I like Dead Money, but with my realism mods I simply can't play it on Hardcore. Even though I can fight the Ghost People just fine (they now usually go down in one or two Holorifle shots), the companions are unusually weak. God/Dog, in particular, often dies in the very first battle you take him into because he simply charges in and gets swarmed. This is literally the only time I have to do this; Honest Hearts doesn't care much if your companions die and Follows-Chalk is a murder machine, Lonesome Road has a respawning companion, and Old World Blues doesn't even HAVE companions to get killed. Dead Money? They all survive, or you die.
If you ever want to be pissed, do a permadeath run of Dead Money on Hardcore with realistic damage mods. I think if you posted the LP online, it would last about an hour.