The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

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baram.: Oct 23, 2007; smooth.

Is Animal Crossing basically a spiritual successor to earlier (SNES/N64) Harvest Moon?

# ? Jul 3, 2014 03:53

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 04:31

Ash Rose: Sep 3, 2011; Where is Megaman?

In queer, with us!

Baram posted:

Is Animal Crossing basically a spiritual successor to earlier (SNES/N64) Harvest Moon?

No, it's much more like nintendo sims.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 04:11

al-azad: May 28, 2009

Baram posted:

Is Animal Crossing basically a spiritual successor to earlier (SNES/N64) Harvest Moon?

There are elements of Harvest Moon but simulation games go back much further and Animal Crossing has no objective or end goal. You can literally play forever.

It's a social game. You buy stuff, catch bugs, and make your villagers say dumb things like changing their greeting to "HAIL, SATAN!" It's a relaxing/meditative game, not something you play to accomplish anything.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 04:11

A Real Happy Camper: Dec 11, 2007; These children have taught me how to believe.

The only accomplishment in Animal Crossing is paying off your loan to Tom Nook, other than that it's all about making the prettiest town, the most money, and the most profane villagers.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 04:13

Orange Fluffy Sheep: Jul 26, 2008; Bad EXP received

New Leaf makes profane villagers a challenge and an artform, as it has a built in word filter.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 04:29

Shibawanko: Feb 13, 2013

Far Cry 2, please. I've played the game before and I remember liking it, but I don't remember any tactics. In particular, I'd like to know what missions to do first, which ones are the most fun, and some tips on finding diamonds.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 08:33

The Shame Boy: Jan 27, 2014; Dead weight, just like this post.

Don't bother getting any of the stealth stuff since stealth is completely busted. No real tips for finding diamonds other than finding ones in the water is frustrating because you can't see poo poo.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 10:48

Palladium: May 8, 2012; Very Good
✔️✔️✔️✔️

Fat Samurai posted:

Hmnn... I've been moving through the first level giving sleeping hugs to every bad guy, and it's giving me ghost points for each takedown and Ghost points at the end of the level. Are you talking about something else?

Non-lethal KOs gives 200 points, and every enemy you completely avoided while being undetected gives 225 point per in Perfectionist. The difference isn't that huge EXCEPT for 4E side missions with 3 separate objectives, you HAVE to avoid KOs to master the Ghost proficiency for those.

If you are new I suggest just playing Panther. Adjusting to patrol patterns is already risky IMO; you don't want to increase the risk further by playing Ghost without a full sneaking suit.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 11:22

Shibawanko: Feb 13, 2013

HOOLY BOOLY posted:

Don't bother getting any of the stealth stuff since stealth is completely busted. No real tips for finding diamonds other than finding ones in the water is frustrating because you can't see poo poo.

Are there any big fan patches that fix problems, like with STALKER or Deus Ex?

# ? Jul 3, 2014 11:23

Mierenneuker: Apr 28, 2010; We're all going to experience changes in our life but only the best of us will qualify for front row seats.

There is a wealth of information on the wiki: http://beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Far_Cry_2

Some highlights from that page from personal experience:
- Do the Gun shop missions first to unlock a greater assortment of guns, and the cell tower missions in between to be able to afford the new weapons.
- Don't don't don't pick up enemy weapons...ever! They are crap, will jam a lot, and unless you want a quick rocket launcher for a single shot, just use your own shiny new ones.
- Anyway, remember to have fun. The game is best played in one, tops two hour sessions.
- If the enemy is in a vehicle, stay the heck in yours, or get behind a tree. They will simply drive into you any chance they get.
_{_{Seriously, nothing is worse than losing a chunk of progress because you became roadkill.}}

Something I'd add:
- Pay attention to which slot a weapon occupies before you purchase it. The game tells you this, but you may make assumptions based on the type of weapon. I remember buying the dart rifle thinking it would be an upgrade to the sniper rifle I was previously using, only to find out it fit in the special weapon slot. I also didn't pick up the grenade launcher for a while, because I didn't realize it was a secondary weapon (and when I did I never swapped it out for something else).

Mierenneuker fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Jul 3, 2014

# ? Jul 3, 2014 12:45

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Stuff on Alan Wake that might be worth adding to the wiki.

* Don't bother to conserve your ammo / flares / batteries. Not only will you get fairly constant pickups (on Normal mode at least), but the game will empty your inventory at least twice per chapter.

* A lot of big empty forest sections have infinitely respawning enemies that will keep bugging you until you cross the forest and get to a light source. Sprint ahead of the bad guys and drop a flare behind you to keep them back until you hit the light.

* Unless there's a physical obstruction in your way, you generally don't have to kill the enemies that show up before you progress. If a fight is getting annoying, you can probably drop a flare and sprint on past.

* Once the mid-game comes around, the game tones down the endless boring woods in favor of slightly more interesting setpieces. If you're wondering whether the entire game is this dull, you should know that it picks up... somewhat.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 15:55

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Shibawanko posted:

Are there any big fan patches that fix problems, like with STALKER or Deus Ex?

There are some patches that change how checkpoints (security, not saving) and AI and damage work to make the game better balanced. I can't remember the name though

You'd probably just be better off playing Farcry 3 though. Same thing with more freedom and better stealth.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 16:14

Shibawanko: Feb 13, 2013

Mierenneuker posted:

There is a wealth of information on the wiki: http://beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Far_Cry_2

Some highlights from that page from personal experience:
- Do the Gun shop missions first to unlock a greater assortment of guns, and the cell tower missions in between to be able to afford the new weapons.
- Don't don't don't pick up enemy weapons...ever! They are crap, will jam a lot, and unless you want a quick rocket launcher for a single shot, just use your own shiny new ones.
- Anyway, remember to have fun. The game is best played in one, tops two hour sessions.
- If the enemy is in a vehicle, stay the heck in yours, or get behind a tree. They will simply drive into you any chance they get.
_{_{Seriously, nothing is worse than losing a chunk of progress because you became roadkill.}}

Something I'd add:
- Pay attention to which slot a weapon occupies before you purchase it. The game tells you this, but you may make assumptions based on the type of weapon. I remember buying the dart rifle thinking it would be an upgrade to the sniper rifle I was previously using, only to find out it fit in the special weapon slot. I also didn't pick up the grenade launcher for a while, because I didn't realize it was a secondary weapon (and when I did I never swapped it out for something else).

Perfect, thanks a lot!

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:10

Kaboom Dragoon: May 7, 2010; The greatest of feasts

Shibawanko posted:

Far Cry 2, please. I've played the game before and I remember liking it, but I don't remember any tactics. In particular, I'd like to know what missions to do first, which ones are the most fun, and some tips on finding diamonds.

Only thing I can recommend is that fire is the best friend you'll have in this game. Used correctly, you can get through a decent chunk of the game with minimal gun use. But that's hard to pull off, since the enemies are borderline psychic and always know where you are no matter what.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:22

A Real Happy Camper: Dec 11, 2007; These children have taught me how to believe.

Stealth in far cry 2 is perfectly doable as long as you learn how to game the AI. You can't sit in one spot and take pot shots, you have to move around and use the terrain to your advantage.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:23

Kenny Logins: Jan 11, 2011; EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A WHITE WHALE INTO THE PEQUOD. IT'S HELL'S HEART AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I STRIKE AT THEE ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, ISHMAEL.

Posting so I can find my own posts in this thread and edit in what I had to say about Far Cry 2 a while ago:

e: Turns out it was in the old "PYF little things in games" thread.

quote:

* I noticed particularly with the exploding crossbow bolts from the DLC, but apparently it applies to RPGs as well: if you shoot a rocket-projecticle at a broad surface at an angle there is a good chance it will deflect off and (mostly) waste the shot. For this reason, the M-79 grenade launcher is your choice vehicle-killer for about 75% of the game.

* Stealth is very, very difficult to actually achieve in the game. Partly by hazard of sketchy AI coding, and partly by design. In particular, the only chance you have at a stealthy ranged kill is with the tranquilizer dart air rifle, with a headshot.

Why? Because enemies cry out when shot, except most of the time with those tranq headshots. It's possible other headshots may not cause a cry-out (I didn't experiment), but no other sniper rifle is silenced, and that sound will give away your position too. No other silenced weapon does enough damage to reliably achieve one-hit head shots, either.

It's an interesting take on stealthy kills, and while not 100% realistic it's different.

* In the same vein, a machete kill is relatively stealthy, because even though the enemy cries bloody murder, it doesn't actually give away your position like a gunshot will. If you run they'll only be able to trace to where you downed the guy.

* Throwing a molotov and achieving a direct hit is an insta-kill, and it's immensely satisfying. Otherwise fire is kind of a gimmick that isn't very practical, but on occasion it makes a great diversion as it causes everyone to freak the gently caress out. They don't know that the game is hard-coded so as not to create a fire that burns down the whole game world.

* Interestingly, without explosives, you cannot shoot vehicles and make them instantly blow up. A thoroughly shot-up vehicle will belch black smoke, refuse to move, and explode on its own eventually, but it takes a good amount of time and is entirely unreliable. Popping a mint-condition Jeep with a couple 50-cal sniper rounds will stop it in its tracks, though, which is also very satisfying.

Kenny Logins fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Jul 3, 2014

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:28

Kennel: May 1, 2008; BAWWW-UNH!

Xander77 posted:

Stuff on Alan Wake that might be worth adding to the wiki.

* Don't bother to conserve your ammo / flares / batteries. Not only will you get fairly constant pickups (on Normal mode at least), but the game will empty your inventory at least twice per chapter.

It's been a while but "at least twice per chapter" sounds like an exaggeration.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:44

Afriscipio: Jun 3, 2013

Any tips for Age of Wonders III? I've played plenty of TBS, but none of the Age of Wonders series.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:54

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Afriscipio posted:

Any tips for Age of Wonders III? I've played plenty of TBS, but none of the Age of Wonders series.

3 is a bit different than the previous ones anyways.

There's a thread for it http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3532785
Read the op and post in there for more info, its a pretty massive game.

High tier units are really strong, learn which units can do what, tech up and explore. Learn to play to the strengths of your race and class and your traits.

I could go on but I'd just be restating things in that thread. If you've played lots of TBS you should be fine to hop in.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 18:20

Taerkar: Dec 7, 2002; kind of into it, really

Afriscipio posted:

Any tips for Age of Wonders III? I've played plenty of TBS, but none of the Age of Wonders series.

A quick one is to understand the importance of flanking, the AI does. Flanking is the back and back-side hexfacing of the unit.

Any unit will turn to face its attacker after the first hit, no matter if it was a ranged attack or melee attack. If you attack a flanked unit the first melee strike will be retaliation free and you'll be able to circumvent some of the special defenses (First strike and shield, for example)

However, a unit with the defend command CANNOT be flanked as long as that command is active on them.

Also, a non-defending unit does not get an attack of opportunity against a unit that moves through their flanking hexes.

Green-Orange-Red corresponds to 3-2-1 attacks for melee and ranged attacks that get multiple shots. However, a ranged attack that only fires once is unaffected. This means that there's some times when you're better off losing a shot to reduce penalties. 3 shots at -50% due to range or whatever will do less than 2 shots that don't have that penalty.

Veteran levels are important. Buildings that grant such are a good investment for any high production city.

Building a city on top of an outpost will give it walls for free.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 18:21

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Kennel posted:

It's been a while but "at least twice per chapter" sounds like an exaggeration.

If it helps, you can count the obligatory inventory destruction at the end of every episode.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 19:40

Raging Mule: Jan 17, 2007

Far Cry 2: I used Dylans Realism mod. Looks like a new version may be coming soon.

I really enjoyed the game with the mod. It fixes some of the weapon and checkpoint headaches.

____
Realistic weapon damage, recoil, realistic ammo loads and weapon reliability have been added, along with a more effective stealth suit, and revamped AI weapons. (No more SPAS12s and AR15s for militiamen).

Checkpoint AI has been tweaked as well. Checkpoint guards now have a 60% chance to chase you after passing through, as opposed to 90%-100% in vanilla.

Militiamen also communicate more frequently in combat, and use suppressing fire more often.

However, you are now as vulnerable as the AI. A single burst of rifle fire can kill you, so you are probably going to need that extra ammo and stealth suit.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 20:16

Dongattack: Dec 20, 2006; by Cyrano4747

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Anything to note before i get further into this game? Nothing on the wiki. I don't want to touch MP or Coop at all, (bad connection and people are stupid) am i gonna have trouble buying all the sweet stuff? I tried one of the optional missions, but it was one tiny square where enemies came from every angle at me and i almost quit the game there and then. But i did a plot mission after that and that was pretty rad.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 01:35

poptart_fairy: Apr 8, 2009; by R. Guyovich

Dongattack posted:

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Anything to note before i get further into this game? Nothing on the wiki. I don't want to touch MP or Coop at all, (bad connection and people are stupid) am i gonna have trouble buying all the sweet stuff? I tried one of the optional missions, but it was one tiny square where enemies came from every angle at me and i almost quit the game there and then. But i did a plot mission after that and that was pretty rad.

The 'tiny square' missions are wave-based survival missions. You'll need to pack bigger weapons before you go into them, unless you're some sort of stealth/panther savant. :v:

Money won't really be a problem as the more you upgrade your plan the more money you'll get from missions which will then let you upgrade your plane, etc etc etc. If you're really desperate you can replay earlier missions and just grind money out that way (there's no point reduction for replaying levels), but it's probably best not to do that unless you're going to try a different playstyle; poo poo might get old if you're following a routine.

'Black market' weapons are the sort of stuff you'll see enemies using and are relatively cheap with decent(ish) upgrades, but the best equipment is gained through upgrading your plane's 'experimental' capabilities. They'll be about 200k a pop, but the rifle and pistol with inherent silencers are absolute beasts and if upgraded can punch right through armour in a couple of shots. Completing optional missions will unlock the highest tier suit upgrades for purchase.

Oh, and upgrade to Sonar Goggles ASAP. You can see through walls with them and even tag people while doing that. Each upgrade you purchase will also stack with the previous ones, even though the text doesn't make this very clear.

Finally, there's no functional difference between killing/knocking out/avoiding NPCs. Unless you're deadset on sticking to a single 'path' just go as you like and improvise - the best moments will arguably come from you loving something up and having to find a place for this corpse and oh god oh god his friend is coming in and you're still dragging the first and gently caress now after shooting you've got two bodies and their third friend is coming over to investigate the noise gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress

poptart_fairy fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Jul 4, 2014

# ? Jul 4, 2014 01:53

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

Kenny Logins posted:

Posting so I can find my own posts in this thread and edit in what I had to say about Far Cry 2 a while ago:

e: Turns out it was in the old "PYF little things in games" thread.

Yeah the M-79 grenade launcher should be unlocked as soon as possible, it uses your small/pistol weapon slot and is fantastic in so many situations.

Use fire and explosions as much as you can, the game's engine is built around fire being awesome and it really is.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 02:18

Fargin Icehole: Feb 19, 2011; Pet me.

Half to a year ago I purchased Crusader kings II thanks to the goon thread hype, and I purchased Europa Universalis IV recently because it was cheap, and I want to perform these acts of racist imperialism and enjoy myself. Why can't I understand the tutorial when it gets stuck on troop placement. Am I a complete moron?

# ? Jul 4, 2014 02:39

Trick Question: Apr 9, 2007

Ainsley McTree posted:

Playing Tropico 5, and though it isn't up on the wiki yet, I did read the two most recent posts in the thread, so with those in mind, I'm still wondering:

What are the easiest ways to raise your approval when it's low in the shadow of an election? I know there's an almanac, which is usually quite helpful, but when it comes to approval, I feel like I'm kind of flailing in the dark. Clicking your approval rating just gives you a list of what each individual citizen thinks about you, which isn't terribly helpful in the broader sense. You can also click the factions button to see what all the factions think about you, but I'm not always quite certain what to do with that information beyond the basic ideas of "the religious faction doesn't like me, I should build more churches".

Basically my strategy has been to view the happiness tab of the almanac and to raise my numbers there as best I can (build houses, build clinics, and so on), and then to issue all the popularity-raising edicts that I can before the vote happens (tax cuts, social security, anything I can afford/have the research to perform) but even with that I'm not doing so hot. I just failed the campaign by losing an election in the World Wars era.

Any other easy things I should be looking at? My approval rating is always hovering just below 50%, which I feel shouldn't be happening so early after declaring independence probably.

I'm even getting rebellions despite the fact that I picked the "democracy" constitution option, which I'm pretty sure had a tooltip telling me that it made rebellions impossible at the cost of mandatory elections. Did I misread that or have I managed to be an exceptionally bad presidente?

I was even playing on "low" political difficulty, or whatever the one just beneath normal is.

Biggest thing that stopped the huge approval drops for me was to just pay everyone the maximum amount of money. It also makes all your poo poo work better. Also, build huge parks near where people live.

Democracy prevents uprisings, not rebellions, so you can deport all the crimelords you want. I've heard that having a large military helps reduce the rebel threat, but I've never actually had that work so who knows? You do sometimes get a quest chain to reduce your rebel threat, though.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 03:49

Cirofren: Jun 13, 2005; Pillbug

The Wildstar OP was very fluffy, what should I know about classes, gear, and the economy gong in wrt. mechanics?

# ? Jul 4, 2014 03:52

Turtlicious: Sep 17, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Shadow Warrior has a bunch of upgrades, and I've hit a boss I can't beat. Is there any tricks if you feel like you've gimped yourself?

(It's the necromancer with the funny hat.)

# ? Jul 4, 2014 07:54

Ekster: Jul 18, 2013

Dongattack posted:

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Anything to note before i get further into this game? Nothing on the wiki. I don't want to touch MP or Coop at all, (bad connection and people are stupid) am i gonna have trouble buying all the sweet stuff? I tried one of the optional missions, but it was one tiny square where enemies came from every angle at me and i almost quit the game there and then. But i did a plot mission after that and that was pretty rad.

I recently finished it and it was my first Splinter Cell game so this might be really obvious if you've played any of the previous games:

- There's a button to whistle/make noise to lure enemies over for a takedown (it's the Z key on the keyboard)

- Enemies have almost no vertical vision in most situations, use pipes all the time

- Doing all of Grim's side missions unlocks the best stealth gear, it's very useful

- You can take out heavy soldiers by using the sleeping gas crossbow upgrade combined with the execution attack in one shot

(minor spoiler):

- Sometimes you'll get to decide whether to kill an important NPC or not during a cutscene, your choice doesn't matter AFAIK

Ekster fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Jul 4, 2014

# ? Jul 4, 2014 08:29

Neddy Seagoon: Oct 12, 2012; "Hi Everybody!"

Dongattack posted:

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Anything to note before i get further into this game? Nothing on the wiki. I don't want to touch MP or Coop at all, (bad connection and people are stupid) am i gonna have trouble buying all the sweet stuff? I tried one of the optional missions, but it was one tiny square where enemies came from every angle at me and i almost quit the game there and then. But i did a plot mission after that and that was pretty rad.

Not all optional missions are like that. The ones from the rest of your team are actual missions divided into different types (each of your team gives a different mission type);

Grimm gives stealth infiltration missions that are pretty close to classic Splinter Cell (A set of objectives that can be done in any orderand a moderate-size open map to sneak around in). Causing an alarm to be sounded is an instant failure in these.

Charlie gives the survival wave missions that you've already seen.

Briggs has the co-cop campaign ones.

Korbin gives missions to clear an area (Two-part maps with a checkpoint inbetween that can be used to resupply/alter your loadout. They're focused on killing or knocking out every enemy on the map. Sounding an alarm isn't a fail state like Grimm's missions, but it will bring reinforcements).

If you're trying for general Ghost playthrough, get the Tri-Rotor upgraded to fire sticky shockers (it holds 4 of them), along with maxxing out the Sonar Goggles and Crossbow.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 08:48

blackguy32: Oct 1, 2005; Say, do you know how to do the walk?

For Far Cry 2, I remember it not really being worth it to do the secondary objectives. Also, don't worry about your friends. They are rear end in a top hat anyways. I mean try to save them if you can but don't sweat it if they eventually die.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 09:26

Panic! at Nabisco: Jun 6, 2007; it seemed like a good idea at the time

Cirofren posted:

The Wildstar OP was very fluffy, what should I know about classes, gear, and the economy gong in wrt. mechanics?

Every class can choose between either DPS and tank (warrior, engineer, stalker) or DPS and healer (spellslinger, esper, medic), and you get a free second spec at level 15, so do feel free to level as DPS. In the same vein, don't worry too much about gear while leveling. Try to stack the stat that gives you assault power (which is different depending on class, for me as an esper it's Moxie), and if you're going to do an instance as tank or healer while leveling, for the love of god, get a weapon with some support power on it. Trying to tank or heal without support power will make your team very unhappy.

Medics level a little slower than everyone else, because their single target DPS is a little lower at the moment; it's slated to be fixed at some point "soon."

Economy is HEAVILY dependent on server and faction.

EDIT: Oh, the most important thing to know: using an interrupt (stun, knockdown, knockback, etc) when an enemy has a telegraph up with create a Moment of Opportunity (MoO), which increases the damage you deal against them by a huge amount, for a couple seconds. You can tell this happened because their healthbar turns purple; it's integral to killing things efficiently, without it the game can feel slow and difficult. This is another reason medics have a harder time, since they have a single interrupt while other classes (warrior and engineer especially) have more.

Panic! at Nabisco fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Jul 4, 2014

# ? Jul 4, 2014 12:06

Supeerme: Sep 13, 2010

Is there anything worth knowing when playing Doki Doki Unverse? Or is it just "have fun?"

# ? Jul 4, 2014 14:47

peter gabriel: Nov 8, 2011; Hello Commandos

I've been playing Saints Row 4 for a while and it's good, brain out, fun. However when I load a game up now my wanted level is always high and no matter what I do I can't get it below 1 bar - it's ruined the game for me - help!

# ? Jul 4, 2014 17:21

Stelas: Sep 6, 2010

Depending where you are in the game, that can be a generally-occuring thing. Try completing some plot missions and see what happens.

e: Specifically, if you've saved Ben, Asha and Pierce you will have a mission in your list that says things will keep attacking you until you complete it.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 17:28

peter gabriel: Nov 8, 2011; Hello Commandos

Stelas posted:

Depending where you are in the game, that can be a generally-occuring thing. Try completing some plot missions and see what happens.

e: Specifically, if you've saved Ben, Asha and Pierce you will have a mission in your list that says things will keep attacking you until you complete it.

Ahhhh, it may just be that spoilered text, thanks

# ? Jul 4, 2014 17:37

Evil Mastermind: Apr 28, 2008

Cirofren posted:

The Wildstar OP was very fluffy, what should I know about classes, gear, and the economy gong in wrt. mechanics?

This guide spells out what stats you need for each class/build and is pretty invaluable.

# ? Jul 4, 2014 17:46

Elendil004: Mar 22, 2003; The prognosis
is not good.

Picked up Sunless Sea, any tips, especially on managing Terror?

# ? Jul 4, 2014 17:58

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 04:31

dont be mean to me: May 2, 2007; I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars

[Fallout: New Vegas PC-specific advice, unsolicited and cross-posted from the Steam thread, and also I have the worst thread timing]

Fallout: New Vegas is kind of an amazing game that doesn't get the respect it deserves (all of it) because it had to go through Bethesda Softworks QA, and it was cross-platform with the 360 and PS3. Conspiracy theories aside, this pretty much means that you need to mod it or you're going to have a miserable time - on the other hand, you don't have to mod it much, and once you do it's the best version of the game by a fair margin. You'll have to run it once from the Steam library or shortcut to make New Vegas visible to third-party tools.

To get all this stuff (and most mods) working:
New Vegas Script Extender - Adds extra features to the Creation Engine to make some very useful things possible in game that aren't normally available in Oblivion's progeny. Goes where FalloutNV.exe is. Use the beta.
LOOT - A quick and easy load order manager, to keep basic game packages and mods from colliding with each other in spectacularly bad ways. Goes most places, but also sees Oblivion/Fallout 3/Skyrim, so maybe not in New Vegas' folder tree.
FNV4GB - Enables Large Address Aware for FalloutNV.exe, giving it 4 GB of address space to play with instead of 2 GB, to keep it from running out of memory so quickly. Useful if you play too long, and necessary if you use too many mods (or a big video card). Only useful on 64-bit Windows (duh). Goes anywhere as long as the .exe and .dll are together, but might as well go where FalloutNV.exe is. Invokes NVSE if it sees it, so you'll be running New Vegas from this from here on.

To keep the game itself from falling apart:
New Vegas Anti Crash - Adds sanity checks and exception handling to stop some of the more common crashes-to-desktop. The NVSE folder goes in .\data.
Cipscis' Automatic Save Manager - An autosave mechanic that won't corrupt the poo poo out of your saves like the built-in one will! Now configurable in-game. Also goes in .\data (as do most mods).

The only game-changing mod that's actually recommended:
jsawyer.esp - A set of tweaks to bring the game's mechanics closer to originally intended, composed by Josh Sawyer, who directed Fallout: New Vegas. Strictly optional if it's your first time through, but hard to play without once you've used it (although it changes combat enough that you may want to visit the difficulty slider). .\data, and you'll need the Ultimate Edition or equivalent (all four side stories, all four pre-order packs, and the Gun Runners' Arsenal) or it straight-up won't work.

Actual unofficial patches (or at least mods claiming to be) are generally counseled against because they almost uniformly take some liberties that are either not in-line with Fallout lore, or socially ignorant, or just absurd, and when they are actually tolerable they're usually just doing stuff that jsawyer.esp already covered.

For more information, more mods, and/or more control over mods, check out our New Vegas modding thread.

dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Jul 4, 2014

# ? Jul 4, 2014 18:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

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