Reviews - crazyrabbits

Probably the best "pure" quest mod for the vanilla version of New Vegas... but it comes at the cost of several nagging issues that can take you out of the experience.

This is a mod that adds several dozen new locations and NPCs throughout the Mojave, greatly extending the lifespan of each playthrough and showcasing a large number of interesting (and high-level) encounters in new areas designed to challenge seasoned players. This mod runs the gamut from new sewer and cave systems to sprawling interlinked complexes that connect different parts of the gameworld, letting you use teleporters called "Redoubts" to access new and normally-inaccessible spaces. There's also a whole of new loot items, including "4D Storage Devices", miscellaneous items that dramatically boost the player's inventory size.

The way I look at this mod is that it's a "second stage" type of addition -- a mod that's best served being played after you've completed every possible shred of content you can in the main game (and any other story mods, like the Someguy Series). It dramatically alters some areas so much that it's functionally incompatible with a number of other mods that change the same locations.

The ModDB page doesn't state it, but there are also newer versions of the mod that have been continually updated for several years after the fact, which add even more locations and NPCs to the gameworld.

Basically, if you want more content, locations to visit and high-end encounters, this is up your alley. There are sidequests involving missing members of an elite special-ops team, encounters in fiendishly-difficult dungeons, sprawling complexes that will take you through multiple floors of mayhem and plenty of new NPCs to speak to...

...but the big problem is that:

(a) none of this additional stuff is lore-friendly;
(b) a good chunk of the NPCs aren't voiced; and
(c) the gear you get is busted and overpowered

You get access to stuff like "Mark II" weapons right out of the gate that can make a dramatic difference in the early game, the new areas often stick out like a sore thumb (the sprawling sewer system and complexes in and around Goodsprings, for example), and it's hard to take certain sidequests seriously when you find out there's a massive underground complex that runs through a good chunk of the Mojave and has heavily-armed raiders that are apparently ready to strike any time.

This mod is worth a play as an endgame add-on, but I don't recommend it for new players -- there's enough material here to dramatically change the impact of the basegame in ways you may not like. Still, worth a playthrough.

There are precisely two main reasons to download the Lay D Denton Project:

1) Karen Rohan's delivery is a dead-ringer (right down to lip smacks and awkward pauses) for Jay Anthony Franke's performance from the original game, and it stands up to repeated listens and the kind of "meme-worthy" content the original performance was known for. This performance alone is well-worth the download, and a worthy addition to the maingame.

2) There's a selection of cut content integrated in this mod -- which, to the dev team's credit, has been documented thoroughly and is available separately for modders to utilize -- which hasn't been included on any other mod release, AFAIK. This includes unused Infolink messages (the sick Paul emailing you to come back to the hotel if you go into the Sewers during the transmitter mission, Everett having an extra message in A51 Sector 3, more MIB/MJ12 commando dialogue at the A51 outdoor hangar), some ambient dialogue and a few other odds and ends.

The rest of the mod is... eh?

I really liked the idea of a female-voiced JC Denton, which was a plan that (AFAIK) was scrapped early in development, and only had a few orphaned references (enemies talking about a "guy in a coat", etc.) and some concept art proving it was even thought of.

With that said, I feel like there could have been more done to differentiate this female JC character from the male counterpart. Not that I'm expecting any new missions or weird conversation paths, but maybe certain ambient skills like a passive boost to agility over the base version or some more customization options might have been appreciated.

The new NPCs are... a little weird. Two of them, which you find the moment you step into UNATCO, start arguing about which pronoun to call you. There's an NPC in the Underworld Bar who seems to veer between awkwardly cozying up to you and treating you like you need a bowl of chicken soup and a pat on the head. There are a couple thug-type characters that catcall the player, but these are so few and far between that I almost forgot they existed.

I still believe that this is a mod worth playing, and I will be very interested to see if further compatibility can be done with other existing mods down the line -- it's already been integrated into Revision and several other community works. Still, definitely worth a look.

An ambitious mod that aspires to be the best unofficial expansion ever released for New Vegas... but has a handful of problems and glitches that weigh it down.

The best way I can describe this mod is "everything but the kitchen sink". Ranging from new outfits, weapons and armor to an entire landmass and a full assortment of quests that run across several distinct factions, there's no denying that the team behind the mod had their work cut out for them, and for the most part, they nailed it.

Vault 18 is chockful of areas to explore and different questlines and stories to pursue, starting right from the opening moments when you're given a choice to pursue either a "Warrior" or "Scientist" path. Both of these options give wildly different starter quests and offer some great replayability, buoyed by some solid voice acting and amusing character moments (the Charisma checks with Jenifer's father and resulting conversation between both of them is some of the funniest material in the game).

The problem with this prologue, though, is that there are a lot of conditional perks and boosts that are easily missed, and it seems that the game is weighted far too heavily on one path, to the detriment of the other. It's hard to see what the rationale for going down the Scientist path is when being an Athlete nets you a potential boatload of skill books, several perks that directly increase critical stats like Guns and Charisma and some of the strongest character work in the game.

Additionally, the ensuing post-prologue sequence severely punishes you if you side with the Enclave, as everyone either tries to kill you on-sight or the potential companions you wanted to recruit get gunned down moments after allying with you. As far as I can tell, there is no real point to joining the Enclave after you leave Vault 18, and you lose out on a LOT of character development and side content if you leave those potential companions behind to get blown up.

(There may also be a way to prevent the reactor from blowing up, but I haven't experimented enough with that scenario yet, as it requires a massive assortment of anti-rad drugs just to survive.)

After escaping, the mod starts to take a dive... but not necessarily in the way you'd expect. For a mod that claims to have a sprawling overworld and plenty to see and do, the first half of what I assume is a full NCR playthrough was extremely linear. In quick succession, you are given two timed quests -- escape the blast radius and escape a horde of Survivalists who are hunting for you, with multiple chances to be captured and put on a different path altogether in a different part of the world.

That goes back to the diffculty, which wildly oscillates between easy and extremely hard. One minute, you're trying to fight off a horde of Enclave troops backed by Bragg, then the next you're casually taking potshots at the odd Bloatfly and Tarantula, before being confronted by a horde of Survivalists who've flanked you, to more serenity, to an even larger attack force that has access to weapons that can instantly knock you down. This is all within the first half of the mod.

I echo many of the other complaints users have had on the reviews page. Your companions turn into near-mute ciphers right after you camp out in Pinehaven. The story starts meandering once you leave the vault, with the potential villain (Eldragon, a distant relative of Elder Maxson from Fallout 4) not having enough screen presence or compelling dialogue to make a noticeable impact. There's a whole subplot about Ben (who you meet on the way out of Vault 18) having a split personality that reasserts itself when someone threatens him, but that doesn't translate into any real gameplay or character moments. There's a twist midway through the story that makes little sense and seems at odds with everything known about Fallout lore.

That said, the game is absolutely gorgeous to look at, and the worldmass is easily on par with any of the DLC expansions like Honest Hearts or Old World Blues. While some of the buildings and locations could definitely stand to hold more loot, the ambient encounters you find are varied enough, and the settings are compelling enough, to see you through to the end.

I wouldn't know that, though, because I ran into a fatal bug while doing the NCR questline and trying to get to Union City. Over, and over, and over without fail.

In the end, New California has a lot to love. The problem is that you have to tough it through a lot of jank to admire the beautful world and care put into the custom elements. As of this version (Oct. 2018), it's a conditional pass, though I will likely reappraise it when it hits the "final" version.

(UPDATED 2022)

I finally finished a full playthrough -- 40 hours, in fact -- on the Steam version of the game.

THE GOOD: There are a few new level events and a couple of stages that actually fit the mold of a "revision" that ties in seamlessly with the philosophy of the original game; namely, the Gas Station and parts of the Area 51 finale. The outro cutscenes actually fix a few wonky moments (Gunther running awkwardly towards the chopper after Paris then trying to run in a circle) that are appreciated. There are a whole ton of customization modifiers with all sorts of weird challenges (though whether anyone's actually going to attempt any of this is the real question).

THE MEH: Tons of achievements, at such a level that it almost becomes a joke when the game showers you in them for virtually any action you take. It tries to ape moments from the "Conspiracy" PS2 port without adding in any of the extra level design choices from that port (like routes that benefit lesser-used skills like Swimming). The Collectibles Mode is broken (you get absurd Damage Resistance if you find enough of them), but it makes exploring the new levels a bit more fun.

THE RIDICULOUS: The new "Crypt" secret level in the Graveyard is an absolute mess of a stage that tries to ape "Tomb Raider", in one of the most frustrating and dumb things I've ever played in a mod. The level design for the hubs are still either pointless, redundant or dumb.

THE BAD: The new "Challenges" added into later versions are so tough (a la Dishonored's "Dunwall City Trials" DLC) that I'm convinced someone put them in as a joke. There are still large swaths of the game that are unchanged (skills, augs, weapons), with combat being geared towards out-and-out firefights in many areas.

I still don't necessarily think it's worth playing for a first-timer. If you absolutely want the best "vanilla" experience, go with the Transcended mod, which is largely centered around bugfixes.

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That was an underwhelming experience.

Before I go any further, let me post my experience with DX in general. I've been playing this game religiously, at least once a year, for the last decade-and-a-half. Loved Shifter. Love New Vision. Don't consider myself a purist by any means.

Yet, when I heard about this mod and tried it out, I found myself struck with a constant sense of "like this, don't like this". For every good decision in the game, there's something that feels needlessly complicated and not really true to the spirit of the game.

Let me first point out what I love about this mod:

- Like the new "Elite" variant of the Assault Rifle, which you start picking up at the Shipyard.
- Really liked the design of Manderley's new office - it actually felt like the kind of place where you could sit down and have a serious conversation with a high-ranking official, and a bit rustic.
- Also liked the new UNATCO offices and the way Paul's office changed from mission to mission.
- Some of the new segments in New York (like the streets you travel through while going to the transmitter on top of Osgood & Sons) are interesting and provide a deeper sense of scale to the whole thing.
- The way cut content has been integrated into the game, especially the Grey Death homeless conversation before JC is taken in by Gunther.
- The new character models are great, and (mostly) look very polished.

As for what I didn't like, let me take a second to point out how great the original levels were. They were a masterclass in doing "more with less". Levels felt spartan at points, but were never lacking in interesting reading material, secrets or goodies to discover.

The changed levels in Revision feel way too busy for their own good. Hong Kong is now a sprawling series of areas that somehow feels expansive and hollow at the same time. There's some giant futuristic command center parked right in the middle of the MJ12 base under UNATCO. The Wall Cloud is now a confusing mess of corridors that feel at odds with the original level design. UNATCO itself feels like the first draft of a level vomited through production - impressively insular, cluttered and tedious to walk through.

Not to mention that I've run into lots of bugs. Friendlies randomly attacking me for a few moments then going back to their normal behavior, enemies floating in the Jesus pose as I round a corner, then springing to life and attacking.

I'm not entirely sure how this is a remake, because half of the stages are exactly the same, and what's new is a mixed bag. For every Paris hub, there's something like the new intro cutscene (is it supposed to be a nod to the PS2 "Deus Ex: The Conspiracy" intro?) For every decent addition to the stage, there's a level that's needlessly complicated.

It's a bipolar mod, and while I still intend to finish it (I've put 9 hours into it so far, as of this review), it still has a lot of problems that need to be worked out.