So I just beat my first playthrough, took the Yes Man path, though somehow I wound up with one of the highest Karma ratings at the end despite trying to stay as neutral / "vigilante" as possible. Anywho, I kind of want to try out just playing a new game from here as a wanderer/survivalist sort of deal on hardcoe mode, just surviving in the wastes, not doing the main questline. However, this seems to be a difficult task - since the enemies don't scale like in FO3, your kind of forced to go through the linear U shaped path from Goodsprings to Vegas. There also seems to be no way to get into Vegas without being confronted with Victor about Mr. House, which is pretty immersion breaking since it skips you up to that point in the storyline. (I know this because in my very first playthrough I accidentally came upon this, then started over since it was only a couple of hours of play lost and went through the storyline proper) Is there any way to go about this like you could in Fallout 3? I was really hoping for a "hardcoe" mode for Fallout 3 so I could do just this, but the "linear RPG-ness" of Fallout: NV seems to contradict this play style.

It is not that linear. After you go out of Goodsprings, you can do what ever you want. People do tell you to stick to the roads though, so more powerful enemies don't kill you.


Enemies not scaling is better imo, becuase if your level 1 and fight a deathclaw, it shouldn't be easy, it's the most feard monster in the wastes.

1. Enemies do scale within some smaller margin. Go to the Black Mountain at lvl 10 and lvl 30 and you'll see.
2. I never cared much for the main quest. When I start the game I first hit Vegas, grab my companions, grab my gear, then just do quests in the order I want them done. Levels go up very fast and I don't care much to be walked down a set path. I like go where I want and for all I care there could be no main quest at all - and I'd still be okay.

Hm... I found leveling to very slow - when I finished the main quest in my first playthrough I was level 17. Maybe I just wasn't doing enough sidetracking, but I did do a fair amount of sidequests, at least I thought.

Sorry to bump but does anyone else have any suggestions for this? Are there any mods that could help to make things more realistic/fun? I know that Survival is supposedly useless as is, are there any mods that make it better? I'd love to see the ability to fill empty bottles with water and such.

I really don't think this game is that linear at all, it's how you play it. I'm about 50 hours in, level 26, hardcoe mode, and haven't even really picked a side yet for the final battle. (I'm probably gonna do NCR, but haven't gotten to the point of no return when it comes to decisively joining a faction.) Anyways, there's always something new to do and more smaller side quests to explore, places to find, and new weapons to get. I know eople who are like, level 15 and haven't even gotten into the Vegas strip yet. So, I think that it's how you play that makes all the difference. If you want to be a survivalist, then go ahead. Immerse yourself in the game. Don't follow just the main quest; once you step out into the Mojave, just do whatever, that's what an RPG is. It's much more enjoyable when you just go out and play, without any real idea of what you might encounter.

That's how I want to play, I was just wondering how plausible it is in New Vegas, since it just felt so linear on my first playthrough. Thanks. Does anyone have any suggestions for mods and such for this kind of play?

Hoarding more side-quests would really break up the linearity you experience

You'll find it's very linear at the start, mostly because there's not much you can really accomplish prior to level 5-8. So you'll end up doing the starter town and the next 2-3 towns most of the time. But once you get past level 8, have good weapons, lots of ammo, and companions, the map starts to open up. I didn't feel like it really opened up until level 14-18 though.

Past level 20, you can go anywhere and tackle most everything (except maybe deathclaws). Maybe as early as 15 if you can afford the top-end weapons. That's the wide-open time where your quest log will be overflowing with quests and you'll be running all over the map.