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[Flying Dice]

Make sure to name your character 'The Power Fister'.

[Shadowlord]

I had no issues completing the game using energy weapons instead of ballistic ones in new vegas (including sniping deathclaws, although they took two headshots to kill, IIRC), without any of the DLC. If they weren't as good as ballistic weapons, I wasn't aware, but it doesn't seem like it was a serious problem.

[SOLDIER First]

Energy weapons far surpass ballistics because energy weapons melt or goo-ify enemies with critical kills.

[Teneb]

Energy weapons > bullet weapons

Really depends on the game.

Fallout New Vegas? BIG NOPE!... Unless you have New World Blues

Actually, new vegas lets you recycle energy ammo, so you can NEVER run out of shots once you get rolling. With the proper perks, you can turn 2 spent ammo into 1 usable one. That's not counting the recharger guns.

So maybe they don't deal as much damage, but you can shoot forever.

[SOLDIER First]

I have an ammo recycler on my laser pistol (used to on a plasma pistol, but I sold it. Mistake. I have a basegame one now, not GRA.) that remakes one out of four shots, and with ED-E, you always have a toolbench around to make more. I think it's still 4:1 with a toolbench.

[Flying Dice]

That's hardly remarkable, given that you can convert tin cans, scrap metal, explosives, and ammunition you don't use into whatever bullets or shells you do. A literal cycle of death.

[SOLDIER First]

Don't you one-up me with things I didn't know you could do.

[Teneb]

I looked it up and I was wrong. The best you can get is 3:1. The Perk.

[Flying Dice]

Don't you one-up me with things I didn't know you could do.

To be fair, a lot of that may well be from mods I've forgotten about installing. 

[nenjin]

Yeah, Fallout 3 actually did dumb it down quite a bit (tag skills as a flat bonus etc.), but they're not going to switch to ES-style experience just because they did that earlier.

I was sort of disenchanted the day I fired up FO3 and found out that was how it was, but I got over it. Seems like every time I acquiesce to the newer, sleeker Bethesda design philosophy and learn to live with it, they hack a couple more pieces off. So I'm essentially waiting for them to do a hat-trick.

[Teneb]

Yeah, Fallout 3 actually did dumb it down quite a bit (tag skills as a flat bonus etc.), but they're not going to switch to ES-style experience just because they did that earlier.

I was sort of disenchanted the day I fired up FO3 and found out that was how it was, but I got over it. Seems like every time I acquiesce to the newer, sleeker Bethesda design philosophy and learn to live with it, they hack a couple more pieces off. So I'm essentially waiting for them to do a hat-trick.

Maybe it will reach a point where they cannot cut anything else without leaving nothing, and still do it... causing an underflow error that spawns the most complex RPG ever made.

[Mech#4]

I found that the biggest issue I had with Skyrim's system of no statistics beyond health, mana and fatigue was that there was little difference between the characters created.

How can I put it? The less statistics there are, the less there is that defines what's different about my warrior from my mage. I like it when a game restricts what you can do (A warrior not being able to join the mages guild unless they have sufficient skill/intelligence) because even the restriction builds the story/world around the character. Also it means you can't do everything in one playthrough.

They could've changed such a check for joining the mages guild to, say, at least 30 in two mage skills.

Likewise in Fallout, it could be assumed that the Brotherhood of Steel would only accept members who had a sufficient level of skill in either repair, big guns, computers or a high intelligence stat to define the fact that they wouldn't let a bandit or average wastelander join.

[KingofstarrySkies]

Or speech, so you can lie your way in.

[scriver]

I found that the biggest issue I had with Skyrim's system of no statistics beyond health, mana and fatigue was that there was little difference between the characters created.

How can I put it? The less statistics there are, the less there is that defines what's different about my warrior from my mage. I like it when a game restricts what you can do (A warrior not being able to join the mages guild unless they have sufficient skill/intelligence) because even the restriction builds the story/world around the character. Also it means you can't do everything in one playthrough.

They could've changed such a check for joining the mages guild to, say, at least 30 in two mage skills.

The problem with this is that Beth's design philosophy didn't actually use any of those stats in any way ever, so they might as well be cut. I thought Skyrim was an improvement over Oblivion in that regard.

Fallout on the other hand has a pretty different history where stats come up constantly, particularly in dialogue and action, which New Vegas hopefully only served to reinforce. So if it was cut there I would scream bloody murder.

[nenjin]

The two kind of play off each other two. Fewer stats and ways to define your character create fewer entry points for feeling like you've been rewarded for making flavorful or personal choices. "Man, repair is useful but the fact it let me join the Brotherhood was sweet."

Versus:

Did you put points into Speech or not?

I felt like FO3 made a stab at some of that but, like a lot of Bethesda games, it gets watered down or can't adequately cover the vastness of content they churn out. Skyrim just doubled down on that.

The problem with this is that Beth's design philosophy didn't actually use any of those stats in any way ever, so they might as well be cut. I thought Skyrim was an improvement over Oblivion in that regard.

While Oblivion stats may not have hooked into dialog well if at all, they did still provide some granular, enjoyable progression. For thief/agility fighters, being able to level up your run and jump speed was awesome. Compared to Skyrim where, you were pretty much like every other guy out there until you'd gotten the perks to provide that specific bonus. Rather than a granular progression, it's a lurching upgrade scheme where you play half the game under one set of constraints, before magically getting better.