Current Events > Just finished New Vegas AMA

(+) Yeah! (+)

Amanything

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All the DLC too?

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masterpug53 posted...

All the DLC too?

Yup. I actually played New Vegas yeeeears ago but this was my first time going through the DLC

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You're never finished with New Vegas. Back in the saddle!

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NightRender posted...

You're never finished with New Vegas. Back in the saddle!

Maaaaan, I want another Obsidian Fallout. The writing and RPG elements are leagues above Bethesda.

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How did you deal with Benny?

Favorite DLC? Which main game faction did you pick?

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How much of that heavy ass gold did you drag away?

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Who's your top five favorite characters?

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Deuceswild posted...

who did you side with?

Independent, baby! Though I helped out NCR when I could.

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CapnMuffin posted...

How did you deal with Benny?

I let him go. I wanted my character to be somewhat merciful and I figured he wouldn't be much of a threat anyway.

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KalimariX8 posted...

Favorite DLC? Which main game faction did you pick?

Second question I answered above. As for DLC, it's difficult. There were elements I liked and disliked about each.

Old World Blues is fucking hilarious, but I disliked the bullet sponge enemies and some of it felt tedious. Dead Money had a great atmosphere and some interesting companions, but I hated the radios. Honest Hearts was good, I liked the setting and Joshua Graham is fucking awesome, but its story felt a bit too straight forward. Lonesome Road I thought was great all-around.

Ig Lonesome Road lol

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You'd might be amazed with how much Dead Money ages like wine on repeat playthroughs, after you've got some prior knowledge of the radio / speaker locations.

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Alteres posted...

How much of that heavy ass gold did you drag away?

ALL of it. Spent like 2 hours doing it trying to use Elijah's body and running all the way around until I realized I could just sneak away with the right timing.

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masterpug53 posted...

Who's your top five favorite characters?

I'd say:

Joshua Graham
Ulysses
Boone
The King
Veronica (though I didn't get to interact with her much)

I should also mention that I didn't get to do any companion quests besides Cass. I know Arcade, Lily, Raul, etc., are all great too but I didn't end up meeting them until the very end of my playthrough unfortunately.

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masterpug53 posted...

You'd might be amazed with how much Dead Money ages like wine on repeat playthroughs, after you've got some prior knowledge of the radio / speaker locations.

I keep hearing this. It definitely won't be my last New Vegas playthrough but I'm gonna give it some time before I replay it just so I can come in refreshed.

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I'll also bump this topic by saying New Vegas' soundtrack fucking slaps.

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Also Christine was fucking adorable too

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I keep hearing this. It definitely won't be my last New Vegas playthrough but I'm gonna give it some time before I replay it just so I can come in refreshed.

I'm a little biased in favor of Dead Money, because it was the turning point for me, when NV went from 'pretty good at times, but basically just more Fallout 3' to 'holy shit this game is amazing.' I played NV at launch, and while I was acutely aware of how much better it was than FO3 in key areas, the bugs at release were relentless, and soured not only my opinion of the game as a whole, but certain key moments that I've since grown to love. For instance, the otherwise-stellar ending of Vault 11 was soured by a bug in which the turrets were somehow aligned to Mr. House's faction, and destroying them automatically caused me to fail the House questline. Hell, I went to give the game a second chance a few months later, and ended up quitting because another bug permanently locked the BoS Bunker, preventing me from playing Dead Money in the first place!

Still, a few months after that I gave the game a 3rd go and finally got to play DM, and it blew me away. It wasn't at all what I expected, to say the least. Most games can only dream of conjuring the creepy, oppressive, melancholy atmosphere of the Sierra Madre villa. The Cloud was a perfectly-balanced gameplay threat imo, and I'm one of those people who ends up so overpowered and borderline-bored in these types of games that I love when my uber-gear gets stripped away for a challenge segment. And I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly why, but I found myself more emotionally invested in DM's characters than anyone in the base game, and moreso than every character Bethesda has ever written combined.

Long story short, I think most people would agree that the radios / speakers are, while maybe not a flaw per se, definitely it's most hair-pulling challenge. As enamored as I was with the DLC even on my first playthrough, I was still raging in frustration at the damn things by the time I got to the vault. But even half-remembering their locations and how best to deal with them on repeat playthroughs will make the journey much smoother.

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masterpug53 posted...

I'm a little biased in favor of Dead Money, because it was the turning point for me, when NV went from 'pretty good at times, but basically just more Fallout 3' to 'holy shit this game is amazing.' I played NV at launch, and while I was acutely aware of how much better it was than FO3 in key areas, the bugs at release were relentless, and soured not only my opinion of the game as a whole, but certain key moments that I've since grown to love. For instance, the otherwise-stellar ending of Vault 11 was soured by a bug in which the turrets were somehow aligned to Mr. House's faction, and destroying them automatically caused me to fail the House questline. Hell, I went to give the game a second chance a few months later, and ended up quitting because another bug permanently locked the BoS Bunker, preventing me from playing Dead Money in the first place!

Still, a few months after that I gave the game a 3rd go and finally got to play DM, and it blew me away. It wasn't at all what I expected, to say the least. Most games can only dream of conjuring the creepy, oppressive, melancholy atmosphere of the Sierra Madre villa. The Cloud was a perfectly-balanced gameplay threat imo, and I'm one of those people who ends up so overpowered and borderline-bored in these types of games that I love when my uber-gear gets stripped away for a challenge segment. And I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly why, but I found myself more emotionally invested in DM's characters than anyone in the base game, and moreso than every character Bethesda has ever written combined.

Long story short, I think most people would agree that the radios / speakers are, while maybe not a flaw per se, definitely it's most hair-pulling challenge. As enamored as I was with the DLC even on my first playthrough, I was still raging in frustration at the damn things by the time I got to the vault. But even half-remembering their locations and how best to deal with them on repeat playthroughs will make the journey much smoother.

Yeah the survival horror vibe of Dead Money was fantastic. I liked the characters too. Each of them are just really memorable. I enjoyed Dog/God and the mechanic the game had going on with them. Dean is the asshole you love to hate. And as I mentioned, Christine was fucking adorable. It took me a minute to realize she was the BoS member that was mentioned in OWB (OWB was the first DLC I played) Also, Obsidian using the holograms as basically ghosts is such an inspired and creative move. I thought that was fucking genius.

I can imagine the DLC being A LOT more annoying though, except I already had both Light Step and that perk that gives you Blood Sausages and Thin Red Paste on 50% of enemies.

And the storytelling and depressing atmosphere is better than anything Bethesda has given us in any Fallout game.

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Now replay and steal La Longue Carabine to use as your primary weapon.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Christine was fucking adorable. It took me a minute to realize she was the BoS member that was mentioned in OWB

She was also Veronica's girlfriend, if you didn't catch that
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UnholyMudcrab posted...

She was also Veronica's girlfriend, if you didn't catch that

I found out later on looking at the wiki

Shotgunnova posted...

Now replay and steal La Longue Carabine to use as your primary weapon.

Where was that at?

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

She was also Veronica's girlfriend, if you didn't catch that

Honestly, this was one of the few things I genuinely disliked about the game's writing, as it felt too convenient. I liked that there happened to be two gay women in the BoS that, at face value, didn't have anything to do with one another. Veronica's backstory is that she fell in love, but her girlfriend chose to leave the Brotherhood over the pressure on their relationship, and that was that. It was a nice addition of melancholy, realistic flavor to her character that didn't need to be expanded upon further. Making Christine into her long-lost girlfriend and adding in some contrived backstory about how Elijah was secretly behind their breakup was just too retcon-y for my tastes.

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u got all the achievements/trophies?


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You have to reverse pickpocket it from Corporal Sterling. I forget if it drops if you kill him, but I'd usually advise against doing that in general.

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just poking my head in to agree about dead money being fucking AMAZING
by far my favorite dlc and genuinely it does get better on multiple playthroughs, letting yourself really get immersed in the atmosphere is so fun. great setting, great story, great(in my opinion) gameplay. 100/10

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I never liked using La Longue Carabine enough that it was worth the hassle of reverse-pickpocketing it off of him. Weapons are already hard enough to r-p, but the success rate of that particular one has to be lower than the Mariana Trench.

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Good topic.

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Big_Nabendu posted...

u got all the achievements/trophies?

Definitely haven't. I'm gonna do another playthrough later down the line. I'm just starting Fallout 2 now.

Shotgunnova posted...

You have to reverse pickpocket it from Corporal Sterling. I forget if it drops if you kill him, but I'd usually advise against doing that in general.

Hmmmm noted.

DeathDeathSong posted...

just poking my head in to agree about dead money being fucking AMAZING
by far my favorite dlc and genuinely it does get better on multiple playthroughs, letting yourself really get immersed in the atmosphere is so fun. great setting, great story, great(in my opinion) gameplay. 100/10

Yes, Dead Money was great.

I like that they really tried to make each DLC have a totally different 'feel'.


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New Vegas is one of those games that gets better on repeat playthroughs. Maybe it's an Obisidan thing because I remember thinking the same thing with The Outer Worlds. But when I first played New Vegas I really didn't like. Ended up getting into it on a second playthrough or so, but my third or fourth playthrough I was realising how much side content there was. There's so many little quests and things hidden away. It's quite atypical for a non-Bethesda game I think. Usually they'd be just "here's all your content in a relatively linear fashion". But if you go off the beaten path in New Vegas there's absolutely loads of secrets and side quests that you can easily miss.

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On the subject of DLCs - and since TC has shown interest in a future replay - there's a few different approaches to the order. The release order was DM > HH > OWB > LR, and there's nothing wrong with that. For optimal story progression, the order would be either HH or OWB first and second, DM third, and LR fourth (do HH first if you're focusing on Guns, OWB if you're focusing on Energy Weapons).

However, if you don't mind throwing story continuity out the window, you can game LR by playing it as early as possible and make out like a bandit. Basically, you can play the Main Quest up through Novac (I'd recommend avoiding Boulder City until afterwards), but do NOT enter New Vegas proper. Do some side quests if you need to beef up your level - I personally like doing the Boomers quests long before any of the major factions send me there, for instance.

There's two reasons to take this approach: first, to acquire the Blackjack Duster. Your goal here is to not have any significant faction rep with the NCR, Legion, or Strip when you play through LR, which will force Ulysses to consider you an 'Independent' and gift you the Blackjack Duster at the end (you'll know it's working when Ulysses makes claims like 'you follow no flag, you have no allegiance' or something like that during convo). Not only does the Blackjack look cool, it's also one of the precious few pieces of apparel (and the only armor) that boosts LUCK; and it is next to impossible to acquire the Blackjack if you've gained 'Accepted' or higher in any of the three major factions (which is why you should put off Boulder City until after). However, if you do end up earning NCR or Legion rep, just make sure that whenever you talk to Ulysses while progressing through LR, you're wearing some form of NCR or Legion faction armor - wearing one of these faction disguises will temporarily reset your rep with the relevant factions and trick Ulysses.

The second reason is to allow you to nuke both the NCR and Legion camps - and thus claim both new areas and the rewards therein - without permanent consequence. So when the time comes, choose to nuke both sides; your faction rep with both will of course bottom out. But, if you do this before visiting New Vegas for the first time, you can get your faction rep reset with both NCR (after visiting House for the first time) and the Legion (after confronting Benny at the Tops).

And there you are! You've just gotten all the best rewards from LR with no consequences. Grab your loot, tidy things up at Boulder City, and head to Vegas to get your rep reset (hopefully not incurring the wrath of any Legion hit squads before you make it to the gates, lol).

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I just played through Fallout 4 recently, and it's been in the back of my mind for years that I never did finish the New Vegas DLC.

Might be time to jump back in the old saddle...

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E_S_M_Z posted...

Might be time to jump back in the old saddle...

oh yes. time to fire up that ps3.
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masterpug53 posted...

On the subject of DLCs - and since TC has shown interest in a future replay - there's a few different approaches to the order. The release order was DM > HH > OWB > LR, and there's nothing wrong with that. For optimal story progression, the order would be either HH or OWB first and second, DM third, and LR fourth (do HH first if you're focusing on Guns, OWB if you're focusing on Energy Weapons).

However, if you don't mind throwing story continuity out the window, you can game LR by playing it as early as possible and make out like a bandit. Basically, you can play the Main Quest up through Novac (I'd recommend avoiding Boulder City until afterwards), but do NOT enter New Vegas proper. Do some side quests if you need to beef up your level - I personally like doing the Boomers quests long before any of the major factions send me there, for instance.

There's two reasons to take this approach: first, to acquire the Blackjack Duster. Your goal here is to not have any significant faction rep with the NCR, Legion, or Strip when you play through LR, which will force Ulysses to consider you an 'Independent' and gift you the Blackjack Duster at the end (you'll know it's working when Ulysses makes claims like 'you follow no flag, you have no allegiance' or something like that during convo). Not only does the Blackjack look cool, it's also one of the precious few pieces of apparel (and the only armor) that boosts LUCK; and it is next to impossible to acquire the Blackjack if you've gained 'Accepted' or higher in any of the three major factions (which is why you should put off Boulder City until after). However, if you do end up earning NCR or Legion rep, just make sure that whenever you talk to Ulysses while progressing through LR, you're wearing some form of NCR or Legion faction armor - wearing one of these faction disguises will temporarily reset your rep with the relevant factions and trick Ulysses.

The second reason is to allow you to nuke both the NCR and Legion camps - and thus claim both new areas and the rewards therein - without permanent consequence. So when the time comes, choose to nuke both sides; your faction rep with both will of course bottom out. But, if you do this before visiting New Vegas for the first time, you can get your faction rep reset with both NCR (after visiting House for the first time) and the Legion (after confronting Benny at the Tops).

And there you are! You've just gotten all the best rewards from LR with no consequences. Grab your loot, tidy things up at Boulder City, and head to Vegas to get your rep reset (hopefully not incurring the wrath of any Legion hit squads before you make it to the gates, lol).

Good post, great advice.

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masterpug53 posted...

And there you are!

Okay, now I know what I'm doing on my next playthrough.

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Bumping a good topic.

TC, what's your 5 favorite weapons?

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I never properly played the dlcs and my 360 is in storage, damn this is tempting.

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Alteres posted...

I never played the dlcs and my 360 is in storage, damn this is tempting.

I walked into a Walmart a few years back and picked up the Ultimate Edition (All DLCs + Gun Runner's Arsenal + all the preorder bonus packs) for about ten bucks. I needed a new copy w/ all DLCs ever since my 360 overheated itself into a brick and I couldn't access my old XBL account. You could probably still find a copy at your local Walmart, and it'll play fine on the XB1. I'm sure you can also buy it digitally, but I'm too old-fashioned to be up on those details.

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I think I have that disc as well, if its readable.

I edited it slightly, I raided them for gear and levels but I never properly played the story lines.

Seeing if the old stuff still works is probably my best bet. My current stuff is a PS4, switch, and what was a decent laptop a few years ago.

Thanks for all your tips.

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I like new vegas a lot it prob is my fave fallout game of all time. I never get the urge to replay 1,2,3, and 4.


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masterpug53 posted...

Bumping a good topic.
TC, what's your 5 favorite weapons?

I'm not TC but:

1. A Light Shining in Darkness
2. Maria
3. Ranger Sequoia
4. That Gun
5. Lucky

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ApherosyLove posted...

I'm not TC but:

1. A Light Shining in Darkness
2. Maria
3. Ranger Sequoia
4. That Gun
5. Lucky

Heh, no worries, whatever keeps the topic going :) Might as well post mine:

1) Survivalist's Rifle
2) Sprtel-Wood 9700
3) Lucky
4) Thump-Thump
5) Medicine Stick

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masterpug53 posted...

Bumping a good topic.

TC, what's your 5 favorite weapons?

Iight I'm back y'all.

I kinda swapped through a BUNCH as necessary but my go-tos were:

1. A Light Shining Through Darkness
2. Christine's CoS silencer Rifle
3. Anti-Material Rifle
4. Riot Shotgun
5. All-American

Shout out to the Super Heated Power Fist for OWB though


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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

1. A Light Shining Through Darkness

Hell yeah brother.
I love running Pistols in games that I can. It's another reason why I was pretty disappointed in FO4/76. Not enough unique pistols.

Although I really wanna try shotguns in FNV because I've literally never used them (aside from the Big Boomer).

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ApherosyLove posted...

Hell yeah brother.
I love running Pistols in games that I can. It's another reason why I was pretty disappointed in FO4/76. Not enough unique pistols.

Although I really wanna try shotguns in FNV because I've literally never used them (aside from the Big Boomer).

Once you get Shotgun Surgeon and And Stay Back, shotguns are a BEAST! Melee enemies get totally fucked

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BTW, I mentioned before that I'll be playing through Fallout 2. I guess this topic will turn into my thoughts as I play through that game. I'm only at the very beginning and just got out of the beginning temple. I'm attempting to do unarmed. I hope I don't regret it >_>

I've also kinda sorta started another playthrough of Fallout 3 but I'm probably gonna focus on 2 since I've never played before.

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Playing 1 or 2 for the first time in modern times is always interesting. There's a lot of jank that comes with age, but 2 is a pretty deep, expansive game. Hope you enjoy.

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