Nice bit of sarcasm....at least, I hope it was sarcasm?

My opinion, DM is one of the best DLCs I've ever player, simply because it forces you out of your comfort zone into a different way of playing.
I remember when I went through it with my hardcoe mode character, that was on of the toughest challenges I've ever faced.

If you haven't got the patience to read through the dialogues and think things out, you're playing the wrong game.....

The only good thing with it is that it increase your level cap but other than that it's not fun at all.

How come?

A couple things:

1) Dead Money works in threes. First you have three quests to find teammates, then three to bring them to certain places, then three to "take care of them," followed by one final mission. That'll give you an idea how close you are to finishing it.

2) Dead Money polarizes the audience. Those that accept the challenges, are patient with it and try our best not to die? We love it. Most challenging and rewarding part of the entire game. Those that don't listen to the story, aren't patient enough to solve the puzzles and attempt a trial-and-error sort of mindset to solve puzzles (AKA they throw dead bodies at the traps until they manage to see the solution)? They hate it.

Consider giving it a try the first way if you feel you fall into the latter. Use your ears, use your patience and use a process of elimination to disarm the radios that might set off your bomb collar. Listen to the story.

3) For future DLCs? Honest Hearts and Old World Blues will lock you in too, though they won't strip you of your gear (Honest hearts has a weight limit though, but it should be enough). However, Honest Hearts is incredibly brief and the DLC itself allows exploration, so it doesn't feel like you're "locked in." Whereas, according to my first point, Dead Money has ~10-12 steps, Honest Hearts has about 7, and the time between each is much shorter. Old World Blues is a personal favorite of many FO3 fans because it stresses exploration over storyline, so you'll probably like it despite being locked in (and if you get truly sick of it, you can rush the ending). Bring lots of ammo to Old World Blues though or you might find yourself suffering. Finally, Lonesome Road is linear like Dead Money, but you can always turn back.

In that sense, Dead Money IS the love-or-hate DLC. People either love it or hate it. That you hate it means it will probably only get better for you in future DLCs. The concensus generally is that OWB is the favorite, Lonesome Road and Dead Money rank 2nd and 3rd and Honest Hearts is usually ranked as the worst. (for being very brief by comparison. It gives good loot though and has good replay value)

The TC makes one valid point: DM is a departure in tone and style from the rest of the game. In all of F3 and FNV, it is the outlier (yes, even more than MZ or OWB, imo). Whether the player likes it on its own merits or not is another matter.

That said, the game makes it abundantly clear that you are going to be "locked in", and I have zero sympathy for people who button mash through text. If you're not going to read, you might as well play CoD or something else mindless.

It's common sense to make a save before you enter the bunker, especially when you see the message saying "YOU CAN NOT COME BACK UNTIL YOU FINISH BUSINESS IN THE SIERRA MADRE".

It's your fault tbh.

Actually Gardenia, it's very Fallout. I get the feeling you're complaining because the gameplay isn't simple run n' gun gameplay with high tier armour and you just can't handle this massive shift in gameplay. Are you mad that you have to take your time? Mad that you have to keep watching each step in certain areas for bear traps or mines? Mad that the enemies aren't some easy 'lol i shut u ded!' enemies?

I'm not ridiculing you, as for most players, it appears the shift in gameplay is very difficult to handle. I however enjoyed it. But I will warn you of this, from what I've read of your posts, you keep skipping through text with no real intent to listen, which is stupid enough to do in New Vegas itself, but in the DLC and Dead Money especially, it is important you actually pay attention. By skipping through the dialogue like an impatient child, not only do you deny yourself a rich set of dialogue and story, you also deny yourself crucial gameplay tips. If you intend to keep playing games like this, I implore you to start actually reading and listening as opposed to just skipping through everything, as it's only going to come back to bite you in the ass.

Or, if what I said here was to many words for you:

1. When collar beeps, take a step back from beep range and observe your surroundings, listen for static, find the signal source, if its a blue speaker, shoot it, if it's red, look for a terminal or nearby switch to turn it off. If it's a radio, either run and turn it off or shoot it.

2. Light Step is useful in this DLC, if you dont have that perk, don't be impatient and lazy, watch for bear traps, and in doorways, check for tripwires.

3. STOP BEING IMPATIENT WITH TEXT AND DIALOGUE

Point Lookout.

Wat?

Operation: Anchorage - Simulation adventure! Yeah that's really Fallout all right.

Old World Blues - Bucket full of lulz! Why wouldn't it be Fallout? I remember in Fallout 1 how we ran around with talking suits, neon lights, robot scorpions and had [censored] jokes on the radio all the time. Oh wait..

Mothership Zeta - Well yeah of course it fits, I mean, we've had two really small easter eggs before, why wouldn't it fit to cram in an entire mothership into a DLC?

DM is a departure in tone and Style?
Maybe, but there are 3 other DLC's that are way more off-chart.

Honestly it can be completed in about 3 hours if you rush through and aren't bothered about exploring, I don't get what the big deal is.

I don't understand why anyone would do that.

On console, I'm afraid not...just run through it...literally...it doesn't take long

And as cloudstrife said, you brought it on yourself...the game gave you a warning you clearly ignored, so you can't fault the devs for that

It alters gameplay mechanics, but it's desolate, has major ties to storylines in the base game as well as the greater Fallout universe in significant ways, stresses stats and skills, has multiple ways to accomplish each task, long and complicated conversations, and fits into the constant theme of civilized development after a nuclear war.

It's Fallout. Whether you liked it or not, to say otherwise is wrong.

*spoiler ahead

What's ironic about it is the theme is supposed to be about very bleak survival but if you complete it (and some collection effort), you're pretty much set on money (gold bars and their exchange) and stimpacks (the vending machines)

I got through OWB in about 1.5-2 hours the other night, so it can be just as brief as HH. I think that it's generally more compelling and you are more likely to explore, which gives the impression that it's longer, but if you just finish the three main fetch quests and then confront Mobius it's very brief.

Point Lookout was (briefly)locked until a certain point.

@Gardenia, can you reload a save before you went in?

Erm.. No it wasn't.
You need X amount of caps to get int and after that you can just get out directly if you want to.
There is one point late in the quest where it's locked, but that's it.

Sage words of advice right here. Especially number 3.

Ok allow me to clarify: Do you really think I could have played Fallout 3 six times and Fallout New Vegas 120 hours without reading at least 80% to 90% of the dialogue. I don't think that would even be possible do you? I didn't say I skipped all dialogue. I only skip things if I think they are not important, the fact that I clicked through the Dead Money text was a mistake on my part.


And my problem is not that I miss my leet weapons and armor or running and gunning -----------------> it's about the style and content shift of DM. I mean I guess you like it or you don't. I don't. I respect other's right to like it completely....I admire it actually. So yes I read the majority of dialogue when I'm playing Fallout but here and there if I think something isn't important I skip it. And no I'm not afraid to be without my weapons and armor, fact: having to use different weapons was fun. I just don't like the style of the dlc in question.

And what's up with all the sarcasm and hate? jk

Then you can't possibly like any DLC besides Broken Steel.

PL had a drastic artistic style shift.
MZ had a drastic shift in both aspects.
O:A had a drastic shift in both aspects.
The Pitt had a drastic shift in it's artistic style.
OWB had a drastic shift in both aspects.
LSR had a drastic shift in it's gameplay.
HH had a drastic shift in both aspects.

I don't know what you mean by artistic style. But I do know that Broken Steel, Point Lookout, The Pitt, and Operation Anchorage all looked and felt like the base game. Mothership Zeta was the only huge departure and failure......hmmmmmm. I can't speak for any of the FNV dlc except DM.

It's entirely possible, yes. But that's not the point, I'm not ridiculing you as a bumbling mongol incapable of appreciating the architecture of Rome. I'm saying that it's a general common sense rule of thumb to never skip dialogue or text you've never heard before in RPGs. Dead Money isn't as bad as you think it is, the only REAL difference that Dead Money changes in gameplay is it makes you THINK for once. In New Vegas' default world, very little if any thinking is involved beyond 'UPGRADE TO A NEW ARMOUR/GUN!', Dead Money makes you use patience, thinking, and quick problem solving. Also, when you finish Dead Money properly, you appreciate the simplicity of Vegas, or at least I do.


@Gabriel- Hey, shut up, I liked Operation: Anchorage. It was to short, but if done right, it could have been a little cooler (Like say, having the option to stealthily secure each objective and etc. But I just like it for it's vague glimpse into the life in 2077 in Anchorage.

How did they "feel" like they belonged to the base game? Operation Anchorage took place inside a virtual reality pod (introduced in FO3 which, needless to say, isn't the most consistent world itself) that depicted Alaskan tundra (never shown in a FO game before) and altered the way ammo and health was restored. Point Lookout was a sprawling swampland with mutant hillbillies akin to the guys in The Hill Have Eyes, neither of which were in a Fallout game before, and had a plot that largely revolved around a poorly-defined pre-war spy game. The Pitt introduced things like Trogs which were produced from people exposed to radiation, even though FO always had Ghouls for that purpose.

Sounds like you're just cherry-picking what you like and declaring those you don't to not fit whatever your definition of Fallout is.

I love Operation Anchorage, but the gameplay and artistic design was very alien to the Fallout setting and formula.

Oh, and a side note: For the first time ever in all of my playing of Fallout, I leveled my Speech skill quicker than any other. It was at 100 long before any other. Why would I do that if I didn't want to read/have as many dialogue options as possible?