Fallout: New Vegas Live at Best Buy

I spent about an hour today watching yesterday’s Fallout: New Vegas live at Best Buy livestream.  The show was basically JE Sawyer (the game’s lead designer) explaining some information on the game while another member of the development team played through three different locations.  Most of the details you may already be aware of, but I spotted a few important bits of information which may help players design their characters come the game’s release next week.

First off I snapped a quick screen shot of a new perk as well as some returning perks:

In case your eyes are not as spry as they once were, here’s the description for “Built to Destroy”:

The Flamer that burns twice as bright burns half as long. All weapons have +3% chance to Critically Hit, but equipment condition decays 15% faster.

Note that this is listed as a perk in the player’s pipboy, but it is listed as a trait on the Vault Fallout wiki.  I can’t claim to know for sure which is which, but it’s still another building block to a strategy.  For example, if you take this perk/trait but then select Raul as a companion then the perk he bestows on you would nearly negate the negative effect of built to destroy.  You could then try to tack on as many critical-hit building abilities as possible.

Here is the list of the perks returning from Fallout 3 according to the screen from above:

• Bloody Mess
• Comprehension
• Educated
• Fast Metabolism
• Finesse

Considering the character in the video is rocking finesse and built to destroy, they may be utilizing the same strategy I mentioned.  Please note that although I am pointing out these returning perks, that doesn’t mean they have the same requirements or effects as they did in the last game.  It’s highly likely, but not guaranteed.

Sadly I did notice a couple minor glitches which occurred when the player changed equipment or customized their weapons:

This is slightly disappointing and hopefully doesn’t reflect the rest of the game, especially major scripts that may block you from completing quests!

Much of the rest of video contained the factions and sights of New Vegas.  I don’t really aim to spoil this for anyone; this week I am just focusing on giving players everything they need to know to create their own character to explore the world.

Which reminds me, today I stumbled upon another important tidbit while plotting out my SPECIAL in an excel spreadsheet I made (yeah, I am a nerd, get over it).  Unlike Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas does not feature bobbleheads — the widgets replacing them are snowglobes.  Sadly, it has been confirmed that snowglobes do not raise your skills or stats, they are purely for caps or decorating your pad.  This means that when you are arranging your character’s SPECIAL, you cannot assume that an additional point can be added to any stat later.  Skill and SPECIAL bonuses can come from books, perks, and traits, but it’s likely that those will be the only source for permanent stat boosts.  For this reason I still advise against setting any stat to 10 for now.

Well this should wrap up my week-long attempt to educate potential couriers in the finer points of character creation.  Again keep in mind that that there is room for error, and there is nothing wrong with creating more than one character until you feel you’ve gotten everything the way you want it.  If you’re a JRPG lover and wondering when I will shut up and get back to business, that should be happening soon.  Maybe.

***UPDATE***

You can still alter your stats by having implants attached to your character.  The details of this are unknown at this time.

Related Entries:
All Kotowari articles on Fallout: New Vegas can be found here