Is FNV a Steam only game?

Yes.

You can buy it on disc but you still need Steam installed/have an account to validate the game before you can run it, and to download patches. After that you can put Steam in offline mode and leave it there until the cows come home if you want.

I can't believe I bought a Steam game. I can't believe that Bethesda has a Steam only game. I guess I will remember to ask before I buy in the future. This could totally turn me against Bethesda if the experience parallels my other experiences with Steam as I have already bought the game. I am really disappointed, really, really disappointed. And then there is supposed to be a bug fix that is coming out this year sometime -- I wonder how much the ctd's and performance issues relate to Steam. REALLY DISAPPOINTED.

Assuming you bought a disc, it's printed in tiny print somewhere on there.
But yeah, I do know what you mean. I don't like being forced to use Steam to play a game either. I don't hate Steam/understand it's useful/good for many, but I don't like the choice being taking away. I almost didn't buy NV because of that, but decided it was a good time to re-try Steam again & so I bought the digital download version.

Steam seems a lot better than it was a few years ago...but I still keep it offline and NV is still the only game I have that uses Steam.

CTD and performance issues with Steam? Sounds to me you're trolling, dear sir.

All discussions of Steam are being directed to this thread

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1179634-unofficial-steamdrm-thread/

This will be closed now. Please discuss in the thread above.