CaPn bOnEs

this might be the sharpest photo i've taken, or i am just too drunk to notice... but i wasn't drunk when i took it yesterday so perhaps it is... if you can figure out where i am, you get a sunset sarsaparilla star bottle cap!! i just looked at my karma level and it said desert scavenger, quite possibly the best one i've heard yet... level 9 neutral.. and really just going through the motions early on, following the path, but doing it differently somehow, so i am not earning that much XP at the moment... things are just going different though, talking to different people at different points in the game, wandering here instead of there, doing this instead of that... it's amazing how each game never really feels the same... so much different that i am about to enter the strip the 4th different way on 5 files... two entered the same way, with caps... one entered with science, another entered with a passport... and the current one is about to enter through mccarren airport... that is, if there aren't any guard dogs... he stopped by mccarren shortly after discovering that he didn't have caps to enter the strip... by doing some work for the crimson caravan (as suggested by his future pardner), he realized that there's a train at mccarren to the strip while delivering a package for crimson co... let's see how this turns out ... i got a chip to get back from this dip shit benny guy... which will end in me having to go to caeser because it's the right thing to do anyways... i gotta take the long journey through the story and branch out when possible... the independent line is very very long and fruitful...

why hasn't someone put my face on that picture yet?? ...

@synch... there's no issue with all my other files at harper's shack... i've traveled there numerous times just to make sure the deathclaws didn't wander and they never did... it's that fucking prospector that fucked up the spawning... there were times when a bunch of stuff would re-spawn outside of megaton on one of my files and it's just something that happens with the randomness of the open world that remembers everything... unfortunately i had this file all set up with harper's shack and it's now out of the question... ohh man, i know i could reclaim it if my skills were much better... i could lure the deathclaws out of there and kill them at the legion camp with the powder gangers.. let them deal with that, plus the "for some damn reason after OWB" glitch where nightstalkers attack the camp if you save... i could still save this place, but i am not ready for it, plus i still need a place to call home NOW... my suitcase at goodsprings source is getting too full these days... need to sort it out with multiple lockers and shit... @stoic... like i just mentioned, if you like that shack that spawns raiders outside, lure them away from the shack, then kill them... where they die is where they spawn... it's a cool little trick i learned a few months back... and it's the reason why i still think i can fix this harper's shack situation... but i can't fix it right now, and by the time i do i will of probably found a new place...

well, i guess harper's shack has been ruled out as a suitable housing situation for my latest character... after first initially scouting it, i noticed an irregularity in the discovery... a prospector was walking away down the mountainside... as i slightly approached, there were no deathclaws at all near dead wind, nor was there a blind one in primm pass... hmm... i dick around for a while and do other stuff, return to novac and advance time 3 days, then fast-travel back to the shack... "caution" appears, the blind one comes from over the hill in primm pass, and i actually expected that so i reloaded and grabbed my best gear and ammo and approached it from the west this time, drawing the blind one the opposite direction... dozen-some armor piercing shots from ratslayer and service rifle later, i drop 'em (with the help of ED-E of course)... i approach harper's shack with the dead wind deathclaws nowhere in site, not even up by the cave entrance... hmm... travel to novac and advance time another 3 days... then travel back to primm pass... there's no dead blind deathclaw... slowly approach harper's shack again, "caution" appears, the original deathclaws are back, but now they are spawning near the shack... FUCK!!! i somehow manage to get them when ED-E takes the health of two of them to nearly death before they get him... i use the last remaining 20-some armor piercing rounds, along with the spiked knuckles, and finish them off... hmm... advance time 3 more days in novac, then return to the shack... the deathclaws now spawn all around me... FUCK!!! harper's shack has been officially ruined... and it's that damn prospector that spawned up there for some reason... he was walking down the mountain, as if he were leaving dead wind cavern... and he brought hell with him... ohh well, i got ED-E's new features and he's a mobile work/reloading bench... now i gotta find a place with a bed and campfire and a couple crates and i am set , preferably indoors... too bad about that harper's shack thing though... i was really looking forward to that being my personal pad ...

bOnEs check out that write up called The Divide on the fallout Wiki. EDIT: Found it http://fallout.wikia...wiki/The_Divide Maybe you can decipher if it's actual, or someone's edit, like guessing. Seems pretty authentic, and if so, my guess is both Nash at Primm is too old to remember you, and the gunshot head wound made the memory loss. As the courier, I would have remembered all that stuff. Some pretty heavy history. I think if it's not a Bethesda author of the article, it was people making a story out of all the computer terminals, holotapes, and notes in the New Vegas series. Might answer your questions, as it's the final story that we have to live with. well, it explains the events of the divide, which i kind of gathered after my second playthrough... however, it still doesn't explain which courier dropped ED-E off in primm... maybe it was just another courier who was a nobody... i wouldn't think ulysses would just drop off ED-E considering the events of the divide and the tie-in he has to the story...

i like muggy more than the toaster... he's got that psychotic OCD problem... the toaster is just hell-bend on world destruction, but muggy's more complicated... ---------------------------------------------- also, i went through the divide at level 4, and left level 6... really, there's only one terminal you need to hack... and i wasn't able to repair that terminal which forced me to have to take out the sentry bots myself instead of having the aid of the turrets... thank god i found 6 pulse grenades in sloan because there was about 4 or 5 sentry bots to deal with... thankfully since i was low-leveled, only one pulse grenade was enough to take care of each one... but damn am i lucky i had 6 of them... but now i have a couple armors, a couple new weapons, ED-E's "repair a weapon once a day" perk, and his workbench and reloading bench abilities... plus the first conversation with ulysses was dramatically less hostile than it was with my other two characters... i wasn't flying a flag at the time, so i was treated as someone who still had a long journey ahead of himself... this new file is yet again playing out differently than all the others ... i love you fallout ...

i think they're all pretty damn well written, including dr. klein... --------------------------- got me an 'old man jenkins' -type of character named roscoe harper ... never saw this sign before, i like it ... he's been around the goodsprings area, not doing the town quest yet... went a little north hoping to pass through to new vegas but quietly escaped the attention of a deathclaw... he's now heading to the correctional facility to see what this is all about on his way south to primm...

mutant bash TV is was the free on-the-rails shooter i downloaded from the app store... RAGE sounds like a game worth checking out at some point though...

i started my new character last night but i am too drunk to play him tonight... not that i don't play drunk, it's just that i would probably stay up until 4 am playing and i don't want to do that... i still have a daytime schedule to keep up, stoic works the 9 to 5 too and knows where i am coming from... unfortunately i don't make the dough so i also have to work a couple nights too at the local pub... otherwise i would be past primm by now and into the divide... yes, i am going to make it through the first silo low leveled, and willing to turn back after the encounter at the end, just to get a couple weapons and armor... plus ED-E's first, and "most valuable EVER" upgrade... i am playing on normal, but survival is the tagged health path instead of medicine...should be fun, roscoe is well on his way to doing what's best for roscoe... good times, survival and the most profitable approach to insuring his status in the mojave, the independent route... being unpredictable and changing alliances if the right situation appeals to him... channeling his inner, "ricky henderson" and doing what's best for ricky henderson and keeping ricky henderson's status in tact... doing what it takes to survive in the mojave... after finishing the last DLC twice i got this vibe that;

aww man... the reviews back up the per-determined guidelines i had based this game on... a "linear FPS" in a dystopian world with bland characters and story... a world that is gorgeous in detail, yet empty because of the lack of involvement... a world with innovative AI behavior that wears out its welcome about a few hours in... a game with numerous weapons and vast strategies with said weapons... a game with linear driving portions and mini-games that help break up the mundane shooting galleries... yea, it's exactly everything i thought it would be... borderlands on steroids... i enjoyed borderlands but come on, i got bored with it after about 5 hours... and i even played it again with a friend that beat it twice, and enjoyed the co-op experience... yet, we reached the same spot in one night and i was already done with it... the one thing i do like about this game, and i knew the reviews would touch on it... but it's that the world looks lived in, each mountain looks unique, and the waste of the wasteland doesn't look the same a hundred yards down the road...i am actually impressed with the world id created, yet i am disappointed that's it yet another typical shooter set in dystopian world... but i am still renting it .. someday soon i would imagine... i have a new found joy of at least checking out something fairly interesting, even if it is FPS... crysis 2 was absolutely one of the best gaming experiences for me this year, it changed my perspective a bit... but i am going to be surely disappointed if i reach that same spot i did with borderlands where i got bored and didn't really care to move on ...

yea the chainsaw is still the best weapon from the GRA pack... greased lightning is pretty effective too for an unarmed player... the new unique ballistic fist is actually weaker than the normal one, and the explosion it gives off is actually not that effective... the problem with the new weapons is the price vs. effectiveness... most, if not all, are inferior to the already available weapons after level 15 when the world upgrades it's aresenal... but then again, i think these could be very very effective early to mid game... they are almost worthless to level 40 characters... i am about to beat the game again with bones... i wanna do the final battle with all the gear i aquired from the add-ons... plus, i didn't enlist the enclave the first time... i am ready to get the final battle started, but i can already tell that it's going to crash A LOT!! this game is almost broken for me and it very very sad that it's come down to this ... i might have to play something else because i don't think i can take another 100 hours of this lagfest that new vegas has become... need to hold off for SR3, which is soon, right?

about hardcore mode; yea i played on hardcore, mainly to get the trophy for beating the game... i used a cannibal mexican named sanchez and took the house route, which i do believe is the fastest route... i didn't play any of the add-ons with him, but playing in hardcore isn't too hard... staying hydrated will be your main issue... know where the rad-free water is... health doesn't heal instantly, but over time, which is also another hurdle to get used to... bighorner meat is very effective when cooked, and is ABUNDANT in the wasteland... but eventually you'll reach the ability to craft desert salads and other various healing items... i do believe i am going to play my next file on hardcore... i kind of enjoyed having other things to worry about... it made the experience that much more involved... i just don't know i am going to make it through the add-ons though, especially lonesome road... it was hard even with my two badass destroyers of the wasteland... and dead money?? wow, having to craft food with the minimal supplies in the madre would make it super hard to finish... however, i still i think want to do it... or just play on normal, but invest in survival for healing instead of medicine... but you have to at least play and beat the game in hardcore mode eventually, especially if you want that achievement... you can avoid the add-ons if you wanted to... ------------------------ got through the lonesome road add-on with delilah late last night... and once i got passed the marked men camps near the beginning, i didn't have those glitch issues, the same thing with my first run through... however, exactly like my first playthrough, once i made it back to the mojave, it crashed and crashed and crashed.. WHAT THE FUCK?!? i thought i remember reading that obisidian has officially turned the lights out on new vegas, mentioning that a patch will probably not happen... if that's the case, my all-time favorite game will be broken forever, leaving me stuck with a glitchy game that crashes every 10 minutes... what a disappointing end to my otherwise unforgettable experience... makes wonder if creating a new character would be worth it since i will eventually reach this very same point of constant crashing... i know it's numerous factors that are going into this issue... 1) this world has been overstuffed by obsidian, practically breaking the oblivion engine... 2) the farther you get into the game, the bigger the game save gets, and the more information the world if tasked to remember... this is what i though caused my crashing problems with fallout 3... 3) hopeville has a lot of stuff happening in it, and lots of world junk lying around... and anytime those factor together, the frame rate takes a shit... now throw in enemies that throw grenades and launch rockets at you... adding more explosions on top of the alreadt destructive warheads and numerous fire barrels and cars on fire... it's just too much going on... 4) the DAMN FIRE!! i have had an issue with it, as far back as the first time in entered the strip and watched gomorrah crash my game... there is seriously something wrong with the fire animation, or something with the code... and these are probably PS3 issues as well... not sure if xbox has these problems... i won't even ask PC users, they've got their own patches and things to fix the game... we're unfortunately stuck with what obsidian wants to do about the problem... here's hoping they at least issue one more game patch... if not, they'll ruin my greatest gaming experience in the 20-some years of playing games ...

i don't like the bozar... it can't even penetrate the armor of the legion hit squads... i surrounded myself by them, then hit each one with a VATS shot to the face, and each shot showed that i would turn their heads into goo with a single shot... barely hurt any of them... and the accuracy is not even close to as advertised... it's just not that good of a weapon, i think my all-american is more accurate and effective than this heavy overpriced piece of shit... what a letdown ... same with the katana... the new fatman ammo is pretty impressive, especially the tiny tots ... but it sucks that you have to buy the GRA fatman to use the new ammo... what's the deal with that?! so i bought esther instead... the lil devil and sleepytime are fun little weapons... but again, neither are that effective... the explosive round for the AMR is not that good... i didn't try the incendiary 12g rounds called "dragon's breath" but i should, the riot shotgun is my weapon of choice... really, i am not at all impressed with the GRA... the chainsaw however, is very very impressive!! the mods make one hell of a mess out there... i know i haven't tried all the weapons but only the chainsaw has impressed me... delilah uses the ballistic fist religiously so, i know she's going to enjoy the unique one called, "two-step goodbye" ... and the most disapointing thing is the new "mad bomber" perk that came with the pack... my current level 50 character is an explosives expert, yet he can't take this perk ... i wanna make MFC clusters and fat-mines... ohh, and i didn't have this bottle cap issue that you all seemed to have... i brought with me about 20 fully repaired expensive weapons to trade for these things... and after buying about 6 or so weapons and ammo, i actually gained about 10,000 caps ... i went through a shitload of repair kits but, thanks to dead money, that's just not an issue at all...

the mojave is brokeneded ... it takes twice as long to fast-travel and after maybe 10 minutes, the game starts to severely lag... it takes forever to open a footlocker or the inventory of a vender... right now i am trying to sell shit for GRA supplies but so far all i have gotten is the mods for the chainsaw which you do need the GRA chainsaw to add them to... i am gonna buy the bozar and possibly some mini-nukes... i have yet to fire it on this file, i wanna take out the quarry ... but other than that, i will try to bounce around to different vendors to see what i can dig up for GRA weapons... but this lag is pissing me off ... the snipers nest might be one of the only safe fast-travel campsite anymore... the other ones seem to spawn legion hit squads now...

I'll do this as well if I can remember. I spend as much time playing the game as I do trying to place shit nicely in my house. you and me both brother... bones (NCR) uses the novac motel room... delilah (legion) uses a house in nipton... sanchez (house) uses the lucky 38... sakura (follower of the apocalypse) uses the followers safehouse... and my next character, roscoe (i think that'll be his name), is going to use harpers shack, with a family of deathclaws living nearby for protection... i am going to pretend his name is roscoe harper and this is his shack ...

yea, i put a lot of stuff on display in my houses too... i ought to take a couple photos of my novac pad... hey synch, i wasn't trying to imply that the caravan pack was worth the money nowadays... i was simply stating that it's a nice early game loadout, and the shotgun never deteriorates so it's durable... not a single item from that courier's stash is worth carrying later in the game though, or deathclaw tested and approved, lol... the lightweight armor is decent since it's only 10 lbs for an 8DT stat... but i think i will save the $2 for something else... even early in my next game, i think the caravan pack will still do the trick, especially the mad max armor... i guess i will keep playing sims 2 until the GRA is released... i am in the process of getting a sugar momma for my rich and wealthy college grad...

good to see stoic back in the topic ... no worries, synch ... i got TONS of junk weapons and a million repair kits... i might not get all the weapons, but i will get what my characters need...

gun runner's arsenal and the courier's stash is now available on x-box live... also, a new nuka-break episode has been posted; anyone been following the vault blog posts about all the available weapons?? MFC cluster bombs anyone?! there's lots of explosive weapons and grenades with GRA... too bad i can't take the mad bomber perk with bones because i am already at level 50... i want to make nuka-grenades and fatman mines ... once i see what weapons are available with the pack and what will be effective for delilah in lonesome road, i will beat lonesome road with her and hopefully shortly after, start my new file... still not sure if i want to buy the courier's stash... quite frankly, i still think i have the best pre-order pack and prefer not to clutter up my inventory with all the other garbage from the other packs... i love my mad max lightweight leather armor ... the only things i might want from the courier's stash is the unique machete and the vault 13 canteen (for display purposes only)...

about the courier's mile; that was a tough as balls area to deal with... i was nearing the end of the enemies (after numerous shotgun blast and stimpacks and med-x's) when the game crashed... so i said fuck it when it reloaded, grabbed the badass unique knife, then used a stealth boy to reach the middle and loot the high-tech chests and ammunition caches... the second time through, i said fuck the enemies... i wasn't about to get nearly to the end of the enemies only to have it lock up again... but seriously, that knife is the best one in the game, and one of the best melee weapons in the game too... -------------- didn't get seymour since i don't have wild wasteland... but i love that it's a futurama easter egg ... and how cool was the rawr encounter?! the cave collapsed behind me and i was thinking, "ohh shit"... i knew something was about to happen, but all it took was one sniper shot to bring him down... but that sequence of events was really cool... ------------- yea, that story left me with more answers... i was expecting it to wrap up all the loose ends and all it did was create new ones... i still think old world blues and dead money were the better stories... hell, even honest hearts had a better story... but the experience of lonesome road was the best... the interactions with ED-E and ulysses were memorable, but the story just felt empty...

finished the story last night... thought it had a decent end to things, but there's one thing that bugs me about the ending; i think there were still more questions at the end than answers... maybe i missed something, i did miss the last ulysses holotape somewhere, perhaps that had the answers?? dunno, but i left the divide still wanting more... i also did this ending; this add-on was pretty challenging, considering that there weren't many new enemies, they just had numbers most of the time... the marked men and their territories caused great lag at times, bringing the game to a crashing halt on numerous occasions... and i really do believe it has to do with the fire in their territory, and the numerous explosions from their weapons... but other than that, i didn't have any other issues... the graphics were what you'd expect from fallout new vegas... however, i think it had the best decor of any add-on... there were numerous points in my journey where i stopped to take in the landscape and found it to be epic... at times you are hundreds of yards in the air, other times you are traversing a building on it's side or at an angle... the sense of destruction is very convincing and abundant... the new enemy, the tunnelers, weren't just a re-skinned trog but a new kind of creature... and those suckers were tough in numbers... the new weapons have their ups and downs... the red glare isn't nearly as effective as i thought it would be, and my character has good explosive skills and perks... it's more like an alternative to the grenade machine gun, with more accuracy and a scope... the arc welder paled in comparison to the sonic emitter for me, but i could see some usefulness for my energy weapons character... and the industrial hand is fucking awesome!! after finding the elite riot gear, i decided to make that my wanderer's main armor... it's slightly lighter than the desert ranger armor, and looks more protective and intimidating... i will miss the desert camo of the other, but i am still using the desert ranger helmet since it weighs 0 lbs compared to 6 for the riot one... and THANK YOU for all of the medium armors the marked men wear in the divide... i now have plenty of armors to repair these expensive medium armored ranger suits with... too bad there's hardly anything left to do in the mojave ... after playing all four add-ons, i think my order of favorite to least favorite goes like this; OWB, LR, DM, HH... while i felt this add-on was lacking in story and locations, i found the atmosphere to be spot on... i was hoping for more hurricane-like weather, but the destruction and scale of that destruction was the selling point for me... it really did feel like a lonesome road at times ...

ok, once i made it past the first area, the severe lag stopped... i really think there's a problem in the coding with too much fire in that section because once i continued on, there hasn't been that much out of the ordinary since... too bad my home base and gear are all back in that godforsaken lag town ... enjoying some of the new weapons though (need delilah though to enjoy the new power fist ), the landscape, and the new containers just lying about; and the story is starting to really get interesting... i've heard all of the connections me and ulysses share, and i've heard 5 of the 6 holotapes telling his story... things are gearing up for something... what choices i have are still unknown... i've explored about as much as i can without a guide so far, constantly checking to see if there's another route from the current destination... not really finding much interesting in the way of weapons and armor... a couple of cool locales, but nothing ground breaking... i am still using my silenced sniper/riot shotgun combo since it's still the most effective... i've tinkered with the new weapons but they're not that impressive... the armored riot gear is a little more impressive than the standard issue, but as you can see from the photo, i still like the desert ranger armor from HH ... i am on the final stretch though, i will have to save it for another time... hopefully tomorrow... ------------------------------------- in other news, here's a snippet about the gun runners arsenal coming out next week... http://www.bethblog....o-the-gun-show/

my boss blocked igta5.com today... i knew it was deliberately towards me since igrandtheftauto.com still works... so i have been reduced to posting here on my ipod when at work since he has no idea that i altered some things to allow blocked sites to work on it... why doesn't he block fark and other sites other people dick around on during the day?? why the fuck was i singled out?? what a dick... oh well, i am home now, time to start playing some lonesome road ... EDIT: this is the glitchiest add-on yet!! i have had to restart about a half-dozen times already... seems to mostly be a problem in the marked men camps... fucking sucks... i really think the biggest lag violator in new vegas is the flames... flames in a barrel, flames in gommorah, flames in fires, etc... there are a lot of flaming barrels in the marked men camps... yup, if someone from bethesda or obsidian is seeing this, fix the fire frame rate drops on the PS3 please!! it brings the experience to a crashing halt... EDIT2: FUCK THIS GAME!!!! it's crashing nearly every 5 minutes... the frame rate drops to .5 frames per second... every fucking time i have to fight the marked men in their fucking territory, the game fucking comes to an almost complete stop!! what the fuck is going on here, i am getting FUCKING PISSED!!

yea, i think it's meant to be casual too... it's possible to get a hold of some decent weapons and armor for a early level character there as well... had a hula girl moment in LR too... there's this little building in the middle of that town i ran into when leaving the entrance area... and after exploring it a little, i ran across a table with a single hula girl lying on top of it with nothing else... lol, i stood there for literally one real minute, just to hear the audio clip play... it did, i smiled and moved on ...