Let's Play Fallout: New Vegas [The Servant]

[DigitalSushi]

Not at all. It's where the setting's credibility goes flying out the window, along with all of my patience. Yet for the sake of this LP, I'm not going to use the Child At Heart perk to outright skip it.

Ironically enough, my first playthrough through the game I wiped out Paradise Falls and freed the kids before I visited Lamplight, so they just let me right on through and I didn't see why everyone hated it so much aside from the complete implausibility of it. On repeat playthroughs I began to loathe it though.

And yeah, the name makes sense given the whole plot of the game and with the water purifier.

Loving this thread, excellent Let's Play, and I normally hate Let's Play run through's apart from Super Kazio World other known as "Asshole Mario".

I loved Lamplight first time I stumbled on it, but then again I'd saved Big Town and when I stumbled on Lamplight I was like "wtf, its an actual place?", I felt I needed to save Lamplight... unfortunately the kids are fucking idiots.

Also apparently Fallout 3 was meant to be set a few years after the war, not 200, half way through development Bethesda decided it should be set way way way after the war, this would explain why Lamplight could have survived for a few years, it also would explain many things, such as the advanced robot in Rivet City because why the fuck would you create an advance emo robot when your trying to rebuild, because he was created before the war.

I get the feeling someone at Bethesda realised including the Enclave as the big bad 3 years after the war would totally fuck up the cannon and adjusted the time accordingly, it would explain why they designed opened area like that, TenPenny towers wouldn't exist in 2277 either.

Fallout 3 is good, it feels like some parts of it were designed for 2080 and some for 2277.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Really? I thought they nailed people to the crosses

And even then, you die of asphyxiation a lot slower if you aren't bleeding. So in a ways, it's still just as bad.

I don't know if I've said this to you before but the way I see it is that you have to look at it from the perspective of the Mojave and Vegas as a whole.

Sure the Legion do some terrible things, but for the Mojave the Legion means safe roads, safe citizens, strict laws to keep crime to an absolute minimum and an almost 0% chance of the Great War ever happening again.

The NCR may seem like a better option, but in the long run they will not be able to control Vegas and it is already shown that they are incapable of holding onto Nevada.

Both have their pros and cons, but I think the message in New Vegas wasn't so much of a moral one, than it was a political one.

The Mojave is doomed no matter who rules it, being cruel and harsh means peace and control, but people will suffer. Being a goody goody leads to you being pushed around by everyone (Followers of the Apocalypse).

I disagree that Ceasar's Legion will mean strict laws forever and 0% chance of the great war. Firstly, to have all that order and control, you need a single person to have that power. And power corrupts. When Ceasar dies, there will be a vacuum of power, which will lead to fighting. That isn't as vital for any future.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I disagree that Ceasar's Legion will mean strict laws forever and 0% chance of the great war. Firstly, to have all that order and control, you need a single person to have that power. And power corrupts. When Ceasar dies, there will be a vacuum of power, which will lead to fighting. That isn't as vital for any future.

I agree about Caesar dying would lead to a vacuum of power. However, if Caesar is still in power then the Courier must have helped him, and maybe Caesar would appoint the Courier as his successor?

He did print a coin with your face on it after all, only two other people have ever had the only of having their image printed on a Legion coin. Of course this is all taking into consideration that Caesar won the war and was still alive.

Also, in terms of Caesar being in power, there will be no nuclear war because he condones high techology, if that tradition continues then an event similar to the Great War will not happen as long as Caesar has control.

 

[Viking Incognito]

Now for more Philosophy and over-thinking. I feel like my post about the NCR and Legion, combined with this and the post about the tenpenny quest are making me the "go to guy" for multi level analysis of moral and philosophical questions and such for this LP and the conversation we have about NV. I find that gratifying, so don't hesitate to ask if you want me to analyze something.

Spoiler: Mr.House

So...House. Lets get the obvious out of the way; he is arrogant, greedy, and obviously obsessed with playing god. Now, that in mind, he isn't all that bad ideologically, but in the long run, is a bad choice. His plans for the human race are all very nice sounding, but lets be realistic, there is no way that one man could unite the planet and move us to the next step in civilized evolution. He may have rebuilt Vegas and taken control with the security but he is obviously obsessed with playing god. He wants to be the "benefactor" of all man kind even after he supposedly moves them into space, all from his personal little Tower of Babel right there on the strip. No. The achievement in GRA comparing him to Andrew Ryan is amusingly appropriate because they both have grand appealing ideas of creating a better society, but their goals are ultimately unrealistic. In the end, all house would do is play "King of the wastes" for a long time until inevitably someone finds a way to kill him, then completely fails to take his place and the whole thing collapses. In the long run, it's a sucker bet that ends with a bust. (See what I did there?)

Spoiler: Yes Man

This is actually the option I have the least to say about, but here I go anyway. The thing that pisses me off about choosing this path is that the name of the final mission (No Gods, No Masters) and the end-game narration (the courier had freed new Vegas from Mr.Houses tyranny, ect.) suggest that you do it so the city and the Mojave can be independent, but then the conversation options with General Oliver mostly suggest that you are doing it so that you can take Mr.House's role as king (with the exception of a few lines), and the conversation with Lanius doesn't really have a path that reflects you are working specifically for Vegas, because even the barter checks make you sound more like a part time NCR supply-line adviser. But ignoring that because it could probably be counted as the result of a disagreement between writers, I still think that the Yes Man path is probably the best for the people of the Mojave assuming you are doing it for independence, not to install yourself as king/queen.

As a side note, thanks to whoever that was earlier that said Lanius respects you as an enemy, because that is something I wanted to say about him; He represents the crazy overzealous members of the legion, but when you talk to him through the speech checks, you can see more of the not so bad side of the legion, like you can by talking to Caesar. Lanius might actually be one of my favorite NPCs based on how human and believable he is in conversation. Also, I like how you can see the different sides of him based on which team you are on (you really see the epitome of crazy re-purposed tribal when you talk to him in his tent after you side with the Legion).

 

[ChupathingyX]

.

Spoiler: Mr.House

So...House. Lets get the obvious out of the way; he is arrogant, greedy, and obviously obsessed with playing god. Now, that in mind, he isn't all that bad ideologically, but in the long run, is a bad choice. His plans for the human race are all very nice sounding, but lets be realistic, there is no way that one man could unite the planet and move us to the next step in civilized evolution. He may have rebuilt Vegas and taken control with the security but he is obviously obsessed with playing god. He wants to be the "benefactor" of all man kind even after he supposedly moves them into space, all from his personal little Tower of Babel right there on the strip. No. The achievement in GRA comparing him to Andrew Ryan is amusingly appropriate because they both have grand appealing ideas of creating a better society, but their goals are ultimately unrealistic. In the end, all house would do is play "King of the wastes" for a long time until inevitably someone finds a way to kill him, then completely fails to take his place and the whole thing collapses. In the long run, it's a sucker bet that ends with a bust. (See what I did there?)

I have to agree with that, well said. You can also make a comparison between House and Howard Hughes (who both House and Andrew Ryan are based off). Howard Hughes was philanthropist adn eventually after becoming powerful he became obsessed with himself and became a recluse, afraid of germs (sound familiar?). In the end House will become obsessed with himself (he kinda already has) and will be his own downfall, and if not, he will witness his downfall at the hands of someone else.

Spoiler: Yes Man

This is actually the option I have the least to say about, but here I go anyway. The thing that pisses me off about choosing this path is that the name of the final mission (No Gods, No Masters) and the end-game narration (the courier had freed new Vegas from Mr.Houses tyranny, ect.) suggest that you do it so the city and the Mojave can be independent, but then the conversation options with General Oliver mostly suggest that you are doing it so that you can take Mr.House's role as king (with the exception of a few lines), and the conversation with Lanius doesn't really have a path that reflects you are working specifically for Vegas, because even the barter checks make you sound more like a part time NCR supply-line adviser. But ignoring that because it could probably be counted as the result of a disagreement between writers, I still think that the Yes Man path is probably the best for the people of the Mojave assuming you are doing it for independence, not to install yourself as king/queen.

I don't know, I don't really like the independent path because knowing humanity they will screw up sooner or later. Someone will want to be the new ruler, people will get out of line, and when push comes to shove violence will erupt. You also have to consider after the final quest Yes Man mentions that he will be getting an upgrade to his personality, this would lead to a more harsh and not-so-friendly Yes Man we have grown to know.

SNIP

Yeah that was me, Lanius is one of my favourite characters too. I wasn't really expecting much from him but in that one moment when you meet him there was so much dialogue that I had to sit through it multiple times just to take everything in.

Plus, he has awesome armour...just sayin'.

And he has one of the best quotes in the game;

We shall see how brave you are when nailed to the walls of Hoover Dam, your body facing west so you may watch your world die.

And Mitch Lewis did a great job as the voice actor.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

I disagree that Ceasar's Legion will mean strict laws forever and 0% chance of the great war. Firstly, to have all that order and control, you need a single person to have that power. And power corrupts. When Ceasar dies, there will be a vacuum of power, which will lead to fighting. That isn't as vital for any future.

I agree about Caesar dying would lead to a vacuum of power. However, if Caesar is still in power then the Courier must have helped him, and maybe Caesar would appoint the Courier as his successor?

He did print a coin with your face on it after all, only two other people have ever had the only of having their image printed on a Legion coin. Of course this is all taking into consideration that Caesar won the war and was still alive.

Also, in terms of Caesar being in power, there will be no nuclear war because he condones high techology, if that tradition continues then an event similar to the Great War will not happen as long as Caesar has control.

I suppose that is possible. But likely not so much if your Courier is female. After all, they don't take to kindly to women.

And that's likely my biggest problem with them. If they tried to present the Legion as fair and balenced, rather than a bunch of crazy guys tying people to crosses, I might see it that way.

 

[DustyDrB]

I don't know, I don't really like the independent path because knowing humanity they will screw up sooner or later. Someone will want to be the new ruler, people will get out of line, and when push comes to shove violence will erupt. You also have to consider after the final quest Yes Man mentions that he will be getting an upgrade to his personality, this would lead to a more harsh and not-so-friendly Yes Man we have grown to know.

Man, I hated that bit. My second playthrough was for an independent New Vegas, but I tried to make peace wherever I could (I especially made sure to help out the Followers in every way possible). I just don't like the implications of what Yes Man says at the end. It came out of nowhere. I'd say the independent New Vegas route is the best way to go, but I don't know what Yes Man intends (I don't think it's mentioned in the ending scene).

 

[AlternatePFG]

[HEADING=1]Chapter XXXVIII - Kill X Ants[/HEADING]​

Spoiler

With X being a really large number. Apparently this quest was so good, they did pretty much the exact same thing in New Vegas.

So, with only a few sidequests left to complete (The next Lily's Log won't be until we complete the rest of the sidequests in the main game) let's do the "Those!" quest. It's about giant fire breathing ants. While it's weird, and kind of goofy, it's not quite worth bringing back the bizarre, out of place sidequest trilogy for a 4th installment.

We fast travel to the Super Duper Mart. This is the closest place to Grayditch that we have visited. I'm surprised we haven't picked up this quest way earlier, cause Bryan Wilks just randomly shows up in the middle of nowhere from time to time. It isn't quite as bizarre as another glitch I had around here though...

I was just exploring this area when suddenly I run into Sally, a kid NPC from Mothership Zeta. I had not played Mothership Zeta before, so I did not know this NPC, and here talking about "them" just confused me more. I didn't know if this was some sort of strange bug or fucked up random encounter. So I just ignored it and went on way. Well, when I finally got to Mothership Zeta, guess which NPC was missing and which NPC was required to continue further in the DLC?

I gave up on that playthrough after that, and stopped playing the game for a long while.

The streets are completely empty and devoid of life in this settlement. I'm sure that's a good sign.

You know, in my playthroughs of Fallout 3, I always manage to avoid seeing the really obvious signs.

That's a weird looking ant. It's red and for some reason, it breathes fire now. Great. The ants were annoying enough.

There's Bryan Wilks, standing out there in the middle of nowhere for some reason. He's supposed to be scripted to run up to us around the Super Duper Mart area...

What monsters? You're not being specific enough, kid. Feral ghouls? Super Mutants? Deathclaws? Radscorpions?

"Calm down, kid."

"No... those things will get me! I can't. Gotta' keep going!"

Radroaches?

"[Speech, 100%] Hey, hey. Calm down. It's going to be okay. I promise."

"[SUCCESS] You won't leave me like all the other grown-ups? You... you can help me?"

"I'd like to help, but I need to know more first."

"Those... big things. They're all over Grayditch and they killed everyone! Please... please find my pappa!"

"Okay. I'll go look for your father."

"You will? Really? Thanks a whole lot! My house is the one closest to the huge sign and the old diner. Please... find my pappa and make him come back!"

He was standing in the open out here, how did he survive?

Unless, canonically, children are immortal in the Fallout 3 universe.

"[Speech, 100%] Look, anything else you can do to help might save lives."

Or give us extra supplies. Either way. It'll save our lives.

"[SUCCESS] You know, maybe this will help and maybe it won't, but pappa hid a bunch of stuff behind the old diner in a dumpster. He trusted me with the key and said it was for emergencies, but I bet he wouldn't mind you having it."

More ammo!

"Is there anywhere you can hide while I search?"

"Well, there is the personal shelter next to the old diner. Pappa always said to stay away from it... but, I guess it's supposed to be safe."

Wow, one of those stupid shelters will actually save someone. Though, it's not like this kid can die anyway.

"I'll head over there and wait inside. Hurry back!"

There's a ton of grenades in the dumpster.

That's the Wilks house over there.

Welp, that's sad, but not entirely unexpected. Let's head back and tell Bryan Wilks the bad news.

Really, Bethesda?

"I think I have some bad news for you."

"Oh no! What happened?"

"Bryan, I'm sorry, but your father is dead."

"He's...he's dead? I guess I already knew. Besides, I'm too tired to cry anymore."

"I'll stop whatever started this, I promise you."

Realistically, the quest should just end here, maybe with you finding a new place for Wilks to live. Everyone else in Grayditch is dead. Of course then we couldn't stretch this out further by giving you a ton of fire ants to fight. They introduced a new type of enemy, and damn, they want to show it off.

"You gotta stop it so this can't happen to anyone else's family ever again! I wish I had met you a long time ago, then maybe my dad would still be alive."

Probably not. People around us have a tendency to die an awful lot.

"Thanks for doing all this... I'm feeling better now that you're here."

[Insert generic lawful good response]

"What happened here?"

"It used to be kinda' nice. No one bothered us there, I guess because we were so close to D.C."

Wait, what?! "Because we were so close to D.C."?! Dude, D.C. is a warzone. This isn't far at all from the Super Duper Mart, that until recently was a base for raiders. Literally it was down the road. I'll just chalk it up to the kid being stupid.

"There was seven of us living there in tall, old brick houses. I think I'm the last one left. Those things took everyone else."

Off of the father's body, we get a key to this shed.

There's a lab in this shed, basically it gives us a direction to go to in this quest. Otherwise, we'd just be wandering around Grayditch trying to find the next link in the quest.

So now, we have to go to Marigold Station, which thankfully is like right outside Grayditch.

There is a whole bunch of those ants covering the entrance to the metro.

Another Enclave propaganda poster on the left. Did they clear out the ants when they came through here?

Their fire attack is pretty annoying.

So this is the entrance to Marigold Metro. Honestly, I'm getting so tired of these metro tunnels. I know I complimented them before, but let me qualify it by saying that if you do all the sidequests in a short amount of time, you're going to go through a ton of tunnels to get around.

Of course, instead of ghouls you fight fire ants. There are a ton of these ants, and this quest honestly feels like a bit of a grind. It's not quite as bad as the Boomer's ant quest in New Vegas, but at least in New Vegas that quest was rather brief.

There isn't much of interest in this tunnel, except for a note left on a corpse about retrieving a package for someone and bring it to a guy in Girdershade.

There's the end of tunnel, but that's not where we want to go. We go to the right.

Eventually, we run into this doctor guy. He's... rather annoying.

He was just staring at this door when we entered.

"You really mustn't creep up on people like that."

"Sorry, I didn't expect to bump into anyone alive down here."

Except for that raider we bumped into like a few yards away.

"That is precisely why this is the ideal place for my work. Do you realize you're trampling about in a delicately balanced and highly sensitive experimentation area?"

How is this guy able to run all this stuff by himself?

"Experiments? What do you mean?"

Come on, doesn't the lab coat, glasses and glowing monitors behind him give you a hint?

"My experiments are of a complex nature and would take a scientist to explain... oh wait! I'm a scientist! How marvelous!"

How is this guy able to do anything here?

"My foray into reducing the girth of these insectoid creatures is of utmost importance. I intend to generationally reduce their immense stature by way of a pre-birth induced mutagen. Isn't that clever?"

"[Intelligence] Oh, I see. You'r trying to make them smaller over time by injecting the eggs."

Again, high INT options just have you repeat the obvious.

One random note, wouldn't reducing the size of the ants be rather... bad? That's kind of messing with the wastelands current ecosystem, as dangerous as those ants are.

"My word! You understand perfectly! How marvelous!"

"So, what's gone wrong?"

"Well, I'm afraid I've made a slight miscalculations in the mutagen. Instead of lowering their size, the brood hatched with a new biomechanism. I call their genetic abberation pyrosis: the ability to emit flame from their bodies. I may be able to correct this error, but I can't get near my equipment."

"[Intelligence] I'm shocked you didn't attempt this in a controlled environment first."

"Your knowledge of experimental procedure surprises me!"

It's common sense.

"Indeed, I have skipped a step and directly modified an entire brood. Perhaps I was too hasty... I was so certain it would work."

If this game wasn't so poorly written, this could have been an interesting discussion about scientific ethics and such. Instead it's just more goofy SCIENCE! crap. Don't get me wrong, I love SCIENCE! but this is supposed to be a somewhat serious quest, yet the doctor guy seems really out of place.

"To correct this mistake, I'll need to get to my terminal to modify the mutagen."

"What can I do to help?"

"Since you've offered, allow me to elaborate. My portable terminal is set up in the Hatchery Chamber near the Ant Queen. If I can reach it, I can continue to work on improving the mutagen."

"If the Queen's your concern, why not deal with it directly?"

"If she were harmed in any way, months of data would be lost. Your objective would be to eliminate what I call her quintet of Nest Guardians. Filthy little abominations!"

"Just how will all this undo the mayhem you've caused?"

"I've rigged the equipment at my portable terminal to emit what I can an Inhibitor Pulse. Once I send this pulse, all of the remaining ants will lose their empathic link with the Queen and frenzy, destroying each other in the process!"

Why didn't you do this before?

"So, that's all there is to it. What do you say?"

"If it'll stop the ants from burning down Grayditch, I'm in."

"You will? How marvelous! Be careful, my friend, the Nest Guardians can be quite tenacious."

So now, into another section of tunnels. It's like a sewer level in a sewer level.

The guardians are only slightly stronger than the normal ants. Just repeat this screenshot five times, nothing of interest really happens down here. I'm not trying to sound negative here, but this quest is total filler. There really isn't anything that's remotely interesting about it. I like the Reilly's Rangers quest despite being really just a long streak of combat, because at least the locations were interesting, and you had some motivation to do things. This?

This is just dull. If there's one thing that New Vegas improved upon, there were less areas that were like "Let's throw a ton of the same enemy after you in a boring location, for an extended period of time."

So now let's trudge back to the doctor and get our reward.

"My work is done, Doctor."

"Oh, how marvelous! Please, tell me what happened."

"I've killed all the Nest Guardians."

"Then I will proceed to my portable terminal at once and make the necessary changes to the forumla. Thanks very much for everything... you've been quite a useful lab assistant!"

In the GECK, his INT is only 8. Ours is 10.

Just saying.

"I'm ready for my Mutagenic Bioenchancer injection, Doctor."

Oh yeah, this is your reward for completing this quest. Either a SPECIAL point in Perception or Strength, not a big deal.

"How marvelous! Which injection did you want? Will it be the Ant Sight or Ant Might?"

This doesn't really make sense unless you ask for a reward for doing this quest. Besides, would you really trust this guy to inject you with something potentially lethal?

"I'd like the Ant Might to increase my physical strength."

"How marvelous! Ant Might it is! Hold still please."

He keeps on saying "How marvelous!". This guy is a bit annoying, glad we don't have to bother with him again. (He returns to Grayditch after you complete the entire quest.)

He gives us that injection.

So we get another point in Strength.

We can take a short way out by going through that one tunnel we saw earlier. Of course, we can't fast travel until we fight off some super mutants.

There's some Brotherhood paladins fighting some super mutants here. Let's help them out.

After all those ants, it's actually nice to fight some super mutants.

So, we fast travel back to Grayditch.

"It was like they were totally crazy! It was really scary, but kinda cool at the same time, ya know what I mean?"

"I'm just glad you're safe."

"I wish I had something to give you for all the work you did, but I never really had much to start with."

He gives us XP. I'd say that's enough.

"I guess now you'll be on your way and I'll have to try living here by myself. I hope you'll come back and visit someday."

Live here, by himself? Oh lord, he'll be dead within a day.

"I can't leave you here alone. Let me find you a place to live."

"Really? You mean it?! Oh boy! Thank you so much! I'll wait in my old house for you to come back... I need to bury my pappa anyway."

He seems to get over the death of his dad pretty quick.

"Just don't forget about me!"

We ask him something about any of his relatives, and apparently one of them lives in Rivet City. We could also bring him to Little Lamplight for some stupid, stupid reason. If we were assholes, we could sell the kid into slavery. So, let me get this straight Bethesda: Killing kids is bad, but selling them into slavery gets past the censors? Let's check Rivet City.

Back in Rivet City. I hear some people play the game without fast travelling at all. I refer to them as goddamn liars.

Now we head to that Weatherly Hotel place. This is pretty much the only reason to visit it, unless you want a house in Rivet City for some strange reason.

I'm not gonna put the whole conversation down here, because it's pretty repetitive, but I find it hilarious that you can go up to her and one of the responses is basically "I'm not sure, I'll keep looking" for a guardian for Bryan, despite this woman pretty much being his only living family member, and can take care of him just fine.

You send him to Little Lamplight, and he ends up being pretty miserable there. He actually disappears from the gameworld if you sell him into slavery. (I guess he was shipped up to The Pitt, I dunno.)

So now we return to talk to Bryan Wilks.

So, Bryan Wilks gets to live in Rivet City now. We don't get a reward for this, aside from good karma, and some complimentary words from Three Dog, and some XP of course. We got that SPECIAL boost from the doctor as our real reward. But that's it for the "Those!" quest. It really is completely inconsequential to the rest of the game, and again, it's really just filler. I'll admit, it was foolish of me to do all the interesting sidequests all at once without mixing in the other quests, because the remaining sidequests aren't as interesting as the rest of the sidequests. We'll still do them of course, but right after we're going straight back to the main plot. (I was thinking of doing Point Lookout, but that can wait for a bit.)

So what did you think of this quest?

For those who didn't see it my earlier post: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/A_Slave_Obeys

Yeah, it's not actually a perk (A challenge) but that's still awesome.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

So what did you think of this quest?

My first playthrough, I didn't finish it, because I got lost in the metro. I couldn't find the guy.

The second playthrough, I didn't finish it until after the main quest, so it was piss easy.

I think the reward is nice, but they could have done a lot more with this quest.

 

[Luxatrum]

I don't know, I don't really like the independent path because knowing humanity they will screw up sooner or later. Someone will want to be the new ruler, people will get out of line, and when push comes to shove violence will erupt. You also have to consider after the final quest Yes Man mentions that he will be getting an upgrade to his personality, this would lead to a more harsh and not-so-friendly Yes Man we have grown to know.

Man, I hated that bit. My second playthrough was for an independent New Vegas, but I tried to make peace wherever I could (I especially made sure to help out the Followers in every way possible). I just don't like the implications of what Yes Man says at the end. It came out of nowhere. I'd say the independent New Vegas route is the best way to go, but I don't know what Yes Man intends (I don't think it's mentioned in the ending scene).

I liked that part the most actually. It didn't matter what you wanted for the world (or Mojave), it's that you were in the seat of power after usurping it from House. House didn't see your betrayal coming, and trusted you entirely. Same with the courier and Yes Man. Kind of a boomerang effect really.

Those! Hmmmm. It was mostly just a filler quest so there isn't a lot to say. Sure a point in either Strength or Perception is nice, but you can increase it pretty easily already. The reward is decent sure, but it's just kind of.... There.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I suppose that is possible. But likely not so much if your Courier is female. After all, they don't take to kindly to women.

It's funny you should say "they".

The interesting thing I saw is that Caesar himself never says anything bad to you if you are female, whereas legionaries do, meaning that Caesar probably does not believe in everything he says and proclaims things solely to keep control over the Legion.

Also, this may be a long stretch but I thought I had of women in the Legion is that they are forbidden from being in the military or being put in any kind task that may give them the chance to escape or fight back. Life as a legionary is short, many soldiers die within a couple of years of service, this means the Legion has to be constantly filling their ranks or else they will die out. This is where slaves and especially female slaves come in.

Of course, instead of ghouls you fight fire ants. There are a ton of these ants, and this quest honestly feels like a bit of a grind. It's not quite as bad as the Boomer's ant quest in New Vegas, but at least in New Vegas that quest was rather brief.

At least in that quest the science checks actually made your character sound smart instead of stating the obvious. Also that quest is good for explosives characters as there is a unique grenade launcher and a good amount of ammo.

So what did you think of this quest?

It seemed too filler for me, it was just a quest thrown into another town to spice things up. However, it was one of the first quests I remember finishing because some guy ran up to me while I was at Super Duper Mart.

That, and the quest was way too disconnected from everything, it had pretty much no relation to anything and in the end was just...there. Compared to the quest "Can You Find It In Your Heart?" in New Vegas which also deals with giant ants but actually ties into the main quest and situation of the NCR.

For those who didn't see it my earlier post: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/A_Slave_Obeys

Yeah, it's not actually a perk (A challenge) but that's still awesome.

I actually found "Even A God-King Can Bleed" to be more funny, but that one is still pretty awesome.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

It's funny you should say "they".

The interesting thing I saw is that Caesar himself never says anything bad to you if you are female, whereas legionaries do, meaning that Caesar probably does not believe in everything he says and proclaims things solely to keep control over the Legion.

Also, this may be a long stretch but I thought I had of women in the Legion is that they are forbidden from being in the military or being put in any kind task that may give them the chance to escape or fight back. Life as a legionary is short, many soldiers die within a couple of years of service, this means the Legion has to be constantly filling their ranks or else they will die out. This is where slaves and especially female slaves come in.

I see. I was refering to "they" in the general sense of the group.

I think he holds his tongue because he needs your help, moreso than anything else.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I see. I was refering to "they" in the general sense of the group.

I think he holds his tongue because he needs your help, moreso than anything else.

That might be true, but what about after you finish the main quest, he doesn't execute you or anything and you still get your face minted on a coin. So Caesar must have some kind of respect for the Courier, even if the courier is female.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

I see. I was refering to "they" in the general sense of the group.

I think he holds his tongue because he needs your help, moreso than anything else.

That might be true, but what about after you finish the main quest, he doesn't execute you or anything and you still get your face minted on a coin. So Caesar must have some kind of respect for the Courier, even if the courier is female.

That, or he plans on having you make him an heir.

Just a thought ;P

But yeah, I will admit that Ceasar's Legion isn't all bad. Just mostly bad.

 

[Thumper17]

I havent read through the whole thing yet, but did you do the rileys rangers quest yet? You get money for discovering locations.

 

[darth.pixie]

So what did you think of this quest?

Hated it. I frequently got lost in the metro tunnels and popped up the map every 5 minutes. It was annoying. An extra point of perception wasn't bad but it was still a lot of running around. Also the use of Intelligence bugged me.

I see. I was refering to "they" in the general sense of the group.

I think he holds his tongue because he needs your help, moreso than anything else.

That might be true, but what about after you finish the main quest, he doesn't execute you or anything and you still get your face minted on a coin. So Caesar must have some kind of respect for the Courier, even if the courier is female.

I think there was a lot of respect for the Courier (not that Caesar ever showed any interest in your gender, if I remember correctly). Considering what Boone, the NCR and other people say about the Legion, they all treat you downright friendly. It was strange that you could just casually walk into their camp with a neutral alignment to them. No enslavement, no nothing. And they let Jeannie approach their camp too, I would imagine. On one hand, you get people saying that they enslave everyone and everything and then you have characters that just waltz up to them and do business.

 

[Viking Incognito]

The interesting thing I saw is that Caesar himself never says anything bad to you if you are female, whereas legionaries do, meaning that Caesar probably does not believe in everything he says and proclaims things solely to keep control over the Legion.

Did I mention in my philosophical/political analysis of the Legion that Caesar is basically the idealized version of Machiavelli's Prince? I might not have, but I did mean to.

Related: Seriously, I would love it if one of you asked me to ideologically dissect something else like I did to the factions in New Vegas. It is actually fun for me to do and I love knowing that people enjoy reading and thinking about them.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Did I mention in my philosophical/political analysis of the Legion that Caesar is basically the idealized version of Machiavelli's Prince? I might not have, but I did mean to.

I haven't read Machievelli's Prince, however, I have heard of it and know that it is some kind of book on rulers and ruling style, or something like that.

Related: Seriously, I would love it if one of you asked me to ideologically dissect something else like I did to the factions in New Vegas. It is actually fun for me to do and I love knowing that people enjoy reading and thinking about them.

No one needs to ask you, just say whatever is on your mind.

Don't worry we have gone pretty far off topic at specific points in this thread, I don't think anyone will mind having a bit of a philosophical conversation on Fallout: New Vegas, if you find it fun...go ahead.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

The interesting thing I saw is that Caesar himself never says anything bad to you if you are female, whereas legionaries do, meaning that Caesar probably does not believe in everything he says and proclaims things solely to keep control over the Legion.

Did I mention in my philosophical/political analysis of the Legion that Caesar is basically the idealized version of Machiavelli's Prince? I might not have, but I did mean to.

Related: Seriously, I would love it if one of you asked me to ideologically dissect something else like I did to the factions in New Vegas. It is actually fun for me to do and I love knowing that people enjoy reading and thinking about them.

zEDIT: Fallout Related fix:
How about you ideologically dissect the difference between the East cost BOS and the New Vegas chapter?

 

[AlternatePFG]

[HEADING=1]Chapter XXXIX - Musical Mirelurks[/HEADING]​

Spoiler

In today's update, we will be continuing our quest to complete all the major sidequests for the sake of completion and pretty much nothing else.

We'll be doing "Agatha's Song" today. Again, another rather weird quest but at least it's interesting, unlike "Those!".

Our closest location to Agatha's House is Meresti Trainyard.

We get attacked by a raider while looking around for Agatha's house. I miss with the dart gun three times in a row.

This is apparently the only defenses protecting Agatha's house. A rope bridge, sticking out like a sore thumb in the middle of nowhere. I know I keep complaining about people living in dangerous places with little to no protection, but this is the most silly example.

Notice the radio tower here.

You'd think she would at least lock her door.

"Oh, just look at my terrible manners! I'm Agatha. It's so nice to meet you. Now, what brings you all the way out here?"

"That's funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

I really don't get how this old woman could be out here alone and be perfectly safe.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm just fine out here. My husband, rest his poor soul, saw to it that our house was well-protected from the elements and the inhabitants of the Wastes."

Well, her house isn't that protected. A raider could just cross the bridge and they'd be trapped in the house.

"Oh, your husband's dead? I'm sorry."

"That's kind of you to say. Yes, he's gone. After he built this place, we spent many happy years together. We decided to cut off contact with the outside world and just depend on each other for comfort and company."

I suppose that's why the house is in the middle of nowhere.

"Surely you haven't severed all contacts?"

"Oh goodness, no. I have a supply caravan that passes here maybe once a week."

Wouldn't that draw attention to her house?

"I trade with them for whatever I need and I stock up enough until they return."

"What could you possibly have to trade?"

"Besides shelter? Well, I offer something in the way of entertainment: I play songs on my homemade violin and people trade me goods."

Homemade violin? And really, people will trade you stuff simply because you play the violin for them?

"If not in person, I use my husband's old radio set. The men in the caravan say it keeps their morale up on lonely nights in the Wasteland."

Too bad they don't have pip-boys like we do.

"[Intelligence] I guess a homemade violin is never quite in tune..."

"You are a clever one! Yes, that's exactly the problem I have with it. It doesn't quite play all of the notes correctly and I have to constantly tinker with it."

So this is the quest hook.

"Is there any way I can help?"

"Now that you mention it, yes there is. My trading depends on my violin. Without it, I have nothing to play... no way to make music. If you can bring me a violin, a better one, I'd feel much more secure."

So the premise for this quest is find a violin for a lonely old woman. Apparently you don't have better things to do.

"A violin? That's hardly something that would have survived the war."

"Yes, very sad isn't it? Sad to think that no more musical instruments will ever be made the old way ever again. Sigh. Well, fortunately, I know where perhaps the last real violin in the world exists. If you give me your word that will recover it, I will tell you more."

She really doesn't trust us to give her the violin. Okay, it makes sense not to trust a random stranger into your house, but if they offer to find that violin, it's not like they'd go out of the way to not give it you.

Of course, you can be a dick and sell her violin to an evil NPC, but why would they want that violin in the first place?

"[Charisma] You seem like a nice woman. Let me get that violin for you."

"Well, that's just so sweet of you! I feel bad sending you off with nothing like this. I have a small amount of ammunition that my husband left behind. A box of odds and ends. I dont think I'ev opened it in years."

There's a ton of ammo in that box, including some missles and a mini-nuke.

"If you do this for me, you're welcome to take whatever you need."

"All right. I give you my word I'll do my best to recover a violin for you."

Why do we have to repeat this?

"Oh, I don't think I've been this happy in years! As promised, here's the key to the ammunition box. It's right under the radio table. Before you leave, I have some information that may help you. At least a place to begin."

Good. I don't fancy wandering randomly around the wasteland until by chance we stumble upon a violin.

"It all starts with my great great grandmother Hilda back in 2077 before the bombs fell..."

Ugh, I'm already bored of her story.

"2077? I can't even imagine that long ago."

"It certainly is a long time. That precious instrument has been through a lot. Anyway, Hilda was quite a special woman. Classically trained and exceptionally talented at the violin. Her pride and joy was her Stradivarius Violin. I can only imagine how exquisite this instrument must of have been. When war reared its head, she was invited by Vault-Tec into Vault 92. They claimed the vault would be dedicated to preserving musical talent."

Of course, Vault-Tec's definition of preserving is killing them horribly and recording the results.

"Musical talent? Why would they care about that?"

"Vault-Tec was always promoting the Vaults being used for the preservation of the arts and all that nonsense. Hilda couldn't pass on a chance to meet many of the other musical talents of the world, so she accepted their invitation. Then the bombs fell. The Vault was sealed, and my family never heard from her again."

How did her family survive?

"After 200 years, how cna you be certain the violin is in decent shape?"

I think they already designed this quest when one of the writers realized this problem, so they created this ass pull.

"She kept it in a special pressurized case. Inside the case is the perfect temperature and humidity for the instrument. If the case is still functioning, the Stradivarius would be in perfect shape. Hilda's Stradivarius was named the Soil Stradivarius. All of them had names. That's what I want you to get."

So, risk our lives in a potentially deadly Vault in order to get an old lady a violin, even though she already has her own (admittedly crapppy) homemade violin? Am I the only person who sees something wrong with this?

"I know where Vault 92 is... I'll head there right away."

"You do? Amazing! Thank you for this. You have no idea what this means to me. Good luck to you!"

Maybe she asks this of every random wastelander that stumbles into her house, and they've all died searching for it.

Well, since we already know the location of Vault 92, let's head over that way. We already know the locations of all the Vaults once we get to the Citadel to see the big map screen, if we didn't, we would have to go to Vault-Tec Headquarters to find it's location. That would have been a pain.

It's not like her house is even an remotely secluded area.

We don't have any fast travel points very close to the Vault, so it's a bit of a hike.

That's Old Olney over there. Hope you like fighting deathclaws. (We don't have to go through Old Olney now, but once Broken Steel comes around, things are going to get fun.)

It's going to be so fun when the random Yao-Guai turn into random Deathclaws.

A deathclaw starts charging out of the city to greet us.

This is the entrance to Vault 92. It's rather inconspicuous, unlike vault 101's entrance.

This is the first ruined Vault we've visited, so let me introduce the Vaults new color scheme: Crap brown.

There's a ton of supplies by the entrance to the Vault. It's not like we need all this stuf though, we're a walking arsenal at this point. We have a sizable amount of the games unique weapons as well, most of which are insanely overpowered in their own way.

There are these holotapes scattered around the vault. They give the basic background of the Vault. [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Professor_Malleus_Audio_Logs]

Vault 92 has a few different areas in it, and it's rather easy to get lost. The game doesn't give a waypoint of where you need to go (Nothing wrong with that) but you're on your own when it comes to navigating the vault.

Oh, awesome. The Vault is infested with Mirelurks. Function for 900 years without failure my ass.

The lower parts of the Vaults are pretty much sewer levels, with all the associated colors.

We're going in the completely wrong direction of the violin, but I didn't realize it until I cleared out the entire area.

There's a good amount of ammo to be found down here at least.

Dart guns are pretty effective against the mirelurks. It cripples their legs, so then it makes it easier for us to hit it in the weak spot.

We go down this rather ominous looking hallway...

And we get ambushed by 4 Mirelurk Hunters. Thankfully, Dogmeat pulls all their attention and hardly takes any damage from them.

I keep forgetting that the laser pisol isn't shit in this game, unlike New Vegas.

This place is much easier at lower levels...

Like most of the other Vaults in this game, Bethesda does a bit of environmental storytelling. The idea in this Vault is the Vault-Tec was testing out some sort mind control device on the inhabitants of this Vault. As you with every other single Vault in this universe, the experiment goes horribly awry and kills everyone in the Vault. (Or was it intentional? I dunno, Vault-Tec is weird.)

There's a really nice armory behind this door, it's locked with either a Very Hard lockpick or a Hard terminal.

Another long hallway.

More Mirelurk Hunters mob us.

Due to our really high Agility (Those Intense Training perks actually really helped us out) we can kill the mirelurks with much less difficulty.

There is just a ton of energy weapons ammo in this Vault.

As soon as we open this door, and a skeleton falls out of the room. This is where we find the violin.

Again, another good example of environmental storytelling in this game. Vault 92 is a pretty interesting location, though some of the backstory around the experiment is rather silly.

There's the violin Agatha wants. It's still in mint condition, I suppose it didn't get damaged during the chaos in the Vault.

We level up after picking a nearby lock.

We max out Energy weapons and put points into medicine and sneak.

We pick Chemist, because why not?

The atrium is littered with skeletons.

We got what we came for, now it's time to leave the Vault.

We fast travel back to Agatha's Shack, now let's give her the violin.

"Here's you violin, Agatha."

"Oh my goodness! I must see it... please!"

A real dick move would to just walk out of here now, after she knows you have the violin and just smash it on the ground.

What?

"Oh my... it's more beautiful that I could have ever imagined! I can't thank you enough. I wish I had something to give you, a more suitable reward for all your efforts."

If we picked the evil option, we would have gotten 300 caps, and nothing else.

"All I can give you is the frequency to my radio set. Tune in whenever you feel like listening to the strains of an old woman's violin playing."

That's... actually a pretty cool quest reward.

So, completing the quest by helping Agatha creates a new radio station for you to listen to. As you would guess, it's all violin music. I think that's a nice reward for a quest, we already have plenty of caps and weapons. Though, we did find the music notes in the Vault as well, and in exchange for that, Agatha gives you a unique Scoped .44 Magnum, it's about as powerful as a sniper rifle.

Agatha's Song can be a really short quest if already know where Vault 92 is, or a long one if you haven't found the location yet.

So, what did you think of "Agatha's Song"? Did you like the reward for completing the quest?