Yea I don't want a ton of filler barren areas but I hope there's still a few...sounds like there won't be...

Nice to read a write up from a fellow player instead of some reviewer.

A little disappointed about what you said about the faces and looks for NPCs, i too was hoping for more variety.

fallout seems like a tough game to demo and get a real feel for the entire game.

I'm jealous you got a chance to play!

thanks for info.

lol, it must have been annoying to wait behind that kid. And you are so lucky that you got to play it early!

i didnt mean the wasteland i meant vegas one as itself in the mojave wastleand...... was it in the corner or center of the map... also did it look bigger than dc on the map

A question for the OP how is the dehydration work in the game. I mean does it actually feel like you need to bring water with you or is it like that Radiation Counter from Fallout 3?

Great post :tops:

Thanks for the in depth account. I was considering going myself
(I went to Apollocon in Austin several weeks ago); I just couldn't get away this time.

That Damn Kid

I have a few friends that played F03 (i'm 18)

but some of them do that [censored]

like in F03

"OOHH LOOK MERCHANT"
[Shotgun Blast to Face]

"Awesome Free [censored]"

There should be an IQ test requirement to play RPG's

OH

and i tried getting my bro to play F03 once (he is into sports gaming)

[Gets out of vault]

"Where do i go..... Tell me where the dad is.....where is the Dad"

But AWESOME post dude, mad PROPZZZZ :celebration:

I played the demo too (on the 360 for about an hour while everyone waited in the T-shirt or brink line) and I thought that it was pretty good, though it could have used a bit more fast paced action if it was supposed to be a 15 minute demo.

My random thoughts:

I never really paid much attention to the faces of the NPCs other than the female doctor with the spiked mohawk(I guess that's what makes her a "follower"). The NPC faces didn't always move (primarily said doctor) when they talked but I'm guessing its a bug.

That area that the OP went into is still part of Freeside, the "demonstrator" I'm guessing had gotten tired of people trying to kill everyone while saying "I can't kill everything this game must be broken."

The oddest thing I noticed was that I played through the whole demo without firing a shot. Not really a problem, but a bit surprising compared to Fallout 3. I have to have a good ole :gun: every now and then so I looked down the sights of the .22 LR SMG. They need to be opened up a bit because you can't see anything through them.

I like that they added the numbers for what level of speech/science/whatever you needed for the checks. It may seem "ezmode" but its better than stumbling around blind.

It struck me as odd that the NCR troops in town were wearing random merc clothes rather than any sort of military uniform, but i guess they were under cover or something.

The robobrain dog Rex gave me a chuckle.

I also had a good laugh at everyone trying to go on a massacre with the default equipped varmint rifle while failing miserably, especially when attacking guards with plasma rifles . I do wish that there weren't so many wimpy weapons in the game, but if you don't have as early of access to good weapons that may be a difference.

What?

its been 203 years people... things would be more recovered than Fallout 3 showed...

The wasteland being smaller is good news, there was ALOT of wasted space in FO3 that was nothing but desert, but the entire map will be the same or comparable to FO3's size. Thats what Chris Avellone said in an interview.

Every step you take, every move you make you want a location? You don't want any empty space to wander around in to make it feel like your stranded in the desert? No barren desert areas gimps the hardcoe mode doesn't it?

Excellent write up! Thanks for the info. :goodjob:

The only thing that troubles me slightly is the similar looking NPCs, but this isn't new -- everyone looked near enough the same in Fallout 3.

I am most pleased that Obsidian made the desert area smaller in return for bigger settlements. Really, Fallout 3 wasted so much space with barren wasteland. I get the feeling Bethesda were trying to make it feel bigger but I was just disappointed. I mean, it's been 203 years since the war, there should be quite a few towns.
Having more towns should give us more NPCS, too.

Oh, and MiamiThrice: the devs have confirmed the entire map will be the same size as Fallout 3, but they've laid it out differently. If you look at screenshots, you can see the locations are a little more cramped. View the screenie of the super mutant shooting a missle at Dinky -- you'll notice that Black Mountain, Novac and Helios One are all in close proximity.

I like what I hear so far. Probably some things will cause controversy (like the different wasteland/settlements ratio), but I like most of the changes. Not too thrilled about the stability issues that have been reported so far, but there's still time and as long as it's as stable as Fallout 3 it's fine by me.

...strange thing though, to hear so different opinions about the casino/gambling minigames. I don't really care that much either way, but yesterday I was reading an italian preview where they PRAISED the fact that the minigames weren't done a-là Red Dead Redemption since in their opinion, it turned out boring after a while. I've never played RDR (just saw my brother playing it a bit, I was impressed by the engine but I wasn't particularly enthralled by what I saw) so I can't really comment on that.

It's been some 30.000 years since humans sprung up on earth, shouldn't every single inch of ground in the entire world be covered by cities, by that logic?

Hey, remember, FO3's capital wasteland was the dead center of the nukes. Vegas was never hit. Vegas would have recovered and settled better and faster then the Capital, which is JUST barely able to sustain people and is still highly radioactive. Vegas is like a vacation compared to that.

Link please I haven't seen that pic?

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=4145 As I said, it's clear that Black Mountain, Helios One and Novac are all in within a relatively short range of each other.

Well, heres to hoping they arent too close...

Thanks but where is black mountain? And that tall structure in the center is helios one or lucky 38?

Black Mountain is behind Novac -- you can see the satellite dishes. And that's definitely Helios One. If it were Lucky 38, that'd make the map look extremely small.

Did you catch any new skills or are the only changes Guns, Survival and Gambling?

Thanks I didn't know the satellite dishes marked black mountain. Mountain looks rather small going from that pic...

@uberpwnage I definately agree my concern is raised.

Edit: what is that towards the right in the pic looks like a little settlement or something? And what's that in the sky?

Wait, Gambling is a skill? I thought it was all controlled by Luck?


I don't see anything towards the right except Helios One. If you mean the little buildings near the tower, those are part of Helios One. And what thing in the sky? Do you mean the missile the mutie is shooting?

I wouldn't be too worried about the map, Thrice. Obsidian have promised us it's a rich world.

I don't think we can count it as crampt yet, since that's just one picture. And although they're in viewing distance of one another, it doesn't necessarily mean they're close. Black Mountain could be much bigger, just appears small from the distance.

In TES IV: Oblivion you could see White-Gold Tower from almost anywhere on the map, but the size of Cyrodiil was gigantic, and White-Gold Tower could be visible from miles away. I'm sure it's the same not only with the Lucky 38, but many locations in New Vegas.

I think I remember Sawyer or someone talking before about how they made some edits that allowed the system to see far away objects in other cells without having to load them up (kind of like how it is in FO3 with buildings sometimes such as the ruined houses).