I loved Fallout 3, loved all its DLCs. So I was super excited for New Vegas, and enjoyed about 70 hours of main & side quests before beating the game and saving the day last Sunday.

While I appreciated that the game let me know when I'd be going into the final battle, I also knew I had plenty of places yet to "discover" in the available NV landscape, plus DLCs, so I knew my fun wouldn't stop with the conclusion of the main quest. I had a handful of previous saves as I entered Legate's camp, but the dang soldiers were pretty tough on me, so I wound up saving over almost all my previous saves at various points, just to make sure I'd have opportunities to change tactics without starting the final battle over again. (And yes, NOW I remember that Fallout 3 also required a previous save to continue playing, but that wasn't in my mind during my final New Vegas battle...)

At any rate, I ended New Vegas with only 2 previous saves: 1 from about 2 hours in, & another from about 9 hours in. After 70 hours of gameplay.

Post-credits, I quickly realized I couldn't continue playing. So I immediately downloaded "Dead Money," remembering that the DLCs from Fallout 3 enabled ongoing play. But then I learned you can only access "Dead Money" in-game (not from a menu screen), & not during the final battle. But all I HAVE is my final battle... except for my save 9 hours in. So I tried loading that old save (super depressing), but apparently you need to be at least Level 20 to even receive the "Dead Money" radio signal -- so I'd need to invest DOZENS of hours before I can even reach the in-game signal to begin the DLC. I’ve played another couple hours already, but no signal yet.

Dear Bethesda: If you're going to explicitly warn players the final battle is about to begin, PLEASE PLEASE explicitly tell us to preserve a saved game for ongoing play. Better yet, create a set-aside saved game for the player (e.g., "Return to pre-battle save? Click here.") Or, even better yet, allow the DLCs to be accessed via menu (with earned XP intact), like "Red Dead: Dead Nightmare" and lots of other DLCs. Seems like menu access to DLCs is something you could STILL add to the NV package -- please consider it!!

True, lots of people are more in the loop than me & probably have more saves and/or aren't saving over previous saves like I did -- but the fact is that no one told me NOT to. I'm really good at following basic instructions when I receive them, I swear.

I'm just bummed because I love the game so much & would love to spend gobs of money on NV DLCs. But as it stands, if I have to basically start over again, I'm looking forward to spending my money with a different company.

I guess you have learned from this and will not do it again.

Obsidian made New Vegas.

Um... it does warn you. Did you miss the box that pops up before the final moments in the main story warning you that you couldn't go back after that point?

If you did, that svcks, and you should pay more attention.

Also, the message in the box should be enough to tell you that you need to make a save at that point.

That's why you have to save everywhere! Just because Fallout 3 allowed you to continue after the main game doesn't mean Fallout New Vegas would be the same they were both also made by different companies. They also gave you a warning before you went to the final quest that you wouldn't be able to return so if you didn't create any new saves or saved over your previous saves that's your fault. There are 100 save spaces to use I know some people don't like using all of them but I suggest saving everywhere and deleting the ones you don't need later on.

With the Dead Money DLC they never said that you would be able to play after the final quest anywhere not sure how you got that assumption. Not being able to play because you have to be level 20 your wrong on that unless your save is messed up because I went through it with a level 8 character. If the signal isn't happening and the bunker isn't located on your map then try to re install Dead Money load your save and hope it works if it doesn't do anything not sure what else you can do besides making another character and trying.

The pop-up tells you to do anything you'd like to do before final battle so it's your fault.

Being on the 360, I have 100 save slots. Even with seven characters I still have not used more than 60 of those slots. I guess I can't figure out why you would overwrite all your "old" saves with saves from the final battle when you could have just saved to empty slots.

It really svcks to lose all those hours, but I don't really think that the game needs to be telling us to save. That's kind of on the player.

The message is pretty clear. Obviously you're going to need a save from before the final battle to continue playing if there's no way to exit the final battle without ending the game.

The amount of handholding some people expect continues to amaze me.

The only one to blame for this is yourself... the game tells you that you won't be able to return, so it's only your fault.

Wow, you ignore the game's VERY clear message to do whatever other business you wanna do before entering the "point of no return", and then complain that you can't continue with ongoing play after you cross that line... :facepalm:

So you want the game to tell you something that is practically common sense?

As others have said, the game makes it perfectly clear that you are about to reach a point of no return.

I do agree that the game ought to automatically generate a savepoint when you're about to commit to the last battle.

Thanks for the correction RE: Obsidian. Guess I was thrown by the Bethesda branding on these pages.

Yep, I did learn. But I will also forget again after a couple years... So I hope they'll remind me clearly every time, or create a more universally intuitive system.

I definitely saw the alert indicating my main quest would end if I continued. But unfortunately I didn't interpret that as an end to free, post-quest roam, just my main quest. I vividly remember Fallout 3's gameplay transcending the main storyline, so I dove ahead.

All I'm saying is I'd love a note: "If you want to see the ending and return to gameplay later, reserve a save now." (or similar)

And I will bet any money that this forum would soon be full of complaints from people who have ignored or missed that additional warning as well.

Perhaps if the game turned the screen bright red and sounded a klaxon when the warning was given, it would get noticed.

:)

well you have your lesson otherwise.

Oh Gabriella. dear, does this amazes you???

Because it does to me

To be fair, allot of players just mindlessly click "OK" when that popup warning is displayed without even reading it. The game should have auto-saved to a new slot when that point in the MQ was hit. Downside here is fewer whine threads so....

So Gabreil77dan is right again I see. The pop-up should be unskippable for atleast 30s.

Ahh the rush, rush, hurry, hurry, please me, please me of the times, it DOES let you know, just take a minuet and slow down and try to enjoy the game. If the pop up would of included a you just won $100 dollars, I wonder how many peeps would of lost out.


bigcrazewolf

I just created a new character and as soon as i walked out of Doc Mitchel's house i got the radio signal for Dead Money. So you need to Delete Dead Money and reinstall it.

All I'm saying is I'd love when people would read the huge pop up that tells them they've reached a point of no return. Your post makes no sense, because if you didn't read the pop up anyways, what's the point of telling you that you should preserve a save?

Lawl.

:slap:
*sigh*........

Your fault, giant text box. No sympathy.

*statement retracted! :whistling:

(mock him to your hearts content)

IIRC Oblivion Mod Manager did something slick with its pop-up message. It said in the dialog something like, "to prove you've actually read this, press SHIFT when clicking OK.". The menu stays put unless you hold the shift key while pressing the button.