Fallout: New Vegas + Some DLC

I started playing Fallout:New Vegas back in April 2011 and I just now finished it in December 2013, with a total of 86 hours played.

I kept a notepad document open to keep track of what inventory I had stockpiled at Doc Mitchell's house. I had 28+ fission batteries, and 51 conductors by the end... I also had more weapons than I could manage. I picked my current favorite 3 and went with it. My only regret with all this stockpiling is that there isn't much weapon crafting. There was the ability to craft ammo types, but I ignored guns for almost the entire game. I did fist/melee weapons early on, then switched completely to energy weapons. I heard that upgrading bullets is really good though. Weapon repair kits I found to be very useful, because it could safe you a huge repair bill, or you could use them to repair an expensive weapon (eg: super sledge), and then sell it for some much needed caps.

When rolling my initial stats, I ignored luck and perception, and put the points into the other stats. Once you get the companion, E-DE, the perception issue is fixed, and I didn't really need luck. I also worked on the critical skills as fast as possible -- melee weapons, repair, lockpick, sneak -- then speech, medicine, energy weapons, etc.

I didn't play all of the DLCs, but I own them. I might go back and play them at some point, but I'm good just having this story wrapped up for now. Recommendations of which DLCs are worth playing are always welcome.

I'll compare some high level things in Fallout: New Vegas with what was around in Fallout 3 to keep things simple.

The Good
* It has much better UIs for companion interactions, so you can change their tactics, open their inventory, etc. without having to pull up a speech dialog
* You can pick two companions instead of just one companion and the dog
* The companions come with their own perks, have good back stories and side quests. I personally liked having E-DE and Boone as companions
* Much better use of skill checks in dialog -- speech, barter, medicine, etc. I really enjoyed these
* There are a bunch of new weapons in the game for every play style -- melee/fist/energy/pistol/rifle

The Bad
* Invisible walls are everywhere. Instead of creating a mesa you can't get on top of, there is a ridge you could jump on top of with an invisible wall around it...
* There is almost zero weapon crafting. You can make a few bombs, and different ammo types, but no real weapon crafting

The Consistent
* The quest tracking system is still a life-safer, without it, you could not keep track of where you are going, or what part of what quests you had completed
* The UI system for managing inventory is quite clunky. I'm not sure if they added the category filtering in FNV, but that does help quite a bit

Would I recommend playing it? Absolutely. It's great for sharing experiences with friends at work, even years after it's release date.

For the next 9 hours, you can pick up Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition for just under $7 on Steam.