First time on RPG Codex. Honestly I've been ignoring this forum as "too hardcore" until recently when I realized that "hardcore" is the only real kind of RPG left in today's industry.
I wanted to chime in since I have experience playing playing the TTW, i.e. Fallout 3 in the New Vegas engine. In my opinion, it's really the only way to play FO3 and it really does combine the best of both worlds in ways; even in ways the developers couldn't have anticipated. For instance, playing Hardcore Mode in FO3 gives you a much, much greater appreciation of all those food vendors that you talk to once and afterwards forget about. If you're like me and refuse to use fast travel, you'll find yourself often planning trips based on where you can pick up meals or rest or the night, which is exactly what survivalism should feel like.
Another point about the FO3 maps that I've learned to appreciate is how well scripted the AI is. I'm not saying the AI is better, just that more effort was put in to determining things like guard routes. Since I try to stealth the game Thief style, this is welcome over FNV's random wander zones. There are many, many more locations in the DC Wasteland where you can methodically clear a map using stealth kills.
In my opinion, the different between FO3 and FNV is that the former has better craftsmanship while the latter has better design. This is probably because Bethesda had a lot more time to invest in their game, giving it that extra coat of polish while Obsidian was more focused on making sure the mechanics were balanced.
So far I've only encountered two bugs in TTW that required either editing or the console to bypass, which is pretty remarkable given the scope of the mod. Since I'm playing an older build, those may have already been addressed.
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Mods also make a huge difference so I'll make some recommendations as a roleplayer and someone who likes to play in survival mode.
First the jsawyer mod. You'll have to google this one since it's not on Nexus. Basically it's Josh Sawyers effort to rectify all the things that Bethesda made him do and considered by many "FNV as it was meant to be". It applies a number of tweaks to make the game more challenging. There are other overhaul mods that supersede it but jsawyer is a good base for people who want to markedly improve the game without having to mess around a lot with mods.
The
Enemy AI - Tactics helps improve the AI behaviour in the game. I recommend this in combination with the
Combat Enhancer mod. These two mods complement one another and go a long way toward making the combat engagements more dynamic. The highlight for me was one time I was facing off with an NCR Ranger. The fight probably lasted about 90 seconds and by the end of it, because we had both dodged around for cover so much, we were each placed where the other had been at the start. I really wish I had recorded that because it demonstrated the potential of what the game can do at its best.
Puce Moose Tweaks are another collection of mini mods. If you're a scrounger then "Reduced Ammo and Chems" is an essential mod because it considerably reduces the amount of loot you'll find in random locations. It also reduces stacks of placed objects to singles, so where you'd normally find Energy Cell (20), there would just be a single energy cell. I think immersion players would appreciate that. At any rate, with this mod every bullet really does count. In my current run of TTW, I'm sixth level and have two dozen 9mm rounds for my pistol, and about 120 5.56 rounds for my assault rifle. I also use the "Slower Backward Movement" and "Slower Reloading" mini-mods.
Mass Recalibration changes the weights of most of the in-game objects to make them more logical. One of the biggest changes is that it gives weight to bottlecaps, in addition to most other formerly weightless objects. Even if you wanted to haul 20k caps around, it'll come at the cost of other equipment. It really gave me an appreciation of using NCR dollars as currency.
Xilandro's True Leaning mod implements first-person leaning, though shooting around corners is problematic. Unfortunately he took it off of Nexus, but I think it can still be found floating around the internet.
And now for a shameless plug, a few mods that I made that I think fellow roleplayers will appreciate:
Cover Based Stealth Mechanics overhauls stealth so that it plays a little more like Looking Glass style ImSims. In addition to affecting stealth, it also comes with the option to alter damage mechanics, including a backstab bonus (which works even while enemies are alerted, unlike Bethesda's "sneak attack") and a "Heavy Nullifier" which was implemented specifically to counter Bethesda's late-game bullet sponges without making the PC too powerful against weak enemies. Unfortunately, because of the complexity of the mod, it can be a bit buggy and has been known to mess with VATS and the compass markers. For a more stable alternative, your can also try the
Realistic Stealth Overhaul.
Resourced Based Lockpicking and Hacking replaces the minigames with a resource cost. Locks and consoles cost you a set number of bobby pins or "multitools" respectively, depending on the difficulty and your skill level. This makes bobby pins and such a -resource- that you have to value against what you can expect to gain from using them. Also hacking and lockpicking occur in real time which means that you can get jumped if something hostile walks by.
Easily my least popular mod,
Deus Ex Weapon Spread attempts to simulate the gun play from Ion Storm's Deus Ex (2000), i.e. weapon spread is significantly enhanced based on movement and the associated skill level of your character. Since it ties the effective range of your guns to your character sheet, I mention it because I figure it might appeal to roleplayers or die hard Deus Ex fans like myself.
And last but not least, my
Roleplayer's Mod is a collection of mini-mods that on the whole tries to tie more game mechanics to the character sheet. For example, the Repair module will increase the rate that items decay based on your repair score, i.e. the lower your score, the faster items decay because of your character's perceived inability to properly maintain them. However, this can be counter balanced by having a high Barter skill, which now reduces the cost that NPCs charge to repair equipment. So there's more dynamism in how you interact with the world based on how you choose to develop your character's skills. The Actor module places a much greater emphasis on SPECIAL points in determine your skills while depressing the rate that skill points are gained on level up, which means that how you craft your character at the start of the game has a bigger impact on how you will play throughout and there are no longer enough points available to make the all around "God character" that Bethesda likes to foist on us. And the XP module changes the way XP is earned so that characters advance based on exploration and completing objectives, rather than grinding. This has the added benefit of making XP a little more finite, so that unless you're a completionist you're unlikely to reach level cap before the end of the game. Note that I plan to upload a new version containing substantial improvements in the next few days so if you're thinking of starting a new game with it, I would recommend waiting until then.
Now I'm not suggesting the above list as the -best- mods or -necessary- ones, they're just mods that I use regularly and I think fellow roleplayers might appreciate. There are a lot of good mods out there that are worth playing. I just wanted to provide these as a starting point for people who are thinking of getting back into FNV, especially if to try out TTW.