Gripes by the Number: New Vegas nonsense

Unorthodox Outlander

It Wandered In From the Wastes
I purchased New Vegas about a week ago when it was on sale. It's proven to be a rather enjoyable game, but a few things thus far have come up that I simply cannot wrap my head around; minor irritants in an otherwise decent game, but aggravating nonetheless.

1. Losing Karma for taking items from that one Powder-Ganger camp by the highway. Alright, so I'm getting penalized for taking stuff in the possession of criminals... who I also gain Karma for killing. Rather odd. This goes further on when pick-pocketing members of Caesar's legion, which seem to be the closest thing to a "big-bad" that this game has. Granted, I can still loot their corpses, but there's something satisfying about screwing the Legion over without getting assassins sicced on me.

2. Can anybody give me a valid explanation why a stealth-boy does nothing to ward off incessant artillery barrages from the boomers? The thing makes you invisible. What sort of shenanigans are their spotters pulling?

3. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems that in order to take NCRCF back from the Powder-Gangers, you have to get a quest from them and THEN get the opportunity to back-stab them and help the NCR take it back. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just give players the option to help the NCR take it without having to deal with those schmucks, even after garnering a bit of positive NCR rep.
 
3. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems that in order to take NCRCF back from the Powder-Gangers, you have to get a quest from them and THEN get the opportunity to back-stab them and help the NCR take it back. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just give players the option to help the NCR take it without having to deal with those schmucks, even after garnering a bit of positive NCR rep.
This is really the only one I see as valid. The other two are just a bad game mechanic bethesda set up in the abysmal fallout 3 and the other... well perhaps an oversight or perhaps forced for plot reasons (as the boomers see it as a sign that you made it through)

My biggest problems with new vegas are running ghouls and ED-E being almost sentient... also not a fan of treating fallout 3 as canon (I'm looking at you Veronica and ED-E >_>)
 
1.Well, in fairness the karma system is borderline meaningless, since it can be gamed easily. It's hard not to get good karma without trying to be evil. When it works it just makes things black and white. The game shouldn't tell you instantly whether your actions were good or not. It should be tell you how people react, and now view you as per reality.

2.Sensors (e.g those of ED-E, possibly not optics) or trained spotters. There is a telltale shimmer of sorts, so it is possible to spot cloaked entities. Which the game also indicates in writing.

3.Yeah, that ones a bummer. You can postpone doing the Goodsprings quest if you don't want to get locked out of content.
 
1. Losing Karma for taking items from that one Powder-Ganger camp by the highway. Alright, so I'm getting penalized for taking stuff in the possession of criminals... who I also gain Karma for killing. Rather odd. This goes further on when pick-pocketing members of Caesar's legion, which seem to be the closest thing to a "big-bad" that this game has. Granted, I can still loot their corpses, but there's something satisfying about screwing the Legion over without getting assassins sicced on me.
Karma in New Vegas is a bunch of bullshit to begin with.

It works when there are obviously good and bad options(Blowing up the Bright Brotherhood for no good reason for instance), but not when the game is trying to be ambigous.

NV kinda knew this and while it set up a few basic principles(Stealing = Bad Karma for example), it intentionally avoided giving and taking karma because by doing so it'd reinforce that there are good guys and bad guys.
 
I purchased New Vegas about a week ago when it was on sale. It's proven to be a rather enjoyable game, but a few things thus far have come up that I simply cannot wrap my head around; minor irritants in an otherwise decent game, but aggravating nonetheless.

1. Losing Karma for taking items from that one Powder-Ganger camp by the highway. Alright, so I'm getting penalized for taking stuff in the possession of criminals... who I also gain Karma for killing. Rather odd. This goes further on when pick-pocketing members of Caesar's legion, which seem to be the closest thing to a "big-bad" that this game has. Granted, I can still loot their corpses, but there's something satisfying about screwing the Legion over without getting assassins sicced on me.

2. Can anybody give me a valid explanation why a stealth-boy does nothing to ward off incessant artillery barrages from the boomers? The thing makes you invisible. What sort of shenanigans are their spotters pulling?

3. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems that in order to take NCRCF back from the Powder-Gangers, you have to get a quest from them and THEN get the opportunity to back-stab them and help the NCR take it back. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just give players the option to help the NCR take it without having to deal with those schmucks, even after garnering a bit of positive NCR rep.
Quite possible they haven't got time to code these things in or they are disabled like some NPCs or dialogue lines.
It annoyed me too, so here are links to mods I'm using that try to fix them:

"I fought the law"- NCR start by LtRhapthorne
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/52785/

"Spoils to victors" by Richwizard- after completing some quests that basically eliminate some factions presence their things lose ownership ("I fought the law", "Eye for an eye", etc)
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/60198/
 
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  • Picking up a loose cigarette off of the floor can turn an entire casino against you—instantly out for blood.
  • invisible holes in the outer edges of the level maps; walk through one, and never find your way back—they are invisible.
  • Banisters with bullet-proof open space beneath them.
  • [More of the above]... Holes in the ground with invisible collision meshes—that are flush with the ground! (Doesn't play nice with explosives or fire.)
  • Wild Wasteland as a purchased trait, instead of being simply the world as it is.
  • Restricted fast-travel, due to injured leg... absurd.
 
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I purchased New Vegas about a week ago when it was on sale. It's proven to be a rather enjoyable game, but a few things thus far have come up that I simply cannot wrap my head around; minor irritants in an otherwise decent game, but aggravating nonetheless.

1. Losing Karma for taking items from that one Powder-Ganger camp by the highway. Alright, so I'm getting penalized for taking stuff in the possession of criminals... who I also gain Karma for killing. Rather odd. This goes further on when pick-pocketing members of Caesar's legion, which seem to be the closest thing to a "big-bad" that this game has. Granted, I can still loot their corpses, but there's something satisfying about screwing the Legion over without getting assassins sicced on me.

2. Can anybody give me a valid explanation why a stealth-boy does nothing to ward off incessant artillery barrages from the boomers? The thing makes you invisible. What sort of shenanigans are their spotters pulling?

3. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems that in order to take NCRCF back from the Powder-Gangers, you have to get a quest from them and THEN get the opportunity to back-stab them and help the NCR take it back. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just give players the option to help the NCR take it without having to deal with those schmucks, even after garnering a bit of positive NCR rep.

That First point though. I mean eah sure you should't gain karma for killing them that is stupid never understood. There is a mod that will take that out the game for you and fix that.

But on a debate note ; If you steal from some bad is that not bad. Is stealing bad from who ever you steal from. Yeah it seems stupid in this context. Caesar legion arn't all bad ? Why should you be allowed to actually steal from any one at all. They should of gave the player negative karma for killing any one at all
 
The problem with a karma system is either the game treats morality so black and white that it's cartoony (fallout 3) or it has to awkwardly enforce it's morality on the player (new vegas). I think the karma system is a flaw the franchise need to either redesign or drop entirely.
 
3. The NCR official won't talk details with you, so without meta-gaming you won't even know about the planned attack.
If you talk to the Powder Hangers first, you'll get a distinctive hint, which leads you to the Primm citizens, who the tip you off-- at this point, there is no real reason for the NCR official to not talk about it anymore.

Granted, there could be other alternative paths, such as the player having a reasonable high NCR reputation, but oh well...
 
I have a gripe with the map. It's still too boxed in and while the content within the map is fulfilling, I admit that there are times when I wish there was more going on, especially on the Legion side of the map and the corners. I can understand cutting off the Divide (and the DLC makes that map of the map defacto accessible) but that always stuck out to me.
 
Uhm, the Divide is a LOT farther away from Vegas than you probably think. It's certainly not on the other side of the mountains.
 
My #1 very big gripe is the fucking gameplay. I don't care about dated visuals or thin sounds or techical issues (I endured Fallout 2 and VtMB unpatched back in the day, FNV was a cakewalk by comparison to either). I played the game through twice so it was "adequate" enough as a game, but the second time was already a chore. And the third run I stopped after reaching Freeside because I just couldn't anymore. Every time I fire it up with the intent that now I'll make my NCR run (having done Legion and House before), it's 10 minutes and I must stop again with a sigh.

God how I wish Josh'd dug a bit deeper with gameplay and systems design in bringing the old and new closer to each other... I so wish this game had the systemic longevity of classical RPG's instead of the feel of a clumsy modern A(for Almost)RPG that has all the heart, but isn't quite sure whether it really wants to be an RPG or not.
 
My #1 very big gripe is the fucking gameplay. I don't care about dated visuals or thin sounds or techical issues (I endured Fallout 2 and VtMB unpatched back in the day, FNV was a cakewalk by comparison to either). I played the game through twice so it was "adequate" enough as a game, but the second time was already a chore. And the third run I stopped after reaching Freeside because I just couldn't anymore. Every time I fire it up with the intent that now I'll make my NCR run (having done Legion and House before), it's 10 minutes and I must stop again with a sigh.

God how I wish Josh'd dug a bit deeper with gameplay and systems design in bringing the old and new closer to each other... I so wish this game had the systemic longevity of classical RPG's instead of the feel of a clumsy modern A(for Almost)RPG that has all the heart, but isn't quite sure whether it really wants to be an RPG or not.

...gameplay, as compared to what? A bare bones turn based system? To each their own I suppose. I've gotten more out of replaying NV than anything else.
 
...gameplay, as compared to what? A bare bones turn based system?
Which game series was that?

I considered NV's gameplay to be a decent half step in the right direction—away from FO3, and back towards Fallout 1&2; (where it should be). But even then, it was just a half step towards what it missed by a mile.

(Granted they were surely designing things under Bethesda's leash, and so even the half step was pushing it; more would just be wishful thinking).
 
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3. The NCR official won't talk details with you, so without meta-gaming you won't even know about the planned attack.
If you talk to the Powder Hangers first, you'll get a distinctive hint, which leads you to the Primm citizens, who the tip you off-- at this point, there is no real reason for the NCR official to not talk about it anymore.

Granted, there could be other alternative paths, such as the player having a reasonable high NCR reputation, but oh well...
That's the thing, it's not even about the NCR not talking about it initially. The thing is, by the time you've supported the NCR with various problems, up to and including cleaning out Nelson and Cottonwood Cove, you'd think they'd let you in on plans to knock off a few uppity escaped convicts.

Or, barring that, just getting a quest to deal with them yourself from various settlers/citizens/caravan-merchants who are rather unhappy about the local criminal element mucking about and blowing shit up.
 
Uhm, the Divide is a LOT farther away from Vegas than you probably think. It's certainly not on the other side of the mountains.

It's basically Pahrump/Sandy Valley/the 160.

It's on the other side of a bus-gate. It's literally there. Unlike HH there's no real time-skip, is there? Open a bus, walk through a bus to the other side, there's the divide.

Edit: apparently it's three days away and more towards the East towards 127 and in Cali.
 
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Unlike HH there's no real time-skip, is there? Open a bus, walk through a bus to the other side, there's the divide.

That's what it feels like, but the map with all the locations on it says different.
I've tried to find the map where it is marked on, but no luck anymore. No idea where it went and gamepedia wiki seems super slow right now.
 
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