Talwyn224

Dead Money was my 2nd favourite DLC with OWB as my first. And I completely agree that Christine Royce was a very well written character. I genuinely made every effort to ensure her survival and I like how, at the end, she choose to stay at the Sierra Madre rather than leave with the Courier. It made perfect sense as she was damaged but found a place she could begin again as the guardian of the Sierra Madre. I liked Dean Domino too and found him to be an intriguing personality. The interesting thing for me was that when I played through DM for the 1st time, I didn't try to persuade/etc Dean as my speech skill was too low and in the end that was the way to ensure he didn't turn against you at the end [spoiler I know :whistling: ] I liked Dog/God too however I found God's mutterings to be really annoying after a while and thus spent as little time with him as I needed to. I would have in fact killed him but due to the explosive collars... :verymad: [sigh] DM's survival aspect was probably the best part of the DLC and having to really be careful and make do with what you found made it an excellent challenge. Yeah the radio's were sometimes ragequit annoying because there were a couple that I just couldn't get past [for a while at least] but eventually I learnt how to time it and explored as much of the ruins with Christine for her ability to interfere with the signals thus giving you that little bit of extra time to destroy or avoid the radios. [edit] I also like the ending if the Courier chooses to side with Father Elijah, which ends the game right there. Very evil indeed :devil:

Yeah it is a little disconcerting to learn that YesMan's programming has somehow been altered by a hidden packet of code left by Mr House. Here's my theory regarding it: We know Mr House was able to scan and map brain functions of human beings and upload them into Securitrons such as Jane: [ quote from nukapedia ] "Jane's neuro-computational matrix is a copy of a woman that Mr. House had known as "one of Mr. House's girls". Jane keeps Mr. House "entertained" Thus my assumption is that the code that YesMan comes across is none other than Mr House's own brain scan. Now we also know that Mr House was a genius and he was able to predict and prepare for almost all sorts of outcomes. Therefore its logical to assume that he prepared for the possibility that his physical body and consciousness could be destroyed and thus made a back-up copy of himself to be uploaded into a Securitron or mainframe in the event of his death. We know he prepared his own obituary so he knew there was a definite chance he could die, even at the hands of the courier. However YesMan is a unique AI and was something that Mr House had not foreseen. Also YesMan's code is somehow more resilient, able to survive despite attempts to destroy it. So my suspicion is that YesMan found the hidden files that contained Mr House's brain scans and incorporated them into his own personality. House isn't in charge of YesMan, well at least not at the end of the game, but there was enough code there to enable YesMan to become a truly free sentience able to make his own choices and not be a "Yesman" any more.

It's a good thought 7thSealord :thumbsup: And I think it has potential. Marie would also no doubt be seeking vengeance on the Lone Wanderer as well for his/her part in her parents deaths. There are a whole range of possibilities that could be explored in a FO game set around the region of Pennsylvania.

@Dan3345 - in regards to your point about YesMan, yes he will be around as he is impossible to kill but I don't see him as any sort of version of Skynet. Even before you let him take over at the Lucky 38, if you kill him, he'll just reappear in another Securitron. So yeah, he can be seen as a potential malevolent force but I really don't think he is. Have a read through the end narration that comes with a YesMan victory [good courier plus Securitron army upgraded] - The Courier, with the aid of Yes Man, drove both the Legion and the NCR from Hoover Dam, securing New Vegas' independence from both factions. With Mr. House out of the picture, part of the Securitron army was diverted to The Strip to keep order. Any chaos on the streets was ended, quickly. Chaos became uncertainty, then acceptance, with minimal loss of life. New Vegas assumed its position as an independent power in the Mojave. Supporting the ideals of independence, the Courier was recognized as the man/woman responsible for a truly free New Vegas. He/she ensured Mr. House's tyranny was broken and neither Caesar's Legion nor NCR would ever gain control over New Vegas. So it appears that YesMan AND the Courier work in harmony to the benefit of all in the Mojave, which I think is the best ending for New Vegas.

Stealth is my preferred method. I like to get Ratslayer as soon as possible as it's a great little sniper rifle with a nightvision scope. Stealth scouting and sniping are the best combination so as to ensure your courier has a better chance at survival. I like using grenades on clumped targets sometimes, especially if I'm in stealth mode for the sneak critical bonus damage. The other item I have on my must get early list is Chance's knife. Yes it's scary early on taking on Cazadores but having that blade for close up work makes all the difference. I also love getting a .45 Thompson SMG as soon as I can as its a dam fine weapon for close to medium combat. High damage and good rate of fire make the .45 Thompson a must have.

When I look back on it now... it was realising that the 10mm weathered pistol was no much for a pair of giant Scorpions that live in that valley just east of Goodsprings cemetary :confused:

Here you go http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42428

The Enclave are only interested in one thing: power. They see themselves as the rightful rulers of America and as such care nothing about its people, only that they accept the Enclave unconditionally as their lords and masters. This is the pathology of fascists, dictators and megalomaniacs and is the antithesis of the rule of democracy, due process and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They wrap themselves in the American flag yet they are everything that the symbol of the flag is against. The Enclave apparently knew that the war was coming yet did nothing to warn the American public. They only looked out for themselves. They also want to wipe out all mutant life in the wastes, anyone effected by FEV would die if the Enclaves plan worked in FO3. And finally the Enclave are just plain incompetent. As a supposed elite force who have access to all the neat toys, they manage to do nothing for over 150 years when they could have come out of hiding and established themselves in the ruins of America.

Hmm... interesting enough for you to comment on it eh? :biggrin: Still, who else can say they were 3000 meters away from a 2 kiloton blast and survived? I think that's interesting enough.

I just came across this article from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2012/07/19/july-1957-nuclear-bomb-test/ which shows a clip of 5 US Airforce Officers who stood under an airburst atomic test and survived. It's was done out in the Mojave so it's even more relevant for this forum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlE1BdOAfVc&feature=player_embedded

@scottmack - oh there is no doubt the Mojave as depicted in NV is quite full of plant life. What I meant by survival aspect was having to survive in a desert environment and that would include having to deal with travelling large distances across the harsh Mojave environment. At least with Hardcore mode enabled it does mimic the need for hydration and food however because the distances are so truncated it doesn't "feel" real enough. It should take days to walk the distances that are depicted in the game yet sadly, for me at least, it doesn't But I still love it never the less :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting the link Jim, I enjoyed going through that chaps travel log of various real life locations in and around Las Vegas. I had planned to do something similar a year or so ago but the trip was cancelled as other things came up :confused: I think you're right in that some of the NV structures must have been based on archival photographs and such but as well, the designers would have had "artistic licence" to interpret and envision how they saw New Vegas in 2281. One thing I always found a bit of an immersion breaker was the false sense of distance in the game and that you could run [in non hardcore mode] non stop from one end of the map to the other in roughly 20 or so hours! :blink: I think they should have made the distances much more realistic as that would have enhanced the survivor aspect of the game. But that's just my 2 cents worth :wink:

The Battle for Hoover Dam is the end of the game and doesn't let you play on once you've finished it. However there is a mod somewhere here that lets you continue to play after the final sequence. Have fun :thumbsup:

In my 1st play-thru I went for the NCR ending as at the time it seemed to be the best "good" ending. Yet it also didn't feel quite right letting the NCR win at the same time. The 2nd play-thru I went for The House always wins ending and again, although Mr House will quickly ensure that civilisation returns, it's his version and its not for the good of all. So now I always aim to have YesMan win as I firmly believe that is the ending that has the best outcome for all concerned. I never support Caesers Legion and see them as a dead end and not only that, the darker side of what society can become. Throughout the game though the developers have given us hints and insights on the nature of the 4 main factions that are vying for control of New Vegas. It comes thru beautifully via Ulysses in his observations of the NCR and the Legion. Both are flawed and not worthy of becoming the ruling power. He says that Caesers Legion, even if victorious, will fall apart after Caesers death thus it isn't a stable and lasting society. The NCR has become corrupt and beholden to special interests, allowing incompetent rulers and generals to prosper at the expense of its citizens. So neither of them are fit to rule New Vegas. Cass sums up a Mr House win's consequences brilliantly in her ending narration, "We were going full speed ahead... but facing backwards the whole time." By this she means that House is stuck in the past, unable to create a new future for humanity but instead rebuilds the flawed and failed one that lead to the great war. House is also a despot, a cold and uncaring and undead entity that wants power for its own sake. His obsession with the Snowglobes is another example of his psychological pathology as J.E Sawyer says here: It's for the Citizen Kane reference, partially because it's especially fitting for Mr. House. He has no interest in physically interacting with the world but wants absolute control over New Vegas. Snow globes are perfect static worlds in miniature that can't be directly touched but can be (literally) turned up side down any time the owner desires. So a creature like House isn't exactly the best thing to be in charge of humanity's future. It's only through YesMan that New Vegas, and humanity in general have a chance because its something different, something new. It's also been hinted at [although I can't recall where] that YesMan is the canon ending of the game. I had started writing a story based on what might happen after the Battle of Hoover Dam calling it "Chaos with Better Lighting". I never finished it as I got distracted however the gist of it is this: life returns to a semblance of normality in New Vegas with the Courier and YesMan in charge. Yet remnants of Caesers Legion performs acts of terror on New Vegas [suicide bombers on the strip] and the NCR tries to impose an economic blockade on New Vegas by stopping caravans trading with NV. Yet despite the forces against it, NV prospers due to the alliances wrought by the Courier and the strength of NV via the securitron army which is able to enforce peace. Both the NCR & Legion are in a state of implosion since their leaders have either died or been discredited leaving NV as the only source of true stability. The Courier has to head east to deal with the remnants of the Legion as they are the last threat to NV, even though they are spent as a major military force. [edit] A really good hint at the canon ending for New Vegas is given in the slide sequence of Lonesome road. In the last slide it shows the courier wearing a duster with Vault 21's symbol on his back. If you choose Yes Man's ending in NV you see the courier in a Vault 21 jumpsuit thus we can infer that YesMan's ending is indeed the canon one. Go here to have a look: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Lonesome_Road_endings

I think there is enough evidence from FO3 that this will be the setting for FO4. We get a fair bit of background about the Institute during the Replicated Man quest and also there are other snippets of info about the place given out during the game. It sounds as though they've created a technocrats paradise based on Android slavery. I'm hoping it won't be too much of a Blade-Runner look alike.

Dead Money was a life lesson, a metaphor, a homily that was all about "letting go". It was designed as such that you couldn't get all the loot and get out. You had to learn to just walk away which is what Father Elijah couldn't & wouldn't do and thus it was his doom. Sure there are ways in which you can cheat or fix it so you get the gold but that misses the point of the story. Dean had to let go of his obsession of being able to rip off Sinclair, Dog/God needed to let go of their war with one another and merge into a new being while Christine needed to let go of her need for vengeance on Elijah and let the courier deal with him. Yes the radios were annoying and the cloud constantly draining you was also testing but for my money that added to the whole experience, not detracted from it. What was annoying was having God mutter constantly about ripping my arm off to get the pipboy. I felt that was over the top and he lived only because if I killed him I'd die as well. I'd rate it as the 2nd best in the series of DLC's with Old World Blues being the best, Lonesome Road coming in 3rd and Honest Hearts for the least enjoyable of all the DLC's.

Hmm... well it wasn't one single game that got me hooked but a few. My first gaming experience was with Atari 2600 but the true gaming joy started when my best friend got an Apple IIe and we started playing games like Wizards Crown, Computer Ambush, Dragons Eye and Ultima 1 & 2. The rest, as they say, is history :) In many ways I think back to those early days of gaming, when computers only had 64k of ram and used 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, when loading times could take many minutes. Yet despite all that, those games where great. Sure the graphics are nothing like we see today however I believe the designers had to put more effort into the game itself to entice you and hook you in and keep you playing. Ahh good times :thumbsup:

I just came across this article on Mashable and thought to share it here with the community: http://mashable.com/2012/07/06/iphone-5-spider/#74305Spider-iPhone-Alternate-View http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/gallery/spider-like-concept-design-for-iphone-5/spider-phone-5.jpg It appears we're heading towards a Fallout future after all. I wonder who will come up with a VATS app? :tongue:

@flashman63; glad you enjoyed it. Doing a five year projection from the evil POV would be very short. Basically everything is either dead or dying from the release of the FEV, the Enclave are in charge, 3dog is dead, Megaton is a glowing crater in the ground and the BoS are but a memory after the Citadel gets hit with the Orbital Strike. In short it's a really nasty depressing place and to be honest, I'm not that keen to write about it. There is no hope, no point in going on as evil has finally triumphed and the worst people [the enclave] are in charge.

I'm yet another one who doesn't use power armour except in 2 cases: Lonesome Road & the final battle of the Hoover Dam. I feel LR is probably the best representation of post apocalypia and as such, it feels right to wear t-51b armour when walking through that irradiate hellscape. And the final battle is a major battle and as such, it feels right to don the tin can and let the bullets ping off you. When in Vegas I wear normal clothing, when outside I wear basic combat armour plus a helmet and shades. Things I do: When I find hollow rocks I resupply them with spare food, ammo and stims plus and extra items like weapons and clothing. I leave food & water for the guy in Nipton who's legs have been broken by the legion. I don't usually have enough med-x at the time for him to kill himself but I do give him what I have. I watch the lotto winner run off into the desert only to be killed by giant scorpions, lucky day huh? Very amusing. I always decorate Victors shack and the Overseers Office in Vault 3 to make it look like I live there. I always clean up Vault 3, removing all the bodies and trash as I plan on getting it functional again. I stock the lockers with items and leave armour and weapons in positions as to wear I'd post guards etc when my "crew" moves in. I collect as many of those Toy Rockets as I can and display them in my player housing. I like having a well stocked bar of alcohol in every house on display along with glasses and pitchers for making cocktails.

Whats the best order of the official DLC's? Well that depends a lot. If you play through the main quest line all the way through [plus have installed Broken Steel] you end up triggering that DLC. It doesn't automatically mean you must play that and only that however, to me at least, it feels odd ignoring the quest to go off exploring etc. The other consideration is once you've completed Broken Steel, what's left to do? This is why I choose to leave most of the DLC's till after I've finished the main quest line as it gives you more game time to enjoy. Here is my preferred order of play: 1: Operation Anchorage - I do this as soon as I can [roughly level 6 to 7] in order to get the loot etc then play almost all the quests that come with the main game before going on to ... 2: Broken Steel [after completing the main quest] 3: The Pitt 4: Mothership Zeta 5: Point Look Out Anyway, it's all a matter of personal taste. some folks want to do them in reverse order where as other do them in the release order. Either way, they are all fun. :thumbsup:

I agree that the raiders in the school do appear to be more organised than a lot of the other bands however leaving Silver alone, especially when she has food, caps and chems etc in her house just doesn't quite feel right IMO. I suppose it's possible that she's paid them off as she did steal caps from Colin Moriarty yet once the raiders have got their caps, what's to stop them from betraying her and killing her when they feel like it? Yes they may be capable of medium and even long term planning as is the case with the idea to tunnel into Vault 101 but I don't think honouring bargains with individuals is really in their way of operating. I also absolutely agree the whole TenPenny tower vs Roy Phillips quest is unsatisfactory. On my very first run through of the game, way back in 2008, I decided to ignore the situation entirely as I wasn't keen on being a murderer for hire no was I interested in letting in a bunch of ghouls move in with a group of people that clearly wanted nothing to do with ghouls. It was good to play without knowing any consequences or sneaking a look at outcomes via the Fallout wiki as it wasn't barely working back then. But I did kill TenPenny once I discovered he put out a hit on my LW for being a decent guy. In subsequent games I kill Roy and his band immediately as early on in the game he's got decent loot and the reward is good as well. And now yet another thing that doesn't make sense: setting off the megaton nuke and it's explosive impact. We see the bomb is quite large and we can guesstimate it's probably got the yield/force of the one the Fatman bomb. Yet when you set it off it only levels Megaton? And Moria somehow survives being at ground Zero? :confused: Good Grief! This is one of the worst clangers they included in the game I think. To quote from Wikipedia on the effects of dropping FatMan on Nagasaki: " The resulting explosion had a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT. The explosion generated heat estimated at 3,900 °C (7,050 °F) and winds that were estimated at 1,005 km/h (624 mph) ...... The radius of total destruction was about 1 mile (1.6 km), followed by fires across the northern portion of the city to 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the bomb. " So everything in roughly a 2 mile radius from Megaton should be totally gone. I'm not certain how the game takes distance into account but it feels like TenPenny tower is only a few miles away from Megaton and as such, should be effected by the blast and shockwave from the bombs detonation. In addition, if you decide to set the nuke off, you should automatically become THE most HATED person in the wasteland. The BoS and even Outcasts should be hunting you down for your terrible crime. Plus there is no way in hell Moria or anyone else for that matter, survive the blast. Even the Enclave should be unhappy that a nuke has been set off. I think it is the single most evil act you can do in the game yet the repercussions that follow are pathetically weak in comparrison. Your karma is always going to be low from that point on and you do get a cut scene at the end of the game but that's about it really. Pretty lame.

I've had a thought for a new Fallout game: Fallout: Exodus Route 66 Synopsis - The Year is 2282. Events in the Mojave have thrown the NCR and Legion into turmoil due to New Vegas becoming independant under YesMan and the Courier [it's hinted that this is the canon ending] and as such, the remnants of the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel see this as their opportunity to break out of the Lost Hills bunker complex and flee California along the old highway, Route 66 back to Chicago and reunite with the mid west BoS. They have finally accepted that by staying within the NCR is goihng to lead to their inevitable demise and have opted to relocate themselves away from the NCr who will eventually overwhelm them. The games main plot is to successfully make your way back east along route 66, fighting your way through the disintergrating legion territories and the various bands of raiders and mutants that roam all the other regions between California and Chicago. Each chapter would be a new sandbox map of the region in which you have to explore and fight your way across. I think this would be a good way in which other regions of wastes of the US could be introduced into the Fallout universe. Plus it'd be interesting to see what is in Chicago. we know there is an Enclave base there and we know that the mid west BoS isn't really doing so well either. The way I see it is the West Coast BoS are like the Israelites trying to find their promised land only to discover that there is someone else already there when they arrive at Chicago.

I suppose its possible that Silver has managed to pay off the radiers into not attacking her however I din't see that being the likely situation here. The raiders seem to be nothing more than vicious psychos who attack anyone and everyone. In a sense they are the ultimate example of what Thomas Hobbes described as as man in his pure state of nature: "In that state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This, Hobbes argues, would lead to a "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes). The description contains what has been called one of the best known passages in English philosophy, which describes the natural state mankind would be in, were it not for political community as he says here: "In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." — "Chapter XIII.: Of the Natural Condition of Mankind As Concerning Their Felicity, and Misery.", Leviathan TL;DR It's a brutal dog eat dog world where life is nasty brutish and often, short. Hence the notion that why would raiders be bothered to bargined with anyone if all they want is to do is skin you alive and wear your ass as a new hat? BTW, even 3Dog in one of his public service announcements states quite emphatically that raiders can't be bargined or reasoned with so just run or fight are your only options when dealing with them. Again its another example of the inconsistnecy of the games logic and continuity. And I've come across yet another: Tenpenny. Ok so once you get into Megaton and see the bomb there you are presented with tghe option of either defusing the bomb or setting it off at the request of Mr Burke who is working on behalf of Tenpenny. Now if you defuse it, Tenpenny eventually contracts Talon Company Mercs to kill you. You learn this after you kill on of their hit squads and find the contract note on their bodies. That's fine so far. So then [in my game at least] I go to Tenpenny Tower, walk right in and blow off his head, toss his manky corpse off the building and say good ridance to bad rubbish. Yet no one in Tenpenny Tower, especially the guards seem to be bothered that I've just executed their boss? :whistling: Gustavo is prepared to sell me guns & ammo and life goes on as normal. Doesn't that seem a little off to you? I think there should be some consequences to you killing Tenpenny. At the very least the guards should turn hostile UNLESS you make a speech check or something convincing them or at least Gustavo that it was justified and now Gustavo is in charge of the place. That'd make a great deal more sense than the way it is currently. I wish I had the time and ability etc to fix all these niggles within the game so as to make a great game perfect.

Another item regarding the game has occurred to me: the proximity between hostile groups. An excellent example of this is the raiders camped out in the ruins of Springvale School and the house that the runaway prostitute Silver [from Megaton] lives in. If we are to believe that raiders are a bunch of psychopathic cannibals who like nothing more than torturing and murdering wastelanders. Yet Ms. Silver lives alone, barely a few hundred meters from this pack of deranged homicidal maniacs and appears to be totally ok with her nearest neighbours!?! :rolleyes: Not once do we get the impression that she is a state of danger from being attacked, raped and eaten. We're shown that the raiders appear to do to any poor wastelander they can get their hands on. And this is where it doesn't make sense. Either the raiders roam in their immediate vicinity hunting and killing anything they can as you'd expect and thus Ms.Silver should be much further away from them or dead.