Fallout 3 - 20 minutes part 2

The Pitt and I did not get off to a good start. I am willing to accept a portion of the blame for this. I went into it with the wrong expectations. When Wernher told me that Ashur of the Pitt was buying slaves from all over the capitol wasteland, I assumed that this was going to be a story of me swooping in in full-on John Brown mode and just laying waste to the raider camp. I was mistaken. Apparently, it was intended to be an infiltration mission, where I pose as a slave and aid aid the resistance as a spy.

However, as much as I blundered into the mission unprepared, the Pitt does something unforgivable. After blasting my way through the outer guard, I passed through a gate and found myself confronted by three more guards. Then the game suspended control of my character so the guards could beat me into unconsciousness and steal my equipment. This is despite the fact that I was wearing power armor and I had more than 100 stimpacks, making me more than capable of taking on any number of raiders (a fact that was demonstrated more than decisively at the end of the mission). Whenever video games pull this shit, it fills me with a blinding rage (you should see my notes - I have "cutscene incompetence" underlined twice and followed by three exclamation points - fear my wrath).

This starting setup filled me with resentment for the first half of the DLC. I especially didn't like Midea, my contact, who was trying to get me to accept my role as a slave, and who said, after "reviving" me that she "thought Wernher said I was supposed to be clever." The fucking cheek on this game. My plan to walk in the front door and gun down anyone who stood in the way of freedom was the most intelligent use of my available resources. It worked perfectly in Paradise Falls. Grr. It's making me angry just remembering it.

So let us quickly move on. After I went into a mutant-infested scrapyard to retrieve some steel ingots and fought my way through a trivial arena tournament (though, seriously, what does dropping radioactive barrels into the ring add to the spectator's experience), I finally recovered my gear and basically was able to come down on the raiders like the hammer of god.

Being low on patience, I antagonized and killed Ashur almost as soon as I met him. This got me into a brawl with every single one of his guards . . . who I proceeded to dispatch easily, because it's not like some dipshit raiders with lead pipes are going to bring me down. Within just a couple of minutes, I was ready to breach the laboratory and retrieve the cure to the slaves' mutation . . . only to find that the "cure" was actually a baby with a natural immunity.

From there, things got ugly. When I picked up the baby, it asked if I wanted to "kidnap" her. I didn't, especially since I'd been operating up to that point on the notion that the cure was some kind of formula. I hesitated then, and went to look around and see if I could find any parents locked up. You see, I was still under the illusion that I was a heroic warrior, come to liberate the helpless from under the boot of oppression. Yet I didn't see anyone around who looked like they might be the baby's parents . . . all I saw were dead raiders.

That made me very uneasy, and the feeling was only intensified when I got back to the rebels, and suddenly they were acting as if the baby were some kind of burdensome science experiment. I kept hoping for some dialogue option that would let me get out of this plot, but when I spoke to Wernher and he told me that the child's parents were Ashur and his wife, I realized there was no way back. With a heavy heart, I gave the child to the rebels. I had assurances that she would be treated well, but that didn't make me feel any better about it.

In the end, I unleashed the mutants on the slavers' camp (though, once again, the npc operated on the mistaken notion that I could not simply handle all of the enemies single-handedly, which is a major oversight on the game's part) and left the Pitt feeling compromised and kind of rotten.

So, I'm not really sure what my verdict on the DLC is. Aggravating forced incompetence aside, it portrays a pretty clever story arc - I came in with the best of intentions and under the false impression that I was on an idealistic crusade for freedom, but my zealotry for the cause led to me thoughtlessly trampling over my perceived enemies and catching innocents in the crossfire. It is as story of honor tarnished and the way that war can wound even the victors.

A fairly compelling story, to be sure, but I can't help wondering if that's really what I want out of a video game. I like blasting mutants and collecting weird sci-fi gadgets. I do not so much care for feeling crummy about myself or facing the terrible consequences of my video-game violence. Yet Fallout games have always offered the player freedom, and what is freedom if not the ability to own one's mistakes?

I think I'll give the DLC a tentative thumbs up, which means quite a bit considering how much I hated the beginning. But I fear that means I'm going to have to give myself a thumbs down for this episode. I really should have been more careful.