Something I never understood is why NPCs don't have immunities to certain weapon/ammo types. Give me a reason to carry an energy weapon, or an explosive weapon, or something that lights guys on fire...

There are already different ammo types. AP rounds are more effective against armored enemies while HP rounds are more effective against unarmored. EMP weapons are more effective against robots.

There are some mods I would recommend if I remembered what they were... that increase the difficulty in better ways than what "very hard" does which (iirc) is a flat 1/6th damage going out and 6x damage coming in. Survival mods that make wandering out in the wastelands without the proper supplies an actual dangerous thing to do.

On Very Hard, enemies take 50% damage and the player takes 200% damage. You're right, though, in that those two things alone don't make the game hard enough. There are a bunch of mods I use to make the game feel more like a genuine fight for survival. Increased needs accumulation rates, decreased backpedaling speed, significantly decreased ammo, chems and caps in loot containers, significantly raised merchant prices, nerfed companions who actually consume ammo, slowed leveling rates, etc.

I highly recommend this guy's mods if you want a similar experience: http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35015 . Note that those mods are catered towards a more realistic playstyle (stealth and sniping). If you like using heavy weapons, you'll probably run out of ammo and money pretty quickly.

Josh Sawyer also released his own balancing mod, which isn't quite as hardcore as PMC's but still a boost over the vanilla balancing: http://twofoldsilence.diogenes-lamp.info/2012/09/jsawyeresp-v51.html

There are some mods I would recommend if I remembered what they were... that increase the difficulty in better ways than what "very hard" does which (iirc) is a flat 1/6th damage going out and 6x damage coming in. Survival mods that make wandering out in the wastelands without the proper supplies an actual dangerous thing to do.

Something I never understood is why NPCs don't have immunities to certain weapon/ammo types. Give me a reason to carry an energy weapon, or an explosive weapon, or something that lights guys on fire...

I guess "reason" is something I find lacking in these games after the first few hours. There is hardly loot to find, forget about useful loot... a lot of the same item dropping over and over again... the difference in armor types is basically just a DT number...

Random encounters would be great, something resembling a boss or larger scale fight along the way would do wonders for the progression in these games. The wild wasteland things to find were a nice touch, something like that seems to have been completely lost in Skyrim though.

They maybe just need a bit more structure and limitation in the character design... something that could actually force you into certain play-styles. Sure, everyone starts out their character in these games with things like that in mind... a melee build or a sneak build, trying to be passive and not kill every living creature... whatever your heart desires... there are lots of "choices", just not lots of effective choices. Things quickly devolve to the point where if you are not ready to deal with slowing down enemies and/or shooting them from a distance, you are just going to get surrounded and beat down.

What I had suggested earlier, that they need to unlock different AI packages as the game progresses (or you play on harder difficulties)... would do a lot to change up the tactics of combat and give the game a better feel of a change in power or progression... without it the games are just extremely repetitive.

descender wrote on Feb 13, 2013, 13:53:
Sure, it's not easy... I guess I was using HYPERBOLE on the internet... I know... weird.

... but it shouldn't even be possible! Once you cross that line of "well, i've killed the hardest thing there is" these games fall apart quickly.

Let's keep in mind we are talking about 1 single mob type in a relatively small area in a game with a few hundred square miles of explorable world.

People mentioned other areas and mobs. Your initial claim might have been hyperbole and that's fine but you've since tried to defend it as if it wasn't. At higher levels I agree, there isn't much danger and the game becomes more exploration and quest driven. There aren't enough random encounters or things happening outside of quest/NPC areas.

At low levels though you don't simply go wherever you want, you'll quickly be dead on the higher difficulties. People one shotting mobs using a specific weapon and perk are doing replays with the benefit of experience, it's not really the same thing. Lanius being nerfed is again, a whole different thing.

Anyways I wish NV was more like FO3 in finding random/dangerous things in the wasteland, FO3 was great in that respect, NV is more task oriented.

descender wrote on Feb 13, 2013, 17:48:
Creston, 2 seconds of google search reveals a pile of videos of people killing Lanius in 3-4 headshots with rifles, and toying with him with Melee using Super Slam. All on "very hard".

It's not trolling, you guys just built horrible characters apparently.

Care to provide links to any of these videos?

Actually, nevermind, I just loaded my original save right before the Lanius fight. It looks like they significantly nerfed him with the post-release patches because now I can kill him in three hits with the AMR. Lame. Hate it when they nerf stuff in patches. Diminishes the accomplishments of people who overcame the original challenge. Bioware did the same thing with Dragon Age.

Anyway, if you want a real challenge in FNV, play it unpatched on Very Hard Hardcore.

This comment was edited on Feb 14, 2013, 00:15.

Creston, 2 seconds of google search reveals a pile of videos of people killing Lanius in 3-4 headshots with rifles, and toying with him with Melee using Super Slam. All on "very hard".

It's not trolling, you guys just built horrible characters apparently.

Jerykk wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 23:40:
And I believe Lanius took 11 headshots with an Antimaterial rifle before dying.

Lanius practically made me uninstall the entire game and curse Oblivion to death, darkness and beyond. Don't suddenly trot out this fucking demi-god dude who can somehow withstand a shot from a fucking anti-vehicle rifle TO THE FUCKING FACE.

Anyway, I don't understand why all of you are letting yourself get so blatantly trolled by descender...

Creston

Sure, it's not easy... I guess I was using HYPERBOLE on the internet... I know... weird.

... but it shouldn't even be possible! Once you cross that line of "well, i've killed the hardest thing there is" these games fall apart quickly.

Let's keep in mind we are talking about 1 single mob type in a relatively small area in a game with a few hundred square miles of explorable world.

This comment was edited on Feb 13, 2013, 14:00.

avianflu wrote on Feb 13, 2013, 12:03:
Really agree -- the weakest part of an otherwise great game was LV itself. The "city" area was small and underwhelming. There was nothing city-like about it. Hopefully the devs realize this?

They realize it, but it's unavoidable. It's one of those console limitations that get forced on us. Maybe if they design the sequel for the next console generation that might change, but since we don't know what the next console generation is going to be yet, it's hard to build up much hope.

I played on Very Hard... You shoot deathclaws in the legs, when you cripple them then they can't leap attack you... then they can't surround you.

Yes, I used that same tactic, except I had to use explosives because I couldn't do enough damage to their legs before they'd catch up to me and kill me in two hits. Your claim that you could do it at level 2 on Very Hard seems extremely dubious, to say the least. I'm sure it's possible (given enough patience and quickloading) but it's by no means easy or practical at level 2.

Lobster wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 14:23:
Ugh. I loved everything about Fallout: New Vegas EXCEPT for New Vegas.

Really agree -- the weakest part of an otherwise great game was LV itself. The "city" area was small and underwhelming. There was nothing city-like about it. Hopefully the devs realize this?

You said you can just go anywhere you want at level 5, that's not true. Now it's about breaking the DLC level cap and not being in danger. I don't believe you killed a deathclaw without some serious save/reloading or exploiting AI pathing at level 2, not on Very Hard. There is plenty of danger in Fallout New Vegas.

I played on Very Hard... You shoot deathclaws in the legs, when you cripple them then they can't leap attack you... then they can't surround you.

Sniper Rifle + Combat Shotgun with slug ammo.

I personally had more trouble with Cazadores because they are much harder to shoot.

Maybe you played before the DLC was released and the level cap was increased? Being over level 30 broke a lot of things (one of things things I mentioned above, that Deathclaws are actually considerably easier to kill before you get to be too high of a level). A few of the patches supposedly lowered the difficulty of the game too.

Either way, I'm pretty sure my Lanius fight was just bugged, it took me an incredible amount of console work to get the whole dam thing to play off correctly too. If you leave quests in your log too long in these games, they tend to get messed up.

I just loaded the game up vanilla (no mods) and messed around a little bit... I was able to kill a baby deathclaw at level 1 and a regular deathclaw at level 2 on very hard with a hunting rifle... I don't see what sort of outrageous claims I'm making, you can go do it yourself.

None of this changes the fact that once you are 2 hours into the game, you can now roam freely without even worrying about the deathclaws... and then the difficulty and challenge never ramps up. Am I the only one that finally went to finish the storyline and one shot the last guy in the Legion camp with a melee weapon?

Did you play the game on Easy or something? On Very Hard (in addition to Hardcore mode), Deathclaws remained a serious threat even after 80 hours of play. And I believe Lanius took 11 headshots with an Antimaterial rifle before dying. The only easy way to kill Lanius is to dump a ton of explosives on the narrow path leading up to him, shoot him to lure him down and then watch him vaporize instantly.

If you didn't play on the highest difficulty, you really have no reason to be complaining about difficulty.

Crustacean Soup wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 16:26:

descender wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 15:34:
There is not a huge difference between the Skyrim engine and what they used for the Fallout games... just tweaks and updates. You can achieve similar results with their older games by simply editing the ini files.

Playing New Vegas right now. It runs noticeably worse than Skyrim (with constant stuttering as it loads in new areas/objects) despite looking much worse and having much more barren environments. New Vegas and Fallout 3 were also far less stable for me than Skyrim is; I can count the number of Skyrim crashes I've encountered on one hand, while New Vegas usually crashes at least once every time I play it.

I didn't have this experience at all with FO3 or NV. I remember all of us playing it and the crashes were hit or miss for people. The only bad bug I ran into was in NV and had some baddies that were holding items I needed under the ground. I jsut reloaded and never had an issue.....others have had so many issues they can't even play the game.

Got lucky I guess.

descender wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 15:34:
That doesn't even touch on my biggest gripe (for every game in this vein since oblivion), which is their leveling/skills system. You can go everywhere and do everything in the game at level 5, without fear of where I am wandering... and the "challenge" never even remotely increases once in the next 100+ hours of gameplay... I just don't get it.

THat is blatently false. In New Vegas, take a left out of town instead of going straight - you run directly into those monsters and it takes a long journey before you can kill them. Or, go to the jail (good luck getting there) or to the power plant, again good luck, or try and take on the radiation zombies...again good luck.

In Skyrim, try and go far west or far east, and you get slaughtered.....

This comment was edited on Feb 12, 2013, 22:07.

Orphic Resonance wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 12:10:
id be interested in a far-future Fallout setting.. where people are only a few decades away from being nationalized, etc - like a mostly restored wasteland, with unexplored weirdness just under the surface

i like that sort of combo ancient/futuristic type settings.. kinda like that anime "Alexander" or some of the Final Fantasy stuff (in theory)

i think it could be cool to see the post-apoc wasteland type setting where it is post-post-post-apoc

I know all of these types of games are all inspired by the original wasteland/zone story of "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Ursula K. Le Guin circa 1972 (and STALKER is a direct relation) but it would be cool to see more not so modern stuff....the writing, possible story lines, etc in a book written very well from behind the iron curtain is a great read - i recommend it to anyone who is a fan of post apoc games/movies, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087GJ5WI

Can probably find it locally for 1 buck if you still venture to book stores.

You can make NV look better with mods and some ini tweaks, but I'd still rather have an updated engine.

"Thus creating an incredibly linear experience. Which I'd bet 20 bucks you'd bitch over."

How would that be linear? Have you ever played an MMO? Those worlds have defined levels of content in different areas, yet people still managed to travel around and play in a non-linear fashion...

My main point to the gameplay is that the fight you are engaging in NEVER CHANGES for the entirety of the game. What they needed was to introduce different AI packages as you leveled up, as leveling up NPC's with you gives the impression that your approximate level of power inthe game never actually changes. You do more damage? They have more health... making the "leveling" seemingly irrelevant. In skyrim it takes 5 or 6 hits with a sword to kill a dragon at level 15, and 5 or 6 hits with a sword to kill a dragon at level 50. What was the point of leveling up to 50?

The only difference is the art content. The engines are almost identical.

Please, abandon away.

jacobvandy wrote on Feb 12, 2013, 19:03:
C'mon, Professor, you know better. If it were up to Obsidian, guaranteed they'd make it PC exclusive.

Yeah, after all it's Bethsoft that's to blame there.