Fallout - Part 9: The Deadliest Tourist

In my continuing quest to wander around and stumble onto opportunities to earn xp, I discover this not at all suspicious-seeming church.

The head preacher guy is kind of surly and unhelpful, and there is another character with an animated face who gives also gives me basically nothing, so I don't stay long, but I have a feeling there is a quest associated with this place. I never find out what it was, but that's how things work in these big, complicated games. Sometimes you miss stuff.

The only thing you can do is try and poke your nose into every nook and cranny, in the hopes that random npcs will decide to tell you their problems.

Like so. This guy, Irwin, has had his farm overrun and occupied by raiders. The dickbags. Naturally, he is not averse to soliciting the aid of wandering mercenaries to take out the usurpers with extreme prejudice.

I actually played this mission twice. The first time, I did not block the door, and as a result Dogmeat rushed in and was subsequently targeted by every damned raider in the place. The only way I could stop that from happening is by ensuring I took 100% of the attacks. The thing is, Dogmeat is actually fairly useful as a combatant. He doesn't do a lot of damage, but he attacks so often that he gets a lot of critical hits, which can turn the tide of a battle when they happen at the right time. He also closes the distance to enemies extremely quickly, which is good for a few early hits. But damned if he is not a suicidal little shit. I wish I could control my companions directly, and maybe avoid some of this heartache, but presumably Interplay had their reasons for doing it this way.

The reward for this good deed was pretty good. In addition to looting all the bodies for huge amounts of ammo and easily resalable weapons, I also get a half dozen stimpacks from the various shelves (I'm going to assume they were put there by the raiders after they took over the place) and Irwin gives me his custom weapon - a pistol that has been modified to accept rifle ammunition. It's such a beast of a gun that I wind up using it until level 15, when I can buy the "Tag!" perk and thus get enough ranks in the Energy Weapons skill to make using a plasma rifle viable.

After that, I leave the hub, as it appears that the only remaining quests would have me working for criminals. I decide to head north, to the Raiders camp, and take care of some unfinished business.

And by that, I of course mean I slaughter everyone. In the process, I release some slaves, but is that really justice? Does that word even mean anything in this harsh post-apocalyptic wasteland? I can't say. All I know is that their stuff enriched me considerably, and the only logical place to take my new-found wealth was the Gun Runners compound down in the Boneyard.

Let me first take a moment to say how much I love these little postcards you get when you visit new areas. They're always a fun bit of setting flavor, though I'm not sure they're supposed to be in-setting artifacts (some of them are implausibly sophisticated - there's no way Junktown is organized or old enough to have tourist geegaws and others, like the map of the Brotherhood of Steel bunker are actual state secrets).

Anyway, this map finally establishes the game's geography beyond a shadow of a doubt. The Boneyard is Los Angeles, and from that information you can put the other locations in context. (Necropolis is on the ruins of Bakersfield, for example).

I don't really know what to expect, because this is a location I've avoided in previous playthroughs (there is basically no plot-related reason to come here). What I find is an armed camp.

It looks like a pretty stable and peaceful town. The barbed wire fence surrounding the whole thing gives it a disturbingly militaristic air, but that may well be a sensible precaution in these troubled times.

When I talk to Miles, the chemist, I certainly get the typical rpg-style "help us, oh total stranger, with problems you are probably not qualified to address" spiel. However, I am absolutely positive that "helping to repair the town's hydroponics" will boil down to a fetch quest in the end.

The mayor gives me a more interesting assignment.

Murder for hire! The Blades have apparently been kidnapping and torturing residents of the town for some time, and the mayor wants to put a stop to it. They took his son and returned him impaled on a spike. It is time for some old-fashioned frontier vengeance. Or at least, subcontracting out your frontier vengeance to the heavily armed stranger that has just so happened to pass through your town.

I strike out to the north to assassinate the leader of the Blades and restore peace to the town.

Though, when I finally find her, she tells a different story.

Apparently the Regulators are the ones who killed the Mayor's son, which is a likely story, but she has the video evidence to prove it. Rather than simply rushing into town and revealing the whole sordid truth, I must first go to the Gun Runners and see if I can convince them to supply the rebels with weapons. Sounds legit, but there's just one problem.

DEATHCLAWS! Three of them to be precise. It's an utter deathtrap. In the end, I have to reload a couple of times just to get through without engaging the beasts. What a terrible, terrible place to set up a business.

Then again, I get the feeling they are not fond of visitors. What is your revenue model, people? If a customer could reliably reach your shop, they would have no need of your product.

It's a little wacky, but they seem to be aware of the flaw in their business plan, because they agree to help me if I can just clear out their little deathclaw problem. At this point, that's about as likely as me visiting the moon, so I decide to wander about a bit and see if I can gain some more experience.

The obvious place to start is Necropolis, where I recall they were having something of a super mutant problem.

It appears that I'm too late. I could go on a rampage of revenge, but that would only delay my mission, and clearly this just became a race against time.

I'm going to need some bigger guns . . .

Fallout - Part 8: Pointless Conversations

My retrieval of the Water Chip was not quite a thankless task.

But the rewards are primarily moral. My fellow Vault dwellers are a useless, ineffectual bunch, and presumably the reason I get all these crazy assignments (aside from being the player character) is because I'm the only person who can actually get shit done.

However, my new goal is completely open-ended - find out what's causing all these mutants to appear and put a stop to it. I don't have a lot to go on. In fact, what I have is virtually nothing. No one in the Vault knows anything, and most of the people I've encountered on the outside completely failed to notice the problem.

In fact, the only mutants I ever saw were in Necropolis, so that seems as good a place as any to start. I head back and talk to the lead mutant.

Now, obviously, this is just an opening gambit. I'll probably have to do some clever manipulation to get the information out of him. It's the beginning of a long and difficult road . . .

Or he could just instantly transport me to the penultimate boss. That works too. I have no idea where I am or how I got there, but at least I'm face to face with the source of the evil mutants (who, honestly, I have not yet witnessed being particularly bad, but I'm sure it happens all the time off-screen).

Naturally, I have to play a game of twenty questions to learn the game's backstory.

But it's not too onerous. The mutant has a very soothing voice, and the actual background of his faction isn't too terribly complicated. There's a virus that induces a full-body mutation, transforming ordinary humans into creatures with super-human strength, endurance, and longevity. However, because it was released in the early stages of the war, humans on the surface have managed to develop an immunity. Thus the super mutants need access to original, pre-war humans in order to propagate their kind and expand their power over the world.

To this end, I am repeatedly punched in the stomach, in the hopes that I will give up the location of Vault 13. Of course, I tell Lou Tenant to fuck off, but it is not a decision that goes well for me.

My death was instantaneous. I'm talking deep into negative hit points with a single shot. Clearly, I am not nearly tough enough to face these enemies. Which leaves me with just one option - wander aimlessly around the wasteland fighting random monsters and doing inexplicable favors for strangers until I build up enough experience to fight effectively.

My first stop is the Hub.

It's a charming little town filled with aloof caravan drivers.

And armed police on every streetcorner.

I do eventually find a major NPC to talk to.

Though the quest he gives me is kind of ridiculous. If I'm being blown apart by super mutants, what sort of hope do I have against a Death Claw? Best case scenario, I get clawed to death. It's another thing to put near the bottom of my to-do list.

After further wandering, I come across a familiar sounding name.

Bob's Iguana Bits. If you recall from my early adventures in Junktown, Bob is in cahoots with Dr Morbid to sell human flesh disguised as Iguana meat. This simultaneously manages to be unethical, a major danger to public health, and also bizarrely inefficient. Surely, iguana is obtainable with less risk and expense than corpse meat transported halfway across the map.

I do what any traveling hero would do and confront him.

He doesn't bother denying it, and in the end winds up paying me off, to the tune of 200 bottlecaps a week. I accept because there doesn't appear to be any other way out of this conversation, but it's a baffling move on Bob's part. Now, in addition to all the other major flaws with his little scheme, he also has to fork over a significant amount of cash just to keep the whole thing quiet (though I don't know who I would report him to, in any event). He should really just accept what the universe is trying to tell him and get into a more honest line of work.

I get a nice chunk of xp out of this, so I can't entirely complain. But it's not nearly enough to make me super-mutant ready. I think I'm going to have to start being more aggressive in my pursuit of sidequests.

Fallout - Part 7: Meeting my Ghoul-Friends

After seriously depopulating Junktown, it's time to move on. Some other town is undoubtedly in need of an easily persuaded, wandering disaster area to clear out miscellaneous scum and riff-raff. I have no particular clue about where to go, but I have a menu of possible destinations.

Immediately below Junktown is a button that says "Raiders." I've been there before, to rescue Tandi from the Khans, and I can't imagine there's anything for me to find. I may have to go back to eliminate the danger they pose to the wasteland, but for now, I have a mission.

The next location then, is Necropolis. A traveling singer in Junktown told me about it, but I have no other information. I might have to pop in and see what's up.

I find the Necropolis to be full of undead, which seems fitting, but is a little out-of-genre.

I mean, these things are basically zombies. Where did they come from? Why are there zombies in a sci-fi game? It's not a big deal. I know from later Fallout games that they're just a weird type of mutant and they hate being called zombies, but how weird must this have seemed the first time you played the series.

I can't say for sure, because I did not visit this location the first time I played Fallout (I more or less gave up before finishing). By the time I actually came back and explored Necropolis, I was already quite familiar with Fallout's mythology. I don't recall thinking Fallout 3's ghouls were all that remarkable, but then my first contact was with the talking variety, so I guess I just accepted them.

The ghouls don't seem to trouble you so long as you stay away from them. The ones inside the building are a bit more civilized.

Though they are considerably more surly. There honestly doesn't appear to be anything to do here. Nobody says much to me, and there is no real threat. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to explore.

The only apparent way to go is down a manhole.

Joy of joys, it leads into a dank sewer. It's kind of an inevitability, of course, because Fallout is an rpg, and every rpg has a sewer level.

It makes sense that this is such a common cliche. Sewers are basically a ready-made dungeon. They are dark and mysterious, and they are naturally laid out in a twisting and not easily navigable pattern (especially if they are semi-ruined post-apocalyptic sewers). So no complaints, exactly, but I did roll my eyes a bit.

There are a few rats in the sewers, but like the ghouls up above, they have a fairly small sight range, so I can more or less walk through the place unmolested. As I get deeper in, I discover some more civilized ghouls.

Unlike the ones up above, this ghoul is talkative and friendly towards outsiders. And for the first time, I get some quest information.

 

Shockingly, it has to do with the Vault's water chip! The ghouls are using it to supply themselves with water. I can't take it without ruining their whole society, but I absolutely need it to save my people. Luckily, they have a secondary water source, so if I can fix that one, I could take the water-chip without a problem. It's a generous offer, though if I were the ghouls, I'd want to keep the backup, because these sorts of breakdowns are kind of inevitable.

I make my way farther through the sewers and emerge back onto the surface, to find a new sort of creature.

They look big and dangerous, but they're talkative (if not exactly friendly) and they don't attack me, so I proceed to ignore them. In the building in the back, there is one who is bigger, better dressed, and important enough to get an animated head.

He interrogates me about my presence here, and is clearly an anti-human fanatic, but he's also incredibly stupid and falls for obvious lies. As an "extremely advanced robot" I am not one of their targets. I'm able to walk past and access Necropolis' water equipment.

Using parts I found in the sewers, I attempt to repair the water pump. My repair score is a little too low to actually succeed at the attempt, so I retreat back to the sewers and go to the ghoul who gave me the mission.

He gives me some skill books that raise my repair skill, which apparently does the trick and allows me to repair the water pump. I go deeper into the water shed, and find an imprisoned ghoul. Since I have lockpicking as a tagged skill, letting him loose is a trivial matter. He tells me that the water chip is down a nearby manhole.

It's another Vault! I'm not sure why, but I wasn't really expecting it. It seems fairly obvious in retrospect, but I guess I didn't think there were quite so many Vaults. The glowy ghouls rush me, but they are fairly weak, having no ability to get through my armor and no resistance to Dogmeat's savage attacks.

Finding the water chip is actually trivial, because the layout of this Vault is exactly like every other Vault in the game. I find the computer at the same spot at the cave in in Vault 15.

It nets me a really nice xp bump and the satisfaction of a job well done. Well, that's it, that's the game. All wrapped up in a nice little bow. All I have to do is deliver the chip and collect my well-earned adulations.

Note the near-identical architecture. Though I have to wonder why one Vault has a huge Overseer chamber and one does not. In later years, we learn that the Vaults are social experiments (which actually seems kind of dumb to me, but the Fallout universe has no shortage of dangerous maniacs), so maybe there's some kind of sociological reason for this, but I don't think we learn why in this particular installment.

Regardless of the reason, it's not really relevant. The game will soon be ending. Time for me to collect my reward . . .

I don't like where this is going . . .

So my reward for doing good work is more work. Typical.

Fallout - Part 6: A Boy and His Dog and His Vigilante Killing Spree

I have, in the short term, a straightforward goal - eliminate Gizmo, the corrupt, human-trafficking casino owner/general vice maven who is holding Junktown in thrall. There appears to be some sort of nascent civilization in the ruins of the old world, so I can't just whack him. Instead I must approach this situation with subtlety and tact.

But first . . .

This dog starts following me for no apparent reason. (Actually, according to the wiki, it's because I'm wearing a leather jacket, like his former owner). It's kind of a nice moment, but I wish it was introduced a bit more gradually, so I'd have time to get used to the idea of pet ownership.

Opinions on Dogmeat (you don't get to name him) differ. The lady outside thinks he looks like a "nice pooch." The man inside the house thinks he's a killer beast. I think the man is probably closer to the truth, but it's nice to have a pet . . .

. . . he said, knowing that keeping Dogmeat alive through the endgame is like a living hell. Because I don't want to deal with torment, this dog is sadly doomed, but while he lasts, he will be a valuable near-rabid hell-hound with which I can savage my many enemies.

Like Gizmo, who, lucky for me, is kind of an idiot, and almost immediately starts blabbing his entire plan to the unknown wanderer.

It really, seriously, takes very little prompting on my part.

I'm pretty sure this is my high Speech skill kicking in, though even so, it's a little mysterious that he would be so willing to admit such damning thing to a complete stranger.

The only thing I can think is that he and Killian are operating under some very different legal assumptions. I'm carrying a recording device that will give Killian proof of Gizmo's nefarious plot, but who is he presenting that evidence to? Junktown doesn't seem to have much of  a judicial or legal system, so perhaps Gizmo thinks that accidentally confessing to attempted murder is not something he should realistically have to worry about.

Knowing how thing turn out, I can't say that he's wrong. I return to Killian with the recording and receive my blood money (I go with the shotgun, because armor is pretty cheap and I still have a dozen unused stimpacks)

And then Killian uses the information I gave him to immediately assemble a posse of bloodthirsty vigilantes.

I join up, because it's never wise to turn down free xp, but honestly, I find the anti-fat slurs to be kind of offensive.

"Tub?" Really? Sigh.

The actual battle is a completely one-sided slaughter.

And it makes me wonder, why does Killian need proof? Who is he answering to? If all he was going to do was burst in on Gizmo and gun him down, why all the pageantry with "evidence?" And what would he have done if I hadn't been able to get the recording? It's easy to label Gizmo a loose-lipped idiot, but perhaps he knew that this was really just a conflict between two armed gangs, and regardless of what Killian knew or thought he knew, it would ultimately just come down to whoever had the bigger guns. Certainly, the town didn't have much of an objection to his well-known child sex slave ring, so he couldn't have been too concerned with any kind of conventional legal sanction.

Ah well, I get my treasure out of this, and that's all that really matters. Just for good measure, I return to the now abandoned casino.

And rummage around in the various containers, bookshelves, and dead bodies. In one of them, I find a valuable item.

A copy of Guns and Ammo magazine, that in theory should raise my Small Guns skill. Unfortunately, my skill is already too high, so it does me no good at all. I wish I'd known that before I used it, though. It might have been a worthwhile barter item.

It's not that big a deal, though. I can usually get some pretty good equipment from looting it off enemies. In particular, after I finish ransacking the casino, I go north, to the bar to enjoy a refreshing bit of side-quest.

As soon as I enter, there is a brawl. A member of the Skulz is harassing the waitress, and things got ugly, until Neal the bartender shot him dead. I then swoop in with all my characteristic concern and sensitivity.

Hey, sympathy towards the human condition is one thing. Leather armor is another (how big a fool would I have felt like if I'd taken the leather armor from Killian). I'm not completely heartless, though. I track down the Skulz and infiltrate their gang for the purposes of bringing them to justice.

It's ridiculously easy. I think the criminal culture in this town has a real problem with just randomly trusting outsiders with little-to-no vetting. In order to "prove myself" I have to steal Neal the bartender's urn, which proves to be completely trivial.

He keeps it right on the front counter, next to an unlocked door, at all hours of the day and night, even when the bar is empty and he's gone to bed. (Also, I can't help think that maybe he's somehow invited the attention of the Skulz, what with calling his bar the "Skum Pitt" and having it be the sort of place where dead bodies just lay around for days after someone is murdered there).

Despite being the world's easiest crime, it's enough to earn me the trust of the Skulz

And when the Skulz trust someone, they apparently trust them to a ridiculous degree. I'm able to use the fact that I have "shit to do" to slip out of Skulz headquarters and immediately squeal to the authorities about their planned orgy of violence.

That doesn't get the assault called off or anything.

But it does mean that even more people participate. Frankly, Neal is so handy with his gun that I'm not sure he needed my or anyone else's help here (I actually spent most of this fight sitting it out on the sidelines for fear of accidentally targeting a guard). When it was all said and done, I gave Neal back his wife's ashes (it seemed the right thing to do) and prepared to leave Junktown, none the wiser regarding my quest for a water chip, but richer in guns, armor, and bloody, bloody experience.