Fallout: New Vegas

[FalloutJack]

In this, I have only a comment on the point about fast travel in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. True, this seems at times to be a bit of a cheat, but the two things to consider are this...

{1} There are a good number of people who actually like it and find it useful.
{2} There may not have been anything in the budget for it.

These may not seem like a good enough reason, but this is Bethesda we're talking about here, Yahtzee. They're not even the original crew who made Fallout in the first place, and they DO have bugs out the wazoo. (Okay, bugs are practically a stone-cold Fallout tradition, but that's not the point!) If you had to choose between working out a system for an actual mode of transportation or working out more bugs, which one would you honestly pick? You know very well that they'd never agree to both, so let's go for the working game first.

That said, I do have to agree that putting in an actual travel-by-something mode in the games would be nice. Heaven knows there's all these motorcycles and (tame) Bighorns in Goodsprings alone. You saying I can't zoom off into the sunset with 'em? Shame. It's something that would be nice, especially given how you actually find the highwayman from Fallout 2. Hell, with some many references to Fallout 2 in New Vegas, there ought to be something, and there isn't because they either didn't have the time or the capability somehow.

So, in short, I agree...but feel that it can't be helped yet.

 

[brumley53]

I think they should have had a horse or mutant horse early on in the game but further on you could find a motor bike or something like that.

 

[MrGalactus]

If they had added a motorcycle for fast travel you could role-play as Mad Max. Now THAT would be an awesome game!

Also, Just what kind of programing do they have Down Under?

Fallout: Australia
you play as Mad Max and you can make traps for the bandit gang that keep wrecking nice peoples shit up, like at the end of Mad Max 1 with the petrol in the light thing. Also, you can chase motorcycle baddies for a side quest, and maybe it could have a blind rage mode like the Scarface game has. Actually, Mad Max would just make an awesome game in itself.

 

[WolfThomas]

There will always be role-playing as long as someone, somewhere in the world is dissatisfied with their position and status in life. Even if you did manage to make a universally happy utopia there'll still be someone who secretly longs to be a six-breasted double-cocked anthropomorphic dolphin wizard.

Stop! You'll give Grant Morrison ideas.

The whole reason why America got bombed in the Fallout universe was because of a resource war. That's why there are no cars in the Fallout games because they wouldn't even work and there would be nothing to fill them with. The exception of course being the Highwayman, however, that ran on energy cells and microfusion cells due to a special motor. However, if you're like me and don't just fast tarvel everywhere, you might've discovered an area called "Wrecked Highwayman" which is most liekly the same one from Fallout 2.

Also for all those wondering about horses, the radiation killed them all. Also for me there was always something to encounter in my hikes of the Maojave, and if not, just put the radio on and sing along with Marty Robbins.

To quote a good friend of mine on the Highwayman

Man, that car...

I don't drive, and most of the time I have no desire to, but when I remember how awesome it was when you first got that car ... the freedom! The fearlessness! The trunk-space!

Magic.

But you could always ride a brahmin, that would be not uncool...

 

[ekimekim]

I'm willing to bet someone is right now working on modding NV to get that highwayman up and running again...

In related news, I know of one person who's writing their own post-ending game world complete with changes to faction powers and new quests, depending on who you sided with. Though currently all it does is lets you complete side quests you didn't do earlier.

 

[remmus]

still feel like Yatzi did nothing more then glance from cover to cover, I´m still not really buying the whole "it´s so much like fallout 3 the review be the same".

It´s like saying "oh I don´t need to look at the house down the street because the house across from me has the same foundation and frame work, maybe not the same furniture or room design, but the same foundation and frame" *nods*

 

[n00beffect]

"There's an overarching story and fixed events on the trail of the overall quest that the heroes are always going to be moving towards, but in between the major events come shorter, episodic adventures as the protagonists stumble upon distractions."

- So, basically, you mean fillers ? Yes, well, they might work in games, but in animes... pff, nothing worse than an f-ing filler =.= Anyways, moving on to the point:

You say, Mr Croshaw, that a key element that Fallout: New Vegas is missing is the abillity to expirience the enviroment through long-distance travelling. Yet, when Assassin's Creed did it, you described it as "Lenghty horse journeys". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but from the Assassin's Creed 2 reviw I gathered that you didn't like that sort of "lenghty horse journey"-ing(or something)?

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I do think it's odd that there aren't more vehicles in games like Fallout (well actually I only wonder about it in Fallout)

When you look at some of the most classic apocalypse stories (I'm thinking Mad Max) part of the entire setup is that fuel is now scarce and you have to fight for it. An open world Apocalyptic future world that was so big you needed a vehicle to get around in, but fuel was hopelessly short and fuel-raiders were everywhere trying to steal it from you on the road would be really really rewarding. Simply making it to town would be an achievement, and it would really highlight how much society has fallen that even a trip to a big supermarket a few miles away has become a choice between a slog through open desert or a harrying empty-fuel trip.

You could include a little counter of how much fuel is left in the tank, and then have both roads and open-world travel. If you travel on roads you can get an exact estimate of how much fuel you'll need but all of the best goodies will be off-road. There could be options for taking a certain number of fuel cans with you, but at the expense of weighing down your car so you need more anyway, and taking weapons would always have to be a pick and mix between the light but fairly weak guns which wouldn't weigh down your car but wouldn't fight off anything larger than a lone motorbike raider, or the M60 which doubles your fuel consumption but could take on a tank.

I think I'm starting to just describe my ideal apocalypse game now. Does anyone else think it sounds like fun? And to bring it back on topic wouldn't it make the apocalypse feel just a bit more like the apocalypse? And the world a bit more open to exploration without just making us walk everywhere?

 

[Desert Tiger]

I do think it's odd that there aren't more vehicles in games like Fallout (well actually I only wonder about it in Fallout)

When you look at some of the most classic apocalypse stories (I'm thinking Mad Max) part of the entire setup is that fuel is now scarce and you have to fight for it. An open world Apocalyptic future world that was so big you needed a vehicle to get around in, but fuel was hopelessly short and fuel-raiders were everywhere trying to steal it from you on the road would be really really rewarding. Simply making it to town would be an achievement, and it would really highlight how much society has fallen that even a trip to a big supermarket a few miles away has become a choice between a slog through open desert or a harrying empty-fuel trip.

You could include a little counter of how much fuel is left in the tank, and then have both roads and open-world travel. If you travel on roads you can get an exact estimate of how much fuel you'll need but all of the best goodies will be off-road. There could be options for taking a certain number of fuel cans with you, but at the expense of weighing down your car so you need more anyway, and taking weapons would always have to be a pick and mix between the light but fairly weak guns which wouldn't weigh down your car but wouldn't fight off anything larger than a lone motorbike raider, or the M60 which doubles your fuel consumption but could take on a tank.

I think I'm starting to just describe my ideal apocalypse game now. Does anyone else think it sounds like fun? And to bring it back on topic wouldn't it make the apocalypse feel just a bit more like the apocalypse? And the world a bit more open to exploration without just making us walk everywhere?

Thing is, vehicles in the Fallout world work on batteries. Yaknow, those things that you get for your energy rifles that come in their millions?

So they really don't have an excuse beyond the limited engine.

Hell, trucks are mentioned and at least two vehicles I remember are positioned as if they'd been parked - complete with supplies being sold out of the back of them.

 

[Aziraphael]

Ha I used to pretend I was in a spacepod when I was a kid and it was raining outside. I would run a heap of diagnostic tests on the environment before I knew it was safe to pull the cover down from over my head. I tried it again recently (I am 27 with a wife and a baby on the way) and it was still fun

 

[Mullahgrrl]

I do think it's odd that there aren't more vehicles in games like Fallout (well actually I only wonder about it in Fallout)

When you look at some of the most classic apocalypse stories (I'm thinking Mad Max) part of the entire setup is that fuel is now scarce and you have to fight for it. An open world Apocalyptic future world that was so big you needed a vehicle to get around in, but fuel was hopelessly short and fuel-raiders were everywhere trying to steal it from you on the road would be really really rewarding. Simply making it to town would be an achievement, and it would really highlight how much society has fallen that even a trip to a big supermarket a few miles away has become a choice between a slog through open desert or a harrying empty-fuel trip.

You could include a little counter of how much fuel is left in the tank, and then have both roads and open-world travel. If you travel on roads you can get an exact estimate of how much fuel you'll need but all of the best goodies will be off-road. There could be options for taking a certain number of fuel cans with you, but at the expense of weighing down your car so you need more anyway, and taking weapons would always have to be a pick and mix between the light but fairly weak guns which wouldn't weigh down your car but wouldn't fight off anything larger than a lone motorbike raider, or the M60 which doubles your fuel consumption but could take on a tank.

I think I'm starting to just describe my ideal apocalypse game now. Does anyone else think it sounds like fun? And to bring it back on topic wouldn't it make the apocalypse feel just a bit more like the apocalypse? And the world a bit more open to exploration without just making us walk everywhere?

Thing is, vehicles in the Fallout world work on batteries. Yaknow, those things that you get for your energy rifles that come in their millions?

So they really don't have an excuse beyond the limited engine.

Hell, trucks are mentioned and at least two vehicles I remember are positioned as if they'd been parked - complete with supplies being sold out of the back of them.

Maby they are difrent batteries? I mean, carbatteries are not AA batteries.


OT:
If Yahzee wanted to review something difrent, then why not Mount&Blade?
Its a geat little game that really deserves more reviews.

 

[Desert Tiger]

You could use Microfusion cells (the batteries your energy rifle uses) to power the car (the Highwayman) you get in Fallout 2.

 

[mizushinzui]

I liked Yahtzee's review of fallout: New Vegas.

It gave something interesting to watch instead of just the same thing all the time which can be a danger with the current release schedule of games being what it is.

I remember trying to role play a little in Fallout 3. It was alright but it was quite difficult with the immersion level so low. I still managed to create a character that acted like a cross between Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger

 

[unwesen]

To riff off your example, what if you could focus on crafting skills and unlock recipes that allowed you to make some of the best items in the game? Everyone talks about the guy wielding Excalibur, Durendal, Masamune--what if you could be the guy who forged it, renowned through the land as the greatest of smiths like Weyland or Hephaestus? Of course, to get the best materials, you'd need to brave dangerous places--or send other PCs after them.

You, sir, get my point!

 

[MajoraPersona]

Huh. I always thought the fast travel was more of a holdover from the original Fallout games, where there wasn't (really) a slow-travel option. Kinda like how VATS is more or less based on the turn-based nature of the games.

Oh well. At least the story was more interesting and involving than Fallout 3's was.

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

As sick as I got of the slow motion killing in Fallout 3 before I even left the vault, I can see why it was made into a son-of-oblivion game. For all its generic FPS with missing details that criple the role playing, at least as a First Person Shooter it could sell to the ridiculously big first person shooter fanboys market.

Though I do think if they had taken more risks it could have paid off since Fallout had a well established world before Fallout 3 came out. I don't think it ever would have been damned to obscurity like say Beyond Good & Evil.

 

[ishist]

Disabling Fast Travel. There's a Mod for that. Unless your playing on a console, in which case your doing it wrong.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Problem with f3, oblivion and new vegas

the FIRST time you travel somewhere is new and interesting, the 1+Nth time isn't because you already saw everything

these games necessarily require a stash and a "home base" and you need to move back and forth frequently, particularly in hardcore mode

now to make hardcore mode even more hardcore they need to disable fast travel with any crippled limbs

I'll go you one better: they should do away with the concept of a stash entirely. Make it so that any items you leave behind are vulnerable to theft or decay. Don't go giving the player access to a "house" right away. Then you'd really have to make tough decisions about what you can carry, and stats like "strength" might actually take on some importance in gun-heavy settings like Fallout.

 

[Paulrus_Keaton]

I remember having to walk a lot in Morrowind. Got boring at times, but it did allow me to put my ADD to good use and explore places instead of doing any quests.

I remember being on one quest, then jumping to another when some guy attacked me in my sleep. Next thing you know I'm catching the next boat to werewolf land. Then NEXT thing you know I'm trying to pick locks in some town because some crazy woman was killing people in her home.

As for role-playing, I role played as a serial killer/abolitionist. Went into slave owner's homes and murdered them to death. Then wondered why the slaves never took off.