For those of you waiting for a patch for the new DLC, you can stop waiting. Jason Bergman is now the sole remaining member of the team behind FO:NV, and he's only still there to stack the chairs. About a week ago, he announced there will be no updates after the one that just went out a few weeks ago (v.1.07, IIRC.) Whatever bugs exist due to GRA or Lonesome Road are there to stay.
~snarls~ Oh my! Such wonderful service! ~growls~ Well, I think I am done with Bethesda and Obsidian games from this point on.
I deleted then reistalled the LR and GRA downloads, then installed FONV to my hard drive. I also used a friend's disk, since I now think that mine has bit the dust. So far everything is working, except that the vendors reset their cash after each use, making it hard to get my cash back unless I have stuff to trade when I buy something.
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Whether Bethesda or Obsidian makes it, I imagine some of the New Vegas design team might still work on it.
Either way, as much as I love the southwestern setting of FO1, 2 and NV, I wouldn't mind seeing other parts of the continent or the world. A cancelled Fallout title, Fallout Extreme, was supposedly going to take the player from Canada to China.
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Well, aren't we Mr. PissesInYourCheerios? ^_^
Jason Bergman works for Bethesda and oversaw development of Obsidian's New Vegas. I don't think it's entirely unlikely a guy who works for Bethesda with Obsidian would work on another Fallout title, for or with either company again.
Even if it's just one guy, I'm just saying there's some crossover. That's all. Why you gotta be hatin?
Honestly I like the post-apocalypse barely holding on story line. Then I get to Vegas and there's clean water and all this nice stuff and something about it just made me go "What's this now?". That and another game coming out means I just never got back to it.
Well,as you note, it's been 200 years since the bombs fell, they aren't going to be struggling for survival in the same way those right after the bombs would have. But I think it still poses an interesting post-apocalyptic scenario---the point in FNV is less that people are struggling for the day to day food and shelter (though some still are)---but that society has rebuilt itself just enough to a point where things can get huge and messy again. Actual war can and will break out and could devastate everything all over again. That's a pretty fascinating premise.
Now, if you wanted scrabbling to survive for your last stimpak and bottle of water... ironically, you should be playing the one DLC you don't have, Dead Money. But otherwise, I can understand why you might be disappointed.
As for F:NV being shelved (elsewhere in the discussion):
It's a real shame they've been taken off any kind of tech support for F:NV now, even of the most basic kind. Hopefully that means everything working (as best it can, considering)?
I'd love to see Obsidian's team do another Fallout, but the cynical part of me wonders if Bethesda simply asked Obsidian to do it so people would stop b!#&@ing about Van Buren never coming out (as J.E. Sawyer was the lead on Van Buren and F:NV, as were a number of other Black Isle folk now on the Fallout team at Obsidian)--they could say, see, we gave the original designers of Black Isle's intended "Fallout 3" a chance to make their own sequel, now we're going to do as we see fit. Which is their right of course. And Fallout 3 was fun... if you ignore the main storyline, of course. Bethesda can put out good stuff, but they can't write a story like Obsidian can.
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Sorry for the delayed response, forgot to check this thread.
I've picked up Dead Money now as well, finished OWB which I thought was amazing. Dead Money does harken back to the old school Fallout I love, and playing the game on Hardcore makes it much better.
I've warmed up to the game again, I think because I was dealing with the casinos when Dragon Age II came out and I decided I just didn't want to put up with them. Since starting where I left off earlier this month I've put another 50 hours into the game and I can say I am starting to enjoy it again.
One very annoying thing is that the game has started crashing since the installs of the DLC. Oh well.
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I teamed up with Yes Man the first time through. I was going to side with Caesar next, but the Legion turned rabid on me when I agreed to membership with the Brotherhood as part of my plot to infiltrate and destroy them. I thought it was a bug in the game, but now I'm pretty sure it was the scripting causing the Legion to recognize me as Brotherhood (whom they would presumably shoot on sight.)
I didn't side with the Legion until my third time through.
Currently, I'm soldiering through Lonesome Road and I'm kind of bummed that Ulysses keeps calling me an NCR lover when my intentions are to go Wild Card by the end of the game. Apparently, it's all based on your rep and my NCR rep is pretty much maxed out. Oh well. I really like Lonesome Road so far. The tunnelers are an awesome addition to Fallout's critters.
Just out of curiosity, how many of you sided with the Legion during your first playthrough?
It took me a couple of games before I decided on that.
It was my fourth run through when I sided with the Legion. 1st I sided with yes-man, 2nd I sided with house, 3rd I sided with the NCR.
I teamed up with NCR, but could have gone NCR or Wild Card. Haven't gotten Lonesome Road yet, but when I do, will probably play that and then replay through the ending again, this time doing the Wild Card ending.
Will have to create new characters to try Legion and House versions (or things like bad karma+Wild Card, etc.). I'm bad at finishing subsequent playthroughs and bad at playing evil (I always start to feel guilty) but we'll see.
Based on what Hogarth said, I will look forward to shooting Ulysses in the face. Not because he doesn't like the NCR, 'cause at best I just see them as the least of several evils, but he just seems annoying. Wasn't that impressed by his audio clips in OWB (I mean, they were performed well, but he sounds like a pretentious jerk who's full of it). On the other hand, he did save Christine's life, so maybe I'll let him live a little while before I shoot him in the face.
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Based on what Hogarth said, I will look forward to shooting Ulysses in the face. Not because he doesn't like the NCR, 'cause at best I just see them as the least of several evils, but he just seems annoying. Wasn't that impressed by his audio clips in OWB (I mean, they were performed well, but he sounds like a pretentious jerk who's full of it). On the other hand, he did save Christine's life, so maybe I'll let him live a little while before I shoot him in the face.
*checks avatar* Are you trying to say all us unicorns look alike to you? Hmph. ^_^
My understanding so far is that Ulysses pretty much hates all the factions or is at least disappointed in each for one reason or another. I don't find him annoying. I think I sympathize with him. From everything I've gathered from all the DLC up to where I am now, he seems like a guy with a lot of anger at the state of the post-nuclear world. I think he figures humanity should have come a lot further or that somebody should have come along by now to lead the survivors of the apocalypse to a better future. NCR, House, the Legion and the Brotherhood all have different goals and Ulysses seems to think each one is bound to end with a return to the wars, suffering and loss that was prevalent in the Old World. Based on my progress through Lonesome Road, I think he sees The Courier as the only person in the wasteland with the wisdom and resolve to change things and he's led the Courier to The Divide to teach him this.
I could spoil the ending by checking the Fallout wiki to find out how wrong I might be, but I don't want to ruin the surprise.
It seems Ulysses' faction-based dialog is based on the faction with whom you have the highest reputation when you enter The Divide. I know you can leave and come back whenever you like, but I don't know if returning with a higher reputation in one faction vice another will change anything. Just something to keep in mind for anyone who wants to play through Lonesome Road more than once.
So sorry Velcro Zipper! #o_o# Running on automatic apparently.
Like I said, I haven't even played Lonesome Road, so I'm only judging on the examples the game the character has provided already for the character (he also did stick my courier with that job that got my character shot in the head, so I know at least from my PC's perspective, she's not fond of the guy. She tends to shoot people in the head that try to do that to her). We'll see what the story offers and I'll post whether I've changed my mind (I well might!) when I actually play through the story.
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It doesn't matter whatever you group standing is, Ulysses is a sociopathic nut job who blames you for ruining his idol worship of you because you turn out to be only human. you will eventually shoot him in head the and glad about it, not because he's right or wrong but because he's annoyingly bat-s%&* insane.
Can you play the DLCs after the end of the main campaign, or not ?
No, once you finish the main campaign the game ends.
Can you play the DLCs after the end of the main campaign, or not ?No, once you finish the main campaign the game ends.
But if you finish the main game, it should make an endgame save before you trigger the final event. So you can reload from that save and then play through any DLC you missed from there.
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The wait is almost over for anyone waiting to purchase this game with all the DLC.
Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition releases February. It will include all DLC including the Gun Runner's Arsenal and Courier's Stash.
Finished Lonesome Road a few days ago.
For what it is, I thought it was awesome; aside from having to reload the game every half-hour or so due to slowdown issues that is. I think Old World Blues is going to be remembered by most players as the most fun DLC to play, but Lonesome Road isn't without its charm. You just have to be able to find long periods of isolation punctuated by violent encounters with swarms of bloodthirsty monsters charming. Having ED-E along to beep and chirp as you discover Ralphie posters and robotics upgrades does make the road a little less lonely.
The plot of Lonesome Road might seem a little rail-roady, but that's kind of the point. It's a gauntlet. You fight your way from one end to the other and hope the journey and the beating you took is worth it. I thought it was, and I think I understand Ulysses' motives better now (turns out I was a little bit off in my first interpretation of his speeches.) In the end, I didn't kill him.
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I'm still on my first play through with 110 hours into the game, the problem is I love exploring every single corner of everything. I'm considering Legion on my next play through.
So far OWB is my favorite DLC, it's self contained and fun and the characters are all wonderful. Dead Money was not bad, but it did get a little annoying towards the end. I'm playing through the second DLC right now and then I'm on to Lonesome road, then I'll finish out the main campaign.
Not quite done Lonesome Road. The irritating completionist in me wants to find some more stuff I haven't found yet.
It's got some interesting ideas, and the world design is really good, but I think it's the most bland of the DLCs by far. And it's frustrating that most of the new gear would be awesome were I lower level, but playing this chronologically with my Courier having done everything else possible, it's a lot of, "Oh. Well that would have been nice if I'd had access to that 20 levels ago." (Now, were I a heavy weapons user, I might feel a little different, but current character is a sneaky sneaky light armor/weapons user.) There's nothing at all compelling about the story and the tiny handful of characters involved though, in my personal opinion.
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There's nothing at all compelling about the story and the tiny handful of characters involved though
I think that's why Lonesome Road isn't going to be considered among the top DLCs. I agree there isn't much going on, but that's kind of why I like it. It's everything it needs to be and nothing else. It's one scene in a movie.
Given the Old West feel of New Vegas, I liken it to the scene where the gunslinger marches up Main Street blasting the black hat's henchmen on his way to the final shootout at high noon, except, in this case, all the innocent townspeople are dead instead of hiding out in the general store or the saloon.
The scene is really only about two characters; the white hat (Courier) and the black hat (Ulysses.) It's compelling for me because I think Ulysses is an interesting character and wanted to learn his story and piece together all the threads of the previous DLCs. I'm also fond of ED-E and wanted to help him with his mission. However, after beating the main game now over a dozen times, I can say Lonesome Road doesn't demand to be finished. If you aren't invested in the Courier's history before Goodsprings or you aren't fond of slogging through miles of dangerous terrain with nobody to talk to but a bleeping robot, Lonesome Road might not appeal to you.
I started this DLC at level 50 so there was really nothing more for me to gain in terms of killing power and I went through most of the journey with Sleepytime (the unique 10mm SMG,) a katana (from GRA) and a whole bunch of explosives (MFC Clusters are frikkin' sweet.) I broke out the Red Glare and Shoulder Mounted Machine Gun for the final stretch and had a lot of fun with them but ED-E's upgrades are the only thing I think I really missed out on.
I swap out my weapons every time I go back to Harper's Shack, but I always pack mines and grenades so ED-E's ability to create Satchel Charges and Microfusion Cells (for making MFC Grenades) would have been useful earlier in the game. On top of that, he sort of makes Veronica redundant. She's still fun to have around, but ED-E stole her workbench gimmick and now he's also a flying ammo bench and explosives factory.
Possible spoilers for Lonesome Road and the Main Game
Upon reflection, I think the reason why Lonesome Road disappoints me is because the game builds up to it so much. Ulysses gets mentioned early on in the main game. Every DLC mentions the showdown at the Divide like it's the "big thing" the whole story is leading up to, and of course there's all the Ulysses foreshadowing in OWB.
So I think in retrospect, long path of rubble with some zombies and radiation monsters and a psychotic douchebag at the end is a bit of a letdown for what the in-game hype built it up to be. If Lonesome Road had been the first DLC, I probably would have been like, "Okay, that was interesting, it had some good world build, had some good stuff, liked to see the Courier's history fleshed out, now it's time to move on to the exciting stuff, but that filled in a nice gap." And THEN I played through, say, Dead Money, Honest Hearts, and Old World Blues with OWB as the finale? I would feel damned satisfied. But because Lonesome Road is THE END (even if the battle at Hoover Dam is formally the end of the story, Lonesome Road is the last installment you see if you've played everything in order), because they pushed it two months past the original release, because the game itself as well as the external press so frequently told you that this was going to be the most awesome, coolest thing ever---it's a huge disappointment to me. Maybe just because I was foolish enough to believe the hype, but still.
In short, I don't think there's anything wrong with having a simple environment to pwn some doods in, and as that, Lonesome Road is a fantastic example of a simple environment to go dood-pwning. If I want to pwn some doods in Fallout, Lonesome Road is a fantastic place to go. But it's the exact opposite of what I am looking for for what is the effective finale to the Courier's story.
Future playthroughs, if I play through the Divide at all, I will probably do it as soon as I can (unfortunately that's still not till level 25), plow through it to get some of the interesting gear and ED-E's upgrades, then move on to the more exciting and memorable stuff as soon as I can. As it is I feel like the perks and recipes are the best stuff I got out of Lonesome Road, and I don't tend to buy DLC just for stuff (I didn't bother with GRA and Courier's Whatchamacallit for example).
On another note, ED-E cannot punch Legate Lanius in the face and make him run away like a little girl. Veronica will never be redundant. ;p ((Suffice to say, I had a very entertaining final battle in my game.))
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Don't get me wrong. I love me some Veronica but, by the time I get to the Legate's Camp, I can punch Lanius and make him run away like a little girl. Granted I usually punch him explosives, but I've spent at least one final battle chasing him around after going all Little Mac on his dome.
Anyway, I get what you mean about Lonesome Road. Maybe my expectations weren't as high after all the other DLC. I might have expected more if finishing any of them changed anything about the main quest but, since they don't, I just saw them all as interesting little side quests.
Once I finish this playthrough, I probably won't play New Vegas again for awhile. The crashing and slowdown is just sucking the fun out of it. Also, I picked up the Ico/Shadow of The Colossus Collection and I want to reacquaint myself with that world before The Last Guardian comes out.
Don't get me wrong. I love me some Veronica but, by the time I get to the Legate's Camp, I can punch Lanius and make him run away like a little girl. Granted I usually punch him explosives, but I've spent at least one final battle chasing him around after going all Little Mac on his dome.
Duh, you're the frakking Courier, of course you can. In my game, when the fight triggered, he ran past me and right into Veronica before I had a chance to do anything. Veronica took him down to half HP in one swing. It was one of the fastest and easiest fights in the whole game for me because of that (I keep reading about how tough it was and I'm like, "Really?"). I realize that's not going to happen in every game and of course the whole point is that the Courier is badass so s/he doesn't need ANY companions to take on the big bad. But it still amped up my respect for Ms. Santangelo a whole lot.
Once I finish this playthrough, I probably won't play New Vegas again for awhile. The crashing and slowdown is just sucking the fun out of it.
That's a shame. I haven't had much of that, fortunately. The only place I had a lot of crashing was OWB when you fast traveled (and it's the only place where fast travel does that). I did get some kind of weird slowdown issue with Lonesome Road at first, but that improved after a graphics driver update for my NVidia card came out.
Obsidian is formally done on the project but I've heard rumors J.E. Sawyer is working on a final patch on his own personal time to tweak some final issues, maybe if that does come out it'll help.
Also, I picked up the Ico/Shadow of The Colossus Collection and I want to reacquaint myself with that world before The Last Guardian comes out.
So many games, so little time...
Just started Fallout NV after purchasing my new desktop. I must say it is awesome and the consolidated "game of the year" edition will be out in February. Good times ahead in the Mojave Wastes I reckon.
What are your favorite mods for FO - NV?
BTW, if anyone is interested in the game but haven't gotten F:NV yet, Ultimate Edition is on sale at Steam for $9.99.
Sharoth, I haven't tried any mods yet but I know I plan to install Fellout NV as I loved it for Fallout 3. But that's largely visual.
For something more substantive, I may try JE Sawyer's mod... look it up, it's the lead designer's own unofficial mod to make the game more challenging (and also makes various tweaks that he wanted to make, like adjusting some characters' alignments, etc.).
~grins~ Yea. I saw the Steam special this weekend before I realized that I was out of cash. On the plus side, it was ONLY $10. I was planning on modding the hell out of it and seeing how many mods it would take to crash my (poor) win XP machine. ~looks at it crying in the corner begging for mercy~ I will list what mods I plan on using later on.
How are you doing today, DeathQuaker? Did you have a good weekend?
Cool, let us know what you try.
I'm okay, but the weekend was much too short! On the upside, I bought delicious homemade blueberry pie and had lovely time with friends and saw Moonrise Kingdom which was really good.
And obviously, I'm having trouble concentrating at work today...
The Steam sale is exciting. I will finally pick up a copy of Skyrim, which I hadn't gotten yet.
I will be using a lot of the mods that are discussed over at THIS thread at the Giant in the Playground forums. Some of the mods and how to install them were talked about a lot as well as the faults and virtues of some of them.
Edit - This thread also had some talk about modding.
Both of them are here for me to refer to later. I will be posting my mod list and how I set them up as well as other info, once I get around to doing the mods.
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Oh. Well, that's different. I thought you were saying you're a big meanie who blew my simple dream of a Fallout 4, regardless of who makes it, way out of the water in order to crush my spirit and, somehow, kill a puppy. My mistake, we cool. ^_^Fallout 4 is almost certain to come out; I would guess in early 2014 but that's just a hunch. Signs point to Bethesda Game Studios developing it, and that they've already begun preliminary development.
The only game that's in limbo is Fallout 5 (or any spinoffs, like the iPhone game ID developers have mentioned in passing), because Bethsoft's current legal drama with Interplay goes horrendously against them, they could find themselves in breach of the contract that saw Interplay selling Fallout whole to them and falling back to the contract they had before, which would end after Fallout 4.
Damn that Bloody Mary.
And no, I wasn't swearing.
Oh. Well, that's different. I thought you were saying you're a big meanie who blew my simple dream of a Fallout 4, regardless of who makes it, way out of the water in order to crush my spirit and, somehow, kill a puppy. My mistake, we cool. ^_^Fallout 4 is almost certain to come out; I would guess in early 2014 but that's just a hunch. Signs point to Bethesda Game Studios developing it, and that they've already begun preliminary development.
The only game that's in limbo is Fallout 5 (or any spinoffs, like the iPhone game ID developers have mentioned in passing), because Bethsoft's current legal drama with Interplay goes horrendously against them, they could find themselves in breach of the contract that saw Interplay selling Fallout whole to them and falling back to the contract they had before, which would end after Fallout 4.
Damn that Bloody Mary.
And no, I wasn't swearing.
I don't get the "Bloody Mary" reference but given the settlement between Interplay and Bethesda in January, Bethesda now definitely has all the rights to all the Fallout, so they can make whatever Fallout games they like.
Sadly, my win XP machine barely plays FO - NV at the lowest resolutions. I will just have to wait until I can afford a better computer.
Apolyton.net has a FO - NV thread and they also talk about mods.
Note - This is more for my future reference, but I do hope that someone gets some use out of it.
Sadly, my win XP machine barely plays FO - NV at the lowest resolutions. I will just have to wait until I can afford a better computer.
Aw, that sucks. When you have the money, iBuyPower does fairly good work, in my personal experience.
Thanks Deathquaker. I would have already had a new computer, but I decided to get a new wife instead. ~sighs~ The new computer would have been cheaper. ~GRINS~
Another thread about modding FO - NV over at the GitP site.
Those are expensive, I hear.
In other news, I randomly decided to model my character in Skyrim (I just got it at the Steam sale) after Christine Royce in Dead Money. I mean, if she's gonna get a new voice, why not one that SHOUTS?
Sorry for the thread necro... I've been replaying F:NV and felt the urge to babble about it, and I figured here was as good as anywhere. Some spoilers follow, but it's been 2 years.
Taking note of my post above, the new Courier I built was a strong dark haired lady named Lydia. Much of her build is devoted to her carrying as much crap as possible. Also, will never take the perk that keeps you from accidentally stepping on traps and mines, no matter how tempting. ;)
In seriousness, she's largely a melee expert, other tag skills being Barter and... Repair, I think. Also have built up Survival a bit, and enough on energy weapons for when I have to hit something from far away. Previous character was a suave bandito of the future (Speech, Stealth, Guns/Energy Weapons focusing on pistols, and quite charismatic and smart), so going for more practicality and brute force on this run.
I installed some of the "New Vegas Uncut" mods, which puts in content originally cut from the game, including the rather massive Freeside Open mod which makes Freeside a lot more full of people, fixes some Freeside quests, and makes the Mormon camp part of the whole Freeside area, not a separate location. Also installed Fellout NV for a minor aesthetic adjustment (it doesn't change much, only nights get much darker) and a PIP-boy light enhancer (needed for the darker nights).
I've heard a lot of people complain that the game "railroads you" into going south/east out of Goodsprings. It is true, the narrative points you in those directions, and it is also true, that if you go north and you are not careful, you can easily get yourself killed. Meta-narratively, it makes sense for why it's hard for people to get to New Vegas because they can't head straight north from U.S. Route 95 (I think that's the road) which adds to some supply line issues described in game (everyone is instead forced to go up I-15). And Meta-narratively, it actually keeps you from getting too deeply into the main plotline too quickly, as you can end up triggering a crapton of stuff once you get to the Vegas Strip, which may discourage you from wandering around a bit and exploring.
However, having already played through the game in its entirety once (and a few more unfinished playthroughs) and aware of what I was walking into, I decided to go north from Goodsprings. It's actually quite easy. If you play through the Goodsprings area thoroughly, you should have a couple Stealth Boys by the time you finish. I used one to get past the cazadores nesting around the canyon around U.S. 95 and the other to get past the heavily armed Viper gang in Bonnie Springs. I could probably also have gone around Bonnie Springs a different way and not needed to use the 2nd Stealth Boy, that's just what I decided to do. A more more Stealth and/or guns/explosives-optimized character could probably have even taken out a bunch of the Vipers from a distance and gotten some good gear early on, but I wasn't quite ready for them. I kept close to the rocks till I passed the Vipers safely and then headed into Red Rock Canyon to chat friendly-like with the Khans, get some food and chems and borrow a bed for the night.
Headed toward South Vegas, careful not to alert too many Fiends who were around the area. I could take down one or two but I was around level 2-3 so couldn't handle a bunch of them. Fiends are fairly well armed (but not too brokenly) so I could gear myself up a bit. Went and looted the Sunset Sarsaparilla factory of most of its soda; turns out if you're good, you can actually stab a robot to death with a combat knife.
Not going to go in depth from there, but went to Camp McCarran and did some of their stuff; it's a LOT harder to take on the Fiend quests when you're low level, but doable. Then hit Freeside and made me a favorite citizen of that establishment, along with some Crimson Caravan quests for good measure. After I got enough caps I went into the Strip, mostly to get into the Lucky 38 so I had a place to drop all my stuff, and also to give all the Vault suits I found in Vault 3 to Sarah Weintraub in Vault 21.
Took on Rex's quest (my first companion; Arcade wasn't impressed with my lack of eloquence), the trip to Jacobstown was nowhere near as dangerous as I remembered it to be. Got there just fine, grabbed Lily, did the quests there. Found the unique Super Sledge up that way -- now I was a 10th level or so character with possibly I think a brokenly powerful melee weapon for my level, but ah well. (I have since bludgeoned a deathclaw to death with it. I think I technically my limbs were all pulp by the time I killed it, but I was alive and it wasn't.)
Then did Black Mountain to get Raul. He's one who it is hard to trigger his quest points for so I thought I'd get him early. Then headed down south to Novac, Primm, and Mojave Outpost (Crimson Caravan sent me there) and did those related quests, as well as Nipton. Vulpes Inculta got a up front taste of Oh Baby! the Sledge. He did not survive. I hung his dead, mutilated corpse over the "Welcome to Nipton" sign.
Then since Johnson Nash told me in Primm about that other Courier who set me up to take the Platinum Chip, I decided I'd go to this Divide to see what this asshat is about, leaving everyone behind to go on the Lonesome Road.
Lonesome Road is the boring monty haul dungeon crawl slog I remember it to be, and Ulysses' ranting is even more tiresome than the first time, sadly, but that's also why I'm doing that DLC first. I just want to get the nice loot from the area and get out of there (also, I can upgrade Ed-E and benefit from that through most of game, which is nice). LR is where I was fighting deathclaws. Did I mention I entered Lonesome Road at level 15 rather than the recommended level 25? The deathclaws have caused a lot of game reloads. Apart from them, I'm actually handling it okay, though.
Apart from the tedium of Lonesome Road, though (and even it has its moments), I'm really having fun with the playthrough. I'm rediscovering stuff that I'd forgotten and finding a lot of areas I didn't find or forgot about the first time. Enjoying chatting with people and relearning the different societies and politics of the retro-future Mojave. Helping NCR right now, but probably will aim for a Yes-Man ending. It's also nice to start on a fresh playthrough with all the DLC available because there's more crafting recipes and stuff.
Only complaint besides LR is it is waaay too easy to gain good karma (most of what I have I gained from killing Fiends and feral ghouls), easier than I even remember. I think the JE Sawyer mod fixes that, but my current install doesn't have GRA and Courier's Stash, which it requires. Fortuitously, I have now a copy of Ultimate Edition which includes those via the kindness of awesome people, but I had already started this playthrough before I got UE, so I think I'll stick with this install for now and do the Sawyer mod another time.
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I still revisit New Vegas on occasion. The last character I made sounds similar to what you're doing except I opted to use only melee, unarmed and thrown melee weapons. No guns, no explosives, no energy weapons other than the flamer and arc welder. I decided the flamer and welder were close enough to melee weapons due to their limited range, but I still didn't use them much since they kind of suck.
Bunny Lajolla was a dumb-as-dirt, nearly blind, misanthrope with incredible physical prowess and luck. I tagged Unarmed, Melee and Barter (because I knew she was going to be breaking alot of equipment and I wanted the Long Haul perk as early as possible.) I only got about 7 skill points a level so most of her skills were awful, and I put nothing into Science or Lockpick so I couldn't unlock any doors with a difficulty higher than Very Easy.
I used a Blade of the West through most of Lonesome Road and, combining that with the Knockdown perk and a fistful of Med-X, Psycho and Buffout, I handily defeated the Deathclaws. The beasts were too busy falling on their butts to mount a counter-offensive. I killed Ulysses with one powerful chop after eating more drugs and then nuked both the Long 15 and Dry Wells, earning the undying hatred of both the NCR and the Legion. When I went into Lonesome Road, I hadn't yet earned any Reputation with Yes Man, House, NCR or the Legion so I got the Independent "Blackjack" Courier Duster.
For followers, I took Lily, Raul, Arcade, ED-E and Rex then I pushed them toward insanity and blood-soaked violence. I convinced Lily to stop taking her medication so she went crazy, Raul returned to life as an avenging angel of death and Arcade joined the Enclave vets to assault the dam. Rex got Violet's Turbo-laced junkie brain and ED-E was told not to stop the missiles from Lonesome Road.
Raul was my first follower. After wearing out several suits of armor and dozens of weapons, I figured I could use his Regular Maintenance ability so I stormed Black Mountain with a Rebar Club.
Arcade was really easy to hire. Since Bunny had an INT of 1, I was able to convince the good doctor she needed adult supervision after just a few lines of dialog. The doctor at the NV Medical Clinic offered to sell Bunny the INT-boosting implant at a reduced cost since she was so dumb and really needed it, but I turned down the offer.
In Old World Blues, I let my brain stay in Big Mountain because I figured Bunny didn't really need it. Due to her super low INT, the dialog between Bunny and the brain was really funny.
In the end, Bunny partnered with Yes Man. The NCR and Legion wouldn't have me after I nuked their towns and stabbed Caesar in the face, and I beat House to death with a golf club because he was a nerd who thought he was so smart. I batted Legate Lanius off the hill in his camp using the power of drugs and a Nuka Breaker and told Yes Man to punt General Oliver off the dam for being a meanie.
That sounds like fun, Velcro Zipper. My char's not so crazed but it is a joy to bludgeon things to death?
I do want to do a really dumb (Int 1) run (my char's at Int 4 and I'm tempted to raise it to 5 to get her the ability that halves weight 1 weapons since this is in part a crafter's run). Not sure what I'd do for mine in terms of other skills.
I also like the idea of largely cold weapons only... kind of a tribal build.
I also want to do a pacifist run at some point.
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I did a pacifist Courier before all the DLC came out, but haven't done one since. I've thought about it. The DLCs would definitely provide new challenges to remaining non-hostile. Come to think of it, I don't think you can complete Honest Hearts without hurting some things. You could run or sneak past all the White Legs, but you still have to complete the mission to take out the Yao Guai for the Sorrows. Realistically, using the explosives to collapse the cave is still going to subject some bears to starvation and death when the rocks come falling down and either trap or crush them.
When I did it, I made my Courier an old Asian man named Tao. He had tagged Medicine, Speech and Sneak to start, and I usually had no real armor. He mostly ran around in one of those Brahmin-Skin Outfits and owned a set of Roving Trader gear for trading. My only "weapon" was a pair of binoculars.
I managed to get through the whole game without killing a single thing, and I kept my followers from killing things too by only fast traveling with them. It was actually a lot of fun.
It's a shame yao guai aren't affected by animal friend in FNV. Seems like there could be another way, but I just cheated and checked the walkthrough and you're right, you just kill them one way or the other.
Lonesome Road is also an issue, come to think of it. You can't progress unless you set off the nuke in Ashton, and it's implied you do kill people by doing so (if you go into the Courier's Mile, there's dust outlines of bodies incinerated by the blast). Plus a lot of times there are Marked Men hanging out near warheads that you need to blow up to proceed, so you can accidentally kill them very easily. But then, the pacifist I'd imagine probably wouldn't let themselves be easily be baited by Ulysses. But it means you couldn't complete every DLC story.
That's the challenge of pacifism though--real nonviolent action is acting, not simply avoiding, but acting in a way that does no physical harm (psych warfare is not off the table--in fact a lot of nonviolence IS a form of psych warfare). Most video games don't give you an option of finding nonviolent routes to things, save for Speech opportunities. (But you can't, say, reprogram the Ashton missile silo, or blockade enemies from you without hurting them.) Sure, in a situation where there are bloodthirsty killers who can't be reasoned with, all you really can do are sneak and run, but there isn't a lot of room for creative problem solving--limitation of the tech is all. You hit a point where you have to kill x to progress, if that's how it's programmed, then it's stop playing or break your conduct, even if IRL maybe you could think of another way around.
I was thinking of using the same tag skills though (though it'd be similar to my stealthy thiefy character). My char would be a wasteland doctor named Lucretia.
Did your pacifist aid NCR or...?
A slightly easier challenge would be a no-lethal-damage character--someone who uses only weapons that do fatigue damage and stuff, but they still couldn't do Ashton in LR or the yao guai in HH.
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Tao, my pacifist Courier, worked toward an independent Vegas. It's been awhile, and I don't remember my specific reason for it. I know you can convince the Brotherhood and the NCR to come to terms instead of blowing the bunker but, IIRC, I came to the conclusion helping the NCR was the same as becoming an accomplice to their war effort, which meant being partially responsible for the lives of the Legion and NCR soldiers and, ultimately, hurting the natives of the Mojave.
I figured the NCR's steamroller method of expansion would end up getting a lot of people killed or displaced from their homes as NCR interests claimed the territory. An independent Vegas run my Dalai Lama of the Wasteland and Yes Man seemed to be the least damaging future for all sides.
I ended up disabling House's control of the Lucky 38 systems when he asked me to destroy the BoS bunker. I really don't think trapping the old man in his steel coffin is the most humane solution but, given the alternatives, it's the only option that doesn't wind up with someone dead.
I think I would allow for killing House in the most humane fashion possible less-harm-doing than letting him die a slow death, but then we get into philosophical differences between the simplicity of a zero-kills run and doing a run where you're trying to "do the least harm."