For those of you who have beat / played Fallout New Vegas

[Tweak155]

I decided to give the game a little more time and decided I like it enough to at least play a while longer.

That said, I'm wondering how the Karma works in this one. If I steal from the Powder Gangers for example, does that only affect my karma with THEM, or the entire game in general?

So far I'm liking the weapon mods and the small changes they made like increased cap finding on corpses (less need to lug around useless crap), easier repairs and better AID items (no more stacking up on just stimpacks...). The small story lines are lacking compared to FO3 but I'll give it some time to change.

 

[Dijeangenie]

You have an overall karma level, and a specific faction karma(reputation) as well. For example, killing a raider boss will decrease your reputation with the raiders, but give you positive karma.

 

[Tweak155]

So when it just says "You have lost Karma", that is probably my general karma right? Or is there no way to tell?

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Karma is universal and comes from good and bad acts, it affects how people treat you in general, usually it affects companions the most good companions may leave you if you have very low karma for example.

Generally speaking the alignment with a faction is a much stronger influence of their behaviour towards you than karma is.

It also changes the dynamic story plots in the ending sequence slightly.

When the game prompts that you've gained and lost karma it's just talking about karma specifically although you may also be gaining and losing faction reputation at the same time independently of that. For example stealing from a gang may give you negative karma in general but also lower your reputation with that gang.

 

[WildW]

In general I found it difficult not to have amazing good Karma just because of all the positive you got from various bad-guy killing missions.

 

[shortylickens]

In general I found it difficult not to have amazing good Karma just because of all the positive you got from various bad-guy killing missions.

You obviously didnt steal much.

 

[Ideophobia]

I really need to finish Fallout 3 one day. :-/

 

[DaveSimmons]

Karma = general, reputation = faction specific. If you kill a powder ganger karma goes up while you become hated and eventually vilified by the gangers. Your karma has increased / decreased is about the karma score not reputation.

Tip: skill books (not magazines) are always worth stealing -- just kill some powder gangers to make up for it . Other stuff is usually not worth stealing unless it's high-value and you're short on credits.

 

[DefDC]

I would worry much about Karma. It doesn't affect you much early in the game, and by the end, it'll be sky high. (If you're playing as a "good" character. I haven't gone the evil route yet...)

I just started playing hardcore for the first time. I like it. I've got lower back pain from the long sitting spells to prove it! (As I call it, Warcraft-back)

 

[Tweak155]

I'm enjoying it so far. I definitely like FO3 better but some of the stuff in NV makes it entertaining. I think overall FO3 was more simple, and that's generally how I like it (why make something more complex than it needs to be?). For example, everything in conversation was driven by the SPEECH attribute in FO3. In NV it may or may not be speech (really annoying I think). Also now there are more options to distribute attributes, when you have the same amount of points to distribute. One plus in NV to counter these is that you seem to level faster, but I don't know if that is a good thing.

I've played like 7-8 hours so far so I can't complain too much, obviously I still play given the gripes. But sometimes I'm tempted to just toss FO3 back on and forget NV.

In FO3, I think almost all of the story / mini quests / towns / etc are built around the fact there was a nuclear explosion. A town built around a bomb... kids surviving in a cave that kick out people when they turn 18, ruined science experiments locked up, not to mention the main quest line is to

Spoiler

find your dad and help him to provide clean water for all

.

In NV, you're a courier trying to find who shot you. That is ridiculous. Maybe the story evolves into something that you were transporting, but it feels like a waste of time to figure it out because quite frankly I wouldn't care, I'd be glad I was alive. Now you go to town who needs a sheriff, whoa, that's deep! People can't transport goods because of creatures in the path! I mean, ultimately, it doesn't feel like anything I've come across is because there was an atomic bomb that went off. People just accepted what happened and started their own towns and caused each other trouble.

Sigh, I hope it gets better. The gameplay is fun though, I'll give it that. I'll likely finish the game either way.

 

[Dijeangenie]

In NV, you're a courier trying to find who shot you. That is ridiculous. Maybe the story evolves into something that you were transporting, but it feels like a waste of time to figure it out because quite frankly I wouldn't care, I'd be glad I was alive.

What? No search for justice, revenge etc?

 

[DaveSimmons]

The story changes a bit after you reach New Vegas. Besides the main story, that's also when you start exploring some of the vaults.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

In FO3, I think almost all of the story / mini quests / towns / etc are built around the fact there was a nuclear explosion. A town built around a bomb... kids surviving in a cave that kick out people when they turn 18, ruined science experiments locked up, not to mention the main quest line is to

Spoiler

find your dad and help him to provide clean water for all

.

The setting difference are because Bethesda screwed up the setting.

The bombs fell in 2077. The first vault we know of opened in 2091. The vault that would become Shady Sands then the NCR opened in 2142.

New Vegas is set in 2280. It's not a complete wasteland anymore because people have had 150 years to rebuild.

Anyway, stick with it. The story gets much more interesting once you find out why what you were carrying was worth shooting you in the face.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

The setting difference are because Bethesda screwed up the setting.

The bombs fell in 2077. The first vault we know of opened in 2091. The vault that would become Shady Sands then the NCR opened in 2142.

New Vegas is set in 2280. It's not a complete wasteland anymore because people have had 150 years to rebuild.

Anyway, stick with it. The story gets much more interesting once you find out why what you were carrying was worth shooting you in the face.

Hell in Fallout 1, the first town you come across is a thriving villiage.

Theres also developing cities, and this game takes place like a hundred years before FO3.

 

[ArenCordial]

Hell in Fallout 1, the first town you come across is a thriving villiage.

Theres also developing cities, and this game takes place like a hundred years before FO3.

They had to disguise the fact they had only what 19 tracked side quests in FO3? I'd done more in NV well before I even hit the Strip.

On that note did anyone else think it was dumb that FO3 had more raiders than townsfolk? What was there to raid? No farms and every house I went into seemed to be comprised only of empty bent cans.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

They had to disguise the fact they had only what 19 tracked side quests in FO3? I'd done more in NV well before I even hit the Strip.

On that note did anyone else think it was dumb that FO3 had more raiders than townsfolk? What was there to raid? No farms and every house I went into seemed to be comprised only of empty bent cans.

Nuff Said

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

No doubt a lot of the oddity in FO3 settings is simply a result of Bethesda wanting to make a game that was recognizably Fallout while also feeling like a real post-apocalyptic game.

Didn't leave them a whole lot of room. Set it in the same time period as FO1 for the post-apocalyptic feel, and you lose a lot. No super mutants, and the Brotherhood of Steel wouldn't have made it that far east. Set it out west, and that story has already been told. Make it a sequel out west, and you get New Vegas - a damn good game, but one that doesn't give off the Road Warrior/Mad Max/Wasteland vibe they wanted.

 

[Tweak155]

I just got to New Vegas yesterday. Cool place. Definitely a plus to the game.

I should have asked him what the Platinum Chip was for, instead I took the free XP

 

[el-Capitan]

I should have asked him what the Platinum Chip was for, instead I took the free XP

I love this. Plenty of replay value. According to Steam I have sunk 92hrs into this and I'm still on my first char

A great game.