So, what do the rest of you think about the game?
Is it balanced in combat or is it cakewalk all the way to Narnia?

(By "Make them more powerful" it does not necessarily mean bullet sponges. Could be anything from better gear, better attack speed, better running speed, better poison et cetera.)

Me?
Was a month or so since I played Vegas but no, the game is not balanced.
We, the players, are given godly equipment. Armors, weapons and amounts of chems which the enemies never have.
And the enemies gets their standard gear which stays static through the entire game.
It's far too easy considering I play on Very Hard hardcoe Mode and slaughter everything in my way.
And I don't even consider myself to be a "pro" or anything.
I don't build my characters to become "gods", they just end up that way anyway.

And I know about the whole "gimp yourself" bullcrap and I don't care if it's a solution.
I shouldn't have to lock myself out of game content just cause it fails in combat balance.

/Imo

They need better everything there grossly underpowered at times even on very hard but bullet sponges are just tedious i just wish the ai was better that some atari game tbh.

"Is the game, in terms of combat, balanced or not?"
Characters are too powerful

"Do you think the enemies needs to be tweaked?"
No, I don't really care about enemies, they can stay as they are, besides, the game has been out for many months, we lived with weak enemies through that time, why bring this topic up now?

I was thinking that legionnaires could be given +10 or +20% running speed and +5 DAM.
They're suppose to be good at closing the distance right?
Well, imagine having 4 of them speeding towards you in the blink of an eye.
Then they wouldn't have to be bullet sponges either.

NCtRoopers could be given chems.
All of them spawn with two stimpacks and a random chem. (Psycho, Med-X, Hydra, Steady.)
The chem is there to make up for their shortcoming of insufficient training.

Could work.


ice625: "besides, the game has been out for many months, we lived with weak enemies through that time, why bring this topic up now?"
I think this should have been brought up a long time ago actually.
If the enemies can be tweaked in order to make Very Hard into actually being very hard, wouldn't that be a good thing?
If the game is unbalanced in terms of us being too powerful or enemies being too weak then the developers should be notified of it.
Cause I ain't exactly happy about having to force myself out of game content just cause the balance in the game is trashed.

Seems silly all those chems laying about and no one except the courier uses them (for parrrtyyyysss!!!).

Sort of depends on the playthrough, you know. If you're vilified with a few factions, you'll have a lot more enemies to fight off.

Aside from that, I just can't find enough non-faction related enemies in the wastes. No random encounters means no surprise attacks, so I'm always prepared for a fight. The only raider type group (Fiends) are localized in too small of an area. All other generic enemies are creatures, which just don't put up a fight.

Nah I've actually seen Prospectors and Jackals use stimpacks, dunno if NPC's can or will use drugs.

Watch YouTube videos of people doing F:NV playthroughs and you will see that a huge number of players are drop-your-jaw terrible.

I mean, unless you happen to be reading this thread. Everyone reading this thread is a strategic/tactical genius.

Well in that case shouldn't Very Hard be for us who are that good? And Normal or Easy be for those that are that "bad"?

Or you could always introduce a new difficulty mode in one of the DLC's. :whistling: (One that is is completely brutal. :stare: )

[edit]

I dunno if it's possible to introduce a new difficulty mode but I actually think that would be the best thing.
(Like I dunno what goes into creating a difficulty mode, coding? Scripting? Rebalancing? Sorry if I spoke out of league.)
Those comfortable playing on the current difficulties can stay while us who wants more of a challenge are given one.

[edit 2]

Well, the main game "could" be tweaked but it would probably be a crapload of work to re-tweak every enemy for Very Hard and/or hardcoe Mode.
And then we have player feedback which is unknown how it'd be.
Good?
Bad?
Meh?

Personally I still consider it a good idea to tweak the main game.
If people get annoyed at enemies becoming harder they could always just drop the difficulty a notch down.
Us who wants a challenge on the other hand don't have that choice. (especially console users)
Only one we got is self gimping which is a flawed one.

The gulf of capability between a "good" RPG player and a "bad" RPG player is huge and can't be accounted for simply through shifting numbers. It requires a different mechanical approach and structure.

There are many ways to build and use "good" characters in F:NV. There are many, many more ways to build and use "bad" characters. The former requires a measure of planning in SPECIAL allocation, skill allocation, and perk selection with strategic considerations for gear and the tactical use of weapons and ammo. The number of ways in which a player can mismatch SPECIAL to skills, skills to perks, equipment selected/carried and used in the field is almost infinite. I've seen Hoover Dam battle videos with guys using pre-patch low-CND Service Rifles (standard ammo) and low-end shotguns with buckshot (no Shotgun Surgeon) against NCR Heavy Troopers, dying repeatedly (like, three or more times in a row) on non-HC difficulty.

Systemic changes can help alleviate this somewhat. I worked on both Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale II. The latter reduced the gulf between the "pro RPGers" and n00blords simply because D&D 3E's character advancement structure is more forgiving/less likely to result in terrible builds and because of its explicit stacking rules for effects. But on IWD there were areas that Kihan Pak and I would roll through with one try that would make seasoned testers howl and scream in agony because they were "impossible" -- due to bad builds/poor tactics.

And here it's shown how bad at English I really am. :laugh:
Someone's gonna have to simplify that for me.

[edit]
Okay, re-read it, I think I understand the first part at least.
So if I'm a good RPGamer who subconsciously choose the good build out of instinct (Yes, goldfishes have great RPG instincts. ) shouldn't there be some way for me to prove my "1337"ness in a higher difficulty?
To say that "Yep, I'm this good, time for me to tackle the next difficulty" only to have me prove myself once again?
But honestly, there is always going to be a final notch in the difficulty slider, and when one reaches it then they've mastered the game.
It just saddens me that it could be mastered so fast.

In simpler terms, there are many numbers that define how "good" a character is at any given task. Many inputs from many sources. Seasoned RPG players think ahead and plan their characters around concepts that reinforce certain strengths and then play the game to maximize the benefit of their choices. If they play a cowboy-themed character, they put points in AG, Guns, buy the Cowboy and Rapid Reload perk, use lever-actions and revolvers, and carry/use weapons that can adapt to the armor/number/range of enemies. Players who don't "get it" are bad at planning, don't understand what is happening, stat-wise, and mismatch their gear to their skills and to the current tactical demands. This creates a very large gulf in capability of handling any given combat encounter.

But isn t fo supposed to be a big boy game. These people that get slapped will learn. I m not saying every NPC should be a walking tank, but Ceaser s tent and Lanius were the only times I really died from NPCs.

I don t shoot up 20 stims while im in the middle of combat either.

Deathclaws got me some too, but that is to be expected.

Ah, okay...

This is why I wish there were sliders for the game really.
Several sliders for each aspect of combat that everyone could tinkle with so the combat meets their player/character skill.

Sadly I don't know how long lived New Vegas is going to be then.
Doing the quests is fun and all, but the wasteland, static, uneventful and me having mastered the difficulty settings already is decreasing the replay value.
Meh, all good things must come to an end.
Didn't think it was gonna be so soon.

[edit]
I hope you [Sawyer] at least consider making a new difficulty mode to include in one of the DLC's. (At least keep it in mind during development of the DLC's.)
That's all one can ask really.

Big improvement form the travesty that was FO3 but could still use some further enhancement.

If I'm playing at Very Hard it should be very hard. Otherwise I can always bring the difficulty level down if I can't take the heat. Give us the option.

Sliders would be great. I hope he s gone to tune up some NPCs to teach us a lesson lol

Indeed, and that is why i use mods instead of the difficulty slider. FWE for Fallout 3 and Arwen's Realism Tweaks for New Vegas, that sort of difficulty is the thing i want. Powder Gangers throwing dynamite were a serious threath long before this patch

Agreed with a previous poster though, unmodded New Vegas is much more balanced than unmodded Fallout 3 ever was. Just go easy with the level cap increases, please?

It depends on how you define "big boy". If you mean a game for advlts of average intelligence who may or may not have RPG experience, yes. If you mean people who keep a stack of books by von Clausewitz and Capoferro by their desks and insist that people address them as "Feldmarschall", no.

This isn't really about being smart or dumb, it's about being experienced or inexperienced. There are a huge number of things that seasoned RPG players take for granted that are either not immediately apparent or are counterintuitive to new gamers. Because sub-optimal builds in F:NV can be sub-optimal for many, many reasons, I think it's unreasonable to assume that failure to overcome a combat challenge will naturally indicate how to address the problem. We use things like the "red shield" to assist people, but that only goes so far.

I agree with Sawyer, there are players who come in and ask for min-max build and still get their bottom handed. On the contrary, I do fairly well by the seed of my pants.

I mean look at some of the argument on weapon balance and VATS, some people just couldn't play like experienced gamer like me and come up with a completely different perspective.

And I would like to thank Sawyer for listening to our input on weapon balance.

I see your point, but at the same time an advlt with average intelligence should figure that if they go into a bunker full of people in power armour they might get slapped.

This is also part of making decisions. I don t care If I die 15 times, but if I did I would avoid putting myself in a combat situation with a bunker full of bos. They should be destroyers....... I m not just talking nv here either, but same with fo3. I want hard people to be hard.

Sometimes I want there to be something that worries me a lot even when I m leveled up.

I don t know what the answer is. I m not a big rpg guy, but I read what the stats do for me. It says it all right there in the pip boy.

Without a doubt any time a dev is willing to take time and explain things from their perspective is great. Obsidians people have taken time on Q & A sites and twitter to address direct questions from players, and I totally respect that. They don t have to do that.......

Yes, the player is too powerful in the vanilla game (imo).

But the player capability (and playstyle preference) gulf is wide, for many reasons, like Sawyer has already eloquently written of.

More difficulty playstyle (vs. bullet sponging) choices would be nice, but that requires more time & resources. Also, I have no idea if sliders would really work for a game like this. What should/would they do, exactly? Increase enemy damage? Increase health? Increase weapons enemies have? Bigger explosions? I don't know, it seems like sliders wouldn't be effective enough...and you'd still have people who weren't happy either side.

Edit: games like this, imo, were meant for modding, so individuals can craft their game exactly the way they want (well, almost). I know that's unfair for console users/ppl who can't afford to buy a new computer every 3-4 years, but... :/

Hey! What's wrong about having von Clausewitz on your night stand? :hubbahubba: And nice fencing refernce.

I will posit this: The first playthrough, as usual, the difficutly was pretty dead on. It was harder, as we didn't know the game yet and couldn't meta-game. It's only after you learn the game that it gets easier. If games were designed to be hard after all the tricks are learned, then they'd be impossible on the first run through. And that's player skill notwithstanding. Imagine if the game was designed to be very challenging even on the 10th playthrough for a seasoned vet RPG meta-gamer, and then imagine just how much worse those U-tube videos would be. They wouldn't be gameplay videos, they'd be diatribes against the sadaistic developers.

Jetzt wo ist meine unterzeichnete Kopie von Vom Kriege.

-Bereich Marshall Gunny verlassen hat.

I agree with lady Crimson,
While I find NV a tad easy, it is a game where it needs to be modded to fit in with personal taste.

And I have friends who gave up playing the game because fighting convicts in primm was to difficult or hated dead money since couldent get past the radios in the medical distract without realizing that blue flashing light is something to shoot at to stop the radios.


I found the diffculty pretty deceant first time though and loved the end fight (espeically after FO3s lame boss), the odd tweak here or there, namely perhaps adding the Anti material rifle and simular weapons to the more high leveled NPCS and so.

Just no way of geting the diffculty right for everyone just try meet the decent medium between hard and easy

Game sliders----- Would probaby be easier for pc, but take NBA 2k games. If its too easy, or too hard you can adjust the AI in alot of different ways with their game sliders. Probabilities of making close shot, mid range jumpers, 3s. How effective they will be at stealing the ball from you. Almost everything that involves basketball skill or physical ability can be changed either way.

Even the players attributes and tendencies can be changed. So if I think Kobe Bryant is driving to the hole too much, I can change him to take more jumpers. I can even change where he ll take the shots from on the court. I can do that and more with every single player in the NBA in NBA 2k 11 on console

How would that transfer into fo? I d change the bos stats so I would die 9 times out of 10 if I want to go in thier bunker shooting. This can t be done now I m sure, but just a thought for future games. If it can even be done in games of this magnitude.