For my first run through i will probably go through on easy just to get a feel for it. Then when Ive completed it I will go through on a harder setting. :fallout:

first play through very hard hardcoe off :swear: /2nd play through hardcoe on normal :facepalm:

:fallout:

First playthrough = Normal & hardcoe.
Planning to just blunder around the wilds for a while that way and get to know the game the hard way :tops:

Very easy or easy.
The shooter aspect of Fallout isn't that important to me, and I don't really care how challenging the fights are. It's all about exploring the world for me.
I might up the difficulty if I choose to have a companion tag along and they turn out to kill everything before I even get a chance to aim though.

Not sure about the hardcoe mode yet, but I'll definately give it a try at some point.

Definitely Agree, HC mode is really a staple for me.

I found that playing on VH difficulty made the game last longer for me with Oblivion and Fo3, as the battles took alot longer and I had to be more careful as I traveled (versus charging over the wastes like a demigod).

100% Agree, thats what ill be doing, tell me how it goes.

Chances are I'm going to go Easy-hardcoe. I want to get a hang of the hardcoe mode first before I raise the difficulty. Needing less ammunition to kill enemies will also be a plus.

First playthrough: Normal
Second: hardcoe

I always play on Normal difficulty as its not too hard but it not a cakewalk.

This. I don't think I should be able to go forever without eating or drinking, but at the same time, no enemy should be able to take six chambers of a .32 to the head and still be upright.

Assuming 'very hard' gives a 150% bonus to XP per kill, like in Fallout 3, what are the odds of a mod being released early on, that reduces XP to the normal 100% level? Was there such a mod in Fallout 3? I want to challenge myself without reaching the level limit too early on in the storyline.

My first vanilla run will most likely be on Normal and non-hardcoe mode. I've played FO3 a ton of hours with FWE and MMM on pretty tough settings and the difficulty settings in vanilla basically only make bullet sponges out of the enemy. It doesn't really make it that much more "difficult" to me, it just takes longer to kill them and wasted a ton more ammo. Spraying magazine after magazine of rounds into a Deathclaw just don't excite me.

In one run or another I've already experienced pretty much everything that hardcoe adds to the game with various mods. So that really won't be new to me either, but I'll surely try it at some point. Initially, the whole hunger-thirst-sleep thing was pretty monotonous for me to be honest. But, as with most things, I simply learned to carry water, food and a bedroll with me while adventuring so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. I could always find a nice, empty power station or empty subway to crash in if not near to a friendly settlement. Sometimes I would even just drop my bedroll and sleep under the stars which was nice! There are tons of places where the resourceful adventurer could easily hide in the rubble or a burned out old house or a makeshift shack of some sort. Lot's of safe places to bed down for the night, even in the wasteland.

I played FO3 on Very Hard and all it did was increase the amount of damage enemies can take. That's stupid game design, I hate when they do that. So I guess I'll be playing normal-hardcoe.