So I started playing Fallout: New Vegas back in May, which was great since I was able to pick up the game new for $30, and I've been enjoying a fairly crash-free experience given the engine. Over the past month I've been playing all the DLC and am currently nearing the end of "Dead Money." I've already played-through "Old World Blues" and "Honest Hearts" and so far I'm enjoying "Dead Money" the most. I was a little hesitant about even getting "Dead Money" given the generally negative impression I'd picked up on from the Bombcast and various other game sites, but I think "Dead Money" has been my favorite piece of DLC for this game thus far. I just wanted to ask the community how they felt about this piece of content and whether or not my appreciation for "Dead Money" was just a case of going into it with lowered expectations or my own particular tastes.

I honestly didn't enjoy it myself from a gameplay perspective, but to each their own.

I did enjoy the story and characters though, especially anything that deals with Ulysses. Can't wait for Lonesome Road to come out.

I say it has the weakest gameplay of the dlcs so far, but the characters and story are better than Honest Hearts, Old World Blue is still the best dlc in every aspect

Alright cool, it's definitely been the characters and story that I'm enjoying so much, while I do a lot of sneaking and running away from hazmat ghosts. I haven't beaten it yet, literally just entered the casino before typing this, so I want to ask; is Christine Veronica Santangelo's girlfriend that she refers to having been split up from if you talk to her after she's become your companion?

I enjoyed Old World Blues the most. Dead Money does greatly improve once you get into the casino, but I hated the first half. Also, getting all your gear taken away at the start is a big kick in the nuts.

It broke a rule I have for games it wasn't fun. I regret buying it.

The Bad:

• Combat (you're stripped of all your gear at the start, not enough enemy variety, enemies were a pain to kill with the mostly crappy weapons the DLC provides, no loot from killed enemies)
• Environments (too many big, dark labyrinths that were repetitive, boring to explore, and annoying to navigate through)

The Good:

• Characters (unique personalities, races, and roles among all of the companions; all are interesting to learn more about and interact with)
• Story (unique setting and premise, the story has revelations and twists, intriguing ties to the characters and story of the base game as well as future DLC, multiple endings and fates for key characters depending on your choices)

It's easy to get a bad first impression from the DLC since the front half is loaded with the bad stuff, while the back half is more focused on the good parts.

@PixelSoldier said:

is Christine Veronica Santangelo's girlfriend that she refers to having been split up from if you talk to her after she's become your companion?

Yes.

First time though, I liked the story but hated the gameplay.

Second time through, I still liked the story but knew what to look for, and had a pretty great time.

Third time through, however, I snuck in 500-ish Stimpacks, All-American, This Machine, and a load of ammo, along with 4 followers, and had an amazing time. And I did the same thing with Honest Hearts, and I plan on doing the same with OWB whenever I download it. Glitches rock.

I didn't care for the repetitive nature of the Village though. Also, I felt it really odd that level 38 unarmed with a Bear Trap Fist did *much* more damage than a 100% condition Caravan Shotgun (with 100 Guns) to the face on my first run.

I went in pretty high lvl and with the right perks, but it still got a little tedious with all the traps, especially getting to the vault. Melee or unarmed approaches make things much more doable though. The story, the lore you can find about the casino, and the connections to the OWB story, however, were awesome. Overall, I liked it more than HH, but not quite as much as OWB. Hopefully The LonesomeRoad will be the best.

I loved Dead Money. I enjoyed it a lot more than Old World Blues, and a million times than Honest Hearts. Maybe it was the hard combat and the sense of isolation that won me over, I don't know, but I it's, by far, the one DLC I enjoyed the most.

I still haven't finished Dead Money. I agree with what's been said about the characters and the story being strong. But I really didn't care for the environment and hated having all of my gear taken away. I don't usually do a lot of sneaking around in Fallout and am much more into loading up on stimpacks and shooting at everything that moves, which didn't work out for me at all in this DLC. My first time playing it, after getting all three companions in position to start the gala or whatever, I just got wrecked by the ghost people over and over and had to revert to an old save. I think it's good they made a DLC that was a different kind of challenge, but I felt like I was under leveled the whole time when I was actually at level 30 or something.

Dead Money was fun, but extremely frustrating, considering I played through it on hardcore mode. Needless to say, I turned hardcore mode off after beating Dead Money. Personally my favorite DLC has been Honest Hearts, but I'm not quite done with Old World Blues yet, and Lonesome Road looks amazing, to put it in a nutshell.