It may have taken what feels like a lifetime, but we're finally getting our hands on an official remaster of Fall-out: New Vegas. For over a decade, the game has been considered one of the best RPGs ever made, but many people may have forgotten what a buggy mess it was both at launch and even now.
There are inconsistencies with NPCs and weird movement quirks, and a whole host of other issues that add a lot of charm to an already great experience. So while the remaster should try to iron out some of the more game-breaking ones, it would be great to see some fan-favorites left intact.
Doc Mitchell Bug
More infamous than the game itself
Details:
-
The first encounter in the entire game
-
Often referred to as one of the most iconic bugs ever
Within the first 10 minutes of anyone New Vegas by playing through, before you've even played the game properly, good Doc Mitchell's head can go wandering. It will snap or rotate around in ways that were clearly never intended, and for many, myself included, it serves as a core memory for the entire experience.
Almost every long-time player has a screenshot or a story about it, with the glitch becoming a shared rite of passage that feels about as special as the game itself. It also speaks to the ambitious yet impatient nature of NWand my hope is that in the remaster we at least get some sort of callback to this iconic moment.
NPC inconsistencies
No barrier can hold them
Details:
-
NPCs can cut outside cells and rooms
-
Dead NPCs can still be interacted with
New Vegas the world sometimes forgets its own rules. NPCs meant to remain locked in cells or other rooms can sometimes play outside of them altogether, wandering the wasteland where they were never meant to go, but still acting as if they were still trapped.
In other cases, you can actually talk to a character who is already dead, where the game clearly shows a corpse or even a standing person, but still lets you engage as if nothing happened. These moments break your immersion in the most memorable way possible and stand as the perfect example of how much more open the simulation is in the game, rather than following a strict script from start to finish.
Ragdoll physics
Launching into the Skybox
-
Image via Bethesda Softworks -
-
Details:
-
Corpses can start from even small amounts of damage
-
Stacks of fun moments for over a decade
Ragdolls have been the poster child for comical bugs in gaming ever since they were introduced, and NW has some of the silliest in the entire industry. If you kill an enemy at just the right angle, be it with a rocket or even a melee weapon, they can fly and rocket across the map in an instant.
In other games where having such an obvious break in realism might seem embarrassing, here players have embraced it as yet another of the RPG's endearing quirks. Leveling it would take away so many of these fun collections, and I, for one, would be incredibly sad to see the corpse launch tradition fade into obscurity.
Conversation error
They have better things to do
Details:
-
NPCs can t-pose while talking
-
Characters will walk in place or run away in the middle of a conversation
Dialogue is a big part of New Vegasand there are so many memorable characters and interactions that it's hard to pick a favorite. However, due to the number of conversations, bugs are almost a certainty, and in many situations the NPCs can rant, T-pose, repeat animations, or just walk off into the sunset, all while the voice lines come.
It's unsettling in the way that only games in the early 2010s can be, and it's become part of the franchise's appeal, where the intensity can be broken up by laughter at any moment. And while you may consider these bugs a bug, I'd argue that many see them as just another important piece of an imperfect puzzle.
Recharge Dash
A Speedrunner's dream
-
-
Image via Bethesda Softworks -
Details:
-
Core movement technique used in speedruns
-
Achieved by canceling reloads and Pip-Boy animations
Speedrunning has been around for decades at this point, with runners powering everything from Mario to Microsoft Excel, to its absolute mechanical limit. For New Vegasspeedruns have become a big part of its long-term appeal, as this 50+ hour RPG has been conquered in under eight minutes thanks to a handy bug known as the reload dash.
The basic idea is that with a specific type of weapon, usually a revolver, you can open the Pip-Boy mid-reload and equip the gun, resulting in a massive increase in forward movement. It's streaky enough that it doesn't break the rest of the experience, but I see it as an important in-game tool that the developers should keep to allow a whole new generation of runners to break the record.
