The reavers are at the test site from the start

I actually enjoyed exploring the Mojave more than the Capital Wasteland. There wasn't as much stuff to find, but the terrain is a lot more varied and interesting. Yes, the Capital Wasteland had more stuff to find (they also had a lot more time to develop content, so that's not a skill issue so much as a time issue), but it also felt cramped and packed together, which I hated. It was also a really implausible and unrealistic place, which is ok, but it takes something away for me. As far as enemies...I like NV's enemies better as well. The Reavers, Behemoths, Mud Crabs Mirelurks in FO3 were all terrible enemies, IMO, and Deathclaws are a lot more scary in NV than FO3. Cazadores alone blow away all of the enemies they removed since FO3 put together, IMO.

realisticly, i can't see how a feral ghoul would be very strong, it's rotting for god's sake, however i do miss teh gore throwing thing, though i don't understand how they have unlimited supply of guts
deathclaws on the other hand, we now have deathclaw alphas, deathclaw mothers, blind deathclaws (which have higher perception) and the legendary deathclaw which is the strongest enemy in the game, so far, if you're smart about it, they go down like flies, which they are supposed to, but if you ran at a deathclaw you'd probably die
an extra note would be the topic concerning some guy having issues killing multiple deathclaws with an unarmed class

I never had fear of Deathclaws in FO3, level scaling asures my life, and with the maniac god like characters,, I can beat it with even a Hunting Rifle

Glad that OOO removes the level scaling in Oblivion, now I can find Minotaurs at lower levels

Deathclaws are definitely harder, especially since they're specifically found in large herds, with a Alpha male among them that can basically one shot you.

Ghoul Reavers as I recall, were glitched. They weren't supposed to be bullet sponges to the extent that they were, but for some reason they'd Matrix-dodge 75% of the bullets shot at them. A challenge is nice, but they were just....annoying. You didn't actually fear dying, you just thought "HOW MANY [censored] BULLETS AND STIMS DO I HAVE TO WASTE?!?!"

*sigh* another "thing X was better in Fallout 3" thread.

Opt up the difficulty, problem solved.

* Set difficulty to Very Hard.
* Use light armor or clothing.
* DON'T use sniper rifles or snipe with other weapons by sneak attack criticals.

=

Slightly more challenging.

Yeah... I can totally one shot even a Dread Level with my Laser (+) MC

Maybe you're playing on Very Easy?
Turn on hardcoe Mode, and crank the difficulty up to Very Hard.

You talkin' Ta Me?

I'm talking to OP.

Well! OK then...

Not solved, Ive upped the difficulty as far as it can go...still too easy. Too easy to finish a passive playthrough, too easy to travel for a half hour (real time) and not run into a single enemy, too easy to kill the enemies you do find because they are poorly equipped. Self gimping doesn't help much, and shouldn't be necessary. Had Obsidian done a better job of implementing enemies and combat into the game, and fixing some of the bugs released with the game, there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints about it.

Make no mistake, I still like New Vegas just fine, but there are many areas that could've been done better, I've only listed some of them.

New Vegas, unlike Fallout 3, IMO does not have the same amount of replayability because of these factors; whether it be bad design choices, time constraints, money, or whatever, I don't believe it will reach the same type status of FO3 even though it was developed by some of the same people who worked on the originals, whom so many people hold in such high regard, but conveniently forget when it comes to the problems with New Vegas

Very Hard is not enough for you? Impressive.

I played Fo3 on very hard with MMM increased spawns, Feral Ghoul rampage, and FWE. That presented one helluva challenge, New Vegas is not very challenging IMO.

Probably one of the most challenging enemies in game are the Nightkin, also those Cazadore's can be a pain sometimes, but if you've even got one companion, they are not much of a problem.

You can pretty much do this sort of thing with NV now....with mods. And it's definitely more challenging...I often take a lot of damage during fights and can actually die to something other than clumped up deathclaws, if I'm not super careful!
And I agree with you about difficulty. I've done all those things as well. But I like playing with companions too (equipping them/watching them) so for me that kept up the replayability.

Yet, you conveniently forget to mention how easy it was in Fallout 3 without mods. Comparing unmodded NV with modded Fallout 3, le sigh.
I bet with the proper mods you'll find NV as much of a challenge as your heavily modded Fallout 3.

Also people, very hard just turns enemies into bullet sponges which makes them more annoying than difficult.

The sad thing is that they're not even that much of a bullet sponge on VH. It still won't take more than a few well placed hits with most weapons and you can still 1-shot a lot of the time.

As lady Crimson has said there are mods already out, that add both numbers and more realism to the game.

If you can use the GECK yourself, it's not that hard to add level based equipment into leveled item lists for all NPC's.

Giving grenades, better rifles, a powerful melee weapon to raider members set to raise with your level, cap ammo on them making it rarer.
Then give those NPC's perks, raise their base stats or pretty much anything else you like.
All this without needing any other software than the GECK and the game, and little knowledge on using it

I now have IWS running alongside XFO, which helps, but still doesn't approach what FO3 accomplished.

I am still playing New Vegas, creeping up on the 100 hour mark on Floyd Barrett (my NCR character). I've beaten FO3 so much it's like a dead horse. Got to give it a break and come at it fresh in a month or two.

The FO3 mods must have put in insane spawn numbers then. Even with Boone tagging along, in some spots the current High IWS has me running for cover from 15+ condensed-placement viper bandits all lobbing grenades, and I also have to heal Boone a few times or he'd drop....that's with a XP-delay mod going tho, so I don't level very fast, and playing the combat more like a FPS. But...yeah, IWS doesn't do that for all areas/places, still plenty of areas where it's easy to sneak up and kill all the nasties on the hills from the distance etc.

Edit: P.S. I loved how last night, after leveling up a bit, the viper bandits all had .44 revolvers & 10mm submachine guns, too. That hurt!

It certainly put my graphics card into overdrive :blink:

I was using Arcade Gannon earlier in my playthrough, but once I finished his quest I told him to back to Freeside. I then went and got Veronica for a companion; she is constantly going unconscoius on me. Maybe that will help a little more.

I have my own slower leveling mod that I am using. Even in FO3, leveling was way too fast, New Vegas isn't any different in that respect.

As much as I enjoy IWS, it doesn't cover the Mojave Wasteland like MMM did for FO3. Personally, I'd rather Mart skip NV, take a break from modding and come back refreshed for Skyrim (hopefully) That's just my opinion.

Funny you posted this Lady Crimson..
I just started working on new weapon placements and started with the Vipers.
At level 8+ they should have spawned with .44's, lever action shotguns rippers and other better weapons.
I can honestly say on a vanilla NV, I've yet to see one non leader with anything higher than the 10mm.
Despite running into them over level 20+ for the first time on occassion.

Yup, I've never seen them in vanilla game with anything but those 10mm pistols either.
You say they "should" have those at lvl8? Is there a script that was cut or something, that maybe IWS put back in, or just what you/all think they ought to do? Because that's about what lvl I was last night when I dealt with them (for the 2nd time, already went to that area but went back to test some auto-aim settings). They did have rippers and combat knives on them for melee, as well.

Skyrim will be awesome .