"Fallout: New Vegas" Was Rigged from the Start to be the Best Fallout Game
What makes "Fallout: New Vegas" truly special is best said by Benny in the very beginning of the game, “The truth is, the game was rigged from the start.”
Fallout: New Vegas cover photo, Medium
Fallout: New Vegas doesn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of its gameplay and graphics due to the success the current model had in Fallout 3, but a few aspects are more refined than what they once were. While the gameplay and graphics may not be the most innovative, what makes Fallout: New Vegas truly special is best said by Benny in the very beginning of the game, “The truth is, the game was rigged from the start.”
One complaint that could be made towards Fallout: New Vegas is its lack of gameplay and graphic innovation due to it seemingly being copied and pasted straight from the previous game, Fallout 3. However, this complaint is only partially true.
While the game does practically copy and paste its gameplay and graphics, it does still innovate in smaller ways. Fallout: New Vegas had a short development period of only 18 months. This didn’t allow the developers at Obsidian Entertainment, a lot of whom worked on the original Fallout games, to innovate much of the gameplay and graphics, so they used the same formula that worked for Fallout 3 and made minor adjustments to it.
The first noticeable adjustment is the faction standings system. While your Karma status will influence your stance with the different factions the same way it does in Fallout 3, factions also have a positive or negative standing towards you depending on what apparel you wear. The game allows you to wear enemy faction apparel into allied faction territories, but the allied factions will mistake you for an enemy and shoot you on sight without asking any questions. This is a minor detail, but it’s still an innovation nonetheless, even if it hasn’t returned in any Fallout games since.
The Courier observes the New Vegas Strip, NME
The graphics are also like that of Fallout 3, but they are much more entertaining to look at. The game starts with a cinematic cutscene with much finer details than what can be found in the previous game, allowing the player to see the neon lights emanating from the New Vegas Strip and the emotional expressions coming from the characters. This is something also seen much clearer with other characters you will encounter in the Mojave during your travels during Fallout: New Vegas’s definitive quality: its story.
On the morning of October 23, 2077, the Great War between the United States and China culminated in an atomic apocalypse which left America. Some places like Appalachia were barely bombed, but others like Washington, D.C. were obliterated. However, one place was spared entirely from being bombed: the Mojave Wasteland, which includes parts of the former American states known as California, Nevada, and Arizona.
The Courier (the player) awakes upon a hill overlooking the New Vegas Strip (a.k.a. The Strip) with a man in a checkered suit named Benny and two Khans. After taking a Platinum Chip from the player, Benny shoots and seemingly kills The Courier. Luckily, you are rescued by a Securitron named Victor who brings you to Doc Mitchell. After being nursed back to health, you set out into the Mojave seeking revenge for the man who killed him. Eventually, you’ll get the revenge you seek in a lethal manner, but a new issue will arise on which faction should control the Mojave with you being the one to determine the region’s fate.
Fallout: New Vegas’ ending factions, Reddit
Will the New California Republic (NCR) who have recently moved East from their Californian origins to secure the Mojave complete their objective, or will Caesar’s Legion, use their Roman-inspired empire to take control of the Mojave through sheer brutality and willpower? Would you rather join Yes Man and take The Strip for yourself, or help the current ruler Mr. House cripple the other factions and retain dominance over the Mojave? While the choice is yours, there is no good ending, which is exactly what makes the game perfect.
Fallout: New Vegas has four factions that will influence the ending of the game: New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion, Yes Man, and Mr. House, all of which were briefly explained above. To understand how there is no good ending, how the good endings in Fallout games are determined and each faction’s pros and cons must be further explored.
In every Fallout game, apart from Fallout 76 due to its linear storytelling, the good endings usually become the canon endings for the games and are the ones that contain Good Karma. For example, the canon ending to Fallout 3 sees Project Purity succeed and provide clean water to the Capitol Wasteland, which is the Good Karma ending. Fallout: New Vegas differs from this by having all the endings contain Bad Karma, even if the faction appears good.
NCR Veteran Ranger armor, CultureSlate
First up is the seemingly righteous New California Republic. The NCR has done a lot of good both in California and the Mojave. Some examples include their increase of trade and technological advancement, as well as their humanitarian services to their citizens. While the NCR sounds perfect, they are far from it due to their corrupt and immoral nature. For example, one of the NCR soldiers you can interact with is tasked with interrogating prisoners, but they have attempted to shoot the prisoners on multiple occasions.
On top of that, the NCR soldiers also aren’t the most experienced, well-trained, or organized. Their forces are spread too thin and the ones that are together are horrible fighters, resulting in a lot of NCR casualties and not enough recruitment effort to be sustainable. These flaws are felt by all the members of the Mojave as they are all very vocal on their opinions of the NCR, which are all mostly negative, and is seen by the constant amount of gang violence and activity that runs rampant.
Caesar’s Legion soldier, TV Tropes
Luckily, the NCR’s flaws of low numbers and inexperience aren’t issues for Caesar’s Legion. Caesar’s Legion still encourages trade and protects those that partake in trade and keep the peace in their territory with no gang violence or presence whatsoever. While that sounds good on paper, the fine print regarding how they achieve this level of peace is what causes problems.
The Legion is formed just like the old Roman Empire, meaning those who oppose or are enemies to the Legion suffer dark fates. Small settlements that refuse to join are usually burned to the ground and the inhabitants are either slaughtered by the masses or are individually crucified on the street and left there as a reminder and warning to others who oppose the Legion. Those who are in the Legion are commonly at peace, but they too suffer dark fates at times. If the Legion disappoints their ruler, all the commanders are lined up and every tenth commander is killed. While the Legion does achieve their goals in an effective manner, their methods are heavily frowned upon by all in the Mojave.
Yes Man, Fallout Wiki
To avoid the brutality, the player can choose to side with Yes Man and chose and independent route for the Mojave that sees the player take over as ruler who utilizes a robot army of Securitrons to ensure peace and order. This option does eliminate the flaws with both the NCR and Caesar’s Legion as there would be plenty of military might and skill, as well as more peaceful solutions to conflicts. Unfortunately, this option still hurts the Mojave as trade would decrease and gang violence would rapidly increase, something the inhabitants of the Mojave do not want to continue.
Mr. House, Villains Wiki
Luckily, Mr. House has the answers to all the flaws of the other factions. No military might and organization skills? Use Securitrons. Brutal mistreatment of citizens? Sit down and talk with them instead. Need to protect trade? The Securitrons and militia forces can protect you. It would seem like siding with Mr. House is a no-brainer, but there’s a catch: all of the solutions to the flaws previously mentioned only exist within the New Vegas Strip. Mr. House is a dictator who doesn’t care about the Mojave. As long as The Strip is safe, that’s all that matters. This leads a lot of citizens around the Mojave to heavily dislike Mr. House, two of which are Benny and Yes Man.
With no purely good choices to be made and no canon ending established, no choice can be considered the Good Karma ending, allowing the player is allowed to be as chaotic or as diplomatic as they wish. This decision to omit any good ending to the game and add finer details to the gameplay and graphics rigs Fallout: New Vegas up to be the definitive Fallout game.
Fallout: New Vegas — ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks