Fallout New Vegas Does Karma Matter
A staple of western RPGs is the dedication to nearly limitless choices. Foreign RPGs tend to be more linear, leaving freedom to character progression, but franchises like Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age actually let gamers impact the plot. Almost every objective can be solved through multiple means, sometimes effecting the world in unforeseen circumstances. Of course, this is only when the idea is completed flawlessly. Often times, decisions turn out to be insignificant and the game only creates an illusion of choice. The Fallout franchise was birthed by Interplay Entertainment in 1997.
The studio released one sequel and several spinoffs before handing over the reigns to Bethesda in the mid-2000s. The legendary studio took the franchise to soaring new heights and exposing it to a new generation of fans.
Most veterans of Wasteland were pleased with Bethesda's work, but some did not take kindly to the transformation into a first-person RPG. Fallout 4 was an even bigger departure from the series' roots than its predecessor was, being more of a dungeon crawler than a narrative-based RPG. One part that immediately rubbed some fans the wrong way was the intro's focus on the male character, even if players make the Sole Survivor a woman.The opening cutscene plays out and is narrated by one of the two potential player characters.
It's only possible to choose the main character's gender once the cinematic plays out and if they decide on a woman, the character is the spouse of the man narrating the introduction. Odds are, the first town most players visited in Fallout 3 was Megaton.
Shortly after entering the settlement, they are offered a quest to eliminate it from existence, but doing so too early will permanently lock a few special events due to the people involved being vaporized.It's also possible to report the quest giver and gain the trust of Megaton's residents. Doing so will award the player a house and adversely, blowing the whole place to bits earns a room in the luxurious Tenpenny Tower.
Funnily enough, the always charming Moira Brown miraculously survives the nuclear event, albeit as a ghoul. One likes to see their actions impacting the world on a micro-level as well as macro. When causing chaos on a raider settlement and looting all their goods, it's satisfying to still find a ghost town well after the fact.Most games in the series have utilized respawning enemies, but Fallout 4 turns it up several notches. Enemies reappear at a notably faster rate, breaking the illusion of a dynamic world, while loot also reappears several days after taking it. This is not to say that respawning enemies and loot is a bad thing either.
Fallout has always let players indulge in their darker side if they do not desire being a virtuous beacon of hope. In Fallout 3, going into darkness, being a saint, or residing somewhere in the middle effects several aspects of the game.Mainly, Karma determines which companions will join the Lone Wanderer's side. There are a couple who don't care and a few who stick around even if the player changes their ways. Additionally, news reports from Three Dog will always reflect the player's actions, as well as several dialogue options. One of the best things about player choice is pondering the different possible rewards that people bestow based on certain decisions. This illusion is shattered once players discover that the same prize is given regardless of their choice. Fallout quests usually have several different rewards based on how objectives are approached, but there are exceptions.Fallout: New Vegas has a mission called “Dealing with Contreras” that ends with a binary choice, but both options give the same weapon.
Yea, that is how I felt playing New Vegas. No matter how hard I tried, it was just toooooo easy to be a Good Karma character. I even tried to be evil! However, with the amount of ways to get Good Karma, I found it impossible. I even took the Cannibal perks, but that didn't even help. Reasonable Karma - posted in New Vegas Mod Requests: The Karma system in New Vegas is botched, its extremely easy to maintain good karma no matter what you have done just by mass murdering Fiends, Powder Gangers and feral ghouls.
There is an additional way of completing the quest that does not gift the weapon, but also has no replacement, which makes it feel like a penalty more than a third option. This one mainly deals with the first two titles, but it also has an effect in New Vegas. Stats are more than just battlefield prowess and the occasional extra dialogue option.
Playing with an extremely low intelligence stat will effect almost every facet of Fallout and its sequel.Most NPCs will be impossible to understand and will eventually refuse to communicate with the player. Most side quests are also blocked off, but it is possible to complete the game, usually only by experienced players already well-versed in the game. One of the big game-changing additions to Fallout 4 was a fully voice-acted main character. As a result, speech options are not presented with the full text, but the response's general tone, so players don't know what the Lone Survivor will say before they speak.Perhaps as a side effect, many of the conversation trees lead to the same conclusions. Quest givers always give out the quest, and objectives are usually resolved in the same way. As a Fallout title, this detail bothered some fans who were accustomed to branching paths and radically different outcomes. Fallout: New Vegas 's grand journey culminates with a climactic battle at the hotly contested Hoover Dam.
Everybody in the Mojave Wasteland wants a piece of this historic architectural marvel, and the Courier decides who ultimately wins.Throughout the campaign, various choices affect which factions will want to deal with the player or hunt them down. When the final battle commences, the Courier's decision and assistance will enable one faction to control the entire Mojave Desert. A lot rides on this choice, and the ending plays out drastically different based on the decision.
When Fallout 3 was first released, it stirred a small controversy for being devoid of post-game content. In fact, it was impossible to continue the game afterwards in any way. If players wanted to complete additional quests and explore further, they had to reload their saved content. It made the final (and arguably most important) decision feel irrelevant.Bethesda eventually remedied this with the Broken Steel DLC expansion, but it would have been nicer to have a post-game in the original package.
The cynical mind cannot help but think that they had this planned all along for the extra DLC cash. Extreme difficulty modes tend to be more for marketing purposes than an actual unique way to play the game. BioShock Infinite's 1999 mode did not feel like a retro way to play as much as a slightly harder mode.
Hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas on the other hand, is an entirely different beast than the other difficulties.Enemies are tougher, and modifiers force people to rethink how they play. Healing items work over time, ammunition has weight, companions can permanently lose their life, and several other alterations is no mode for the weak-willed. Picking a romantic partner in a video game is almost as stressful an endeavor as courtship in real life.
The decision will have negative and positive ramifications. Some people will be happy for the player, while others may disapprove or befriend the well-known green-eyed monster, jealousy.In Fallout 4, these worries and considerations can be cast aside. The Sole Survivor is free to get acquainted with most companions and doing so will not restrict access to other relationships. Companions seldom cross paths, so conflicts between them rarely, if ever, occur. Words matter in Fallout.
Saying the wrong thing can cause certain characters to refuse communication or even become hostile. Adversely, having the gift of gab makes characters more likely to lend a helping hand or divulge the latest gossip. The Speech skill, or lack thereof, will have changed the flow of conversations with NPCs.Having the power of persuasion will unlock otherwise unavailable speech options, and certain quests can play out differently. More importantly, the endings can be impacted by having a particularly high Speech skill, resulting in a pacifistic solution in place of a final boss. Companion quests are not always the most compelling missions, but they are worth doing for the bonuses they award to the few characters who fight alongside the player. Craig Boone is an adept sniper who lends his skills to the Courier. After you gain his trust, it leads to a small series of missions that culminates with “I Forgot to Remember to Forget.”The quest always ends with a gift of armor, but which armor depends on a dialogue choice. However, both pieces of defensive equipment are functionally identical and only differ in appearance.
One essential difference between the Interplay and Bethesda Fallout games is the way the world reacts to characters. The recent Fallout adventures typically allow for someone to do every possible quest in a single playthrough. This is impossible in the first two iterations, as certain decisions always lock off certain parts of the game.A prime example of this is showcasing how different the experiences in the early games are when playing as a woman or man. Each gender will elicit unique reactions from numerous NPCs, and certain romance opportunities will be restricted. A staple of the franchise that remained when Bethesda initially took over was how spiteful and virtuous deeds impacted the Wasteland.
With the several shake ups Fallout 4 brought to the table, one of the most significant was diminishing the importance of morality.For the most part, quests usually have one ending. If the Sole Survivor wants to be difficult, they usually end up assisting anyway, albeit reluctantly. Fallout 4's quests, in general, steered away from creative solutions and focused on exploring detailed environments. It's a huge departure, but still wildly enjoyable.
Perks are a beloved aspect of the franchise. Leveling up does not simply allow for the distribution of skill points, but also enables the selection of an additional perk. These hold a slew of effects, and are outwardly beneficial or compromising to certain stats in order to benefit a specific play style.Because of their specific nature, it goes without saying that choosing these attributes wisely is important to a successful playthrough, however, many only activate when certain conditions are met. These perks are a shining example of how each person's experience in the Wasteland is unique.
Numerous decisions involve sparing people's lives or letting the Wasteland's elements take them to the grave. Whoever takes their place, or if nobody fills the vacancy, often makes for a different scenario afterwards.
At times, both options lead to the same outcome, just with different people.The leader of Caesar's Legion ends up in a coma due to a brain tumor. Players can either save Caesar or sabotage the operation and send him packing to the pearly gates. While a seemingly important choice, letting him live or not has little impact on the world. It is easy to rip on Fallout 4 for not emphasizing player freedom, however, the game is still highly enjoyable if considered more of a dungeon crawler than a traditional Fallout title. There is still one major decision near the main quest's end that will change the way the rest of the game plays out.Of the four prominent factions in the Commonwealth, the Sole Survivor must swear allegiance to one. Whichever one they choose alters the ending and results in offensives against the others. Up until that point, players are free to tackle missions from any of the factions.
Prior to Fallout 4, a limited amount of perks could be utilized on any given playthrough. This forced gamers to carefully think about the effects of each one before deciding. Their effects also went beyond simple stat boosts, sometimes changing the way people played in order to get the most benefits from a particular one.In the fourth entry, numbered stats are done away with, leaving perks as the only way to grow stronger.
Each level grants one more, and while leveling up until all are obtained would take some time, it is possible to become omnipotent. Skills are not the only thing that affect a players ability in the series. Points are wholly unique to Fallout and effect everything from distribution of skill points to the rate of leveling up. While it is possible to net additional S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Points during the campaign, the starting numbers, which are decided by the player, are vital to molding the character.Poor distribution mixed with a conflicting play style will make the games, especially the early hours, particularly unreliable.
Adversely, knowing where to put the points can be the key to smooth sailing through the Wasteland. During one's foray into the Wasteland, it is common to become the leader of several different groups. It's even possible to become the head of extremely powerful organizations that have control over the happenings in a particular region of the world.The Institute is one the strongest and most nefarious groups in all of Fallout. By the end of Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor can opt to become its director. This sounds like a cool idea, but in practice, there is little one can do to actually oversee the events in the underground laboratory. Developers put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into their products and want gamers to experience every moment of their hard work.
On the other hand, a dedication to player choice means the freedom of not doing everything the game offers.Most of the main quests in the franchise involve unraveling a mystery and finding a certain person or item. On the second go around, or maybe through blind luck, it's possible to bee-line it towards a later objective and skip a huge portion of the main quest.
Of course, this also means missing out on tons of fun. Not every quest should be about causing damage. Sometimes, the most interesting adventures are had by just talking to NPCs. “Flags of Our Foul-Ups” is a decidedly non-violent mission that involves training useless NCR recruits.There are several ways to tackle a mission. One can do honest training, bypass the training if certain skills are high enough, alter the recruits' records, or even give them Psycho to enhance their performance.
These are all radically different approaches, but unfortunately, they do not yield different results. It's not always about the reward though, right? Fallout 4 's intro outlines everyday life moments before the missiles drop. During this, players are given the opportunity to customize their character and spouse. With this option, there must be some use for it that may come into play later on in the game, right?Turns out, the answer is no. Those who have played it know that the spouse is eliminated very shortly into the game and they are barely mentioned again. Some players spent a lot of time adjusting their wife or husbands appearance, and it was all for nothing.
Fallout 3 starts out in Vault 101. Life there is peaceful until the Lone Wanderer's father mysteriously leaves and the player is forced to break out of the vault themselves. During the process, they can choose to eliminate the Overseer or let him live.This seemingly vital choice has little effect on the future. Mainly, it determines if Amata, the Lone Wanderer's best friend, loses trust in them. Even upon returning to the Vault, both the replacement Overseer and the previous one will go through the same actions.-What are your favorite choices in Fallout?
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Certain new additions to the gameplay, like extra layers of weapon customization and the ability to construct a settlement from the ground up, make Fallout 4 a unique (and frickin’ awesome) addition to the canon. However, the game isn’t without it’s flaws, and fans have been quick to point them out extensively and at great length. Seriously, just check out if you want a healthy dose of critical commentary.When the dust settles, though, how does Fallout 4 compare to the previous entries in the series? If you’re literate (and why would you be here if you weren’t), then you already know my thoughts.Most people would probably praise Fallout 3 as the pinnacle of the series, but New Vegas and Fallout 3 are so close in their construction that it’s really a quibble. To say you preferred one of those titles is just expressing a preference for branching narratives verses something more carefully constructed, it’s the choice between a gray-scale color palate or a sun-soaked wasteland. I personally prefer things a little ring-a-ding-ding-ier if you catch my drift, but Fallout 3 is still an equally worthwhile title.Fallout 4, however, is a whole other beast entirely, and while it’s exceptional, it still doesn’t quite meet the same level of perfection in Bethesda’s previous Fallout games.
Here are my thoughts.Real quick: The list below isn’t inclusive. If I missed something, or you totally disagree with me, please feel free to explain why you’re wrong in the comments below! A Quick (But Obligatory) Note Before I Bash a Bethesda GameFolks, Bethesda Softworks games are all universally amazing. Fallout 4 is no exception to this rule. It’s important to make that clear before we go around talking smack about a Bethesda Game.Think of it like this: when compared to The Godfather and The Godfather II, Godfather III is totally lackluster. But it’s still a fantastic film. It’s the same way with Fallout 4 when it’s compared with Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout New Vegas Karma Levels
Heck, Fallout 4 is probably better than Godfather III when it comes down to it. But, I digress.The point is, no matter what negative things are said about Fallout 4 below, it’s still a wonderful game one of the best titles released this year.Now, on to the abuse.HEAD’S UP: IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE PLOT OF FALLOUT 3, FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS, OR FALLOUT 4, YOU MIGHT WANT TO TURN BACK NOW.The Plot Is Just a Cobbled Mish Mash Of Both Previous GamesIn Fallout 3, you play a worried son striking out into the Wasteland of D.C.
To find his father. Along the way, your personal quest to find your family is enveloped by a battle between the noble Brotherhood of Steel and the nefarious Enclave for control of the Capital Wasteland’s water supply.
While the rest of the game offers the same variation on quests as the rest of Bethesda’s properties, the main quest follows a strict path that sees you ultimately deciding between providing clean water to the citizens of D.C. Or killing everyone but the bad guys.In Fallout: New Vegas, you play a courier who — in the opening credits — is shot in the face and left for dead. By some miracle, you survive and set out across the Mojave in search of the man who put a bullet in you. Along the way, you become embroiled in a turf war between several warring factions.Your job is to shoot the a-hole who tried to off you and then determine the course of events that will alter the future of the Mojave Wasteland. You can actually choose between several end games in New Vegas, deciding between various shades of evil as you pick and choose which faction to side with.Now, personally, I prefer the irradiated, blackjack-filled corners of the Mojave Wasteland. Playing as the unattached courier made it easier for me to take the game at my own pace, as opposed to having an overarching quest that feels so urgent that ignoring it seems like a real dick move. Since New Vegas’ courier had no family and only a purely personal stake in the events at hand, playing him or her as various characters both good and evil felt more natural.
Meanwhile, when you’re a kid searching for his pop, making amoral decisions seems out of character. That’s my personal preference.Also, I liked the gambling in New Vegas.
Maybe a little too much.Now, in Fallout 4, you embark on a heroic quest to save your stolen kid, a reverse on the plot of Fallout 3 that — quite honestly — seems just lazy where it’s supposed to feel poignant and nostalgic. Again, though, the player is confronted with a quest that feels like it should take priority over, you know, having fun.
Save your kid. If you let yourself get sidetracked, you’re a bad parent and a worse human being. However, likeHowever, like New Vegas, at the turn, your story shifts from personal quest to another turf war, this time over the charred remains of the greater Boston area a.k.a. The Commonwealth.In other words, the story of Fallout 4 is a mixture of 3’s hero’s quest and New Vegas’ narrative structure. Another way to say that is that in Fallout 4, they took the most popular bits of the previous two titles’ stories and slapped them together with a new coat of paint.And that's boring, guys. Can We Get a Tiny Bit Of Instruction, Please?It’s a good thing that I’ve played a lot (A.
LOT.) of Bethesda games in my history because Fallout 4 is not a game for newcomers. As a veteran, things like V.A.T.S. And customization and even building settlements made a kind of sense to me. Had this been my first Bethesda experience, however, I would have spent most of my time perusing Google in the opening hours so that I could learn the game from benevolent players willing to explain what the heck was going on. Of UseV.A.T.S., in particular, is essential to the Fallout gameplay experience. As players are aware, in order to compensate for the garbage gunplay, the developers a one-button mechanism that slows down time and allows players to pick and choose where there next few shots go.
Fallout New Vegas Does Karma Matter Live
Since the game’s combat is determined purely by under-the-hood dice rolls — as opposed to actual skill in combat — this slow-down mechanic is absolutely necessary to avoid pulling your hair out while storming through the wastes.And there’s zero mention of V.A.T.S. In the game’s tutorial. A Clean, Well-Lighted PlaceWhile those players willing to follow up with the Minutemen quests and then hunt down Sturges for the Sanctuary mission do get a tutorial on base building (i.e., you’re shown the basics of keeping your settlers alive), there’s no way to seek extra instruction on the incredibly in-depth process of building the perfect settlement. Players are expected to learn the finer points of construction through a process of exhaustive trial and error.
When the building process itself is pretty tedious (at least on consoles), the combination can make one of Fallout 4’s fairly unattractive. Perks GaloreOkay, the entire Perk system in Fallout has always been a touch convoluted, but in Fallout 4, you’re given zero instruction on what to do when you’re confronted with an entire poster of possibilities. For lots of players, it’s taken several character builds (again, largely trial and error) to finally get the hang of the new perk system. That’s dozens of hours lost to fidgeting with a system that should be explained clearly from the beginning. You Can Be An A-Hole, But You’re Still A Good GuyOne of the biggest complaints from players (at least from the lone wanderers who lurk on Reddit) is the inability to play the game as a Raider. These folks want the option to bring death, destruction and fear to the Commonwealth, thriving on a wave of murder and conquest.
Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, not if you’re working at Bethesda. The Fallout developers have limited a player’s ability to control their own morality to greater lengths than ever before.
The Karma EquationIn previous games, you could never be super evil, but Bethesda did employ a karma system in Fallout 3 and New Vegas that offered different bonuses for reaching various checkpoints on either end of the spectrum. This allowed some players to be total a-holes whose evil would prohibit them from even interacting with some NPC’s; of course, the goody-two-shoes in the game playing population would never be able to interact with local scum and villainy.In Fallout 4, however, no such system exists.
Players are never really ostracized because of past behavior. Feel free to mow down everyone in that settlement. Preston Garvey is still your buddy. Murder your way through Goodneighbor and the Brotherhood of Steel are still down to hang with you.
In other words, there’s no behavior that will limit your options. Unless of course you kill a player who would have otherwise given you a mission.
Then you can’t play that mission. Beyond that, though, no matter how despicable your actions, the world will always greet you as a savior.
See No EvilFrom a plot standpoint, previous titles also employed certain factions whose ruthless tactics appealed to more evil-leaning players. The Enclave was pretty mean, for example, and New Vegas’ Caesar’s Legion worked from a hierarchy of strength and brutality. These groups allowed players to access their darker side.
After all, the Fallout universe has no Dark Brotherhood equivalent with which to sate your wicked tastes, so some folks need an outlet.Fallout 4 has no outlets. Not even the game’s supposed big bad, The Institute, is truly diabolical. Sure, they have that whole complete control (and mild slavery) thing going against them, but the Brotherhood of Steel are fine with genocide, and the Railroad is a group of radicals who devalue human life. Every faction, though, has their positive points, too.In other words, there are no real clear cut evil options to side with in the game, which limits a gamer’s ability to craft the character they really want.