LogFAQs > #948291057

BetrayedTangy posted...

It's honestly a little bit of everything. In general I feel like their route as well as House's route doesn't have much reason to exist. Since you pretty much do the same stuff with Yes Man, just with more freedom.

Yeah, I read that the final quest is the same, for example, between the three non-Legion routes, and I know you do some of the same things to deal with factions like the Khans and Brotherhood. This might speak to my inexperience with WRPGs, but New Vegas is the only one I've played that really has multiple final quests and endings, as such, so I guess I can forgive it for having a lot of similarities between routes. Fallout 2 always has the same final quest and main antagonists, for example, and the same goes for games like Mass Effect and KotOR even if they all have a lot of player choice in other areas.

Now that you mention it, I do think the NCR lacks a charismatic main character in the way the others do. Caesar and Mr. House are two very interesting characters, and I personally really like Yes Man, but I couldn't point to one particular NCR character who is as memorable or important. People seem to remember the encounter with Lanius much more than the one with the NCR general right afterward too, with good reason I would say.

I like the set of games you have at the top for 2010. I have a feeling my list won't look too different.

azuarc posted...

The main thing that always annoyed me about New Vegas is how the beginning of the game basically feels like it's on rails until you get to Vegas.

I played a few hours of Fallout 3 the other day so that I'd be able to speak to the comparison better in my write-ups and I think you're right. In 3 you can pretty much go in any direction at the start of the game while New Vegas you can only get away with going south or maybe east. I do like how New Vegas' early game makes use of the reputation system and gives you choices right away, like Goodsprings vs. Powder Gang and what to do with Primm and the NCRCF, and I also think Fallout 3 is a little too eager to give the player strong weapons and show off things like Super Mutants. In the original game it was hours and hours before you could get your hands on any Big Guns or saw a Super Mutant, and I think that helped them feel more imposing.

I definitely agree with you that New Vegas isn't very impressive before you actually make it to Vegas, though. It's a back-ended game, but I wonder if Fallout 3 isn't kind of a front-ended game in a similar way. Megaton is an impressive location that a lot of work obviously went into, so you run into very few unnamed NPCs, but I won't be surprised if the later areas aren't as fleshed-out.

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In a trading post somewhere north of Novac, Art met a girl named Veronica. He liked her. She was personable and had a lot to talk about. Eventually, she confessed to being a member of the Brotherhood. It seemed like she didn't know what had happened to the bunker yet. He didn't tell her, but he felt sorry that she'd have nowhere to go back to, so he asked her to travel with him instead.

The NCR boys at Hoover Dam were happy to see him. They had no problem with him helping the security for President Kimball's visit. The Legion tried a couple different things. They killed and impersonated an engineer and planted a bomb on his Vertibird once it hit the ground, and they threw a sniper from a guard tower so their own assassin could take his place. Art sniffed out both of those plans quickly enough that he could stop them without even interrupting the President's speech, which went off just fine. Art headed west to the El Dorado Substation. The place was crawling with NCR troops, but his reputation with them was so good that no one batted an eye as he walked right in and installed the override chip Yes Man had given him. Now all that was left was to do the same at Hoover Dam, while everyone else was distracted by the fighting.

He had to trick his way past two guards, but otherwise it was a cinch to make it to the heart of Hoover Dam. He stopped to say hello to Arcade and the Remnants on the way down. With some help from Yes Man, he re-routed the dam's power to the bunker at Fortification Hill to wake up the Securitrons there, right underneath Caesar's feet. He didn't find out for sure, but it was hard to imagine the old guy surviving all that.

Next he went down to Legate Lanius' camp on the far side of the river. It was interesting to meet the man in person. Art didn't expect him to talk - he wasn't even sure if he knew how - but they had a nice little chat after all. He told old Lanius that if it took the Legion's entire army to hold the west, they would lose everything they'd fought so hard for out east. It seemed to work. Lanius took off, but he promised they would meet again and fight for real. He had to talk an NCR general into leaving the dam too. The man was really pleased with him until he found out Art was working for an independent Vegas, and then he tried a tough guy act. All it took was to show off the Securitrons and he scampered. The Republic and the Legion had both lost Hoover Dam - it was all his now.

Notable Ending Cards: The Powder Gang continued their reign of terror, Novac survived with help from the Bright Ones, ED-E, Cass, Arcade, and Rex got their good endings but none of the other companions were even mentioned, Primm Slim is still doing work.

Final Perks: Action Boy (+15 action points,) Explorer (Every location revealed) Long Haul (ability to fast-travel when over max carry weight.)
Skills at 100: Barter, Guns, Lockpick, Medicine, Science, Speech
Final Play Time: 54 hours 47 minutes

Final Thoughts on New Vegas coming tomorrow.

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I'm playing every game from GotD 2020! Games Completed: 11/129
Currently Playing: Fallout: New Vegas