So.... Does ANY ONE prefer to side with the NCR?

[madmongo]

I've played through the Yes Man option, the NCR option, and the House option. They all have their good points and bad points. I haven't done a Legion play through yet but I probably will at some point. I just have to get into the mood to be a bad guy for that long.

 

I played through the NCR option with more of a combat oriented character with a military type leaning. I thought that worked well. I was more mercenary in the House play through.

[MysteryMachineX]

In my most recent and elaborate playthrough I ended up siding with the NCR again, but it breaks my heart to kill House. As much as I think House's ideals are superior to the NCR, when it comes to the endings of the game, I couldn't justify him. When you consider all the endings, the best possible endings cumulatively in my opinion are NCR. I think a lot of this is due to writing. "House's robots coldly patrol the streets." Why does it have to be coldly? Why not triumphantly?

 

If you don't help the NCR, they can be worst than the Legion. But if you consistently back the NCR throughout the whole game with the express goal of making them get along with people as opposed to their agenda, you can get a pretty good fate for the Mojave. You can save literally every faction (besides Legion and House). Just make sure you tell the Khans to run instead of siding with the NCR. They're betting off without them.

 

Truthfully though, I do it because I care about the fates of the majority of the citizens of the Mojave and their right to live in happiness and their preserved culture. House doesn't care for that as much. (Genocide of Brotherhood, incite Kings to wage war, leaves Followers to rot) But if it were the real world, where the fates of the individuals was something we couldn't possibly as accurately forecast, then, going on principle alone, I feel House would make an excellent leader of the Mojave in the long-term for humanity. The NCR would still exist and do their thing, but House would advance humanity to the stars.

 

Killing him with a golf club was so traumatizing for me. And Yes Man's ending is a poetic joke.

Edited November 4, 2016 by MurderMachineX

[1Wrex]

yes when i do an energy weapons play through i will side with the ncr every time because you can ally them with the brotherhood of steel. and other than independent thats is one of the only ways to save them

 

[charwo]

In my most recent and elaborate playthrough I ended up siding with the NCR again, but it breaks my heart to kill House. As much as I think House's ideals are superior to the NCR, when it comes to the endings of the game, I couldn't justify him. When you consider all the endings, the best possible endings cumulatively in my opinion are NCR. I think a lot of this is due to writing. "House's robots coldly patrol the streets." Why does it have to be coldly? Why not triumphantly?

 

If you don't help the NCR, they can be worst than the Legion. But if you consistently back the NCR throughout the whole game with the express goal of making them get along with people as opposed to their agenda, you can get a pretty good fate for the Mojave. You can save literally every faction (besides Legion and House). Just make sure you tell the Khans to run instead of siding with the NCR. They're betting off without them.

 

Truthfully though, I do it because I care about the fates of the majority of the citizens of the Mojave and their right to live in happiness and their preserved culture. House doesn't care for that as much. (Genocide of Brotherhood, incite Kings to wage war, leaves Followers to rot) But if it were the real world, where the fates of the individuals was something we couldn't possibly as accurately forecast, then, going on principle alone, I feel House would make an excellent leader of the Mojave in the long-term for humanity. The NCR would still exist and do their thing, but House would advance humanity to the stars.

 

Killing him with a golf club was so traumatizing for me. And Yes Man's ending is a poetic joke.

 

This is what head cannon is for. Take a look at a cut item from the game:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Offer_to_permit_annexation

 

House offers the Strip in exchange for NCR citizenship and total immunity. Course, with my my head cannon is that my Courier harvests' House's brain and puts it in bio-med gel like a robobrain, until she can grow House a new body through cloning. You can actually turn him into a Think Tank with RobCo Certified (him and Cesar and the King) and use him as a companion. No dialogue though, which is a shame.

[MysteryMachineX]

Oh man that letter just makes me like House even more. Such a shame it was cut. But I can understand why. That letter essentially makes it so that the House ending is basically just the NCR ending deferred, plus House, which would make it unequivocally better than the other endings (with the exception of the fate of the smaller individual factions). I stand by my decision to get the most out of the smaller factions, but I weep more for knowing House would've eventually made good with them (after doing his darker deeds).

 

Ah yes, in my playthrough, I use both RobCo Certified and the House Securitron Companion mod, which does have dialogue. When I put his brain into the robot, I like to think that the securitron still functions as his mouthpiece and substitute body, whereas the Think Tank body is just a floating chassis for his brain. And I can have both follow me simultaneously. So in my playthrough, I interpret it as siding with the NCR for the good of the people, but allowing House to live, with us.

Edited November 7, 2016 by MurderMachineX

[kpmh2001]

the ncr isn't bad, but with the yes man and Mr house ending you essentially control your own state that you can mold into whatever you want it too be, and if you dont let the power go too your head you actually can establish a good dictatorship, where one or two men have all the power but they legitimately look out for everyone and try to help whoever they can. plus you can become immortal, meaning you never lose that great leader. and before anyone mentions Mr. House would actually be in control in his ending. he offers to share immortality with the courier and when the courier has good karma and ends the game with house it states that the courier stops house from becoming a tyrannical dictator and keeps him within reason, house trusts the courier and seeks his advice and moral input on matters.

[WeissYohji]

I did a NCR-aligned playthrough ONCE to see what would happen. They're great for long-term stability, though Kimball cares too much about pushing east instead of developing infrastructure and fixing things internally.

 

Twice did I side with Mr. House. He knows how to run things and has the technology to make the Mojave great. Most of the time, I ally with Yes Man instead. As I play a high-intelligence Courier and do all the DLCs, the whole idea is to use the tech from the Sierra Madre and Big Mountain (on top of the Securitron Army) to rebuild the Mojave. I'll NEVER side with the Legion. At most, I'll lull those slavers and misogynists into a false sense of security, then bring Boone to the Fort with me and kill Caesar. When doing the Yes Man ending, I like to go into spy mode, and I also developed a system by now.

 

I always do the DLCs BEFORE ever visiting the Strip. Normally, I'll ignore the main quest altogether after the tutorial and level up to level 5-6 before starting Dead Money. By the time I finish Lonesome Road, I'm usually in the late thirties in levels. My current game, though, I did the main quest up to Novac and got up to level 10 before going to the Sierra Madre. By the time I finish Lonesome Road, I nuke both the NCR and Legion for the post-DLC loot. I can always redeem myself in the eyes of either faction by visiting the Lucky 38 and The Tops later. Visiting these places for the first time triggers a scripted event that sets your karma with either faction to at least Neutral if you were hostile before. In the interim, I use disguises when doing NCR/Legion quests. I also wait to recruit Boone til after visiting the Strip because I don't want to trigger any disapproval points with him before doing You'll Know It When It Happens. Once I do You'll Know It, I then intentionally fail that quest by killing Kimball. With a NCR disguise, Turbo/Implant GRX, and a Stealth Boy, I'll kill Kimball while incognito and cloaked, kill any other NCR combatants in the area, then run like hell and switch back to whatever I had on before. Done correctly, Boone won't piss and moan at you for killing NCR NPCs. Just keep running away and using Turbo as needed. If you get addicted (a non-issue with Implant GRX), just pop a Fixer. That way, he'll stay with me at Hoover Dam, killing Legionaries.

Edited July 24, 2018 by WeissYohji

[VelocityPolaris]

I always back the NCR. It always strikes me how they're the one organization in the games that would actually count as a legitimate country, and despite how thinly spread and greedy and corrupt they get, that certainly says something for their stability as a nation. Now, the Legion is clearly evil, basically with some sprinklings of moral ambiguity thrown in there, what with enslavement and crucifixion and stuff. I don't know too much about the House or Yes Man endings, but I just can't trust any one person with the fate of so much, not even the courier.

 

Sure, they have corruption all up the shasta river, are imperialistically biting off more than they can chew, and their troops keep thinking nuclear winter isn't so bad, but they also have DEMOCRACY, the only place I know of besides the Republic of Dave with that system. So unless New Zealand turned themselves into a spacefaring empire while nobody was watching, or, y'know, there are other countries, the NCR strikes me as the best hope for the rebuilding of humanity.

[Terminator5445]

I usually prefer a Legion ending, besides the NCR being corrupt its almost an exact replica of pre-war America, still holding many of its flaws. House actually puts it best, he states that the fate of democracies "lie outside the windows", meaning the NCR is basically on the same trajectory as the old world governments. Caesars Legion although flawed works around this of course by rejecting technology and most production which would prevent something as devistating as another nuclear holocaust. Not to mention, up until you meet Caesar, i don't feel as if any of the other factions really recognize you as the asset you are. House just assumes your still in his employment, the NCR and Crocker are really just looking for someone to clean up their mess in the Mojave, and Yes Man just seems a bit bland to me, lifeless. But when you meet Caesar he makes a point to tell you why your important to his cause, citing how you take bullets to the head, then proceed to track down your shooter across the desert, then stride right into the Lucky 38 and send the Strip's top boss fleeing, Caesar seems to understand the Couriers true importance unlike the other factions. Plus, fighting profligates with tribals dresseed as neo-romans on a giant dam is pretty amusing lets be honest...

Edited December 7, 2018 by Terminator5445

[Ferus9]

I choose the NCR ending in most of my playthroughs.

The final battle is better than in the House/independent way imho.

The Legion is funny, but not fleshed out enough.