| Takeda Shingen |
10-21-10 12:09 AM |
Well, I'm playing on PC with Steam and the patch downloaded. The graphic bugs seem to be gone, and the game runs very smoothly for me. Some basic observations follow:
The iron sights that Obsidian was going on and on about is a bit of a letdown for me, as it really does nothing to improve the accuaracy of free shooting. Truthfully, I find the view far more restrictive and much less functional than the target reticule in Fallout 3 and Oblivion. VATS is still very much the way to go, and since that is what I used most of the time, it's not a big deal.
The controls and feel of the game are identical to Fallout 3, so I just remapped the keys as I did for the previous installment (I'm left-handed) and it is just like an old hat. The game is running at high frame rates at full settings on my 4 GB of RAM and GT240, so you don't need an overhaul to your machine to run it and run it well.
The radio in New Vegas is, like in Fallout 3, awesome. I miss Three Dog, but it is a colorful addition none-the-less.
I don't play a sandbox game for the voice acting, but it does bear mention that the game is a bit flat in that department. The Obsidian fanboys have been full-throat about how Bethesda's game is far behind New Vegas in that department, but I have found it to be quite the opposite. The two primary characters in Goodsprings, for example, are voiced by the same actress who reads her script in the same manner as a disinterested seventh grader recites a paragraph during a mandatory 'read the selection aloud' class rotation. It is quite different than the impression I got upon entering Megaton for the first time and meeting Lucas Simms, thinking, 'okay, this guy is kind of cool'. Again, it is not a big deal, and is entirely functional, but don't read the hype and expect the type of acting you will commonly see in a BioWare title.
Crafting is a very large part of the game, not only in terms of weapon modifications, but also formulae for various foods and medicine. To me, that is pretty cool, since survivalism is one of the primary draws of the Fallout series. Many ingredients are also obtained through local flora, as one would harvest alchemy ingredients in Oblivion. Campfires, spread around the wastes in the same manner as workbenches, are required for food and medicine, so you don't have to worry about carrying a sort of alchemy set with you in-game.
Faction relations are the biggest part of the game. In fact, you are practically told this piece of information at the end of the tutorial in a series of dialogue snippets (all by the same character, mind you) in a manner with all of the subtlety of having a brick thrown in your face while a second person screams at you from behind into a bullhorn, telling you to be aware of the brick that just struck you in the nose. Some of the smaller factions seem to work for some of the larger factions, so I don't know how detailed the reputation system is and how pissing off some of the satelite factions, which you are practically forced to do, will affect your relations with the major factions. All and all, I'd say that this is a welcomed addition, but I'll have to see how things work over time to give a more authoritative verdict.
I'm currently not playing with hardcore mode, but will likely add it later once I get adjusted to the mechanics and levels of the game. It should be noted that the damage model is a bit different than Fallout 3, as it now takes two shots to kill a Boatfly (a Boatfly!). Shooter beware.
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