Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road Reviews Round-up #2

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But best title ever!
We have a second batch of reviews for Fallout: New Vegas' last hurrah, the Lonesome Road DLC, and they're as mixed as the ones we've rounded up so far.

IGN, 6.5/10.<blockquote>After spending around seven hours with Lonesome Road one thing became clear: you won’t want to purchase it for the story. Like other downloadable content packs, you’ll gain five additional levels and some sweet weapons worth some serious cash…er bottle caps. Unfortunately, those are the only major benefits. In this case, only Fallout fans desperate for more content should embark on this oddly paced journey through the Divide. </blockquote>Metro, 4/10.<blockquote> Not even the equipment rewards are particularly worthwhile. The new nail gun and rocket launcher are quite useful, but not game-changinly so. The new karma-resetting perk is also handy, but a rather odd reward to be dolling out at the very end of the whole New Vegas experience.

As a result the experience just comes across as utterly pointless. If Bethesda had let things end with Old World Blues they would've been going out on a high note and the mediocrity of the two preceding downloads would've been easily forgiven.

But this isn't even that good and just made us glad we weren't going back to the Fallout world anytime soon, when really it should have had us anticipating the next full sequel even more. </blockquote>FMV Magazine, 4/5.<blockquote> In short, it’s a fitting end to the New Vegas saga, and well-worth getting your hands on if you’ve enjoyed the moody exploration, moral dilemmas and meaty action of the main game. Packing a great deal of extras, and also boasting a fine story-line to boot, Lonesome Road is very nearly the perfect example of what great DLC should be.</blockquote>The Oracle, scoreless.<blockquote> "Lonesome Road" is not going to make any new fans of the series. However, the expansion, problems aside, offers a fitting conclusion to the Courier's tale before the climatic end of the game. Raising the level cap and bringing new perks to the table is always nice even though you still can't play past the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.

I recommend the DLC if you're a fan of the series, if you're not, you might want to hold off on purchasing or maybe wait until the ludicrous Steam sales in November.</blockquote>Piki Geek, 4/5.<blockquote> Lonesome Road is a hefty bit of content, clocking in at just under 8 hours, though, your mileage may vary depending on how often you die. It’s also the only New Vegas DLC I feel comfortable calling a “must own”, even though I ultimately enjoyed Old World Blues more. Lonesome Road ties up the main story line and answers the remaining questions about your background, thereby making it essential to anyone who gives a damn about the game’s story.

Even though there were more “Oh fucks”, “god damnits” and “sons of bitches” exclaimed than at any other point in my time spent with New Vegas, Lonesome Road is worth the $10 (800 Microsoft Points) price of admission. Come for the story, stay for the loot. </blockquote>GameFront pretty obviously didn't enjoy the way Ulysses was written, 75/100.<blockquote>But it’s not all talking, on the Lonesome Road you’ll explore what is probably the most interesting environments found in a Fallout game to date. Really, I can’t understate the triumph of the design team here. The Divide is ravaged far more than other places in the Mojave Wasteland; the terrain itself has been altered, and so you’ll walk through buildings that are tilted at an angle or that are comely toppled, and at one point I found myself wandering through a cave that was made from buildings falling against each other. It’s was exhilarating.

It’s a shame, then, that exploration is hardly encouraged, as for the most part the Lonesome Road is a very linear experience. But that’s OK, because the journey is for the most part very interesting. Now, if only that one guy would have shut up.</blockquote>While Blistered Thumbs seemingly did, 8/10.<blockquote> In the end, Lonesome Road has put me in an awkward position. The DLC does some very interesting things with its storyline, and really doesn’t have any big detracting factors from it in terms of its quality. The only real bug I found was an enemy clipped through the floor and continued to follow me around for a bit, grunting at me. It was sort of like being followed by an invisible linebacker that’s too passive for his own good. So, let me say this: Lonesome Road is a great piece of DLC, but it’s one that you need to look up some video on to really decide whether or not you want to spend the cash. Watch some video, play it at a buddy’s house, or whatever you choose. This just isn’t one of those things you want to impulse buy, despite how good it is.</blockquote>Finally, Trendkiller Online rightly notes that the linearity of the DLC is a bit at odds with the tenets of the Fallout franchise, scoreless.<blockquote> This in no way makes this DLC bad, It’s just hard for me to recommend this to anyone other than a Fallout fanatic or a completionist. If you never ever played a Fallout game before but are looking to get into New Vegas now, I would recommend waiting for the inevitable game of the year edition. Simply put, this DLC is not representative of the greater Fallout series, It exists for those looking to put a cap on New Vegas, to finish it off, to get 100% completion. In the end it is enjoyable, if not a bit misled, but it should not be any gamers introduction to Fallout as it may make for a less than stellar first impression.

With that said, I salute Bethesda (and Obsidian) for what has been a thoroughly enjoyable game in New Vegas… but it’s clearly time to bring on Fallout 4!!</blockquote>
 
I find the "for Fallout fanatics" stamps odd. Why would it be "for fans", other than those who play anything with the Fallout name or, as IGN points out, must have more content, regardless of content quality. I don't know if this is a DLC I would specifically recommend to Fallout fans. It's as un-Fallout a bit of content as Fallout's ever had.
 
I know everyone has a right on his own opinion but I find that the IGN reporter is talking out of his ass here.
Lonesome Road is about the story, discovering a background of our character we did not know before.

And I also damn wish that reporters fucking remember that Obsidian is the developer and Bethesda the publisher.
They are damn keen on rewarding Bethesda when they like a product but they recall that Obsidian developed it if they don't like it.
 
Well, we know that Bethesda only makes cool shit, so it's obvious who to blame for the bad shit. :>


I find it funny that always when I like a DLC, the reviews are mixed / bad and vice versa.
 
Lexx said:
I find it funny that always when I like a DLC, the reviews are mixed / bad and vice versa.

Hence why I in general ask other people what they think of a game rather than to rely solely on the reviews of journalists.

I am honestly not going to say that they are bribed but I don't think their tastes match mine or that of people I know.
 
Brother None said:
It's as un-Fallout a bit of content as Fallout's ever had.

*shrugs* - For me it was the first real "Fallout" thing since FO1. People experience settings differently, more news at eleven. ;)


Or you saying you don't like OWB? I will punch you.

You may punch me aswell then. :P
 
Surf Solar said:
*shrugs* - For me it was the first real "Fallout" thing since FO1. People experience settings differently, more news at eleven. ;)

Not the setting, bro. The setting was more recently apocalyptic than any other Fallout game has been. I meant the gameplay, content and story.
 
And I was not talking about only the setting either. Other than many people, I do not care if the gameplay is linear, 's long as the narrative is good. And to me - it was - it was a similar story and feel to me like FO1.

The gameplay, well ok, you ar right. But I don't bother. It was, sigh, actually a bit fun for me. :/
 
Slanty buildings FTW. Actually, the environment made me want to play a Fallout only 50 years or so after the great war. Leftover CRAM would be more believeable.

I got the impression that a lot of reviewers told Ulysess "I don't care about your politics, just tell me what I have to do next."

Some choices abruptly ended the conversation while other greatly expanded the narrative. It might have been some meta-gaming, but I kept reloading the auto-saves to tease out his varous responses and stories.

Not talking to him would make the whole trip fairly pointless. Risk life and limb to get to crazy guy for no particular reason --> Kill crazy guy --> Hooray, loot!
 
Can't say that LR felt fallouty to me. It just wasn't, same with all the other DLCs. It's just a way too different style.

OWB was... well, I liked the story bits and all, but all the running around and the general style of the location just wasn't my cup of tea.
But maybe I am just a little bit annoyed, because the other DLCs got so much exaggerated negative reviews, while OWB was overwhelmed with positive reviews.
 
Lexx said:
But maybe I am just a little bit annoyed, because the other DLCs got so much exaggerated negative reviews, while OWB was overwhelmed with positive reviews.

Hmmm? OWB reviewed great, DM reviewed good, HH and LR reviewed poorly. That seems about right to me.

Surf Solar said:
Other than many people, I do not care if the gameplay is linear.

Cool story, but we were talking about how well it fits as a Fallout, not if your personal preferences are for linear story-driven shooters.
 
I personally find the appeal of MCA, pushing Fallout to its boundaries very good. While it maybe have failed in the past (New Reno), I was not bothered by Lonesome Roads narrative "breaking" what Fallout is, more the opposite. FO3/New Vegas already feel so much different tan FO1/2, that I don't really care for that stuff to be honest. I am already pleased if they give me some good story, atmosphere and relatively ok gameplay (if measured with the aging Gamebryo Engine).

Fallout, as you describe it and what we all would love it to be, sadly died many years ago.
 
I found Lonesome Road quite engaging. Someone said it before- that the Divide recalled The Glow from Fallout One, and that's true. They worked a miracle with the level design, and, yes, it felt nearer to the original Fallouts than much of what Bethesda had done with three. And you saw much of the old humour;

[spoiler:6522c2e559]Particularly to the ending where should you choose to engage Ulysses with the information you'd gained from ED-E's archives, you find that Ulysses himself went off on his tear without a full understanding of just what happened or why. That much of old America meant for him might have come from the Enclave/Navarro.[/spoiler:6522c2e559]

What I found a bit irksome, though, was the utter desolation. Granted, that was much of the point of the setting- but even so I felt there was something missing.

I would have rather had more logues, letters, and memories left of those who'd perished to be found among the wreckage. For all the sound and fury, seeing the Divide after the fact wasn't enough for me. It wasn't personal enough a journey.

[spoiler:6522c2e559] None of the letters found mentioned my courier. None of the places visited held any remnants of him or his materiel past. It was bland. And no, simply saying the whole of Divide was my legacy wasn't enough.

Ulysses never told their story, his story, or the courier's fully either. Much of it became lost in his lust for vengeance, balance, whatever.[/spoiler:6522c2e559]

I'd hoped for another survivor. Perhaps one of the marked men who'd held on to their sanity longer than most- someone other -and voice acted- than Ulysses or ED-E who could have given another unique point of view on what happened; before, during, and after.

Perhaps a friend, a lost love- someone whom actually knew the courier rather than having followed him or heard of him? I wanted a voice to say they loved, or hated, or forgave my character. I wanted to know about life to the Divide from someone who, unlike Ulysses, never wandered the wastes but rather stayed to make what life he/she could within it. Would my courier end them, make peace with them, or leave them? Who knows, but to me that sort of gravity -cliche or no- was missing.

I made it to the end of Lonesome road and was left with this impression of my courier's relationship with Ulysses:

[spoiler:6522c2e559]

Ulysses: 'I see you made it through.'

Courier: 'So I did.'

Ulysses: 'I expected nothing less of you on your road.'

Courier: 'You did?'

Ulysses: '...., ...'

Courier: ' I mean, yes! Ahem... Yes, and so you should have.'

Ulysses: '....'

Courier: '....?'

Ulysses: '........'

Courier: 'Wait! Just who was I?'

Ulysses: 'Never you mind that. You were somebody... Somebody on a road.'

Courier: 'A road. Right, right.'

Ulysses: 'Somebody on a lonesome road and I'm here to judge you, along with the whole of Humanity for what's happened here.'

Courier: 'Me? Me and the whole of humanity? Well that's not so lonesome is it?'

Ulysses: '..........'

Courier: 'Wait... What!? You're here to do what!?'

Ulysses: "To judge. So I am. And there's nothing you, the Bull, the Bear, or anyone else can do to keep me from it. Humanity has to learn. Justice is coming. None shall know what we've said here, nor what we've done here. The missiles shall fly, and the slate shall be wiped clean...'

Courier: 'What? And how should they learn if they never know...'

Ulysses: 'We all walk a long and winding, lonesome road... Which is lonesome when we walk it alone...'

Courier: 'That's grand and all, isn't it? But who were you again? And wait... Wait! Just who were you to me? Come on then... Can't we sort this out as two adults?'

Ulysses: 'No! You chose the 'wrong' dialogue option!'

Courier: 'Oh, I did. I did!? What!? And why are you speaking in quotes!? '

Ulysses: '..............!!!'

Courier: 'Oh, damn me.'

Ulysses: 'AH-MUUUURRR-EEEE-KAAAHHH!!!'[/spoiler:6522c2e559]
 
Well, LR has the average of DM reviews, not HH. HH was bashed because it was rushed (huh) and the story was blah.

BTW. What's so much non-Fallout in New Reno I often hear about? Is it just the 40 gimmick, or something more? I mean, sure, it doesnt have any backstory other than Jet, but it could've happened. Or Vegas, for that matter - what's unbelievable in a powerful figure having his powerful enclave gained and maintained by using his power?

EDIT: I understand the complaints about Reno's mafia gimmick, but Vegas? I get the impression it's just about the Casinos there.
 
GeeZee said:
Well, LR has the average of DM reviews, not HH. HH was bashed because it was rushed (huh) and the story was blah.

Nope. Metacritic averages (PC): OWB 82, DM 70, HH 66, LR 60 (on Xbox)

GeeZee said:
BTW. What's so much non-Fallout in New Reno I often hear about?

Wrong setting gimmick. It was a great RPG town that had little to do with Fallout, theme or setting-wise.

New Vegas ups the ante by at least being 50s-themed, but it makes no sense. It is a protected, walled-off town that produces nothing except gambling. No traders protected, no significant trade whatsoever, hell, they force the biggest traders and caravan companies to squat outside the walls, offering no protection to them. That's stupid. It's just a big fat leech on nothing at all. New Vegas as a whole also got way too post-post-apocalyptic, which LR was meant to counterbalance I think.

EDIT: also, the cap requirement is, what, 2000? That's *insane*, no one fucking has 2000 caps in the bloody wasteland. New Vegas simply does not fulfill any logical, sensible role within a growing but still very primitive economic system like NCR's, unlike, say, Broken Hills or the Hub or even Vault City, which were all logical, plausible towns.
 
I know they probably can make much more money that way. But still I would have loved to actually see them working on a proper add-on then "DLCs" (even though the difference between it is rather fluent).

Would have been awesome if they used all the time and work they needed to make those 4 or 5 DLCs and throwing inside of ONE good add-on with less linear gameplay, more side quests (which also interact with each other) and concentrate on one good character like Ulysses or the Burned man or what ever and giving the whole game a bit more "size".

I never will buy those stupid DLCs because I dont see a reason to play something which is only entertaining for 4 or 5 ours.
 
@BrotherNone: Oh ok, I thought otherwise from what I've seen so far, 8/10 LR reviews kinda gave the average a boost, while HH scored huge numbers of 5/10.

About Vegas, it's possible that non-autarkistic community gathers money from gambling, and spend it on food from Brahmin barons and water from Lake Mead etc. Or from other sources, Mojave's quite big.

At least, how Vegas exists in the Wasteland makes billion times more sense than how, say, Rivet City did.

The problem is - that's the kind of logic presented in Lonesome Road. While it's entirely possible that it goes on, it is never said WHY, which implies that developers didn't figure it out themselves, and the "probable" things must happen outside of players' perspective and fill the necessary holes, which shouldn't ever be holes.
 
LR numbers are still to settle. Metacritic logs only one (4/10) review for PC.

GeeZee said:
About Vegas, it's possible that non-autarkistic community gathers money from gambling.

Do you really think Fallout's economy is advanced enough to support a town that exists *only* on gambling? It's not even inside secure NCR territory. It makes no sense.

What's frustating about it is that it's so easy to fix. House knows how economy works, he knows gambling is not a productive industry, and that it needs core industries to provide a support structure. He has the most secure location in the Mojave, with settled outskirts to feed from. Why are there no traders inside? Why is it so hard to get in to (I mean it makes sense that he doesn't allow bums, but 2000 caps?!), why doesn't he cooperate more with caravan security? It. Makes. No. Sense.

GeeZee said:
At least, how Vegas exists in the Wasteland makes billion times more sense than how, say, Rivet City did.

Rivet City provided the only safe haven to traders (and scientists), and provided multiple services (bar, hotel, uuhhh...museum) that encourage wasteland survivors to go there, trade and move on. Much like the Hub. It wasn't perfectly set up, but in principle it's sound.

GeeZee said:
The problem is - that's the kind of logic presented in Lonesome Road. While it's entirely possible that it goes on, it is never said WHY, which implies that developers didn't figure it out themselves, and the "probable" things must happen outside of players' perspective and fill the necessary holes, which shouldn't ever be holes.

I'm unsure what you're referring to here.

Crni Vuk said:
I never will buy those stupid DLCs because I dont see a reason to play something which is only entertaining for 4 or 5 ours.

As someone who feels the basic setup of DLCs is skewed against consumers and too many exploit that setup, that's stupid. Just because the structure is flawed doesn't mean every single released DLC is worthless. I bought GTA IV DLC based on consumer/critical feedback and was gifted/bought NV DLC based on the same, and have regretted neither. You're being mentally inflexible.
 
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