My review of Sonora with Dayglow expansion without any spoilers. I'll be making a separate post with spoiler tag.
It's very hard not to compare it to Nevada, so expect a few comparisons.
I've had a really great time with the game.
In terms of length I think it hit a sweet spot- it's longer than both Fallout 1 and Resurrection, but not as long as Nevada or Fallout 2.
SPECIAL and skills
Not many changes to SPECIAL stats, but playing with very low Strength made my PC a massive gimp. There's a lot of stuff to haul around even if you completely avoid fighting and don't carry a weapon and certain quest in Dayglow required opening crates with a crowbar, which my PC was too weak to do without Buffout.
Sonora introduces some small changes in the traits- Bloody Mess also allows you to understand Spanish and Night Person is completely replaced by new trait Villa traditions which lowers XP you gain by 20%, but gives you Educated and scouts entire world map (revealing all locations).
Nevada perks that show you requirements to pass a skill check and allow to play after the ending credits return. Animal Friend is present, but instead of turning all critters friendly, it allows you to feed them to make them passive (LVL 1) or temporary followers(LVL2) (they don't follow you outside their current location).
There might be some new perks that require physical stats that I have not seen.
Nevada impressed me with how it utilized the entire classic skill set. Sonora advanced it in some ways, in others I feel it took a step back.
Traps are no longer items you can set down with the skill, so once again it's only good for disarming them.
Repair was made more available to different builds, as you can use Junk or Electronic parts to lower the skill check by around 20% per item, but it also means you don't have to invest a lot of SPs into it (there's also an escort quest that gives you a temporary companion that boosts Repair by 20%).
Science checks cap at around 100%, but they open a lot of options with computers. Also it can be used to hack hostile robots, which makes them help you in combat (if your Sneak is high enough to reach them undetected).
There's a lot of gambling in both Sonora and Dayglow. Definitely worth investment if you have spare SPs.
Barter allows you to unlock better stock and even discounts through dialogue.
Speech is extremely powerful, maybe a bit too much.
Sneak was boosted. During certain quests you can avoid fights by scaring enemy off using items in the enviroment. There're several rescue quests, where you can save the NPC with Sneak. You also receive extra XP on occasion if you were never spotted.
Steal was heavily nerfed. Without enough skill you can't even look into the NPC's inventory to attempt theft.
Doctor has potentially a lot of uses, but alternatively you can just use medicine to cure NPCs. At the end I had aroind 50 stimpacks, so I could've definitely avoided investing in it (though it feels nicer to play as a skilled doctor instead of some random with a needle).
Guns were completely overhauled. Small Guns now only apply to 1- handed weapons (pistols, revolvers and SMGs) while Big Guns apply to all 2-handed weapons (grenade launcher, rifles, ARs, shotguns).
Main story
The story is much simpler and easier to follow than Nevada's. There's also more branching options as instead of following a trail of crumbs, you instead receive certain goal you can accomplish with diplomacy, stealth or violence. Near the end you have to choose between 2 factions or indenpendence, but near the end of game you have a choice only between quietly killing everyone and loudly killing everyone. It's a bit dissapointing, as even if diplomacy is impossible you could at least have the option similar to one Resurrection gave you.
Side quests
A lot of classic stuff like collecting debts, looking for missing people, bounty hunting, repairing a water pump, but also some more unique ones. Majority of them have different options dependent on your skills, but there's a couple where you just need to kill someone/something (I think 5 or 6). Some quests are straightforward, others have a moral/ faction choice you have to make.
You can do tasks for both factions until you join the other or make them hostile.
Dialogue/ world interaction
Going through dialogue, asking questions about the world and using options unlocked by Charisma and Intelligence awards you with XP.
You can give food to people or have a beer with them to get extra dialogue or just Karma, Reputation and XP.
There're some one-time encounters in towns that can spawn, where you can intervene in different ways like attempted rape, murder or robbery.
Mexican as a separate language is an interesting idea, but it is used in a hostile location where you can read a terminal for extra information and 2-3 conversations. So unless you love Bloody Mess, it's not really worth taking the trait that allows you to understand it.
Art
A lot of really high quality new assets- from new items, weapons, armour, entirely new tile sets, pre-war advertisements, posters, completely new creature, additional human with new sprites, new ghouls and talking heads.
Music
Awesome, sets the tone for the game since the moment you start. Some classic Fallout tracks are used in a few places, but it's mostly new music made for Sonora.
Companions
I'd say they're on Fallout 2 level, so unfortunately below Resurrection and New Vegas in terms of interactions.
They have a quest before you recruit them, but only minor interactions later on plus comments about locations you visit.
I found 3 of them during the game plus several temporary ones. The vehicle you unlock allows you to travel only with 1, but you can take them all on foot if your Charisma allows it.
There's 1 extra companion after you finish the game and 1 companion in Dayglow.
Worldbuilding
It is pretty enjoyable. As the PC is just a peasant venturing outside of his home for the first time it doesn't feel awkward to ask questions.
Sonora was in a pretty dormant state until certain major thing happened, so most dialogues do not reference anything happening before that moment.
The main goals and means of factions are understandable, but individual member have differing opinions on them.
Commerce between towns exists and you can follow the chain of supplies. Certain characters are interested in establishing new trade routes which you can help with. Doing so expands the inventory of merchants and amount of caps they have. It also works the other way, as you can sabotage a resource one town has and the merchants will offer smaller selection of items and have less caps.
Pre-war companies from New Vegas like Petro Chico and Sunset Sarsaparilla appear. There's not a lot of pre-war stuff to find, but there're some pretty interesting holodiscs and computers to read.
West Coast factions appear, but they're given a reason to be in Sonora. You can also meet 2 characters from Fallout 1 and a single one from NV. Dayglow additionally adds an origin for a certain faction that did not have it before.
Ending slides feel more extensive than in Nevada and they have impact on the world after the credits if you have the perk that allows you to continue your playthrough.
Dayglow
The expansion starts really awkwardly, as you get a message about it pretty early in the game, but then get pointed to one of the most dangerous locations in the entire game to actually start it.
It's pretty massive- with around 20 locations and two dozen quests.
I went there after finishing the base game, did not have trouble with any checks.
At the end there's some pretty powerful equipment that could probably break the balance if you went there straight after getting the message. At the same time there's a lot of radiation and some powerful enemies that would probably annihilate weak character.
