Best and worst New Vegas DLC?

[Cool name]

Dead Money is good stuff. Not perfect, but I enjoyed working my way through it and don't feel like it wasted my time.

HH, OWB, and LR are all shit. In no particular order:

HH is boring as fuck gameplay-wise and has a heavy focus on Fallout 2 style tribals, easily one of the dumbest things about Fallout 2.

OWB has a few good areas I guess, but bulletsponge scorpions and godawful tryhard writing that I can't stomach, and felt mostly pointless and uninteresting.

LR is a linear combat slog in a game that was not designed to work well as a linear combat slog, where you have to listen to some dude you don't give a fuck about whine about something your character apparently did in some retconned-in backstory that literally nobody else in the entire game world knows or cares about, until eventually you get to shoot him in the face.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

dead money is the worst because the performance is fucking ass even on a modern top of the line computer

OWB would have benefited from a companion. I remember using the console to bring one with me because it felt lonely.

 

[Sòren]

didn't like the gameplay in dead money that much, but the writing was great. old world blues had very nice moments too, i often think about the Gabe the dog or your encounter with the moebius, when you first fix his optical sensors after killing the giant scorpion. lonesome road was pretty good too.

honest hearts was shit in any regard. edit: okay except for the diaries of the survivalist, that was good.

 

[Mark Richard]

Glad to see Loathesome Road taking the flak it deserves. What a piece of irredeemable garbage!

 

[Cerulean]

OWB would have benefited from a companion. I remember using the console to bring one with me because it felt lonely.

It should have been Muggy.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

OWB would have benefited from a companion. I remember using the console to bring one with me because it felt lonely.

It should have been Muggy.

Muggy, and Roxie should have been allowed to roam outside of the stealth testing facility

 

[Nano]

OWB would have benefited from a companion. I remember using the console to bring one with me because it felt lonely.

The talking armor was the companion in OWB.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

OWB would have benefited from a companion. I remember using the console to bring one with me because it felt lonely.

The talking armor was the companion in OWB.

"Light's on!"
I fucking know, you dumb bint.

 

[Butter]

I liked that she would blow through Med-X and stimpaks for no reason if you took the slightest damage.

 

[2house2fly]

Two characters in the base game of New Vegas do mention the Divide, as a place where savage winds can skin someone alive. I'm not sure how thoroughly planned out the DLCs were (this is something I'd love MCA to talk about in detail but he probably has PTSD from working on it) but it not getting more foreshadowing is probably just one of those realities of game development. The Divide does come up a lot more in the other DLCs

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I liked that she would blow through Med-X and stimpaks for no reason if you took the slightest damage.

overbearing gf armor is the best armor

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

I liked that she would blow through Med-X and stimpaks for no reason if you took the slightest damage.

overbearing gf armor is the best armor

I would think a great many people play video games to escape that sort of thing in real life

 

[Quillon]

Lonesome Road felt lazy and rushed...no NPCs...

If there were NPCs it would have been Crowded Road.

 

[Sigourn]

My favorite is Dead Money. I played Honest Hearts for the second time after Dead Money, and it was honestly so boring... At least Lonesome Road was more "dynamic". Honest Hearts has some great characters, but the worldspace is just so empty it's hard to find it fun anytime you are not talking to Joshua Graham. It literally made me uninstall New Vegas on my last run just because I couldn't be bothered to finish the DLC. By comparison, Dead Money was even more fun than my first run through the DLC.

I haven't played Old World Blues.

 

[M. AQVILA]

Old world blues was the worst, absolutely boring. The others weren't that great either.

Also I made a mistake and voted Honest Hearts instead of Dead Money, I thought Honest Hearts was the one about the casino. Why can't I change my vote?

 

[Max Damage]

Dead Money is my favorite one: best gameplay, best story, best characters and atmosphere, chilling OST too. Old World Blues is mixed bag: content quantity and integration into core game are better than other addons, but lots of parts felt repetitive, the tests are barebones and rehashed with next to no changes. While I enjoyed the characters, interactions with them felt too much concentrated inside their domes, would be much better if you could take some of them as your companions and/or get to see them working outside of The Sink. Humor is hit or miss, with more misses that hits for me, unfortunately. Like the new equipment you get to play with, but robo-scorpions and their sponginess get tiresome real fast, not much ammo for guns either. The backstory of Big Empty is great. I guess my truly biggest problem is extreme repetitiveness of sidequests, and if you do just the bare minimum to finish the story, the endings are just alright, nothing special. It's parody-homage to old pulpy science movies that doesn't quite hit the mark.

Lonesome Road is great location which is almost entirely undermined by the plot, plot holes and characters. Ulysses doesn't live up to the buildup he was given throughout all the previous addons at all, and ED-E not only invalidates "lonesome" part of the road, but has some of the most naive, sappy and eye-rolling dialogue interactions ever. Antagonist is a master of using so many words to tell nothing coherent, empty symbolism that tries to sound way too more important that it can ever be. The forced backstory for player avatar is inappropriate on so many levels that I could probably write a whole long rant about it. Decent ride for the first time, but a very anticlimatic conclusion to the story of Ulysses.

Honest Hearts, it has some nice views, and I like story of Randal Clark. It also has abysmall amount of content, characters are bland (Joshua Graham is great in concept, very lame in execution), story is laughable, moral dilemma is very forced and isn't fleshed out due to lack of interesting characters and player agency. Worst offender is, it is a total, forgettable slog, even though there's barely anything to do in the canyon overall. Very rushed and stucks out like a sore thumb even compared to Lonesome Road.

 

[Safav Hamon]

I agree with the lack of content in Honest Hearts, but I enjoyed all of the content that was there.

The new location and factions were cool, and it being only 6 hours long means it didn't overstay its welcome.

 

[Beastro]

Honest Hearts has some great characters, but the worldspace is just so empty it's hard to find it fun anytime you are not talking to Joshua Graham./QUOTE]

The its greatest strength is also its weakness, which is Sawyer's love of Zion National Park. You get a feeling he tried to recreate the feeling the place evokes for him when he'd go hiking there. Enjoying the DLC really depend on where in the game you play it. If you're looking for a short break to unwind in the game it's good for that. but if you're not I can see it driving you nuts. I went in during a period like the former and enjoyed it for that reason, especially give they it didn't overstay its welcome.

 

[Brocken Jr.]

1. Dead Money. Most of the strongest characters and best writing in the game are here. There's a lot of dynamic character interactions and choices to be made, all of which reinforce the main theme as you see so many people destroyed by their inability to let go of their base (but sympathetic) desires. It also is the closest thing to challenging that the gameplay in NV ever offers, and has terrific atmosphere and lore. I also like mixing potions in games so I like the unique ingredients and recipes. Perfect title and ending, too.

2. Honest Hearts. THE strongest character in NV imo, Joshua Graham. It is rare to see a religious character portrayed with any complexity these days. The main story is pretty good, too. I feel for Daniel, but I also know that he's naive to think that he can keep the Sorrows sheltered from bloodshed forever. Today it's the White Legs, tomorrow it will be someone else---it is, sadly, proficiency at war that brings peace in the long term. Zion national park is also a really pretty gameworld, and of course there are the Survivalist's diaries and rifle. I just recommend you do this one early because it is cake gameplay-wise, and even mid-tier equipment makes the tribal warriors a joke.

3. Lonesome Road. Ulysses is boring and fake deep, and he's all the company you've got aside from ED-E. However, it has the grimmest atmosphere and some really cool ruined roads and buildings. Riot shotgun makes short work of the tunnelers if you've got ...And Stay Back! and Shotgun Surgeon.

4. Old World Blues. A lot of people like it, but robo-scorpions are not fun to fight and you fight a lot of them. It's also impossible to stealth kill them because they tend to spawn right on top of you. There's some funny bits like the sentient stealth armor, but this is a lot of wacky FO2-style goofiness and OP weaponry that ruins the western aesthetic that most of the rest of the game has, and that I prefer.

 

[HoboForEternity]

2. Honest Hearts. THE strongest character in NV imo, Joshua Graham. It is rare to see a religious character portrayed with any complexity these days. The main story is pretty good, too. I feel for Daniel, but I also know that he's naive to think that he can keep the Sorrows sheltered from bloodshed forever. Today it's the White Legs, tomorrow it will be someone else---it is, sadly, proficiency at war that brings peace in the long term. Zion national park is also a really pretty gameworld, and of course there are the Survivalist's diaries and rifle. I just recommend you do this one early because it is cake gameplay-wise, and even mid-tier equipment makes the tribal warriors a joke.

too bad we will never visit the mormon settlement, i thought it was gonna be interesting. in fallout: nevada there are supposed to be a mormon settlement near salt lake city, either it is ommited out, or i just didn't find it. it would be interesting even if it isn't canon.

 

[Lurker47]

I liked all of them and feel they're all on about the same level (though they're all radically different) I didn't particularly love any of them or like them more than the base game. I guess Dead Money was my favorite (unique setting, good characters, and a solid story) and Honest Hearts was my least favorite (Didn't feel like there was a creative spark to any of the tribal shit. It just felt weirdly cookie-cutter. Even Joshua.)

I kind of wanted to pick Lonesome Road for worst but I see the potential in Ulysseus and I'd feel bad about shit-talking Avellone's baby. (But I don't agree with his "Make Fallout Apocalyptic Again" attitude.) I absolutely hate the Courier's stupid, last-minute backstory though. That was so dumb.

 

[Brocken Jr.]

Another point about Lonesome Road. You have no real in-game motivation to do any of it. Why would you follow Ulysses through such hostile and deadly terrain? Because he left cryptic holotapes around? It also kinda spoils the anonymity of the Courier as Lurker47 mentioned.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Why would you follow Ulysses through such hostile and deadly terrain?

Loot.

 

[gruntar]

Ulysses was badly needed as pro Legion companion in the main game, cutting him for DLC was probably the worst decision Obsidian made. I also hate how LR forces background on my character, cRPGs with a blank state character really shouldn't do this.

 

[2house2fly]

But I don't agree with his "Make Fallout Apocalyptic Again" attitude.

Avellone is a great argument in favour of Death Of The Author- it seems I get very different things from his stories than what he puts in(not more, the man clearly puts a lot of work and passion in, just different). I also don't agree with his recent characterisation of "1950s-style optimism" as a good thing; Fallout always seemed to me to be a satire of those attitudes given the state of American society in the actual 1950s.

Another point about Lonesome Road. You have no real in-game motivation to do any of it. Why would you follow Ulysses through such hostile and deadly terrain? Because he left cryptic holotapes around? It also kinda spoils the anonymity of the Courier as Lurker47 mentioned.

Ulysses says he believes your motivation is curiosity. As a blank-slate character, the Courier's actual motivation is probably up to the player