Personally I didn't even bother carrying very much water. You can get by just fine by drinking from sinks and pools. So what, you get a few points of radiation; RadAway is cheap and weighs nothing.

hardcoe is disapointing as it just means more time spent going through the pip-boy inventory which was ok for FO3 but is terrible(imo) for NV, also the lack of hotkeys and the amount of stuff added with NV. A "shift+" row of hotkeys and more tabs in inventory would have made hardcoe mode less of a chore.

There's a few other things that make it more interesting. After you've gone in and out of several casino's, your weapons are all marked, so your companions actually use ammo. You have to keep them supplied, too! So, not only can they die, but ammo usage goes way up. (at least on xbox 360).

I really like hardcoe/very hard. It makes things more interesting.

It's not that irritating at all, in fact, it's rather tame. There's just a lot of food/water laying around the wastes that can be used, plus lots and lots of sink / water fountains.

So tame that I'm creating a personal mod that adjusts a lot of food/water items, boosts the rate at which you gain sleep/food/water deficits and adjusting it so that you really won't want to drink from a dirty sink or toilet. Even in a pinch. And if I can figure the scripts out, drinking from a dirty toilet or tainted sources will (depending on your Luck or Endurance) have a good chance of making you sick for 60 seconds (and impacting your three meters).

I'm definately going to play with hardcoe mode my next playthrough, but for no other reason than to get the achievement. I'm a little intimidated by the ammo having a weight, but i'm sure I'll get over it.

ammo having weight isnt really that bad
i carry alot of ammo in F:NV but not nearly as much as i did FO3

it does make managing what you pick up easier adn such, i like teh drinking water adn watching sleep and that, it adds a nice touch to the game.
i would definitely say use and if you dont like it then dont use it

If you don't like it you can turn it off and you can use hardcoe with any difficultly setting, I plan on using hardcoe on one of my play thru's maybe 3RD or 4TH.

bigcrazewolf

Personally i agree with someone earlier here who said the healing effects are nice, but sleep, thirst and hunger is a bit annoying. Not that it's a big deal as you seem to have to eat and drink a lot to maintain health
Currently playing on very hard normal mode and prefer that. Still hard enough to get a bit worried at times and see the occasional wipe.. The downside to very hard is the rediculous difference in sneak attacks vs. an alert enemy. First enemy goes down instantly with a headshot from the hunting rifle, then his two buddies need 5 frags and 10 shotgun slugs to the head each..