Have any of you taken a character into the Mojave with ridiculously low-level speech? If any game gives me the option to solve problems with words instead of guns I'm there, as are a majority of players, I'd estimate.

However, it's interesting to try the game without the power of speech. My low-intelligence (3) "stupid" character has speech sitting around 10 or 15, so I haven't been able to once use a successful speech challenge (I've purposely failed several though, just because when you don't meet the requirements the things you say can be pretty amusing). It really makes you do a lot more legwork and I've discovered portions of quests that I previously skipped over by virtue of my cunning linguistics.

One of my favourite low-intelligence inspired dialogue options: "What's an ee-em-pee?"

I'm pretty close to doing that, Jarrod.

I've been systematically killing everyone/everything in the Wasteland that opposes Legion. I've assassinated the NCR's president (in glorious fashion, I'll add), not much left standing in my way. I've blazed through the game my second time ... I'm a mere 80 hours in.

Though I'm letting Novac live on. It's a convenient hub with a cheap doctor in its employ.

With my melee skill at 100 I can kill a super mutant in about 5 punches. The Mojave trembles.

Combined with high Sneak, a melee game is quite plausible, Jarrod. I just finished my game yesterday. I walked into the final NCR compound with both my companions, Lily and Rex, dead, yet had no problem mowing down a dozen or more power-armored heavy soldiers with two swings-- maximum-- from my super slege, Oh, Baby! General Oliver went down with one swing to his face. The endgame is a lot easier when Lanius is on your side. Fighting through the NCR inside the dam was a joke.

I used various bits … early on it was leather (6 DT), though I quickly completed the Van Graffs quest line (which requires you to deliver them Cass, whom they proceed to vaporize) and received their armor (16 DT); finally I wore slightly better armor for the rest of the game: I think it was called Recon armor? By the description of it on The Vault (Fallout wiki) it's some thin armor you'd wear under power armor. You can't actually do that, I tested it, but this armor has a damage threshold of 17, which was the highest I found, excluding power armor which is far too heavy. I played on Hardcore mode though, so I had tons of ammo weighing me down that prevented me from using power armor (which is something like 25 or 30 DT?).

For headgear I killed an NCR ranger who was stalking me (due to my poor reputation) early on and wore his ranger helmet which provided 4 DT. There were a few more I found that maybe had 5 or something, but the ranger helmet looks pretty badass, so I liked to keep that.

Oh, and if you're not allied with Legion (i.e. not worried about pissing them off) the ranger combat armor is very strong stuff; 20 DT I believe, not bad for the weight value of 25 it carries (compared to power armor's 40). So if you're allied with NCR that's a good choice. Though there's not many places to get it without killing an NCR ranger. Their safehouse has some, but access to that is only permitted very late in the game, and it probably requires 100 lockpick to get into.

As for my weapons of choice … 

If you pump skill into unarmed then a pair of spiked knuckles really tears stuff to pieces.

If you're focusing on melee, however, I've found the following to be your best options:

A generic sledgehammer, or super sledge – mainly because of their special attack, which launches foes in the air and immobilizes them on the ground for a few seconds, allowing you to bludgeon them, unmolested.

Nephi's Golf Driver – You'll get this from the fiend, Driver Nephi, who you'll be sent after on the NCR bounties quest (given inside McCarran). Fully repaired (from other 9 irons) it gets up to around 79 DPS, which is pretty good. It also has a similar special attack to the super sledges and sledgehammers, though with a lower success rate of immobilization.

Liberator – You'll only receive this if you're a Legion badass; you have to go into the town of Nelson and talk some shit to Dead Sea. Tell him you'll take out Camp Forlorn Hope, and when you do (specifically, the 4 ranking officers there) he'll give you his unique machete, Liberator, which has a DPS somewhere around 84.

Oh, Baby – Definitely my favourite weapon. It has a weight value of 20 but it's worth it. This thing has over 160 DPS when it's fully repaired. Take note, every swing with this super sledge that connects will wear away ungodly amounts of its condition, relative to other weapons. I suggest having a few super sledges stashed in one of your companions inventories for on-the-go repair jobs. I took this weapon into the battle at Hoover Dam and killed every NCR trooper I saw with 1 swing. The only ones who took two were the ones wearing power armor or ranger combat armor. That's right. Oh, Baby x2 swings > power armor. You'll find this lovely weapon in the Charleston Cave in Jacobstown.

Anyway, listen to me ramble! [Image Can Not Be Found]

Hope that helps!

Ahhhh welcome back.

Since taking small breaks from Dark Souls to fit other games in between, I've taken in large doses of replaying-- speaking of again-- the last three Bethesda-/Obsidian-made games, and re-completed each of them! First Fallout 3, then Skyrim, and just yesterday New Vegas. It was delightful to return to the Mojave Wasteland. I wanted to finish the game a couple more times to see how the Yes Man/House endings played out. In terms of gameplay they were largely similar - although with House I was able to talk General Oliver down and didn't have to kill him and his NCR army - not sure if I could have done that with Yes Man since he didn't provide surrender papers for me to use.

In terms of the overarching story I'm still not sure which ending I liked most. There isn't really a "best" ending in New Vegas. House probably provides the most stability and security for New Vegas, but at a high cost of freedom.

Yes Man - wonderful fellow that he is - is the great unknown, because he has no personality until the end of the game where he essentially tells you: "I'm going to have X personality now," and you're not quite sure how things in New Vegas will be. A bit more lax than with House in charge no doubt, but perhaps also less stable.

Caesar's Legion is obviously the one radical ending that I doubt we'd ever seen canonized (well, never say never) but it's fascinating nonetheless - watching how different the individual endings turn out. Maybe it's a horrible end for people like Boone and Arcade, maybe the Boomers and Khans can survive and/or elude Caesar's wrath. Many unknowns. While the Legion and their ideals are repulsive, I have to admit they are a compelling faction, much more so than the Enclave, for instance. If Fallout 5 (or whatever non-numbered title Obsidian gets to develop after Fallout 4) shifts back to California it would certainly be interesting to have what remains of Caesar's Legion in the mix.

NCR is the most status quo ending of course; though does that make it most suitable? For the Wasteland, perhaps.

I feel the need to write the following: I can't state just well enough how much I prefer New Vegas to Fallout 3. It's funny, but I kind of have lowered expectations for Fallout 4, which is ridiculous because Fo3 is still one of my favourites of the past seven or eight years. I guess I'll really just be waiting for the Obsidian take again. Now: imagine there's no glitches. It's easy if you try.

This is me, signing off of New Vegas for the foreseeable forever. It's been a slice.