Intro
Fallout: New Vegas had a lot of new parts and mechanics, and Fallout 3 was perhaps very bare-bones yet functional. However, one mechanic that I feel Fallout: New Vegas was good for including but didn't have polished right was the faction system.
While many have played Fallout: New Vegas, the faction system tends to do very little that quest rewards and perhaps an invisible counter system can't do, tallying your respective reputation with any set of factions in the game, but, I feel that the system was implemented poorly, and from my own opinionated perspective, could be tweaked to make it more prominent in the game, while adding features to the game that make that mechanic truly important to consider.
While playing the base game of Fallout: New Vegas, there are several places where the faction mechanic comes into play, and most often times it's there as part of a diametric struggle between two forces, (i.e. Caesar's Legion/NCR, Powder Gangers/Goodsprings) and yet there are other locations that have their own singular reputations (Freeside, The Strip, Novac, The Brotherhood of Steel), I feel that the mechanic here was used more to alter dialogue than to truly affect the potential of each faction.
Example of a Singular Faction
To demonstrate from a singular faction, The Brotherhood of Steel, a well-known staple of the Fallout series, their main gimmick is to gather and hoard energy weapons, power armor, working technological facilities and military bunkers, under the guise of trying to 'protect humanity from itself'. In Fallout 3, their faction took a much more philanthropist role, while in Fallout: New Vegas, they were back to their old self.
The Brotherhood of Steel's faction rating would go up or down depending on quests you did for them, and only that. In Fallout 3, there was a side quest for bringing in technology to the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts, who are no different from the original Brotherhood. Such a side quest has loads of potential with a faction system, as well as the Karma system. For instance:
Turning in a Laser Rifle to X Brotherhood of Steel can be turned in these ways:
(Turn in item and turn down payment) [+Reputation/Good Karma]
(Turn in item and request payment) [+Reputation/Neutral Karma]
(Turn in item and demand better payment) {=/-Reputation/Evil Karma]
By selecting from those choices, is the role-playing aspect of the game can be upheld while actively profiting from your choices in more than one way. In the case of the Brotherhood of Steel, you'll likely have to jump through some hoops before you have access to their best equipment and to the faction itself. However, by doing side missions and miscellaneous tasks for them, is that could have been used to make singular factions more interesting, while, also, adding rewards for Karma balances and Reputation ratings, like so:
(based on Brotherhood of Steel faction)
High Reputation/ Good Karma = Access to better Equipment/discounts on buying equipment from Brotherhood of Steel Vendors (companion?)
High Reputation/ Neutral Karma = Access to equipment from Brotherhood of Steel Vendors, barred from better equipment except through skill checks or side quests (companion?)
High Reputation/ Evil Karma = Access to equipment from Brotherhood of Steel Vendors, barred from better equipment except through skill checks or side quests (companion?)
Each Karma level has it's rewards, but, how they are accessed would be based on the Karma level, a character with a Good Karma level would be trustworthy, and would have access to those side missions and quests, but, would also have immediate access to benefits that other Karma levels would need to work towards, alternatively, more evil factions would see the adverse, if you prove your ruthlessness and efficiency for their cause and have a good reputation with them, then Good characters might not even have a chance at accessing those benefits.
Larger Struggles between Major Factions
However, the faction system still has it's main function of acting out the interplay between two opposing forces, and while Fallout: New Vegas had the system down rather well on a basic scale, it lacked some intricacies it could benefit from.
For instance, there are the basic seven ratings of each faction (Idolized, Liked, Accepted, Neutral, Shunned, Hated, Vilified) there are other faction rating that are more gray, based on what you've done to those factions in each rating.
I would think that the faction mechanic in New Vegas would warrant an implementation of immediate alignment, where, if you're interested in a faction, you may play through the game until you have to chose one, or, chose one from the start by finding a faction and joining it by your own volition. From a role-playing perspective is that kind of choice is important to a character, and as well as a certain play-through may be made more interesting when you're sure of what you want to be.
However, while this is a whole new can of worms, the option to change factions should always be open, and methods of doing so should be based on karma, reactions to side missions or errands, and how the player treats others. For example:
(Based on idea for Radiant NCR Quest)
Mission: Kill X of Y Faction- (Optional: Save Slaves)
Potential Results:
1 (Kill X and complete Optional Objective)
2 (Kill X and fail Optional Objective [in method A{slaying them by accident} B {slaying them on purpose}, or C{moral choice slaying})
If you completed the optional objective, then you would be rewarded with +Reputation and +Karma for completing everything flawlessly, while if some slaves died and some didn't, you fail the Optional Objective, but you'd not lose Karma for it, yet still gain +Reputation for completing the mission.
Alternatively, if you kill all the slaves, you may gain some +Reputation, but a smaller amount, coupled with an appropriate amount of Bad Karma coming at you as well. This is where intricacy come into play, if you fail enough of those optional objectives, perhaps things like "Save X person" or "Stop X Sabotage" then perhaps you get a letter or note questioning your allegiance from a spy in the opposing faction.
In this example, if you're a soldier of the NCR, and you've been sent to Kill Centurion X and save the slaves you see, you may kill Centurion X, but perhaps you kill the slaves by convincing them they're free and their explosive collars go off, a rather cruel act like that will net you Bad Karma, but, if you do that enough times, perhaps Frumentarii Y, a spy in the NCR, sends you some contact information to discuss your ability.
It is at this point where you can turn Frumentarii Y in for caps, meet him and defect, or simply ignore it, but such actions would increase the level that the Faction mechanic can have on your game experience, and how it can mingle with the Karma system to create a truly awesome story if used correctly.
Ending
What are you throughts? Suggestions? Ridicule?
Fallout: New Vegas had a lot of new parts and mechanics, and Fallout 3 was perhaps very bare-bones yet functional. However, one mechanic that I feel Fallout: New Vegas was good for including but didn't have polished right was the faction system.
While many have played Fallout: New Vegas, the faction system tends to do very little that quest rewards and perhaps an invisible counter system can't do, tallying your respective reputation with any set of factions in the game, but, I feel that the system was implemented poorly, and from my own opinionated perspective, could be tweaked to make it more prominent in the game, while adding features to the game that make that mechanic truly important to consider.
While playing the base game of Fallout: New Vegas, there are several places where the faction mechanic comes into play, and most often times it's there as part of a diametric struggle between two forces, (i.e. Caesar's Legion/NCR, Powder Gangers/Goodsprings) and yet there are other locations that have their own singular reputations (Freeside, The Strip, Novac, The Brotherhood of Steel), I feel that the mechanic here was used more to alter dialogue than to truly affect the potential of each faction.
Example of a Singular Faction
To demonstrate from a singular faction, The Brotherhood of Steel, a well-known staple of the Fallout series, their main gimmick is to gather and hoard energy weapons, power armor, working technological facilities and military bunkers, under the guise of trying to 'protect humanity from itself'. In Fallout 3, their faction took a much more philanthropist role, while in Fallout: New Vegas, they were back to their old self.
The Brotherhood of Steel's faction rating would go up or down depending on quests you did for them, and only that. In Fallout 3, there was a side quest for bringing in technology to the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts, who are no different from the original Brotherhood. Such a side quest has loads of potential with a faction system, as well as the Karma system. For instance:
Turning in a Laser Rifle to X Brotherhood of Steel can be turned in these ways:
(Turn in item and turn down payment) [+Reputation/Good Karma]
(Turn in item and request payment) [+Reputation/Neutral Karma]
(Turn in item and demand better payment) {=/-Reputation/Evil Karma]
By selecting from those choices, is the role-playing aspect of the game can be upheld while actively profiting from your choices in more than one way. In the case of the Brotherhood of Steel, you'll likely have to jump through some hoops before you have access to their best equipment and to the faction itself. However, by doing side missions and miscellaneous tasks for them, is that could have been used to make singular factions more interesting, while, also, adding rewards for Karma balances and Reputation ratings, like so:
(based on Brotherhood of Steel faction)
High Reputation/ Good Karma = Access to better Equipment/discounts on buying equipment from Brotherhood of Steel Vendors (companion?)
High Reputation/ Neutral Karma = Access to equipment from Brotherhood of Steel Vendors, barred from better equipment except through skill checks or side quests (companion?)
High Reputation/ Evil Karma = Access to equipment from Brotherhood of Steel Vendors, barred from better equipment except through skill checks or side quests (companion?)
Each Karma level has it's rewards, but, how they are accessed would be based on the Karma level, a character with a Good Karma level would be trustworthy, and would have access to those side missions and quests, but, would also have immediate access to benefits that other Karma levels would need to work towards, alternatively, more evil factions would see the adverse, if you prove your ruthlessness and efficiency for their cause and have a good reputation with them, then Good characters might not even have a chance at accessing those benefits.
Larger Struggles between Major Factions
However, the faction system still has it's main function of acting out the interplay between two opposing forces, and while Fallout: New Vegas had the system down rather well on a basic scale, it lacked some intricacies it could benefit from.
For instance, there are the basic seven ratings of each faction (Idolized, Liked, Accepted, Neutral, Shunned, Hated, Vilified) there are other faction rating that are more gray, based on what you've done to those factions in each rating.
I would think that the faction mechanic in New Vegas would warrant an implementation of immediate alignment, where, if you're interested in a faction, you may play through the game until you have to chose one, or, chose one from the start by finding a faction and joining it by your own volition. From a role-playing perspective is that kind of choice is important to a character, and as well as a certain play-through may be made more interesting when you're sure of what you want to be.
However, while this is a whole new can of worms, the option to change factions should always be open, and methods of doing so should be based on karma, reactions to side missions or errands, and how the player treats others. For example:
(Based on idea for Radiant NCR Quest)
Mission: Kill X of Y Faction- (Optional: Save Slaves)
Potential Results:
1 (Kill X and complete Optional Objective)
2 (Kill X and fail Optional Objective [in method A{slaying them by accident} B {slaying them on purpose}, or C{moral choice slaying})
If you completed the optional objective, then you would be rewarded with +Reputation and +Karma for completing everything flawlessly, while if some slaves died and some didn't, you fail the Optional Objective, but you'd not lose Karma for it, yet still gain +Reputation for completing the mission.
Alternatively, if you kill all the slaves, you may gain some +Reputation, but a smaller amount, coupled with an appropriate amount of Bad Karma coming at you as well. This is where intricacy come into play, if you fail enough of those optional objectives, perhaps things like "Save X person" or "Stop X Sabotage" then perhaps you get a letter or note questioning your allegiance from a spy in the opposing faction.
In this example, if you're a soldier of the NCR, and you've been sent to Kill Centurion X and save the slaves you see, you may kill Centurion X, but perhaps you kill the slaves by convincing them they're free and their explosive collars go off, a rather cruel act like that will net you Bad Karma, but, if you do that enough times, perhaps Frumentarii Y, a spy in the NCR, sends you some contact information to discuss your ability.
It is at this point where you can turn Frumentarii Y in for caps, meet him and defect, or simply ignore it, but such actions would increase the level that the Faction mechanic can have on your game experience, and how it can mingle with the Karma system to create a truly awesome story if used correctly.
Ending
What are you throughts? Suggestions? Ridicule?
