zerrodefex

And here I was thinking it had to do with a certain Greek fictional character.

At least it's not as bad as Fallout 3 where straying from Neutral would send with the Regulators or Talon Mercs (or both if you went back and forth) after you. Karma matters for next to nothing anyway in New Vegas, I've only seen one speech check actually use it and it was at the end of the game when facing Lanius.

It doesn't help that at times the game feel like it's working against you. If I play a guns character then energy weapons rain from the sky, but if I choose energy weapons as a tag skill then suddenly I can't find a plasma defender on any of the Bright Followers. If I choose explosives and want to use my mercenary grenade launcher as a signature weapon then no vendors will stock 40mm grenades. Arggg!

I prefer to shoot him in the back as he leaves. Oh yeah this is your lucky day alright.

Fallout 3 was a much bigger offender with The Lone Wanderer: really some 19-year-old kid who's never been outside a Vault since being a newborn manages to take down the Enclave in a matter of days? At least with The Courier your past is enough of a blank slate (even with Lonesome Road, you still don't know what you did before visiting the Divide for the first time) it's somewhat plausible that you really could be that much of a badass who simply got caught by surprise at the start of the game. Now that is what I consider to be an essential mod. I got really sick of the Legion deathsquads myself, while they weren't as frequent as Talon Mercs in Fallout 3 they were generally much tougher and more aggravating.

Well Fallout 3 certainly was as until your escape from Raven Rock there is no implied sense of urgency. Even once the Enclave show up they remain at an eternal stalemate with the Brotherhood. New Vegas on the other hand returns to the story-telling of Fallout 1 and 2 where there is a sense of urgency right from the beginning of the game. While there is no time limit on the main quest (didn't Fallout 1 actually have a time limit to keep you from wandering too much?) for the first part of New Vegas you're always one step behind Benny and on top of that it's implied that the Legion will invade the Mohave any day now. While there is no hard time limit it does make it feel weird that everyone else will sit and wait while you spirit off to Zion for a month or so. The story relies a bit too much on The Courier to move it forward. It would have been neat if there was at least a mode you could turn on (separate from Hardcore Mode) that did put some actual time limits into the game. While one can do so as a self-imposed challenge without any game mechanism to enforce it it's easy to just let it slide. My biggest issue really is just trying to complete everything just to have completed it. I just can't seem to turn down a quest which I wouldn't otherwise be interested in, or at least which my character would not care about.

Anyone else have this issue? I'll start a new game with a character idea in mind and a somewhat set path through the game, but always somewhere along the way I'll get sidetracked and next thing I know I'm back to trying to complete nearly every sidequest there is. Eventually I get so bogged down that I just start over and try again only to have the same thing happen. I've only actually beaten the game 2 times out of the dozen or so runs I have attempted and the DLCs actually make it a bit worse as there is even more available to do. Now I'm nearly level 20 and have yet to even see Benny at The Tops.

As much as I enjoy the companions in New Vegas (much better written and more useful, everyone in Fallout 3 except Fawkes felt useless) but yeah, sometimes they just get in the way. Veronica can be a major offender, despite being one of the most fun companions as even when you tell her to stay at ranged she still likes to jump in front of you and get in the crossfire. Boone can also get you into trouble if he suddenly decides that he doesn't like someone looking at you from a hundred yards away. Indoor areas are the biggest issue: there are some buildings and vaults where you just shouldn't take a companion into as they will go crazy since their AI sees through floors and walls, causing them to run off and go on a rampage even when told to stay close to you.

I never use Power Armor either, I try to stay with lighter armors like Leather Armor for the entire game. When Lonesome Road came out I went through the main game and the DLC wearing the Raiders Badlands armor I had looted off of Jaclyn's corpse back in front of Nipton.

It wasn't until my 2nd or 3rd playthrough that I even started putting points into Survival or looking deep into the list of recipes at workbenches. Really I wish you could access the recipes at any time as I keep forgetting what I have the skill to make and am always leaving behind ingredients.

Common: Laser Rifle with all mods (especially scope) 10mm SMG Incinerator Uniques: That Gun Q-35 Matter Modulator Ratslayer

Especially Shojo Veronica, for the most part she's just as believable as a little girl. Lily is my least favorite, I never bother to use her again after "Guess Who I Saw Today" and just leave her at Jacobstown.

I never do a playthrough without picking it up as soon as I reach Novac. Aside from that the Ratslayer is my favorite early-game rifle plus it's easy to pick up along the way to Novac. For energy weapons my favorites are the Q-35 Matter Modulator, a fully-modded Laser Rifle (laser sniper!), and the GRA Laser Pistol with iron sights makes for a great early-game sidearm for an Energy Weapons specialist.

I ditch the 9mm pistol and SMG pretty early in one once I get my hands one some 10mm versions. Don't bother much with any other revolvers once I get That Gun. Usually I take plasma weapons over laser ones except for last time when I got all the laser rifle mods. Sniping with a scoped laser rifle was pretty fun. The only place I use a Flamer is in Vault 22, the close quarters make the Incinerator too much of a liability.

I had no problem getting her to use the unique Laser Rifle or a Minigun but you will need to keep giving her ammo as she will blow through it quickly.