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.

Rogue Legacy

Wow, don't worry about dying, because it will happen. A lot. Tons. Many, many times.

This is a neat twist on rogue-like games. Normally you play until you die, then restart with nothing. In this game when you die, you restart the game, pick your next kin (class/traits), and then spend the money you gained on the last character. It's really sneaky because the compulsion loop is that you get to spend all of your money after you choose to play again.

The game is basically a platform dungeon crawler, and best played with a controller. The graphics are in the realm of SNES games. The audio is mostly sound effects, and about 4-5 ambient background tracks that fit the game really well. Each enemy has a set AI, and learning it will help you avoid taking damage.

There are typically two builds you will be playing, and for 95% of the game, you will use the first.
1) resilient money gaining character - life leach, armor, damage
2) character specifically for beating a boss - high DPS or specific spells that are very effective at a boss, always get life leach if there are things to kill in the boss fight

You'll start out very weak and begin the death cycle quite quickly. As soon as possible, upgrade your weapon so enemies die faster. Don't waste money upgrading stats unless you have nothing else to spent money on before Charon takes it all as an entrance fee.

If you have a chance to purchase new upgrades, always do that. Building out your castle will lead to better classes will make it much easier. If you can ever afford the money upgrade, get it!

My total play time was 15:52, and the total children I played (and died) as was 168.

I'd recommend picking this game up, as you can sink a lot or a little bit of time until you complete it.

If you ever need to stop the game quickly, it will save your progress in the castle, but not your position.

Undercroft

I picked up Undercroft for the iPhone, under the good advice from a friend at work. He recommended it because I had mentioned that I really liked Legend of Grimrock with the grid maps, fights, and puzzles.

The fights in Undercroft are more tactical and less reflexes required. It`s also not as much of a puzzle game, but it works well enough.

The game is a turn based RPG, where you explore and quest in on a grid map. Each turn is either a movement, or an attack/special move. Some special moves can move you as well.

There are a few places where having an AOE attack is really critical, so I recommend picking up at least one. The main attack I used was the warrior`s totem of pain, which is horrendously overpowered if you can get life or mana leach on it. The other major attack power I got was from leveling up retrieve on an assassin so I could throw or shoot at enemies without losing quantity on the projeciles.

I found that a mage could dish out a ton of damage for the cost of chugging mana potions. The damage for a melee assassin was so much lower than a ranged (described above) and also was less useful.

The story is quite simple, and nothing to brag about. It paces the game, and that`s about it.

I`m glad to have a quest tracking system, although it's just a basic system.

Overall it was a great deal for a free game, and a great game when I needed to kill time. The game boots fast, and saving/loading is almost instantaneous. Just like Legend of Grimrock, I'd recommend planning you party well in advance, because after a few chapters in, you really don't want to reroll characters.