[HEADING=1]Welcome to Vegas![/HEADING]
This is it. We're just about to catch up with that asshole Benny and stick a boot up his ass. Or at least, be in the position to do so.
We're not going to waste any time getting to Benny. I'd rather explore Freeside and New Vegas after we deal with this nuisance.
I still don't understand why House would set the town up like this. There's only like two entrances, what if there is a fire or something of the sort? New Vegas is still very rubble-y (Well, Freeside is) but much less so than everywhere else.
Both of the entrances are pretty close to each other too, so you have to go all the way around if you came from the wrong direction.
This is Freeside, the slums outside of New Vegas. There are a lot of things to do here, but like I said, no distractions. We're going straight to Benny.
Oh hello strangers, do you mind giving me some direction-
Ow, stop that. Stop hitting me.
That isn't very polite, can't we just talk like reasonable-
...Never mind.
So sometimes you get rushed by thugs when walking through Freeside. Mole rats would be more of a threat, honestly.
"Hmmph" indeed.
Loving the kids who just ignore the freshly made corpses and continue to run around and play. I assume this is a common thing here.
Yup, still pretty brown. Though I'd still take dirt brown over puke green any day of the week, mind you.
Another location we'll want to visit in the future. We can recruit another companion there, but we actually don't have high enough speech to do so. Put it on our to do list.
This is the door that links both sections of Freeside. I don't really know what it's supposed to be... a bus or something?
I'unno, it's stupid.
That's where The Kings hang out, a gang of Elvis impersonators. Yeah.
Also another potential companion in there as well.
For some reason, this corner with only like two functioning businesses is considered Freeside.
The Silver Rush is the best energy weapons shop in the game, and the Atomic Wrangler is one of the more scummier casino's in the game.
Let's hope we can walk down the street without getting attacked by thugs.
More areas sealed off.
That would just be absolutely rude.
"Why wouldn't I want to go past the greeter?"
"These bots are programmed to vaporize anyone who enters the fenced-in area without authorization from the greeter."
That's a bit excessive, don't you think? I mean, shooting I get, but vaporizing?
"Thanks for the free advice. Who are you?"
"The name's Old Ben. I've been living in Freeside since the day I was born."
He seems like an interesting person, let's randomly ask him about his life for no reason.
"What's your story?"
"I've done a bit of everything around here - courier, butcher, crier, escort, gun for hire...."
This isn't the only other courier we're going to meet in this game.
"Some of which I'm not proud of, but I do my best to help around town when needed."
"Courier? I used to be a courier before I got shot in the head"
...
No comment.
"Exactly one of the reasons I got out of that job. Too many shifty characters looking to have someone else move their hot items."
"You said escort? Like armed guard?"
"Well, I suppose you could look at it that way, but I was packing a whole different kind of heat."
Oh, he's that kind of escort.
"No, escort just sounds better than man-whore."
"So you got paid for sex?"
"Yep. I was damn good at my job, too. But after a while I just felt like a piece of meat and had to quit."
"Gun for hire?"
"When I quit the escort job, I had enough money to buy a pistol belt and some other gear. Bodyguards make a good honest living, and I had the wits and physical build to handle most thugs."
Well, most thugs in the Mojave are made out of paper mache, so I don't doubt that.
"After saving a few tourists from trouble, I got a reputation for being a stand-up guy again, and after a decade managed to save up enough to retire."
So that's why I sit here, hanging out right in front of the gate to New Vegas chattingw with people passing through.
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
Well, let's make sure to follow his directions and not get vaporized.
And of course, this idiot disregards his advice and runs right in. I'm sure this will turn out well for him.
With Wild Wasteland, in combat the Securitrons will shout "EXTERMINATE" at random intervals.
Ouch.
Yeah, we get it. Don't try to run past the guards.
"I'll submit to the credit check."
When I first played the game, I thought it actually cost 2,000 caps to get in here, and I was pretty angry at the time.
I already had just enough caps to do the credit check. Otherwise you have a few other options to gain entrance, which I will be showing off later. Right now we want to get straight to Benny though.
"Thank you, sir. You may proceed."
Look at how shiny-
Is no one going to clean that mess up?
...
Fine, I will.
Welp, that takes care of that...
What, I'm not psychopathic at all.
No blood splatter or anything. That sure was polite of the guy not to bleed all over the pavement or anything.
This is the New Vegas Strip. I know what you're thinking, this seems awfully small right? Well, it's split up into three areas (To accomodate consoles, acording to J.E. Sawyer at least) but overall, yes, it's pretty small and disappointing considering how much they've hyped it up.
"Point me to The Tops, Victor. I've got a score to settle."
"Sorry, rambler. I know you're fixing to serve up some vengeance, but I'm gonna have to point you to the Lucky 38 first."
But he could decide to leave in the meantime! I don't want to have to chase him all the way across the country.
"Mr. House, the head honcho of New Vegas, is itching to make your acquaintance."
I suppose we can take time out of our busy schedule if he wants to see us then...
"He'll help you serve that cold dish of yours extra-chilly."
I like the sound of that.
"Why is a robot passing on his invitation?"
"Well now, it was Mr. House who made the Securitrons like me. Seems the least I could do is pass on his message. Don't dawdle. He'll be waiting."
We can hold off on killing Benny for a few more minutes, right?
The Lucky 38 is the tallest of all the buildings on the Strip. What's special about the Lucky 38 is that no one has been inside it (Other than Mr. House and the Securitrons of course) for hundreds of years.
No reason to have this big gate right here honestly.
Time for another chat with Victor.
"Thank you, victor."
"I see you brought some friends! Sorry, pardner, but they're gonna have to stay outside."
This just screams trap.
"No problem, I'll head up by myself."
"Come back soon, now!"
A bowling mini-game would be pretty fun now that you mention it...
So Veronica and ED-E wait out here for us.
That's a pretty nice design.
Oooo, pretty. There's actual color in this game, holy shit.
This place seems rather cool let's- No, we have to go talk to House.
I'll cover the Lucky 38 in detail in a side update.
Victor controls the elevator for you, for some reason.
The Penthouse is where Mr. House wants us to meet him. Let's not keep him waiting.
Another unique Securitron.
If you have Wild Wasteland, another thing the Securitrons will say is "Your move creep".
Too bad this isn't like the Elder Scrolls where the books are actually readable.
This is Mr. House, or at least a screen of him.
And then it turns out Mr. House was secrelty Andrew Ryan all along!
...
Okay, that's not entirely fair. They're both based off of Howard Hughes, so there has to be some overlap there, but even Obsidian noticed the similarities. Hell, in the GRA DLC, there's a special challenge called "A Slave Obeys" that you complete if you kill him with a 9-iron.
Yup.
"I have to ask - now that you've reached your destination, what do you make of what you see?"
Kind of disappointed, honestly.
"I've never seen anything like this place."
"Of course you haven't. Vegas always was one of a kind. What you see down on the Strip is just a fraction of the city's former glory, and yet... more than an echo. I preserved its spirit. Or perhaps you were referring to the Lucky 38? The years haven't been kind to her, but still she manages to impress."
Out of all the casinos in the game, the Lucky 38 looks the best, in my opinion.
Of course, it's the only one that you can't actually gamble in, for obvious reasons.
"Why the VIP treatment? I'm just a courier."
"Oh, don't be coy. You've been playing a high-stakes game ever since Victor dug you out of the ground. Don't be afraid to admit it."
"Let's get down to business, then."
"The business is this. One of my employees has stolen an item of extraordinary value from me, and I want it recovered. Simple enough?"
"What do you propose?"
"My only concern is the recovery of the Platinum Chip. What happens to Benny, I leave to your discretion. When you bring the Chip to me, I will pay you four times the delivery bonus stipulated in your contract. How's that?"
What was the delivery bonus?
"1000 caps? I accept your terms."
1000 caps? That's chump change.
"Well enough. Return to me when you have the Platinum Chip in your possession. Any final matters for us to discuss?"
Mr. House actually has some pretty interesting dialogue options, and even more will be available once we give him the Plantium Chip. That's why we're keeping him alive. At least for a little while longer.
"Yes, I have some questions I want to ask."
"What did you wish to know?"
"How do I get to Benny?"
"It won't be easy... Benny is always surrounded by at least four bodyguards - except when he's in his private suite on the 13th floor of the Tops..."
"The Chairmen are your employees. Don't they take orders?"
The Chairmen are the people who run The Tops Casino. I don't know how our character knows this.
"It's more complicated than that. The Chairmen share what you might call a... tribal affinity. Look for a man named Swank, Benny's second-in-command. He's always been a reliable, if unimaginative, employee. Do your best to convince him that you're working under my auspices."
So basically a speech check.
"If you have evidence of Benny's crimes, show it to him."
"Say I want to take a diplomatic approach."
"If you were to approach Benny in public, you might be able to leverage his fear of exposure to make him agree to meet with you in private."
"Tell me about Benny."
"Benny has led the Chairmen ever since I recruited his tribe seven years ago. Until his recent misbehavior, I'd planned to make him my protege. Maybe if I'd begun gromming him sooner, none of this would've happened..."
I don't really see what's so impressive about Benny. I mean, anyone could have ambushed us and shot us in the head while we were tied up. Am I supposed to believe his is some genius mastermind? Cause, from what I've seen and heard of him, he doesn't sound like one.
"What use would you have for a protege?"
"To achieve my aims, I require a capable human agent to perform certain... tasks. I knew Benny was ambitious, even ruthless. But I believed he would do the job, so long as he was incentivized appropriately. Obviously, I miscalculated his drive for supremacy."
Yes, Mr. House pretty much always comes across as the "Look how much more smarter I am than you" type and he keeps it up throughout the entire game.
"But in any case, you've come along - a more-than-suitable replacement."
"Why did Benny betray you?"
Cause Benny's a dick?
"I have to think that he found out about the Platinum Chip and mistakenly convinced himself that he could use it to his own ends. One of the problems of a tribal work force, I'm afraid. No intuitive understanding of how complex technologies can be."
"Why didn't you intervene sooner when Benny ambushed me?"
"Why didn't Victor intervene sooner, you mean? Goodsprings is a bit too far away for me to reliably control a Securitron agent by remote. I can send and receive packets of data, at best. Victor's combat algorithms determined the proper course of action. Benny and his thugs were more than a match for a lone Securitron."
Not really. A few grenade rounds and they'd all be in pieces anyway.
"When he alerted me, I instructed him to approach the site after Benny and the others had departed."
"Who exactly are you, Mr. House?"
"I am Robert Edwin House, President, CEO, and sole proprietor of the New Vegas Strip. I oversaw the city's renovations starting from 2274 onward."
So, that was fairly recently then.
"The Three Families are my employees. Before the Great War of 2077, I was the founder, President and CEO of RobCo Industries, a vast computer and robotics corporation."
You guys remember RobCo from Fallout 3, right?
"You appear to be a computer, not a man."
"Don't let the video screens and computer terminals fool you. I'm flesh and blood, not silicon."
"How have you stayed alive all this time?"
"Let's just say it was very... costly. But I was willing to make the sacrifices longevity entailed, financial and otherwise."
"How did you establish New Vegas?"
"We can discuss this in greater detail at another time. Suffice it to say that when my Securitrons detected NCR scouts at Hoover Dam, I took action. I recruited a tribal force to supplement my Securitrons and renovated the Strip just in time to welcome the NCR as it marched into the region."
That actually sounds like an interesting story.
"Instead of war, a treaty was negotiated. And the money started to pour in."
"What is the Platinum Chip?"
"It's a very special item. There's nothing else like it in the entire world. It was lost a long time, and difficult to find. THat's all you need to know about it, for this stage of our enterprise. Fulfill your contract, and deliver the Chip, and good things will come your way."
"[Speech 50] The more I know about the Chip, the easier I can find it..."
"[SUCCEEDED] You might keep an eye out for any computers that Benny's been using. Maybe even a computer lab of some sort..."
"If the Chip's so valuable, why use a single courier to trasnport it?"
"You realize you were just one of many couriers, the rest of them dummies, so to speak?"
Yeah, we figured that all the way back at Primm.
"Add to that many thousands of caps worth of mercenary protection to screen your avenue of approach. Had I used an armed caravan to transport the Chip, I might as well have been announcing to the world "this is important. Attack this!" I didn't want to attract the attention of groups like the Great Khans or the Brotherhood of Steel. Alas, the real threat was closer to home."
"Why don't you send your robots into the Tops to arrest Benny?"
"Front assaults on casinos? Not good for business. In any case, Benny would see it coming. And all he'd have to do is hold the Chip up and point a pistol at it."
I think you're giving him too much credit.
"Our foremost advantage is that Benny doesn't know that I know he has the Chip - let's not squander it."
Alright, that's enough dialogue for a bit.
"Goodbye."
"Well enough. Be on your way."
Holy shit that conversation went long. Sorry guys.
Nice, we have another place to store our crap. It's a pretty nice suite, but the Novac house is so much more convenient.
"You can bring your friends, too! Be like a little clubhouse for the gang you put together!"
Now we can part with companions and tell them to meet us at the Lucky 38 rather than where they normally are. This makes it more convenient for us to swap between companions. Wish Skyrim had this feature.
"Just bear in mind, you're the only one gets to see the boss! Any friends you got, they can wait in the suite. Enjoy the digs, pardner! They're plenty fancy!"
We have no time to check out the suite, we have to meet Benny before he decides to take a vacation or something.
What would the NCR want to do with us?
That's Gomorrah, New Vegas's token den of iniquity... Well I suppose that applies to the whole city, but Gomorrah moreso.
This is the second segment of the Strip.
This is The Tops Casino. It's got a 50's theme going on, and this is where we're going to chat with Benny.
Don't shoot up the place, etc. All the greeter dialogue is pretty much the same.
Swank is the guy we want to talk to before talking to Benny.
Everyone in here looks very similar. It's very unsettling.
"I think you should know something about Benny."
"Really? You got something to say about the big boss, huh? Well, why don't you say it to his face instead of yapping at me?"
"[Speech 15] I don't think you're going to like it. Seems Benny's been making his own play."
Now we use a combination of the evidence we've collected and speech checks in order to convince Swank that Benny attacked us. We have more than enough Speech for it to do the job on it's own.
"[SUCCEEDED] Huh? What are you talking about?"
"[Speech 30] Benny tried to kill me and stole a platinum chip I was hired to deliver."
"[SUCCEEDED] That doesn't... why would he pull a stund like that? Got anything else to offer?"
"[Speech 45] He tried to make it look like an accident - just a traveler killed and robbed in the Wasteland."
"[SUCCEEDED] He's trying to pull a fast one on the big man? Crazy bastard. You got any more?"
"I've got more evidence that proves Benny tried to kill me."
The Speech checks were all we really need, but let's really drive it home.
"Yeah? What else you got?"
"Look, I found these cigarette butts by the grave he buried me in."
"Huh. Well, yeah, okay, these are Benny's brand, and they ain't too common. You got anything else?"
"I found this lighter in Boulder City. He dropped it when he killed his partners."
Killed? They're not dead. Well, we could have killed them, but Benny certainly didn't.
"Yeah, that looks like Benny's lighter all right. Still, not exactly a ton of proof. Got anything else, kid?"
"That's it. What do you think?"
"Jesus, kid, I think we got a real problem on our hands. Can't believe Benny's a no-good stinkin' punk. Trying to play House like that... Tell you what - I'll call Benny, keep him away from his suite. You go search the place. Here's the key, it's on the 13th floor. It's the room with the double doors, can't miss it. Maybe you'll find something we can show to Mr. House and get him arrested."
We're not going to get him arrested, obviously, but let's check out his room first anyways.
"Okay, I'll do it."
"Groovy. Here's your stuff back - in case you run into company, you dig? I'll tell the boys to give you a pass to pack some heat. Go on then. Elevators are past the slot machines on your left."
That's Benny on the other side of the room over there. We're not quite ready to talk to him.
This place looks pretty nice too. The colors that aren't red are rather washed out but any colors at all are a nice change.
There are a ton of rooms on this floor, we need to find Benny's.
This is Benny's suite. It's not really impressive, considering there is a much nicer one already in the hotel.
What...? What's a Securitron doing in there?
He has a much different face than the other Securitrons.
Yes Man is one of my favorite characters in this game. He reminds me a lot of Eddie the Computer from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
"What are you doing here?"
"Good question! My function is to monitor Mr. House's data network and decode his encrypted transmissions! Allow me to introduce myself! I'm a PDQ-88b Securitron, but you can call me Yes Man!"
Yup, this is the other friendly Securitron with an actual personality in this game.
"'Yes Man?' What kind of a name is that?"
"It's what Benny always called me. Probably because I'm programmed to be so helpful!"
"Have you seen Benny?"
"He was around not too longa go. He's probably down on the casino floor now."
We already know that.
"You can wait for him here, if you like. I'm incapable of asking you to leave."
"Benny reprogrammed a Securitron? All by himself?"
"Oh, he had some help - a lady friend of his! She said something about living in a Fort over in Freeside... but that's all I remember!"
"What is this place?"
"This is Benny's workshop. When the Tops got renovated, he had this half of the floor blocked off for his own use. I guess you could say it's my entire world! I don't think I've ever left this room! But that's okay - I'm not complaining!"
If you haven't already noticed, Yes Man's name pretty much describes his personality.
"Benny stole a Platinum Chip from me. Do you know what it's for?"
"Sure! Benny had me look at it a bunch of times! It's a data storage device, kind of like a holotape, but a lot more advanced! As for what's on it, well... Some of Mr. House's data transmissions made it sound like Chip could upgrade his defenses somehow! That's just a guess, though! The Chip's a proprietary format! You'd need special hardware to read the data on it! There are two locations with non-standard hardware on the network - the Lucky 38 and an underground facility at Fortification Hill. I'd look there!"
"What's Benny planning to do with the Chip?"
"Oh! He wants to kill Mr. House and use the Platinum Chip to copy my neuro-computational matrix onto the Lucky 38's mainframe. That should give me control over all of Mr. House's defenses, most prominently his Securitrons. And then I just do what Benny tells me - easy-peasy!"
"You're very... forthcoming with that information."
"I was programmed to be helpful and answer any questions I was asked. I guess nobody bothered to restrict who I answer questions for. That was probably pretty dumb, huh?"
Yup.
"What if I wanted to take over New Vegas, instead of Benny."
So now we open up the possibility of taking the Independent route through the game's main quest, in which we killed off Mr. House and take control of Vegas for ourselves. That's the route we will be choosing, but we won't be killing House right away.
"Then I'd have to help you! I mean, it seems pretty obvious Benny wouldn't want me to, but hey, not my fault I can't say no!"
"What are the details of the plan?"
"Again goal number one is to eliminate Mr. House and install my neuro-computational matrix on the Lucky 38's mainframe! Given how you're a new arrival, I also recommend that you get to know some of the region's tribes, so you can decide how you feel about them! By the time you've finished up all of that, the Legion should be close to attacking Hoover Dam and we'll execute the last phase of the plan!"
"Say Mr. House was going to suffer an accident. How would that happen?"
"It makes me feel really dumb to admit this, but I don't actually know! I've never been inside the Lucky 38. No one has! Mr. House is in there, though! It's the central node of his entire network!"
"I've been inside the Lucky 38."
"You have? Wow! That's amazing! You can murder Mr. House whenever you want!"
It's not a simple as that.
"I mean, Benny was always scheming about how he was going to get into the Lucky 38, but you already took care of that. Wow! The other thing you're going to need is the Platinum Chip. You know, the one Benny killed a courier for, over near Goodsprings."
Killed, yeah.
"What do you know about the courier Benny shot?"
"I knew he was carrying the Platinum Chip! And I knew right where Benny should wait for him! That's why Benny put me here! To monitor Mr. House's data transmissions. They're all encrypted, of course - but I'm quite a decrypter! Did you know that Mr. House spent 812,545 caps hiring salvage teams to find the Platinum Chip- just in the last year alone?"
That's a lot of caps.
"Of course you didn't! Or that there were seven couriers, but six of them were carrying junk? How about their exact routes, and the mercenary teams that screened them? I knew all that. Pretty smart, huh?"
"I'm the courier Benny shot."
"Hahaha! I know that's not true, because you still have a head!"
"I'm serious."
"Hahaha! That's not funny, you getting shot in the head. I really shouldn't have taken so much pride in how I set that up, huh? I feel really bad right now."
"Where is the Platinum Chip?"
"Benny carries it with him at all times. I think he's paranoid that someone might want to take it from him."
He would be right then.
"The Platinum Chip is the key to overriding and exploiting Mr. House's defenses! Did I just say "exploiting?" That's not a very nice word!"
"Once I get the Platinum Chip, what then?"
"I'd take it straight to Mr. House if I were you! He'll think you're helping him out! Then when he's not looking - KER-POW! The big question is whether to give him the Chip before you do him in! He's the one who'll know exactly what to do with it, after all! He might upgrade his defensive capabilities right away! Or even unlock new ones! But then those defensive upgrades might make it harder for you to finish him off! Hard to say! It's up to you!"
We're going to get the Securitrons upgraded fisrt. It's easy just to pop a Stealth Boy and sneak past the Securitrons.
"Let me know when it's done and I'll roll over to the Lucky 38. If I'm right about the Chip, I should be able to install myself on House's mainframe! This is going to be great! I'm going to help you accomplish so much, whether I want to or not!"
We can talk to him about more things, but they'll become more pertinent later on in the game.
After chatting with him we get a ton of quets in our Pip-Boy.
Back downstairs.
Lots of things.
"Benny has reprogrammed a Securitron, he's trying to take over the Strip."
"He's what? Ah jeez... jeez, this is really bad. What are you gonna do?"
"I thought maybe I'd talk to the man. See if we can work out a deal."
"Yeah? That's ballsy. Good luck with that."
Thanks for the help then, guess we're doing this by ourselves.
We're not going to waste any time getting to Benny. I'd rather explore Freeside and New Vegas after we deal with this nuisance.
I still don't understand why House would set the town up like this. There's only like two entrances, what if there is a fire or something of the sort? New Vegas is still very rubble-y (Well, Freeside is) but much less so than everywhere else.
Both of the entrances are pretty close to each other too, so you have to go all the way around if you came from the wrong direction.
This is Freeside, the slums outside of New Vegas. There are a lot of things to do here, but like I said, no distractions. We're going straight to Benny.
Oh hello strangers, do you mind giving me some direction-
Ow, stop that. Stop hitting me.
That isn't very polite, can't we just talk like reasonable-
...Never mind.
So sometimes you get rushed by thugs when walking through Freeside. Mole rats would be more of a threat, honestly.
"Hmmph" indeed.
Loving the kids who just ignore the freshly made corpses and continue to run around and play. I assume this is a common thing here.
Yup, still pretty brown. Though I'd still take dirt brown over puke green any day of the week, mind you.
Another location we'll want to visit in the future. We can recruit another companion there, but we actually don't have high enough speech to do so. Put it on our to do list.
This is the door that links both sections of Freeside. I don't really know what it's supposed to be... a bus or something?
I'unno, it's stupid.
That's where The Kings hang out, a gang of Elvis impersonators. Yeah.
Also another potential companion in there as well.
For some reason, this corner with only like two functioning businesses is considered Freeside.
The Silver Rush is the best energy weapons shop in the game, and the Atomic Wrangler is one of the more scummier casino's in the game.
Let's hope we can walk down the street without getting attacked by thugs.
More areas sealed off.
That would just be absolutely rude.
"Why wouldn't I want to go past the greeter?"
"These bots are programmed to vaporize anyone who enters the fenced-in area without authorization from the greeter."
That's a bit excessive, don't you think? I mean, shooting I get, but vaporizing?
"Thanks for the free advice. Who are you?"
"The name's Old Ben. I've been living in Freeside since the day I was born."
He seems like an interesting person, let's randomly ask him about his life for no reason.
"What's your story?"
"I've done a bit of everything around here - courier, butcher, crier, escort, gun for hire...."
This isn't the only other courier we're going to meet in this game.
"Some of which I'm not proud of, but I do my best to help around town when needed."
"Courier? I used to be a courier before I got shot in the head"
...
No comment.
"Exactly one of the reasons I got out of that job. Too many shifty characters looking to have someone else move their hot items."
"You said escort? Like armed guard?"
"Well, I suppose you could look at it that way, but I was packing a whole different kind of heat."
Oh, he's that kind of escort.
"No, escort just sounds better than man-whore."
"So you got paid for sex?"
"Yep. I was damn good at my job, too. But after a while I just felt like a piece of meat and had to quit."
"Gun for hire?"
"When I quit the escort job, I had enough money to buy a pistol belt and some other gear. Bodyguards make a good honest living, and I had the wits and physical build to handle most thugs."
Well, most thugs in the Mojave are made out of paper mache, so I don't doubt that.
"After saving a few tourists from trouble, I got a reputation for being a stand-up guy again, and after a decade managed to save up enough to retire."
So that's why I sit here, hanging out right in front of the gate to New Vegas chattingw with people passing through.
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
Well, let's make sure to follow his directions and not get vaporized.
And of course, this idiot disregards his advice and runs right in. I'm sure this will turn out well for him.
With Wild Wasteland, in combat the Securitrons will shout "EXTERMINATE" at random intervals.
Ouch.
Yeah, we get it. Don't try to run past the guards.
"I'll submit to the credit check."
When I first played the game, I thought it actually cost 2,000 caps to get in here, and I was pretty angry at the time.
I already had just enough caps to do the credit check. Otherwise you have a few other options to gain entrance, which I will be showing off later. Right now we want to get straight to Benny though.
"Thank you, sir. You may proceed."
Look at how shiny-
Is no one going to clean that mess up?
...
Fine, I will.
Welp, that takes care of that...
What, I'm not psychopathic at all.
No blood splatter or anything. That sure was polite of the guy not to bleed all over the pavement or anything.
This is the New Vegas Strip. I know what you're thinking, this seems awfully small right? Well, it's split up into three areas (To accomodate consoles, acording to J.E. Sawyer at least) but overall, yes, it's pretty small and disappointing considering how much they've hyped it up.
"Point me to The Tops, Victor. I've got a score to settle."
"Sorry, rambler. I know you're fixing to serve up some vengeance, but I'm gonna have to point you to the Lucky 38 first."
But he could decide to leave in the meantime! I don't want to have to chase him all the way across the country.
"Mr. House, the head honcho of New Vegas, is itching to make your acquaintance."
I suppose we can take time out of our busy schedule if he wants to see us then...
"He'll help you serve that cold dish of yours extra-chilly."
I like the sound of that.
"Why is a robot passing on his invitation?"
"Well now, it was Mr. House who made the Securitrons like me. Seems the least I could do is pass on his message. Don't dawdle. He'll be waiting."
We can hold off on killing Benny for a few more minutes, right?
The Lucky 38 is the tallest of all the buildings on the Strip. What's special about the Lucky 38 is that no one has been inside it (Other than Mr. House and the Securitrons of course) for hundreds of years.
No reason to have this big gate right here honestly.
Time for another chat with Victor.
"Thank you, victor."
"I see you brought some friends! Sorry, pardner, but they're gonna have to stay outside."
This just screams trap.
"No problem, I'll head up by myself."
"Come back soon, now!"
A bowling mini-game would be pretty fun now that you mention it...
So Veronica and ED-E wait out here for us.
That's a pretty nice design.
Oooo, pretty. There's actual color in this game, holy shit.
This place seems rather cool let's- No, we have to go talk to House.
I'll cover the Lucky 38 in detail in a side update.
Victor controls the elevator for you, for some reason.
The Penthouse is where Mr. House wants us to meet him. Let's not keep him waiting.
Another unique Securitron.
If you have Wild Wasteland, another thing the Securitrons will say is "Your move creep".
Too bad this isn't like the Elder Scrolls where the books are actually readable.
This is Mr. House, or at least a screen of him.
And then it turns out Mr. House was secrelty Andrew Ryan all along!
...
Okay, that's not entirely fair. They're both based off of Howard Hughes, so there has to be some overlap there, but even Obsidian noticed the similarities. Hell, in the GRA DLC, there's a special challenge called "A Slave Obeys" that you complete if you kill him with a 9-iron.
Yup.
"I have to ask - now that you've reached your destination, what do you make of what you see?"
Kind of disappointed, honestly.
"I've never seen anything like this place."
"Of course you haven't. Vegas always was one of a kind. What you see down on the Strip is just a fraction of the city's former glory, and yet... more than an echo. I preserved its spirit. Or perhaps you were referring to the Lucky 38? The years haven't been kind to her, but still she manages to impress."
Out of all the casinos in the game, the Lucky 38 looks the best, in my opinion.
Of course, it's the only one that you can't actually gamble in, for obvious reasons.
"Why the VIP treatment? I'm just a courier."
"Oh, don't be coy. You've been playing a high-stakes game ever since Victor dug you out of the ground. Don't be afraid to admit it."
"Let's get down to business, then."
"The business is this. One of my employees has stolen an item of extraordinary value from me, and I want it recovered. Simple enough?"
"What do you propose?"
"My only concern is the recovery of the Platinum Chip. What happens to Benny, I leave to your discretion. When you bring the Chip to me, I will pay you four times the delivery bonus stipulated in your contract. How's that?"
What was the delivery bonus?
"1000 caps? I accept your terms."
1000 caps? That's chump change.
"Well enough. Return to me when you have the Platinum Chip in your possession. Any final matters for us to discuss?"
Mr. House actually has some pretty interesting dialogue options, and even more will be available once we give him the Plantium Chip. That's why we're keeping him alive. At least for a little while longer.
"Yes, I have some questions I want to ask."
"What did you wish to know?"
"How do I get to Benny?"
"It won't be easy... Benny is always surrounded by at least four bodyguards - except when he's in his private suite on the 13th floor of the Tops..."
"The Chairmen are your employees. Don't they take orders?"
The Chairmen are the people who run The Tops Casino. I don't know how our character knows this.
"It's more complicated than that. The Chairmen share what you might call a... tribal affinity. Look for a man named Swank, Benny's second-in-command. He's always been a reliable, if unimaginative, employee. Do your best to convince him that you're working under my auspices."
So basically a speech check.
"If you have evidence of Benny's crimes, show it to him."
"Say I want to take a diplomatic approach."
"If you were to approach Benny in public, you might be able to leverage his fear of exposure to make him agree to meet with you in private."
"Tell me about Benny."
"Benny has led the Chairmen ever since I recruited his tribe seven years ago. Until his recent misbehavior, I'd planned to make him my protege. Maybe if I'd begun gromming him sooner, none of this would've happened..."
I don't really see what's so impressive about Benny. I mean, anyone could have ambushed us and shot us in the head while we were tied up. Am I supposed to believe his is some genius mastermind? Cause, from what I've seen and heard of him, he doesn't sound like one.
"What use would you have for a protege?"
"To achieve my aims, I require a capable human agent to perform certain... tasks. I knew Benny was ambitious, even ruthless. But I believed he would do the job, so long as he was incentivized appropriately. Obviously, I miscalculated his drive for supremacy."
Yes, Mr. House pretty much always comes across as the "Look how much more smarter I am than you" type and he keeps it up throughout the entire game.
"But in any case, you've come along - a more-than-suitable replacement."
"Why did Benny betray you?"
Cause Benny's a dick?
"I have to think that he found out about the Platinum Chip and mistakenly convinced himself that he could use it to his own ends. One of the problems of a tribal work force, I'm afraid. No intuitive understanding of how complex technologies can be."
"Why didn't you intervene sooner when Benny ambushed me?"
"Why didn't Victor intervene sooner, you mean? Goodsprings is a bit too far away for me to reliably control a Securitron agent by remote. I can send and receive packets of data, at best. Victor's combat algorithms determined the proper course of action. Benny and his thugs were more than a match for a lone Securitron."
Not really. A few grenade rounds and they'd all be in pieces anyway.
"When he alerted me, I instructed him to approach the site after Benny and the others had departed."
"Who exactly are you, Mr. House?"
"I am Robert Edwin House, President, CEO, and sole proprietor of the New Vegas Strip. I oversaw the city's renovations starting from 2274 onward."
So, that was fairly recently then.
"The Three Families are my employees. Before the Great War of 2077, I was the founder, President and CEO of RobCo Industries, a vast computer and robotics corporation."
You guys remember RobCo from Fallout 3, right?
"You appear to be a computer, not a man."
"Don't let the video screens and computer terminals fool you. I'm flesh and blood, not silicon."
"How have you stayed alive all this time?"
"Let's just say it was very... costly. But I was willing to make the sacrifices longevity entailed, financial and otherwise."
"How did you establish New Vegas?"
"We can discuss this in greater detail at another time. Suffice it to say that when my Securitrons detected NCR scouts at Hoover Dam, I took action. I recruited a tribal force to supplement my Securitrons and renovated the Strip just in time to welcome the NCR as it marched into the region."
That actually sounds like an interesting story.
"Instead of war, a treaty was negotiated. And the money started to pour in."
"What is the Platinum Chip?"
"It's a very special item. There's nothing else like it in the entire world. It was lost a long time, and difficult to find. THat's all you need to know about it, for this stage of our enterprise. Fulfill your contract, and deliver the Chip, and good things will come your way."
"[Speech 50] The more I know about the Chip, the easier I can find it..."
"[SUCCEEDED] You might keep an eye out for any computers that Benny's been using. Maybe even a computer lab of some sort..."
"If the Chip's so valuable, why use a single courier to trasnport it?"
"You realize you were just one of many couriers, the rest of them dummies, so to speak?"
Yeah, we figured that all the way back at Primm.
"Add to that many thousands of caps worth of mercenary protection to screen your avenue of approach. Had I used an armed caravan to transport the Chip, I might as well have been announcing to the world "this is important. Attack this!" I didn't want to attract the attention of groups like the Great Khans or the Brotherhood of Steel. Alas, the real threat was closer to home."
"Why don't you send your robots into the Tops to arrest Benny?"
"Front assaults on casinos? Not good for business. In any case, Benny would see it coming. And all he'd have to do is hold the Chip up and point a pistol at it."
I think you're giving him too much credit.
"Our foremost advantage is that Benny doesn't know that I know he has the Chip - let's not squander it."
Alright, that's enough dialogue for a bit.
"Goodbye."
"Well enough. Be on your way."
Holy shit that conversation went long. Sorry guys.
Nice, we have another place to store our crap. It's a pretty nice suite, but the Novac house is so much more convenient.
"You can bring your friends, too! Be like a little clubhouse for the gang you put together!"
Now we can part with companions and tell them to meet us at the Lucky 38 rather than where they normally are. This makes it more convenient for us to swap between companions. Wish Skyrim had this feature.
"Just bear in mind, you're the only one gets to see the boss! Any friends you got, they can wait in the suite. Enjoy the digs, pardner! They're plenty fancy!"
We have no time to check out the suite, we have to meet Benny before he decides to take a vacation or something.
What would the NCR want to do with us?
That's Gomorrah, New Vegas's token den of iniquity... Well I suppose that applies to the whole city, but Gomorrah moreso.
This is the second segment of the Strip.
This is The Tops Casino. It's got a 50's theme going on, and this is where we're going to chat with Benny.
Don't shoot up the place, etc. All the greeter dialogue is pretty much the same.
Swank is the guy we want to talk to before talking to Benny.
Everyone in here looks very similar. It's very unsettling.
"I think you should know something about Benny."
"Really? You got something to say about the big boss, huh? Well, why don't you say it to his face instead of yapping at me?"
"[Speech 15] I don't think you're going to like it. Seems Benny's been making his own play."
Now we use a combination of the evidence we've collected and speech checks in order to convince Swank that Benny attacked us. We have more than enough Speech for it to do the job on it's own.
"[SUCCEEDED] Huh? What are you talking about?"
"[Speech 30] Benny tried to kill me and stole a platinum chip I was hired to deliver."
"[SUCCEEDED] That doesn't... why would he pull a stund like that? Got anything else to offer?"
"[Speech 45] He tried to make it look like an accident - just a traveler killed and robbed in the Wasteland."
"[SUCCEEDED] He's trying to pull a fast one on the big man? Crazy bastard. You got any more?"
"I've got more evidence that proves Benny tried to kill me."
The Speech checks were all we really need, but let's really drive it home.
"Yeah? What else you got?"
"Look, I found these cigarette butts by the grave he buried me in."
"Huh. Well, yeah, okay, these are Benny's brand, and they ain't too common. You got anything else?"
"I found this lighter in Boulder City. He dropped it when he killed his partners."
Killed? They're not dead. Well, we could have killed them, but Benny certainly didn't.
"Yeah, that looks like Benny's lighter all right. Still, not exactly a ton of proof. Got anything else, kid?"
"That's it. What do you think?"
"Jesus, kid, I think we got a real problem on our hands. Can't believe Benny's a no-good stinkin' punk. Trying to play House like that... Tell you what - I'll call Benny, keep him away from his suite. You go search the place. Here's the key, it's on the 13th floor. It's the room with the double doors, can't miss it. Maybe you'll find something we can show to Mr. House and get him arrested."
We're not going to get him arrested, obviously, but let's check out his room first anyways.
"Okay, I'll do it."
"Groovy. Here's your stuff back - in case you run into company, you dig? I'll tell the boys to give you a pass to pack some heat. Go on then. Elevators are past the slot machines on your left."
That's Benny on the other side of the room over there. We're not quite ready to talk to him.
This place looks pretty nice too. The colors that aren't red are rather washed out but any colors at all are a nice change.
There are a ton of rooms on this floor, we need to find Benny's.
This is Benny's suite. It's not really impressive, considering there is a much nicer one already in the hotel.
What...? What's a Securitron doing in there?
He has a much different face than the other Securitrons.
Yes Man is one of my favorite characters in this game. He reminds me a lot of Eddie the Computer from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
"What are you doing here?"
"Good question! My function is to monitor Mr. House's data network and decode his encrypted transmissions! Allow me to introduce myself! I'm a PDQ-88b Securitron, but you can call me Yes Man!"
Yup, this is the other friendly Securitron with an actual personality in this game.
"'Yes Man?' What kind of a name is that?"
"It's what Benny always called me. Probably because I'm programmed to be so helpful!"
"Have you seen Benny?"
"He was around not too longa go. He's probably down on the casino floor now."
We already know that.
"You can wait for him here, if you like. I'm incapable of asking you to leave."
"Benny reprogrammed a Securitron? All by himself?"
"Oh, he had some help - a lady friend of his! She said something about living in a Fort over in Freeside... but that's all I remember!"
"What is this place?"
"This is Benny's workshop. When the Tops got renovated, he had this half of the floor blocked off for his own use. I guess you could say it's my entire world! I don't think I've ever left this room! But that's okay - I'm not complaining!"
If you haven't already noticed, Yes Man's name pretty much describes his personality.
"Benny stole a Platinum Chip from me. Do you know what it's for?"
"Sure! Benny had me look at it a bunch of times! It's a data storage device, kind of like a holotape, but a lot more advanced! As for what's on it, well... Some of Mr. House's data transmissions made it sound like Chip could upgrade his defenses somehow! That's just a guess, though! The Chip's a proprietary format! You'd need special hardware to read the data on it! There are two locations with non-standard hardware on the network - the Lucky 38 and an underground facility at Fortification Hill. I'd look there!"
"What's Benny planning to do with the Chip?"
"Oh! He wants to kill Mr. House and use the Platinum Chip to copy my neuro-computational matrix onto the Lucky 38's mainframe. That should give me control over all of Mr. House's defenses, most prominently his Securitrons. And then I just do what Benny tells me - easy-peasy!"
"You're very... forthcoming with that information."
"I was programmed to be helpful and answer any questions I was asked. I guess nobody bothered to restrict who I answer questions for. That was probably pretty dumb, huh?"
Yup.
"What if I wanted to take over New Vegas, instead of Benny."
So now we open up the possibility of taking the Independent route through the game's main quest, in which we killed off Mr. House and take control of Vegas for ourselves. That's the route we will be choosing, but we won't be killing House right away.
"Then I'd have to help you! I mean, it seems pretty obvious Benny wouldn't want me to, but hey, not my fault I can't say no!"
"What are the details of the plan?"
"Again goal number one is to eliminate Mr. House and install my neuro-computational matrix on the Lucky 38's mainframe! Given how you're a new arrival, I also recommend that you get to know some of the region's tribes, so you can decide how you feel about them! By the time you've finished up all of that, the Legion should be close to attacking Hoover Dam and we'll execute the last phase of the plan!"
"Say Mr. House was going to suffer an accident. How would that happen?"
"It makes me feel really dumb to admit this, but I don't actually know! I've never been inside the Lucky 38. No one has! Mr. House is in there, though! It's the central node of his entire network!"
"I've been inside the Lucky 38."
"You have? Wow! That's amazing! You can murder Mr. House whenever you want!"
It's not a simple as that.
"I mean, Benny was always scheming about how he was going to get into the Lucky 38, but you already took care of that. Wow! The other thing you're going to need is the Platinum Chip. You know, the one Benny killed a courier for, over near Goodsprings."
Killed, yeah.
"What do you know about the courier Benny shot?"
"I knew he was carrying the Platinum Chip! And I knew right where Benny should wait for him! That's why Benny put me here! To monitor Mr. House's data transmissions. They're all encrypted, of course - but I'm quite a decrypter! Did you know that Mr. House spent 812,545 caps hiring salvage teams to find the Platinum Chip- just in the last year alone?"
That's a lot of caps.
"Of course you didn't! Or that there were seven couriers, but six of them were carrying junk? How about their exact routes, and the mercenary teams that screened them? I knew all that. Pretty smart, huh?"
"I'm the courier Benny shot."
"Hahaha! I know that's not true, because you still have a head!"
"I'm serious."
"Hahaha! That's not funny, you getting shot in the head. I really shouldn't have taken so much pride in how I set that up, huh? I feel really bad right now."
"Where is the Platinum Chip?"
"Benny carries it with him at all times. I think he's paranoid that someone might want to take it from him."
He would be right then.
"The Platinum Chip is the key to overriding and exploiting Mr. House's defenses! Did I just say "exploiting?" That's not a very nice word!"
"Once I get the Platinum Chip, what then?"
"I'd take it straight to Mr. House if I were you! He'll think you're helping him out! Then when he's not looking - KER-POW! The big question is whether to give him the Chip before you do him in! He's the one who'll know exactly what to do with it, after all! He might upgrade his defensive capabilities right away! Or even unlock new ones! But then those defensive upgrades might make it harder for you to finish him off! Hard to say! It's up to you!"
We're going to get the Securitrons upgraded fisrt. It's easy just to pop a Stealth Boy and sneak past the Securitrons.
"Let me know when it's done and I'll roll over to the Lucky 38. If I'm right about the Chip, I should be able to install myself on House's mainframe! This is going to be great! I'm going to help you accomplish so much, whether I want to or not!"
We can talk to him about more things, but they'll become more pertinent later on in the game.
After chatting with him we get a ton of quets in our Pip-Boy.
Back downstairs.
Lots of things.
"Benny has reprogrammed a Securitron, he's trying to take over the Strip."
"He's what? Ah jeez... jeez, this is really bad. What are you gonna do?"
"I thought maybe I'd talk to the man. See if we can work out a deal."
"Yeah? That's ballsy. Good luck with that."
Thanks for the help then, guess we're doing this by ourselves.