Lonesome Road has some of the best atmosphere in FNV, I think. Beautiful desolation. The level of destruction and decay is amazing. Reminds me of The Pitt, which was really memorable for me.
Obligatory ranking: LR > HH > OWB > DM
Dechaios said:
OWB was my favorite so far by far. Thematically it was just incredible. Best characters and setting by a long shot.
Could you explain a little more? Just curious to see your point of view. I found OWB's setting to be a letdown - the interiors were all copy-pasted from FO3. I was expecting stuff a little more advanced and well preserved since bombs never fell there. Thematically maybe I am missing something too, because it was fetch quest after fetch quest to locations I had been 2-3 times already. Humor was incredible, though!
Could you explain a little more? Just curious to see your point of view. I found OWB's setting to be a letdown - the interiors were all copy-pasted from FO3. I was expecting stuff a little more advanced and well preserved since bombs never fell there. Thematically maybe I am missing something too, because it was fetch quest after fetch quest to locations I had been 2-3 times already. Humor was incredible, though!
Sure thing! Well, first of all I hadn't noticed any copy/paste interiors.. The Big Empty to me was one of the most fascinating settings in the Fallout universe to date(keep in mind I haven't played any Fallout 3 DLC, I'm going to get to all of those after I finish Lonesome Road). Just look at the different types of enemies and structures each based around different fields of science. You had carnivorous plant creatures in a biological crystalline canyon, explanations for the origins of some of the wastelands most vile and feared mutated beasts(nightstalkers, cazadores *shudder*) deep within splicing labs, a plethora of robotic guards scattered all over the place, cyber-military dogs in testing areas, and automated suits containing rotting corpses. Each lab and area had clues and documentation as to what their purposes were and what issues they were all facing in the Big MT's prime days- so many different fields of the most advanced sciences the world had built up to before the war. I think for me it was just fascinating because I adore science fiction and OWB was all about pushing the sci-fi genre to its most refined form. You get to see the echoes of a brilliant facility gone awry with the madness of old world scientists.
That's the other thing I loved.. the characters. The Think Tank personalities had so much substance for a group of geniuses
stuck in recursion loops
. The conflict between Mobius and the Think Tank was really great, especially when you learn the twist to the story and how Mobius
is perhaps the only one who isn't a complete psycho
. The main character's role in the story is interesting to say the least as they turn the conflict around by the end of the story and
get to speak to their own brain
! It doesn't make much sense but it sure makes for one of the most outlandish and nutty interactions in all of NV content.
Sure, there are a lot of fetch quests, but they assure you that you get to explore each portion of the Big MT thoroughly by the time you finish the main story. I kinda wish the core story had more content but that's probably just because I couldn't get enough of that world. I was sad when I knew I had killed every single enemy in the crater by the end of it.
Environment design. As ctrayne said, it's desolate, devastated and even surreal, at times. Look up at the ceiling in a certain cave and you'll see what I mean. There is a verticality that is missing from most of the other current-gen Fallout content which makes it really interesting. And also, that first view of the road ahead from the beginning of the DLC really sets the tone.
ED-E was great. I was upset when
Ulysses pulled ED-E away near the end, and sad when he didn't survive aborting the nuclear launch, even though I knew he'd be waiting for me back in the Mojave
Bad
Ulysses. "I cannot... get to the fucking point. So, Courier... you will just have to. Bear with my bull about the Bear and the Bull. Because I am not a well-realized character.. just a Post-War Pre-War hipster."
Overall, I thought Lonesome Road was pretty good, but not amazing. For me: OWB>DM>LR>HH.
Cool, thanks for the insight. Maybe not playing FO3 DLC helps - I kept thinking that it was odd that the textures and design of many buildings are straight out of FO3, especially coming off of DXHR's great environment design. But I can't knock OWB for that specifically, that's really a problem with the much of the FO3 family.
The animated suits were indeed awesome. There was some really cool tech, enemies and backstory. And I LOVED the
talking appliances. I did want to make the sneaking suit stop talking after a minute, though.
I'll go back and play all the DLC again someday, maybe I will enjoy OWB more the 2nd time around.
Agreed. OWB is up near the top for all Fallout DLC in my opinion.
I loved LR as well. I find Ulysses and the whole story with him and the courier to be really interesting. I also loved all of the lore you get about The Divide, your past, and about a certain ally. I imagine the linearity will turn some people off understandably, it's a pretty big change of pace after HH and OWB (and of course the base game).
I cleared the place using the unique silenced sniper rifle from Old World Blues and This Machine along with lots of .308 AP ammo. I would snipe an
Irradiated Deathclaw
from as far away as I could manage, then when it rushed me I would switch to This Machine and VATS it in the head. As long as I kept my distance and made sure to only alert one at a time I could bring them down without taking a hit.
I ended up alerting damn near all the
Marked Men
at once at one point, but just downed healing items and shot up the joint in the most un-subtle manner possible to get out of that pickle. They aren't the real threat in there anyhow.
I think I used more chems in that single area than I had used in the entire rest of the game combined up to that point, but it got me through and there's more ammo to be found in there than I'll ever be able to use.
Played and finished. I thought it was a fairly decent end to the courier's storyline, but as a package it lacked in some areas compared to previous DLC.
The divide is fairly linear in design and there didn't seem to be alot of opportunity to deviate from the main route and no sidequests (?)
Apart from Ed-e and Ulysses there were no other characters to speak of, so it defiantly lives up to its title.
I would rate all the dlc in order of pref (Although it has to be said they were all great and quite diverse in content)
1. Old World Blues
2. Honest Hearts
3. Lonesome Road
4. Dead Money
I would have rated Dead Money higher if it wasn't for that atrocious level design, but the characters you meet in it were top notch.
PS Are there any more DLC's planned for FO:V or is this it ? (Apart from the weapon DLCs next week)
be talked out of fighting you or survive the final battle somehow. I have 100 speech, but I didn't see the choice. Was there a dialogue option that I missed? Did I need to have found all of the holotapes?
be talked out of fighting you or survive the final battle somehow. I have 100 speech, but I didn't see the choice. Was there a dialogue option that I missed? Did I need to have found all of the holotapes?
got the option to do so based on my talking with him, hitting the speech checks, and having done most of the NCR allied missions in the main game, it kept giving me NCR related responses to his ED-E talks
.
Very fun DLC overall, not as many unique weapons and cool stuff as OWB or HH, but the new armor is all really nice. Bit annoying to have
the deathclaws being one hit kills against full health power armor couriers, but at least I finally get my deathclaw gauntlet!
Kind of missed out on
nuking the long 15 or dry wells, just seemed like the right thing to do was sabotage the launch. Will have to reload to nuke Dry wells and the Legion and see what happens.
Overall, prob overhyped myself a bit, but for me, OWB>LR=DM>HH. I just couldn't get into Zion's setting.
be talked out of fighting you or survive the final battle somehow. I have 100 speech, but I didn't see the choice. Was there a dialogue option that I missed? Did I need to have found all of the holotapes?
I did it even though I didn't go full completionist (ED-E upgrades, Ulysses holotapes
apparently there is a speech check or something if you have them
and NCR character).
IIRC, you have to beat the 90 and 100 Speech checks, and then after that you have to
avoid the line that sorta goads him into fighting you (can't really remember) and you have to remind him about The Divide/being able to create another community, something like that.
Also, as far as I realize, if you talk him out of it, he is tagged essential so I don't think you can have him killed when the Marked Men attack you.
be talked out of fighting you or survive the final battle somehow. I have 100 speech, but I didn't see the choice. Was there a dialogue option that I missed? Did I need to have found all of the holotapes?
I had a save before the fight (my speech is at 100 as well) and there is one speech check I keep failing (the [Vegas] one)....I then tried every conversation branch (by reloading each time) and because of that one failed check, it all seems to end at Ulysses fighting you.
Im just wondering where the conversation would go if my Vegas rep was high enough to pass that check
The level order is not the story order. In terms of story, it's specifically Dead Money -> Old World Blues -> Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts stands alone but should be done before Lonesome Road as well.
Hey Duckroll, What did you think of Lonesome Road? I haven't played it yet but I kind of want to wait till next week because I will be buying the rest of the packs than start a fresh replay.
Hey Duckroll, What did you think of Lonesome Road? I haven't played it yet but I kind of want to wait till next week because I will be buying the rest of the packs than start a fresh replay.
Just finished LR now and was overall very impressed with it. I had a feeling it would be more linear since you know...you're on the ending road of your journey. The final sequence was well done too.
It wasn't as good as OWB but not much could be. I'd rank them OWB > LR > HH >>> DM.
And yeah, Ulysses does talk a lot...and very slowly. It was a nice story to listen to though.
Ok, question guys. I know that New Vegas wasn't all that buggy and all, but still do the DLCs stabilise things a bit more? Looking forward to a GOTY edition and it'd be good to know that all the work going to content also includes stability fixes.
Ok, question guys. I know that New Vegas wasn't all that buggy and all, but still do the DLCs stabilise things a bit more? Looking forward to a GOTY edition and it'd be good to know that all the work going to content also includes stability fixes.
Ok, question guys. I know that New Vegas wasn't all that buggy and all, but still do the DLCs stabilise things a bit more? Looking forward to a GOTY edition and it'd be good to know that all the work going to content also includes stability fixes.
I'm honestly not trolling, I (loved F1 and F2 on Mac) and bought F3 and F:NV with the three prior DLC on Steam. Tried to get into it, but my experience was soured by corrupted saves I could not seem to fix.
Now looking at these screenshots, everything about it looks bad... blurry textures, odd looking humans that resemble dolls with weird playmobil hair styles, drab color scheme and grotesque mis-usage of bloom.
be talked out of fighting you or survive the final battle somehow. I have 100 speech, but I didn't see the choice. Was there a dialogue option that I missed? Did I need to have found all of the holotapes?
For me, part way through talking with him I got an option that started with (NCR) because I had done a bunch of quests for them. I chose that and then got a Speech check of 90, which I passed, and then I chose the second dialogue option after that (choosing the first makes him hostile). No 100 Speech check for me like others have indicated. If you do it right, he will help you fight off the Marked Men and survives.
I saved right before this, though, so I could do the different bombing options. Dry Wells and the Long 15 each have a ton of great shit in them and they are new locations to go to, which is never a bad thing. My main game will remain bomb-free, though.
I'm honestly not trolling, I (loved F1 and F2 on Mac) and bought F3 and F:NV with the three prior DLC on Steam. Tried to get into it, but my experience was soured by corrupted saves I could not seem to fix.
Now looking at these screenshots, everything about it looks bad... blurry textures, odd looking humans that resemble dolls with weird playmobil hair styles, drab color scheme and grotesque mis-usage of bloom.
Ok, question guys. I know that New Vegas wasn't all that buggy and all, but still do the DLCs stabilise things a bit more? Looking forward to a GOTY edition and it'd be good to know that all the work going to content also includes stability fixes.
In my experience (PC), OWB was very prone to crashes. Lonesome Road, on the other hand, did not crash the game once, which is bizarre (but not unpleasant)
I'm not sure I'd ever really call New Vegas "ugly". It does have a few shortcomings but on PC at maxed out settings the image quality is so crisp and clean I have a hard time calling it ugly.
Just beat this. Saved right at the very end and will go back tomorrow to that save as I didn't feel too good about my choices.
Oh fuck no at letting ED-E die like that, that shit was depressing. I'd let all of Nevada boil before my homebro blows up. I wanted to at least see that ending play out before I made my real choice, but that was still screwed up. I do not approve.
I'm pretty happy with Lonesome Road, although I'd be lying if I said it didn't take a bit to grow on me. Its linear structure made it less exciting to explore too. Old World Blues is still my favorite of the bunch, but this was worthy of the New Vegas name. Recommended.
After sitting on beating the DLC fully, I think LR is the worse DLC for NV (It's still very good), but not as good as the other 3. In the end it goes
OWB = Great writing, pretty funny, open world
HH = Best looking, jousha was great and the most open word of the DLCs
DM = Best writing, best characters but terrible level design, and annoying death clouds
LR = Good writing, very linear and not very interested in the divide setting.
I am disappointed in the loot of all the DLCs though.
It's really odd that they're releasing this weapons pact *after* the final DLC. You'd think something like this, which is essentially peripheral to the experience, would have come out even before Dead Money.
Guys, sucks that LR isn't all that and a bag of chips. I was hoping to see a return of a powerful narrative like we saw in DM, just in a much more open setting.
I found myself not getting as into NV as I did the first Fallout 3. All the DLC has me interested though...I got up to the roller coaster place (no idea where that was) and got a bit bored, though. Does it pick up any later on?
And what's the optimal system to play this one on, between PC and PS3?
Sorry for the derail, but I'm having some thoughts for a weekend game fest, ha.
I found myself not getting as into NV as I did the first Fallout 3. All the DLC has me interested though...I got up to the roller coaster place (no idea where that was) and got a bit bored, though. Does it pick up any later on?
And what's the optimal system to play this one on, between PC and PS3?
Sorry for the derail, but I'm having some thoughts for a weekend game fest, ha.
Finally beat it. Took a little under 6 hours, but I also missed out on a bunch of stuff (didn't find all the journal entries, didn't find all the posters, didn't touch the Red Glare at all since my character had like 11 Explosives skill, missed 2 ED-D upgrades, etc). I haven't explored the post-finale stuff either (being vague to avoid spoilers). Going to clear all that stuff up another day.
Overall, I think this was a great DLC. There is one point I really dislike about it, which I'll talk about in spoiler tags later. But the general design of the DLC really exceeded my expectations going in. For the "finale" of the DLC series, this definitely fits the bill as the bigass final dungeon. The entire DLC is a relatively large but linear environment, with really nice sights and sounds, but is heavily combat/encounter based.
As I've said before in the past, what I like most about the NV DLC packs is that each and every one is unique and different, and I'm glad they kept it that way. Making a big dungeon experience to cap off the entire series of DLCs is a great decision, and something which I didn't expect because NV's main story itself lacked something like this. If only the Hoover Dam finale was anything like this at all, it would have been a perfect conclusion to the main game, but hey, I'll happily take this instead.
Lonesome Road proves that the linear design of a game like FFXIII is not bad design at all on its own, but rather it is the way linearity is paced and the actual level design of a game which determines if such a design decision is good or bad. Having a few optional routes to explore for extra items or hidden story content can make a huge difference even if the actual stage is simply a linear road - literally.
Now on to what I didn't like about it. The story
is based on the foundation of the relationship between Ulysses and the player character. Since they have never met before, the relationship is presented as one where the actions of the player influenced his life at some point. The problem here is, this specific action of the player is a pretty significant one, and one which the player has no reason to accept that he would have carried out.
I understand the commentary here - that RPG players are like couriers, who simply do what they're told, and go back and forth between places because they are of interest, without really weighing the consequences of their actions or asking too many questions. That's fine, but I don't think it's particular fair to tell the player in a game like this, that they have a secret past which apparently they don't really care to remember. I was hoping all the way to the end that there would be an option to prove to Ulysses that he has the wrong person, and that I never did any of those things he accused me of, but nope, doesn't seem that way. :/
Other than that gripe, I found the encounters and enemies in the DLC very well designed, I loved the areas and the mix of outdoors and indoors areas, designed in interesting and destructive ways which I haven't seen in Fallout before. Considering the relatively low budget of DLC packs, I think they did a superb job. The overall writing and dialogue at the checkpoint events were also well done, and
the way they used the DLC to flesh out E-DE's history was great
I'm really looking forward to going through this DLC eventually with my second character, who is good at both guns and explosives. Having a melee/stealth/speech character really limited my experience of the weapons and new gameplay elements introduced in the DLC (Sachet Charges, Red Glare, SMMG, etc).
Seeing the conclusion to Fallout New Vegas is bittersweet, I hope Obsidian are happy with themselves for really bringing this series back into the light for so many of us
It's really odd that they're releasing this weapons pact *after* the final DLC. You'd think something like this, which is essentially peripheral to the experience, would have come out even before Dead Money.
Guys, sucks that LR isn't all that and a bag of chips. I was hoping to see a return of a powerful narrative like we saw in DM, just in a much more open setting.
I think its designed for people who already played through the game, because all the guns and ammo types make it so there would otherwise be no need to ever use the original content - eg it sounds like the new energy weapon ammo crafting is just blanket superior to the original game's ammo types.
Also if you have 3D vision, its amazing in 3D - most games dont benefit from it IMO, but new vegas is stunning in 3D, its like looking at a real life place.
