Spoiler Warning S5E50: Y U SO DEAD?

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Aug 9, 2011

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 136 comments

Spoiler alert: In this episode… someone dies!


Link (YouTube)

This quest structure is really odd. In order to secure the escape route for the tribe, you have to disable the traps, or kill the guys who placed the traps. You have to kill the Yao Guai that would attack you on the way out of the valley. You have to wipe out a camp of White Legs (or steal their banners to reduce their morale) that would ambush you on the way out of the valley. You must do all of this, even if you have no intention of leaving the valley and plan to exterminate the white legs.

I’m disappointed to hear that hardcore mode is so lame. The tutorial gives it such a build-up: WARNING. HARDCORE MODE IS SUPER-HARD. NO REALLY. IT’S NOT EVEN FAIR. YOU SHOULDN’T EVEN ENABLE IT. YEAH. WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY WE PUT IT IN THE GAME.

I’ve been “saving” hardcore mode for later. As we mentioned in the episode, there was a “survivalist” mod for Fallout 3, and I spent a lot of time with it. It even let you carry a bedroll with you. I did a run of the game where I wouldn’t use fast-travel, so getting somewhere meant loading up with enough food and water to get you where you were going. You had to think of trips in terms of how many in-game days it would take to get there, and plan accordingly. The mod had a lot of flaws, and I dreamed of a day when we could have a well-balanced, properly integrated survival mode. I was hopeful when I found out that Obsidian had made a built-in survival mode for New Vegas. I’d planned on bumping up the difficulty and doing a hardcore run for my final play-through.

Now Rutskarn tells me it’s not all that brutal, there’s no bedroll, and it doesn’t really require you to ingest reasonable levels of food & water to survive. That’s really a let-down.

 


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136 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning S5E50: Y U SO DEAD?

  1. Matth says:

    Hardcore mode is really more of an annoyance. You have to manage your weight, since ammo counts now, but you could always just go melee or unarmed. You have to carry food and water, but not really large amounts. You will usually have to drink after you fast travel across the map. It doesn’t really make the game harder, unless you want to bring teammates with you AND keep them alive.

    If you really want to make the game difficult, turn up the difficulty and play using guns, which are terrible. For extra fun, do it on hardcore so that you have to carry around heavy bullets.

    1. Tse says:

      I actually like it more than normal mode. The bullets add a lot of weight, you can’t carry 2 incinerators, a rocket launcher and a grenade machine gun at once. Healing is well done, no god mode stim packs after the Sierra Madre, you must keep as many different types of healing items as possible (if you eat 2 of the same item the healing time doubles, not the hp/sec) and Super Stims are actually useful, because they can heal you really fast.
      One thing doesn’t work for me, though. I don’t need to sleep, at all. My main healing items are caffeinated soda drinks, which reduce the need to sleep. Without sleep hunger and thirst become much more manageable, to the point of being a non-issue.

      1. HeroOfHyla says:

        “if you eat 2 of the same item the healing time doubles, not the hp/sec”

        Well that would have been nice to know when I was playing the game. Is that documented anywhere?

        1. Fat Tony says:

          No it’s, you have to figure it put via experimentation.

          This is cool though as with a high Med skill you can “overdose” on Stims (Say about 10 normal and 2 super) which give go you roughly 20-30 near invulnerability as the Normal and Superstims Do stack as they’re different items and your steadily being healed (7 hp/sec)

          After the Seirra Madre I overdosed on enough Stims, food and chems too eliminate all of the legion without dipping bellow half health with 5 End (Maximum health is like 200-ish)

      2. Dys says:

        Absolutely true about the sleep. I have a level 30+ hardcore character and I have never, ever slept. Not once, in all the in game days and months I have played. Drinking Nuka-Cola, chewing Coyote Tobacco or in severe cases downing an Atomic Cocktail will all keep you immune to the ravages of exhaustion.

        Particularly since when injured my standard response is Cola + Sarsparilla + food + Stimpack to stack up as many heals as possible.

        1. decius says:

          I like to go with food+food+food+sarsaparilla+water. There’s just so many types of food available…

  2. Kelly says:

    Yeah Hardcore mode sucks, especially since New Vegas heavily encourages you to cover AS MUCH AS YOU CAN in preparation for the ending and lots of the quests ask that you go back and forth across the whole map a few times, so it’s very long and tedious. The worst is that that game claims that there’s a “special reward” for finishing everything, so for my first playthrough I spent the first 40 hours fiddling with that nonsense before learning that said reward was just an achieve. Somehow I ended up with this achieve anyway even though I immediately cut it off and haven’t touched hardcore mode on anything since.

    But for those of you that like that sort of thing, here’s a crazyass mod:
    http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37254

    1. Bodyless says:

      “Fullness – prevents you from eating too much in one sitting”

      Not suited for Reginald cufbert :)

      1. Kelly says:

        Or for people who enjoy actually getting things done at any sane pace.

  3. James says:

    yea tbh the hardest thing about hardcore mode is A)everything heals over time and stim packs and beds dont heal limbs. B) all ammo has weight so inventory management is more strict.

    oh and in Dead Money you take damage over time to 1hp in anywhere that isn’t a closed of building or the actual cloud no that can kill you very quickly. it makes Dead Money more of a challenge, then Josh had, you can still punch heads off but taking damage and the lack of easy health is a pain in the ass. (plus the cloud actually makes stim packs less usefull) its not frustratingly hard just hard, which is good.

    1. Ringwraith says:

      It actually reduces you to ten hitpoints, and as companions can permanently die, if any of them hop the twig you do too, due to the linked bomb collars.
      I found running around on 10hp was the best option when looting everything, just had to be sure not to get hit before having a chance to heal.

  4. Vect says:

    I remember reading about the quest structure from J.E. Sawyer’s Formspring. He stated that he kept the quests relatively straightforward so that they couldn’t be easily broken, which was the problem with complicated quests. His formspring’s worth reading since he does give some legitimate answers from his side and he’s good at dealing with trolls. Of course he can also end up being Shamus’ new rant topic.

    Also, before the game ends you must exterminate the Followers of the Apocalypse. The advocate sobriety and helping the less fortunate. In other words, everything that Cuftbert stands against. Plus, it’d be the ultimate act of Chaotic Stupidity. When you do it, make sure to also dismember either Julie Farkas or Arcade Gannon with the shishkebab until all that’s left is a burning stump.

    Also, I’m surprised Josh hasn’t tried to use the Incinerator on Graham for ironic injustice. Especially considering how ineffective it would be.

    1. Zombie says:

      But, but, but, you cant kill Arcade! He uses a Plasma Pistol! And hes Part of the Enclave!, sort of. Josh always wanted to be part of the Enclave! I was fine with him killing Boone, But Arcade is a cool character!

      1. Vect says:

        Actually I’m wondering if they’ll try and go for a “Hunt down the Enclave” thing where they go after the Remnants.

        Of course that might involve fighting your way through Jacobstown and I’m pretty sure that of all the NPCs they will probably draw the line at having to kill Marcus.

        1. James says:

          hell any supermutant in fallout nv brings up memories of fallout 1, for me tht’d be trying to play it dispite it not working on windows vista or 7 and only being partially stable with steam before giving up. im too young to play it way back when it came out

          1. Deadpool says:

            Does GoG update games specifically for this?

            1. Jonn says:

              Mostly yes, note that not all games are listed as Win 7 compatible (or Vista, for that matter). For the real old games, it’s pretty much all customized configs in DOSBox, and for newer games, they make sure it works for every OS they say it works for. If not, you get a refund.

          2. Syal says:

            I got Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics at Walmart about a month ago, and it runs fine on Windows 7. Might not apply to the old versions, but there are options if you want to play them.

  5. Zukhramm says:

    I’ve said since the start that “Hardcore mode” should have been named differently. The name is it’s biggest problem.

    For me, it’s mostly “anti-cleptomania mode”. It stops me from picking up everything that’s not nailed to the ground.

    1. Tse says:

      Never stopped me, though having a weight limit of 275 might be the reason.
      P.S. That and jury rigging.

  6. rrgg says:

    The problem I always have with survival elements in games is that while in real life a person usually eats 3 times a day or about once every 8 hours (fairly reasonable), a game that scales down time means that while you may technically be eating only once a day you still have to eat once every 20 minutes, turning it into just an obnoxious chore. Furthermore, most games like this tend to speed up time but still have you walk and run at normal speed, making actually gathering food an enormous pain, in real life if you run out of food you can walk 2 miles across town to a store and still get home in time for lunch, in a game where you need to eat each day you now have only 20 minutes, unless food is left literally everywhere in the gameworld gathering food to survive is going to take up a huge portion of your time.

    Edit:Maybe if food was automatically consumed and treated more like fuel such as in the oregon trail games.

    1. I really had the opposite problem in my hardcore playthrough – hardcore was really just an excuse to eat some of the tonnes of surplus food I’d stashed away, without having to feel guilty for wasting healing items. I never got close to running out, or ever really in trouble, so this game really completely sidestepped the issue. Indeed by that point I rarely got crippled limbs or even too much damage, so the difference between hardcore and normal was minimal

    2. Hal says:

      I downloaded a survival mod for Oblivion back in the day. You’d get thirsty, hungry, and sleepy, causing stat drains that could be fixed by doing one of the activities.

      Bugs in the mod aside, it was odd in purpose. None of those goods were difficult find; heck, if you didn’t have an overabundance of food and wine before too long, you’d be accused of playing with your eyes closed. Potions satisfied the thirst requirement, too, so that was even more trivial.

      No, the big problem was sleep. Some dungeons could be so long and onerous, especially if you had to rest between fights to regain stats, that a day or more could pass while you were dungeon-delving. Realistic? Sure. A pain in the rear? You betcha.

  7. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Relevant.

    I like it how Josh now avoids jumping from ledges.

    As for hardcore mode,sleep?Whats that?Just carry some coffee beans with you and you dont ever have to sleep.But it does tell you when you start to be dehydrated,hungry or sleepy.It has categories,just like radiation.And with that said,Josh,how long are you going to stay irradiated?

    Mumbles,why so quiet?Are you still having a hang over from the last weaks drinking game?

    1. swimon says:

      “Mumbles,why so quiet?Are you still having a hang over from the last week’s drinking game?”

      I kinda doubt it, from what I’ve gathered through mumbles twitter she’s not exactly a light weight drinker by now ^^ (oops needed to edit that sounded like I called mumbles fat :P)

      1. Shamus says:

        Mumbles was having Internet Fail on and off through the whole session. She actually doesn’t appear at all on Friday. :(

        1. swimon says:

          That’s a shame. The absence of her gleefully morbid tales of cannibalism will be felt.

        2. Daemian Lucifer says:

          You shouldve continued with half life 2 then.

          1. SolkaTruesilver says:

            2nd

  8. TraderRager says:

    I ONLY play hardcore mode. I wish it wa smore brutal, but it really does add to immersion. Having to carry food when you travel, always stocking up, etc really does add to the immersion. Not to mention, there is nothing like treking through Novac, with 2 broken legs and a concussion, to get to a doctor.

    1. Zombie says:

      You actually go back to Novac?! I thought everyone just bypassed it, never to go back unless you get the photo quest and/or did the rocket quest

      1. TraderRager says:

        I lived in Novac until I bought OWB. Centrally located, you fast travel right next to your room, and everything you need except a campfire is withing walking distance.

        1. Zombie says:

          Honestly, the only reason I went back to Novac was to get That Gun. Theres a ton of ammo for it (it uses Service Rifle ammo) and does good damage. But I didnt know you fast traveled next to your room. Thats kind of cool

        2. Matt K says:

          I actually took over the old police station outside of Primm, plenty of storage and a workbench too.

      2. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Well I used the junk yard next to novac for supplies and repairs quite often.Does that count?

      3. acronix says:

        I too used Novac as my main base. It`s superior to any other home (haven`t got OWB yet) due to the resons TraderRager mentioned above.

        1. Even says:

          Thirded. The Lucky 38 suite came way too late and too bothersome to access for me to make the transfer. Plus there’s just isn’t any post-apocalyptic feel to it. Too clean and nice.

      4. Destrustor says:

        Novac is always my main base. The lucky 38 seems nice but is still hidden behind 3 loading zones. As for the sink, I don’t see myself carrying a useless “weapon” just to have access to a place I can’t fast travel to.

        1. Even says:

          It’s counted as quest item so you can’t NOT carry it, but it doesn’t add any weight either.

        2. Tse says:

          But the teleporter is weightless, what is the problem with carrying it?

          1. Destrustor says:

            It lenghtens my already long weapons window (pointless argument, I know ). Also I was in my second playthrough when OWB came out and I only came back to my main game long enough to start and finish it. I haven’t taken the time to check stuff like that so I didn’t even know it was a quest item AND weightless. Nevertheless, it still takes up visual space, like the stupid camera I’m also stuck with

            1. Deadpool says:

              Difference is: You can use the teleporter to fast travel to the Sink even whem over encumbered.

              VERY useful. If I could bring my companions there with me, it’d be the best place ever.

              1. Milos says:

                I haven’t actually tried it since I stopped playing the game immediately after I finished OWB (I’m at the level cap so I feel like there’s no point) but does that meant every time you travel to your new house both of your companions get sent back to their recruiting spot? If that’s true that’s an incredible pain in the ass even if you can travel over-encumbered.

                I too used Novac as my base of operations. I find it very handy, it has almost everything you need and it just feels like home to my character.

                1. Shamus says:

                  Correct. I found I didn’t just have to tell Cass to wait, I had to dismiss her entirely. Plus, it’s not even automatic, you actually have to talk to them. Grr.

                  Yeah, if you don’t have companions, it’s probably the best house in the game by far. It even feels a bit like cheating. Clean, lit, lots of storage, close together, a couple of “free items” recycling NPCs, autodoc, hot plate, workbench, and reloading bench. All that, and a shop with $14k! All within five paces of each other! Plus a bed!

                  I lived in Novac as well.

                  1. Ayegill says:

                    I live in the lucky 38 because i am constantly trading out companions. I actually have it set up so that each companion carries a different “set” of gear for different occasions with them, while Rex and I carry the general-purpose combat gear (For example, Boone carries my huge set of different long-range rifles, while Cass carries all my Explosives)

                    Also, because i thought the interior was cool. But i guess i’m just weird like that.

                    1. Varre says:

                      It looks cool, but I got sick of how frigging dark it is inside.

  9. Zombie says:

    As a side note Josh, you NEED to get the Sneering Imperialist perk. It makes the ending better, and you do more damage the White Legs. Theres another perk you might also like, you do more damage to anyone wearing a uniform, like the BoS and NCR.

    1. Ayegill says:

      I think he already got Fight the Power, which is the second perk your’e talking about

  10. Riggaburtos says:

    Hardcore mode is only difficult on the final mission since stimpaks don’t heal crippled limbs, making it really hard to fight Lanius and two Praetorian gaurds with your head and both your leags broken.

    1. Ringwraith says:

      This is what Doctor’s Bags and Hydra are for.

      1. Destrustor says:

        Doctor’s bags suck. they bring your limbs back but in such bad shape that a mosquito can cripple them again. They’re only useful if all the enemies are already dead, and at that point you could just fast travel to the nearest real doctor. Hydra is waaay better.

        1. Tse says:

          Uh, no. Each bag heals 1 limb completely. Just use them locally.

          1. Destrustor says:

            Oh. Thanks, I didn’t know you could use them locally. Still, hydra is much superior.

            1. Gale says:

              Hydra is unequivocally better, but it’s also incredibly rare. Doctor’s bags aren’t. What’re you gonna do?

              1. Destrustor says:

                Take the adamantium skeleton perk. I can’t remember the last time I got crippled since I took it, and I have 9 doses of hydra in my pockets that I don’t even get to use anymore. And hydra isn’t that rare if you’re totally batshit maniacal about looking for it. or you make your own.

              2. Ringwraith says:

                I rarely had any limbs crippled, and I had Small Frame.
                I did come out of the basement of REPCONN with all my limbs utterly crippled though, with those Nightkin and their rebar clubs, so I didn’t bother patching them up as they’d just get crippled again.
                I simply limped to a doctor after clearing them out.

  11. Gale says:

    I tried turning hardcore mode (I typed that “hardchore” at first, which seems kind of appropriate) off once, but it felt too much like cheating. “I can carry infinite bullets? I can heal limbs with stimpacks? All this food is useless?! I don’t understand anything anymore!” The only thing stopping me from feeling guilty about using an Anti-material rifle against weak, fleshy raiders is the fact that its ammo is excessively heavy, and I can’t carry much of it around. If I could just carry an incendiary round for every living thing in the Mohave, I wouldn’t even care about enemies.

    Early on, I installed a mod that allows you to bottle your own water, and automatically drink it when you get thirsty, so all you have to worry about is having a few bottles in your inventory. OWB solved the food problem for me, too. Thank you, creepy robot! I now subsist primarily on maize. I swear it’s the most efficient food source in the game.

    I don’t think you should write off hardcore mode as being dull – it’s not as interesting as it could be (and I swear by that water-bottling mod) but I still think it’s an improvement over the regular game. It just gives you a little more to think about.

  12. Rasha says:

    So I suppose this means you’re really not a mercenary after all… Paladin Tristan (I think that was his name) was right!

    1. Zombie says:

      Hes an Emisary of Go-! Does that mean he has to go on a stupid quest for the Holy Grail? Will he set Monty Python on fire!?

      1. Eärlindor says:

        He’s not an Emissary from God, he’s an Emissary of Go-!

        1. Zombie says:

          Thanks for the save

          1. Eärlindor says:

            NP, but even so, maybe he’ll find the Holy Frag Grenades in his quest!

            1. Zombie says:

              Will he need to read Armamants Ch.2 Verses 9 to 21 and count to five….. I mean three to use them?

    2. Eärlindor says:

      I guess Josh is not a mercenary, and emissary, or a missionary. ;)

      1. Zombie says:

        But he IS the murderous, bunny-hopping, wife beating, alcoholic, drug addicted bullet spunge we all know and love

        1. Eärlindor says:

          Of course, no one has tried to take that away from him. Yet…

  13. Ringwraith says:

    I tend to like the healing changes and the ammo having weight parts of Hardcore mode the best in addition to the permanent companion death.
    I really like the removal of weightless ammo as it means you can’t cart your entire armoury around with you, and have to cut back somewhat. This also makes weapons with heavy ammunition, such as the missile launcher (or any explosives really) and anything using microfusion cells a significant investment to carry and use, and encourage you to use them sparingly.
    It also makes Pack Rat, which halves the weight of anything which is two pounds or less, immensely useful and it would even be a must-have it wasn’t for its 70 Barter requirement.

    1. Zombie says:

      How does carrying around ammo require BARTER?! Do you have to barter with the developers to use it?

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Well apparently bartering doesnt include only presenting something in a more favourable way for you,but also the efficient packing of things.So the weight doesnt represent only your carry weight,but your (invisible) backpack space as well.

      2. Gale says:

        In New Vegas, the “Barter” skill is more like “Merchantry”. Y’know, if you’re a good trader, then you know how best to… Organise your stuff? Or something? I don’t hate it. I mean, it’s better than not having any perks tied to Barter at all? I guess?

        1. Ringwraith says:

          This is supported by the conversational uses of Barter, like how you convince Lanius that the Legion’s policy of slash and burn will mean they’ll end up with no economy as it’s not sustainable, and he’ll leave.

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      I found energy weapon cells to be actually more preferable than other ammo,since you can always turn those you dont need into the ones you do need,plus you can overcharge them and save some weight.Besides,why would you ever need more than 150 cells?

      1. Zombie says:

        This is one of the best things about Energy Weapons. The ammo is really interchangeable, but I found it weird that you find more Energy Weapon ammo then .45 ammo in all of Honest Hearts. The Survivalist has no Energy weapons, yet he has like fifty thousand cells.

        1. acronix says:

          I`m guessing that`s because energy cells could be used as batteries for various contramptions.

          1. Tse says:

            And maybe he has them because he can’t use them up?

        2. Michael says:

          He actually has a few scattered around his stashes but he never mentions using them in his logs.

  14. Deadpool says:

    Yeah, weighed ammo makes a HUGE difference… It even cuts down on how much healing items you can carry, making the healing over time even more pronounced…

    Eventually you hit god status and it doesn’t matter, but early to mid game, it DOES make a difference…

  15. Eärlindor says:

    I actually don’t think OWB’s Stealth Suit ability to use stimpacks was all that effective.

    And Josh: totally invest in the Jerry Rigging perk. You’ll be able to repair anything with just about anything. You’re armor won’t be broken! ^_^

    1. Zombie says:

      Dont you need to put points in repair to use that perk? And we all know he has a xp point in energy weapons chance of doing that

      1. Eärlindor says:

        Oh yeah. :/

        *Facepalm*

        1. Chris B Chikin says:

          That perk was 90% of the reason I put points in repair. As a sniper, it was nigh-impossible to find duplicate weapons to repair my sniper rifle or anti-materiel rifle, and paying for those repairs did horrible things to my bank balance.

          It also usually left you an alternate way of fixing robots, etc. for quests if you had no points in science.

          That said, there was more point to repair in Fallout 3 when it also affected the maximum cap to which you could repair your weapons. With 30 points in repair you could repair a weapon to 30%, etc. I was a bit disappointed to find that extra bit of challenge removed in New Vegas.

          1. Eärlindor says:

            I like the convenience, but I get what you’re saying.

    2. AlternatePFG says:

      That suit was terrible. If there was a way to disable the auto-stimpak and med-x thing, it would have actually been useful.

      1. ps238principal says:

        Exactly. Trust me, Spoiler Warning, you’ll huck that suit right after it gives you no option to disable the drugs (especially the Med-X, unless being addicted to that is your thing) short of not carrying any, you realize it’s got the lowest DT of any medium armor (which slows you down) in the game, and that it talks to you almost constantly.

        It’s totally not worth using.

        1. Zombie says:

          Isnt it like the Medic Power Armor in Fallout 3? Only with Stimpacks and Med-x?

          1. ps238principal says:

            Kind of. At least that powered armor offered decent protection (comparatively) and didn’t yap at you for turning on your pip-boy light all the time.

        2. AlternatePFG says:

          It’s got some decent SPECIAL bonuses, but that’s it. Unless you do that thing in Dead Money where you can end up with so many stimpaks that you can bathe yourself in them, it’ll eat through all of your stimpaks if you get so much as a splinter.

        3. krellen says:

          I liked the suit talking to me. She was cute.

          1. AlternatePFG says:

            Lines were a bit repetitive, but it was a nice idea.

            1. Tse says:

              Reminded me of the HEV suit. Must have been intentional.

              1. Michael says:

                “Spinal fracture detected.”

          2. Gale says:

            I thought that worst thing about the suit talking was that they didn’t include a “give the suit a hug” button.

        4. Jarenth says:

          unless being addicted […] is your thing

          We all know it is.

      2. Destrustor says:

        Also, I don’t think the suit’s auto-stimpack feature is actually fast enough to keep up with the amounts of damage taken in a moderately serious fight. It certainly never could spam them at the speed needed to keep reginald alive, anyway.

  16. Zombie says:

    Is it really hard to get under the 100 lb weight limit to get into Honest Hearts if you play Hardcore mode? I havnt tried it, so I wouldnt know

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Depends on your build.I dont see it being a problem for a melee characters,since you basically need just one weapon and armour,and the rest you can squander on food and such.

      1. Chuck says:

        Of course, if your one of those people who feel the need to carry around a dozen weapons, yes, it will be hard. Especially if you insist on bringing a minigun (I regret nothing.)

        1. Zombie says:

          The very Cuftbertian thing to do. Bring a heavy weapon every where you go!

    2. Even says:

      Not really. I grew on the habit of keeping my weight always as low as possible to allow me to gather as much as gear as possible before having to go unload back in Novac, and I’d be always around 60-80 depending on ammo and food/drink reserves regardless. You might be limited if you’re heavy into power armour and the bigger guns, but it’s fairly easy to get in with let’s say a piece of combat armor and 2-4 medium weighted (under 10 weight) weapons depending on the possible ammo and if they share any, plus whatever Aid items you might need. There’s really no point to carry around more food than you’re usually comfortable with anyway, since there’s always more to be found if you’re running low for some reason.

      Planning ahead and testing loadouts back in your base would be recommended if you’re unsure.

  17. Chris B Chikin says:

    At 2.40:

    “Be vewy, vewy quite. We’re hunting babbys. Eheheheheh!”

  18. Varre says:

    The Sink might be a bigger game-breaker than Dead Money (which I haven’t played). Unlimited plants and energy weapons ammo every 3 days, a merchant with 100% repairing and 15000 caps, unlimited purified water, and a free doctor. And you can teleport there ANY time you want, so long as you’re outdoors. Really, the only downside is that the merchant and plants take 3 days inside the DLC area to reset (Muggy takes one day for his ammo to reset). ALSO: Shamus, that’s what happens when Reginald Cuftbert uses a weapon he’s actually SKILLED at.

    1. Tse says:

      On Hardcore the stimpacks are not useful after you’re under 20% hp. Then you need either super stimpacks or 10 different healing items at once.

      1. Varre says:

        I’ve never played hardcore, so I’ll be taking your word on that, heh.

        1. Tse says:

          It’s just that they heal over time, which is not good enough if your health is critical and you’re being shot at. Super Stimpacks heal over time, too, but usually it’s faster than you take damage.

    2. Destrustor says:

      It doesn’t wait for you to start taking damage. If you are sneaking, it injects med-x as soon as the icon changes from “hidden” to “caution”.

  19. Fists says:

    Cuftbert actually fits as a messenger from God if you take Exodus as cannon.

    Hardcore mode definitely isn’t a drastic change but I think the small things like needing doctors bags for limbs do make a difference and the game ends up feeling much less spammy.
    In my game sleeping in an owned bed does heal everything but other beds do nothing other than decrease your SLP so you can still fast travel to one of your homes to get that free full heal.

    1. swimon says:

      Cuftbert actually fits as a messenger from God if you take Exodus as cannon.

      I don’t know there is some pretty dark stuff in there but I’d still be surprised if I saw:
      And so sayeth god to Moses “thou shalt puteth a grenade down the Pharaohs pants” and yay didth Moses and the Pharaoh flew high into the air and god saw that it was like totally awesome.

    2. Varre says:

      Except that Reginald is liable to simply stuff a grenade down God’s pants. He killed House literally seconds after proclaiming his respect for him, after all.

  20. Jeff R. says:

    Also, Primm appears to be designed explicitly to get new players to turn off hardcore. Just walking in, they’ll likely blow their legs off with a mine, Doctor’s Bag it, and take two more steps and hit one of the other two mines. Then you fight powder-gang-oid guys in the Bison Steve who, unlike Cobb’s bunch, actually use explosives and will cripple low-level characters a couple more times in the fight…

    1. Zombie says:

      Do you even get Docters Bags that early in the game? And you forgot to mention the Leader of the Powder Gangers who has an Incenerator. The only good things about Primm are the Sherrifs outfit (+ to Guns and Perception),Lucky (cool Pistol with I think a 99% crit chance, or at the very least a really high crit chance, but you have to have a Lockpick of 75 to get it), and that Primm is really good at making you want to get out of there.

      1. Hitch says:

        I think Doc Mitchell has a couple laying around that don’t count as stealing if you carry them off, so you can get doctor’s bags pretty early.

      2. kanodin says:

        There is a storeroom in the Bison Steve hotel with a very easy lock on it and a doctors bag sitting rightat eye level when that door opens, I like to think it’s there specifically as a reward for hardcore players.

  21. Sucal says:

    http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Desert_Ranger_combat_armor

    Not only does this DLC have some decent armour, it has the best looking one in the game. Not to mention the armour you get in the Monty Haul ending box.

  22. Varre says:

    Anyone else having trouble viewing the older, viddler seasons? I always get stuck on an ad.

    1. Michael says:

      Weird you’d ask that, because I’m currently watching Fallout 3.

      I’m using AdBlock in Firefox, so I don’t get ads at all – it just runs straight into video. You could try that.

  23. retas14 says:

    When i play games where you can sleep like in morrowind, i never do , only for lvl up. But in fallout 3 or new vegas i really never sleep cause you don’t need to sleep to lvl up so even in hardcore mode i did not, i just took nuka-cola or an Atomic cocktail to wake me up.

  24. CalDazar says:

    Re: Water stopping attacking and Lakelurks

    I think in FNV lakelurks can still attack you while they are in the water, that or every time I’ve ever faught them they have been just that little bit too far from the deep that they seem to be swiming.

    Oh and Shamus, can we expect any commentary from you on the whole EC business, or is just me expecting you to piss where you drink?

    1. Dante says:

      He probably will. Remember: this is his blog, he can say what he wants on it.

      If the Escapist decides to penalize Shamus for saying HIS OPINION on HIS BLOG, then we will truly see that The Escapist truly is as horrible as so many of its past producers say it is.

      However, just from what I’ve seen of Shamus that allows me to make assumptions about his character, Shamus will probably wait to make a full blog post on the issue til more information from both sides is available.

      1. CalDazar says:

        I mean he used to (still?) work for them and might be unable to talk about it, or doing so could burn bridges.
        I don’t have such a low opinion of the Escapist that I think they would sue him for defamation, slander, libel, whatever.

        1. Shamus says:

          I’m confident that, even if I were to write a scathing 2,000 word tirade against The Escapist, there would not be any reprisals.

          I’m not keeping quiet out of fear. I’m simply reserving judgement, and giving myself some time to think carefully about what I say. This one is really important.

          1. krellen says:

            Given I saw it on the site today: are you getting paid for A Thing About Stuff?

            1. krellen says:

              In response to no comment: if you’re not getting paid, I’d like to know, so that I can redirect money I might spend on the Escapist to instead directly supporting you and other content providers. It actually is relevant to us, the audience.

      2. Shamus says:

        Yep. I’m waiting.

    2. zob says:

      What is the EC business?

        1. Irridium says:

          Best eh? Well… good to know I do good work I guess.

          1. Irridium says:

            In case anyone cares, that thread of mine was merged with another.

            http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.305970-Extra-Credits-leaves-the-Escapist-NEW-UPDATE-WITH-RESPONSE-FROM-EXTRA-CREDITS-TO-ALEXANDER-MACRIS?page=1

            It is now mega-thread, devourer of bandwidth.

            1. Dante says:

              Oh, is that why is suddenly jumped in page count? I just thought it was a posting frenzy…..that caused a 12 page increase to the thread.

  25. Thor says:

    My first playthrough was on normal mode but all my playthroughs since then have been on Hardcore mode. There are good and bad things about it. I really like how it restricts how many weapons you can carry by adding weight to your ammo. That really forces you to be creative in your weapon choices.

    It also eliminates the ability to down multiple Stimpaks in combat, because the healing happens over time. You really have to plan ahead when you are about to go into combat as you won’t really have a chance to heal when it all hits the fan (a sniper rifle and a wall of mines usually help to thin out the crowd). Being crippled is also much more of a problem because only Doctor’s Bags, Hydra or a doctor can fix that. I’ve actually had to use the crafting system to make Doctor’s Bags in tough times.

    Yes, I agree that you aren’t required to eat, drink or sleep enough, but considering the speed of in-game days I don’t think that you would want to make it a totally realistic schedule. I wouldn’t want to have to eat something three times per in-game day. Also, it is annoying to have to check your Pipboy to see how thirsty/hungry/sleepy you are. They should have put that info on the HUD.

    I never played the survivalist Fallout 3 mod but I like the idea of a bedroll. There are even bedrolls in the game, but you can’t interact with them.

    I really hope the next Fallout will keep Hardcore mode, but maybe in a refined version.

    1. Jeff R. says:

      It is on the HUD, right there with your status. ‘H2O’ and ‘FOD’ and ‘SLP’ markers, which grow progressively bolder the further along the progression you are. (I’ve never been sufficiently deprived to see the far ends and whether they go red like LMB does when you’re doing a Holy Grail’s Black Knight impression, but wouldn’t be surprsied if they do.)

      1. Thor says:

        Sure, these warnings do appear but I was thinking of something more like bars that fill up as you require water, food or sleep, or even a numeric value for each. The warnings as they exist now are better than nothing though!

  26. Kresh says:

    My disappointment with Hardcore has driven me to use either mods, or turn it off as pointless (well, both actually). Hardcore isn’t really a “hardcore” mode per se, but rather an increase in complexity. I never noticed the game actually getting harder, just that it added more fiddly bits. I did like the adding weight to ammo and the healing changes. The “need” to eat, drink, and sleep always struck me as tacked on, especially with the silly increases to the values given when consumed that an increase with an increase in survival skill. Add in the inability to sleep in a an owned bed and you have a recipe for… something silly, but not really hardcore.

    My hardcore has become mods to increase damage across the board and remove bleed through damage (Giant Radscorpions are really tough now). That made the game far more “hardcore” than the default mode. I never miss the healing change as I only heal up after a combat anyways, so it rarely (as in I either win the combat or have to reload because of death) is an issue.

    Hardcore mode is neat, has some really good ideas, but was not implemented well.

  27. Daemian Lucifer says:

    I dont get it why there is no underwater fighting in new fallouts when that thing was available in games 10 years ago.Can it really be that hard to do after all that time?Or is it the engine problem,as with vehicles and such?

    1. Zombie says:

      Its because Players are OP, they have to nerf them somehow. If we could fight in water, the Mirelurks and Lakelurks wouldnt be able to kill them!

    2. AlternatePFG says:

      Actually, on J.E. Sawyer’s Formspring (the lead designer for New Vegas) he said it was a problem with the Gamebryo engine, and he said there really wasn’t many situations where it would really matter. Specifically the Fallout version of the engine oddly enough, because you can attack underwater in Oblivion.

      http://www.formspring.me/JESawyer/q/214613329790926221

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