This is going to be a rather random update (If you can tell by the title) because there are just a lot of various stops we make on the way to New Vegas.
So we want to take a stop at the 188 Trading Post, as it's along the road we need to take anyway. It's pretty much completely inconsequential to the main storyline, but there are a few (Okay, one) important things to do here.
This NCR Ranger comes up to us and gives us this NCR Emergency Radio. I've never really used it before, never had an instance where I felt "Man, all I need is an NPC with lousy aim stealing my precious XP." The game is too easy for it to be useful.
You get it once you hit Accepted reputation status for the NCR, which is pretty easy.
Almost forgot, have to do something right here.
"I think we should part ways for now, Boone."
Yup, we're telling Boone to head back to Novac. Why? Well, we're about to pick up a new companion, and we can only have two. (One humanoid and one non-humanoid) So, Boone is going to be out of our party for awhile.
"If that's what you think."
"Yeah, that's what I think. You should head back home."
"All right. Guess I'll be around Novac for a whle longer, until I figure out what I want to do with myself. See you around."
He doesn't go anywhere. He must enjoy the company, despite the fact we haven't said a word to him since we recruited him. Must have been a very awkward and silent trip.
This is the 188 Trading Post. Lots of trailers and tents and not much else.
They must be careful around all that jagged metal. As you may not know, more people die in the wasteland from tetanus than Super Mutants or other related bullet wounds.
You know referring to your food as slop doesn't make it any more appetizing, right?
"Who are you?"
"Name's Michelle. My Dad and me run this store. His name's Samuel. I take the day shift and he takes nights. We came here about a month ago, when Primm went to hell on account of the prison break north of here."
Hell is exaggerating a bit. There were only a dozen or so kind of weak thugs roaming around the town. As far as I could tell, most of the citizens were unharmed.
"Found a bin to call home and set up shop."
"Why'd you settle in this dump?"
It's not that big of a dump. I mean, sure in comparison to New Vegas, but everywhere else is pretty much the same as this.
"There's more to the 188 than meets the eye. Troops move back and forth on 93 all the time, and 95 is how NCR folks come and go from Vegas. No shortage of customers... so long as Legion raids south of here don't get worse, anyways."
"Why's this place called the 188?"
"You do know these old roads were numbered, right? We're standing where the 95 and 93 meet. And 95 plus 93 equals... 188."
95 + 93... Nope, they're math checks out here. Still a stupid name though.
"What do you know about Legion raids?"
"Not much. I hear some folks got killed down by Nelson... or was it Novac?"
We haven't been to Nelson yet.
"I don't know. If they come up this way, me and dad'll go someplace else."
Seems like a decent idea to me.
"Time for me to go."
"Later."
I'm not going to make a huge habit of chatting with random NPC's but they do give some pretty decent background info on the area that they are in.
This is the person we're here to talk to.
You may or may not be familiar with Veronica's voice actor, Felicia Day. She's kind of a TV/internet celebrity who is quite well known, though I'm not exactly sure why, someone else can explain this much better than I can. She has guest starred in a lot of TV shows (Mostly notably in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) according to Wikipedia and also done stuff on the internet like The Guild and the Dragon Age webseries. (Which looked awful last time I checked)
She has done a voice acting for a couple other games, most notably the star in a Dragon Age 2 DLC Mark of the Assassin. (I don't know how good that particular DLC was, as I haven't played it. Curious to know from anyone who has, however.)
"The grave."
I love some of the overdramatic lines you can use in this game. In general, I feel like the player character dialogue is improved from over Fallout 3. Not quite up to the levels of the old Fallout games, mind you.
"Huh. Well, in that case I take it back. You look pretty good, given the circumstances. Well, welcome, then. I'm Veronica, I live in a hole in the ground."
"You live in a hole in the ground?"
"Well, a bunker, if you want to get technical. I think it sounds more interesting my way. But I'm not there much anymore. I'm usually out here picking up food and supplies for my family. Whatever they need."
"So you just leave your family in the bunker?"
"Yeah. I'm not worried. They can handle themselves. But somebody has to get the groceries, know what I mean? And actually these days I think they'd rather have me out here anyway. But that's a whole other story. So, listen, can I ask you something on the level?"
You want me to do a sidequest for you, don't you?
"Go ahead."
"I had a run-in with this group calling themselves the Brotherhood of Steel."
Oh no, not these guys again.
"Pretty strange bunch. Do you know anything about them?"
"[Intelligence 6] They're usually harmless unless you use advanced technology around them."
They aren't the "Lawful Good Paladins of the Wasteland" in this game. In fact, as we'll find out later, they're kind of assholes.
"Well that shouldn't be a problem for me, I can't afford anything like that. Hey, so where are you headed, anyway?"
"Going to see an old friend."
"This is quite a journey you're going on, then. Must be an interesting relationship to have brought you all this way."
You could say that.
"I'll be honest. You're the first person I've run across out here that looks like he can really handle himself."
Really? We aren't anything special.
"There are places I've never been to that'd be too dangerous for just me. What do you think? Maybe we could travel together, help each other out."
"You don't look like much. What do you bring to the table?"
"Heh. Good. That's the look I was going for. Trust me on this one, though. You'll be glad you brought me along."
What do you do? Shoot lasers out of your eyes? Are you really good at negotiating?
...
Can you carry a lot of junk around at least?
"If I turn out to be a burden, we can part ways at any time. No hard feelings."'
"Where are you hoping to go?"
"Oh, nowhere in particular, really. Just hoping to see more of the world. Looking for a fresh perspective. I want to see how different groups have adapted to survive in the Mojave."
Poorly. Better than the Capital Wasteland, at least.
"See if there's something I can learn from."
"Don't you have a family to feed?"
"Like I said, they can handle themselves. And I'm not the only one getting supplies for them. It's a big family."
"Okay, let's travel together."
Why not?
"Now you're talking. One thing you should know, first, though. I asked you about the Brotherhood because I'm one of them."
Makes sense. I suppose running around in full Power Armor would be a bit too obvious.
"I know, I know. But I had to know how you'd react when I told you. We've made a lot of enemies."
The Brotherhood aren't stalwart heroes of land anymore. Well, they weren't that in the earlier games (Arguably) but Fallout 3 really made a point of them being the heroes.
"You still okay bring me along?"
"Actually, I'm more comfortable now that I know you've had some training."
She focuses on melee with her Power Fist. She is really useful in close corridors, but she is horrible with ranged weapons.
"I'm great at punching people. I'm not gonna lie. It's a gift."
Also a fairly funny and likeable character. Like I said, I really like all the companions in this game, Obsidian did a really good job with them.
"Well, thanks for taking a chance on a naive young girl from California with stars in her eyes and a pneumatic gauntlet on her hand. Let's hit the road, huh?"
Veronica is a walking punching machine of death, pretty much.
Here is a better look at her. She wears that robe throughout the entire game if you don't give her something else. I usually kit her out in Power Armor the first chance I get, but obviously we are not in the possession of Power Armor. Yet.
Here is another Quirky ? NPC to chat with.
Oh look, a not completely rude child NPC. What a novel concept.
"Where are your parents, kid? Are you here all alone?"
"I don't have a mama or papa anymore. I see them sometimes when I take off my medicine, but they can't stay. I'm used to being on my own."
That's a weird looking hat-thing you got there.
"What are you selling?"
"Oh, I don't sell things, mister. I sell thoughts."
Okay...
"You sell 'thoughts?'"
"I can take off my medicine and do some thinking. People say it's real interesting. I don't know, because I never hear it. Some people say it's a gift. Other people say that it's the kind of thinking anyone could do if they watched more than they talked. I don't know which is true. I see a lot, I think a lot. There's a lot to hear through the 188, too, that maybe accounts for the thinking."
"What is your "medicine" and how do you take it off?"
"This thing on my head is headache medicine. It works real good, except I can't think when it's on. Really think, I mean."
"Goodbye."
"See you."
That was... enlightening. You can get fortunes from him, but I was stupid and forgot to. Sorry guys, I'll cover it in a mini-update or something.
"I'd like to see what you have for sale."
He's a Gun Runner, so he must have some decent weaponry.
"Am I selling? Yeah. Am I selling to you? No. Sorry to hurt your feelings, but you're small time. Move along."
I guess I'll just take my massive amount of caps (Okay, not massive at all) and shop elsewhere. Why would he turn his away? Is it because our caps smell like rotting Raider arse? That smell is really hard to get out of things you know.
"[Guns 40] I figure a guy like you gets his pick of killing gear."
So now it's a Guns check, rather than a Speech one. Not really sure why, sounds more Speech-y to me.
"[SUCCEEDED] You might be on to something. I like to hang on to any weapons mods I run across..."
We haven't ran across any weapon mods yet, we'll get into that later. It's a very large money sink. New Vegas has a lot of money sinks actually, but you get so many caps in this game it doesn't even matter anyways.
"So you're a Gun Runner?"
"Like you have a clue what that even means."
"Tell me about the Gun Runners."
"The Gun Runners have been putting rapid-fire death-dealing in the hands of anyone who needed to defend himself for over a century."
The Gun Runners were in Fallout 1, you could find them in the Boneyard.
"We're the NCR's #1 supplier of weapons and ammunition. You might call us an unoffical branch of the army."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a salesman. I swing through McCarran and the dam once a week or so to take orders. But lately I spend most of my time in this piss heap."
Again, not really sure what's wrong with this place.
"Ever since the 15 shut down, all caravans come through here - right to me. I check the stock and direct deliveries onward to meet orders. Sure, it stinks to hang out here, but it won't be forever. Plus I can afford a monthly bender on the Strip and still build up my nest egg."
Truly this man is living the dream.
"Tell me about Gun Runner caravans."
"Not much to tell. A brahmin or two loaded up with weapons, and a whole mess of well-armed guards to make sure it ends up where it's supposed to go. One nifty bit though. The gun cases are rigged to explode. So trying to loot one of our caravans doesn't do much good."
It's not like the caravans actually exist in the game world, which is a shame. The Mojave is empty as it is, some actual trading routes maybe getting ambushed by the Legion or raiders would liven things up a bit. There are no random encounters like in Fallout 3, sadly.
"And that's how the NCR stays equipped. The only thing we don't bring in is energy weapons."
"Why don't you deal in energy weapons?"
"We used to. But every caravan carrying them was getting ambushed and wiped out. By someone sophisticated enough to know which was which."
"We think it was the Brotherhood of Steel - those crazies always go hard for energy weapons."
Hey, that's generalizing a bit, don't you think? They also have a hard on for giant hammers.
Oh, and high-tech gauntlets too, don't forget those.
"But the NCR would rather pretend they killed all of them."
"I need to get going."
"Bye."
This picture is to establish that the NCR is stationed here, and that I'm terrible at timing screenshots.
So, back on the road towards Vegas. That billboard is referring to the REPCONN HQ, a slightly less hellish maze that we will eventually have to visit. It's got a section that is kind of like the Museum of Technology from Fallout 3, which is always fun.
Man, somehow I'm starting to miss Fallout 3. (Not cause New Vegas is a bad game, but I just feel nostalgic for some bizarre reason)
The Silver Rush is an energy weapons store that we will probably be completely ignoring this playthrough aside from the questlines involving it. We'll be making extensive use of it during our Energy Weapons character, whatever run that may be.
Why am I talking about things that will happen later? Cause nothing else of note happens along this road. It's uneventful from 188 to Freeside. I guess you can say it's at least well protected. If this was Fallout 3, we would have fought our way through a dozen Super Mutants and a dozen more Raiders by now.
Yup, that's an overpass alright.
These are billboards for all the major casinos in New Vegas. The billboards in this game are in pretty good shape for being 200 years old and all.
This is the Grub' N Gulp Rest Stop. Not much of note here. Lots of brahmin, and a couple of not very notable vendors. We can keep on moving, but while we're here, let's chat with at least one of them.
Hey guys, remember when clean water was such a big deal in Fallout 3?
Good times...
"If you're low on caps, I've also got slightly irradiated wasteland water. A little fallout never killed anybody."
Harhar, get it?
"Where do you get your water?"
"The NCR fixed up the pipe network pretty good, and water merchants like me are allowed to have some of it to sell. If we have a water license, of course. Still, it beats the inconvenience of having to trek all the way to the lake to resupply."
An actually functioning pipe system? That's pretty neat.
"Are there many water merchants around here?"
"There's a few independent ones like me, but it's mostly the big trading outfits that deal in water, like the Crimson Caravan Company."
Well, enough of that conversation. I went on for a bit longer asking her about the NCR, the Fiends, etc. but none of it is information we don't already know or are going to brought up in detail soon enough anyway.
The other guy pretty much says the same stuff, sans water.
God that guys helmet is absurd. It looks lame even for a bike helmet.
Pipes!
Guards!
Somehow still functioning monorail tracks!
So now we're just outside of New Vegas-
Where's the door?
We have to go around, don't we?
...
Fuck you, game.
Things around New Vegas are significantly less blown up than some of the outlying areas. There is actually an explanation for that in-game.
Holy shit it's a farm, people aren't scavenging for 200 year old food anymore. I know we've already seen a couple of farms already, but I just wanted to reiterate this fact.
That brown smudge on the horizon is the entrance.
However, before we enter Freeside, we need to make a hard left.
This is Gun Runners. Sitting out here, in the middle of nowhere.
Welcome to the best gun shop in the game. They pretty much have everything here, however you can't get it all right away. More weapons appear as your level increases.
They also have the biggest collection of weapon mods in the game.
"What is this place?"
"This is the New Vegas branch of the Gun Runners, supplying the wasteland with only the finest armaments since 2155."
Apparently, unlike everyone else (Correct me if I'm wrong) the Gun Runners can actually manufacture their guns, rather than scavenge them.
"That's some impressive weaponry. Where did it all come from?"
"All Gun Runner merchandise is constructed on-site."
"How did you get inside there?"
"This kiosk was specially constructed around me to deter theft and assault."
Welp, guess we have nothing to do here right now then. I mean, it's not like we can actually afford an Anti-Material Rifle yet. It's right in there though.
So close, yet so far...
Gun Runners also has a remote companion firing option that Obsidian patched in later because they fucked up the coding that caused companions to disappear and stopped you from getting a new one.
Of course, Obsidian and "Fucked up the coding" are pretty much synonymous. At least a lot of the coding fuck ups are patched in this game.
This is it. Through this gate, we'll gain access to New Vegas, and finally come face to face with Benny. I'm sure they can't drag this particular plotline on any further after this.
Right?
