F:NV Fallout New Vegas thoughts

I really don't mind the lack of paint, but if I was living anywhere for more than a day or two, I would pick up all the trash. To me, that's the most unrealistic part of the game. I've not traveled extensively, but do those in dire straits typically live in their own filth? It's funny, you never see a pair of dirty socks or underwear, but you'll find empty bottles, scraps of paper, and all sorts of varmint attracting litter. Honestly, don't you think radroaches/ROUS/molerats, etc. would quickly overrun any filthy areas?

New patch for FNV coming up. This from their twitter:
"We’ve wrapped up work on the Fallout: New Vegas patch and submitted it. We’ll let you know when it’s up on PS3, 360, and Steam."

crpgnut said:

I really don't mind the lack of paint, but if I was living anywhere for more than a day or two, I would pick up all the trash. To me, that's the most unrealistic part of the game. I've not traveled extensively, but do those in dire straits typically live in their own filth? It's funny, you never see a pair of dirty socks or underwear, but you'll find empty bottles, scraps of paper, and all sorts of varmint attracting litter. Honestly, don't you think radroaches/ROUS/molerats, etc. would quickly overrun any filthy areas?

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I've seen that, yes, because they honestly don't care. It's so far down their list of priorities it's simply not something they even think about. To them, "filth" isn't really negative; it's just used stuff that might come in handy. In most such cases, everything comes in handy in one way or another - even stuff we'd call trash in the western world.

As far as strange realism-breaking stuff goes, the working computers is the biggest mystery of all in my opinion. I don't care how robust you build a computer, it won't last 200 years without maintenance.

Maylander said:

As far as strange realism-breaking stuff goes, the working computers is the biggest mystery of all in my opinion. I don't care how robust you build a computer, it won't last 200 years without maintenance.

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That's just part of the "weird science" of all the Fallouts. I mean, there are usable **magnetic tapes** just lying around as well as perfectly preserved foodstuffs. "Still good!" as the label reads on one of them.

BillSeurer said:

as well as perfectly preserved foodstuffs. "Still good!" as the label reads on one of them.

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That's the one that gets me. I wish they had included some kind of explanation for the shelf life of things like Dandy Boy Apples, or Salisbury Steak.

Personally, my character eats nothing but freshly killed Mirelurk meat and Mutfruits.

JDR13 said:

That's the one that gets me. I wish they had included some kind of explanation for the shelf life of things like Dandy Boy Apples, or Salisbury Steak.

Personally, my character eats nothing but freshly killed Mirelurk meat and Mutfruits.

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It's a joke about how crappy processed food is. Still good after 200 years!

When I ran a "live" tabletop Fallout game the players were really excited when they found a stash of Hostess Twinkies. They split one up to see if they still were good and of course they were.

The massive doses of radiation killed all bacteria permanently. After 200 years or so, the radiation has dropped enough that eating the food won't kill you, but it's still irradiated enough to keep bacteria out.

crpgnut said:

The massive doses of radiation killed all bacteria permanently.

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Unfortunately that would leave all higher life forms dead too...

There is very little that is realistic in the Fallout games.
Paint has been and will be used on buildings and such for preservation of the material and to keep it from rusting or rotting away too fast or to coat it for better insulation and so it's not too abrasive to the human skin. Colors for decoration is another thing and a personal choice.
I certainly hope to never be in a post-apocalyptic world with some of you, if you can't be bothered to pick up the tin cans and garbage where you live.. lol

I know these people aren't in to personal hygiene. The people at Camp Forlorn Hope will sit on the john but they don't drop their drawers first. Eewww!

I'd say the colors chosen, were chosen for effect, not reality. Apparently they had a bad effect on some of you.

crpgnut said:

I know these people aren't in to personal hygiene. The people at Camp Forlorn Hope will sit on the john but they don't drop their drawers first. Eewww!

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:lol: That can't turn out well.

A few imo-points.

1. computer games are abstractions
2. unless a game claims to be faithful simulation, only internal consistency really matters

In Fallout a lot of things can be easily explained away with "science!" tag since the apocalypse occurred in 2077, not yesterday.
Bottle cap as a main currency are perfectly plausible within the settings, they´re backed up by fresh water reserves in the Hub.
So is the gang of Elvis impersonators. "Conversion" to tribalism/gangism is one of the natural ways how to deal with the state Fallout world´s in, sharing the same visual identity strengthens sense of unity, resources are scarce, so if someone bumps on rock´n´roll school full of leather jackets and hair gel…
Etc.

What abstractions find their way into the game is influenced by design (genre, settings), artistic license, economical and technical reasons. The game´s foci are exploration (lots of locations, open ended gameplay), quests (multiple solutions, interconnectedness, consequences), faction interplay, character defining/building and survival.
Details are thus distributed between more aspects of the game and detailing one aspect significantly more than the others would shift the game´s intended overall balance.
That said, people´s need for art wasn´t omitted entirely. There are radios, posters, a guy who´s running out of inspiration and player has to make photos for him and in one quest player has to recruit performers for casino theater, I´m sure there are other examples. Given the scope and focus of the game, that isn´t so bad.
The relative lack of colours is to be subscribed more to an artistic license than to failed realism check, and goes well with the game´s intended mood and morality grayness (Legion is dangerously close to cartoonish evil, but that´s besides the point here). For now, for those who wish more colours in their F:NV, there´s a choice between Fellout NV, Nevada Skies and URWL for New Vegas - Realistic Lighting mods (personally I don´t like either).
For a visually more vibrant Fallout title, I recommend Wasteland .

The 'wide audience' expects to see debris and chaos when thinking post-apocalypse and New Vegas delivers. Its world is inexplicably messed up, but I personally didn't expect different from Bethesda.

Allthough its nice to have som realism in rpgs thats not what rpgs are really about so I dont worry about it too much. If i want realism I play simulators.

Fallout could use som colorful houses though. Just to have som variation. I really liked teh oasis in fallout3.

I feel blah on a cloudy gloomy day. A nice sunshiny day makes me feel better without a doubt. The same with trees, I like being around green growing stuff.

Its a game and I expect it to not be exactly what I want but some color would have made the game seem more alive to me. All the trash is blah too. Endless trash and decay. I'm just nitpicking.

Anyway I don't dislike the game as I greatly prefer RPGs to other game types but I will not be extending my visit to F:NV by getting any DLC.

I feel the exact same way I did when I played F3. I wanted to finish the game so I could get into a more colorful Fable 2 which this time will be Fable 3.

36 hours in the game now and just level 12 I think. Still no bugs besides pathing issues and those are not game breaking at all. I've done a few quests around New Vegas and have no clue what is ahead of me as I prefer to not look at walkthroughs. One of the things I do like is that I do actually have important faction choices to make this time. I have no idea what the effect is of those choices yet.

Those damn mutated flies keep kicking my a$$ tho! I've had to skip cross country more than once and travel down a road to avoid them ....

Those flies are in the top three of toughest creatures in the game. Enjoy!

Toff said:

One of the things I do like is that I do actually have important faction choices to make this time. I have no idea what the effect is of those choices yet.

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I like that, too. I'm early in the game, lvl. 8, just reached the Strip. I am getting to know the factions, so this question is coming mostly from ignorance -- are any of these factions good or admirable? I know this is a "scales of gray" game, not a game with polar good/evil opposites, but so far, all I've encountered (except for NCR, I guess, who seem rather non-descript) is one control/power-oriented group of douchebags after another. I would like to find a faction I feel good about and would like to support, but so far, I haven't. Then again, like I said, I'm early on, and I'm just beginning to get to know the different factions, so maybe I just need to learn more, and I'll find my niche.

Anderson said:

I like that, too. I'm early in the game, lvl. 8, just reached the Strip. I am getting to know the factions, so this question is coming mostly from ignorance — are any of these factions good or admirable?

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Admirable? Yes. Most, probably all, of them are admirable in some way or another.

Good? No. Assuming you mean the D&D-ish definition of good that most games use.

Just like the real world.

BillSeurer said:

Admirable? Yes. Most, probably all, of them are admirable in some way or another.

Good? No. Assuming you mean the D&D-ish definition of good that most games use.

Just like the real world.

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I probably just need to play some more and get to know them. Then I'll discover something to like about one of them. Hopefully, it's not like voting in elections, where you have to pick either Republican or Democrat but you know they both suck. I assume it's not, and it's just a matter of getting to know their backgrounds and motives better.