So I just bought Fallout New Vegas for my laptop a few minutes ago and it is installing, as I said before I never played this series before and have just finished the original games (Fallout 2 twice with and without Killaps mod) and after further insistance from my uncle to try out this game I got it instead of Fallout 3 (as that is not on sale today)

So what do you all advise I install/do in this game, and is it at all different from the first two (other than the obviously different playstyle)?

Style your guy on a tribal who uses melee/unarmed weapons combined with Survival to give his close comabt a good kick but uses long range Guns on big baddies or far away guys
Don't side or do the main quests until your done playing around and gettin a feel for the place

First off; Shouldn't this go in the NV section? :huh:

Secondly; I'll give you a straight run-down.

When you enter Goodsprings, I suggest doing the towns quest as it is an easy way to earn basic gear and reputation. After, do NOT take the back route to New Vegas (Damn Cazadores.. Wish someone had told me ) Head to Primm as suggested and just follow the Main Questline. Whenever you feel your read, stray from the main path and start doing side-quests.

If you want the DLC, now would be the time to get them. 2.99 a pop, which is a killer price. Honest Hearts can be completed around level 15-20, Dead Money around 25.

Other then the perspective change, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. You'll recognize a few faces, such as the NCR, Brotherhood of Steel, Great Khans, and so forth.

Can't say much other then that.

That's a big question, but I'll try to answer it briefly.

First I'll address the differences. Obviously the graphics are a lot better. The big difference as far as gameplay is Open-World vs. Node Base. Meaning if you fast travel you will not be a dotted line on a map, but you can literally walk anywhere. You'll notice sidequests are a lot more involved then the first two (but less so than Fallout 3). There are also features such as weapon mods and ammo crafting. There is faction reputation like the first two, but also faction disguises.

As to what you should do: Explore, explore explore. Do NOT rush the main quest, you will miss a LOT. Do all the sidequests, get to know the various factions. You can literally spend hundreds of hours just exploring the gameworld while not even touching the main quest. Also, KIND OF like the person above mentioned, specialize in something. You'll find there are plenty of each type of weapon, so concentrate your skill distribution.

Yeah, just realized that.

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I did buy everything for NV just now, but should I just go all vanilla or add some mods in?

I can't address what it's called specifically because I'm a 360 player. But I believe there is a stability mod out there. Other than that, play with DLCs but without Mods first. Believe me, there is enough content to keep you going without modding anything in. You can also try hardcoe mode. If it gets difficult in can be switched off, but I would turn it on and give it a shot, and then keep it if you like the added challenge, because if you turn it on later you can't get the achievement.