Time Warp hits post #2, making it the most successful ‘theme’ since Friday Blog Wars (oh how I miss you FBW) here at syncaine.com. This time let’s talk about Fallout: New Vegas.

Brief random history first: I never purchased NV when it first came out, even though I loved Fallout 3. I don’t remember exactly why, but I think part of it was I thought NV was a stand-alone expansion rather than a full game, and for whatever reason I had this idea that Vegas would be a really crappy, really cheesy setting for Fallout. I also don’t remember when I eventually did buy it (some Steam sale maybe?), but it was the original version, not the ultimate with all the DLC. The Ultimate I just bought a few days ago. Weird stuff all around.

Anyway, F:NV is a good game, you should play it. Done, thanks for reading.

Kidding. Please keep reading.

After finishing a mostly full playthrough of Fallout 3 recently, including loading up a lot of mods, I figured I’d do something similar with NV. Much to my surprise, I think NV has better mod support than F3. Maybe NV came with better mod tools? Or modders simply prefer it over F3? Either way, NV goes from good to still freaking great with mods. For starters, load up a bunch of the graphic enhancer ones, which will give you great textures for everything. Add some lighting stuff, character overhauls, weather effects, and NV can be made to look as good as something released in 2015.

Next grab some content mods. Right now I’m loving the “New Bison Steve Hotel and Lucky Casino”, which allows you to restore the casino located in Primm through a series of quests. The voice acting is pretty solid, the quest chain sends you all over, and the evolution of the casino space is very cool to see. I’m near the end, but haven’t finished yet to see the final payoff of the casino coming back to life.

The one companion mod I’m currently using is Willow, which so far has really impressed me. For starters, Willow comes with her own full set of gear, a unique look, and a very long quest chain to get to know her. Her voice work is also very solid, and seeing her interact with other companions is great. However the most impressive part is how Willow comments on the standard quests in the base game, including the main chain. She does and says more than the base companions in the game, and really enhancing a playthrough.

I’m looking forward to trying out some of the other major content mods, but right now the above are keeping me plenty entertained.

To briefly touch on an old topic, I do think F:NV is the better game overall compared to F3, just in that it feels more tied together. F3 is a more open sandbox (it would be nice if NV didn’t box you in so much at the very start), and has some great stuff, but NV feels like one area, with everyone aware of what is happening and caring about it (mostly the NCR vs Legion stuff, but also the general “we are in/around Vegas” thing).

My ‘gamer plan’ is to finish NV prior to the release of Blood Bowl 2, then take a good break with that game, and be nice and ready for Fallout 4 in Nov, while still having the events and general feel of F3 and NV fresh in my mind.