Sitrep: New Vegas was too good to me

I can see where you’re coming from with this, but I think it should be taken a step further, and go into the deeper psychology of the scenario.

Humanity, as we’ve seen before from history, will respond to a crisis in one of two ways – cohesively, or divisively, which doesn’t need much more explaining. New Vegas is an interesting take on this because it twists the fact that one of the cohesive factions is actually the BAD one as well, the Legion. It is also, arguably, the most cohesive, single minded faction in the entire game, with zero dissent amongst the ranks. The unfortunate fact is that what they aim to do is vile, but they are entirely united in it.

There are a few reasons for this scenario to take place, however, that are purely from a gameplay perspective more than anything else. A divisive enemy is seldom a powerful one. ‘Watch the world burn’ types are anarchists, chaos makers, and they don’t burn long but they do burn brightly, having a serious impact in the right situation and location. They make the most impact, however, in places of order and regulation. Outside of that, they cannot create as much damage, because the nature of the reaction is not one of horror and indecision, but drawing closer to acceptance and understanding, as the individuals who observe it are probably more inclined to such tactics themselves.

To use the one whom the line was made about, the Joker in Dark Knight, he proved effective because he was, as he put it, ‘upsetting the natural order’, taking a previously ordered environment and smashing it to pieces with his chaos.

That doesn’t work in the wasteland. Outside the cities (and to be honest, usually inside them as well) the world is -chaos-. Someone like the Joker wouldn’t destroy the wasteland, but he would become a good gang leader. If you think of every one of the gangs of psychopaths that you run into as being lead by a Joker-like psychopathic personality (without the deviousness of planning) you wouldn’t be far off the mark.

There is also the fact that the wasteland is, by its very nature, a place of absolutes, because, as you said, its the end of the world. It HAS to be. There is no middle ground, because of what is at stake. People who have anarchistic tendencies in a lawful area would not last long, and same with the other way round. How did these roving gangs and groups get formed, do you think? I can practically guarantee they didn’t just ‘start’ there. Just about everyone roaming the wasteland is a cast off or exile from one group or another, who could not or would not tolerate their non-conformist behaviours. And that’s just the ones who survived doing so.

This would, in the end, heighten the probability of polar opposites being formed in different areas. Legion members are bastards because they didn’t fit in with the nice people who weren’t such complete bastards, and went to where they could be accepted, amidst unlimited bastardry who had no truck with being considerate or compassionate. Welded together under the intellect of a man with intelligence, foresight and absolutely no compassion or decent humanity whatsoever, they make a fearsome fighting force. Even calling them the ‘Legion’ was a clever tactic. It removes all individuality and employs a group mentality as a base overlay. They might feel they belong, but they have no individuality nor sense of self. Acheivement, and loss, is a basis of the whole and not of the individual, and that DOES include the player as well.

The other side of the legion is, however, fractured, and divided. Heavily so. Even the military side is a bit of a confused mix. They allow for individuality, but they don’t have such a cohesive bond to bring them together either. They have a president that isn’t there, and isn’t communicating much. They have a mysterious, ancient man in a coffin who speaks through a screen, and doesn’t care beyond his own life. They don’t exactly have a lot bringing them together, and it shows. What you end up with is a collection of individuals who have a common purpose, but seperate goals, and it can (and does) lead to serious friction in how they get there.

I am surprised, however, at the fact you didn’t find people who were not, in fact, the nicest folks in the world lurking the wasteland. What about the woman who sold Boone’s wife into slavery? And was subsequently brutally shot in the skull at long range for her crime without so much as a word of warning? The various drug addicts, the various nasty pieces of work in the casino’s in particular?

You’ve got to remember, you don’t see the whole story. We don’t -know- what evil things these NPC’s running the show have done. Considering how many the player can do in a few minutes, I’m willing to bet its more than a few, however. The trick is, we don’t ‘see’ them doing it. All we see is them putting on the sweet and honeyed tones of folksy friendliness in a place of utter ruin, and allow ourselves to think that’s all there is to it.

But consider where they came from. Think of all those 40′s and 50′s advertisements with the smiling faces, the big grins, the friendly winks. All decaying and falling apart, barely hiding the rot beneath. These are a people brought up on falsehood, every bit of advertising and teaching they are given during their time in the vault (and afterwards, in the wasteland itself) designed to keep up cheerfulness, hope, and various other propaganda. Some of them buy it, live it, and more than a few probably lie to themselves about some of the things that they found themselves doing. Others don’t. Those are the ones you’ll usually find yourself being shot at by, because they are the ones who have realised that everything by this point doesn’t mean anything at all.

The people you are talking about -do- exist in Fallout. They are, in fact, everywhere. But the ones you’ll talk to are actually the sort who tell themselves ‘it could be worse’ because a nuclear weapon -didn’t-, in fact, irradiate the Nevada desert. The ones who buy into the idea that ‘thing’s will get better’. Either its self delusion to keep sanity, or it is just to fit in with the rest of the crowd around them rather than face exile, but it isn’t true despite that, unless you’re character can make the world change – and you probably will.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Hopefully this isn’t a tl:dr for some.

Skitzor liked it. Which is enough for me (shouldn’t it be enough for anyone?) so I’ll continue on with it when I need to. Think of it as a counter or complimentary article rather than a simple ‘yes I agree’ or ‘no I don’t agree’.

Going back to you Skitzor, I’m like you – I hate acting like a dick in a game. Feels somewhat juvenile to me most of the time, like something a spiteful child might do. Seldom goes well with me.

New Vegas is vastly superior to Fallout 3. Bethesda do great game worlds and gameplay, not so great on a lot of their storylines. New Vegas is blindingly better than Fallout 3 in that regard, and some of the DLC (Old World Blues, Lonesome Road in particular) make it even better.