX and what you put on your guns. Weapon attachments CANNOT be removed, so watch what you put on. While most things are pure upgrades, the scopes can be annoying as hell. I put one on That Gun and it kind of ruined it for me. I ended up just using a console command to get it back, clean as a whistle, but I thought I'd throw the warning out there anyway.

Also, if you do decide to go down a main story path, be sure to make saves early and often. There is a well defined "point of no return" as you can't play after you've beaten the game, but unless you want to start a new character, you burn a lot of bridges as you progress. At a certain point, you can no longer continue down the other faction's paths because of things you've done.
 
[quote name='Hydro2Oxide']The Gobi is definitely badass, behind That Gun (which I have no idea why I like so much), it's my most used.

Anyway, since this has become more of a discussion thread, let me start a new topic. Honest Hearts. Is it just me, or is this DLC absolute shite? So far, it's just been fetch quests in a super bland environment with Native American wannabes and no memorable characters. I feel like I have no motivation to do what I'm supposed to do. So far, definitely NOT worth the buy. I hope the other two are better.[/QUOTE]
I was hard pressed to even do half the side quests in FNV since FO3 was the exact same game and I already burned out on it. Can't imagine why anyone buys any of the DLC since all it does is add more of the same shit.
 
If Honest Hearts is the one that takes place in Zion, its the one I'm most looking forward to. To a trip there this past March and thought it was an amazing place. I saw the trailer for this DLC and it looked pretty close at least as far as the rock formations go. Maybe the quests will suck, but thats nothing new yet. Pretty much all the quests have sucked. Theres only 4 so far I've played that had me want to keep going.

Space Ghouls
Activating HELIOS One
Brotherhood of Steel (multiple quests)
The Novac Boone's wife thing

I've been getting my fun out of just wandering into places I shouldn't be, killing everyone, and taking all the loot. Haven't made it into New Vegas proper yet though.

Also, I just hit level 13. Maybe I have bad luck but I've found a ton of nice energy weapons, but I'm not really setup to use them. All the regular guns I have seem so weak. I can't even get past the DT on the giant radscorpions point blank with shotguns, have to rely on Veronica to one shot them. When do you start finding good stuff on enemies?
 
[quote name='Jodou']I was hard pressed to even do half the side quests in FNV since FO3 was the exact same game and I already burned out on it. Can't imagine why anyone buys any of the DLC since all it does is add more of the same shit.[/QUOTE]

I think it's just a case of the theme/setting appealing to some gamers more than others. I can't get into the GTAs at all for similar reasons. Yes, I know I can kill that cop and steal his whip. Really, the car goes bounce-bounce if I pull over and solicit a prostitute? How droll. *adjusts monocle*

I think the FNV writing has some funny, clever moments, and I think the concept has a lot of potential -- it's that potential that keeps me in it, and that potential also has me interested in future iterations.

In other FNV discussion...

My issue with the game, as I get more bogged down in the end game, is that tor a game that aspires to give me a plurality of options in NPC interaction, I feel as though I'm being shuffled into limited end game choices that are remarkably similar given other possibilities. I either go with House, I go with the NCR, I go with the Legion, or I do my own thing, which is essentially the House option in that I'd be taking over for House?

I fail to see how any of those benefit the Mohave in the long-term. All but the Legion option achieve a remarkably similar end -- maybe the House option is the best, as House seems to keep NV in check while leaving NCR and Legion to regulate one another, which in turn aligns the populace accordingly. If the NCR takes over (which assumes the fall of the Legion), they're not going to be able to handle everything and eventually another House type or types will take over and use the clans against one another as before.

There are other endgame options that would work that could be scrapped together in game. Why can't I band together with some of the nobler -- albeit flawed -- clans in doing my own thing? Why am I forced to play into this bullshit system? For instance, the NCR ambassador talks to me about chatting up the Boomers, and I'm like, sure, I'll *talk* to them for you, I'm not saying it'll do anything, but I'll at least talk if there's caps/XP in this bitch.

I head up to Nellis AFB to chat up Pearl, and one click into the dialogue, she says, "Sure, we'll bomb Hoover Dam for the NCR! Only cause you asked, Hero!" That's not what I wanted at all! The game just forced that on me, I thought there would be a back and forth, that maybe I'd have a choice in all that.

I realize that I can't have it all, it's just frustrating after getting to know this little world as well as I have. I've bounced around different clans, I've tried to understand where they're coming from, and yet all of a sudden it's clear that those guys don't matter much anymore.
 
Yeah, I don't care about loreLoL; I just like the FPSRPG elements and when you fail to innovate between games, it gets old fast.
 
[quote name='dothog']I think it's just a case of the theme/setting appealing to some gamers more than others. I can't get into the GTAs at all for similar reasons. Yes, I know I can kill that cop and steal his whip. Really, the car goes bounce-bounce if I pull over and solicit a prostitute? How droll. *adjusts monocle*

I think the FNV writing has some funny, clever moments, and I think the concept has a lot of potential -- it's that potential that keeps me in it, and that potential also has me interested in future iterations.

In other FNV discussion...

My issue with the game, as I get more bogged down in the end game, is that tor a game that aspires to give me a plurality of options in NPC interaction, I feel as though I'm being shuffled into limited end game choices that are remarkably similar given other possibilities. I either go with House, I go with the NCR, I go with the Legion, or I do my own thing, which is essentially the House option in that I'd be taking over for House?

I fail to see how any of those benefit the Mohave in the long-term. All but the Legion option achieve a remarkably similar end -- maybe the House option is the best, as House seems to keep NV in check while leaving NCR and Legion to regulate one another, which in turn aligns the populace accordingly. If the NCR takes over (which assumes the fall of the Legion), they're not going to be able to handle everything and eventually another House type or types will take over and use the clans against one another as before.

There are other endgame options that would work that could be scrapped together in game. Why can't I band together with some of the nobler -- albeit flawed -- clans in doing my own thing? Why am I forced to play into this bullshit system? For instance, the NCR ambassador talks to me about chatting up the Boomers, and I'm like, sure, I'll *talk* to them for you, I'm not saying it'll do anything, but I'll at least talk if there's caps/XP in this bitch.

I head up to Nellis AFB to chat up Pearl, and one click into the dialogue, she says, "Sure, we'll bomb Hoover Dam for the NCR! Only cause you asked, Hero!" That's not what I wanted at all! The game just forced that on me, I thought there would be a back and forth, that maybe I'd have a choice in all that.

I realize that I can't have it all, it's just frustrating after getting to know this little world as well as I have. I've bounced around different clans, I've tried to understand where they're coming from, and yet all of a sudden it's clear that those guys don't matter much anymore.[/QUOTE]

That's the purpose of the "Do your own thing" deal, you learn about the factions, and decide whether or not you want them in your vision of "New Vegas." I personally went NCR since I always play a goody-two-shoes in this game, but that's just me. Everyone spoke mostly fondly about them, so I didn't think they'd be huge dicks in the end. I guess I was mostly right.

Back to DLC discussion...

Beat Honest Hearts, it maintained its shittyness all the way till the end. You're presented with a choice at the end (as with everything in this freakin' game, I'm getting tired of making these HUGE decisions) and neither of them resonated with me. Maybe it's because I didn't do sidequests, but neither option felt right or wrong. It was like soup or salad to me.

After I beat that, I was so close to being totally burnt out on the game forever. But I needed to get my money's worth, so I started up Dead Money. Hooooly crap, this is so much more interesting. It's like Saw meets Night of the Living Dead. Tough enemies, limited ammo, tons of puzzley/trap type things, it's wonderful. It's also (so far, I'm still not done) 3 times as long as HH. All the characters are interesting, there's good dialogue, and I actually feel interested in talking to everyone. There's a lot of backstory and atmosphere around, though I'll be honest, I'm blowing through most of the computer logs. Lack of weapon and enemy variety is a huge minus though, there's only 1 enemy and maybe 3-4 weapons. So much better than HH, I hope OWB is this good. It's starting to get a bit repetitive though, I'll be glad when I finish it.

@Judou, if I was in this game for the straight up shootin', I'd be long gone. It's all about the small side stories and characters.
 
But that's my point, picking the NCR isn't necessarily what's best for the Mojave. Bitter Ridge is supposed to be evidence of that. From what I can tell, while the NCR has a "President," the NCR is largely a patchwork military. I don't know that military rule is any better for the Mojave than the status quo, especially given that the NCR will be spread incredibly thin (this was Hanlon's concern -- the guy who drops the wicked hunting revolver).

Going with the NCR is basically creating a vacuum to be filled by new, ambitious clans or figureheads.

I know I'm "overthinking" this, but my point is, the game is giving me effectively 2 options: let the Legion enslave everyone or continue with the status quo, either with House in place, me in House's place, or the NCR temporarily shoving everyone out, which can only lead to bigger problems. It seems to me that there should have been at least one more option to unite clans without the involvement of the NCR.

Then again, there may be a sudden twist at the end, I'm just going off of how it's being set up for me, as I'm about to decide how to handle the Benny situation.

Anyhow, while I'm Idolized with NCR, it's only because the quests they've asked me to do have been easy moral choices. I don't necessarily agree with their tactics or goals. They just keep asking me to do things I'd do for anybody. "I've got guys trapped in a cave" Okay, I'll save em. I'd have done the same for the Followers, the Brotherhood, the Khans, and I even did it -- to an extent -- for the Powder Gangers in the Booted quest. "Kill these asshole Fiends." No problem, I hate those fucking guys, they kept trying to gank me at low level. "Talk to this lady with psychological trauma." Sure, what the hell, I've got to do something with 50 Medicine skill.

But there weren't quests, in getting huge fame with NCR, that asked me to validate the NCR effort in terms of their war plans. Not against the Legion, but in terms of all of the Mojave. "Help us occupy Primm." There wasn't that quest. I set up a new sheriff for Primm -- the robot -- but I sure as hell didn't sign off on NCR occupation.

I guess the game just defaults to thinking NCR is the "good guys"?
 
Well, the NCR are the good guys. A little misguided at times, sure, but definitely good guys. Sure they can be overbearing, but what government entity isn't? (Not trying to talk politics here!)

Oh, and resolving the Benny situation definitely forces your hand as to which side you ultimately go with, but I'll say no more on that subject and let you find out. Just let it be known that to resolve the Benny side of the story, you will need to set your decision in concrete, as far as I can tell.

Regardless, the game ends when you follow a main path, so choosing a final one is more of a "what if..." than it is an actual choice with repercussions. Eventually, I will check them all out... maybe :/

Just finished Dead Money, holy shit that was awesome. Took me about 5-6 hours, mostly because I did a LOT of exploring. The ending was pretty satisfying, if only a bit anticlimactic. No unanswered questions though. It also heavily alluded to the upcoming DLC which I am now so goddamn stoked for. The game play really started to go down hill with a lot of sneaking and running around, but I was always engaged with "What's gonna happen next?" Next, and final one, is Old World Blues. I'll have to hit that one tomorrow, I'm starting to get the New Vegas blues. I hope it's as good as DM, if not better.
 
[quote name='dothog']But that's my point, picking the NCR isn't necessarily what's best for the Mojave. Bitter Ridge is supposed to be evidence of that. From what I can tell, while the NCR has a "President," the NCR is largely a patchwork military. I don't know that military rule is any better for the Mojave than the status quo, especially given that the NCR will be spread incredibly thin (this was Hanlon's concern -- the guy who drops the wicked hunting revolver).

Going with the NCR is basically creating a vacuum to be filled by new, ambitious clans or figureheads.

I know I'm "overthinking" this, but my point is, the game is giving me effectively 2 options: let the Legion enslave everyone or continue with the status quo, either with House in place, me in House's place, or the NCR temporarily shoving everyone out, which can only lead to bigger problems. It seems to me that there should have been at least one more option to unite clans without the involvement of the NCR.

Then again, there may be a sudden twist at the end, I'm just going off of how it's being set up for me, as I'm about to decide how to handle the Benny situation.

Anyhow, while I'm Idolized with NCR, it's only because the quests they've asked me to do have been easy moral choices. I don't necessarily agree with their tactics or goals. They just keep asking me to do things I'd do for anybody. "I've got guys trapped in a cave" Okay, I'll save em. I'd have done the same for the Followers, the Brotherhood, the Khans, and I even did it -- to an extent -- for the Powder Gangers in the Booted quest. "Kill these asshole Fiends." No problem, I hate those fucking guys, they kept trying to gank me at low level. "Talk to this lady with psychological trauma." Sure, what the hell, I've got to do something with 50 Medicine skill.

But there weren't quests, in getting huge fame with NCR, that asked me to validate the NCR effort in terms of their war plans. Not against the Legion, but in terms of all of the Mojave. "Help us occupy Primm." There wasn't that quest. I set up a new sheriff for Primm -- the robot -- but I sure as hell didn't sign off on NCR occupation.

I guess the game just defaults to thinking NCR is the "good guys"?[/QUOTE]

I don't think my primm has NCR occupation. I thought so too on my first playthrough, but this time around I think it's NCR free. I could be wrong though.
 
My Primm has Slim as the sheriff, but there are NCR guys stalking around here and there. I realize I'm nitpicking at the story, and I know that they can only storyboard so much. They can't make this incredibly detailed world AND give me a narrative that can shift with Civ-like dynamics, I know.

It's just frustrating to see that the flexibility they have storyboarded is a lot of minutia that really has nothing to do with the final outcome. If I were going to tackle something like that, I would start at the beginning and the end of the story -- the choices made there should be heavily weighted, and the variety of choices provided should be satisfactory to the gamer. But that's not how they did it, those beginning and ending choices are locked in, and this generic karma thing just selects a predetermined ending.

So I'm kind of stuck in the endgame, I've forked my game into three different saves corresponding to three different choices. I'm still convinced they're effectively the same choice, and it's made me loathe to follow though on any of them. I've just been roaming around, discovering weird places. I could pursue the companion quests, but even that's uninteresting to me now that I know it has no impact on the endgame scenarios -- I suddenly feel "locked in" after spending so much of the game feeling like *anything* could happen.

I've been PM'ing with another CAG about FO3 and FNV, and he initially described the story as "soulless," which I took offense to because I thought there were some very human characters and ideas at play. I still think that. However, I think that "soulless" is a fair descriptor for the game, but not for the story itself, just for the act of moving -- and thinking -- through the narrative. There's ultimately a very hollow feeling when you realize all of the travel and interaction leads up to A, B, or C, especially when A, B, and C don't look as dissimilar on closer examination.
 
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