Fallout: New Vegas.......On The Other Hand - By Jarys

I realized, As I was checking out the new podcast (the speed and skill of it's publication shall take its place among the Epics of our age), that I left something unsaid while reviewing Fallout: New Vegas. Two things actually. Two? Yeah....Two. Don't look at me like that, I didn't get a degree in counting.
Anyway.....

 The first of these unspoken aspects is the game's quest system. The quest system, if that's even the best name for it, is quite different from those featured in other roleplaying games.  Most games seem to present their stories consecutively, with each story leading to a different story. In the best of scenarios a change is made in the world by the end of that particular story. New Vegas, however, is far more complicated. I don't think I've played anything quite like it.

You see, many choices, down to the areas you go to and the Companion whom you take there on your first visit, is noted. Some such choices are activated in a quest, some while exploring, and many quests are not made available to the player until certain choices are made in certain ways. While it can be said that this creates a very organic world in which the choices you make changes the gaming experience minutely, creating a better experience.......go back to the last sentence. Some quests cannot be accessed, unless you jump through certain hoops and the player is rarely if ever informed before those choices are made what the consequences might be, nor afterward. Many players are completely unaware that they cannot play large chunks of story, until they go online and ask what totally fun or funny moment everyone is talking about.

When I found this out, I became far too attached to the concern that I might miss out on a detail, and made sure to look up many possible stories I wanted access to, and what I would have to do to make sure I could play them. In doing so, I spoiled A LOT of these stories for myself. Would the alternative had been better? I don't know, but I'm not playing the game again just to have a certain conversation with a certain character.

This is directly related to the other aspect I foretold. As many people who play the game already know.....this game is extremely buggy.  My computer, which only crashed twice before, crashed twice while playing it. However, this relates to the quest/choices dynamic because the rampant bugs make the hoops you have to jump through to access certain quests far more specific. In fact, I narrowly avoided getting into a repetitive loop, which would have made the ever friendly Brotherhood of Steel even more unaccessable to me, had I not looked up the problem online and then broken out of it by talking to people in a certain order. These arcane details are lovingly chronicled in the annals of The Fallout Wiki, so I would point any players of this game in that direction.

Or don't, you may not want to spoil anything for yourself, but if you take that route, be happy with the parts of the game you can see. Don't think about what you might be missing.

Over all...I like this game. But there is a dark side.

Episode 4!

The fourth episode of our lovely podcast is online, folks. Download it here, or now on iTunes!

Download!

The newest podcast is up!

Hey folks, guess what? Our newest podcast is online! Sorry for the long break, which also accounts for how out of date this one might seem - we recorded it maybe two weeks ago and just had time to edit it now. Still, it's up, and we'll record the newest one this week for a release either later this week or early next.

Remember, we want your emails! Ask us questions, test our trivia knowledge, and please, tell us what you want the official Ace of Geeks theme song to be!


Download the podcast!

No Podcast this week

Due to stuff in our personal lives, the third podcast won't be going up this week. But we're finishing it on Monday, and putting it out on Tuesday or Wednesday that week. Watch this space for more details!

This is just for iTunes

Ignore this post! I'm running a test to try and get these links up on iTunes! Wheeee!

Second Podcast
First Podcast

Second Podcast is up!

Hey folks, the moment you've all been waiting for has arrived! The second podcast is officially online! We discuss some new trailers to hit the web this week, the Las Vegas Death Ray, Quick Saves, Final Fantasy 6, and we have the first ever disputed Ace of Geeks Award! Go to the website, or just check it out here:


http://www.aceofgeekspodcast.com/uploads/5/3/3/7/5337632/ace_of_geeks_episode_2.mp3

Flying Frog sent us Invasion from Space!

If you listened to the first podcast, you know how excited we are for Flying Frog Productions new game, Invasion from Space. Well, good news everyone - the game came in the mail today. We'll play it for the first time tonight, and have a full review of it either in the third podcast, or in this space, so come by soon for more information!

Welcome to the Ace of Geeks Blog!

Hey folks, as our first podcast goes up, so does our blog! Welcome to the Ace of Geeks Blog! Feel free to look around, but there ain't much here yet. On the other hand, you could always listen to our podcast, at:

http://www.aceofgeekspodcast.com/uploads/5/3/3/7/5337632/ace_of_geeks_episode_1.mp3

Let us know what you think on here, or on the official website, http://www.aceofgeekspodcast.com