Fallout New Vegas: The Post-Benny Syndrome

[Draitheryn]

I'll admit the killing of Benny felt rather lackluster, and it was about that time that I started losing interest in the game, although it could have been the time spent playing, or the fact that I started a different game. I did however really enjoy the overall plot, and the whole 4 choices on who I want to see rule the Mojave. I still plan on beating the game, and slowly working my way through it, just not gonna play it for 4-5 hours straight like I did when I first started

 

[ryo02]

when I went to Ceasers camp I went to get Ceaser along side Boone Benny well he just happened to be there.

I let him go and as he walked away smug I shot him in the back of the head repeatedly with a shotgun and killed him.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

how about looking at it like this:
you can do stuff for the factions in a secondary storyline from the start? maybe thats the main one and killing benny was just an action of convenience, for vengeance.

 

[Eggsnham]

-Snippity-

Can't say I've ever had this. I've logged about 300+ hours into the game so far.

I got it less than a month ago.

"What's that, Social Life? No! No you can't come out of the basement!"

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

I see this problem in lots of RPGs.

I have a thing for playing as a weak character in games; not just difficulty wise, but story wise as well. But since RPGs usually have you progressively get more powerful and plot-important, I get bored by the time I realize I'm the best, most important, "chosen one who will save the kingdom" guy. That's why I get in the bad habit of getting half way through an RPG and starting over with an alt.

For some reason, I'd rather be a filthy peasant who fears the big baddy killing rats to stay alive than a badass, powerful guy who just piddles around because he already killed the big baddy.

 

[SeriousIssues]

Anticlimatic, but then again, killing Benny in the arena was one of the hardest damn things I had to do in that game-Besides wandering into a school full of armed raiders running low on ammo for pistol held together by scotch tape at level 3.

 

[v3n0mat3]

I don't give a shit about Benny, actually. I only care about the NCR and the Legion. Americans vs a Pseudo Roman empire? Fuck the smug bastards that just shoots you and leaves you for dead, I wanna know about that part of the story!

 

[Kair]

Still I think Obsidian cocked it up. It is easy for me to see when something is aimed at an American audience. I put The Witcher as an example because it was made by a Polish developer team, and they even avoided using the Soviet Union as inspiration despite Poland's position as a former Soviet satellite state. That is how you appeal to an international audience. Many American developers are far more nationally oriented.
It is the focus on the American audience that made the New Vegas dark world seem silly and boring to me.

I'm Australian and I loved New Vegas' story, I sense a hole in your arguement.

Did I ever say that only Americans and no others than Americans will ever like it? Besides, from what I hear about the Australian population, there are many Australians that resemble majority of the American population. This may cause Australians, including you, to have a similar view.

 

[Olorune]

I found the entire main plot fairly uninteresting (still not finished it, likely never will). NV is much better for its side-quests. I didn't even care about Benny to be honest.

Agreed. A big part of not caring about the main story was the "if you didn't do it then, you'll never be able to do it later" kind of things and the fact that once you did all the quests to change the face of Vegas forever, you don't even get to play in that new world. That just comes off as Obsidian being lazy, to me. Fallout 3's Broken Steel did it right and it was a ton of fun to be able to see the changes you brought to the world!

 

[epiccowFTW]

I did not kill benny

 

[Spudgun Man]

I found teaming up with a 200 year old eccentric and leading an army of robots to flatten the shit out of everything with a pulse to be far more exhilarating.

Then again maybe I should stay on that course of pills for my psychosis.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I am with the people who found the entire main plot uninteresting. I am more interested in Lonesome Road and the build up to meeting the other courier.

I slept with Benny and then rescued him at Ceasars camp later on. I thought he was okay and kind of ditzy. It's not like killing me was personal, unlike what festering hatred that other courier has for me... :<

 

[Hale Bloodshock]

I didn't actually care much before I killed Benny. It got boring to me quickly and when I finally got to Benny there was no satisfaction in killing him. In fact, I think I honestly wanted to keep him alive.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I found the entire main plot fairly uninteresting (still not finished it, likely never will). NV is much better for its side-quests. I didn't even care about Benny to be honest.

Agreed. A big part of not caring about the main story was the "if you didn't do it then, you'll never be able to do it later" kind of things and the fact that once you did all the quests to change the face of Vegas forever, you don't even get to play in that new world. That just comes off as Obsidian being lazy, to me. Fallout 3's Broken Steel did it right and it was a ton of fun to be able to see the changes you brought to the world!

I think I mentioned it to you in the other Fallout topic, but Fallout: New Vegas has way too many choices and outcomes for each particular faction and settlement that it would be ridiculous to expect Broken Steel like DLC. Besides, how much did Fallout 3 change after Broken Steel, aside from the water merchants and such?

 

[Kair]

One clear example is the NCR, supposedly 'good guys' only because they wish to restore a pre-apocalypse American society.

Did you pay any attention at all? The NCR are shown as pretty corrupt and weak e.g. they can't defend the roads, their soldiers get wasted on the Strip, the use of chems, manipulating smaller communities etc.

Personally I think Mr. House is the closest thing to a good guy as he wants to improve living conditions and medicine, even if it is for his own vain reasons.

The game puts it up your arse if you decide to claim independence from all factions. You can not shape the Mojave even if you have a MASSIVE army of extremely powerful bots. That is what is ridiculous, that the game assumes you did it for (quote from ending) 'the ideals of freedom and independence' (instead of for everyone's benefit), which clearly is an appeal to the American population.

Also the game's ending and story affiliates good and bad karma this way:
Good karma -> most compatible with NCR
Neutral karma -> most compatible with independence or House
Bad karma -> most compatible with Legion
All this can be seen with the frivolous use of the word 'but'.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Yeah, think you are alone on this one. Personal revenge quest wasn't that interesting to me . . . not the revenge part. I wanted to know why he did it. Then I found out it was over the chip . . and then I'm like . . awww hell yeah, get to determine the fate of the region.

 

[kyoodle]

One clear example is the NCR, supposedly 'good guys' only because they wish to restore a pre-apocalypse American society.

Did you pay any attention at all? The NCR are shown as pretty corrupt and weak e.g. they can't defend the roads, their soldiers get wasted on the Strip, the use of chems, manipulating smaller communities etc.

Personally I think Mr. House is the closest thing to a good guy as he wants to improve living conditions and medicine, even if it is for his own vain reasons.

Well it's all grey,nobody is doing anything for the best except The Courier (If you are good when you take Vegas for yourself) The best example I can find of moral greyness is in the wacky as hell Old World Blues

Spoiler: Old World Blues Endgame Spoilers Here

Basically,if you talk to Dr.Mobius instead of killing him outright,you'll find out that he actually is mostly a senile old man who is merely trying to keep the Think Tank from getting free from Big MT and that they were planning to use your brain to do it. But at the same time,the Think Tank have been brainwashed for years to think that the Big Empty is their entire world,despite them being idiots or insane,you have to feel bad for them when you put it in their perspective. Overall though,I saw it was the best action to stop the Think Tank anyway because they would just derail all the progress the Wasteland has made up until this point.

If Fallout 3 was grey in color,New Vegas is grey in morality.

Yeah thats one of the many things that made New Vegas so much better, I just meant that Mr. House matched my views the most, and that Kair was being a bit too sensitive by seeing it as pro-American values thing. (I should have put his full comment in the quote)

I haven't got round to the DLC yet, but I'm looking forward to it in the goty edition.

 

[loc978]

hmmm... I always thought of that as the point where the game stops trying to railroad me and starts actually letting me explore. Kind of like getting an airship in a Final Fantasy game... I guess some of us prefer not to be railroaded through a game?
The most interesting bits of any Fallout game for me tends to be individual settlements and how they interact with you/the other settlements...

 

[Hristo Tzonkov]

The Benny twist is the point where the main character settles with the self,who he is and after that point decides to go see the bigger picture which he's mostly been ignoring.It's a really brilliant twist unless you rushed by the main quest super fast because when you start you have a blank spot where your character is and just the knowledge that they stole from you,they shot you in the head and left you for dead and you know who the guy is.As you explore your character develops and you start establishing his reasoning.So when you actually catch up with Benny and kill him or whatever else you start thinking "I owe it to the people of the Mojave"(to do some good or to fuck shit up).If you never experienced your character truly the game will become slightly more boring afterwards.But then again I love seeing the ending narrative in Fallout game,brings a sense of pride that the 160 hours I sinked in this playthrough mattered atleast a little in my head.

 

[Frankster]

Agree with OP, bought NV with the steam sale and was massively enjoying it.

Then I finally caught up with benny, and despite not wishing to kill him, was kinda forced to
When that happened kinda lost interest in the game as the main plot didn't interest me that much.

If given the choice I'd have fought for the Brotherhood of Steel, they were my kinda guys, but they ain't one of the "sides" you can back for the end game, and I have no interest in claiming Las Vegas for myself nor do I want to kill mr House (guys done a decent job from what I saw) any more then I want to fight the NCR or legion. So game is in a hiatus until I decide what to do in the game xD