“you’ve made your last delivery kid, sorry you got twisted up in this scene. from where you kneeling, it must seem like an 18 Karat run of bad luck. the truth is, the game was rigged from the start.” *Bang!*

The story behind the game

the original fallout was released in 1997 by interplay, it was set in an alternate reality where a 1960’s themed America went to nuclear war with china called the great war, a war that lasted a day. humanity was shattered but managed to survive, large in part to vault tech, and their nuclear fallout shelters, or vaults as they’re known.

the fallout games were doing well with 1, 2, and tactics, but as interplay was developing a new title( i believe it was called van Halen), the fallout franchise was bought by Bethesda softworks, and with it, they made fallout 3 in 2008 to well critic acclaim, with a 91/100 on Metacritic by critical reviews, it won a game of the year in 2008. it revolutionized the franchise with 3D gameplay, and a move for the franchise, from the west coast to the east coast. despite the achievements made and awards won, there were still some problems with the game. so many problems, that I would need another article to talk about them.

after fallout 3 hit its end in early 2009, Bethesda came to obsidian entertainment with an offer to make a new fallout game for 2010 that would get at least an 85/100 on meta critic, and in return, they’d receive royalties. the game got an 84/100 on meta critic on release. this was likely due to how buggy it was on release with an 18-month development cycle, and so much cut content that could have made New Vegas one of the best games ever made. but despite this, New Vegas is still an amazing game, with quests and characters connected like a web.

Story

the story goes as follows: there are two factions, the New California Republic (AKA the NCR) from the wet, and Caesar’s Legion coming from the east. as the NCR heads east, they find a city, untouched by nuclear devastation, the New Vegas strip, and the Hover Dam, a major source of power in the Mojave desert. the NCR takes the dame and sets up a base in the McCarron airfield, but it didn’t take long for the legion to make themselves present. the legion attacked the hover dam in 22(something), but the NCR held them off, this was the first battle of hover Dam

even during the battle, the strip was still well and thriving under the control of the reclusive Mr. House with his Securitron’s foot soldiers protecting the strip.

You are a courier of the Mojave outpost, assigned to deliver a mysterious platinum chip to the strip. when traveling, you are ambushed by great khan’s and knocked unconscious. you wake up and are faced by two khans and a mysterious man in a suit.

“you’ve made your last delivery kid, sorry you got twisted up in this scene. from where you kneeling, it must seem like an 18 Karat run of bad luck. the truth is, the game was rigged from the start.” you are shot in the head and left for dead in the Goodsprings cemetery. although, it’s not the end for you.

as you lie dead in your grave, your body is dug up by mysterious security, and brought to a Doc Michell in Goodsprings. after a couple of days, you awake and Doc Michell took the bullet out of your head, and so begins your quest into the Mojave wasteland, and your mission to find the man who put a bullet in your head.

Characters

New Vegas’s characters are great. Their stories and dialog give more and more insight into the story of the game. they all show emotions through dialog and have different dialog in reaction to your choices and decisions. there are two types of characters in New Vegas, NPC’s(Nonplayer Characters) and companions.

NPC’s are the usual type of character you interact with, and have simple dialog most of the time, with questions like Who are you? Why are you here? How do you feel about (faction or problem)? do you need help solving (problem)? do you have anything to trade? and so on. most NPC’s you’ll encounter in New Vegas will be nameless, with few pieces of dialog that have differences based on your actions and choices. same with named NPC’s, but you can talk to the NPC’s, and can trade with you, give you quests, or could be a major part of the story.

Companions are characters that follow you around on your journey and assist you in hostile confrontations. your companions have their allegiance to their faction or ideals. if you side with the Legion, Boone leaves you. if you don’t have a good Karma, Cass will leave you. although some companions will stay with you despite your actions and choices, characters like ED-E and Rex. There are 8 companions in this game; Veronica, Cass, Boone, Raul, Arcade Gannon, Lily, ED-E, and Rex. each companion has its quest. some need you to do some things tasks or some places to begin the quest, and others you get as soon as you get the companion, start the quest immediately.

you will find characters throughout the Mojave, each with different things to say, things to do, and reasons to hate you.

Factions

there are many factions in the Mojave, some are the previously mentioned NCR, Legion, and the strip. but there are other factions as well. you have good springs, a town of humble farmers and ranchers who don’t want to fight unless someone wants to start something. the boomers, a small closed-off society at the Nellis air force base that keeps out outsiders by using high caliber artillery. the Fiends, a raiding band made of junkies and addicts, taunting the camp McCarron.

each faction has a fame/infamy level based on your interactions with the said faction. if you help the enemy of a faction, harm a faction, or act mean to a faction, you will lose infamy. If you help a faction by finding supplies for them, eliminating enemies, and completing tasks for them, you gain fame. enough fame and that will reveal more opportunities for trading and quests with that faction. while too much infamy, and you’ll be shot on sight.

each faction has a role in the story. whether it be a quest in the main story, or a group you find that has some part in the story.