I feel like I'm punished for exploring...

[bethjunkie]

Truthfully, I'm not liking this game. I love to explore and scavenge and at my current level of 11, it's not feasible even with companions. Don't get me wrong, I love combat. I modded my FO3 out the ass with mobs and extra patrols and beat Overlords with sticks for fun. New Vegas combat isn't fun for me. Cazadores swarm in groups of 7 or 8 and they can take me down in one hit. Even while sneaking, my group can only take out three of them before we're overwhelmed. Deathclaws? Forget it.

 

The world is gorgeous though so I'll be staying for awhile once I mod the ridiculous creatures out of it.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

I'm a bit sad that I seem to have just been lucky on the Albino Scorps and the Reavers... now I'm gonna be looking over my shoulder every time I hear battle music. XD

 

Another good point is to always make sure you have appropriate ammo and weapons, unless you're trying to do a run with only specific gear. Since I preordered, I tend to lean on the Sturdy Caravan Shotgun... it hasn't left my side since the word go; I use it for damn near everything. I also carry a 9mm pistol for pushover enemies, Thump-Thump (grenade launcher) for crowds of heavy-duty nastiness (multiple Giant Scorps or Cazadores), and a Sniper Rifle for range work... the last I traded up from a Varmint Rifle, which I'd been using for the entire first half of the game until finally 5.56 just didn't cut the mustard anymore. I do have a melee weapon, a machete, but only use it defensively when a whole bunch of melee enemies goes after me instead of my followers. I use standard 20ga for most encounters, since I have gobs and gobs of it. Magnums for Cazadores and tougher melee enemies, slugs for humans at medium range. 9mm only gets used on crap like Mantises and rats. Thump-Thump only comes out when I pull a big group of Cazadores or multiple Giant Scorps. The Sniper I've been saving for Deathclaws, Lakelurks, higher-tier Super Mutants and other tough but easily headshot-able enemies.

 

Mines... it's all in the timing. If you see them, then immediately crouch (puts your POV closer to the ground so you don't have to be right on top of them to disarm) and move directly towards the mine, centering it under your reticule while mashing the action key. I prefer not to deal with mines by destroying them... if there's loot nearby the explosion scatters it and can dump valuable stuff in inaccessible places. Plus, mines have one of the better value/weight ratios, so letting them go boom robs you of mucho money. :) If you don't see it first, then as soon as you hear the beeping start you want to reverse your direction of travel, run, and jump to put as much distance between you and the mine as possible. Only the very most powerful mines don't give you enough time to get completely out of the blast radius with a low explosives skill; as long as you go slow and careful around anywhere likely to be mined or trapped (ruins, anywhere hit by the Legion, Powder Ganger outposts), you'll rarely if ever take damage from them.

[olafreinhardweyer]

My big issue with Fallout New Vegas is that it's mostly empty. Yes, there's lots of places to explore on the map... but everywhere between those places is vacant.

In Fallout 3, you could pick a random direction, start walking and you'd find stuff. Burned out towns, a farm, a dock, raider bases, a merchant under a bridge, an old building booby-trapped to hell with some supplies in the back, a shack under a bridge... stuff that isn't 'on the map' but is still fun to explore.

Great example: The hastily made fallout shelters you tracked down by radio signal. All that you'd find was an old repeating message asking for help and some dead bodies, maybe a few supplies... but that was AWESOME. It was incredibly mood-setting and drew you into the game. New Vegas doesn't have anything like that.

 

While the Mojave desert is 'technically' "Just as big as the DC wasteland", it's empty. Kinda like comparing "Anarchy Online" to "World of Warcraft." While Anarchy Online may have a game world "Three times bigger", 90% of it is flat terrain with a repeating texture. And that's what the Mojave desert starts to feel like... flat terrain with a repeating texture.

 

SUMMARY : If fast travel was enabled to any spot you've been told about... you wouldn't miss much in New Vegas. In Fallout 3, half the fun was between the waypoints on the map.

 

 

Locations is a huge difference between Capital wasteland and New Vegas. Capital Wasteland is the rubble of a huge city, and much more densely populated that Southern Nevada . I live in Las Vegas and believe me outside of the valley there is not much out there, very barren and desolate. So I'm not surprised that there is a lot more empty space in New Vegas the FO3.

 

Then Nevada is the wrong choice for such a game. Fallout 3 with it's many undocumented spots breathes STORY at every corner. And that's what i expect from a RPG. Story!

[SaijaRii]

I like having to stay on the roads, makes venturing off of them more fun and challenging... I actually die! I hate those bloody butterflies though, I wear clothing not armor, and they easily kill you in the time it takes to reload.

[joepez]

There are certainly differences between FO3 and FONV, but they appear to be largely lifted from mods. I find the majority of the critters behave similar to MMM or other animal behavior mods. I've seen wounded ones run; weaker run when the leader is killed; blind rampage; and outright ignoring. In FO3 vanilla you could wander pretty far, but eventually you did run into something that squashed you into the ground (try being level 1-3 and walking up to a Mutant). So far I've found over 25 locations of which the majority were off the beaten path and I had to run, sneak, and shoot my way in and out of them depending upon the circumstances. It felt good that in some places I had to run and jump off a cliff to escape a pack of stalkers, likewise sneaking up on a group of bloatflies (annoying buggers) and picking them off with a rifle and crits was fun as well.

 

If you're looking for run & gun take on everything w/ the lowest pistol than yeah you're probably going to die. Especially if don't have any skills trained up. Couple of basic tips that have made exploring fun for me:

As others have mentioned make sure you have the the right tools for the job (for me it's a 10mm pistol; Cowboy Rifle; and Caravan Shotgun)

Apply some basic tactics (higher ground, hide, cover, vats, etc) you can take on 1 or 2 people several levels above you without too much pain.

Shoot for the "weapon" in vats. You'll often get crits and if it is anything that can be dropped they usually will end up on the ground.

Ensure that you can't be easily flanked. Keep one side against a wall/rock/etc.

Make sure you're not taking on 10-20 at a time, that's suicide.

If all else fails, run away and come back later.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

The one thing that I feel really detracts from exploration is that Obsidian makes much more extensive use of invisible barriers than Bethesda did in Fo3. Around DC, if you needed to get somewhere but couldn't handle the enemies there, you could almost always find a way to sneak around and make your own back door by jumping from rock to rock, sliding down walls and cliffs, etc. I've run into half a dozen places so far around NV where the terrain would permit passage to someone patient enough to find the right angles and sweet spots, but invisible barriers blocked off all but the intended approach... forcing the player to go through all the enemies guarding it. Black Hills is one such location. The rock quarry with all the Deathclaws (the name escapes me; it's near Goodsprings) is another. This being a sandbox game, I don't really understand why it's necessary to do that and rather hope someone will mod those barriers out at some point.

[Maddy21]

The one thing that I feel really detracts from exploration is that Obsidian makes much more extensive use of invisible barriers than Bethesda did in Fo3. Around DC, if you needed to get somewhere but couldn't handle the enemies there, you could almost always find a way to sneak around and make your own back door by jumping from rock to rock, sliding down walls and cliffs, etc. I've run into half a dozen places so far around NV where the terrain would permit passage to someone patient enough to find the right angles and sweet spots, but invisible barriers blocked off all but the intended approach... forcing the player to go through all the enemies guarding it. Black Hills is one such location. The rock quarry with all the Deathclaws (the name escapes me; it's near Goodsprings) is another. This being a sandbox game, I don't really understand why it's necessary to do that and rather hope someone will mod those barriers out at some point.

 

This is what precisely pissed me off, Invisible barriers .. as for enemies , its far more challenging, now you actually fear the wasteland

[Arioch13]

Maybe it's just me, but any time I go exploring, I get bum rushed by (way too many) creatures and I inevitably die. There seems to be more mob spawns, and they're way harder. Too hard for a level 5 character. I think it also has something to do with the inconsistencies with weapons. Something like a rifle, (which does more damage than the pistol I currently have) should be able to take down a stupid giant fly! But it doesn't, so I just barely get by with my pistol, and I use up most of the ammo I have on just a couple of enemies.

 

I've played Fallout 3 extensively and never had any problems like this, so what gives?

 

By the way, because of this, I feel like the game is more linear than it should be. I can't go do whatever I want early on like I could in Fallout 3. All I can really do is follow the main story line and walk on the roads the entire time. I'd say I spend about 80% of my time walking from point A to point B on a road and the other 20% actually playing the game.

 

Maybe I'm just an idiot? I really hope this isn't another flop from Obsidian. I still don't forgive them for that atrocity called KoTOR 2.

 

 

Are you by any chance a young chapplaying on a console?. I would guess so or you could mod the problem away. I think this is a great game. The fact you can walk around without danger at low levels is a good thing in my book. I actually think the game is slightly too easy as a nod in the direction of the instant gratification console crowd but that just my opinion. Overall it seems pretty good so far if not slightly too easy. I just hope the mods come thick and fast so I can change the few things I dont like (Poor quality textures etc)

 

I agree with the guy above and the comment about invisible barriers. If you can see it and physically get to it you should be able to go through it. I dont give a sht* if console hardware cant cope with loading so much up or whatever. I dont pay 15x more to play with the same crap limitations.

 

I agree with the previous poster about the invisible barriers, if you can see it and are physically capable of getting to it you should be able to pass. I know some of the barriers and loading points are to support the console hardware capabilities etc but thats not my problem either. Should be enhanced for players not playing on the cheap that invested in the more hardcore gaming experience..

[JCHR]

SPOILER!

 

 

What I found really strange is that north = giant radscorpions+supermutants/nightstalkers+deathclaws+all kind of impossible mobs for a low level character and then south = joke "convicts" that dies to 1 9mm pistol shot sneak critical

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Loading zones and transitions aren't at issue... there are plenty of places where the terrain is fully modeled and traversible but physically inaccessible because of an invisible barrier. If you tcl you can pass through the barrier, tcl again and proceed as normal. It just sucks that you need to cheat with the console in order to use the terrain to your greatest advantage in exploration and ambush.

 

Sometimes the barriers work against you in even more annoying ways... they are often placed on the low side of slopes to prevent the player from climbing up. However, if you are already up and wish to come down the barrier can not only impede you but cause you to become irrevocably stuck... at which point you need to use tcl to get out of your predicament.

 

Overall, the game would be much improved if someone were to do away with the meddlesome things.