Fallout: New Vegas

[Andrew]

Spoiler Alert: It describes one of the quests in the game, so if you want to be completely surprised, give it a miss.

[Lamrock]

Wait, so this game comes out next week?

[Andrew]

It does indeed. Can't wait...I might even have to play around with a couple of Fallout 3 saves in anticipation.

More from G4TV.

EDIT: Also, Five Cities Fallout 4 Should Visit. Fun read and some decent ideas for future Fallout games, though I'm not quite as keen on the last one.

[Andrew]

Bought it pre-order on eBay last night. It's coming from the UK so I'll have to wait a little longer for it but even with postage it was less than half the RRP.

[Lean]

Great birthday present 'drew.

[Andrew]

Would be even better if someone else had bought it for me but not a bad way to treat myself.

[Lamrock]

Will hopefully be getting it from Gamefly on Wednesday. Really hope its good.

[Andrew]

I still think that anyone who enjoyed Fallout 3 is probably going to enjoy New Vegas as well. Brand new storyline, some new features and a hardcore mode for extra challenge, a few quibbles with Fallout 3 addressed...I think it's going to be enjoyable, even if it doesn't become your new favourite game of all-time.

One of the videos mentioned that they're going a different experience for every player, so we're not all going to experience quite the same story. That'd be pretty cool if they can pull that off, though I remember Rockstar said the same thing of GTA: San Andreas and while that was true to a certain extent, you still played through the same storyline missions and came to the same ending if you finished the game.

[Lamrock]

My biggest concern is how playable it will be. I'm sure the core gameplay/quest/story will be fine (if a little less inspired) but the (relatively) short development time and Obsidian's track record makes me worried that it could be very buggy.

[Andrew]

It's not like they had to develop a whole new engine though. I know it's a different company but Rockstar was churning out the GTA games based on III's engine every couple of years or so and they turned out fine. Bethesda was still involved with it and Obsidian is obviously using Fallout 3 resources so hopefully there's less chance for them to mess it up.

[Lean]

My fingers are crossed actually. I'm waiting for you guys to get your hands on the game and see what your impressions are before I buy a copy.

[Andrew]

[url=http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/708093/First-Fallout-New-Vegas-DLC-Announced-Exclusive-To-360.html]First Fallout: New Vegas DLC Announced; Exclusive To 360[/quote]

Of course it's exclusive to 360, now that I've put money down for the PC version. Mind you, the DLC last year was supposed to be 360 exclusive as well, so let's see. Guess I could always pick up the 360 version cheap down the line and check out the DLC if it doesn't come to PC and PS3.

[el badman]

IGN is giving it a 9.0. As expected, it apparently feels more like a giant expansion or DLC to Fallout 3 than an actual new Fallout game...
Still, can't wait. I'm installing the game right now.

[Lamrock]

84 on Metacritic (Xbox 360). As I feared, its gotten mediocre reviews (70-100 scale) and cited for its myriad glitches.

[el badman]

I played a couple of hours already (PC version), and while there are a few new features, it is a little disappointing that Obsidian chose such a risk-free approach, with all the same gameplay mechanisms all around. The game certainly looks very dated, and only the art direction allows it to still "look good". The physics are horrible and the animations are stiff. I knew what to expect since the engine had not been modified in any way, but it still feels like a letdown to get something based on 4-5 year old engine...
Still, after 2 hours, I could already feel the need to keep playing, so it'll certainly be as addictive as Fallout 3.

[Andrew]

I'm still not that concerned about it feeling like an expansion pack or DLC and to be honest if it doesn't feel like a step back from Fallout 3, I don't mind that the graphics or gameplay engine are a little dated at this point. The various spinoffs to GTA III didn't have that much innovation outside a couple of new vehicles or gameplay mechanics added to the same engine but they were a lot of fun nevertheless. If the main quest is entertaining and there's a whole lot of fun side quests along with the other things they've added like hardcore mode, I'm sure it'll hold my interest.

But since Lamrock mentioned bugs/glitches, have you come across anything gamebreaking so far?

EDIT: On the subject of bugs, here's a piece from Kotaku: Fallout: New Vegas Has Bug Issues

[Lean]

Graphics is rated 9.0 on IGN? GAWD!

[el badman]

But since Lamrock mentioned bugs/glitches, have you come across anything gamebreaking so far?

So far only one: when outdoors, I'm encountering quite a few visual glitches/artifacts in the distance, like white flashes. It's not game-breaking but it's annoying.

What I forgot to mention as a plus is that there is much more customization this time around. Of course you can mod the weapons and there are apparently double the amount of weapons compared to F3, but you can also make a whole lot of other things by just gathering junk that would have been mostly useless in F3.

I'm disappointed with the way it looks but I already know I'm still gonna love that game (especially since the PC modding community is already hard at work). I'm at work right now and I can't wait gong back home to play it...

[Lean]

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to get this game. The way Obsidian "touched" the Gamebryo engine and didn't address its flaws is just vintage Obsidian.

[Andrew]

Any crashes/lock-ups so far?

[el badman]

Nothing so far, but I've only played two hours. Unfortunately, the Gamebryo engine being more than prone to crash, I'm afraid it'll happen sooner or later.
Steam is downloading a 250mb update for the game right now, and I don't even know what it's for...

[Andrew]

Save often and save twice each time, I guess.

Got an email this morning to let me know that my copy has shipped, so I guess I'll be playing it sometime next week.

EDIT: Bethesda Working On Fallout: New Vegas Patch

[el badman]

Apparently, that 250mb file that Steam downloaded was sort of a mini-patch for a quest that had some screwed up scripts.
And from what I've read, quite a few people are experiencing those white "flashes" when outdoors, it seems to be an issue due to the use of AA and HDR combined. Hopefully, they can fix it with that upcoming patch.

Here are a few screenies by the way, 1920x1080, everything to max with AFx16 and AAx4:

[benji]

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

Do you prefer to play in first person el badman?