Just curious. I really like the idea, the implementation was terrible in FO3. Better, worse, same?

between mole rats and dogs, i just couldnt imagine anything animal friend would ever be useful for in Fallout 3. So I skipped it even when i really wanted it for a character. (One showing of mysterious stranger greater than all the animals in the wasteland... except dogmeat of course.)

but,.. New Vegas looks like it has more creatures. Maybe worth looking at again.
So yea, I would assume its 'at least' more useful.

Mod idea,
Animal Friend Rank 3 - you can now recruit temporary followers out of the animals you find in the wasteland, who will follow you, but flee when near death and never return.

FO3's mod Wasteland Whisperer, basically ... and I'm sure Toaster will be porting it soon enough

Hmm, i never tried that one.
Toaster is very talented tho and i look forward to see'ing his work in New Vegas

yea... mods will fix anything not up to snuff in New Vegas,. and then some.
It looks like a pretty good job was done regardless.

back to the question tho,... im also rather curious if anyone has seen the New Vegas version of the perk.

As someone who plays it on consoles, mods aren't the answer for me. I was jealous of Wasteland Whisperer in FO3, wished it had been implemented for F:NV. .

But honestly, I don't have the time for PC gaming. Consoles I can play and ride the elliptical machine at the same time.

I guess is usefull if you play on hard/ very hard difficulty with low perception and you like to explore a lot.
i Would take at least 1 lvl of the perk on hardcoe mode.
Getting crippled and beeing attacked by knockdown attacks capable "animals" is not fun ^^

I'm more interested in the second level / animals attacking your foes, as Stonewall has broader application if all you're worried about is being attacked.

The problem is that even if you didn't have the second level of the perk animals would still attack your enemies in sight anyway which made the second level of the perk totally useless. At least that's how it used to be in Fallout 3 and I'm not sure if they have done anything to change it in Fallout: New Vegas.

Which brings us full circle to the beginning of this topic; FO3's crappy implementation of this perk and my hopes for it getting better in F:NV, especially because 2 perks is a greater expense to the player this time around.

"Crappy implementation"? If you're friendly with the animals and asbolutely everything else is hostile to them already, how would YOU break down the faction reaction? What the second rank did in Fallout 3 was make you a protected member of the animals faction. If you came under fire and there was an animal in the same cell as you, the animal came to your aid rather than just attacking mututal hostiles within their detection range.

Which was very often a distinction without a difference. Not always, but very often.

How would I have handled it? Using something similar to Robotics Expert, where the second rank let you interact with animals, in this case not to deactivate them but to get one to follow you until you selected another animal. Then you wouldn't have to retreat towards animals you'd seen 30 seconds ago to feel the effects from the investment of 2 perks + 5 largely useless points of Charisma.

In F:NV, Charisma apparently has greater value due to Nerve, so the 5 points of Charisma aren't as wasted as they were in FO3. But, again, 2 level 10+ perks out of a total of 15 perks, spent on the same effect, should make a strong difference. x2 Toughness saves you 6 health every time you get hit, and those start being available at level 6 and have 1 point lower stat requirement + no skill requirement.

I agree completely. No way am I wasting a perk on animal friend on any playthrough where I have a primary weapon skill.

First thing we need to find out is if there will be a truly dangerous animal in NV where the perk will be needed. Even the first rank was pointless to have in FO3 when you can easily spot and kill Yao Guai from the other side of an outdoor cell. The rest of the animals the perk worked on could be dispatched with a simple laser pistol, and they became nearly extinct later on.

Now if the perk works on Deathclaws this time around Animal Friend would be worth looking into. Since we're getting between 4-14 fewer perks this time around I don't see such a luxury perk being used much beyond role playing.

I'm taking the first rank no point in the second.

Making a hunter character with a nice perception so it will be a nice easy kill if I need it.