Which ending do you usually go for and why?

[Dan3345]

I would like to know which ending you guys and gals go for. All the endings are arguably morally ambiguous but which really speaks to you? Personally I either go for NCR or House. NCR is largely a good group. They represent the ideals (largely) of the old America and are trying to bring civilization back. And while its not so obvious that it is working in the Mojave we have plenty of evidence of its large successes (and some failures) from Fallout 2. They have their problems, they tax too much, and they stress the resources of an already hyper extended region but they mean well, and if the Legion weren't around they would probably have the Mojave whipped to peacefulness and safety.

 

House on the other hand is interesting to me. He is a bit of an arrogant jerk, and he is very obviously somewhat of a fascist but his only real goal is for order. He is not interested in telling people how to live only that they be orderly. Not sure what to think about that as it seems sort of contradictory. He defines the order, thus he is telling people how to live. But seeing as how he only wants to bring the Human race into a new era of prosperity he can't be all bad? Mao wanted a new era of prosperity as well, along with order. Thousands were killed because of it (within the Chinese Communist Regime).

 

Caesar I do not even pursue as I cannot even play as a bad guy. You can make arguments that Caesar is doing what he does for the greater good, but I don't like seeing woman as slaves, and I don't like his treatment of mutants.

 

So there's my opinions. Let me hear yours. Which end do you go for and why?

 

On a side-note, one of the reasons I really like Fallout New Vegas (aside from the fact its close proximity to the real canon) is that you can argue why each ending is good or bad. They are all morally ambiguous, and leave room for you the player to make up your own mind on what is good and bad, you are left to fill in the blanks, and reap the rewards or punishments of your actions.

[Talwyn224]

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

Edited July 18, 2012 by Talwyn224

[TKDBoy1889]

For me, it's usually between the independent/Yes Man and the NCR path. Though I must say overall Yes Man appeals to me more. From favorite to most hated my order is independent, NCR, Mr. House, Caesar.

 

First I'll explain why I dislike Caesar. It may sound typical, but while all the paths are supposed to be morally ambiguous I find Caesar's path to easily be the most evil, and the overall worst future. The society of the legion relies on crucifying their victims as a means of "teaching a lesson" to those they consider weak and corrupt, and they are hypocrites in that they considered advanced weaponry weak yet their armies often wield guns. I can't endorse a group that practices slavery and uses woman only for bearing children and slave-work. Plus, as it hinted at many times, most of the legion is following Caesar and not his ideals. Therefore, his eventual death will lead them to ruin. I see them as the most unstable and evil of the paths. Not to mention, the entire legion is built upon a massive fraud.

 

House is more tolerable but I still don't favor him much. Yeah, I know some will talk about how he saved the courier's life, which is true. Then again, the order he placed endangered the courier to begin with, that that argument is canceled out. I'm just not too keen on House's path because he's after power just for the sake of power. He's not too keen on actually being involved in a society, just wielding power over it. And while he seeks to maintain order he aims to do it through brute force with his upgraded securitrons. There is no choice, no true freedom. I find him to be far too detached from the actual world to really understand it, and ultimately he'd lead the Mojave wasteland to chaos because of how detached and stuck in the past he is. Plus like Caesar, once he died there's be no means of control left, and hence chaos would follow either way. I'm surprised few others have thought of that. The state of Mr. House's body proves that his life machine did not render him immortal.

 

NCR is my second favorite choice. They are the ones that I supported on my first play of the main quest. I like NCR because of their rooted path as a growing democratic nation, seeking peace and prosperity through the nature of government and law. They have good old school values at heart, and of the the three factions competing for New Vegas they are probably the most overall tolerant and the last to be discriminating.

 

But then again, they have their flaws, and plenty of them. The most obvious is that they are expanding too far, too fast, and using up their thinly stretched resources. The second is that it's largely hinted at through dialogue with Marcus and Caesar that ever since president Tandi died, the government is becoming more imperialistic, annexing whoever they please, first by diplomacy but then by force. Basically, if they want something they'll take it, no matter the cost. And as Marcus said, that's how revolutions start from running people over. Also, their recent leadership seems fairly incompetent. Talking with various NCR officers tells you that they aren't thrilled about the policies of their superiors, and General Oliver to me is incredibly incompetent. He just sits on his rear end and lets the other factions bide their time. So yeah. At their core they have good intentions but their over-expansion and recent political problems leave one worried how well they could actually run the Mojave and New Vegas.

 

The independent path to me is the best, and it's my favorite. First, it's awesome to tell all the big factions "Forget you, I'm running this show myself." Second off, the courier seems like they'd have the best odds of running New Vegas. Of course, that is largely dependent of what kind of personality you give the courier, but one vying for an independent New Vegas to me is aiming to keep the city safe and lead in to prosperity by a different means, offering a different future. In a way, all the other paths sound like an "order by force" path, where New Vegas falls under corruption or a dictatorship. The path of the courier is the path that could lead to a different ending, one that's not repeating the mistakes of humanity's past. And it feels like the path with the best chance for actual freedom.

[Dan3345]

So as someone who has never done the Independant Vegas option I have a question. I was told that at the end even if you are playing as a good guy Yes-Man will say something along the lines of "And don't worry about running Vegas, I'll be here to do it for a long time to come." Which to me sounds like a Skynet sort of situation.

 

And I would just like to add that I see House as being almost exactly like the US government in the 40's. Nice and withdrawn and willing to use force, but not really interfering with Americans (other than rationing of resources for the war of course), whereas NCR is like America today, corrupt and incompetency run rampant. But I do believe House does the best interests of Humanity at heart, its just those interests are long term. NCR and the Legion bowl people over to take over immediately, House is calculating and patient, he waited over two hundred years for his opportunity and he once he succeeds he says he will wait some more for the when time is right, he can be sure he is ready.

 

On another sort of sidenote, in I believe Fallout 2 when Tandi is the dictator of NCR, they were at their strongest point ever. Their traderoutes were safe, and the wasteland was tamed for a time. It wasn't until after Tandi died and they began democratically electing rulers (through corrupt means) that the NCR began to wear out. Seems to me they were stronger when it was Tandi that led them. Perhaps NCR is meant to foreshadow the death of the legion albeit at a slower pace. Basically, replace Tandi with Caesar and watch how fast the group implodes when those two are gone.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Dan3345

[Talwyn224]

@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.

[Dan3345]

But doesn't he say something alone the lines of "I found a snippet of code left over from Mr. House that will let me be a little more assertive, so I will go offline for a while to rewrite myself but don't worry the securitrons have been programmed to maintain order."

 

That first part, "I found a snippet of code left over from Mr. House that will let me be a little more assertive" really doesn't sit right with me.

[Talwyn224]

But doesn't he say something alone the lines of "I found a snippet of code left over from Mr. House that will let me be a little more assertive, so I will go offline for a while to rewrite myself but don't worry the securitrons have been programmed to maintain order."

 

That first part, "I found a snippet of code left over from Mr. House that will let me be a little more assertive" really doesn't sit right with me.

 

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.

[FreedomFighterEx]

i didn't like all ending in FONV, FO3 made more sense.

although i want Vegas to be independence not in control of NCR.

 

wish if PC have high enough Science, he/she could reprogram the Lucky 38 mainframe and take control by him/herself.

i don't like Yes Man either, it look fishy and i never trust in robot.

[Nihilisaurus]

Yesman's ending dialogue is not supposed to hint anything more than him being able to say no to people you don't want him to obey. J E Sawyer has said as such on his formspring when asked. Simply put, the code to 'make him more assertive' turns him from a yes man to your yes man, essentially cementing your control of New Vegas.

 

i didn't like all ending in FONV, FO3 made more sense.

 

Guys, the Enclave can't work the giant water condenser, obviously we should throw all our resources at them in a desperate attempt to stop them from... Actually I don't know what from, but a big, costly battle sounds fun right? Also our useless giant robot now works because some woman who claims to be a scientist and spent 20 years failing to clean water took a look.

 

 

[Talwyn224]

 

 

Guys, the Enclave can't work the giant water condenser, obviously we should throw all our resources at them in a desperate attempt to stop them from... Actually I don't know what from, but a big, costly battle sounds fun right? Also our useless giant robot now works because some woman who claims to be a scientist and spent 20 years failing to clean water took a look.

 

 

:thumbsup:

 

well said sir! :biggrin: