I will, she sounds fun.
Veronica is cool.
Cass is better.Lily's writing is an apotheosis of the (super)human spirit.
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I still went with wild wasteland and hoarder for traits, I looked at the others, but I liked these best.
Good! Wild Wasteland is fantastic, opens up a lot of scenes, and it does actually grant you access to some uniquely powerful gear, like items you might need should you come across something as powerful as a very savage rabbit...
I also disagree with the advice upthread to dump Charisma. IMO, FNV is hands down a game you play for story, and you cannot get through certain conversations without high Speech, which a high Cha will set higher. Some dialogue checks specifically require a good Charisma, NOT a good Speech score. There's also a companion you can't get until late unless you have a high Cha (or very very low Int), and Charisma affects companion "nerve," -- i.e., their damage and armor increases by 5% per ability score -- so if you plan to play with companions, you want a decent Cha so your companions will fight better. I played a 10 Cha game where the nerdiest, least combattiest companion was one shotting certain enemies with his default plasma pistol. This is a game that plays fantastically if you can talk your way through certain things. (Again IMO.)
SPECIAL matters... but it doesn't MATTER like it does in Fallout 4. What matters are skills, and if you play smart (literally and also having a high Intelligence score helps, slightly contradictorily from what I just said) you can fill out your skills and do pretty well.
All of the companions have amazing stories. My personal favorite is Veronica but all of them are worth it (also, you don't need Veronica to access the Brotherhood, but if she's not with you they can force you to do a quest for them first). If you want access to the best armor in the game, make sure you spend a lot of time with Arcade. (Of course, I then just put that armor on Veronica, but still.) Arcade and Raoul have some of the hardest conversations to trigger. Cass's personal quest is probably the easiest, as it unlocks right away once you get her, if somewhat time consuming. Boone is a great combatant but least interesting to talk to, IMO. He's sort of your generic broody loner war hero type, and I find that boring.
If you want to go from Goodsprings to New Vegas a shorter way around, you can find a path through the hills just west of the road that leads north. You might need a Stealth Boy (2 of which are available right in Goodsprings) to help you sneak past the cazadores if your Stealth is low, but you can sneak past them and the well armed Vipers near by, drop down into the plains, head to the park where the Longhorns are grazing, fighting some mantises there. You can then get to Red Rock canyon safely to unlock its fast travel point, and then from there carefully approach New Vegas (being wary of Fiends along the way--easily killable, but you don't want them to chuck grenades at you before you see them). I point this out because stupid people b@$$& you "can't" head to New Vegas from the game start fast enough because there's a lot of strong monsters between Goodsprings and NV, but you can do so--you just have to be clever and careful. They made it possible, but wanted NV to be tough, so taking the scenic route increases the difficulty gradually whereas beelining there shoves you into the fire right away. The scenic route also grants access to certain companions, gear, opportunities, and info. Note if you ignore the main quest but then actually enter New Vegas, there are encounters you might find that skips ahead on the main quest (which is by design) so be aware of that when you get there. Maybe it wasn't the best area design but it works for me.
Final advice: do heed the level recommendations for taking on the DLCs. They can be pretty rough. I did do Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road pretty early... HH is not too bad (save for the battle with She) but Lonesome Road you need luck, stealth, or cleverness to deal with some of the very tough enemies there. Old World Blues is effing AMAZING, but challenging, so heed the level requirement. Dead Money works way better with higher skills in most things.
I get the feeling Bethesda is not a fan of big governments.
Minor nitpick, but the devs of Fallout New Vegas is Obsidian, and the design team included many people who worked on Fallout 1 and 2, as well as development on the unpublished, uncompleted "Van Buren" (what was originally to be Fallout 3 -- FNV includes a lot of concepts originally developed for Van Buren). They are carrying on the themes about government (its good points and its ills) that you also see in those games. Much of F1, 2, and NV follow the rise of the NCR (it doesn't exist in the first game but the events in the game lead to its formation).
Ronnie has more personality than Cass...and a Power Fist as her default weapon! And she can wear Brotherhood faction power armor. Cass is just a drunk, and a pain to recruit.
Lily is...well, yeah, awful, but her perk is great.
I like Raul.
Intelligence will get you more speech, barter and the like than charisma. Its poor game design, but it's true. Int gives you points per level. If you have high int and 1 charisma you will get 100 in every speech skill in no time...certainly faster than with mediocre scores in both. This isn't Fallout 4; charisma isn't required for speech. All charisma does is gives your minions a very minor power buff. Even with max charisma, companions are little more than meat shields, pack mules, and a free unique perk. Raul's perk is awesome.
Interesting Van Buren factoid, SKR actually designed Detroit for that game, which is where Rex is from.
By SKR, do you mean the one that worked for Paizo?
Do I really need tag-alongs, I prefer to rampage solo.
First off, it's before 2pm, what are you doing awake, Rynjin?!
Second off, Detroit is terrifying today. I can't imagine a post apocalyptic Detroit, because it kinda already is a localized apocalypse.
Do I really need tag-alongs, I prefer to rampage solo.
Well, Veronica is a portable workbench if you like crafting, and they all give you perks and such, and function as mules, but no, they're not necessary.
Unlike in Fallout 3, though, you get experience for their kills, so there's no downside.
Also, every companion has at least one quest. ED-E can eventually become a portable workbench, reloading bench and will start cranking out energy weapon ammunition at random.
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By SKR, do you mean the one that worked for Paizo?
Yep.
@GTG: New place, new schedule. Probably won't be on this early as much, but maybe earlier than before.
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Do I really need tag-alongs, I prefer to rampage solo.
It's Fallout... you don't "need" to do anything you don't want to, but all of the companions are amazing and have cool stories. Their dialogue reactions to things are also fun and help the world come alive. The perks they can grant you can also be useful.
This is an Obsidian game: what they do well is story and relationships. For me, personally, the companions are a huge factor in that--and they're also what makes the game very replayble for me (especially since you can influence them down a variety of different paths). In my personal opinion, if you leave them behind you lose out on huge, wonderful parts of the game.
If you're not into those things (story and relationships) ... honestly, my advice would be find another game to play. If you just want to run around slaughtering s#@! then there are many, many other games that do that way better. YMMV of course. If you want to slaughter s*+* specifically in the post-apocalyptic Mojave desert, then sure, NV can give that experience to you, but you'll miss out on a lot of the game's potential, IMO.
Disclaimer: I am the kind of person who plays RPGs strongly prioritizing dialogue and story above and beyond, secondarily prioritize exploration, and thirdly prioritize stealth and trying to get into and around things sneakily and cleverly. Combat is on the very bottom of my priority list, and I tend to barrel through combats as quickly as possible as I see them largely as (mildly satisfying, mind) speedbumps that keep the story from happening too fast. Don't get me wrong: I DO actually enjoy the combats--it is beautifully satisfying to bash a deathclaw's skull in with a mere couple swings of a unique super-sledge--but what makes these games truly memorable for me is anything but the fights. So that's where my perspective comes from, and if your playstyle is dramatically different, then the stuff I have to say should come with giant grains of salt. I will also note that Fallout: New Vegas is my most favorite RPG ever (even over games like Planescape: Torment) so it caters to my playstyle really well---and it may not so well to other styles.
But on a combat/mechanical note regarding companions.... to date, the Fallout New Vegas companions have the best companion combat AI of any Fallout game, Fallout 4 included (please note "best combat AI of any Fallout game" does not mean the combat AI is actually good (it's not), it's just better than any other Fallout game), largely because you can tweak their distance, aggressiveness, and whether they use melee or ranged.
And on that note, if you want to travel with someone for the quests/dialogues/perks, but want to keep them out of your way for combat specifically, give them a pistol, set their AI to "ranged," their aggressiveness to "peaceful," and set their following distance to "far." They will defend themselves if folks come in range but you'll probably get to do the lion's share of the fighting.
Well, Veronica is a portable workbench if you like crafting,
She can also get a bonus combat perk from one of the DLCs, to make up for the fact that ED-E can also become unlocked as a mobile workbench.
Unlike in Fallout 3, though, you get experience for their kills, so there's no downside.
You have to be sure hardcore mode is turned on so they are killable, however. (I miss hardcore mode. Not because I want to kill my companions, but I liked what it added to the game, and I liked that it was my choice to turn on.)
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PS: Old World Blues and Lonesome Road largely take your companions from you (Lonesome Road gives you sort of one of your companions, but he can come and go; OWB gives you sort of a non-human companion that in my case got killed as soon as I got her), so they give you a break from them. Dead Money you can travel with the companions it gives you or you can ignore them or at certain points murder them horribly (once you get to a certain point) with interesting plot consequences in either case. Honest Hearts is the exception---provided you're not just murderhoboing through the area, it's best to travel with one of the two companions you're given as it's easy to get lost in Zion and they act as guides.
I'm the very definition of casual video gamer, but I'm not really into just shooting everything, if I did I'd just get Halo [insert version here] or Battlefield 4 :-D
Fair enough, I'll try the minions, mostly my ambivalence is due to not wanting to get other people killed, I use a lot of explosives (maybe even to a fault:-D).
It was a lot of fun in 3 having back up in Mothership Zeta (or whatever).
By SKR, do you mean the one that worked for Paizo?Yep.
@GTG: New place, new schedule. Probably won't be on this early as much, but maybe earlier than before.
Glad to see you've joined us morning dwellers Rynjin. :-)
I'm the very definition of casual video gamer, but I'm not really into just shooting everything, if I did I'd just get Halo [insert version here] or Battlefield 4 :-D
Fair enough, I'll try the minions, mostly my ambivalence is due to not wanting to get other people killed, I use a lot of explosives (maybe even to a fault:-D).
It was a lot of fun in 3 having back up in Mothership Zeta (or whatever).
Like I said, if hardcore is turned off they don't die. Ever.
It's also the maintenance, having to hand off guns and ammo, but it's not much an issue in New Vegas, especially in Ultimate Edition everyone's packing heat.
I'll give it a go, I'm all about getting the most out of my games.
All great advice, really. :-)
Have you encountered people losing their s*it when you toss explosives in VATS yet? Still easily my favorite reason to play a bomber.
That, and Red Glare. Red Glare is what happiness and dreams are made of.
Haven't seen any cazadores yet, tho I'm developing a nice healthy hatred of Nightrippers, g&&$+#n invisible a!~$@%@ f@*$ers! If you're going to be invisible all the damn time, at least have the decency of carrying loot!
Not sure what to do with the situation under the rocket factory, on the one hand, I can appreciate a dude that talks to skulls, on the other, I'm pretty sure he's just trying to find a chump to take out the ghouls and get all the Stealthboys.
Boone, Raul, and Cass shouldn't need any weapon swapping. Their basic weaponry (which doesn't degrade and needs no ammo from you) is pretty good. Raul may benefit from getting a Ranger Sequoia later on. They get a Scoped Hunting Rifle, a .44 Revolver, and a Caravan Shotgun respectively.
Veronica and Lucy are unarmed and melee specced respectively (Power Fist and a Vertiberd Propeller Sword that IIRC is just a Bumper Sword). Give them whatever is better than theirs, and forget about it until you find something even better you don't want yourself. I like Pushy for Veronica and Oh, Baby! for Lucy.
Arcade needs guns and ammo, since all he gets is a rinky dink Plasma Pistol. He's also a big ninny boy scout and if you do his companion quest you lose him forever after the main storyline is complete, so I never bother with him.
Have you encountered people losing their s*it when you toss explosives in VATS yet? Still easily my favorite reason to play a bomber.
That, and Red Glare. Red Glare is what happiness and dreams are made of.
Yes! Great fun! Especially Barton Thorn saying he's gonna kill me one minute and then I pull out my grenade rifle and fire and he's like "Oh, s@~+!" And tries running away with a crippled leg.
Lol! I love explosives in Fallout games.
I'm having a great time, my biggest gripe so far would be not enough time to play.
Veronica and Lucy are unarmed and melee specced respectively (Power Fist and a Vertiberd Propeller Sword that IIRC is just a Bumper Sword). Give them whatever is better than theirs, and forget about it until you find something even better you don't want yourself. I like Pushy for Veronica and Oh, Baby! for Lucy.
Lily. And Oh, Baby! is a beautiful, beautiful weapon.
I like a superheated Saturnite fist for Veronica. She used it to drop Legate Lanius from full HP to about 10 in one blow.
Arcade needs guns and ammo, since all he gets is a rinky dink Plasma Pistol.
I've seen him one-shot Fiends with that "rinky dink" pistol so I wouldn't write him off.
He's also a big ninny boy scout and if you do his companion quest you lose him forever after the main storyline is complete, so I never bother with him.
A, so you never get the best power armor in the game?
B, the game hard-ends after the main storyline is complete--you can't keep playing after you fight the final battle, so I'm not sure what you mean. And I don't recall any event in my playthroughs where Arcade leaves you otherwise. Maybe if you make certain choices during his plotline he leaves but that didn't happen to me.
On explosives, I last played an explosives build and had great fun. I didn't have as much luck with Red Glare though--but I think the problem was that I was playing the JE Sawyer mod where ammo is heavier, and the rockets were weighing me down too much. (REALLY easy to get encumbered in Lonesome Road. There's about a billion times as much loot as you can carry and little options to offload it whilst in the midst of that adventure.)
In order:
You can one s%!# a Fiend ir any other Raider with basically anything. Humans are squishy.
I never wear Power Armor, so that never mattered.
And yes, after finishing For Auld Lang Syne, he becomes non-recruitable. Whether you have him fight with the Remnants or not.
Maybe you have a mod that changes that? Or used the exploit.
Rynjin is right Arcade can't be recruited back into your party after you complete For Auld Lang Syne
My special (i restarted it and just got done freeing deputy dimwit and clearing out the building he was in).
S - 6
P - 7
E - 6
C - 4
I - 5
A - 7
L - 6
Still can't resist wild wasteland and hoarder, also took intense training at 2nd level.
So with levels going up to 50, you get perks every other level, it would seem.
Rynjin is right Arcade can't be recruited back into your party after you complete For Auld Lang Syne
Huh. I think what happened for me is I finished Auld Lang Syne and then went immediately from there to the final battle (with Veronica in tow [in Arcade's armor, no less]) so it didn't matter whether I could recruit Arcade or not.
What I'm getting at is the game ENDS after the final battle -- you get your ending slides and then the game goes back to the main menu and you cannot play that play through anymore unless you reload your last save and don't fight the final battle -- so the fact that I couldn't recruit him didn't mean anything to me. You can't recruit anyone, the game is over!
If you mod it so you can keep playing after the final battle, THEN that becomes an issue, but then you're playing in a way the devs did not intend. Otherwise, you CAN effectively have Arcade until and even during the endgame if you want him to be there... just don't finish Auld Lang Syne until just before the final battle.
I still think he's worth befriending and playing through his story as getting the
help he can provide you as well as the tech (even if all you do is give it to other companions) is useful in the endgame, plus his story is a good one (same for all the companions--I personally find they have a good story to play through). YMMV of course.
Found the drive-in, didn't check out the downed satellite tho, I figured 4th level is probably too soon.
Found the drive-in, didn't check out the downed satellite tho, I figured 4th level is probably too soon.
I think even if you clicked on it, it asks you if you're ready to go into the DLC, so you can say no. :)
You must have passed through Nipton, then? (I think that's the name of the town.) What did you do there?
Blew the f&@#ers up! My Quaker hippy upbringing won't allow me to deal with slaving a+%&%#!s, even fictional ones.
Plus it's a lot of fun.
And the cowboy repeaters they carry are great weapons with cheap ammo!
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Yeah, I was getting low, was.
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Blew the f&@*ers up! My Quaker hippy upbringing won't allow me to deal with slaving a!#@@!#s, even fictional ones.
Didn't know you were a Quaker too, cap'n!
I too enjoy the release of blowing up Legionnaires. :)
And yes, they have good loot!
Aren't you Quaker folks pacifist? Isn't that what you're most famous for, you know, after the hats and oatmeal?
That was before the war, war changes everything.
Besides, what happens in New Vegas, stays in New Vegas. :-D
And the next fight I get into will be my first, I'm too old to fight.
Aren't you Quaker folks pacifist? Isn't that what you're most famous for, you know, after the hats and oatmeal?
We also settled Pennsylvania and founded Philadelphia, remember that the next time you chuck batteries at the players during an Eagles game.
Saw a couple legion recruits hiding behind a billboard, so I was all cocky and walked up and started shooting, turns out there were another 4 legion a&&$$#&s in the ditch on the other side of the road.
This is after I used up the last of my 40 mm grenades on the viper gunslingers at an ruined farm, I've been crippled so much! How does anyone survive with a small frame, I don't even have one and I'm still getting crippled, by a mole rat even!.
I also found the Searchlight camp, I'm not prepared to deal with irradiated zombies right now tho, so I took their advice and turned around.
Stopped when I got to Novak.
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Novac is a good home base. Buy a room. You can store stuff there (it never disappears), fast travel easily, use it as a home until Vegas.
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Aren't you Quaker folks pacifist? Isn't that what you're most famous for, you know, after the hats and oatmeal?
I kill pixels so I don't want to kill people in real life.
See also: screenname.
On topic: I agree with thegreenteagamer, Novac is a very good home base--you only have to pay for it once. The crafting benches in the nearby gas station are also handy. Even after New Vegas I like using it--while you get a home base there, it requires a few loading screens to get to, and the room you can get in Freeside isn't near any crafting benches.
There's also an abandoned farm I think south of Novac that's really useful--although deathclaws can spawn near it, so you have to be careful. AFAIR the containers in that place are safe.
Rynjin is right Arcade can't be recruited back into your party after you complete For Auld Lang SyneHuh. I think what happened for me is I finished Auld Lang Syne and then went immediately from there to the final battle (with Veronica in tow [in Arcade's armor, no less]) so it didn't matter whether I could recruit Arcade or not.
What I'm getting at is the game ENDS after the final battle -- you get your ending slides and then the game goes back to the main menu and you cannot play that play through anymore unless you reload your last save and don't fight the final battle -- so the fact that I couldn't recruit him didn't mean anything to me. You can't recruit anyone, the game is over!
If you mod it so you can keep playing after the final battle, THEN that becomes an issue, but then you're playing in a way the devs did not intend. Otherwise, you CAN effectively have Arcade until and even during the endgame if you want him to be there... just don't finish Auld Lang Syne until just before the final battle.
I still think he's worth befriending and playing through his story as getting the
** spoiler omitted **
help he can provide you as well as the tech (even if all you do is give it to other companions) is useful in the endgame, plus his story is a good one (same for all the companions--I personally find they have a good story to play through). YMMV of course.
Part of the issue is the other companions are just as interesting (I love Raul's story) and get a sweet upgrade after you finish their quest. You're rewarded for caring about their story with a better companion, and often new dialogue as you travel.
...In Arcade's case, you're rewarded for caring by him disappearing from the game. And a suit of armor I never wear because I prefer the Medium armors over Heavy.
Light armor for me = Light Touch = I AM A CRIT OBSESSED LASER TOTING MADMAN!
I have the mercenary medium armor, I don't like to die, so I tend to go with heavier armor.
I have the mercenary medium armor, I don't like to die, so I tend to go with heavier armor.
Take Veronica east of the prison, past a bunch of scorpions to the bunker to find the brotherhood.
Do quests for elder. Do quest for head paladin as soon as it is available to out the elder. Join brotherhood. Buy power armor.
You're welcome.
As part of doing the brotherhood quests, you'll meet the Boomers, who have grenade machinegun.
You pretty much need Veronica for it, because she's brotherhood and will circumvent their security.
Then tonight I search for Veronica, she better be hot.
Well, yeah, but she doesn't swing your way. If you're looking for romance, I think Cass and Arcade are the two a man can pick up.
So, you're saying there's a chance!