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.

Bingo---- Lots of cash to use a trademarked "product",and not to mention lawyer fee's and junk......hundreds of thousands of $$$$ ...just for one firearm..... Yep, especially for such a distinctive-looking weapon while instead you can easily create a generic-looking magnum revolver instead. I am curious though as to why the 10mm pistol in Fallout 3 and New Vegas is so unwieldy looking while the 9mm and .22 pistols they brought in for New Vegas look like actual semi-auto handguns.

Woohoo, more stuff for ED-E!

I've been reading good things about it but I plan to put it off until Lonesome Road is released since it sounds that it will continue right from Old World Blues in terms of explaining The Courier's origin. I'd rather get the whole story at once than pause the game for months to wait for the conclusion.

I've gotten into a bit of a rut lately where I keep falling into the same playstyle only to restart the game halfway through because I'm getting bored. I think the problem is that I tend to try to get all the sidequests in ASAP and by the time I reach the Strip not only am I getting burned out but I don't even have to worry about the credit check to get in, which makes it too easy (note to self: stop taking the Cap Finder perk). I keep wanting to try a melee or unarmed specialist for the challenge but the game feels so slanted against that playstyle that it doesn't stay fun for very long. Especially since some of the most fun melee weapons like the Shishkebab are so rare.

In my honest opinion, New Vegas is what Fallout 3 should have been. I haven't felt any desire to return to Fallout 3 since.

Guns by far. I've tried going mainly energy and it was annoyingly tough (though the de-nerfing mods may now fix that) and going mostly-melee was practically suicide. By midway through the game my Courier is typically carrying: The Ratslayer for sniping That Gun (with de-nerfing mod) for one-on-one up close kills. A shotgun (with Shotgun Surgeon perk) for dealing with armored targets, I prefer the small lever-action model. A modded 10mm SMG for when you need to kill everyone in the room really fast. I also like to have the Q-35 Matter Modulator (often in Veronica's inventory) for when guns just aren't doing the job. Then I carry a Machete, or Shishakabob even, for those times when I want to just hack someone to pieces.

I love the Machete, so I always visit the Abandoned Shack just north of Goodsprings to pick it up. Annoyingly it is not always there in every playthrough. I always pick up ED-E before leaving Primm. I make sure to stop by Lone Wolf Radio on the way to pick up those Scrap Electronics and Sensor Modules that are hard to come by early in the game. I always enter Primm at night and try to stalk and kill each Convict one by one with the Machete. If I lack a Machete I'll use a Knife or Cleaver. I always take a detour on my way from Nipton to Novac and pick up the Ratslayer. Ratslayer and That Gun (with the mod that fixes it's damage) are always in my inventory along with a 10mm SMG and a Machete. I try to only do the sidequests directly on my route when first going to Vegas, since I'm in a hurry to catch up with Benny and get my vengeance. After getting into the Strip and dealing with him I'll start exploring more and doing sidequests. I've never gone for any ending other than Wild Card. The only thing that changes is how far I play along with the other factions before screwing them over and taking power for myself.

The Abilene Kid BB Gun: easy to obtain if you don't have Wild Wasteland, but if you do it only appears as a random event if you have Rex with you.

The Goodsprings General Store should sell a Recharger Rifle right from the start of the game as well. It has in all of my playthroughs so far.

I try to make sure that I have Shotgun Surgeon by the time I hit Nipton. They always act so surprised when I blow Vulpe's head clean off after he dares to turn his back on me.