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poptart_fairy posted:So PCGamer's UK review of Lonesome Road made me laugh. No online copy yet, so I can't link it, but while I can understand the complaints about linearity there was one snippet that was just....yeah: We can go back and forth over LR's quality, but when you get right down to it, that's the gist of what happened. The player character ostensibly made a decision many years ago that had an alleged impact on Ulysses. But we, the players, never actually experience, see or even read about the destruction of the Divide. All we have is what Ulysses says and what we see around us. LR is Ulysses confronting you about that event and attempting to make you feel guilty about your role in things. Some players, if they were meticulous, can engage Ulysses in an interesting discussion about the nature of history and the re-enactment of the past. However, that's just one option to resolve the situation. Kind of like throwing Oliver off the Dam is just one of the many ways to resolve the end game. A lot of players will go through LR without ever having that conversation with Ulysses. And at that point, the review is kind of spot-on. One of LR's biggest shortcomings is that it didn't totally succeed in making the player care about these things. What happened in the Divide, while it had far-ranging consequences for the NCR and the Legion, never seemed to affect the Courier personally. So when we show up and Ulysses starts ranting at us in that weird broken staccato of his, the player has to either suspend his disbelief and attempt to retcon this new information into what we know of our own history, or react against it. I think the players who appreciate the meta-commentary and philosophical debate are ok with the trade-off, but more casual players are not.
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Oct 28, 2011 15:39
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That's...kind of the point though? There are even dialogue options where you blow him off about the guilt trip. Accusing a character of being pretentious and obsessed when that's what he is just makes me  I dunno, I seem to be one of the few who thinks any 'badass' qualities Ulysess has were meant to be a deconstruction of that sort of loner figure. He's not a kickass survivalist with intelligence and wisdom out the arse, he's a broken, pathetic shell of a man too goddamn nuts to let go and move forward. poptart_fairy fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Oct 28, 2011 |
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Oct 28, 2011 15:41
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poptart_fairy posted:That's...kind of the point though? There are even dialogue options where you blow him off about the guilt trip. Accusing a character of being pretentious and obsessed when that's what he is just makes me Right, but it doesn't always make for an engaging antagonist. Ulysses is what he is, and I enjoyed the character because I'd been following all the little story clues up until that point and I was excited to see what Obsidian had planned. But I can understand why other players would come out of LR with less than favourable experiences. LR never forces you to care about the story in the same way that Dead Money does, and never drives home the consequences of your actions as effectively as Honest Hearts did. So in that sense, it's very easy for someone who isn't invested in the story to walk away with a lacklustre experience. The theme of Dead Money was built into every aspect of the game, whereas the themes in Lonesome Road are really only there if you go searching for them. If you don't, it can come across as a very linear slog with an annoying angry voice periodically pestering you.
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Oct 28, 2011 16:27
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I actually thought the message of Lonesome Road was very palpable. The fact that you never did any of the acts that created the Divide is a bit of a pain (imagine if they'd done a flashback scene where you remembered doing so, sequentially running through this lovely place and remembering how nice this valley used to be), but it hardly ruined the experience. In fact, it barely mattered at all because of one particular thing: The nuke launch. When you do that, you basically validate everything Ulysses has to say. You perform an act that could have devastated countless lives, because... Why? You're curious? What sort of justification is that? It's not like the game is even subtle about it, you walk up to a control console and it even reads out exactly what it's going to do. Ulysses ranting at you lets you slowly see what kind of a broken wreck of a man he is, and just how frankly hosed up the Courier's exploring (and pretty much any PC adventurer's for that matter) really is. The theme that actions have consequences is reinforced every step of the way, whether you know it or not. You walk into the middle of a wasteland, and what's your first, totally rational response? Setting off nukes, left and right, like Kim Jong Il's wet dream. Freeing a trapped robot so it might be your friend. Running towards this nameless voice who keeps talking about wanting to "settle" with you. The themes are all there, whether you see them or not. The fact that a piece of your past is included that you personally never did doesn't matter because you're literally reliving history as you do it. Without knowing, or caring, you do the same drat thing that he's accusing you of AGAIN. Astroturf Man posted:This is brilliant. Thank you! Chairman Mao posted:Dear diary, saw god today. Turns out his name is Randy. Go figure. .... I can imagine this. It's even better when you think of it as the freed slave guys from FO3 and imagine Ulysses duking it out with a 20 foot tall Lincoln. Axelgear fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Oct 28, 2011 |
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Oct 28, 2011 17:11
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They had built up Ulysses as an other-you, a warped mirror image, a courier from the east that shaped events and moved the landscape with his passing, who was just as capable as the PC in dealing with the dangers of even Big MT. Instead they turned him into some kind of over-wrought nemesis bent on some absurd pseudo-revenge trip with way to much babbling monolog. LR's story was a wasted opportunity. It should have been a detective narrative about uncovering the events that created of the Divide with Ulysses as a companion. Discovering the truth behind hellbent Marked Men who can't leave the Divide even as it painfully drives them insane. You directly witness the disturbing evidence of them rebuilding the dormant warheads and missiles. In the end, you would have to find the Grand Silo, fending off Marked Men. Eventually, you are forced to launch the missiles yourself as a last resort to stop them from using them. However, if you progressed the story with him, got close, found the critical clues/lore, helping to convinced him of the importance of letting go, Ulysses sacrifices himself to stop all the missiles, and gives you the opportunity to escape as the last of the old world implodes behind you, leaving you to make the trip Mojave on the Lonesome Road alone. Think about it. Originally, House had intended Ulysses as the Platinum Chip Courier, but through an act of willfulness, he instead got the PC mixed up and shoehorned what was supposed to be his fate into our own. Benny's bullets were meant for him, not us. Berk Berkly fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Oct 28, 2011 |
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Oct 28, 2011 17:22
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Chairman Mao posted:Dead Money is New Vegas's Operation Anchorage. Linear little add on that strips you of your items when you enter and leaves you basically a game-breaking god when you leave. It's all pretty much one colour too. That's kinda harsh. Operation Anchorage is really, really bad and only exists to give you a completely broken armor that makes the rest of the game trivial.
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Oct 28, 2011 18:08
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:That's kinda harsh. Operation Anchorage is really, really bad and only exists to give you a completely broken armor that makes the rest of the game trivial. Maybe it's because I was able to engross myself in the atmosphere of Dead Money, but I agree with this 100%. If you're looking at the quality of the add-on as a whole compared to the other three, then yeah, maybe it is the worst (it's certainly my least favorite of the four, though I still enjoyed it for the most part). Anchorage was short and mediocre at best, while Dead Money's main fault (at least in my view) was that it was a little too long and repetitive, and although I enjoyed the speaker/stealth mechanic, the last area definitely wore the concept dry.
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Oct 28, 2011 19:08
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Berk Berkly posted:Think about it. Originally, House had intended Ulysses as the Platinum Chip Courier, but through an act of willfulness, he instead got the PC mixed up and shoehorned what was supposed to be his fate into our own. Benny's bullets were meant for him, not us. Yeah, and Ulysses' hatred of the PC was evident even then. He sees your name and is well aware that whomever is delivering the package has a bullet coming, and tells them to send you instead. He always clearly had some sort of nasty history with you.
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Oct 28, 2011 20:05
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:That's kinda harsh. Operation Anchorage is really, really bad and only exists to give you a completely broken armor that makes the rest of the game trivial. Wait wait, the game breaking stealth armor or the game breaking power armor?
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Oct 28, 2011 20:16
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The Power Armor didn't break the game. It made it easier yeah, but not a big difference like the Stealth armor, which just made you invisible to almost every enemy in the game.
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Oct 28, 2011 20:19
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I've never done the Ultra-Luxe mission late enough in the game that it gave me a speech check for Mortimer. There is an option here to offer him Boone to serve as dinner. VegasEdit: Oh my god he said yes.
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Oct 28, 2011 20:28
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Samopsa posted:The Power Armor didn't break the game. It made it easier yeah, but not a big difference like the Stealth armor, which just made you invisible to almost every enemy in the game. The power armor was "bugged" in the sense that the one you got was actually the "virtual" version of it, giving it infinite durability. Definitely not as game breaking as the stealth armor, or even the gauss gun, but a good indicator of how much Bethesda gave a poo poo.
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Oct 28, 2011 20:31
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Cowcaster posted:The power armor was "bugged" in the sense that the one you got was actually the "virtual" version of it, giving it infinite durability. Definitely not as game breaking as the stealth armor, or even the gauss gun, but a good indictment of how much Bethesda gave a poo poo. Was it only near infinite? I never once saw it go down and I wore it for about the last half of the game.
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Oct 28, 2011 20:32
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AlmightyBob posted:Was it only near infinite? I never once saw it go down and I wore it for about the last half of the game. They were so lazy that they just gave all the virtual items something like 65535 durability or something than bothering with actually making it infinite. In practice it's the same thing though. I'm pretty sure the regular, normal durability one is even there in the game files, it was just a matter of whatever doofus was in charge of putting together the reward room slapping the wrong one in the footlocker. Cowcaster fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Oct 28, 2011 |
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Oct 28, 2011 20:33
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Cowcaster posted:They were so lazy that they just gave all the virtual items something like 65535 durability or something than bothering with actually making it infinite. In practice it's the same thing though. The best part was how easy it was to get since if you had high science you could hack the simulation and end it early
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Oct 28, 2011 20:34
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Cowcaster posted:They were so lazy that they just gave all the virtual items something like 65535 durability or something than bothering with actually making it infinite. In practice it's the same thing though. I'm pretty sure the regular, normal durability one is even there in the game files, it was just a matter of whatever doofus was in charge of putting together the reward room slapping the wrong one in the footlocker. And then there's the glitch to get all of the unbreakable equipment from the simulation.
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Oct 28, 2011 20:40
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Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Oct 28, 2011 |
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Oct 28, 2011 20:49
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AlmightyBob posted:The best part was how easy it was to get since if you had high science you could hack the simulation and end it early Wait, how? Are you thinking of Tranquility Lane?
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Oct 28, 2011 20:58
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Chairman Mao posted:Wait, how? Are you thinking of Tranquility Lane? Hmm, maybe. I swear I had the option to hack my way out of Operation Anchorage though.
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Oct 28, 2011 21:15
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So I ended my first hardcore explosives/melee/unarmed run after finishing all the dlc, and charging Hoover Dam (still using Pushy too), and decided to try my first energy weapons/sneak build. So far it's mega-easy. A few new things I never came across in other playthroughs: Old lady Gibson's unique Sawed-off, heading back to the Vikki & Vance long after saving Primm and encountering the NCR deserters, and finding out accidentally that if you save inside the silver rush, then steal everything while anyone can see you (so the Van Graffs go hostile), and reload your save prior to thefting stuff, all the weapons you nabbed (which are now back on the shelves) are at max condition.
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Oct 28, 2011 21:19
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Deleuzionist posted:This is really pretty  Big MT is my favourite place. Thanks for the new wallpaper!
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Oct 28, 2011 21:20
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I had 100 science and never found a way to hack out.
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Oct 28, 2011 21:21
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How to beat Fallout 3 without breakign a sweat: 1. Exit the vault 2. Stealth / run to the Operation Anchorage place 3. Beat the simulation 4. Get the loot 5 Congratulation, you've switched on invisibillity / invincibility / long range destruction of everything. Enjoy! Plus if you glitch it to get undestroyable stuff... But then, that's just cheesy.
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Oct 28, 2011 21:21
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Maybe I dreamed it then...
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Oct 28, 2011 21:21
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FrozenVent posted:How to beat Fallout 3 without breakign a sweat: The Winterized T-51b you pick up in the treasure vault at the end is actually the sim version so it has millions of hit points so you don't have to bother with glitching.
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Oct 28, 2011 21:29
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Doug Lombardi posted:The Winterized T-51b you pick up in the treasure vault at the end is actually the sim version so it has millions of hit points so you don't have to bother with glitching. Yeah but a lot of people glitch so they get the undestructible chinese assault rifle of doom and so on. Me, the gauss rifle is all I need. That and a combat shotgun. 
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Oct 28, 2011 21:31
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I need some help finishing up the main campaign of the story My character's skill distribution is mostly in science/speech/repair (all 80 or a little higher) with some sneak/lockpick/guns too (each about 60.) I'm doing the No Gods, No Masters option, and it seems to be impossible to beat the last boss. I can sneak up to him just fine, but I don't have any weapon that can put a dent in him. All I have is shotguns and That Gun, but I'm all out of AP ammo. I've snuck around the compound and I can see a big gate with an army of robots on the other side, but I can't get to them, I'm assuming they are part of the ending. Is there any way to get some of my robots to help me out with this last bit? Do I have to load an earlier save and stock up on better weapons/ammo? TL:DR Legion hates me and I'm too weak to beat the boss by myself. What are my options?
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Oct 29, 2011 01:23
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Did you try talking to him.
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Oct 29, 2011 01:27
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notZaar posted:I need some help finishing up the main campaign of the story Piles of C4 on the stairway.
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Oct 29, 2011 01:29
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I've read in a walkthrough that I'll have to pass speech and barter checks of up to 100...
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Oct 29, 2011 01:30
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notZaar posted:I've read in a walkthrough that I'll have to pass speech and barter checks of up to 100... Just speech. Of course it's 100 - He's the big bad and is very set in his ways.
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Oct 29, 2011 01:40
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notZaar posted:I've read in a walkthrough that I'll have to pass speech and barter checks of up to 100... Speech OR Barter. If you're over 80 read a magazine and put on some naughty nightwear.
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Oct 29, 2011 01:45
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notZaar posted:I need some help finishing up the main campaign of the story Load up an earlier save, go to Contreras, get This Machine and a few thousand rounds of .308 AP. Riot Shotgun with coin shot or Brush Gun would also work, you can get them from the Gun Runners or from high-level enemies. If you have Honest Hearts, .45 Auto SMG or A Light Shining in Darkness (the SMG is more effective, but killing the Legate with Joshua Graham's gun is poetic justice). If you're lazy, just give This Machine and the AP ammo to Boone and watch from a safe distance.
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Oct 29, 2011 01:47
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Chairman Mao posted:Speech OR Barter. If you're over 80 read a magazine and put on some naughty nightwear. I may as well ask - is there a vendor who sells magazines? I never have enough since I used them basically on every check I've encountered.
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Oct 29, 2011 01:59
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notZaar posted:I may as well ask - is there a vendor who sells magazines? I never have enough since I used them basically on every check I've encountered. Like every one of them that also sells food. Julie Farkas is an exceptionally good source too, if your reputation with the Followers is high enough.
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Oct 29, 2011 02:15
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Smol posted:Like every one of them that also sells food. Julie Farkas is an exceptionally good source too, if your reputation with the Followers is high enough. Just take the perk that lets you make your own.
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Oct 29, 2011 02:32
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notZaar posted:I may as well ask - is there a vendor who sells magazines? I never have enough since I used them basically on every check I've encountered. If you get in good with the Followers, they will sell all the good magazines and restock them every few days. Whenever I stop by the fort to pick up my Fixer I buy whatever magazines Julie has.
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Oct 29, 2011 02:38
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Inzombiac posted:Just take the perk that lets you make your own. That's a Lonesome Road perk FYI, so those with only the base game can't use it.
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Oct 29, 2011 03:32
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I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I'm sort of an anti-weirdness magnet in real life, and this carries over to video games as well. Until earlier tonight, I'd never experienced any of the random bugs and Gamebryo physics fuckery that seems so common with this and FO:3. Until this evening when I finished Old World Blues and fast-traveled to the Mojave Outpost. A giant radscorpion had spawned on top of one of the buildings and started attacking that sniper questgiver. They killed each other, I auto-failed the quest, I reloaded, it didn't happen again. V  V
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Oct 29, 2011 05:21
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Boogle posted:Piles of C4 on the stairway. Or fill the stairway with Satchel Charges (Honest Hearts explosive, craftable) before triggering the talk. Optionally, seed the Satchel Charges with Frag/Plasma mines and blow him so hard that you could collect his parts during Fallout 4.
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Oct 29, 2011 13:39
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