Fallout Season 2 has doubled the amount of interest in Fallout games and it’s been nice to see so many new players stepping into the wastelands for the very first time.
Of course most players have made their first stop at New Vegas, which makes sense as it’s the setting of the second season. Even I started a new playthrough about an hour after watching the first episode.
But for those of you who are completely new to Fallout: New Vegas or Fallout games in general let me impart some wisdom upon you, and what build you should choose to have the best overall experience in the game.
At the start of the game you’ll be given the choice of which S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats you want to boost for your character but the only two you need to worry about are Luck and Agility, max them out to 9-10 each and then dump the stats into whatever you see fit, apart from Charisma. Don’t worry too much about these as they can be boosted by clothes and consumables, and implants later.
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Then play the game as normal but as you level up pay attention to what perks and stats you spend your points on. The two you want to the most are Guns and Speech, the latter of which being the most important. Like the S.P.E.C.I.A.L you can spend any excess points on whatever you like, but some good choices are Repair, Explosives, and generally anything that synergy with firing guns or communication skills.
With your high Luck and Guns stats you’ll be critically-wounded by just about everything you come into contact with, and while you’ll take a hit from returning fire or melee attacks you’ll hopefully gun down whatever’s ahead of you before it can do serious damage. A high Luck stat also makes the New Vegas casinos a blast, as you can seriously rack up the bottlecaps to spend on better gear.
Speech is my personal favourite though, and it’s widely known as one of the most useful abilities in the game.
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A high Speech stat is basically your get-out-of-jail free card for several hostile encounters, and it can even change the outcome of both main story and optional quests. For example one of my interactions with the Brotherhood of Steel would have had me fight several soldiers in power armour, but because my Speech was high enough I managed to talk them down. You can even win the game’s final battle with the maximum amount of Speech.
Another, more fun, example comes from a quest involving a cult of ghouls who are obsessed with a “Great Journey.” Their plan is to hitch a ride on a few rockets but with a high enough Speech stat you can convince the human helping them fly to sabotage the whole thing, then watch as the vessels break down and explode in almost comical fashion.
It’s a fantastic way to play the game, and generally keeps things interesting for the entire playthrough.
Of course it’s your game and you can play it your way but if you’re new to Fallout: New Vegas and want to have a fun time, focus on Luck, Agility, Guns and Speech for the best results.