Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition
I've played the vanilla version many times before on my PS3, most recently being a year or two this is my first time playing the DLC.
This will mostly be covering that while mentioning DLC at the very end
The game is a genuine masterpiece, a peak of story, characters and worldbuilding in the post apocalypse genre.
Saying that as a kid it never gripped me the same way Fallout 3 did, this was due to it being much more open and exploratory rather than 3s easier linear presentation.
But as I've gotten older and replayed the game more and more, the more I appreciate it and love it. No other game I've played explores the interactions between factions, the branching path, your choices truly having weight like this game does.
While people complain about the gunplay, while I get it, it's really not as much of an issue people say and I enjoy it.
Genuinely all the issues that arise with this game either come from the fact that it was rushed and crashes a shit ton, or the holdovers from Fallout 3.
And yeah while I didn't get a ton of crashes they were consistent enough to still be an issue and keep me on my toes
But yeah, other than technical issues the game really is a masterclass in this genre and I would have loved to see what Obsidian could have done with more time

Now for the DLCs
Honest Hearts
This is the weakest of the DLC
Joshua was an absolute delight, loved his character before the DLC and love him even after playing it
Other than Joshua I really feel this DLC doesn't flesh out the native tribes enough so a lot of it just seems like you're fucking about until the DLC want's to be interesting at the very end and whenever you talk to Joshua
Wasn't expecting much from this tbh

Dead Money
Dead Money was an incredible DLC
The characters, story and setting were all absolutely perfect
The survival horror aspect was also amazing and a wonderful use of the mechanics given
The Sierra Madre itself feels over fairly quick in comparison to the surrounding town but...
I think it's still very well paced with an amazing cast of characters including the main antagonist Father Elijah
Definitely more of what I was expecting from a Fallout New Vegas DLC Honest Hearts didn't give
Also Christine is sooooo fucking good I love her let's go lesbians

Old World Blues
Here's my thought on Old World Blues
Funny as fuck
While a lot of FNV DLCs feel very grounded and trying to get a message across OWB just feels like they were able to just nerd out about old sci fi movies and just have fun with it
Idk why the game allows you to take your own gear into this it would work better without that since they were talking about seeing my foot penises with full covering Sierra Madre armour on, but that is such a small gripe
But yeah it's just good whacky fun
It's just a good solid DLC with so much charm slammed into it, it's really fun

Last but definitely not least
Lonesome Road
The final DLC of Fallout New Vegas
Every other DLC and even the base game makes reference to this one so much it's insane and has a lot to live up to
And...
It does, it's oppressive, a message from Ulysses to the Courier about the rise and fall of nations
The Divide is such an amazing setting, I loved seeing the marked men. They represent the Divides unification, no bear, no bull, a corruption of something new that was once blooming, destroyed by the Courier. Remnants and the dying are all that stay in The Divide.
It feels like a true conclusion that wraps up everything that base FNV laid down

Had the itch after the show. Also had a bitch of a time playing this to my standards. Had the free epic games store version, and uninstalled due to it not supporting mods. Re bout it on Steam for like ten bucks, and downloaded a fuck ton of mods. After like two days of fiddling I got it running pretty well with the mods I wanted, and it was a pretty fun time. First few quests were interesting but I hit the point where there's so many choices I'm kind of not sure which path to go. I'm sort of exploring all the options before I make the decision, but it's interesting to not finish all of the sidequests in order to have a more authentic roleplaying experience. Still has all the Bethesda problems I'm getting sick of though. Might finish but probably not. Also pissed I learned about the better mod set up that requires Fallout 3 GOTY edition, but I ain't rebuying these games to get the deal.

I love everyting about this game, even the often critized visuals. Fallout: New Vegas is essentially what makes video games a great medium for overall storytelling, and despite the faults of an older engine, I think New Vegas aged like fine wine, portaying a now nearly abandoned age of video games, where the players can essentially write their own stories.

I firmly believe that everyone should at least complete this game once in a lifetime who enjoy playing video games. Not just because it is nearly a flawless game inspired from many different things, but because it is such an enjoyable journey filled with great jokes, characters that are genuinly likeable and good set pieces that look great even today.

The aesthetic of Fallout is beyond anything, and I firmly believe that this radioactive wasteland is one of the best, if not the best, fictional worlds ever created.

Just do yourself a favor and play with it.

it really is as good as everyone says i promise

the star is knocked down mostly for the DLCs of which i... did not like any of them really. i think the game is a fine experience without them. they do offer more story and gameplay, but i did not connect with any of them except maybe blood money which is also probably the more generic one. its themes have been played out better in other stories. honest hearts and lonesome road i have very mixed feelings about, particularly about ulysses... old world blues is a straight up a skip imo

The themes of the past and future in New Vegas are so thick you could slurp it up. The struggle of keeping any status quo or rebelling and trying something new, trying to break the curse the Old World could not. Caesar foolishly following the leads of past facists, with the aesthetics of Romans to mask him. The NCR, either knowingly or not, becoming the same bureaucracy burdened, expansion hungry government as the one that was responsible for the hell world they live in today. House, still alive from the past, obsessed with his own ego to prove he is better than everyone.

The Sierra Madre, a monument forever kept for the memory of a man who wished to protect someone from the terrible future. Dean Domino, wasting away for 200 years just stuck on this fucking plan to steal gold that means NOTHING now. Catherine, hell bent on revenge against Elijah who also cannot stop jerking off over old world tech.

Joshua Graham, twisted so far by the words of Caesar eventually leading to a rubber band back to man trying to redeem his actions. He may still be tainted by that past, but he truly is trying to make people's lifes better now, in the way he think he can.

The scientists of the Big Empty, a symbol of the terrors, and sometimes gifts, that the Old World left scarred deep into this new era. Maybe they could become better people, maybe they would not burden this newborn land with the pre-existing poison they have exuded. We can see that with Doctor Borous, although he is definitely stuck in the past because he could not get over his high school life, does eventually have some feelings when presented the bowl of his former dog. He feels regret over experimenting on something that unconditionally loved him, but tries to push those thoughts down, im sure a coping mechanism forced upon by the ways of the Old World. Maybe it would be better just to leave them be, let the Old World go and focus on a new future.

Ulysses knows all to well all of this. He went to the same places you did, talked to all the same people you did. He knows the struggles this new era is having with the past and present. He comes up with his own solution, hoping that you too, will see something is wrong. At the Divide you will see the fresh hell the Old World caused. The fresh radioactivity burns your skin, the land is torn asunder, almost making a new, dark Grand Canyon, and the winds so whipped up as to flay that burning skin off your body. This is sins that the Old World were brought to bear, this is the sins you were unwittingly apart of. You brought a device here that exploded the warheads here, starting a new hell for this area, reopening the wounds made by the Old World. These scars can be opened again, and one must be real fucking careful not to do that. He wants to face what you've done, while also using you to further his plans for the West. He found that there is no future with the current powers, they would both lead doom. Either a fascistic power that would leave nothing sustainable, or a government that doesn't see the wound they are slowly opening again. He wants to wipe it clean again, like you once did here. Eventually those woulds will scar over again, and maybe the Old World will finally stay back.

You've seen contrary to this however. You can set up a new independent nation, one different from the Bear and Bull. You can attempt to look for a new future, one not so reliant on the repeated failures of the Old World. You are the courier, you have been around, you have seen the West, spoken to its people. With this in mind, you don't need the past, the future is here, in these people that struggle to live in this new world. All you gotta do is drive away the floods that try to bring back that Old World stink.

after finally engaging with all the extra stuff in this I actually do think I just prefer the base game as-is, warts and all. these additions tend to stick out like a sore thumb and either feel completely superfluous (I never once felt the need to use alternate ammo during my entire hardcore playthrough) or just kind of annoying. After going through all the dlcs, too, I can safely say you arent really missing anything if you just mod all this chaff out and move on with your life, maybe now i can Finally move on with Mine...

Fallout: New Vegas is my favorite open world rpg. The Mojave Wasteland is a great open world that actually feels lived in, both pre-war and post-war. Every location is interesting and has a story to tell. The characters are charming and funny. The DLC all combine to tell an intriguing 4-part story, and each is very fun in its own unique way. The perks allow you to become an ultra powerful character with different variations per each type of weapon. The story is well-written and engaging, and will immerse you as soon as you start a new game. The only gripe I have is the crashing issues, but it was never enough to majorly effect my progress or experience. Fallout: New Vegas is everything that a fantastic open world rpg should be: fantastic.

I got this game for free from Epic Games and I have to say it was one of the best things that ever happened to me as a gamer. I've been a fan of the franchise since 2017/2018, I played and replayed 3 about 10 times (Or even more), and I already knew about New Vegas, I wanted to play it since I got sick of playing 3 at the time, but I didn't have any money or where to play it, until take my mother's notebook and get the game for free. I played for hours and hours, I'm not even sure how much time I spent playing, but I only actually reached the end 3 times and I beat the Old World Blues and Honest Hearts DLCs twice, in addition to beating Dead Money as well. About the game itself, it's hard to say how much I loved playing and exploring the Mojave Desert, even though it still has problems from its predecessor, such as graphical and gameplay problems (Problems with saving, reputation, crashes, etc...), FNV is deservedly the best game in the entire franchise, although I prefer the gameplay and motor graphics of 4 and still think that the story of 1 and 2 are the best, New Vegas is the closest we will have to a balance between fun gameplay and a well constructed story.
The world reacts to the player's actions and the player also reacts to the world's actions, your choices really have weight and affect not only the story but your gameplay and the way they treat you in the game, it is rare to see a game where the developers ( Even though with such a short deadline they put so much care into the project they were building, the characters are very charismatic, they have captivating stories and truly convincing and ambiguous motivations, nothing is black and white, but rather gray. Each action you take has a different impact on the world, a decision you make can be praised by one character but can be a death sentence for another, apart from the development of characters, especially companions. The level of detail and concern they had in giving a different past, developments and endings to each companion in the game is bizarre, each one being based on the way the player influenced their actions during the game, maintaining the essence of their personalities and the at the same time giving value to the Courier's shares. The gameplay, on the other hand, is a bit slow, if you're not very fresh and play mostly with firearms or energy weapons, the gameplay will be less boring, but depending on your character's build, the game can be very easy, even in Hardcore mode. , which is a bit disappointing, because at a certain point in the game you are practically immortal and you don't even need your companions (Boone alone crushes about 50% of almost all enemies in the game with one shot, there were times when I only gained xp out of nowhere and when I looked back I only saw him putting the gun away). Besides, despite being better than 3, the combat is still not very immersive or realistic, in this I recognize that its successor hit the nail on the head in terms of physics and "realism", besides the fact that the game doesn't use all of its mechanics, which is also Depressingly, I went through the whole game without needing to use the survival skill or other mechanics simply because the game doesn't encourage them in any way, you can just play by leveling up speech, guns, lockpick and science and that's it, you don't need almost anything else in the game , you can try other mechanics but there is a lack of encouragement and practical ways to use them. Finally, my last point is that I believe there was a little lack of clarity in certain missions in the game along with the map, I got lost several times in the gameplay due to the inaccuracy of the pip-boy in instructing me to navigate not only in the open world but also in closed places , apart from the fact that in some missions (Like the one with the NCR radio tower spy), there is no certain clarity in the objectives of the mission, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so long, even some missions in the game could be longer faster if the route the player needs to take was clearer (Not only in the pip-boy but in the game's mute) and more practical too, or maybe I'm just slow and didn't pay attention properly perhaps.
Well, besides this game is worthy of having the name Fallout in the title, even with its problems the story is good and has fun gameplay, I really hope that one day they will look more fondly at this game and give it its due recognition, a remake in graphics and gameplay (And some more updates for newer consoles and PCs) would be more than welcome. In my humble opinion, it is not only the best game in the Fallout franchise, but also one of the most memorable games of my life.

A solid entry in the bethesda family of highly moddable RPGs. I won't sugar coat it. I fucking hate deserts. But this goes to show how good the game is to get a rating this high considering the location. The base game can be a bit lacking (other than the end game and most of the actual new vegas (location) quest strings) but the DLC is where this game shines. They are all really damn good (ok honest hearts has ass gameplay but the story is fire) and together with the base game create something special especially if you get some really fire mods. It might not be my favorite modern fallout but its still a solid entry.
And I do have a modded 4k ultra 60 fps walkthrough w/commentary here for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZSV6Ef0rTR7wZAcLDIE9B6ElhOx7zhob

Also have a modding guide for new vegas for those who are interested in modding the PC port into its best possible form: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2943291193