Honest Hearts - Impressions

[eLucifer]

Great DLC. Beautiful scenery, decent storyline, map design was not bad. Decent enough new items and NPCs. Most fun I had in New Vegas. Best DLC? Well, I believe the Pitt is the owner of that title, but Honest Hearts is the second best still.

 

Though it's kind of stupid for Joshua, Daniel and Follows-Chalk to leave their stuff in my way for me to take them on my way out of Zion. Why would they do that?

 

Also, Caesar allowed Graham do lead his armies without a proper Legion uniform? What? I thought the Malpais Legate would have a similiar armor to that worn by Lanius(well, not a mask like his, just the armor).

 

Also, can I rehire Walking Cloud, Follows-Chalk or Joshua Graham? I didn't chek Walking Cloud, but Follows-Chalk and Graham are missing from the Dead Horse camp.

[kevkiev]

Some first impressions - started playing last night.

 

Scenery is always big for me and so far the DLC doesn't disappoint on that. Really like the periodic rainfall too. Storyline seems ok so far. (I'd read some reviews that panned the "thin" storyline, but actually so far so good.)

 

I like exploring every nook and cranny, and it appears that there's no shortages of either. Having said that tho, it'll be interesting to see how much of the area is accessible - there's a lot of cliff faces.

 

Follower's Chalk seems like a pretty cool companion so far. Jumped off a cliff into the river for a shortcut and he followed right along. Has some ok, and not overly repetitive, one-liners too.

 

Only complaint so far is that my NV was running like a finely-tuned racecar (well, relatively) before downloading HH - rarely had CTD's. Though its improved from getting a CTD in the mojave about 5 seconds after restarting after the HH download, I've had a couple CTDs in Zion already.

 

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Some final impressions:

 

Really enjoyed it. Loved the scenery and environment (the rain was really cool, as was being able to travel around a lot by wading/swimming through the river.) Storyline was fine, much better than was described in various gaming reviews I read.

 

After some initial CTDs, HH ended up being pretty stable for me (Maybe 'cuz I started with a slightly outdated version of NVSE - guess there's been 2 NVSE updates since the 1.3 patch. Maybe 3? Current is Beta 10 anyways, I had 9.). I did run into a game-stopping bug after opting for the "exterminate the White Legs" ending (see NV Technical Support section for more detailed whining). Had to go back and opt for the "evacuation" ending in order to finish at all. However, assuming I was pretty much at the end of the extermination scenario when the bug hit, I liked the evacuation one better anyway - actually saw more action.

 

As much as I liked HH, I thought Dead Money was better. Much more intense, both combat and thinking-wise, and much more gripping story imo. "Intense" is not a word I'd use to describe HH.

 

Still, total thumbs up.

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And just a quick one more:

 

took Cass and Veronica back with me back to Zion. I had Boone and ED-E waiting back at my base in Primm (I have the unlimited companion wait time mod) and before Cass, Veronica and I exited the N. Passage tunnel into Zion I got the messages saying that Boone and Ed-E had both returned to Novak/ Primm respectively. No big deal (especially since the 2 companions I had with me didn't get the boot), but kinda interesting.

 

I'd read comments that the game doesn't play well with "regular" companions, but was there for a few hours and I didn't have a single CTD. Smooth as butter. Since I did the evacuation option, it was cool going back to the White Legs encampment at Three Mary's. Another cool thing was that, with the "Companion Sandbox" mod, putting Cass & Veronica into relaxed mode at various encampments had them stretching out on the ground in front of campfires, something they never do in the main game. And I finally saw some (Giant) Cazadores, I hardly ran into them at all during the quests (only 1 actually).

Edited May 24, 2011 by kevkiev

[Spaceritual]

Really enjoying the story so far much more entertaining for me than Dead Money was . From the setting to the characters it has been done well although as a quibble I would have liked even more :)

[RedDeadRider]

First impression.....Happy Trails ain't happy no mo! I fully expected (like an idiot) Indians with bows and rifles, not machine guns! I have to say the terrain is INCREDIBLE! But why can't I explore the plane? And the bus full of scouts...very sad. My nephew is a Boy Scout and I am glad there are no canyon in Florida! And WHY doesn't my Animal Friend perk work on the Yoa Gui? It work with the geckos.

[Limitations]

This was the DLC I was waiting for after getting New Vegas. Dead Money was way too intense for me and my first impression of Zion was "hell yeah!"

[jerriecan]

I loved the landscape - stunning locations. Always nice to see (or hear) Keith Szarabajka at work (he provided Joshua Graham's voice). Fun acid trip quest that freaked me out, even if I like the Point Lookout acid trip better.

 

What I enjoyed less was the length of the storyline - HH felt way too short, and much of the quests were of the 'fetch' variety. I also had a problem on my first playthrough where I had the Meltdown perk and accidentally vaporized the person who led me to Graham, leaving me with no other storyline than to recover the map from Daniel and go home - less than an hour. But that's not a problem of the game design, that was my fault.

 

I thought HH was quite a bit of fun, and I'll be going back.

[marharth]

Needs more dialogue for Joshua Graham, other then that its much better then dead money.

[TankaRae]

WHY doesn't my Animal Friend perk work on the Yoa Gui? It work with the geckos.

 

Yogi Bear is an Abomination, not an animal.

 

I enjoyed HH, but not as much as Dead Money. It didn't introduce enough new game mechanics, though I really loved playing through it with my character with high Survival, which felt like wasted skill points in most of the vanilla game - you really realize how rich Zion is in useful plant life. When I played it the first time, with a level 30 character, I got tons of great rare weapons, but when I did it with a level 14 character almost all the firearm enemies had 10mm SMGs instead of the good stuff, I think I only ran into two or three Storm Drummers who had actual Thompsons. I'm considering going back with a level 40 character and seeing how ridiculously the White Legs are armed.

 

I also enjoyed the decisions to be made - there was no real "evil" option, unless you consider wiping out the White Legs with Joshua and then telling him to put a cap in "Chief Gobbledegook" at the end the evil ending, and even then you are saving the lives and homes of innocent people. I think the closest to a "good" ending is fighting the White Legs but using the peaceful options whenever possible to make them leave (like destroying totems), and then convincing Joshua to have mercy. I did that the first time, but on my second playthrough I evacuated Zion, and finding out the White Legs left it a polluted mess made me sad.

 

Sometime I'm going to have to try the "kill Follows-Chalk" version of the DLC that so many people have played and complained about.

[DeadScar]

I thought it was a decent DLC. Joshua Graham was badarse enough for me to get into the storyline. The main quest wasnt really dynamic though, its just 'fetch this and fetch that'

 

But id have to admit that the sidequests and challenges kept me going. Especially the survivor challenge where you have to search everywhere to get the duffel bags, the rewards were worth the trouble.

I also liked the boss fight with the 'She' a great change from the realism of my fallout world :P

 

this DLC took me the usual 4 hour experience, so it was satisfactory enough. :D

[TheMightyLordSheogorath]

I was surprised...for some strange reason I had the idea that Josha Graham was supposed to be an African American (Idk why, must've read it from some un-canon place). And if he is, he sure doesn't look like it through his bandages. But then again, I don't look like my race either, he and I kind of looked alike actually...Also I almost stopped playing the DLC when it showed me that I had to have a certain weight to carry. I mean, I carry my whole d*** wardrobe, armory, secret military base, and dynasty on my back. Not some kind of "200lb" or whatever limit.