Fallout: New Vegas Hardcore Mode Offers 'Special Reward'

StrengthGamer: In Fallout: New Vegas, you can turn on what they call "Hardcore Mode". In this mode, "Stimpacks heal over time and cannot mend broken limbs, Rad-Away removes radiation over time, ammunition has weight, and dehydration is a constant concern". According to a few devs, you will have to eat, sleep, and drink every day in this mode. However, there is a reward to be had.

[josh14399]

could be a trailer for Bethesda's next game or a unique ending. im not gonna bother playing this mode though because it seems more of a chore than fun.

[DavidMacDougall]

I really wanna play it, it better be hard.

[A Cupcake for Gabe]

Hardcore sounds cool. But my initial playthrough will be on normal mode. Cause when I play first it's always as a good character. When I'm surviving on hardcore mode, I'll end up evil. Since it's all about living, I won't give a shot about being good. I'll kill everyone just to survive.

[Christopher]

Hardcore is hard, but it's also a bit tedious. The hardest part is managing ammo and weapons now as well. Highly suggest putting a good amount into strength just for the encumbrance limit increase.

[EliteAssass1n]

i'll try hardcore mode on maybe the 2nd or 3rd playthough. Really excited to get my hands on this game.

[MSpence516]

I will try it on my second evil play through as well. Will also do unarmed on this try since ammo will be cumbersome.

[vhero]

thing with this special reward is you have to complete the game in hardcore.. So it's not an in game item. I come to this conclusion as you cannot continue the game once completed. Unless it unlocks an items permanently for future games. If so I may just download a save off the net for this as to be fair it sounds more like a chore than a fun run through fallout. I want to enjoy my play through and although I get why they put this mode in I think it would ruin the game for me personally. So I will avoid.

[Hellsvacancy]

I hope theres a trophy 4 it (not seen the list yet)

[Jack-Pyro]

There is, it's worth 100 GS or a Gold Trophy, but you have to put it on in the beginning and never take it off.

[Mmmkay]

you whore... :)

[Christopher]

Personally don't like that there's a trophy for this. The game is a long one and while this tends to work for games that can be completed in a max of 12 hours on a play through, you may spend a good 40 hours on hardcore mode just for this one trophy.

[plb]

Will FO:NV be bug infested like FO3 for PS3?

[Motorola]

if it is, i will cry :[ If not...then im happy and will platinum it :D

[A Cupcake for Gabe]

Everyone experienced bugs. On PS3 MZ was glitches bad, but other said only OpAnch was buggy. I never had any issues with Pitt except the unmarked side quest "Wild Bill" never activated.(basically a women asks for you to find her man an you do in the scrapyard. He's dead an has a special weapon, but he never appeared).

Hopefully NV will turnabout solid.

[Matthew94]

EVERY fallout is bug infested

its almost part of what makes fallout fallout. I have an unofficial fallout 1 patch and it clears up over 1000 bugs, yes 1000.

wait 2-6 months for some patches

[mistajeff]

it's so true. i've been playing fallout 2 with that killap restoration mod, it fixes SO many bugs and even adds in a bunch of lost content (like finding sulik's sister and his tribe).

whatever, i've enjoyed them all with and (eventually) without bugs, i've learned to ignore it. i just hope there won't be bugs that make quests impossible to complete or stuff like that. those are really the only bugs i care about.

[IrishYamato]

Hopefully not, in Fallout 3 GOTY edition, The Pitt area was completely unplayable- it annoyed the crap out of me.

[SpideyNut]

...but yes, The Pitt nearly killed it for me. I've never seen a game stutter/freeze so much, for no apparent reason, as it did in The Pitt. At it's best, the framerate was probably around 15-18 FPS.

[plb]

This is my main concern. Look at the developer session here:

http://blog.us.playstation....

The dev dodges every question regarding bugs in the PS3 version which is why it may be a repeat of FO3 =\

[fishyjoes]

I was able to platium the GOTY edition at first it kept on freezing all the time so i just disabled auto save that saved all my problems

[Megaton]

I almost got robbed of the achievement for collecting all the steel ingots in The Pitt because a certain building you have to climb stopped clipping. Fell right through it to an off-map death. A series of resets finally fixed it.

[dalibor]

I hope that is not the case. They should take some time to polish the PS3 version then. I have FO3 without the dlc included and I really have not had any problems what so ever. It seems like the dlc is what is causing all the problems. I downloaded one of the dlc but it isn't the Pitt. Hopefully all versions of the game run smooth though for new vegas.

[Philoctetes]

Wow. I had seen that article before but I hadn't read the comments section. It's really disconcerting to see the developer refuse to say whether the game will run equally well across consoles. Ouch.

[HellsJanitor]

Unplayable, really? I had one bug in my 5 time completing it. You can can fall through a roof in the area with the steel ignots.

[Lykon]

i only got bugs with the dlc on ps3 , the main game was fine

[vhero]

I would love it if we don't have to complete the game like 5 times to get all trophys I loved F3 but thanks to the constant crashing going thorugh 5 times was an impossibility got to my 3rd playthrough and almost smashed my TV thanks to constant crashing.

[TheColbertinator]

Awesome

[Kingdom Come]

Considering I plan to play the game on Hardcore Mode. Let's hope it's something interesting...

[Gambit07]

I'll start on hardcore, because softcore just doesn't cut it.

[dc1]

I will as well.. but I will do it with much fear and trepidation ... :|
Cant Wait!!!!

[kneon]

I've got fallout 3 GOTY and I found once you were up to level 15 or so it was no longer challenging. I'm currently carrying over 40,000 rounds of ammo, 369 stimpacks and enough armament to take on a battalion. This hardcore mode sounds like it should be more fun.

But I'm not buying this anytime soon. Given how many bugs there are even in the FO 3 GOTY edition I expect that upon release this has a good chance of being a mess. So I'll wait for a few patches at least.

[SSKILLZ]

After demons souls no other game looks hard I'll be playing this in hardcore and I hope there are not so many bugs. Point Lookout. F3 Dlc system freezing was soooooo!! Horrible but at least I manage to pass the main story part and do the Chinese spy mission ;)

[plb]

I don't necessarily think Demons Souls is as hard as it is frustrating. You can make any game more difficult using the formula Demons Souls did.

[Philoctetes]

It's the single most rewarding game I've played this generation. To the extent that it's hard, it's because the game requires you to pay attention and to master the deep/complex melee system. Nothing frustrating about it unless you're the kind who expects the game to hold his hand from start to finish.

[Pen15]

Demon's Souls isn't that hard, dude. Its just trial and error mixed with common sense.
But I think we can all agree that the freezing was beyond annoying. :(

[firelogic]

It's not really that hard of a game. You just need to stop playing games the way you normally would, i.e. charging head first into everything swinging wildly. Once you adapt, while not a cakewalk, it doesn't become so frustrating.

I'll also be playing on Hardcore mode. Drinking water and sleeping doesn't really sound all that tedious, healing over time makes it more realistic and changes your play-style, and weapon/ammo weight is a nice feature too, a la weapon/armor weight in RPGs.

[Capdastaro]

Hardcore mode it is then!

Seriously cannot wait for this to come out!

[Human Analog]

What does the author of this article want as a reward if it's not achievement/trophy related? Does he expect them to personally contact him with an "Atta boy!"? Or will he be showered with gifts, and women?

Really now. It's a game. The reward will be playing it and finishing it on the highest difficuly. I know it's a hard to imagine personal victory without achievemnts, but come on.

[Philoctetes]

"Hardcore mode" is not the same as "the hardest difficulty." The developers have already confirmed that you can play hardcore mode on easy difficulty if you want to.

[Human Analog]

Oh. Well thats a different story then. But it is still funny to me that gamers now need something to persuade them to play.

[visualb]

maybe extra weapon? special quest? could be anything

[Allowen]

This game is launching in THREE days and I still could not find a single review for it!
No review yet worries me a lot and so I did not do a pre order yet because of that.
The exclusive DLC for pre ordering it is tempting but I will wait.

[TheBand1t]

Review embargo ends on release day, same as Fallout 3.

[TwistedMetal]

To seperate the boys from the man. I wish the achievement/ trophys was to play hardcore mode all the way through the game while playing on the hardest difficulty level.

[Kluv]

Haven't had to deal with that in a game since Dark Cloud 1!

[DaBadGuy]

This reward better not be Avatar clothes or I'm gonna be pissed. I hope it's not just an achievement either, like...what could it be? I know one thing I better get Kirby's Epic Yarn out of the damn way before Tuesday. Epic Yarn looks awesome but New Vegas will be where my time is until Next Tuesday when Star Wars The Force Unleashed II, Fable III, and Rock Band 3 all come out. And I'm sure there is something else coming out that day that I'm getting that I forgot but still.

It's gonna be a busy Fall
and Winter
and Spring.

[C_Dub]

I want to play HC mode since I absolutely dominated FO3 and its DLC but I imagine after a while I'll probably get sick of it and turn it off. I hope this isn't the case. By that I mean, I hope it's challenging in a fun way and won't get repetitive/boring but will actually keep you on your toes from beginning to end. If it is the "missing piece" I think it could be, then that's great.

[creamsoda]

I'll play hardcore first it will make the game last longer I reckon. Even if you don't like it you can turn it off which is good. :D

[poopnscoop]

Does anyone else find it remarkably peculiar that Strength Gamer, an absolute no name web site, reports this (an event that happens at the VERY BEGINNING OF THE GAME) only a few hours after Fallout New Vegas becomes available to download on torrents?

A lot of people have accused Strength Gamer of piracy before, but I think this is more clear evidence that they're stealing games and then reporting on them with absolutely no regard to the hard working men and women who've invested their time making the game.

[HorriblePanda]

Maybe the NCR will give us a reward for our troubles....

On topic imma play the hell outta this games...although don't think imma be able to finish tales of vespiera....before this launchs...can't wait for this...I just love the setting its the future but not ours and just the ambiance is awesome kinda like being in tall trees in RDR.... what's everybodys fav thing about FO?

[SephireX]

Obsidian have confirmed that the reward for completing the game with Hardcore Mode on is in fact a new Justin Bieber song. What more motivation could we possibly want?

[mistajeff]

well that sells it, i'm in.

[mistajeff]

i kind of think the reward is only an achievement, i'm not gonna get my hopes up so that i don't get disappointed.

but it's possible there could be a slightly tweaked ending (from a plot standpoint). kind of like how the bloody mess trait affected the fallout 1 ending in a small (graphic) way.. something along the lines of that.