Welcome to New Vegas (first impressions)
Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 7:01 pm
Alright, gonna post my first impressions and edit the post as I go as a sort of running first impression. Others are free to join in.
-The dialog is the first thing that stands out, both in writing and performance.
-Wayne Newton beats Three Dog up and down the block as a DJ.
-Once ole Wayne and the music tracks start repeating themselves, turn off your pipboy radio as the ambient music is fantastic. The news post on the layered soundtrack was no bullshit, also there is more Mark Morgan than you'd expect.
-So far the most important "new feature" of Fallout: New Vegas is nuance. They finessed the Holy Guacamole out of this game in terms of writing and level design.
-You die MUCH easier, even in VATS. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I'm playing a "sneak or die" Melee character with 1 Endurance in Hardcore mode and don't have enough points in Sneak yet to accommodate, but I've died quite a bit thus far and most of those times were in VATS.
-Overall there is substantially less hand holding. I didn't encounter an NPC that could repair items til about 6 hours into the game, forcing me to scavenge and alternate weapons a lot early on. Also, if you kill Doc Mitchell, guess what? He was THE doctor for quite awhile, and healing limbs is a bitch.
-You will be crippled a lot. You will be radiated a lot (RadAway and Rad X are scarce).
-Hardcore mode is genuinely fun and makes it feel like a proper Fallout game.
-This game has a feel unique to the series. It feels "more like Fallout", but at the same time it is ballsy enough to carve out it's own niche.
-Just because an animal detects you, does not mean it will charge you. I've had several "aggressive" animals detect me, but would not attack until I encroached too closely on their territory.
-Have yet to see a single generic "raider", though I have encountered several different gangs, each with a unique gang name.
-Animals are no longer bullet sponges. Some can take a few licks, but in most cases (Golden Geckos, Cazadors) they instead move VERY quickly and do outrageously high damage. You can kill them quick, but if you aren't careful they can kill you much quicker.
-The geography of the map is far more intentional and influences gameplay in interesting ways. Where a location is and why seems to be a question that was very deliberately toiled over in creating the game world.
-Settlements are FAR more interesting and the layout is far more conscientious. Instead of towns like Girdershade that looked like they could be overrun by a small band of Little Lamplight outcasts, each town is designed and fortified in a way that looks as if they are expecting the entire Master's Army to come knocking at any moment. This is especially evident when you get to Novac.
That is all you dickheads get for now, I'm missing valuable play time...
-The dialog is the first thing that stands out, both in writing and performance.
-Wayne Newton beats Three Dog up and down the block as a DJ.
-Once ole Wayne and the music tracks start repeating themselves, turn off your pipboy radio as the ambient music is fantastic. The news post on the layered soundtrack was no bullshit, also there is more Mark Morgan than you'd expect.
-So far the most important "new feature" of Fallout: New Vegas is nuance. They finessed the Holy Guacamole out of this game in terms of writing and level design.
-You die MUCH easier, even in VATS. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I'm playing a "sneak or die" Melee character with 1 Endurance in Hardcore mode and don't have enough points in Sneak yet to accommodate, but I've died quite a bit thus far and most of those times were in VATS.
-Overall there is substantially less hand holding. I didn't encounter an NPC that could repair items til about 6 hours into the game, forcing me to scavenge and alternate weapons a lot early on. Also, if you kill Doc Mitchell, guess what? He was THE doctor for quite awhile, and healing limbs is a bitch.
-You will be crippled a lot. You will be radiated a lot (RadAway and Rad X are scarce).
-Hardcore mode is genuinely fun and makes it feel like a proper Fallout game.
-This game has a feel unique to the series. It feels "more like Fallout", but at the same time it is ballsy enough to carve out it's own niche.
-Just because an animal detects you, does not mean it will charge you. I've had several "aggressive" animals detect me, but would not attack until I encroached too closely on their territory.
-Have yet to see a single generic "raider", though I have encountered several different gangs, each with a unique gang name.
-Animals are no longer bullet sponges. Some can take a few licks, but in most cases (Golden Geckos, Cazadors) they instead move VERY quickly and do outrageously high damage. You can kill them quick, but if you aren't careful they can kill you much quicker.
-The geography of the map is far more intentional and influences gameplay in interesting ways. Where a location is and why seems to be a question that was very deliberately toiled over in creating the game world.
-Settlements are FAR more interesting and the layout is far more conscientious. Instead of towns like Girdershade that looked like they could be overrun by a small band of Little Lamplight outcasts, each town is designed and fortified in a way that looks as if they are expecting the entire Master's Army to come knocking at any moment. This is especially evident when you get to Novac.
That is all you dickheads get for now, I'm missing valuable play time...
