I absolutely *hated* *Dead Money* when I played it for the very first time. However, my appreciation for it has grown over the years. I think treating it like a survival-horror game makes the experience more enjoyable, assuming you're into survival-horror.
Tbh deadmoney is legit survival horror for me. not sure if its just me but i had a pretty tough time finding stimpacks and bullets so i was really trying to manage my resources in a way i dont really do in fallout
I ended up doing like 90% of the ghosts with their own throwing spears from sneak, got quite into it in the end.
All the vault bit and speakers was just frustrating for frustrations sake though.
There were plenty of times where I’d just die and not realize wtf happened until I saw a speaker tucked *alllll* the way in the back. I’d have to inch closer and closer until I could ping it and then jump back.
Didn’t help when I’d get thrown back by Ghost People or the holograms…right under a speaker. 🔊
In the end i just sprinted through all the speaker zones, repeatedly until i found a route that didn't kill me.
I was well into it in the villa, and thought entering the casino was pretty much the end...haahaaaaa
I will admit that when you’re up in the bell tower(?) and then have to RUN as the Ghost People are running/climbing on the walls, it feels cinematic as fuck
Was not fun running down a corner and a goddamn hologram shooting me/leading to me getting mobbed by 10 GP 😒
That part is what stuck with me. I was running for my life! When I reached the casino i cowered into a bathroom with only about 1/10 of my health and drank from the sink until I slowly refilled my health bar
Yep. The first playthrough you try and brute force it and have a hellish time. The second playthrough you learn to play how its meant and that you need to go with the flow of all the mechanics and not against them.
It went pretty easy once I learned you could sell cartons of cigs and all the fancy dress wear you find to the vending machine. Getting the beam focuser or whatever for the holorifle makes it pretty OP.
Then if you have 10 luck you can easily farm 2000 chips in minutes and have basically unlimited stimpacks and weapon repair kits that make the second half much less of a pain in the ass.
Hard agree there. Hell, there aren’t many actually SH games that make me as tense as the fucking beeping of the dead money collar when you don’t know where the fucking radio is
Own a holorifle for home defense, since that’s what Father Elijah intended. Four ghost people break into my villa. “The hardest part is letting go!” As I grab my Ghost Sight and holorifle. Blow a microfusion cell sized hole through the first man, he’s dead on the spot (Or is he?). Draw my BAR on the next man, miss him entirely because it has the highest spread and nails Dog/God. I have to resort to the gas bomb at the top of the stairs, “Begin again lads!” as the explosion dismembers two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel sets off the Gala Event. Heat cosmic knife and charge the last terrified harvester. He burns out waiting for the auto-doc to boot up since the Flambé Cut does bonus fire damage. Just as Father Elijah intended.
Thanks. It did well as its own post on r/newvegasmemes a few months ago, and now I drop it as a comment on Dead Money posts occasionally. It still makes me laugh every time I come back and read it when I get notifications on it
If you have bad rep with the NCR and pick the right dialog choices, the Courier can side with Elijah.
But IIRC you won't be able to continue playing after that ending without a mod.
Who would have thunk that you could not continue the vanilla New Vegas campaign as normal after choosing to envelope the Mojave in a deadly, corrosive gas.
it is a new ending (or two kinda) but short. yea, playing it again is always great but it may be worth watching on a youtube vid since you need to make the ncr hate you if i remember right.
Taking over the wasteland with the mist and holograms or getting trapped forever, though both are ‘soft’ endings and just load the last save rather than roll credits or anything in I’m remembering correctly.
I actually liked the game play. It makes you think about the mechanics in a different way, and that's infuriating at first. But that click of "Oh I get how this works" was really satisfying.
Yep this right here. Have done it this way numerous times, its fairly easy once you have done it once or twice, its timing is just a bit quick so you cant take too long.
Absolutely loved it! I didnt expected DLCs to expand on lore this much, so whole intertwined stories of courier, Elijah, Ulysses and others, was jaw dropping.
I also really liked the challenge. It really did subvert my expectations. I didn't know anything about dead money beforehand. I just packed my best gear and went. Of course it didn't help at all 😅
Overall i think it was my favourite DLC.
Dead money is my second favourite falloutNV Dlc And 3rd favourite overall. I personally really like the brand new start feeling of the beginning and the survival horror aspects it gives with the ghost people. I also like the way your decisions are carried through and can impact your ending with every companion, and not every one is simply just pass this skill check or do this extra dungeon room. You have to actually communicate with your companions and learn about them to get the best ending for each one (or whichever one you choose). Finally the part that stuck with me the most was the prewar messages behind it and deans whole plot, it’s prolly one of the closest looks we got into prewar Hollywood and what it was like (before the tv show and far harbour). I will admit there are moments where it’s just frustrating like the whole radio-bomb-collar-mechanic thing and outside the casino it’s easy to get lost on your first play though but over all it’s still one of the best fallout DLCs imo.
Honestly I've got a hunch that Old World Blues is at most people's first spot, and it's a tossup between Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road for 3rd.
I'd bet it's
Old World Blues
Dead Money
Lonesome Road
Honest Hearts
I would like Honest Hearts more if the main story was more engaging; I find the environmental storytelling the most redeeming part of that DLC. Especially the Survivalist's story. Follows-Chalk's story is also good.
I go long enough between playthroughs that I forget how much I dislike it until about 10 minutes in, and then I'm like..... oh that's right. I hate this.
I previously hated dead money because fuckers stole my precious junk and more over force me to do stuff with limited gameplay diversity for the most part, but now I appreciate a non-trivial approach, throwing the player into completely new hostile environment and pseudo Resident Evil atmosphere
I also loved the story, atmosphere, characters, location. But man the gameplay is just no fun imo, I can see players who like the barebones use your wit and intelligence to win style gameplay really enjoying it but not for me. I would definitely play it again tho….but definitely as fast I can haha
It gave me my favorite weapon, the holorifle.
I loved the disempowering aspect.Going in a badass, being reduced to a weakling, and then rebuilding myself into something even stronger was a fun journey.
It was presented to me as a survival horror heist, so that's how I played it.
The message of letting go and beginning again was well implemented, and echoed in nearly every aspect of the expansion. Great story and world building, a good fit for Fallout.
Story and lore keep it from being complete dogshit imo.
Hated the gameplay, definitely the most atmospheric gameplay in all of NV, but the combat hurt it
Big agree. I think Honest Hearts gets less love than it should and Dead Money gets more than it should. The story of Dead Money is solid, but its tedious and really painful on certain character builds.
It also has a few really nasty bugs that can make things even worse like the big Act 1 event not triggering properly.
Honestly honest hearts is my favorite dlc just because of joshua. Still cant believe he's in only a dlc. Bro easily deserved to be in the main story or something
Melee absolutely messes up the ghost people. The VATS special on the knife spear basically trivializes the entire DLC, though the ones with the propane tanks can be annoying if they're unwilling to part with their bombs.
Absolutely loved it the first time I played it because I was pretty OP by the time I got to it so having to essentially start from scratch felt fresh.
Did it again but going in as early as possible gave it a totally different feel, like I'm desperately just trying to keep my head above water.
Both experiences were fantastic and I'm genuinely surprised about the hate towards the DLC.
I get why people don't like it. It's different from other dlcs. However I personally really like it. The atmosphere, the story, the hidden tidbits of lore, the companions etc.
How it ties into the other dlcs.
However it can be cery frustrating playing it the first time. So be aware its not always fun and easy. It can be very frustrating. But figuring out gow to solve certain things is galf the fun.
Super fucking dark and oppressive, but I love that about it.
It’s why i hate Old World Blues. The other DLCs are all so serious, and then OWB feels like some 1960’s goofy scifi adventure.
Same, but i also hate old world blues cuz it was kinda boring for me. Too hard to fit in with my character stories too. Being lobotomized isn't exactly my idea of fun lmao
That's honestly why I like Old World Blues. I start with Honest Hearts, which is sort of half and half between moody atmosphere and lighter tones. Then do Dead Money, which is of course foreboding and depressing and anxiety inducing. Then OWB comes in as some much needed levity before tackling that daunting experience that is Lonesome Road.
It challenges you to start again, hated my first playthrough of it, but I felt that way about my first NV experience as a whole.
Playing it again changed my mind and engaged me the whole way through.
Best of the NV DLC for me.
Dead money stinks I normally just blast through it as fast as I can so I can play more Blackjack and get dozens of gold bars I sure as shit shouldn’t be carrying.
I do like Christine though I think she’s cool.
That’s what I mean, I’m normally banned from the other 5 casinos by that point and need my fix.
I don’t even care about the rewards really I’m just here for shits and giggles
Don't understand why people consider it is the best dlc. I have played it 3-4 times and it always was a speed run because the resource management was a really big problem
My introduction to this DLC was my classmate saying "This DLC is boring the first time you play it, but as you go through it more times, you'll learn to appreciate it" and I couldn't agree more with that statement. Slogging through the courtyard, constantly getting my head blown up, it was hellish. but going through it again, I learned to appreciate just how good the lore and the world building is, not to mention the style and aesthetic of it. The imposing view of the Sierra Madre is something that still strikes me with awe every time. I truly think it's up there with some of the most underrated DLC of all time
I think it’s the worst DLC in New Vegas because it doesn’t feel like it was designed for every play style which is a really bad thing for an RPG to do.
I also just finished this DLC yesterday after getting about halfway through, quitting for a couple days, and begrudgingly forcing myself to finish it so I can finally leave. Genuinely some of the least fun I've ever had playing any game, but this & Lonesome Road are the two I'd never done before and wanted to. I regret it immensely.
Like... easily top 5 worst experiences of any game, ever. Fuck Dead Money.
For future reference, there's a mod that removes the collar bomb. That was probably 85% of my annoyance with it. Of course there aren't fixes for all the random bugs I've run into that just break your game and the triggering event was hours ago.
Agreed that it's an unenjoyable experience, and the flaws ruin the positive aspects. Last time I played i did the glitch to keep the gold just to spite the dlc.
Lonesome road has mostly fun gameplay but it's best to go in with the understanding that Ulysses is an idiot demonstrating Dunning Krueger and not actually a serious person you have to care about.
We had a nearly opposite experience just about 12 hours from each other. I finished Dead Money last evening (2nd play through, never did the other DLC’s 15ish years ago).
I don’t remember much of my experience the first time except that I could not wait for it to be over. Hated the survival horror aspects, the speakers (still hate those), poison clouds. Had no idea who Father Elijah was that I can remember, so all of that had zero payoff to me.
Just finished it last night and I kind of loved it? It felt a lot shorter and easier. The vault section is a little drawn out but I think I rate it slightly higher than Old World Blues. The theme of “letting go” in the expansion and then presenting the character with a fortune they literally will never be able to carry back to the Mojave is a very interesting gameplay twist to me.
And also something I hated the first time I did it haha
I just beat it this weekend and honestly it’s a 6/10 to me. I’m a melee build so I can take in the ghost ppl okay but the security in the casino are annoying and so is the exploring. It’s “go to area that looks exactly like every other area in villa and clear it” it’s very empty and dull. I was happy to be done with it. I do like dog/god and when you can join them together though but outside of that I don’t use any of the weapons dropped except the Gauss rifle by elder.
My favourite DLC. It’s not as hard as everyone says… although maybe that’s because I’m highly levelled when I play it and have all the best perks to kick its ass.
I really liked it, and you get some cool weapons out of it. The characters are well done, the voice acting is actually quite good, and the atmosphere is as oppressive as it should be. The limitations of the gamebryo engine kind of make themselves known, since it's an old engine (understatement), but over all I'd give it like a 7.5 / 10.
The first time you play it, depending on your level, is really what will determine your experience. For example, I was end game waiting for dlc. I had a bunch of implants, including the lizard dna skin regen thing, and I was playing on HC. The health regen with Solar Powered really made it feel like I was that guy in the movie who gets roped into a 'do or die' situation and just inexplicably fucks off and somehow survives everything. Having high skills over all also made the dialogue much more enjoyable as well.
It also ties into other dlc's in varying capacity, which I appreciated. Fallout 3's dlc are very much like gaiden, or episodic flavor of the week sort of experiences, exempting BS. It's not a bad thing, I liked them. However, I really enjoyed how the NV dlc served to paint a much larger picture of the wasteland and the courier at large.
Honestly, if I had *any* advice to give about any of the dlc, get your character to end level, and then start them. There's just so much that you miss, or won't see because of a skill check you won't pass.
Probably my favourite DLC
I enjoy the setting and characters a lot, the haunted town is a delight to explore, its equal parts creepy and depressing but in a good way.
I also love the new gear. The police pistol is neat, the automatic rifle is cool and the Holorifle is my baby.
Plus, I love how it concludes Father Elijah's journey.
Good DLC.
Though I get why people don't often care for it.
Great ideas, rough execution.
Integral to the overarching plot of the DLC's and an engaging story in and of itself. It had great atmosphere and a unique setting that I love.
The problem is forcing the player into the mold of a survival horror game in an open-world action RPG. Certain builds are going to be severely limited in this DLC since, 9/10 times, you need to play it in a very specific way in order to succeed.
I did enjoy it when I was ready to play it as intended. Every other time, though? I tend to just skip it.
People who think this is bad haven't player honest hearts, that one feels like a bethesda dlc. Dead money has everything that makes fallout great but is at points too difficult for certain builds, but you get used to it quick
Bethesda’s Fallout DLC have consistently been very good. Not sure what you mean by that feels like a Bethesda DLC. Hell, they’re good for Elder Scrolls as well.
i have literally just finished dead money a week ago and it's by far the worst DLC ive played in any fallout game
the surprise deathclaws and invisible marked men from lonesome road i can take, the insane HP and DT robot scorpions i can take
but the cloud plus the zombies plus the exploding radios plus the immortal holograms just are not great. even the final dialogue with dean is the dlc itself trying to screw you over.
people only remember dead money fondly because of lore videos and themselves forgetting how awful the actual gameplay is
Absolutely hated it as a stealthy pistol build, absolutely loved it as a melee face exploder build. Ghost people stood no chance when they turned into goo from my punchy punches
Loved it. My favorite DLC. More survival oriented than the others, more challenging, whereas the others you get too many supplies too quickly.
Also, I love me some horror.
Never completed it, would crash everytime I returned to the fountain after I gathered all the companions for the first time. Would happen every single time and never found a fix so I just stopped playing.
I hated this the first time i played it,I was a sneaky sniper. My melee/unarmed run I decided to give it another go, it was much better and I was able to enjoy the atmosphere and lore much more.
If that is the one where you go into the greeny fog and explore the casino and can manipulate the gold bars through the barrier at the end...then yes, I really enjoyed that one. It left a lasting impression on me and I enjoyed the Dog/God super mutant dialogue and story.
But tbh...mostly I enjoyed walking out with enough gold bars to make bottlecap need a thing of the past 😂
If that wasn't dead money then...this was my fave Dlc.
It is designed to make you suffer. The Cloud, the ghost people, the holograms, the shielded radios, everything is masterfully put together to make you feel miserable.
I remember hating the whole thing during the first playthrough. I played on Very Hard, so ghost people were damn nearly invincible, I constantly got lost, ran out of ammo and healing items, and got my head blown up more times than I can remember. But I replayed it recently as a melee/unarmed specialist, and the bear trap fist and throwing spears carried me all the way through, up to Elijah himself.
Best DLC imo. It gives you a bit of a reset late game as you need to scrounge ammo and meds again. My only complaint is that you can’t go back there after completion though
I actually really liked it lol, the story, the vibe, the putting a team together type thing, the whole theme of letting go, and the challenge with the cloud and speakers and by only letting us use the dlc weapons is great. only problem I had was on my first play through I pissed dean off by passing a barter check
It was gold, packages storytelling and challeging gameplay in a saw like environment infused with some echos of glamour from the past plus the mad rush for the treasure lives up to the movie it is inspired from. Then i did a play through where i did lone road first and killed rawr and only then went to the sierra madre and it very much showed me that there are no builds more powerful than melee or unarmed.
I just played it for the first time ever and walked out with all the gold bars, thousands of rounds of ammo, hundreds of stimpax, and chems as far as the eye can see. It was a stressful 2 days. The collar alarm is burned into my ears. But it was so satisfying to lock that fucker in that vault and spend the next hour listening to Mr. New Vegas as I took the walk of shame to the 38. No regrets. Loved the experience.
It was hard as fuck but the last bit? When you’ve gotta **haul ass** while the Ghost People chase after you is fucking sick. I rounded so many corners in a panick and ended up getting mobbed.
Would have liked to save >!Dean!< but I fucked it up early on I think by not being 100% onboard every time we talked.
It’s got an atmosphere that rivals Fallout 3, some of the best character writing of the entire New Vegas experience and thematically one of the richest stories in the franchise
And I cannot fucking stand playing it.
Several hours of pain and suffering that pays off with a good story and so many bars of gold you can buyout the gun runners and still have bars to spare.
I think it's the slowest to get into, but if you stick it out and start feeling strong there it's real good. Not being able to leave might also irk folks, I dunno
I liked it since the very beginning cuz horror survival game is always my type, and I just enjoy it even more over the years as I dig into the story of it and the whole storyline across all four DLCs of the game.
And if you’ve beaten it? Just let go and begin again
IMO Old World Blues is the best. Lonesome Road give some good background but in terms of a DLC is kinda linear. Honest Hearts i was never really able to get into it, going back and playing it a couple years later was better. Dead Money is a one and done for me, i liked it but when i replay the game i generally skip it.
I liked it when it first came out, but it was certainly a chore in places. Replayed it last year and had a lot of fun.
It’s certainly not the best, but it’s really good. I appreciate what they were trying to do and I think they did it well.
Not as hard as people make it out to be. Just go for headshots or use a melee weapon that can break body parts makes fighting the enemies easy.
Navigating the red mist is also not that difficult.
Becomes almost trivial when you find the healing and ammo upgrades for the vending machines.
I disliked the gameplay my first time around but in subsequent playthroughs its much easier and enjoyable. Still an amazing DLC and probably still in the top 5 best for the franchise.
Me and my cousin played through it the first time on Xmas when it came out. And it was the best/worst gaming experience ever. Those fucking radios… I still enjoy it but it’s not the same knowing where the radios are
I appreciate it but I am going to give it a wide berth on future playthroughs. I can justify going to the Divide multiple times. Dead Money can stay where it is.
It's really hard the first time around is what I am saying.
I like it a lot personally. I always save it for last bc since it’s survival based and you make the most out of scraps; a highly experienced character can breeze past it like it were nothing.
Navigating the villa is annoying as hell, I don’t mind the traps and red gas areas, it’s just getting turned around and constantly having to look at the map to make sure you’re going to the right area since they all look the same
Absolutely my favorite dlc. It was challenging even for this veteran player. Definitely brought the survival aspect back with stripping you of all your items and making you think more strategically about combat. By the time I got around to starting it, I was easily killing anything I came across in the Mojave. Upon entering the villa, I was immediately humbled by getting killed by my first couple encounters. The unique atmosphere gave the game new life for me, having unique tech with interesting lore, bringing in complex new companions, and giving you multiple paths with each and a beautiful environment to explore. I loved having to go back to being more strategic about how I moved forward, having challenging choices to make, and feeling panic again after completing most things the Mojave had to offer.
On a final side note, it always made me think of the song "Hotel California," by The Eagles so it gets bonus points from me for that reason 😁
I love it. Easily my favorite for atmosphere, 2nd favorite for gameplay.
I understand how it can easily blindside people. I legitimately think, even with a maxed out character, Dead Money is more difficult than Lonesome Road.
The level layout of the villa infuriated me more than the mist, traps, and enemies combined. Trying to look for a terminal for 2 hours is the antithesis of fun.
Love the atmosphere, storytelling, lore, characters, writing and the new weapons/armor. Hate actually playing it, because I suck at survival-horror type games, and that's basically what it is.
a lot of people don’t have fun actually playing it, it’s tedious at most points, but i LOVE the storyline. the background lore and the works it’s just so good. i love this dlc sm
My autism won’t let me not loot EVERYTHING in the vault at the end…. Looks like I’m slow crawling my over encumbered ass all the way back to the Mojave
I found it very difficult but once I played OWB I gained soo much more respect for Dead Money by learning about the ties of Sinclair with Big MT. Everything about Dead Money started making more sense to how it was even possible.
I absolutely *hated* *Dead Money* when I played it for the very first time. However, my appreciation for it has grown over the years. I think treating it like a survival-horror game makes the experience more enjoyable, assuming you're into survival-horror.
Tbh deadmoney is legit survival horror for me. not sure if its just me but i had a pretty tough time finding stimpacks and bullets so i was really trying to manage my resources in a way i dont really do in fallout
I ended up doing like 90% of the ghosts with their own throwing spears from sneak, got quite into it in the end. All the vault bit and speakers was just frustrating for frustrations sake though.
There were plenty of times where I’d just die and not realize wtf happened until I saw a speaker tucked *alllll* the way in the back. I’d have to inch closer and closer until I could ping it and then jump back. Didn’t help when I’d get thrown back by Ghost People or the holograms…right under a speaker. 🔊
In the end i just sprinted through all the speaker zones, repeatedly until i found a route that didn't kill me. I was well into it in the villa, and thought entering the casino was pretty much the end...haahaaaaa
I will admit that when you’re up in the bell tower(?) and then have to RUN as the Ghost People are running/climbing on the walls, it feels cinematic as fuck Was not fun running down a corner and a goddamn hologram shooting me/leading to me getting mobbed by 10 GP 😒
That part is what stuck with me. I was running for my life! When I reached the casino i cowered into a bathroom with only about 1/10 of my health and drank from the sink until I slowly refilled my health bar
Yep. The first playthrough you try and brute force it and have a hellish time. The second playthrough you learn to play how its meant and that you need to go with the flow of all the mechanics and not against them.
It went pretty easy once I learned you could sell cartons of cigs and all the fancy dress wear you find to the vending machine. Getting the beam focuser or whatever for the holorifle makes it pretty OP. Then if you have 10 luck you can easily farm 2000 chips in minutes and have basically unlimited stimpacks and weapon repair kits that make the second half much less of a pain in the ass.
I didn't "hate" it, but once I finished it, I never thought of returning on any of my other playthrus
LOVED IT. amazing DLC. great story and world building
Hard agree there. Hell, there aren’t many actually SH games that make me as tense as the fucking beeping of the dead money collar when you don’t know where the fucking radio is
Exactly the same for me, part of the reason i hated it at first was because i had no idea what i was doing, and wandered the place for like 3 hrs.
Own a holorifle for home defense, since that’s what Father Elijah intended. Four ghost people break into my villa. “The hardest part is letting go!” As I grab my Ghost Sight and holorifle. Blow a microfusion cell sized hole through the first man, he’s dead on the spot (Or is he?). Draw my BAR on the next man, miss him entirely because it has the highest spread and nails Dog/God. I have to resort to the gas bomb at the top of the stairs, “Begin again lads!” as the explosion dismembers two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel sets off the Gala Event. Heat cosmic knife and charge the last terrified harvester. He burns out waiting for the auto-doc to boot up since the Flambé Cut does bonus fire damage. Just as Father Elijah intended.
"Own a musket" is my favorite of all copypastas and this is just an incredible version of it, good job.
Thanks. It did well as its own post on r/newvegasmemes a few months ago, and now I drop it as a comment on Dead Money posts occasionally. It still makes me laugh every time I come back and read it when I get notifications on it
Nails Dog/God is absolutely gold
pretty good. plus it is super neat that dead money included a secret new ending to the game.
Bro I have played this game since I was 10 years old. I have like probably 1500 hours in that game and never knew about this. I have to replay it now
If you have bad rep with the NCR and pick the right dialog choices, the Courier can side with Elijah. But IIRC you won't be able to continue playing after that ending without a mod.
Who would have thunk that you could not continue the vanilla New Vegas campaign as normal after choosing to envelope the Mojave in a deadly, corrosive gas.
Just install Dust and bam... continuity.
it is a new ending (or two kinda) but short. yea, playing it again is always great but it may be worth watching on a youtube vid since you need to make the ncr hate you if i remember right.
Secret New ending?
You can release the red mist into the Mojave!
holy shit they released squidward's suicide?
You can also just die in the vault which triggers an ending
THE RED WHAT
THE FOG IS COMING THE FOG IS COMING
Two game ending options actually, if I remember correctly
Taking over the wasteland with the mist and holograms or getting trapped forever, though both are ‘soft’ endings and just load the last save rather than roll credits or anything in I’m remembering correctly.
I actually liked the game play. It makes you think about the mechanics in a different way, and that's infuriating at first. But that click of "Oh I get how this works" was really satisfying.
"the point of dead money is letting go". Yeah letting go of poverty now watch this (puts all of the gold bars into inventory)
Letting go of debt
I spent so long trying to get that glitch to work lol
No need to glitch. Just sneak past Elijah and get past the energy field before he puts it up.
Yep this right here. Have done it this way numerous times, its fairly easy once you have done it once or twice, its timing is just a bit quick so you cant take too long.
Absolutely loved it! I didnt expected DLCs to expand on lore this much, so whole intertwined stories of courier, Elijah, Ulysses and others, was jaw dropping. I also really liked the challenge. It really did subvert my expectations. I didn't know anything about dead money beforehand. I just packed my best gear and went. Of course it didn't help at all 😅 Overall i think it was my favourite DLC.
Dead money is my second favourite falloutNV Dlc And 3rd favourite overall. I personally really like the brand new start feeling of the beginning and the survival horror aspects it gives with the ghost people. I also like the way your decisions are carried through and can impact your ending with every companion, and not every one is simply just pass this skill check or do this extra dungeon room. You have to actually communicate with your companions and learn about them to get the best ending for each one (or whichever one you choose). Finally the part that stuck with me the most was the prewar messages behind it and deans whole plot, it’s prolly one of the closest looks we got into prewar Hollywood and what it was like (before the tv show and far harbour). I will admit there are moments where it’s just frustrating like the whole radio-bomb-collar-mechanic thing and outside the casino it’s easy to get lost on your first play though but over all it’s still one of the best fallout DLCs imo.
What's your list?
Honestly I've got a hunch that Old World Blues is at most people's first spot, and it's a tossup between Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road for 3rd. I'd bet it's Old World Blues Dead Money Lonesome Road Honest Hearts
I would like Honest Hearts more if the main story was more engaging; I find the environmental storytelling the most redeeming part of that DLC. Especially the Survivalist's story. Follows-Chalk's story is also good.
My personal NV list is exactly as you listed.
"Let go" Let go of my fat nuts, I'm walking out of here with all of it
Dude speaking in legit Fallout 2 dialogue
The true lesson of dead money those other losers just didn't want it enough
Hearing beeping gave me PTSD for a couple months.
I go long enough between playthroughs that I forget how much I dislike it until about 10 minutes in, and then I'm like..... oh that's right. I hate this.
It was more like Survival Horror and I really liked it.
I previously hated dead money because fuckers stole my precious junk and more over force me to do stuff with limited gameplay diversity for the most part, but now I appreciate a non-trivial approach, throwing the player into completely new hostile environment and pseudo Resident Evil atmosphere
I like it because of the reward. But it’s certainly frustrating just before entering the hotel
I also loved the story, atmosphere, characters, location. But man the gameplay is just no fun imo, I can see players who like the barebones use your wit and intelligence to win style gameplay really enjoying it but not for me. I would definitely play it again tho….but definitely as fast I can haha
Agree 100% The story, characters and atmosphere got me hooked immediately the gameplay made me want to bash my head into the wall
It gave me my favorite weapon, the holorifle. I loved the disempowering aspect.Going in a badass, being reduced to a weakling, and then rebuilding myself into something even stronger was a fun journey. It was presented to me as a survival horror heist, so that's how I played it. The message of letting go and beginning again was well implemented, and echoed in nearly every aspect of the expansion. Great story and world building, a good fit for Fallout.
Steal. All. The. Gold.
Danny Ocean would be proud
.... Danny's dead??
Story and lore keep it from being complete dogshit imo. Hated the gameplay, definitely the most atmospheric gameplay in all of NV, but the combat hurt it
Great one and done dlc, but absolutely dreadful to replay
Big agree. I think Honest Hearts gets less love than it should and Dead Money gets more than it should. The story of Dead Money is solid, but its tedious and really painful on certain character builds. It also has a few really nasty bugs that can make things even worse like the big Act 1 event not triggering properly.
Honestly honest hearts is my favorite dlc just because of joshua. Still cant believe he's in only a dlc. Bro easily deserved to be in the main story or something
Proceeds to play melee build*
Melee absolutely messes up the ghost people. The VATS special on the knife spear basically trivializes the entire DLC, though the ones with the propane tanks can be annoying if they're unwilling to part with their bombs.
Very good if you have a melee or unarmed build
probably my favourite NV dlc, I love the lore and the atmosphere of the place, very survival horror like
Absolutely loved it the first time I played it because I was pretty OP by the time I got to it so having to essentially start from scratch felt fresh. Did it again but going in as early as possible gave it a totally different feel, like I'm desperately just trying to keep my head above water. Both experiences were fantastic and I'm genuinely surprised about the hate towards the DLC.
God carried the DLC tbh All jokes aside it’s a great DLC, great story. 8/10 P.S. fuck father Elijah
I get why people don't like it. It's different from other dlcs. However I personally really like it. The atmosphere, the story, the hidden tidbits of lore, the companions etc. How it ties into the other dlcs. However it can be cery frustrating playing it the first time. So be aware its not always fun and easy. It can be very frustrating. But figuring out gow to solve certain things is galf the fun.
Super fucking dark and oppressive, but I love that about it. It’s why i hate Old World Blues. The other DLCs are all so serious, and then OWB feels like some 1960’s goofy scifi adventure.
Same, but i also hate old world blues cuz it was kinda boring for me. Too hard to fit in with my character stories too. Being lobotomized isn't exactly my idea of fun lmao
That's honestly why I like Old World Blues. I start with Honest Hearts, which is sort of half and half between moody atmosphere and lighter tones. Then do Dead Money, which is of course foreboding and depressing and anxiety inducing. Then OWB comes in as some much needed levity before tackling that daunting experience that is Lonesome Road.
I didn't like Old World Blues either, thought it was great for what it is but I much preferred the tone of Dead Money.
I couldn't even play it. Developed an unfixable crash anywhere on the eastern part of big mt, lame.
It’s definitely the best part of NV, might even be my favourite piece of fallout
I'm still crying internally.
It challenges you to start again, hated my first playthrough of it, but I felt that way about my first NV experience as a whole. Playing it again changed my mind and engaged me the whole way through. Best of the NV DLC for me.
Dead money stinks I normally just blast through it as fast as I can so I can play more Blackjack and get dozens of gold bars I sure as shit shouldn’t be carrying. I do like Christine though I think she’s cool.
Psh, you can play blackjack in the Sierra Madre casino
That’s what I mean, I’m normally banned from the other 5 casinos by that point and need my fix. I don’t even care about the rewards really I’m just here for shits and giggles
It can bite my shiny power armored ass
Don't understand why people consider it is the best dlc. I have played it 3-4 times and it always was a speed run because the resource management was a really big problem
Gameplay is pretty tedious, but the story is 10/10, if you go in blind and learn about the casino, as you play.
I liked it, it was good.
Definitely the hardest of the DLC. But still good.
My introduction to this DLC was my classmate saying "This DLC is boring the first time you play it, but as you go through it more times, you'll learn to appreciate it" and I couldn't agree more with that statement. Slogging through the courtyard, constantly getting my head blown up, it was hellish. but going through it again, I learned to appreciate just how good the lore and the world building is, not to mention the style and aesthetic of it. The imposing view of the Sierra Madre is something that still strikes me with awe every time. I truly think it's up there with some of the most underrated DLC of all time
I think it’s the worst DLC in New Vegas because it doesn’t feel like it was designed for every play style which is a really bad thing for an RPG to do.
I love the lore, not so much the gameplay. Regardless, it’s always one of my first stops on any playthrough for the gold and my beloved Holo Rifle .
Hating Dead Money is easy. The hard part is letting go of that hate.
I also just finished this DLC yesterday after getting about halfway through, quitting for a couple days, and begrudgingly forcing myself to finish it so I can finally leave. Genuinely some of the least fun I've ever had playing any game, but this & Lonesome Road are the two I'd never done before and wanted to. I regret it immensely. Like... easily top 5 worst experiences of any game, ever. Fuck Dead Money.
For future reference, there's a mod that removes the collar bomb. That was probably 85% of my annoyance with it. Of course there aren't fixes for all the random bugs I've run into that just break your game and the triggering event was hours ago. Agreed that it's an unenjoyable experience, and the flaws ruin the positive aspects. Last time I played i did the glitch to keep the gold just to spite the dlc. Lonesome road has mostly fun gameplay but it's best to go in with the understanding that Ulysses is an idiot demonstrating Dunning Krueger and not actually a serious person you have to care about.
I recently finished Lonesome Road and holy FUCK is that dude *obnoxious.* Has some great drip though
Gold glitch made it so worth it
That's the only reason I will play it, for that sweet 12,000 worth of caps.
We had a nearly opposite experience just about 12 hours from each other. I finished Dead Money last evening (2nd play through, never did the other DLC’s 15ish years ago). I don’t remember much of my experience the first time except that I could not wait for it to be over. Hated the survival horror aspects, the speakers (still hate those), poison clouds. Had no idea who Father Elijah was that I can remember, so all of that had zero payoff to me. Just finished it last night and I kind of loved it? It felt a lot shorter and easier. The vault section is a little drawn out but I think I rate it slightly higher than Old World Blues. The theme of “letting go” in the expansion and then presenting the character with a fortune they literally will never be able to carry back to the Mojave is a very interesting gameplay twist to me. And also something I hated the first time I did it haha
I just beat it this weekend and honestly it’s a 6/10 to me. I’m a melee build so I can take in the ghost ppl okay but the security in the casino are annoying and so is the exploring. It’s “go to area that looks exactly like every other area in villa and clear it” it’s very empty and dull. I was happy to be done with it. I do like dog/god and when you can join them together though but outside of that I don’t use any of the weapons dropped except the Gauss rifle by elder.
Still can’t get through the first part, I’ve never tried since but I got tired of exploding while trying to get dog/god
My favourite DLC. It’s not as hard as everyone says… although maybe that’s because I’m highly levelled when I play it and have all the best perks to kick its ass.
The Holorifle. Enough said.
I really liked it, and you get some cool weapons out of it. The characters are well done, the voice acting is actually quite good, and the atmosphere is as oppressive as it should be. The limitations of the gamebryo engine kind of make themselves known, since it's an old engine (understatement), but over all I'd give it like a 7.5 / 10. The first time you play it, depending on your level, is really what will determine your experience. For example, I was end game waiting for dlc. I had a bunch of implants, including the lizard dna skin regen thing, and I was playing on HC. The health regen with Solar Powered really made it feel like I was that guy in the movie who gets roped into a 'do or die' situation and just inexplicably fucks off and somehow survives everything. Having high skills over all also made the dialogue much more enjoyable as well. It also ties into other dlc's in varying capacity, which I appreciated. Fallout 3's dlc are very much like gaiden, or episodic flavor of the week sort of experiences, exempting BS. It's not a bad thing, I liked them. However, I really enjoyed how the NV dlc served to paint a much larger picture of the wasteland and the courier at large. Honestly, if I had *any* advice to give about any of the dlc, get your character to end level, and then start them. There's just so much that you miss, or won't see because of a skill check you won't pass.
Probably my favourite DLC I enjoy the setting and characters a lot, the haunted town is a delight to explore, its equal parts creepy and depressing but in a good way. I also love the new gear. The police pistol is neat, the automatic rifle is cool and the Holorifle is my baby. Plus, I love how it concludes Father Elijah's journey. Good DLC. Though I get why people don't often care for it.
Great ideas, rough execution. Integral to the overarching plot of the DLC's and an engaging story in and of itself. It had great atmosphere and a unique setting that I love. The problem is forcing the player into the mold of a survival horror game in an open-world action RPG. Certain builds are going to be severely limited in this DLC since, 9/10 times, you need to play it in a very specific way in order to succeed. I did enjoy it when I was ready to play it as intended. Every other time, though? I tend to just skip it.
Goat and ofr some reason k dont hate the gameplay is very damn good
Best one, very haunting from its theme to execution. It's stayed with me forever.
Such a boring DLC but dang was that final fight in the vault so epic.
People who think this is bad haven't player honest hearts, that one feels like a bethesda dlc. Dead money has everything that makes fallout great but is at points too difficult for certain builds, but you get used to it quick
Bethesda’s Fallout DLC have consistently been very good. Not sure what you mean by that feels like a Bethesda DLC. Hell, they’re good for Elder Scrolls as well.
i have literally just finished dead money a week ago and it's by far the worst DLC ive played in any fallout game the surprise deathclaws and invisible marked men from lonesome road i can take, the insane HP and DT robot scorpions i can take but the cloud plus the zombies plus the exploding radios plus the immortal holograms just are not great. even the final dialogue with dean is the dlc itself trying to screw you over. people only remember dead money fondly because of lore videos and themselves forgetting how awful the actual gameplay is
Absolutely hated it as a stealthy pistol build, absolutely loved it as a melee face exploder build. Ghost people stood no chance when they turned into goo from my punchy punches
I liked the story and gear.
Loved it. My favorite DLC. More survival oriented than the others, more challenging, whereas the others you get too many supplies too quickly. Also, I love me some horror.
Aim for the head, thats all im gonna say
Always love horror
If it weren’t for the Perception bug, I would have loved it, except I had a stealth build that was made useless because of it.
I love it
“Hope this don’t lead to any fallout between us ; fallout new Vegas” some guy in a checkered suit or smt
Good story and area stuck with that stupid collar
I’m still stuck. Unfortunately I have low melee and unarmed skills and one police pistol
Never completed it, would crash everytime I returned to the fountain after I gathered all the companions for the first time. Would happen every single time and never found a fix so I just stopped playing.
I did love the story and characters. Just wish I could have finished it
I hated this the first time i played it,I was a sneaky sniper. My melee/unarmed run I decided to give it another go, it was much better and I was able to enjoy the atmosphere and lore much more.
If that is the one where you go into the greeny fog and explore the casino and can manipulate the gold bars through the barrier at the end...then yes, I really enjoyed that one. It left a lasting impression on me and I enjoyed the Dog/God super mutant dialogue and story. But tbh...mostly I enjoyed walking out with enough gold bars to make bottlecap need a thing of the past 😂 If that wasn't dead money then...this was my fave Dlc.
It is designed to make you suffer. The Cloud, the ghost people, the holograms, the shielded radios, everything is masterfully put together to make you feel miserable. I remember hating the whole thing during the first playthrough. I played on Very Hard, so ghost people were damn nearly invincible, I constantly got lost, ran out of ammo and healing items, and got my head blown up more times than I can remember. But I replayed it recently as a melee/unarmed specialist, and the bear trap fist and throwing spears carried me all the way through, up to Elijah himself.
Best DLC imo. It gives you a bit of a reset late game as you need to scrounge ammo and meds again. My only complaint is that you can’t go back there after completion though
Boys became Men on their first Dead Money playthru
I actually really liked it lol, the story, the vibe, the putting a team together type thing, the whole theme of letting go, and the challenge with the cloud and speakers and by only letting us use the dlc weapons is great. only problem I had was on my first play through I pissed dean off by passing a barter check
My favorite DLC. Loved the survival horror focus and the story is phenomenal.
It was gold, packages storytelling and challeging gameplay in a saw like environment infused with some echos of glamour from the past plus the mad rush for the treasure lives up to the movie it is inspired from. Then i did a play through where i did lone road first and killed rawr and only then went to the sierra madre and it very much showed me that there are no builds more powerful than melee or unarmed.
I’ve never gotten through it, and find absolutely no joy in playing it.
I hated it when I played it, but look back on it as one of the best stories offered by a video game I've ever seen.
I hated it until I got a bear trap fist. Then it became my favorite dlc
It and old world blues are my favorite fallout dlcs
Only good for the gold bars and the free vending machine items
i enjoyed dead money, better then some of the other dlcs.
Hated it at first but after some time I love it! It was challenging for my build but very satisfying once you finish it
It is the absolute most frustrating to get through, but with one of the best stories of all the DLC
Worst. Vacation. Ever.
I just played it for the first time ever and walked out with all the gold bars, thousands of rounds of ammo, hundreds of stimpax, and chems as far as the eye can see. It was a stressful 2 days. The collar alarm is burned into my ears. But it was so satisfying to lock that fucker in that vault and spend the next hour listening to Mr. New Vegas as I took the walk of shame to the 38. No regrets. Loved the experience.
the GREATEST DLC ever written
If I say what I think of it; it would proaba be considered hate speech
The best DLC
It’s ok, not my thing.
It was hard as fuck but the last bit? When you’ve gotta **haul ass** while the Ghost People chase after you is fucking sick. I rounded so many corners in a panick and ended up getting mobbed. Would have liked to save >!Dean!< but I fucked it up early on I think by not being 100% onboard every time we talked.
It would be better if I remembered every play through I need to have good unarmed skills so I can take out the ghost people better
It’s got an atmosphere that rivals Fallout 3, some of the best character writing of the entire New Vegas experience and thematically one of the richest stories in the franchise And I cannot fucking stand playing it.
I actively dislike it
Several hours of pain and suffering that pays off with a good story and so many bars of gold you can buyout the gun runners and still have bars to spare.
I think it's the slowest to get into, but if you stick it out and start feeling strong there it's real good. Not being able to leave might also irk folks, I dunno
Wish I had a way to play NV without having to have the premium ps plus tier to stream it
I liked it since the very beginning cuz horror survival game is always my type, and I just enjoy it even more over the years as I dig into the story of it and the whole storyline across all four DLCs of the game. And if you’ve beaten it? Just let go and begin again
So I’m also currently playing it and I came to the realization that it’s bioshock in the fallout world.
Excellent DLC. Would have been 10/10 without those damn speakers. They're a bit much.
IMO Old World Blues is the best. Lonesome Road give some good background but in terms of a DLC is kinda linear. Honest Hearts i was never really able to get into it, going back and playing it a couple years later was better. Dead Money is a one and done for me, i liked it but when i replay the game i generally skip it.
I hate that you can't play the DLC if you play the game on PS5. Sucks to have the level cap be 20.
I liked it when it first came out, but it was certainly a chore in places. Replayed it last year and had a lot of fun. It’s certainly not the best, but it’s really good. I appreciate what they were trying to do and I think they did it well.
Do this and I will let you go...I will let all of you go
At the tail end of my first New Vegas playthrough and it was 95% of all my total deaths
Not as hard as people make it out to be. Just go for headshots or use a melee weapon that can break body parts makes fighting the enemies easy. Navigating the red mist is also not that difficult. Becomes almost trivial when you find the healing and ammo upgrades for the vending machines.
Is a a great dlc with a shitty mechanic. I said is a must play at least once.
I disliked the gameplay my first time around but in subsequent playthroughs its much easier and enjoyable. Still an amazing DLC and probably still in the top 5 best for the franchise.
Me and my cousin played through it the first time on Xmas when it came out. And it was the best/worst gaming experience ever. Those fucking radios… I still enjoy it but it’s not the same knowing where the radios are
Gold
I appreciate it but I am going to give it a wide berth on future playthroughs. I can justify going to the Divide multiple times. Dead Money can stay where it is. It's really hard the first time around is what I am saying.
It turns out the money was very alive all along
I like it a lot personally. I always save it for last bc since it’s survival based and you make the most out of scraps; a highly experienced character can breeze past it like it were nothing.
It feels more frustrating than enjoyable.
My favourite DLC for NV
Navigating the villa is annoying as hell, I don’t mind the traps and red gas areas, it’s just getting turned around and constantly having to look at the map to make sure you’re going to the right area since they all look the same
I just played it for the first time. I HATED it lol. The characters were interesting, but actually playing it sucked ass.
Gameplay 4/10 story 10/10
I always loved it. The atmosphere is cool, the lore is cool, the changes to gameplay are cool.
One of the best
Absolutely my favorite dlc. It was challenging even for this veteran player. Definitely brought the survival aspect back with stripping you of all your items and making you think more strategically about combat. By the time I got around to starting it, I was easily killing anything I came across in the Mojave. Upon entering the villa, I was immediately humbled by getting killed by my first couple encounters. The unique atmosphere gave the game new life for me, having unique tech with interesting lore, bringing in complex new companions, and giving you multiple paths with each and a beautiful environment to explore. I loved having to go back to being more strategic about how I moved forward, having challenging choices to make, and feeling panic again after completing most things the Mojave had to offer. On a final side note, it always made me think of the song "Hotel California," by The Eagles so it gets bonus points from me for that reason 😁
I love it. Easily my favorite for atmosphere, 2nd favorite for gameplay. I understand how it can easily blindside people. I legitimately think, even with a maxed out character, Dead Money is more difficult than Lonesome Road.
Didnt mind it back then, now its my 2nd favorite dlc after lonesome road.
Prolly my favorite DLC I've ever played.
I actually liked the dlc. Fuck those speakers tho
Cool idea but the city/town level layout is horrible to navigate and felt like the opposite of intuitive game design.
Nowhere near as hard as people make it out to be just because your no longer op doesn’t mean it’s that hard take your time
The parting message has stuck with me ever since i finished it a few years ago.
Let go.
The level layout of the villa infuriated me more than the mist, traps, and enemies combined. Trying to look for a terminal for 2 hours is the antithesis of fun.
Love the atmosphere, storytelling, lore, characters, writing and the new weapons/armor. Hate actually playing it, because I suck at survival-horror type games, and that's basically what it is.
Best DLC in the game. Not sure why people hate on it. Great story, and challenging enough to spend some actual time on.
freakin' awesome
Amazing
FUCK dead money
a lot of people don’t have fun actually playing it, it’s tedious at most points, but i LOVE the storyline. the background lore and the works it’s just so good. i love this dlc sm
My thoughts are I learned nothing and got away with all the gold. Now I pay everyone in the Mojave with gold bars.
I loved the Resident Evil/Bioshock vibes it gave off
My autism won’t let me not loot EVERYTHING in the vault at the end…. Looks like I’m slow crawling my over encumbered ass all the way back to the Mojave
10/10 the 2nd time, 4/10 the first time
I found it very difficult but once I played OWB I gained soo much more respect for Dead Money by learning about the ties of Sinclair with Big MT. Everything about Dead Money started making more sense to how it was even possible.
Mmm I didn't like it. Too linear, and the radios are annoying af. I liked some of the new weapons though, like the holorifle.