Fallout: New Vegas is a captivating game. Even though it is more than ten years old, it still has very interesting gameplay elements, design choices, and amazing lore. To this day, the game brings in new players who are curious to understand why there are people who dedicated themselves to playing and improving the game to this day.
Fallout: New Vegas might not be filled with unique mechanics to the Fallout franchise, but the geographical location chosen for the game's setting does make it feel different and fresh. For those who never played a Fallout game before, New Vegas might be overwhelming with the enormous amount of things that can be done in the game.
Updated November 27, 2021 by Ryan Bamsey: New Vegas is one of those timeless games that's still fun to pick up and play even today. For that reason, we've added some new tips to help you on your journey through the Mojave desert.
12 Side Missions Are The Best Part Of The Game
Players who want to do every possible mission before beating the game might be going on a journey that might take one hundred hours to complete. Side missions are numerous and varied in Fallout: New Vegas and many of the storylines are much more satisfying than the main plot.
Side quests are often satisfying, engaging, compelling, and filled with peculiar characters that are fun to engage with. Although doing them all might be too much, passing on them is just wrong since they make the world of Fallout feel alive and functional in its own way.
11 Your SPECIAL Scores Are Important
At the beginning of the game, you'll be prompted to build your character with various stats, the first letters of which spell out the word "Special." Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck.
It may go without saying that you shouldn't let any of these be too low unless you really know what you're doing, but this is especially true for Strength and Intelligence. Strength dictates your carry weight and you'll want to pick up a lot of things on your journey through the Mojave, and if your Intelligence is too low your character won't even be able to speak coherently in some cases.
Saying that, a low Intelligence may open up unique interactions that come about as a result of your dullness, such as making an NPC become your companion out of sheer pity. Keep that in mind when building a character.
10 It Is Basically A Fallout 3 Expansion
It is an entirely new map with new quests and new creatures, but all the core aspects and mechanics are from the previous game. Players who go to New Vegas expecting something that is entirely different from the previous Fallout might be slightly disappointed.
It is not necessarily a bad thing, though. Fallout 3 is an outstanding game, and many fans of the franchise were more than happy to have more of it. So with the right expectations, there is a lot to be enjoyed in this game.
9 Going North Is A Bad Idea
Many NPCs will talk about how dangerous it is to take the direct road to New Vegas. They are absolutely right about it. The path is extremely dangerous. Going straight north will most likely cause constant frustration, death, and headaches. It is significantly tricky to stay alive when going this way.
Generally speaking, it might be a good idea to take the long way to reach New Vegas. This is also a better way to enjoy the game since more game content is seen throughout the longer path.
8 Focusing On A Single Combat Skill Is A Good Idea For Beginners
Fallout has a lot of content, and that includes things to do with skills and attributes. Character creation is just one of the many things that might feel overwhelming to newcomers that have no idea where to allocate skill points.
That being said, a good idea is to focus on one familiar thing. Placing many points in a single skill that is easy to use might be the best approach when starting the game. For instance, most new players will benefit from creating a character skilled with guns since they are among the deadliest weapons of this game.
7 Schmooze Your Way Through Life
As an addendum to the previous tip, you may wish to choose either Speech or Barter as priority skills to level up. These are both skills that utilize your Charisma and they can be crucial to solving quests in non-violent ways - which will still get you experience!
Barter is used to negotiate with people - this equates to better prices at vendors and being able to convince NPCs that your solutions and ideas are superior to theirs. Speech checks, on the other hand, involve blatantly charming your way through conversations. Both are great skills to level up if you like solving quests with your brain rather than your mini-nukes.
6 Some Containers Reset
In Fallout, it is quite a good idea to find places that can be used to hide items that might be needed later on. Although this practice might be useful, players should know that some containers might respawn their contents, wiping out anything that was in it.
Before hiding the crucial items, players might want to test the container and check if things left in them will disappear or not. Many containers are safe. However, it is important to be aware that some might not be - it takes roughly three in-game days for containers to reset with new contents.
5 Some Items In The Game Are Not Worth Picking Up
Things like empty hammers, paperweight, ruined books, empty bottles, and many other things. Fallout: New Vegas has a long list of things that have no utility. Pencils, paint guns, teddy bears, toy cars, and many other things that are obviously useless in the context of the game's setting will most likely be mechanically useless as well.
If in doubt of the usefulness of an item, just leave it in a safe container so it can be picked up later if needed. Separating useful items and useless items in different containers might also be a good idea.
4 Perks That Make Leveling Up Faster Are A Waste
There is a level cap in Fallout: New Vegas, and there are far too many missions available, so experience points are not something to worry about. It makes little sense to go for a perk that provides something that will be achieved eventually anyway.
Instead, go for something that will most likely be used, even if just for fun. Another good idea might be to go for perks that increase the number of skill points available. For instance, with the Educated perk, skill points are given in double when leveling up.
3 Actions Change The Way NPCs Act
Decisions that are made in the game might change one's reputation within certain factions. Each faction will see the players' actions as a good or a bad thing. Some factions are particularly powerful and they might send out assassins that might be really hard to lower-level players and newcomers.
When talking to NPCs and dealing with side quests, it might be a good idea to keep in mind that many decisions will affect how the world and the factions behave. Even though it might be rough, it is part of the fun in RPGs.
2 Clothes Can Change The Way NPCs Act
This is a very interesting gameplay element. There are many unique armors in Fallout. Wearing faction armor might be a great disguise that many times will let a character walk through areas that otherwise would not be accessible. It might be a good way to go through a territory dominated by a faction that is not happy about recent events, for instance.
On the other hand, this might also cause problems if a faction armor recognized the uniform of their enemies that you might be wearing. This whole dynamic might surprise newcomers, and it is especially interesting to play with.
1 There Are Several Mods That Drastically Improve The Experience
Fallout: New Vegas is one of those classic games that from time to time receive new players, even though it was made over a decade ago. It is also one of those games that players keep trying to convince friends to try out once.
Jumping in this game for the first time now might be a bit harsh. That because even though it is an amazing game, it's looks and feels dated. However, for anyone who has been joining the fandom in recent years, things look much better. After all this time, the community came up with a vast array of mods that improve the voice acting, textures, loading times, and even character models.