Fallout: New Vegas previews

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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Just a duo of previews to add. First is Play.tm, who watched Chris Avellone play through a demo.<blockquote>Even later into the extensive hands-off demo, we encounter another partner character, Raul the ghoul, who dwells in a small facility near the central Black Mountain location where an insane, aggressive breed of super mutants returning from previous Fallouts reside. Joining forces with Raul, we take on the band of Nightkin super mutants who have been driven mad by an over exposure to Stealth Boy technology. Using the new grenade machinegun - which spits out grenades at an incredible rate, the Nightkins and their cross-dressing, peroxide-wigged leader, Tabitha, soon fall under a torrential downpour of explosive projectiles, making Raul and the Brotherhood of Steel immensely happy as a result.

These actions also make the opposing breed of New Vegas' super mutants - a more intelligent kind that can talk and articulate - increasingly fond of us more for killing what they call the 'dumb-dumbs'. As one breed of irradiated super mutants naturally hates the other, you can play them off against one another and sit back and watch as they fight, which is something that extends to all of Fallout: New Vegas' opposing factions. You can use the reputation system to your advantage, orchestrating Machiavellian machinations behind the scenes to eradicate your enemies and stay in favour with the communities and factions that matter during your journey.</blockquote>Both Fallout and BethBlog tweeted that their subsidiary Planet Fallout previewed New Vegas.<blockquote>After playing the press demo at E3 for nearly an hour, I can safely say that I walked away with the full intent to pre-order the collector’s edition. Of course, I might be considered a bit of a fanboy since I work for Planet Fallout and all, but hear me out before completely dismissing my opinions. </blockquote>You don't say.<blockquote>They’ve also taken a few notes from the community here as weapons can be modified with different bits and pieces. Though there were none available to me during my time at the booth, the dev assured me that there were a number of them. He also noted that there would be more items that could be crafted though he didn’t say how many more.

One interesting quibble I had arose from my attempt to free Nelson from the clutches of the Legion. After cleansing the town, I cut down some NCR captives they’d been keeping around. Due to this, they were hostile to me. So even though I’d freed them from their bonds, they immediately attempted to bash my face in.

At this point, Boone, my former NCR pal, decided that they had to pay. One by one, their heads exploded. Afterwards, Boone interrupted me and made me promise to not kill any more of his NCR brethren. As I chuckled to myself, I assured him that I would do no such thing. </blockquote>
 
Brother None said:
Using the new grenade machinegun - which spits out grenades at an incredible rate, the Nightkins and their cross-dressing, peroxide-wigged leader, Tabitha, soon fall under a torrential downpour of explosive projectiles, making Raul and the Brotherhood of Steel immensely happy as a result.

It's so sad, I had to smile for a few seconds. :mrgreen:
 
Someone said:
At this point, Boone, my former NCR pal, decided that they had to pay. One by one, their heads exploded. Afterwards, Boone interrupted me and made me promise to not kill any more of his NCR brethren. As I chuckled to myself, I assured him that I would do no such thing. </blockquote>

Well exploitable follower AI has been around since the earlier Fallout games. You could get your followers to kill the thieves in Fallout 2 and you wouldn't get any bad reputation from it. It's good to see that they are staying true to the elements that make up a true Fallout game. [spoiler:d9b4384641]lulz[/spoiler:d9b4384641]

In 10 years, we might have 100% realistic looking VR simulations.. but they'll still have AI getting stuck at walls, flying into the air randomly, and clipping that is SO BAD the NPC will die from their own clothing.

PC: "Wanna buy this sword?"
NPC: "Okay, here's your money. (auto equips sword because he has nothing)"
NPC: "Ow.. quit it... ow... quit it... ow.. *dies*"
PC: "Free goodies!"

3D games. It's just that awesome.
 
One interesting quibble I had arose from my attempt to free Nelson from the clutches of the Legion. After cleansing the town, I cut down some NCR captives they’d been keeping around. Due to this, they were hostile to me. So even though I’d freed them from their bonds, they immediately attempted to bash my face in.

Maybe my english is just not good enough, but... I don't understand this. He freed camp Nelson from the Legion, then freed the hanging around NCR dudes, which then attacked the player? Why should they do that?
 
Well there's this: "I cut down some NCR captives they’d been keeping around." Which happens before they attack the PC. Sounds pretty cut & dry to me.

I mean if someone has 10 people prisoner. Person B kills the captor, then proceeds to kill the prisoners.. is it not natural that they might try and defend themselves? The only reason they probably gave in to capture in the first place was to avoid the whole "death" issue.

I don't know which is dumber. The NPC AI or the PC who's randomly exploiting it for chaotic evil giggles.
 
Okay, with "cut down", I thought about cutting them from the cross and not killing them.
 
I have no clue. Maybe he meant cut down like he killed them, and then they tried to beat him up because he did so.

Anyway, I'm assuming the BoS likes that you're killing the Mutants because they're very close and hostile to them.
 
Burrich said:
Brother None said:
making Raul and the Brotherhood of Steel immensely happy as a result.
I hope this doesn't mean the FO3 version of the Brotherhood will be back.
Letz hope they are still rotting in Washington.

Not that a new Fallout game should AGAIN make a big fuzz around the Brotherhood (Fallout 2 really had not much with them for example), but if we see the Brotherhood I hope it will be OUR xenomphobic hood !
 
These actions also make the opposing breed of New Vegas' super mutants - a more intelligent kind that can talk and articulate - increasingly fond of us more for killing what they call the 'dumb-dumbs'.

Is this a way reconcile the stupid Fallout 3 mutants with the original brutish yet can hold a conversation Fallout 1/2 mutants, in the universe lore?
 
Fallout 3's mutants could still talk, the biggest difference between them and the dumber mutants in Fallout 1/2 were societal/behavioral pattern and physical appearance.

The dumb/smart divide was always there. The big divide in New Vegas, if I followed PR correctly (feel free to correct me, Ausir), is between the more intelligent outpourings of the Master's experiments and Fallout 2's Mariposa supermutants.
 
OakTable said:
I have no clue. Maybe he meant cut down like he killed them, and then they tried to beat him up because he did so.

Anyway, I'm assuming the BoS likes that you're killing the Mutants because they're very close and hostile to them.


What I understood is that he was already with bad reputation with NCR. He then killed the Legion's camp and freed the NCR captives. Since he had bad reputation with NCR, they attacked him, ignoring the fact that he was his savior.

That (ex?)NCR companion seems to have no problem killing other NCR soldiers, at least for the first few times.
 
Brother None said:
Fallout 3's mutants could still talk, the biggest difference between them and the dumber mutants in Fallout 1/2 were societal/behavioral pattern and physical appearance.

The dumb/smart divide was always there. The big divide in New Vegas, if I followed PR correctly (feel free to correct me, Ausir), is between the more intelligent outpourings of the Master's experiments and Fallout 2's Mariposa supermutants.
Plus the insane Nightkin.
 
Fallout 3's super mutants were created differently than those from Fallout 1 and 2. You eventually find the lab where they were created. This still doesn't really excuse the centaurs though. Plus, they're called super mutants and the centaurs are called centaurs. I really wish Bethesda had decided to be more original...

Yes I know the crab people are original, although it doesn't make much sense that their upper tier units look more like fishmen than crabs.. :roll:

But anyways, back on topic... xD Yeah I'm pretty sure the author meant "cut down" as in "killed them" rather than "freed them". In Fallout 3 there was never any way to "cut the ropes" from captives. You might untie them, but... it would seem out of place to hear that someone "cut the ropes" from the captives, rather than simply saying "freed them" or "untied their ropes".

Also, the author is more surprised by his NCR ally killing NCR prisoners than he is by the NCR prisoners attacking him.

Course, I could be wrong.. but we'd have to ask the author to confirm which thing they originally meant. :P

The really funny thing is that normally I might have been more interested in this game, but considering Starcraft 2 is coming out in less than 10 days.. New Vegas is destined for my "buy it when it's $20 or less" list. It's sad, really, but I just won't have time for it.
 
PaladinHeart said:
Yeah I'm pretty sure the author meant "cut down" as in "killed them" rather than "freed them". In Fallout 3 there was never any way to "cut the ropes" from captives. You might untie them, but... it would seem out of place to hear that someone "cut the ropes" from the captives, rather than simply saying "freed them" or "untied their ropes".

Also, the author is more surprised by his NCR ally killing NCR prisoners than he is by the NCR prisoners attacking him.

yeah, I'm almost definitely certain that he meant he accidentally killed them. which is an annoying but very common occurance in these games. hell, I fucked up a lot in Fallout 1+2 by accidentally killing innocents or people of the wrong faction (or rather, my team mates fucked up a lot :roll: ) and getting everyone to turn on me. it's a pretty hard nut to crack though - for obvious reasons, people will turn on you when they think you've turned on them. but at the same time there should be a way for the AI to realize it was an accident, which isn't exactly something you can expect from today's AI. in a scenario like the one above, it could've been solved by the rescued captives initiating dialogue once they're free and asking why the hell the PC killed their guys. attacking them after they're freed would still result in combat, of course.
 
insane, aggressive breed of super mutants

Good thing there was only the garden variety aggresive super mutants in Fallout 3.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the author meant "cut down" as in "killed them" rather than "freed them". In Fallout 3 there was never any way to "cut the ropes" from captives. You might untie them, but... it would seem out of place to hear that someone "cut the ropes" from the captives, rather than simply saying "freed them" or "untied their ropes"

Ambiguous writing is the mark of a poor writer, and the fact that it wasn't picked up is the mark of a poor or non-existant editor.
 
<blockquote>You don't say</blockquote>


It's true, James went to E3 to follow a bunch of games but New Vegas wasn't on his priorities list, he came pleasantly surprised, particularly with the new possibilities in customizing weapons and how the choices presented to you regarding the factions have much better and varied consequences. The game is turning out better as an RPG, something that explains why most of the mainstream media didn't give it so much attention imo...
 
The mainstream media is setting up to rip this game to shreds, possibly for flaws that were already present in Fallout 3. Disappointing, but unsurprising.
 
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