» Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:58 pm New Vegas:
Pros-
It's Fallout. Seriously, it has the combination of humor, setting, and aesthetics that we all know and love. I don't just mean "It has the Fallout name" I mean it has those qualities that make me like Fallout.
Good main story.
Loads of side quests.
Diverse builds work. I like solving quests with Speech or Science.
Cons-
Combat weak compared to Fallout 3. I admit it, I like the FPS of this FPS RPG as much as the RPG. And... I rarely found fights memorable or exciting (End fight against Legion non-withstanding). Medium armor, a decent supply of healing items, and a combat centric build left the game feeling... boring. I did ramp up the difficulty, but that doesn't make the AI smarter, or the enemies more numerous, it just tweaks numbers against you, something I always hated.
Lack of Supermutants. Tabitha was, let's face, a brief stop, nothing more. And Marcus wasn't much better. It's... down right difficult to find wandering Supermutants, and I thought the NCR had some of those big lugs as citizens in Fallout 2. Don't get me wrong, I liked Mean-Son-Ofa-[censored] but you could go multiple playthroughs without finding him, and he didn't add much.
Lack of Ghouls. Ok, you finally burred Harold last game, but did he take all the other talking ghouls with him? We got Beatrix, Calamity, and a couple ghoul rangers. The one you talk to for ten seconds for the Garriot's collection quest really doesn't count. And you have, of course, Raul, who was great. But no Necropolis/Gecko/Underworld, and no ghouls on the actual strip (Baring one if you complete one side quest, who stays in an area you have no reason to ever visit.) I know it seems like I'm listing a lot of examples of ones that ARE in the game, but their so niche, so missable, so limited in impact that most may as well not be there.
A little too much brown. Fallout 3 had a fairly sharp difference between the inner and outer areas, in terms of gameplay and the like. The Mojave is just so much sand. DLC does a lot to fix this though.
The legion's tools. How do people make football pads that stop bullets as well as powered armor and combat armor? How do people that don't like technology maintain sophisticated weapons, and manufacture the replacement parts, weapons, and ammo to keep the legion going? They can't be getting everything for a nation covering several states by just raiding military bases. How do they function without taxing the traders? How do they avoid internal revolts (Like, you know, the Rome that it was based on had in spades?) It's a nit pick, but a particularly irritating one, like a thorn jammed under your skin. Not bad enough to be a real problem, but it nags at you.
OVERALL- Liked. Alot. Was worth full price.
Dead Money
Pros
Interesting atmosphere. I almost made a post just to defend Dead Money, to be honest. I like the change of place, a huge luxury resort town is a welcome change of pace.
Good story.
Great dialog/characters. Outside of one or two exceptions, I don't think I like any group of NPCs in this game as much as these ones. And you had a grand total of four.
Good background. Poor Sinclar...
Cons
Tone whiplash. I like survival horror, but a lot of people seemed to dislike how much of a change it was from the standard New Vegas Formula. Mind you, DLC being non-manditory, you SHOULD make each DLC unique... but I can understand some people being bothered. I'm only listing this as a point for those who will complain later.
Holograms and Collar. I found these fairly obnoxious. Unkillable enemies and invisible hazards that lead you making repeated, frustrated searches to find their source.
Poor map design. Getting around the streets is a pain and a half. Could use more routes.
Inventory Strip. I know it was needed to get the survival horror feel going (Who'd be scared with 200 stim packs?), but its one of the more obnoxious RPG cliches. Still, this is a VERY minor gripe, and I don't see how this one could have been avoided.
OVERALL- Liked. Alot.
Honest Hearts
Pros
Joshua Gram. Holy crap I love this guy. He's crazy, and as a devout Christian I don't agree with his sentiments, but as a the player listening to his dialog and interacting with him, it's awesome. His dialog is well written, his use of bible quotes actually make sense, his motivations are clear, his story interesting, his character compelling.
Good story. A staple it seems, well written and interesting as always.
Good characters. Not as good as Dead Money, but I liked all the talking NPCs in this one too.
Cons
REALLY could have used a climb skill.
Combat a bit lack luster. You find mostly animals that aren't terribly hard to dispatch. And the white leg's come in pairs that aren't hard to dispatch.
OVERALL- Liked. See previous statements.
Old World Blues
Pros
Characters. Five stars, full marks, I loved the Think Tank, Sink and DOCTOR MOBIUS! about as much as any man could. Every. Single. One. Was a delight to listen to.
Great story. Loved every second of it.
Good Enemies. Found the density a bit more to my liking, and none of them were really push overs. Not the best run and gun experience of my life, but satisfying.
Completely open. It's a mini-Mojave!
Science! I love Science! I really do. As an ambiguous super field full of strange and awesome inventions. Not just the realistic sciences one would expect to find, but the sort of Science! that put's brains in jars, has floating robots, and fusion powered Chryslers (I miss my Highwayman from F2.).
Great Boss Fight. Go go giant robot scorpion. And the speech checks later. Only could have been better if the REALLY big one chased you around the entire world map.
Cons
I... er... um... It wasn't longer?
OVERALL- Loved it. Would like to see more. Would by spin off if it was in this style, with this level of writing and characters. Would buy it in a heart beat.
Lonesome Road
Pros
I kinda liked the rocket launcher.
Difficult enemies.
Cons
NONE OF IT MADE SENSE! Ok, Ulysses is doing a simple revenge plot for something that happened before we started playing, but he dresses it in faux philosophy and hypocrisy, blatant, stupid hypocrisy. And the marked men... their not feral. They set traps, use weapons, use tactics. Their sentient. Why the heck do they stay? The NCR ones could go home. NCR accepts ghouls last I checked. Yeah, being ghoulified is probably traumatic, but their response? It makes. No. Sense. Why is this ED-E sentient when the recordings expressly state they have no AI? AND WHY DID ULYSSES SPRAY PAINT "COURIER SIX" inside of a house? Seriously? Why was that graffiti there?
TERRIBLE plot. Who sent that package anyways? Why? Why am I bothering to hunt down Ulysses other then to get my money's worth?
Linear as hell. Ok, really, it wasn't fun to walk. Dead Money was a little linear too, but this? This is a gauntlet. I know roads are straight (Unless you made Lonesome Cloverleaf), but its still bad design.
Tunneler's are REALLY not impressive. They weren't powerful enough to warrant their fearsome reputation, they look like Argonians with glowing eyes... they aren't unique, they aren't interesting. They're bland.
EXTREMELY poor level design. I'm using nuclear warheads (that blow up with the force of a five pound fatman round) to clear ten foot walls? Obvious spawning points like this was an FPS from the early nineties?
A flag pole, and a second, slightly different combat knife were added for weapons. A FLAG POLE AND A SLIGHT CHANGE ON AN ALREADY EXISTENT WEAPON.
Terrible story.
ULYSSES. I can NOT State how much I hate this guy. And not in the way that enthralls me. In the way I didn't want to talk to him at the end, just shoot him in the face (and the quest still said to deal with him after I did, so hey, that wasn't even an option?) Who ever writes his dialog should be fired. Who ever wrote the character background should be fired. I can not state this enough. I. HATE. THIS. CHARACTER. I hate his hypocrisy, his thin vainer of verbosity over a steaming pile. He's by far the worst character introduced.
No other characters. Yeah, you get... he who must not be named, and a slightly more talkative ED-E who... isn't really that good. Not bad, but not interesting. I get it. He wants to go home.
OVERALL- Urg... just... this DLC seems like it was rushed out the door way too fast. Or designed by the team's children, ages six or less. Or a sign you hate us and want to bury the franchise. Or some kind of punishment on the people. I was actually going to mail you a letter requesting my money back. I'd like to terminate my lease, revoke my rights to it, and get every sent I wasted back. And the time back too, if you could. What a terrible way to end this game.
