Let's Play Fallout: New Vegas [The Servant]
- Thread starter AlternatePFG
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Nope. It was one of the last bobbleheads I picked up.AlternatePFG said:
Console player, sorry ;_;
Really enjoying this LP though.
I don't quite understand so I'll ask you all, because knowing my luck I'll click the wrong thing and my computer will spontaneously combust. From what I gather the Mod Manager is like a little menu where I can see the mods I have downloaded and turn them on and off without having to un-install them. Right?
That was oing to be my next question. I am not so stupid that I think everything I download will show up there, so: where do I put the stuff to have it work in the game and show up in the menu?AlternatePFG said:
Usually the games Data folder, unless stated otherwise. Usually some of the larger mods give basic instructions on how to do this, it's quite easy once you figure this out.Viking Incognito said:
I don't see a Data file under games. I click games then Fallout new vegas then all there is is Mods and Install infoAlternatePFG said:
You have to go to folder in your Program Files, and find the directory for Fallout 3/New Vegas.Viking Incognito said:
Whooo! I just downloaded my first mod! Tailor Made for Fallout Ne Vegas. It is pretty cool looking based on the pictures.AlternatePFG said:
BIG NEWS!!!!1111!!!
I've come up with I name for my philosophy rants!
"Lessons with Head Scribe Viking"
And I'll give each of them their own title. I would be honored if you would link my stuff to the OP now that I have a name for it. I have found that it is better for me to wait until the discussion comes up naturally then search for something to talk about so, I'll let things run their course unless I think of something particularly interesting.
I've come up with I name for my philosophy rants!
"Lessons with Head Scribe Viking"
And I'll give each of them their own title. I would be honored if you would link my stuff to the OP now that I have a name for it. I have found that it is better for me to wait until the discussion comes up naturally then search for something to talk about so, I'll let things run their course unless I think of something particularly interesting.
AlternatePFG said:
Such a pity as I've really enjoyed this. At least there are still the DLC quests to enjoy reading about While I can't remember its name, there is a mod where all it does is stick a load of randomly produced trees and vegitation all over the wasteland. Whether you're not convinced that there'd be no vegitation after 200 years, or you're just fed up with gray on gray it makes playing (for me anyway) a much more pleasent experience.AlternatePFG said:
If you could link me to the previous ones you did, that would make things easier for me.Viking Incognito said:
Unless anything changes, yes, I will play Fallout: New Vegas. I will probably take a break in between though, to avoid burning out on the game.MacNille said:
[HEADING=1]Chapter XLVI - The Grand Finale[/HEADING]
This is it. The very end of the (main) game. The Enclave took the GECK, and are going to activate it for their own apparently nefarious purposes. And we have to stop them. For some reason.
Raven Rock finishes blowing up. Let's get to the Citadel to end this.
They seem okay with letting the giant super mutant with a gatling laser roam around their base.
The Brotherhood is already preparing for the upcoming battle. You can still do whatever you want before you enter this conversation, I guess the Enclave will wait for you before they activate the purifier.
Despite them not knowing that the Enclave have the GECK, they're getting ready to retake the purifier.
Oh, ain't that ironic?
To be fair, it took us a long time to get the GECK.
"There's no time. We have to move now or we'll lose Project Purity."
Uh, we already lost it...
"You think I am unaware? We've watched the build-up around the facility for the last week. Has something new happened?"
"The Enclave took the G.E.C.K. They're installing it now."
"Then we must go at once! If you have any other information, tell me now before we mobilize. Any help you can give might save lives."
I know I've said it multiple times before, but why do we need to stop the Enclave right this minute? They activate the purifier, so what? It isn't like Autumn wants to put Eden's FEV in the water, so let them die activating the purifier and not us. After they activate it, we just charge the purifier and wipe them all out.
We can do multiple things here, but none of them really relate to the battle at hand. We can even give him the vial of FEV, which makes the game forcing you into taking the vial rather pointless.
"The Enclave doesn't have the activation code. They can't start the purifer."
"Well, that gives us a little more time. But how long do we have before they figure it out? This makes this situation far more dire..."
We've only seen the Pride in action once this entire game. It would be cooler they actually had a bigger role in the main quest of the game, but sadly they do not.
Is what ready?
We get a giant robot to help us fight the Enclave? Awesome.
"The Pride and I have decided that after all you've survived, you've done enough to be an honorary member of Lyon's Pride. So congratulations. Membership comes with some privileges, including our Power Armor. You want the full suit, or the Recon armor?"
So we get to join the Lyons Pride for the very final part of the game. Kind of a cool thing, I guess. There's really no reason for you to not take the power armor. (It's unique in appearance, with the Lyons Pride emblem, but aside from that it's standard power armor, correct me if I'm wrong.)
"I'll take the Power Armor."
"Sure thing. Hopefully it'll give you a bit of an extra edge. Okay, so do you think you can hold it together for this?"
"Of course I can."
"Now that's what I like to hear, soldier. You all packed? We're not coming back here anytime soon."
I believe this is the game warning you that after this you're pretty much set for the endgame. It's not like New Vegas's big, fuckoff screen warning you that this is the end off the game.
"I'm all ready."
"Okay. Don't be nervous. You'll have the whole Pride backing you up, not to mention this giant tin can."
At this point, I'm pretty confident that we could take on the whole Enclave ourselves.
"Just stay safe until we reach the purifier. You're no good to us if you're dead. And don't let that thing step on you."
Take her advice. Stay far away from Liberty Prime.
Now, it's time for the big battle over the purifier. This is a cool part of the game for the most part, but there are some annoying things about it that I will get into as we progress through the fight.
Sarah says her big speech...
Just like that, Liberty Prime starts up. I like Liberty Prime, he's got some funny lines, and is genuinely cool.
We level up just before leaving the Citadel. All of the points are put towards maxing out sneak. Now we can sneak with the best of them.
Chem Resistant, mostly just to compliment the other chem related perk we took a long time ago.
Hilariously enough, Fawkes gets all the Brotherhood soldiers stuck on the stairs.
Speaking of Fawkes, super mutants have no role with the finale whatsoever.
We don the Power Armor, because why not? We'll probably never use it again at any other point in the game.
All of the setpieces involving Liberty Prime are pretty damn impressive, Bethesda put a lot of work into this part of the game, it's heavily scripted.
As soon as you exit the Citadel, this music plays:
It's pretty cool, and to think you'd miss that if you were playing the radio.
Before Prime is even in sight, a ton of explosions go off around us.
My framerate appropriately tanks.
Liberty Prime pretty much destroys his way all the way to the purifier. Your involvement in all of this is very little.
All the vertibirds appropriately get blown the fuck up when they start firing on Liberty Prime.
Yeah, the really use the mini-nuke effect a ton here.
Liberty Prime just walks through those damn forcefields and they don't really effect him.
Unlike poor Fallout 1 Dogmeat. *sniff*
Make sure to loot the many, many Enclave soldiers littering the streets.
Again, staying close to Prime is a really bad idea.
Liberty Prime clears off the entire bridge with ease. We don't even get to shoot one Enclave soldier. Notice the problem here?
Liberty Prime takes one of the mini-nukes off his back and...
He throws it like a football. Awesome.
We sneak around to find some Enclave soldiers that we can pick off ourselves, and not having Liberty Prime do all the work. The most annoying thing about the final battle, is that Liberty Prime does all the cool thigns, while you sit back and watch. There's only a few chances for you to get involved with the actual combat.
There we go. Some XP for us.
We fight a Hellfire soldier, who has a noticeably smaller amount of health that normal Hellfire troopers have.
That's our biggest contribution to this entire battle.
We also got a nice heavy incinerator. Let's try it out.
Liberty Prime has some pretty awesome one-liners. Not in this particular screenshot, but in general, he just spouts a ton of anti-communist propaganda and stuff, it's pretty funny.
This thing murders people. Imagine the damage it would do if we had a high Big Guns skill.
We're close to the purifier now.
Liberty Prime leaves massage amount of wreckage in his path. Sometimes Brotherhood soldiers will get killed as a result.
Like this unfortunate guy on the right here.
Oops, guess Paladin Vargas is dead.
Prime does his football throw thing again.
It gets results. I still maintain however, that we could just as easily take on all of these guys by ourselves with the Lyons Pride giving us support.
In some ways, that might have been better. I'unno.
This particular forcefield shocks Liberty Prime.
Liberty Prime falters for a second...
But gets up again, to kick more ass.
Now we're clear to charge the purifier from here. I forgot to mention earlier, but one of the trader caravans got caught in the chaos and got blown up. Which one, I do not know.
Fawkes and Sarah are here to support us.
This is the third time we've had to clear this place of enemies.
I love the massive carnage this weapon creates. I believe we already found one, but it's not the kind of weapon I usually carry around.
I'm used to this gun being a Energy Weapons type, like it is in New Vegas.
It's much more satisfying to use than the flamer, where you just kind of slowly drain enemies of their health.
Alright, it's time for the final confronation with Colonel Autumn. Get ready for an epic battle betwe-
I can't say that with a straight face, never mind.
I would say the same to you.
"I can't say I'm surprised. You and your ilk seem hell-bent on destroying everything our government has worked to achieve."
What government? And we wouldn't have destroyed anything in the first place if you weren't such assholes.
"There's nothing to stop me from killing you this time. Let's end this."
Yup, this is the final boss of the game. Colonel Autumn and two rather weak Enclave Soldiers. Frank Horrigan, he is not.
"Give it up, Autmun. You've lost."
Choosing the "I don't want to fight you." option forces you into combat, even though it seems like the most diplomatic option. *shrug*
"I beg to differ. The Enclave is at the height of its power."
...So despite nearly being eradicated by the Brotherhood and NCR, escaping to D.C. just to get almost your entire force wiped in a single blast, you're at the height of your power? Bullshit.
"Once this facility is operational, the masses will flock to the Enclave for fresh water, protection, and a plan for the future."
"[Speech, 100%] Raven Rock is gone. Eden checked out. You've got nothing left."
"[SUCCESS] The American people are worth fighting for. The future must be secured. I won't let you stand in the way of that."
The Enclave would be much better antagonists in this game if they actually bothered to give them a decent amount of characterization. As it stands, they're still the mustache twirling villains that they were in 2, except they aren't as funny.
"[Speech, 100%] This isn't the way to do it. More fighting will just make things worse."
"[SUCCESS] And what would you have me do? Let you have everything I've worked to build? Let you destroy it all?"
"Just walk away. It's not too late."
There's no other dialogue options here, except for the obligatory "Fuck it, I'm going to kill you" option. It's a shame, because this would be a cool moment to define your character a bit.
"And you... You would just let me leave? How can I be sure you won't just shoot me once I turn my back on you? I suppose it doesn't matter much now. Very well. I shall leave you to your fate."
Maybe we should ask him for some of his magical radiation drug first.
Alternatively...
Autumn and his mooks are really weak.
They go down in a few shots. Yeah. For the sake of the LP, the speech check is "canon" so to speak.
And Autumn just dejectedly walks off.
Let's fix that purifier.
Nope, it doesn't. Colonel Autumn doesn't return to lead the Enclave in Broken Steel.
Of course, things aren't as simple as the appear.
Great.
"One of us is going to have to go in there and turn the damned thing on. And whoever does it isn't coming back out."
Ah, the infamous final choice of this game. Saying it'd be much more stupid if we didn't have Broken Steel installed would be an understatement.
"Not exactly how I imagined going out, you know? So, what should we do? Draw straws?"
Now, without Broken Steel installed, we'd have three options (Not including whether or not you put the FEV in):
1) Go into the purifier ourselves
2) Send Sarah into the purifier
3) Do neither, and let the purifier explode.
So, you're probably wondering, what if you had Fawkes, Charon or RL-3? Could they activate the purifier for you?
Well, that's what you'd think but nope. Fawkes says "I'm sorry, my companion, but no. We all have our own destinies, and yours culminates here. I would not rob you of that." This is probably the most bullshit of all of the responses, Fawkes is completely immune to radiation, being a super mutant. Fawkes really has no reason to help us either, being a Good karma companion, and the whole destiny excuse is just an infuriating handwave. (Remember, he got the GECK for us.)
Charon says "Come on, we both know I've saved your ass enough times already. This one's on you." Again, being a ghoul, completely immune to radiation. Hell, radiation heals ghouls.
RL-3 says "Soldier, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. This is your fight! You gotta finish what your daddy started! Stand strong and get your ass in there!" RL-3 is also immune to radiation, but one might be able to excuse it as his programming being kind of a weird. I'unno.
Note that you can't make Clover go in there and do it (Even with Broken Steel) despite her being trained to listen to your every command.
With Broken Steel, Fawkes, Charon and RL-3 will go into the purifier now. Basically, they replace Sarah's role in the epilogue and that's about it.
There's really no excuse for this whole setup. They could have done some really easy things to stop things like this from happening:
1) Have the player seperated from their companions at some point during the battle. For example, having them help the Brotherhood in a different area altogether.
2) Killing the players radiation immune companions at some point during the battle, if they were in their party. Sure, it would be kind of a dick move, but I think it would be an interesting twist.
While we could have Fawkes start the purifier, we're the hero here. Besides, we don't want Ron Perlman berating us over the epilogue.
"I'do it. I'll start the purifier."
"You're going to have to be quick about it. If the radiation is bad enough, you won't have much time. I won't forget what you've done here. No one will. Thank you."
This is rather abrupt. You just get one trivial "You are a good person" line and then you're kicked towards your death. No emotional buildup or anything. Almost as bad as Neverwinter Nights 2's ending.
Almost.
Leave it to the token pet to create some pathos.
The door ominously shuts behind you as you enter the purifier. Why is it designed like this again?
So the game expects you to know the code for the purifier. I'm not sure if it suddenly appears in your notes, or something, but the code is 216, after the passage that James likes so much.
The room starts flooding with radiation extremely fast. You don't have much time to figure the code out. The game does leave a dead Enclave scientists with 10 RadAways and Rad-X if you really need it.
2
1
6
Give me a second here, will ya?
We instantly get a ton of good karma right when we enter the code. You'd think that maybe you'd be able to stumble out of the purifier to avoid the deadly radiation, but no dice. Looks like we're going to die in here, just like dear old dad. Ironic, ain't it?
I do believe that Bethesda really tried with the main story of Fallout 3. There's tons of symbolism in here, and there is some elements of a compelling story here. The problem is just the terrible writing, plot holes and railroading. None of the characters in the main questline are even remotely interesting, save for a couple one off characters, so it's hard to get invested through that. If you would prefer being able to make your own choices and have an impact on how the game plays out, the railroading stops that too. Especially if you're an evil character, because it completely undermines the story and theme of the game. (Similar to Red Dead Redemption, in my opinion.) The massive plot holes in some areas just really distract from the entire experience as a whole, and it just seems like if Bethesda just set the game much earlier, almost all of those plot holes would disappear.
Raven Rock finishes blowing up. Let's get to the Citadel to end this.
They seem okay with letting the giant super mutant with a gatling laser roam around their base.
The Brotherhood is already preparing for the upcoming battle. You can still do whatever you want before you enter this conversation, I guess the Enclave will wait for you before they activate the purifier.
Despite them not knowing that the Enclave have the GECK, they're getting ready to retake the purifier.
Oh, ain't that ironic?
To be fair, it took us a long time to get the GECK.
"There's no time. We have to move now or we'll lose Project Purity."
Uh, we already lost it...
"You think I am unaware? We've watched the build-up around the facility for the last week. Has something new happened?"
"The Enclave took the G.E.C.K. They're installing it now."
"Then we must go at once! If you have any other information, tell me now before we mobilize. Any help you can give might save lives."
I know I've said it multiple times before, but why do we need to stop the Enclave right this minute? They activate the purifier, so what? It isn't like Autumn wants to put Eden's FEV in the water, so let them die activating the purifier and not us. After they activate it, we just charge the purifier and wipe them all out.
We can do multiple things here, but none of them really relate to the battle at hand. We can even give him the vial of FEV, which makes the game forcing you into taking the vial rather pointless.
"The Enclave doesn't have the activation code. They can't start the purifer."
"Well, that gives us a little more time. But how long do we have before they figure it out? This makes this situation far more dire..."
We've only seen the Pride in action once this entire game. It would be cooler they actually had a bigger role in the main quest of the game, but sadly they do not.
Is what ready?
We get a giant robot to help us fight the Enclave? Awesome.
"The Pride and I have decided that after all you've survived, you've done enough to be an honorary member of Lyon's Pride. So congratulations. Membership comes with some privileges, including our Power Armor. You want the full suit, or the Recon armor?"
So we get to join the Lyons Pride for the very final part of the game. Kind of a cool thing, I guess. There's really no reason for you to not take the power armor. (It's unique in appearance, with the Lyons Pride emblem, but aside from that it's standard power armor, correct me if I'm wrong.)
"I'll take the Power Armor."
"Sure thing. Hopefully it'll give you a bit of an extra edge. Okay, so do you think you can hold it together for this?"
"Of course I can."
"Now that's what I like to hear, soldier. You all packed? We're not coming back here anytime soon."
I believe this is the game warning you that after this you're pretty much set for the endgame. It's not like New Vegas's big, fuckoff screen warning you that this is the end off the game.
"I'm all ready."
"Okay. Don't be nervous. You'll have the whole Pride backing you up, not to mention this giant tin can."
At this point, I'm pretty confident that we could take on the whole Enclave ourselves.
"Just stay safe until we reach the purifier. You're no good to us if you're dead. And don't let that thing step on you."
Take her advice. Stay far away from Liberty Prime.
Now, it's time for the big battle over the purifier. This is a cool part of the game for the most part, but there are some annoying things about it that I will get into as we progress through the fight.
Sarah says her big speech...
Just like that, Liberty Prime starts up. I like Liberty Prime, he's got some funny lines, and is genuinely cool.
We level up just before leaving the Citadel. All of the points are put towards maxing out sneak. Now we can sneak with the best of them.
Chem Resistant, mostly just to compliment the other chem related perk we took a long time ago.
Hilariously enough, Fawkes gets all the Brotherhood soldiers stuck on the stairs.
Speaking of Fawkes, super mutants have no role with the finale whatsoever.
We don the Power Armor, because why not? We'll probably never use it again at any other point in the game.
All of the setpieces involving Liberty Prime are pretty damn impressive, Bethesda put a lot of work into this part of the game, it's heavily scripted.
As soon as you exit the Citadel, this music plays:
It's pretty cool, and to think you'd miss that if you were playing the radio.
Before Prime is even in sight, a ton of explosions go off around us.
My framerate appropriately tanks.
Liberty Prime pretty much destroys his way all the way to the purifier. Your involvement in all of this is very little.
All the vertibirds appropriately get blown the fuck up when they start firing on Liberty Prime.
Yeah, the really use the mini-nuke effect a ton here.
Liberty Prime just walks through those damn forcefields and they don't really effect him.
Unlike poor Fallout 1 Dogmeat. *sniff*
Make sure to loot the many, many Enclave soldiers littering the streets.
Again, staying close to Prime is a really bad idea.
Liberty Prime clears off the entire bridge with ease. We don't even get to shoot one Enclave soldier. Notice the problem here?
Liberty Prime takes one of the mini-nukes off his back and...
He throws it like a football. Awesome.
We sneak around to find some Enclave soldiers that we can pick off ourselves, and not having Liberty Prime do all the work. The most annoying thing about the final battle, is that Liberty Prime does all the cool thigns, while you sit back and watch. There's only a few chances for you to get involved with the actual combat.
There we go. Some XP for us.
We fight a Hellfire soldier, who has a noticeably smaller amount of health that normal Hellfire troopers have.
That's our biggest contribution to this entire battle.
We also got a nice heavy incinerator. Let's try it out.
Liberty Prime has some pretty awesome one-liners. Not in this particular screenshot, but in general, he just spouts a ton of anti-communist propaganda and stuff, it's pretty funny.
This thing murders people. Imagine the damage it would do if we had a high Big Guns skill.
We're close to the purifier now.
Liberty Prime leaves massage amount of wreckage in his path. Sometimes Brotherhood soldiers will get killed as a result.
Like this unfortunate guy on the right here.
Oops, guess Paladin Vargas is dead.
Prime does his football throw thing again.
It gets results. I still maintain however, that we could just as easily take on all of these guys by ourselves with the Lyons Pride giving us support.
In some ways, that might have been better. I'unno.
This particular forcefield shocks Liberty Prime.
Liberty Prime falters for a second...
But gets up again, to kick more ass.
Now we're clear to charge the purifier from here. I forgot to mention earlier, but one of the trader caravans got caught in the chaos and got blown up. Which one, I do not know.
Fawkes and Sarah are here to support us.
This is the third time we've had to clear this place of enemies.
I love the massive carnage this weapon creates. I believe we already found one, but it's not the kind of weapon I usually carry around.
I'm used to this gun being a Energy Weapons type, like it is in New Vegas.
It's much more satisfying to use than the flamer, where you just kind of slowly drain enemies of their health.
Alright, it's time for the final confronation with Colonel Autumn. Get ready for an epic battle betwe-
I can't say that with a straight face, never mind.
I would say the same to you.
"I can't say I'm surprised. You and your ilk seem hell-bent on destroying everything our government has worked to achieve."
What government? And we wouldn't have destroyed anything in the first place if you weren't such assholes.
"There's nothing to stop me from killing you this time. Let's end this."
Yup, this is the final boss of the game. Colonel Autumn and two rather weak Enclave Soldiers. Frank Horrigan, he is not.
"Give it up, Autmun. You've lost."
Choosing the "I don't want to fight you." option forces you into combat, even though it seems like the most diplomatic option. *shrug*
"I beg to differ. The Enclave is at the height of its power."
...So despite nearly being eradicated by the Brotherhood and NCR, escaping to D.C. just to get almost your entire force wiped in a single blast, you're at the height of your power? Bullshit.
"Once this facility is operational, the masses will flock to the Enclave for fresh water, protection, and a plan for the future."
"[Speech, 100%] Raven Rock is gone. Eden checked out. You've got nothing left."
"[SUCCESS] The American people are worth fighting for. The future must be secured. I won't let you stand in the way of that."
The Enclave would be much better antagonists in this game if they actually bothered to give them a decent amount of characterization. As it stands, they're still the mustache twirling villains that they were in 2, except they aren't as funny.
"[Speech, 100%] This isn't the way to do it. More fighting will just make things worse."
"[SUCCESS] And what would you have me do? Let you have everything I've worked to build? Let you destroy it all?"
"Just walk away. It's not too late."
There's no other dialogue options here, except for the obligatory "Fuck it, I'm going to kill you" option. It's a shame, because this would be a cool moment to define your character a bit.
"And you... You would just let me leave? How can I be sure you won't just shoot me once I turn my back on you? I suppose it doesn't matter much now. Very well. I shall leave you to your fate."
Maybe we should ask him for some of his magical radiation drug first.
Alternatively...
Autumn and his mooks are really weak.
They go down in a few shots. Yeah. For the sake of the LP, the speech check is "canon" so to speak.
And Autumn just dejectedly walks off.
Let's fix that purifier.
Nope, it doesn't. Colonel Autumn doesn't return to lead the Enclave in Broken Steel.
Of course, things aren't as simple as the appear.
Great.
"One of us is going to have to go in there and turn the damned thing on. And whoever does it isn't coming back out."
Ah, the infamous final choice of this game. Saying it'd be much more stupid if we didn't have Broken Steel installed would be an understatement.
"Not exactly how I imagined going out, you know? So, what should we do? Draw straws?"
Now, without Broken Steel installed, we'd have three options (Not including whether or not you put the FEV in):
1) Go into the purifier ourselves
2) Send Sarah into the purifier
3) Do neither, and let the purifier explode.
So, you're probably wondering, what if you had Fawkes, Charon or RL-3? Could they activate the purifier for you?
Well, that's what you'd think but nope. Fawkes says "I'm sorry, my companion, but no. We all have our own destinies, and yours culminates here. I would not rob you of that." This is probably the most bullshit of all of the responses, Fawkes is completely immune to radiation, being a super mutant. Fawkes really has no reason to help us either, being a Good karma companion, and the whole destiny excuse is just an infuriating handwave. (Remember, he got the GECK for us.)
Charon says "Come on, we both know I've saved your ass enough times already. This one's on you." Again, being a ghoul, completely immune to radiation. Hell, radiation heals ghouls.
RL-3 says "Soldier, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. This is your fight! You gotta finish what your daddy started! Stand strong and get your ass in there!" RL-3 is also immune to radiation, but one might be able to excuse it as his programming being kind of a weird. I'unno.
Note that you can't make Clover go in there and do it (Even with Broken Steel) despite her being trained to listen to your every command.
With Broken Steel, Fawkes, Charon and RL-3 will go into the purifier now. Basically, they replace Sarah's role in the epilogue and that's about it.
There's really no excuse for this whole setup. They could have done some really easy things to stop things like this from happening:
1) Have the player seperated from their companions at some point during the battle. For example, having them help the Brotherhood in a different area altogether.
2) Killing the players radiation immune companions at some point during the battle, if they were in their party. Sure, it would be kind of a dick move, but I think it would be an interesting twist.
While we could have Fawkes start the purifier, we're the hero here. Besides, we don't want Ron Perlman berating us over the epilogue.
"I'do it. I'll start the purifier."
"You're going to have to be quick about it. If the radiation is bad enough, you won't have much time. I won't forget what you've done here. No one will. Thank you."
This is rather abrupt. You just get one trivial "You are a good person" line and then you're kicked towards your death. No emotional buildup or anything. Almost as bad as Neverwinter Nights 2's ending.
Almost.
Leave it to the token pet to create some pathos.
The door ominously shuts behind you as you enter the purifier. Why is it designed like this again?
So the game expects you to know the code for the purifier. I'm not sure if it suddenly appears in your notes, or something, but the code is 216, after the passage that James likes so much.
The room starts flooding with radiation extremely fast. You don't have much time to figure the code out. The game does leave a dead Enclave scientists with 10 RadAways and Rad-X if you really need it.
2
1
6
Give me a second here, will ya?
We instantly get a ton of good karma right when we enter the code. You'd think that maybe you'd be able to stumble out of the purifier to avoid the deadly radiation, but no dice. Looks like we're going to die in here, just like dear old dad. Ironic, ain't it?
I do believe that Bethesda really tried with the main story of Fallout 3. There's tons of symbolism in here, and there is some elements of a compelling story here. The problem is just the terrible writing, plot holes and railroading. None of the characters in the main questline are even remotely interesting, save for a couple one off characters, so it's hard to get invested through that. If you would prefer being able to make your own choices and have an impact on how the game plays out, the railroading stops that too. Especially if you're an evil character, because it completely undermines the story and theme of the game. (Similar to Red Dead Redemption, in my opinion.) The massive plot holes in some areas just really distract from the entire experience as a whole, and it just seems like if Bethesda just set the game much earlier, almost all of those plot holes would disappear.
What did you think of Fallout 3's ending? Pre-Broken Steel in particular. Did you mind the choice the game gave you at an end?
I rather dislike the epilogue in this game. It's all about Perlman judging your actions, rather than showing the outcome of your choices like the other Fallout games. While I think the voiceover itself is actually pretty decent, it's just kind of a disappointment. The slides change depending on your choices through sidequests, that's about it as far as quests go.
All of this dialogue is from the game, just to clarify.
"And so it was that the Lone Wanderer ventured forth from Vault 101 intent on discovering the fate of a father who has once sacrificed the future of humanity for that of his own child."
"The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel inhospitable place, but the Lone Wanderer refused to surrender to the vices that had claimed so many others."
"The values passed on from father to child ? selflessness, compassion, honor ? guided this noble soul through countless trials and triumphs."
"But it was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer learned the true meaning of that greatest of virtues ? sacrifice. Stepping into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity, the child followed the example of the father sacrificing life itself for the greater good of mankind."
"Thankfully, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, the Wanderer refused. Humanity with all its flaws was deemed worthy of preservation."
"The waters of life flowed at last ? free and pure, for any and all. The Capital Wasteland at long last was saved."
"So ends the story of the Lone Wanderer, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend."
"But the tale of humanity will never come to a close..."
"For the struggle of survival is a war without end..."
"And war - war never changes."
Edit: I'm going to be taking a day off tomorrow as far as updating goes. There's a few things for this LP that I need to work on at once, not to mention I have do a bit of work for other various things tonight. (I usually do the updates a day in advance.)
All of this dialogue is from the game, just to clarify.
[HEADING=1]Epilogue - War Never Changes[/HEADING]
"And so it was that the Lone Wanderer ventured forth from Vault 101 intent on discovering the fate of a father who has once sacrificed the future of humanity for that of his own child."
"The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel inhospitable place, but the Lone Wanderer refused to surrender to the vices that had claimed so many others."
"The values passed on from father to child ? selflessness, compassion, honor ? guided this noble soul through countless trials and triumphs."
"But it was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer learned the true meaning of that greatest of virtues ? sacrifice. Stepping into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity, the child followed the example of the father sacrificing life itself for the greater good of mankind."
"Thankfully, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, the Wanderer refused. Humanity with all its flaws was deemed worthy of preservation."
"The waters of life flowed at last ? free and pure, for any and all. The Capital Wasteland at long last was saved."
"So ends the story of the Lone Wanderer, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend."
"But the tale of humanity will never come to a close..."
"For the struggle of survival is a war without end..."
"And war - war never changes."
Edit: I'm going to be taking a day off tomorrow as far as updating goes. There's a few things for this LP that I need to work on at once, not to mention I have do a bit of work for other various things tonight. (I usually do the updates a day in advance.)
It reminded me a bit of Mask of the Betrayer's "Sacrafice" ending, only that one was less stupid. That one at least had a good "Fuck that, I'm not dying for this" option without being illogical.AlternatePFG said:
It also reminded me of the "Ultimate Sacrafice" ending to Dragon Age Origins. Which is likely one of my favorite endings to a game ever. In general, I don't have a problem with a hero dying at the end of the story for the "greater good". So I'm not as bothered by the ending as other people are.
They could have made it a better choice, here, I think. They didn't. Still, to quote Varric Tethras, "Well, it's not a good story unless the hero dies."
I played through twice, once as a male, and once as a female. I didn't do Broken Steel as a male, so I consider the ending here the "canon" ending for that character. Like father, like son.
I'll be looking forward to it. Well, except for Dead Money. Though I am playing through that again, despite me saying I never would. I turned the difficulty down all the way though and am focusing more on taking in the story. I was to distracted by my absolute loathing of its gameplay to notice much of the story my first time.AlternatePFG said:
I'm also excited that I'll be able to knowledgeably answer your post-update questions.
The pre-Broken Steel ending is the only one I've seen, and I hated it. I unloaded all my ammunition into Fawkes, sighed and walked into the sacrificial chamber. As I did, I was muttering like a whiny kid, "Stupid game, I didn't want to play you more anyway".AlternatePFG said: