So we're almost ready to leave Goodsprings, but I missed a few interesting conversations with the people around the town, and there's a few things near the town we have to do, but I don't want those to be merged into the next update anyway.
This will be a short, and mostly dialogue filled update.
Back in Goodsprings Saloon, let's talk with Trudy for a bit.
All of the major Goodsprings NPC's have little comments after the fight with the Powder Gangers is over. It wasn't a very impressive fight, but at this point in the game, they can't have weapons and armor that is too powerful.
We're going to talk to Trudy about a few of the things going on around in the Mojave, mostly because I neglected to go into it last update. Want to get at least a vague idea of the conflict before leaving Goodsprings.
"Does Goodsprings get many visitors?"
"Mostly traders looking to buy Bighorner meat and hides. The traders are the main reason the general store manages to stay in business. Most travelers heading south on in the I-15 just push on towards Primm unless they're in desperate need of supplies."
Primm is quite literally down the road from Goodsprings.
"Do you know the robot that rescued me?"
"I know that... thing... as much as anyone else around here. It mostly keeps to itself, which is just fine by me."
"You don't like him?"
Well, he is a giant killer robot. Even if he is a friendly giant killer robot, there is still reasonable cause for concern.
"It acts friendly enough, but I don't trust that whole "cheerful cowboy" act. I find it all very creepy."
"What does he actually do around here?"
"Other than rolling around once in awhile, it doesn't do anything useful as far as I can tell. I don't know why it took an interest in you, but I'd be careful. It's never helped anyone before."
Well, if it really meant us harm, it probably wouldn't have dug us out of that ditch.
"How long has he been in Goodsprings?"
"It was here when I took over the saloon seven years ago. Some people have said its owner lived here, but no one knows who it was."
I think this is a bit silly, as if you've even taken a step near New Vegas, you would know that all of the Securitrons are owned by Mr. House.
"Never mind. Let's talk about something else."
"Fine by me."
"Anything interesting going on in the rest of the wasteland?"
"There's always something interesting going on, but the biggest news has to be the coming dustup between the NCR and the Legion over the Dam."
So, Trudy gives some basic info on the two main factions of the game and the central conflict.
"Tell me about the NCR."
"The New California Republic's got the most power in Nevada. Money, troops, you name it."
The NCR was in Fallout 2. As far as I know, no mention of them in Fallout 3.
"They do what they can to keep things safe in the region, but if you ask me, they're trying to do too much. They're spread too thin."
You're going to hear this a lot about the NCR. There is this whole "They mean well, but they're kind of shit at their jobs" attitude towards the NCR in general in this game. It adds a bit complexity to the games factions.
"What can you tell me about the Legion?"
"Slavers, killers, and all other kinds of trouble. They dress up like Roman soldiers, so there's no mistaking it when you see them."
Unrelated to the game at hand, but I found it funny when Skyrim came out and everyone who hadn't played Morrowind was like "Why does the Imperial Legion look so much like the Legion from New Vegas?". They Imperials looked so much cooler in Skyrim than Oblivion. Their stuff in Oblivion was some generic shit.
"The rumor is that the Legion is far larger than the NCR lets on, and that it's been due to luck that the Legion hasn't overrun the territory."
"Why do you think the NCR and the Legion both want the Dam?"
This is kind of a stupid question, but we'll ask it anyway.
"I'm pretty sure the NCR wants to hold onto the Dam because it's one of the few places around that can make electricity. The Legion are a bunch of savages, though. No idea why they'd want the Dam. Probably plan on destroying it or something."
"Let's talk about the areas around Goodsprings."
"Sure. What did you want to know?"
Sunny has some general info on the areas around Goodsprings, but she really isn't specific. And no one comes out and says "There are fucking Deathclaws everywhere to the north, go around". Nope, that's something you have to find out all on your own.
"What other towns are nearby?"
"Southeast of here is Primm - can't miss it, since it has the giant old rollercoaster right in the middle of town. The NCR's got an outpost there."
I suppose it's too much to ask for the rolllercoaster to be functioning...
"If you follow the road north, you'll eventually hit Sloan and Quarry Junction. They mine rocks or something, but I heard they got troubles lately. I wouldn't head that direction if I were you, though. Got critters up there that don't take kindly to getting shot."
What does that even mean? If I was shot/shot at, I would be pretty fucking pissed myself.
"NCR?"
"The New California Republic. Bunch of settlers and soldiers in from the West, fixing on making Nevada their own. They can be right pushy, but the roads are safer 'cause of them, so I tend to let it go."
They're really not. We're going to get attacked by about half a dozen Powder Gangers between Goodsprings and Primm.
"Not that I got a choice."
"What does the NCR keep you safe from?"
"well, the wildlife for one thing. Rowdy locals for another. They're protecting their own. Just happens to help us. They've been holding off this other group from the East, too."
"What do you know about the other group?"
"Got a funny name. Call themselves Caesar's Legion. Never seen 'em in these parts, so I couldn't tell you much. I hear rumors, that's about it. Supposedly they keep slaves and they got some real nasty ways of killing folks. BUt maybe that's just something folks in the NCR cooked up to make themselves seem more useful here. Less uninvited."
"What kind of creatures are out there?"
"Around here, mostly coyotes and geckos. The coyotes are pretty dangerous in large packs, but otherwise they're nothing to really worry about. The geckos aren't too tough, but they've got a nasty bite. I've heard about bigger, nastier versions out in the wasteland, but I've never seen them."
Are they called Deathclaws?
"Stick to the roads when you can, and steer clear of the hills north of Goodsprings. The critters up there are big and poisonous."
"Let's talk about something else."
"If you want to know anything else, just ask."
"What do you do around here?"
"I hunt geckos, mostly. The meat's pretty good and I can always find a buyer for the hides. I also help keep the town clear of radscorpions and coyotes. Not many people live in Goodsprings, so wildlife is always creeping in."
There is a tumbleweed that's always parked out in front of Goodsprings Saloon. For some reason, it feels out of place and a bit silly.
"Do you know anything about Victor?"
People have different opinions on Victor around here. I'm stupid and forgot to visit his shack this update, but aside from being a bit creepy, he seems pretty harmless.
"The machine? Harmless, no matter what Trudy says. She thinks it's hiding something, but I think it's just a broken down relic with no place to be."
So that's about is it as far as interesting stuff inside the town goes, but there are a few things we missed outside of town.
Back at the campfire where we first cooked
healing powder Mark's Miracle Mending Medicine, there is a tiny sidequest with a random NPC nearby.
This guys clothing is random, I believe. I think I remember him being different before, could be wrong though.
"What's wrong?"
"My girl is trapped by geckos on the ridge and I can't get to her. Please, she's going to die!"
"Where is she?"
"Go up the path past the broken radio tower and go to the right... they're at the top of the trail."
"I see what I can do."
"You will? Thank you for helping me. Please hurry."
We have to fight a bunch of geckos to get up there. They aren't
hard as much as they're annoying.
Let's check out what's up there.
Lots of tiny weak geckos up there. They're easy to kill, but I'm purposely using the varmint rifle here to save money.
I don't use VATS too much in this game, but at the beginning of the game, when you're trying to conserve ammo, VATS is nice to have.
You don't have to conserve ammo in this game though, after a certain point you can practically bathe in the stuff.
They come in all different sizes too. They get kind of big, but never too big.
I am pretty terrible at aiming here, so it doesn't go great. I mean, I don't die, but a lot of ammo is wasted.
This is our first Wild Wastelander encounter. This will probably be your first or second encounter depending on how you play the game.
I didn't particularly get the reference at the time but according to the wiki [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Johnny#Behind_the_scenes] it's a reference to a Something Awful forum meme.
Interesting summary I found on Google of it. [http://shii.org/knows/Zybourne_Clock]
If this reference seems particularly random, I would like to point out that New Vegas' lead designer, J.E. Sawyer, is a SA goon.
If there is anyone who knows more about this reference, I'd love to hear it. Most of the Wild Wasteland stuff is less obscure.
Victor shows up out of nowhere for no explainable reason. He wanders around the outskirts of Goodsprings helping you from time to time, but he sometimes just randomly talks to you when you are completely off guard.
Anyway, there wasn't anybody (Alive) up there, so that guy must have been lying to us.
I'll just attack the guy who killed all of those geckos I couldn't kill, I'm sure that will go very well for me. In fact, I'll just call my attack, rather than shooting him when he turns around.
Yeah, Barton's a moron.
So, one more trip back into Goodsprings.
We need to store our stuff from the Courier's Stash DLC a safe container. Not all containers in the game are "safe", in that sometimes the contents of that particular container respawn, losing everything that you had stored inside. There are some containers outside of possible player homes that are safe though, the containers in the gas station are some of them.
This is where we will store our stuff.
So, we end up keeping the Armored Vault 13 Suit and the Weathered 10mm Pistol. Nice choices, everything else goes into storage. It will be retrieved at a later date, but right now, we don't need to be a walking armory.
This is what the Armored Vault 13 Suit looks like. It looks nice, obviously a throwback to Fallout 1. (That's why that preorder pack was called the Classic Pack, it also comes with a canteen)
Goodsprings does a decent job of teaching you the mechanics of the game, and giving you a very general backstory on the world, but aside from that, it's a rather dull town. But you know, in comparison to Megaton, it's far more plausible first town. Yeah I know, damning with faint praise, etc.
So now we're finally ready to leave Goodsprings. One last thing though.
What's this? There is a random fridge out in the middle of the desert.
This is a reference you'll probably all get. This is probably the first Wild Wasteland encounter you'll come across, as it's right on the road outside of Goodsprings.
Obviously a reference to the scene where Indiana Jones hides in a fridge to escape a nuke in Indiana Jones 4. Before you ask, I fucking hated Indiana Jones 4, and I love Indiana Jones.
Even Temple of Doom.
Nice hat. Despite being a Suave Gambler's Hat, it gives +1 PER instead of +1 LUC.
So now we're finally out of the tutorial zone, and into a uncaring wasteland of the Mojave. Of course, it'd be a whole lot more intense if we went north though.
In fact, I wonder how that would turn out...
