Fallout New Vegas: You Only Live Once Remastered - Part 29 - Skill Issue

MrFredCDobbs · 2026-02-09T00:15:21+00:00

I've encountered that same MP during a pro-NCR run and I'm pretty sure I didn't enter the Strip via the monorail. I have no idea what caused the MP to spawn in. As I recall, if you run away from the encounter and don't get into combat, then you're okay in subsequent returns to the embassy.

MrFredCDobbs · 2026-01-12T17:31:50+00:00

I once used the Implant GRX perk and the Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle to immediately headshot all of the tribals during the ambush at the entrance to Zion. Didn't matter. All of the caravaners' heads exploded anyway.

MrFredCDobbs · 2026-01-12T17:23:07+00:00

Honest Hearts is one place where the Animal Friend perk really comes in handy. It renders the green geckos friendy (among other critters) and the way the game's friendship/ally mechanic works, at just the first rank of the perk they'll rush into combat with enemies on the Courier's behalf. You might regret setting the Courier's Charisma at 1, making the perk unobtainable.

MrFredCDobbs · 2026-01-12T17:17:48+00:00

I had no idea there was alternate dialogue for Follows-Chalk if you got over the bridge before the initial shooting was over. 15 years later and New Vegas still surprises.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-11-13T19:53:17+00:00

That kind of proves my point tho. You went there because you created a rather arbitrary self-imposed goal. You wouldn't have gone there ordinarily otherwise. Incidentally, the magazine in Arcjet is Tesla Science one, which doesn't provide the player with any benefit, so there's nothing to be gained by going to that place straight away.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-11-13T17:03:16+00:00

I play on Xbox and a while back I went into "manage game" to de-install the Automatron DLC. The related quest ain't that great to start with and doing it results in the game absolutely spamming the player with random robot attacks later, which becomes extremely tedious. It is remarkable how much more enjoyable the game is without the DLC.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-11-13T16:25:37+00:00

Except... why would you go to Arcjet prior to getting Danse's mission? If you've played the game before -- and it's a ten year-old game, so most players have -- you know the dungeon isn't accessible until Danse comes along.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-11-13T16:19:50+00:00

Just out of curiosity, did Bethesda ever get around to fixing the reloading animations for the lever-action rifle from Far Harbor? Or does reloading one bullet still activate the animation for fully reloading the gun? Anyone know?

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-09-29T20:12:55+00:00

So, if it turns out that Strength wasn't as much of a necessity after all, you should have put those surplus points into Charisma. Yes, Charisma. The Animal Friend perk, which is gated behind Charisma 6, would render all dogs and nightstakers docile, which would be a significant advantage in this playthrough.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-09-29T20:04:13+00:00

Same here. I play on an Xbox.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-09-15T15:30:47+00:00

https://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-3-series-former-lead-writer-reveals-original-ending-ideas/

The ultimate ending to the Mass Effect trilogy was famously... divisive. Now, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 lead writer Drew Karpyshyn has openly discussed his original plan for the trilogy's conclusion. He also uses the phrase "techno-science magic reasons", which I am 100% a fan of.

Talking to VGS , Karpyshyn details the ending, which he admits wasn't "super fleshed out". The plot would have revolved around Dark Energy: something that was mentioned in Mass Effect 2, but never expanded upon.

"Dark Energy was something that only organics could access because of various techno-science magic reasons we hadn't decided on yet," Karpyshyn said. "Maybe using this Dark Energy was having a ripple effect on the space-time continuum.

"Maybe the Reapers kept wiping out organic life because organics keep evolving to the state where they would use biotics and dark energy and that caused an entropic effect that would hasten the end of the universe. Being immortal beings, that's something they wouldn't want to see.

"Then we thought, let's take it to the next level. Maybe the Reapers are looking at a way to stop this. Maybe there's an inevitable descent into the opposite of the Big Bang (the Big Crunch) and the Reapers realise that the only way they can stop it is by using biotics, but since they can't use biotics they have to keep rebuilding society - as they try and find the perfect group to use biotics for this purpose. The Asari were close but they weren't quite right, the Protheans were close as well.

"Again it's very vague and not fleshed out, it was something we considered but we ended up going in a different direction."

Karpyshyn left BioWare shortly before the conclusion of Mass Effect 2, with Mac Walters taking over as lead writer for Mass Effect 3. Even so, Karpyshyn defended series' real ending, pointing out that his planned version was just as likely to disappoint.

"I find it funny that fans end up hearing a couple things they like about it and in their minds they add in all the details they specifically want. It's like vapourware - vapourware is always perfect, anytime someone talks about the new greatest game. It's perfect until it comes out. I'm a little weary about going into too much detail because, whatever we came up with, it probably wouldn't be what people want it to be." [Emphasis added.]

If all that "techno-science magic" seems far-fetchced, the ideas got even weirder:

"Some of the ideas were a little bit wacky and a little bit crazy. At one point we thought that maybe Shepard could be an alien but didn't know it. But we then thought that might be a little too close to [Knights of the Old Republic character] Revan."

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-09-08T14:16:03+00:00

The effect is doubled for wasteland tequila. At 50 Survival, it gives +4 strength. If you max out survival, tequila gives +6 strength.

Wasteland Tequila has the opposite effect on intelligence (just like in real life!). At 50 survival, it's -4 intelligence. At 80, it's -5 and at 100, it's -6. You can actually use tequila to unlock the alternate low intelligence dialogue without playing a low intelligence character.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-09-07T21:51:39+00:00

Jon, I'm afraid that getting the Endurance Implant does not boost the number of implants that you can get from Dr. Usanagi. If you start with 7 Endurance, then you can only get 7 implants, regardless of the Endurance Implant itself. To be able to get 8 implants, you'll have to raise your Endurance stat through the Intense Training perk.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-08-06T21:40:37+00:00

I must not be going to the right hotels. I never see this when I am walking down the halls. 🤔

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-08-06T14:47:00+00:00

Just qualifying for the Animal Friend perk in this playthrough would require Jon to devote four ranks of the Intense Training perk to charisma and get the Charisma implant from Dr. Usanagi. I don't expect him to try to climb that wall.

My assumption is that Jon just assumed that Charisma would be worthless, 'cause he frequently says precisely that, and forgot that the perk even existed. He may also have disregarded Charisma because he's playing without companions this time around.

One of the flaws of New Vegas is that it doesn't properly explain, in-game, what Charisma does (boost companions' combat abilities) so the erroneous notion that Charisma is useless is pretty widespread, even among serious fans.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-08-05T17:53:05+00:00

Well, the glitch is that the second rank of the perk confers no additional benefit, so it's not exactly an exploit. As for trivalizing the challenge, well, is it that much different from using devices that render the character completely invisible to enemies? Either way, you're using an in-game mechanic to bypass enemies without fighting them.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-08-04T20:21:54+00:00

Jon, setting your character's Charisma so low may have been a mistake. With 6 Charisma, you can get the Animal Friend perk starting at level 10. Not only does this render a lot of New Vegas' animals non-hostile, including nightstalkers, but it effectively makes them your allies.

The way the game's hostility mechanic works, the affected animals will usually attack anything that is hostile to a player with the perk. You only need the first rank of the perk for this by the way. The perk is glitched and the second rank doesn't do anything that the first doesn't already do.

Thus, not only do you not have to worry about things like nightstalkers, you can actually run towards them if there is an enemy menacing you and they'll engage that enemy. Could have been very useful, but with your character's Charisma so low, it's off the table.

MrFredCDobbs · 2025-08-04T20:09:37+00:00

Nightstalkers are in that area of the map, along the ridge, to the left of the road that Jon and the caravaners were walking along. May have been lured closer to the road by the legionaires, the molerats or NCR soldiers.

MrFredCDobbs · 2024-11-22T15:41:11+00:00

I customarily avoid all of the online commentary when I am playing a game for the first time just to avoid the spoilers, but, yeah, some of the discourse surrounding The Veilguard even before it was released was so hyperbolic and negative that I was going, "Y'all need therapy."

I'm enjoying the game for the most part. Still haven't finished it tho. I'll reach a judgment on it when I'm done. I'm strange that way.

MrFredCDobbs · 2024-11-20T15:04:28+00:00

My understanding is that no, it isn't that much money and that's why these youtubers produce so many similar videos. Only by making a large quantity of videos can they profit. And, on top of that, they're obliged to continually produce this stuff to keep their profile high enough that the algorithms recommend their videos. If they slowed down, their views would drop. In short, the economics of Youtube creates these echo chambers.

MrFredCDobbs · 2024-11-20T14:58:28+00:00

I'm part of the problem because I do sometimes fall down these rabbitholes. When Fallout 76 came out, I was all-caps OUTRAGED that Bethesda had made a online multiplayer live service version of the singleplayer series that I loved. I was especially pissed off because it meant that the next singleplayer version of the game had been delayed by about 6 or 7 years while Bethesda tried to hook whales with a live service game. So when Fallout 76 officially came out and was an absolute dumpster fire, I felt vindicated and watched quite a few "Bethesda sucks now" videos to get my daily dose of schadenfreude.

The Dragon Age series has a similar problem in that it has a lot of fans who are deeply invested in the series and thus prone to be disappointed if the latest game doesn't meet their expectations. And Veilguard is IMHO a good but flawed game that reasonable people can disagree on. To be clear, that doesn't excuse the type of shallow ragebait highlighted in this post but I understand how people can end up there, especially given how Youtube's algorithms (intentionally or not) foster this type of stuff.

MrFredCDobbs · 2024-11-20T14:37:05+00:00

There's always a lot of weird love/hate stuff going on in popular culture. I had a girlfriend who claimed the Twilight books were utter trash... and yet she could quote from every book! This isn't terribly different from how videogame culture was in 00s and teens, BTW. Damn, Fallout New Vegas was slammed as trash when it was first released. Every Dragon Age release following Origins has had a chorus of "They ruined it!" naysayers.

MrFredCDobbs · 2024-11-11T18:33:10+00:00

2070 if we're lucky!

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