Fallout: New Vegas

I have only played NV on PS 3.

Don't worry, I fully intend for my next playthrough to be on PC. That should make Dead Money a lot better.

This means I also won't suffer the bug that constantly drains my health even when I'm outside of the Cloud. Oh man how did I almost forget that bullshit.

Who is the hardest character to save? I don't recall anyone dying for me but then again, I can't recall exactly. I'd have to look up my posts from a couple years ago.

And I didn't get any of that gold. I came out of Dead Money broke. I got more money from lonesome Road because you will get more awesome loot there than you know what to do with.

edited 29th Sep '17 11:17:55 PM by Nikkolas

He's probably referring to Dean, who will become grumpy and unsaveable very easily — including if you pass the first Barter check with him.

Dog/God - you need high speech to save him. I did a no speech check run, and that was the only thing I couldn't do. Christine is easy, and for Dean, just don't be a dick to him and don't use your speech or barter skills on him. So long as he thinks he's the slick talker, he won't have any real beef with him.

And don't worry, the gold is basically worthless. Its value to weight is pretty bad and most vendors can't actually afford to take one off your hands without wasting part (usually a large part) of its value. What you want are the advanced security armor, which is ugly, but the best light armor in the game (18 DT!), the holorifle (okay, so some people like it, but it always disappoints me), an Automatic Rifle (the accuracy is bad, but it's very powerful, only topped by the Bozar and light machine gun for rifles and crits much more often than other full-auto weapons, and its higher damage per shot makes it better for tough targets like deathclaws), Elijah's gauss rifle (it's an ordinary gauss rifle, but they're kind of hard to find and he's a reliable source), Vera's dress (useless, but stylish, especially a female courier), maybe a police revolver (the most powerful pistol in its caliber and a pretty good holdout weapon), and the assassin suit (decent light armor (12 DT) but much more stylish than the security armor). If you're doing melee, a clean knife spear does massive limb damage (x3), and the basic cosmic knife is great for finishing ghost people when they're down.

Also, you want the vending machine codes and to clear out the casino because if you do the latter, you'll get a lot of tokens that you can cash immediately for huge amounts of weightless, valuable, easily divided pre-war money and a weekly stipend afterwards that you can use to generate stimpaks and .38 and .308 ammo at no cap cost.

edited 29th Sep '17 11:38:32 PM by Balmung

Don't a few people in the Brotherhood bunker have Gauss Rifles? I never used it much but it seemed like a really good weapon judging by how they were destroying me. (Legends tell of how the Courier cowered in a bathroom drinking water for a few solid minutes to regain health)

But I guess killing Elijah for his is more ethical.

Although, why did he instantly attack me? I hear you can lock him in the vault but he immediately tried to kill me when I got out.

edited 29th Sep '17 11:50:06 PM by Nikkolas

You gotta sneak past him somehow.

He'll walk into the vault to investigate when he notices you're not in there.

I said interesting. Dog/God aren't interesting. They're just the bastard who kidnapped me from the Mojave, and if it weren't for the experience points you get for combining their personalities, I'd just leave them to rot. Christine is annoying. That's all I'm going to say about her.

But Dean? Dean is interesting. There's not many characters that get the drop on a high-end Courier, but he does. That bit with the bomb under the seat when you first meet him's really smart. And he gets to be the one that set this whole thing in motion, whereas Elijah's just a jackal picking round his leavings.

I was responding to who's the hardest character to save. Dean and Christine are pretty easy, but Dog/God needs a very high speech check for his best ending.

The gauss rifle is extremely powerful, but guzzles MFCs at a rate of 5 per shot. The YCS/186 cuts it down to 4 per shot. The Holorifle has comparable oomph at 1 MFC per shot, but is much harder to use at range.

I was really disappointed about locking him in. I expected him to enter the vault room and have the door slam behind him, not get locked out and fire into the air in rage. But really, I'd rather have his gun than a moral victory.

edited 30th Sep '17 4:16:15 AM by Balmung

Shoddycast is back!

Interesting video. In case anyone here had a kneejerk reaction to the title, he's just saying the Legion will force the NCR to change and get better, not that they should win.

Although I still find House's criticism of democracy pretty weak.

1. The countries that started the Great War were not democratic.

2. Even if they were, there is no China to go to war with right now so they couldn't destroy the world again.

I'm not wild about democracy or the NCR but the criticisms are kinda weak.

But yeah, the NCR truly doesn't know its history since it's trying to replicate an America that, in Falloutverse, doesn't exist. Fallout America is the Enclave. Nobody is trying to replicate that for obvious reasons.

As for who the "synthesis" could be between the NCR and Legion, perhaps the NCR returns to its hereditary dictatorship like Caesar talked about.

Well it's already been analyzed who will win and outlast in NCR vs Legion. Legion won't last long.

That wasn't the point of the video at all, though. The Legion's mere presence is what will ensue future good.

edited 30th Sep '17 12:09:26 PM by Nikkolas

It's never really been about who wins in the long term, but rather whether the NCR's occupation is fair or moral even if it's done in the name of protecting the Mojave from Caesar— as well as whether the NCR doesn't have a further responsibility to the people already under the Legion's heel.

From the looks of it. They do if they wanna rebuild a democratic America.

Long-term, maybe, but the question the game is really asking is more about what should happen right now, as in tomorrow and the next few years. All the people who die on Legion crosses aren't going to care about the glorious NCR spreading democracy from coast to coast. On the other hand, if the Khans and Kings, and the New Vegas Families, ridiculous as they are, are wiped out or assimilated to the point where they cease to exist, that's a victory of sorts for the NCR, but is it really the kind of winner they want to be? It's not only the end result that matters: how you get there, being able to look back on your actions with pride, that counts for something and affects the sort of place that future country will eventually become.

edited 30th Sep '17 12:31:01 PM by Unsung

Well that's something we can't just determine. Sometimes fighting will happen.

Because War. War Never changes.

x5 I don't think it does. Once Caesar goes, all of his legacy goes with him. All the Legion will be remembered for, even if it were to win the Mojave struggle, would be as tyrants in football gear who strap people to crosses and breed women like cattle, not for Hegellian excellence.

All Lanius can do is to form a reasonably large raider band, maybe establish something a'la Republic of Dave on a slightly larger scale.

@NCR: Well, A Canticle for Leibowitz would have us believe that people are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their long-lost ancestors, but NCR is a much smaller creature than the old USA. Even if they were to expand all over the old glory, they would likely have little to none resources to uphold it and protect it from raiders, warlords and, worse, things like BOS or The Institute.

edited 30th Sep '17 4:04:20 PM by FergardStratoavis

What do people here think of Benny? It's impossible for me to hate the guy and I can't remember if you can keep him alive.

I will always honor his wish to destroy House, though. I forget why he hates House but between the two of them, I like Benny a helluva lot more.

edited 30th Sep '17 8:42:43 PM by Nikkolas

The guy shot Courier Six in the head. Twice. People have deserved to be killed by Six for far less. He's a slimeball who nevertheless doesn't deserve crucifixion; no one does.

edited 30th Sep '17 8:47:51 PM by ITNW1989

I always liked Benny, the fact that he was voiced by Chandler didn't hurt.

As far as i understand, Benny didn't hate Mr. House, he just wanted to run New Vegas, and that meant House had to go.

And yes, if you want Benny can stay alive. You have to first let him run from you at The Tops, and then free him from the Legion.

Course, i always tended to just shoot him in the head, not of revenge, but because i wanted that suit, and his gun. Checkered suits are my jam, if only it was double-breasted.

Benny could've been great, but he gets one of the most phoned-in VO performances in the game. It's weird that the problem was that Matt Perry, of all people, didn't go broad enough.

I can respect a guy who talks a good game, though. That's the kind of PC I usually run.

I shoot him in the chest in hopes of ending his suit.

All the Chairmen talk like Benny. I think he was just directed to act that way.

All the Families are tribals forced to pretend they are some 200-year-old stereotype. They're gonna sound very off.

They're all written the same way, and they're all supposed to sound like Frank Sinatra (because he was the Chairman of the Board) the same way the Kings are imitating Elvis. Benny's problem is that he doesn't sound as cartoony as the other Chairmen. Benny's the equivalent of the King here, he should at least be doing Sammy Davis Jr or something.

edited 30th Sep '17 10:12:48 PM by Unsung

Unsung wasn't complaining about the accent, they were complaining about the delivery. Matthew Perry's delivery was sadly flat and unimpressive, especially for a character like Benny. Frankly he should have been hamming it up, considering some of the lines Benny says. He just didn't have that ring-a-ding-ding to it. Hell, even the "Nyeah heh there's the high roller!" guys have more emotion in their delivery than Perry's.

I generally let Benny make it to the Legion; the narrative just doesn't feel right unless you do. Then I duel him to the death.