Fashionably Late: Fallout: New Vegas

[WorstUsernameEver]

As part of their Fashionably Late column, which analyzes slightly older games "in an environment where prices are cheaper and hype is quieter, focusing on insightful analysis rather than consumer advice", the folks at True PC Gaming have tackled Fallout: New Vegas. After playing for roughly 250 hours with a small selection of mods they call it a "true RPG experience", and praise its handling of inter-faction politics and world building. Here's a snip:<blockquote>You can’t save everybody. Because of inter-faction politics, someone’s always getting screwed. By you. I slowly began to notice that pushing for an independent New Vegas meant pushing out the people who were best for it. Because almost all of this world it is left in stasis before the player’s meddling, I became its representative. I was the person to blame for its successes and failures. Though the game was revolving around me, it wasn’t empowering me.

New Vegas is depicted dispassionately, and that’s one of the game’s biggest criticisms. It may also be its biggest strength. Its alphabet soup of acronyms (the NCR, NCRCF, Big MT) hammers home how unexciting these factions are supposed to be, but I relished in it. The storyline has no urgent goal breathing down your neck, no pressing tension hurrying you to finish the main quest. If you can accept the Legion, there isn’t even a real antagonist. Instead, the goal is something remarkably pure and almost innocently “game”ish: to simply experience New Vegas. The main quest mereley has you traveling across the Mojave to try to understand the various tribes and factions that inhabit it. One by one, you become entrapped in their society and face their problems, then express your thoughts about them to the secretary back at your office. Ultimately, the final goal is to simply experience the battle at Hoover Dam and watch a credits sequence explain what you did to influence its aftermath.</blockquote>Spotted on RPGWatch.

Oh, and before we forget, happy 2012 to all of you!

 

[SharkClub]

but is written by the same staff that brought us the mature and detailed writing of Planescape, Baldur’s Gate, and the old-school Fallouts

Eh...

Happy new year in any case, guys.

 

[Izual]

Stopped reading at

there isn’t even a real antagonist

But - HNY!

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Out of curiosity, and this is not just regarding Fallout games but RPGs in general.
Do people think a clearly defined antagonist is important in a story campaign, someone to look out for to hate(or not) and fight.

 

[Surf Solar]

but is written by the same staff that brought us the mature and detailed writing of Planescape, Baldur’s Gate, and the old-school Fallouts

Eh...

Happy new year in any case, guys.

Avellone was working for Baldur's Gate aswell.

there isn’t even a real antagonist

I bet you mean Benny, but I wouldn't really call him an Antagonist, he's something different imo.

Out of curiosity, and this is not just regarding Fallout games but RPGs in general.
Do people think a clearly defined antagonist is important in a story campaign, someone to look out for to hate(or not) and fight.

It depends on the game/story. Some games scream for a rather traditional story with clear defined antagonists etc, others do not need them. I personally don't care, as long as the story is good it could be traditional/non-traditional whatever they need.

 

[Per]

Avellone was working for Baldur's Gate aswell.

Actually, he worked on the Icewind Dales, not the Baldur's Gates.

 

[EnigmaGrey]

Out of curiosity, and this is not just regarding Fallout games but RPGs in general.
Do people think a clearly defined antagonist is important in a story campaign, someone to look out for to hate(or not) and fight.

I don't think I've ever played a game that didn't have a clearly defined antagonist, Dutch. Well, aside from simulations and a few rouge-likes. I'd take it to mean everyone just assumes it'll be there.

 

[Izual]

there isn’t even a real antagonist

I bet you mean Benny, but I wouldn't really call him an Antagonist, he's something different imo.

Nah, I mean the legion. They're cruel slavers, and I mean really cruel. Their faith doesn't take away this cruelty. I agree that NCR can't really be defined as positive nor negative, but the legion is clearly a (joinable) antagonist.

 

[Walpknut]

If it's a Joinable faction then is not an antagonist, there is difference between villanous and antagonistic. They are the Antagonists in all but their own route but only by the end.

 

[Surf Solar]

Avellone was working for Baldur's Gate aswell.

Actually, he worked on the Icewind Dales, not the Baldur's Gates.

He is listed in the Baldurs Gate I manual in the credits list.. I have it laying right next to me here and I just checked it again. You are right however that he worked on these games aswell.

 

[Per]

Avellone was working for Baldur's Gate aswell.

Actually, he worked on the Icewind Dales, not the Baldur's Gates.

He is listed in the Baldurs Gate I manual in the credits list.. I have it laying right next to me here and I just checked it again.

According to Mobygames he's listed in the "thanks to" section. If he had worked on it, he'd have been listed as doing whatever it was he would have done.

 

[gumbarrel]

So they made a mistake then. Calm down, this isn't IGN.

Do people think a clearly defined antagonist is important in a story campaign, someone to look out for to hate(or not) and fight.

Like another dude above me, I am hard pressed to think of an RPG, that didn't have an antagonist.

I mean, you kind of need to have some sort of opposition, right? How do you achieve that without antagonists? And it depends on what you consider a "clearly defined" antagonist. Is it the ONE THING you are fighting against, or could it be multiple things? If he only became an antagonist, because of the circumstances and the player's choice, is he a clearly defined antagonist then? Because then ANYONE can be one.

 

[Richwizard]

An antagonist isn't absolutely necessary for a story, but it easily lends itself to adding tension and dramatic effect. Sometimes, just solving a good mystery is a fun challenge. That being said though, even Myst had a form of antagonists.

 

[Tagaziel]

Sigh.

an·tag·o·nist   [an-tag-uh-nist] Show IPA
noun
1.
a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary.
2.
the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work: Iago is the antagonist of Othello.

There are anatagonists in every game. New Vegas simply takes the less than obvious route and allows the player to make his own decisions and choose his antagonists, rather than be told "dere be de terrible guys, kill dem".

Even in Tetris you have an antagonist: the mysterious, yet malicious entity that keeps throwing blocks at you.

 

[C2B]

Avellone was working for Baldur's Gate aswell.

Actually, he worked on the Icewind Dales, not the Baldur's Gates.

He is listed in the Baldurs Gate I manual in the credits list.. I have it laying right next to me here and I just checked it again.

According to Mobygames he's listed in the "thanks to" section. If he had worked on it, he'd have been listed as doing whatever it was he would have done.

Yes, its even made clear that he did not work on the
BG team at interplay. His credit is under

...and the non-BG-Team Interplay People

That said, however he did help out Snowblind as a designer on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

 

[brfritos]

If people join the Legion the NCR becomes a antagonist, right?

So how the game don't have antagonists?

 

[Tagaziel]

I blame the author's inability to understand that antagonist and villain aren't synonyms.

 

[C2B]

If people join the Legion the NCR becomes a antagonist, right?

So how the game don't have antagonists?

Because the game doesn't force one on you. The Antagonist is shaped from your own perspective rather than the plots.

The only real "Antagonist" the game has (at least for a time) is Benny.

Of course if we include DLCs then Elijah, Mobius and Ulysseus certainly qualify as antagonists.

 

[ramessesjones]

I see the Think Tank as the OWB antagonists more than Mobius.

For the main game NCR, the Legion and Benny are clearly antagonists, you are just given the option to work with one NCR or Legion if you choose (but you don't have to, that is what House and Yes-Man are for).