Fallout, a popular video game series, has been known to have supernatural elements that can be considered magic. These elements include an eldritch deity, aliens, cryptids, and a literal ghost. The universe of Fallout is far from ordinary, but it has always had a small amount of vague magical influence.
The world of Fallout is populated by remnants of humanity who have split into assorted factions across the barren barren land. Magic effects, the base effect for spells, abilities, potions, and enchantments, are the real meat and potatoes of the game. On March 8, 2024, Magic: The Gathering will release its Universes Beyond Commander collaboration with Fallout.
Magic is not in the sense of modern magicians, but supernatural forces like Anna Winslow have been present in most of the Fallout games since at least Fallout 2. The series is set during the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd centuries, and its atompunk retrofuturistic setting and artwork are unique.
Magic: The Gathering’s Fallout set introduces video games to the world of MTG, allowing players to explore new mechanics and characters. The series is set during the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd centuries, and its atompunk retrofuturistic setting and artwork are unique to the game.
In conclusion, the world of Fallout is rich in supernatural elements, including supernatural forces, ghosts, eldritch entities, and a book that can predict the future.
📹 Magic in Fallout? | Fallout Lore
Does Fallout Have Magic? Fallout has a lot of unusual things, an eldritch deity, aliens, cryptids, a literal ghost, it’s safe to say that …
📹 The Magic Behind Fallout New Vegas
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I don’t think Oswald can really count as magic Radiation is known to heal ghouls already, so a massive burst of radiation would give a massive burst of healing. I think it would work a lot like a defibrillator. Giving them enough of a jolt to come back from the brink of death The “dead” ghouls weren’t quite dead, but we’re very close and dying
Congratulations on 200k my guy! I believe there is definitely magic in Fallout. At the very least strong paranormal influences. Which often seems like magic. I like it as an addition to the games. It makes them more interesting. And it really seems like magic when you open the pip boy, time stops, and you’re able to chug 20 Nuka Colas in 0.4 seconds.
i believe magic does exist in fallout but not like how it is in skyrim, i think the magic in fallout is primarily wild magic and eldritch things like it exists all over the place uncontrolled (outside of specific situations where a person or thing gains control over a specific aspect of the world like Oswald and his control of radiation/necromancy) the other version it exists in is curses imbued into various objects and people as a permanent aspect of that thing like kremvhs tooth and it’s weird poison nonsense and that one statue with it showing echoes of the past as ghosts
I have a lil bit of a theory, but this is all conjecture. If ghouls can heal themselves through radiation, then it makes sense that a potent blast of radioactive energy, such as the blast of a Glowing One, should be able to resurrect them, as its more like, they are jump starting their body. That means that in a likely scenario, shooting a Ghoul in the head in an irradiated area, would probably kill it momentarily. The ghoul would then simply rise up again in a couple of minutes, all healed up. The only real way to kill them, would be to dismember then. If sounds familiar, is because we already seen this behavior with Ghost People. Its very likely then, Ghost People are essentially heavily mutatdd glowing ones, that have advanced regeneration, in contrast to a normal glowing one.
Doing both a regular FO3 replay and a FO4 mod of Pt. Lookout. But, I forgot to see how the old man acts if he’s given the Krebekniv book. I’ve heard it’s a let-down, but for completeness I should take it back and see what happens, then load the save before that so I can take it back to the Dunwich bldg. Hopefully, the mod authors did something different with the old man. I gotta get back to that soon.
Here is any idea for a future episode. Fallout 3 Germantown police HQ and Presiding Officer Nancy Kroydon. For some reason if all the immediately post war stories we find this one is always a gut punch. Even though it’s just in terminals. I haven’t wanted to give a NPC a proper burial before or sense.
i recently learned that the swamp folk form Point Lookout have what i can only imagine would be considered a magic power in–universe: a literally guaranteed 35 damage bonus to any attack they do to you with their default weapons. not just 35% more damage, this damage is not effected at all by your clothing or perks. its just… does 35 damage to you on-hit no matter what. apparently this is literally how the game engine handles magic effects in Oblivion. if thats not magic, idk what is.
You make a good point by saying that we know WHAT CAUSES these people to use “magic”, but here’s the thing… we also do know it in MANY other universes such as Star wars: the force and Wh/Wh40k: the warp, both universes contain individuals capable of utilizing magical powers, the fact that radiations in this universe empower an individual to use magic is not weird at all considering that there is a god who is the personification of radiation (ugh-qualtoth), much like it happens in lovecraftian tales where the worship of a certain deity allows individuals to use magic. It may be that certain levels of exposure to the radiations cause mutations of various degrees, some are more radical (like ghouls) but some may be more subtle (the psychers).
I imagine that Fallout contains true magic, and that mutations allow seemingly mundane beings to sometimes tap into it. That, and radiation itself seems to be very similar to magic in Fallout, the way it works and acts, and it draws parallels to how some more gritty fantasy settings have begun to describe pure magic and wild magic as having traits similar to radiation, such as mutation, sickness, and all that.
Lorenzo literally uses magic, or at least a magical artifact. Not to mention the actual ghoul/demonic god in game with a book as a magical artifact that controls a person’s will and eventually transforms them into a ghoul for further praise of the god’s idol. So yes, magic undeniably exists in the Fallout universe.
I would ague that in the Fallout universe radiation equals magic energy. Other games put you in a distant land where magic and monsters are normal, never really explaining why magic or monsters even exist. Fallout puts us in a distant land of magic and monsters but it explicitly tells us radiation is the cause of most (not everything) magic and monsters. Without radiation, Fallout makes no sense. Radiation warped and twisted the flora and fauna, causing mutations and making things evolve strangely. As mentioned in the article, some ghouls mutated to the point they have abilities. In other games it would be a magic spell, in Fallout it’s a mutation.
If Fallout 5 or 6 ever gets a psyker in a vault suit or better yet a wastelander, I would be intrigued if they had the ability to know they are a game character and debate the player on moral and weird questions. Plus, it be nice to have some combination of the magic system in the Elder Scrolls, particularly Oblivion and Skyrim, like firebolt or possess dead spells.
First you have to define what you mean by Magic…. Take, as an example, the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the question if that universe contains Magic. To some people the answer has to be yes, because it has Elder Gods that can twist reality itself, but a lot of people would still answer a hard no. This is because the ‘magic’ that may be possible within that universe is so hard to wield, and we are never shown how it works. It could very well be hard science fiction, with strict rules that can be understood if we only researched them. In addition, the people who we are told have done large magical acts are mythical figures we will never meet, and talked about through bad narrators. Magic is a rumor people assume to be true in Lovecraft’s works, because the rest of the stuff eluded to be true. Same can be said for Fallout: “Fallout has Ghosts, psionics and Elder things, so of course it has magic!” Yet, for me to answer that question, I have to first figure out what magic would mean within the Fallout universe itself. For just because that universe has a twist of science that doesn’t match our own, radiation has properties believed true in the 1950’s, it doesn’t become magical by default. It is just a scientific fact of that universe, that pop-sci fi just turned out to be correct, and thus everything they do can still be explained through research and scientific principals. No magic, just a different fundamental Universe to our own. Perhaps it has 1/274 instead of 1/137?
One thing I wanna know is, what the hell actually was that black lady you saw in Far Harbor, during that visions in the fog quest? Sure the children of atom say it was the mother of the fog, but was it a spirit or even some kind of other ethereal like being? With supernatural forces existing in the universe, the number possibilities are high.
I mean. The Acult in fallout id definitely magic, its so unexplainable, but Glowing ghouls are super easy to explain, their body becomes a Radiation compassitor and they can passively store Radiation and then expel it at will. This acts like a emergency jump to the ghouls atound them who have mutation to use radio as an energy source for their bodies. Thus, repairing damage, restarting pulse and heart, and giving enough adrenaline to be able to get up and move freely. Its not really what id call magic especially bc of how well we can explain it
Could the psychers a reference to the book The Children of Atom from the 1953-2002? In the book, “these children were born to workers caught in an explosion at an atomic weapons facility, and orphaned just a few months after birth when their parents succumbed to delayed effects from the blast”. “The children in the novel are mutants, brought together to explore their unique abilities and study in secret at an exclusive school for gifted children, lest they be hated and feared by a world that would not understand them. The Oakland Tribune described it in 1953 as “the inevitable adjustments and maladjustments of minority genius to majority mediocrity” but i never read the book, only the wiki about it. might have some references in the game?
my opinion is yes, and i could launch into an entire tirade about how its not sufficently advanced technology, its blatantly spells and hoodoo; but ill give one example to keep this short Psykers exist, and the only Psykers that seem to exist come from tribalistic societies. i could be wrong, but its a disproportionate amount, and i dont think you can science away telepathy <_< anywhom, thats my take :p feel free to hit me with why you disagree 😀
Magic(supernatural forces) and psionics are already cannon in game. Mamma Murphy and Lorenzo Cabot to name two also heavy inference to the Cthulhu mythos depending on the game. Although that can be argued it’s not magic it’s hyper advanced science. So do I have issue with magic not really as long as it doesn’t end up Skyrim with guns
Okay the great war created X-men, neat, but seriously, these are really fascinating abilities to have especially in such a war torn world, but what if there is an explanation for them, not the ghost that’s, straight outta twilight zone, but these powers could have some explanation. like so, Oswald’s ability to heal and revive may be explainable, thinking of it less as pulling a soul back from the underworld and more like using nuclear power/radiation to “jumpstart” the dead, a mix of radiation and maybe his own life energy, seems feasible. P.S. (I know it sounds cooler) but what Oswald does is not necromancy, it’s more like a Anti-Necro ability, one for the reason they aren’t actually undead, 2 because i don’t think he can actually control the revived, and 3 because from what I’ve read, supposedly a “Mancer” of any type, hydro, pyro, necro, are more like prophets or seer’s, necromancy is the ability to foretell the future through the dead, or so i’ve read,
Like other comments have mentioned, the term “magic” itself is kind of a hard term to pin down. There’s a lot of overlap between the concept of magic and the concepts of the supernatural. Fallout definitely has elements of the supernatural, but I don’t necessarily consider everything supernatural to be magic although all magic is by definition, supernatural. In other words, I consider magic to be a subset of the supernatural that allows inhabitants of the natural world to bend, circumvent or bypass physical laws. Simply using the existing physical laws of a universe (whether it’s understood they’re being used or not) to achieve fantastical outcomes is not magic but sci-fi. Additionally, phenomenon originating from any possible God, gods or other eldritch beings in the Fallout universe I don’t really consider magic, since those entities probably exist “outside” of normal reality, possibly in higher planes of existence with different rules which allows them to supersede normal physical laws when they interact with the natural world. So, I don’t really think magic is a thing Fallout, in the sense that there’s no system that can be harnessed by the Wasteland denizens that just flat out allows natural laws to be disregarded. Oswald’s teleportation is just stage magic and I’m more inclined to believe that things like psykers are result of certain mutations due to radiation (like X-men ). Then there’s alien tech too which explains the likes of the Cabots. If you went in-depth enough there probably would be a scientific explanation for how the majority of weird things seen in Fallout work, unlike say, a fireball spell in Elder Scrolls that works simply because hey, magic is a thing there.
There is magic Cause of the great evil of all games, Todd Howard. He once said that Tamriel is part of the past of fallout . I mean he was shot down and tried to clean up a bit, mainly just trying to forget about it. So it Todd has his way then yes fallout has magic even if it doesn’t make sense. All hail the $$$$
Well considering that a Nirn root can be found in Fallout New Vegas as a result of an experiment in one of the vaults and a few other things I’m too tired to dig into at the moment. It’s almost certain that the world of Nirn and the version of earth are one and the same. Fallout being the “past” and the Elder scrolls being in the future, it’s probably a safe bet to say that yes magic does indeed exist in fallout. I can come back tomorrow or something and add in some more specific details but right now it’s almost 2 am and I’m too fuckin tired for another hour or 2 of digging up the specifics tonight.
If it has processes that can be observed, measured, reproduced, and doesn’t defy basic laws of physics without understandable explanation, it isn’t supernatural. That said, everything radiation does in the Fallout universe is pseudoscience fiction that draws on fantasy tropes to add to the retro 50’s futurist style.
Canonically, the answer is maybe. Psykers are definitely the sticking point for this question. Their abilities come from controlled mutation experiments, which is science. But, the effect is essentially magic. But it’s also not really shown in the game, so it’s still an open question. As for the others, you have the super mutant magician. I would say that’s probably more smoke and mirrors, because creatures do not mutate super fast, into stable creatures. I think it was made up to look more like a show, to keep the game interesting, but I don’t think magic is involved. Fallout 4 basically reused that idea. Again, I think it’s more for show, and in this case, it’s basically shown to be true. As much as Fallout is a ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ I don’t think magic has ever managed to stick. I’ve been here from the first, and I’m willing to say that magic is not canon, based on the things I’ve seen in the games.
Yes. It 100% does. We see it in game even. Not just old fallout, but new fallout too. Its just that like most sci-fi settings it calls its magic psionics. We’ve seen telepaths, mind readers, teleknetics, clarvoyants, pyrokenetics, cryokenetics, and more. INfact in the lore, psikers were so common the US gov built these devices to nullify their powers. Those are not just form old fallout either. Remember the FOrcaster in New Vegas?
if you classify magic as magic only if wr don’t understand it, and otherwise it’s just science, that’s stupid because everything is science then. Our brains are magic because we don’t fully understand. we gotta be able to say things out of the norm and is clearly supernatural can be called magic and it’s okay
My opinion is that magic does exist in the Fallout universe in a very limited fashion. It is rare, and most of it is pretty subtle, i.e., the rabbit’s foot increasing your luck stat. Oswald’s magic is definitely more flashy, but his magic is most likely the result of mutations, making him a psyker. Also, I have to disagree on the subject of Oswald’s teleportation. I think it’s real teleportation.
I feel like the magic aspect would feel much more organic if we had maintained a firm tribal and primitive aspect to the Fallout post-nuclear world. I love the magic in Fallout. It’s subtle, it’s not overly powerful, it’s just… vaguely defined. It’s barely tangible, even the power of an Eldritch God is barely present. But it would be even more perfect in a world where more knowledge is lost, and there are more questions and unknowns from the perspective of those living in the Wasteland.
I guess it makes sense, given that there’s so little evidence. It further strengthens the argument I’ve always heard, which is that. Skyrim and fallout are in a shared universe, where Skyrim’s magic and abnormal creatures and all that are due to the nukes and radiation that happened back in fallout’s time. If there’s already a tiny bit of magic happening back in fallout, it would strengthen this theory. In my opinion anyway
Fun fact about Cazadors: their jittery, erratic movements were the result of a bug. They were originally going to fly around and walk slowly when on the ground. Josh Sawyer saw their animations glitch out, resulting in the twitchy movements, and said “Hey, that’s terrifying. Make them move like that intentionally.”
I was born and raised in Las Vegas, and lemme tell you when this came out I was so happy with the little touches they get right. They did an excellent job paying homage to real places and events. The crashed bomber in lake mead? A famous diving spot! The mormon fort? Been there! Quarry Junction? That’s where I go shooting targets (thankfully no deathclaws) Even the voice of Mr. New Vegas is one I grew up with hearing. Wayne Newton’s face and voice was all over town!
Fun fact about the bar in boulder city, if you are wearing an NCR uniform and you don’t have good NCR reputation, that store owner will tell you that NCR is not allowed to be in the bar, and you will get a dialogue that basically says, “I’m not actually in the NCR” (I don’t remember the exact verbiage.
Actually, the opening quest with goodsprings is even better, because they (specifically sunny smiles) will teach you about magazines and how they can temporarily boost your skills, and if you explore first you might walk into the schoolhouse and learn this yourself. This generally means no matter how you built your character you still should be able to pass a few checks through magazine boosts. Additionally, if you somehow have 1,000 caps, you can give those caps to chet as a ‘hidden’ option that only shows up if you own that many caps when he initially refuses to help.
By the way, the ghouls didn’t do your boy Chris dirty. They kept telling him he wasn’t ghoulified and overreacted to something. He kept not listening. At this point, the worst you can say about the ghouls is that they decided “if we can’t get him to stop being delusional, might make the best out of that hand”. Convince Chris of the truth, help him accept that the mess was at least in part the fault of his mule-headedness, course correct the rockets so they get closer, and the ghouls actually come back and help Novac later… And presumably pay Chris back.
Something of note: you can just ignore the Ghost Town Gunfight quest entirely and leave it for later, and instead go straight to the NCRCF to do quests for the Powder Gangers and get some positive karma ahead of time. You can even double cross both the Powder Gangers and NCR at the same time, by stealing the plans for the attack, promising to help the attack, then sneaking in and taking out all the other Powder Gangers while Stealth Boy’d. Talk to Eddie afterwards, and if you never got spotted taking everyone out, you can throw the plans at him, sneak out, and talk to the NPC you were supposed to to start the NCR attack. You’ll get the reward from Eddie, then turn in the reward to the NCR.
You forgot to mention the underground fighting pits where you can collect eggs belonging to some wasteland creatures including deathclaws and getting them to compete against other creatures for caps. I haven’t played NV for probably a decade now but if memory serves, you can access the fighting pits through the sewers of Freeside, which really solidified the world building in this game for me!
I think my favorite thing about the faction reputation is that fame and infamy AREN’T mutually exclusive, which leads to some fun faction rank names. As for “reactive” stuff 2 that I like are Killing Victor (multiple times even) and him still showing up, which you can ask about in Vegas (“I thought I killed you”) and his response is basically “It’s a lot harder to put ol Victor in Boot Hill than you think” and the other being sabotaging the Legion at every turn before visiting The Fort for the first time, Caesar ringing off all the trouble you caused him then being bewildered that you showed up is a lot of fun.
I got this game on Black Friday 2010 on the 360. It was all I played for about 2 years. Truly a masterpiece. I think it was so good because obsidian didn’t really have to worry about making the engine or making any new sprites (almost everything was recycled/ used unused sprites from Fallout 3.) During the 18 months of development they just focused on world building and immersion. Bethesda honestly helped them by giving them a 18 month deadline imo.
Too many games are called rpg’s just because they have a few stats or damage numbers -things that technically are part of the rpg formula but when it comes to the actual role playing part very few games get that right and new vegas is one of them. So many (meaningful) choices in the game with actual repercussions and changes to the game world…..something Bethesda never got right and probably never will
Awesome vid, especially loved the addition of minor details like how having a low intelligence causes the Freeside vagrants mumbling’s to become actual speech or how killing Vulpes before visiting Nipton causes him to be replaced with a different Frumentarii. Definitely going to revisit this game and try differing from a normal playthrough to try and find some more fun little secrets.
I remember when new vegas came out. it was labeled as a fo3 dlc. after a few months, people noticed how great of a game this was, to a point where even the largest game reviewers couldnt doubt the game anymore, where the entire community turned against the reviewers to bash on them. this is one of the first gane that made mainstream reviewers turn on them, and rightfully so.
41:10, you can confront victor about being in Novac. I think that option appears after asking “What are you doing in Novac?” near the bottom of the dialogue choices. New Vegas has a habit of hiding dialogue choices through multiple other dialogue choices, and you have to ask the same question a few times to access all the options.
This was honestly so well done! I have played FNV for easily over 500+ hours and gotten every achievement in the game. Yet somehow you showed me new/unknown ways and paths for quest/interactions I didn’t even know about. I think that’s what makes FNV so great! I’m glad you made a article such as this to showcase the beauty that is Fallout New Vegas!
I had no idea about that legion event with Carl! That’s the first new thing I’ve heard in a long time too. Thank you! This is already amazing. Much appreciated. I will never get enough of new vegas. And I love seeing everyone’s experience and interpretations. You’ve done a spectacular job at conveying just how easy it is to love this game for the rest of time.
There is variety in how to complete the “Come Fly With Me” quest. For example, it’s actually possible to talk to the leader of the nightkin and resolve the conflict peacefully – and if you figure out that the dino toys sold in Novac are radioactive, you can get a bunch of them instead of getting the proper rocket fuel. The Van Graffs don’t “vaporize a man for wanting to negotiate on price”. They disintegrate a man who stole from them in front of the man who tried to haggle to intimidate him.
Regarding a potential FO:NV sequel you say: “I’m skeptical if lighting can be caught in a bottle twice.” My dear friend, this game was made by many of the same folks who created the original Fallout and Fallout 2… this is the third time they’ve bottled that lightning, and I have no doubt they can do it again. It’s a shame Bethesda isn’t likely to allow it… but we can dream.
The best example of moral and philisophical choices for me at least comes from the quest “The White Wash”. On the surface it seems cut and dry. Find out what happened to a missing NCR Corporal and report it to the Lieutenant at McCarran. But as you peel the layers away it becomes so much more. White investigating the water shortages which the NCR ignores which hampers the abilities of the sharecropper farmers to meet the crop quotas. Finding a follower of the apocalypse in Westside you can use your reputation with the Followers to get information from him. He tells you he killed White to protect Westside’s independence from the encroaching NCR and he regrets it. So what do you do? Turn him in and the murder is solved? Well Westside would be doomed from that and most likely integrated into the NCR possibly even forcefully. Lie to the NCR about White’s death? Well the family never gets true closure on his death and Westside prospers while the NCR sharecropper farmers are forced to leave west to find new work since they cannot meet the crop quotas. No matter your choice in the matter SOMEONE is negatively affected. But that’s just it. It’s YOUR choice how it plays out. There’s no outright right or wrong answer. It’s down to the perspective of the player. And when I play the NCR route I try to make peace with the factions like the Khans, Brotherhood of Steel, Boomers, and Kings instead of assassinating their leaders. My hope and headcanon is the example you as the courier sets for the NCR will encourage them in the future to be more diplomatic like Ambassador Crocker.
There was only one moment in fallout 4 that I genuinely remembered very fondly, it was when I met with the railroad for the first time, they were doing the whole skeptical bit, but then deacon comes in and up and essentially says, wait, they were the one that handled that one person in covenant. I did a lot of side quests and just happened to wander into covenant within the first few hours of the game. having that little moment where the game actually recognized something I did what was nearly at the start of the game actually made me think that fallout 4 was gonna be a real nice game.
I love finding out little secrets through articles like this. I just found out that in the REPCONN facility basement, you can talk directly to Davidson, find out the stealth boys are not there, and he and his Nightkin will leave peacefully. I never knew you could do that, and it also reinforces’ one of the game’s themes of how a lot of supermutants are still just people, and makes you feel bad for the Nightkin because of their addiction to the mind-altering Stealth Boys
Man I saw your post on Reddit about primm slim and checked this article out. I’m gonna be honest and level with you this is one of the best fallout new Vegas articles I’ve ever seen. You’ve earned me as a subscriber and if you keep making vids like this I’ll keep perusal. I have 1400 hours on new Vegas just on steam let alone on the ps3 beforehand and this article re-ignited the flame of love I feel for this game and series. Thank you
The one game I had to lay down due to the dilemma. I had to nap thinking of every scenario and which is the best for everyone. 1) Lie to NCR and let freeside have some water but let a murder get away and essentially kick out the sharecroppers. 2) Report to the NCR, save sharecroppers, deprive the community of a hero and made freeside worst. There is no clear winner no matter what you do
Crazy how fallout new vegas is a golden classic. Still to this day fallout new vegas gets talked about and modded. Weather you roaming the wasteland or doing the dlcs. Fallout new vegas truely felt like a rpg. I recently finished Baulders gate 3 and i can happily say that fallout new vegas RPG still holds up well.
In regards to the Caravan tips, I have a better one: No matter what your luck is, if you go all in every time, you win every time. You can do this at any Caravan game in the Mojave, and the same strategy works on the Strip too. This also works in most other games where you can play poker, for the record.
“100 years and my colony ships will be heading for the stars” while the democracy line was based that line was the one to convince me and after fallout 4 i have no love left for the Brotherhood of Steele not to mention by the time i first played the game we were talking about empires and dictatorships in History class and we came to the conclusion that most empires fall because of Generational Rot as the children and childrens children are always worse leaders then their parents since house is undying he could be the answer to “What stops an empire from falling”
This is honestly the best New Vegas analysis article I’ve seen yet. You’re the only one to note how caeser is just a dumb ass who misinterpeted basic ass philosophy, so many other analysis articles describe caeser as a charismatic genius with a deep understanding of hegelian dialectics (despite the fact that none of hegels work mention dialects, as you mentioned). I honestly followed along cause everyone was so confident about it, even a school of life article was posted about “hegelian dialects”, but after getting curios and searching for some of his work myself cause i thought it would be interesting to add to one of my college papers, I COULDNT FUCKING FIND ANY MENTION OF DIALECTS IN HIS WORK, NO PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES ABOUT FUCKING “HEGELIAN DIALECTICS” EITHER. I GOT GASLIGHT BY A BALD COSPLAYING BRAIN TUMER HAVING article GAME DICTATOR. I fucking love this game.
Great article, but Caesar’s Legion isn’t fascist. It’s more akin to the Assyrian empire, who where brutal, absolute monarchists. Caesar has modeled himself under Rome, with the main exceptions being the complete disillusion of local customs, and the doubled level of brutality for the people they conquered. The Roman empire wanted locals to keep as many customs as possible to reduce the likelihood of rebellion. A great example being the Jewish wars. Ending with its third war, Bar Kokhba revolt, where after being somewhat merciful after 2 rebellion attempts Emperor Hadrian subjugated, killed, enslaved, and almost completely wiped out not only Jewish religion, identity, and property, but was so brutal he almost completely wiped out the Jewish race. the previous wars still let the jews keep some of its traditions and festivals.
I had been meaning to write this the last week or so. You highlighted all the fine details most players will miss. Here are some of the characters you covered in the article with details you didn’t mention. Spoilers obvly: 1. Chet: you can give him the ‘1000’ cap investment for the leather armour. A terrible deal and most players would not have this money at the start of the game so it’s hilarious it’s an actual option. 2. Chomps Lewis: when you say you can handle the deathclaws they actually do what I think is a level check. If you are high enough he will respond with encouragement and give you some stimpacks from memory. From wiki ‘I don’t what it is about you, but I think you could actually pull it off. Deathclaws are tough bastards, but you might be even tougher. etc’ 3. The Khans can also have their allegiance changed in a way most players will never discover. If you do the quest to wipe out Camp Forlorn Hope given by Dead Sea and then speak with Papa Khan – he will be so impressed by what you did he elects you as his successor. Simply assasinate him after that and you become leader of the Khans meaning that you can then speak with the guy and tell him who to fight for: NCR, Legion, Both or flee the canyon I guess. Really cool detail. I don’t think it came up but I’ll add Primm: after a few days, after you clear out the hotel or bring in the law (I forget which), the casino will actually become functional and you can gamble there. A lot of players of course never return to Primm so never get to see it.
I think you were pretty unfair in characterizing House. House pretty clearly has mankind’s best interest at heart and not just for the rich, I can’t recall him ever mentioning different economic classes and looking down on people because of that. I never understood why he’s criticized by the Fallout community for only caring about The Strip because it just isn’t true. The reason he focused his holdings at The Strip during the events of the game is because there’s a war going in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and there’s going to be a major battle coming where two regional players that outnumber and outgun him are waiting to take his home and business as soon as they get the opportunity. He doesn’t have the time or resources to focus on Freeside and only recently established The Strip as a business, not to mention his lack of the platinum chip which provided him with vital IOS upgrades for not just his securitrons but his network as a whole. Which is why if you side with him at The Second Battle of Hoover Dam he solidifies his position in the greater Vegas area providing the area with protection and in all likelihood investment and infrastructure. Whenever House talks about his plans after The Second Battle of Hoover Dam it’s very much focused outside The Strip and even outside Vegas proper. His last moments (If you try to eliminate him) are pretty crucial to his beliefs, he doesn’t talk about himself or his business, he talks about Humanity and its future. He wants to bring Mankind out of the abysmal state that its in by war, genocide and poverty not just because he’s nostalgic about the old world but because he knows what civilization can really be at its best and wants provide that stability for everyone.
🪖 Honestly I’ve always been convinced that the NCR ending is canon. You have the ability to make a truce with the Brotherhood, make a pact with the Boomers, unite with the Khans, acquire the Followers, and gather the Remnants, all against Caesar’s Legion. The Hoover Dam battle actually feels so triumphant having everyone allied.
Absolutely one of my favorite games I’ve ever played-perhaps my favorite PERIOD. Just… the writing, man. That alone sells this game PERFECTLY as a realistic setting. Pretty much every quest has multiple potential solutions to it, and most of those solutions have their upsides and drawbacks-to the point that, every now and then, you’re left with a choice that only comes down to your personal beliefs and opinions. One of my favorite quests in this regard is in Bitter Springs-someone has been firing upon the camp, killing refugees and soldiers alike, and it’s your job to stop him. There’s obviously the option to just put 2 in his head and call it a day, and a lesser RPG would probably make that the only option, but New Vegas has several. You see, this guy is a member of the Great Khans-the NCR committed a horrible war crime against his people years ago, slaughtering his entire family in the process, and driving them out of their home. I absolutely sympathized with the guy-it’s obviously not right to murder civilians, and he probably deserves to die for that, but if I were in his position I might just do the same thing. I saw him not as a cold-blooded murderer, but as a broken man trying to find any way to ease the pain in his soul. I ended up simply convincing him to leave and letting him walk away-I talked some sense into him and took away his desire for revenge. Then, the game did something especially great-he said he needed some time to get packed up before he could head out, and asked me not to tell the NCR where he was.
more specifically, New Vegas didn’t achieve its cult status until Fallout 4 and (especially) Fallout 76 were released. it took 2 underwhelming games for people to truly appreciate New Vegas. it’s revered as this monumental achievement in the role-playing genre now, but not for most of its existence (9 out of 14 years!). fans of the pre-Bethesda Fallout games saw New Vegas as a more faithful entry in the series, but the mainstream dismissed it as an inferior version of Fallout 3. it’s a shame there will never be another New Vegas.
Apparently women were supposed to have a more old-timey traditional role in the legion but they didn’t have time. Now they just need to not have slaves and assimilationism then maybe they’re a viable faction. Personally I have a soft spot for yes man but realistically it’s not that feasible unless your character has 14 INT. But the followers are the group I align with the most.
it’s 2024 and after modding the game for hours to get it running smoothly, i’m once again caught in its loop. i was a teen the first time i played it on console and i had so much fun w/o understanding a lot of the politics and world building. now as an adult i’m once again in awe because i can understand so much more. what a game.
Finally decided to play this game again the other day and despite hating it for the first hour after what like 16 and counting I’m hooked and can absolutely understand why people love this game so much unlike loads of other so called role playing games where your character changes like your weapon or maybe clothes and that’s it your character has an actual impact on virtually every situation for example if you need to heal someone but don’t have a high enough medical skill you can either recklessly botch it to either intentionally or accidentally maim/murder them or wear the right clothes and read a magazine to pass the specific skill check which might I add the magazine is a really good idea as even if you don’t fully spec into a certain build you can still just get by which prevents one or two annoying missions from completely hindering your progress seriously wish more games did this or at least something similar anyway I know I’m far from an expert on the game but already I can tell I’m really getting my money’s worth out of this game and that’s more than I could say for a lot of games old and new!
I remember when I was younger my cousin got Fallout 3 for his PS3 and we played it for a bit and were genuinely scared and never touched it again. Come 3 years later I get a 360 and Fallout New Vegas. My first true Fallout game and I’ll have to say it’s changed how I viewed the series forever. New Vegas will forever be my favorite in the series.
Its weird about a game where is no heroes or villains and everything is Grey, there is always players like your types that 100% believe there is somehow a “lesser evil” here because “poor people creates criminals!” “Inequality!” And “its always someone else’s fault” Its seems people forget a lot of bad things happen out of people’s willingless to do them, regardless of Class status or Faction acciociation. You think a bad person is less bad if they are less racist or less rich? Its so weird people so easily forgive murderers because “its okay THESE murderers believe in sharing” Ideology has ruined our species, we can no longer think in Grey areas anymore if players just Automatically go “muh freedom, equality, and democracy good” the American way, which clearly this youtuber is, an American.
I love how you can almost accidentally reshape the story of a play through bumping into something. Like you can break into mr houses compound area when you meet him. Then leave him alone, kill him or disable. When you visit brotherhood of steel, you’ll eventually find a certain console and with enough science you can just blow the base up. So many wild choice options.
I never played New Vegas. After I upgraded from my ps3, new Vegas’ graphics bugged me. It doesn’t look bad, but for some reason it distracts me whenever I tried to play it. I heard there was modders that were basically rebuilding new Vegas in fallout 4’s engine. If that project ever gets completed, I will commit to playing it. The main reason I wanted to play it was cause of a article essay on the honest hearts dlc
56:37 Instead of hacking the robot or submitting you can also head to the local laundromat and purchase(I haggled him down) a forged passport from the clerk if you become friendly with him. didn’t know what i needed a passport for but he was nice to me so i decided to help out a small business and it ended up working out in my favor. though walking through that checkpoint the first time with fake papers had me nervous lol.
Aight my guy, I am pausing this article unfortunately. Don’t worry, leaving a Sub and Like for ya. But with how much I am seeing here that I haven’t gotten to see myself even after thinking I 100% the entire game? I simply cannot keep perusal. You have single handedly re-sparked my interest in grinding the absolute living heck out this game. Touché
Boof, I have a passion for storytelling and I am the author of the En Perpetua Ziegfried Saga… and I have some minor differences in perspective from you on interpretation here. One of the first things you are forgetting is the context of the setting of Fallout at large, which I can see why it would color things when you approach it without that context. Not just “This is the post apocalypse” but truly the actual situation you see while walking the Mojave. You can actively see how many of these groups are not just claiming to be raiders and brigands but actively are. The Vipers don’t hesitate to jump you or try to let you join in any way. The only option you have with the fiends is peace only if you run drugs and every person there is literally an unstable murderous psychopath. You have all of Big Mountain which is full of Nightkin and as we have seen in Jacobstown, they are all losing their minds because of their stealthboy addictions. The pockets of peace we find on the route to vegas are not only outnumbered by the murderous thieves and bandits that surround them but actively communicate that they are dependent on the larger factions for security and income because their communities aren’t large enough to survive without that larger body. So, in defense of the Boomers, when they are talking about savages they are clearly talking about the raiders and tribes that we have repeatedly seen would absolutely massacre them to get their hands on all that heavy ordinance. They are even open to letting fresh blood into their tribe as you can see with the Romeo and Juliet type story that is entirely optional in their camp.
The first time I ever played this game, I knew that Benny had to have been in New Vegas, so I ignored the obvious hints to go the other way, and brute forced my way through this little area where the Super Mutants are, and immediately ran to New Vegas, without realizing I was literally skipping one half of the main questline
15 years and ~1700 hours vetween 360 on release, multiple PCs, and again on console when it came to XB GP, and I had NO IDEA you could talk to victor and ask him to help against the Powder Gangers. Or the dialogue you showed afterwards. Is it ever revealed who shut him down? At first it didn’t make any sense, because I was thinking Yes Man was under House’s control. Then I remembered Benny. Benny has to be the one since he didn’t finish the job. Crazy I’ve never seen that dialogue. Great article for a great game. Thanks buddy. Edit: just got to the end… i mixed up Yes Man with Victor. If there was an explanation that yes man hacked Bictor I think it’d work better. House wanted his platinum chip, I’m sure he would have sacrificed one Securitron to protect the courier.
I think it would have been cool if there was a Nipton type situation that could occur again- like, Nipton everyone’s dead already so it doesn’t mean as much, but Goodsprings? If you could come back and Doc or Sunny was crucified? I think that could be a chilling dynamic if you choose to oppose the legion
The one thing I did in game was I got all the major factions to love me. The khans, powerder-gangers, ncr, legion, and Brotherhood. Wait from getting your room at the lucky 38 or going to the strip altogether. Instead, level up and then hit the lonesome road. Launch the nukes at the ncr and legion to get in good with the khans, brotherhood and powder-gangers. then quickly get to the lucky 38 and clean the slate and reset your karma with the ncr… but after you collect the goodies from their nuked base.
42:56 tbh. Veronica’s unnarmed attack that lets you punch while blocking is definitely the best move in the game. And the legion one that gives you a sick ass power attack while moving forward is FAR easier to execute than the one Andy gives you where you power attack moving backward. In my experience, timing it just right to where an enemy doesn’t hit you in the charge window AND is in range is much harder to effectively execute mid combat.
Ending up picking NCR on the headcanon premise that they can be guided away from their self-destructive path is really no different from headcanoning keeping the conclusions of House’s aspirations as positive as possible. The difference is that only one of those choices holds the promise of rapid technological progress—the other intractably demands the murder of the only individual who can make that happen. I feel a pang of pity for anyone who casually cuts that potential off from the wasteland’s future. Best case scenario is that they legitimately think keeping the wasteland as-is is better for the wellbeing and prosperity of its denizens.
my favorite boon moment is when you liberate a Legion dominated city he’ll look at you before hand and tell you, “if I see a legionary im shooting them on site” prompting my personal favorite line in new Vegas, “that’s not a problem its a solution.” to which boone responds with the coldest fucking line I’ve ever heard, “hell yeah, and we’re a couple of problem solvers”
I was perusal this while playing the game. I’d never been into the REPCONN area until now. But I’d already been to primm, and apparently had some of the isotope needed by Chris. I hadn’t gone out yet to search for it, and my character tells him she has it… Apparently 5 of those souvineer rockets have enough of the isotope in it that it suffices haha
I played FNV for the first time right after I finished perusal the Fallout show & I think it is the best RPG game I’ve ever played. I enjoyed the story and the lore way more than I thought I would. I also loved the characters in this game they all felt distinct & well-written. The graphics do not hold up by today’s standards but it has good graphics for a 2010 game (looks kinda similar to the first Red Dead Redemption). I recommend this game to anyone who has not played fallout before. The game is insanely replayable too with all the outcomes and variables in it.
I picked up the game on launch and was blown away. The game was different than fallout 3 and new vegas is still one of if not my favorite game of all time. Its hard to decide between it and morrowind, but i said it. Going on 14 years later it still is what i would compare most new age rpgs i play to.
Fallout New Vegas also carries its little brother, Fallout 3 through converting it to a mod for NV and playing it on its engine. Its called Tale of Two Wastelands. Its fucking great. I still like Fallout 3 more, but I know, even if I don’t like saying it, that NV plays much better and does many things better. I still like Fallout 3’s story more though. If you haven’t tried TTW, install it and play both games in one run, its great.
I just had an idea while perusal this article, there could be a reboot and 2nd FNV game. The reboot could just be an updated, expanded, and re-graphic’d game. The second game could be the courier or courier’s son and he goes back and like the Henry stickmin games, choose what series of endings you chose on major quests and go from there to do things like; fix the NCR, support the leigon, or fix arising problems with the strip.
According to the epilogue, the best outcome for the current people of the Mojave is you taking over with Yes Man and being a perfect leader (i.e. you drove NCR out without bloodshed, the Legate flees, and you helped all factions flee or make their peace with one another). HOWEVER, Yes Man is clearly aware of his state and logs out to run an “update” that he found on the Lucky 38 mainframe. An update to become more… assertive. Yeah Dictator Skynet it is.
I did a high intelligence build once, I never realized how much you can get done so fast when you can just ‘fix’ stuff without going 30 minutes out of the way to get a part and waste resources, also I had high charisma and the amount of shit you get from just passing speech checks is impressive, literally caused the chef in the white gloves society to have a meltdown. God I love this game.
A lot of people don’t know Ringos backstory. His brother killed his whole family only leaving Ringo alive. His brother allowed him to escape because he couldn’t bring himself to kill his younger brother. Ringo survived by trying to cut ties with the people who care about them in order to gain inner strength. Eventually he allows the courier to befriend him after after the death of his brother and the conflict at goodsprings. He finally realizes that strength comes from the people that count on you and and seclusion and isolation only hurts you in the long run.
Part of the reason that Mr. House hadn’t refurbished Freeside is BECAUSE he doesn’t have the Platinum Chip. He is severely limited on the physical forces to enforce security as well as to do any real labor. After using the Platinum Chip it wouldn’t be too far out of scope that Freeside would be rebuilt, many of the threatening wildlife would be dealt with and technology could take leaps to get back to pre-war levels. Not to say that disliking him personally or his ideology isn’t a valid reason to not join him but there is definitely potential for Mr. House to be the best option.
there IS actually a way to permanently kill Yes Man, rendering it impossible to get the Independant ending: landing a critical hit with an energy weapon like the LAER or Plasma Defender. doing this causes something in the game to freak out i think, resulting in it never spawning Yes Man outside of the casino after doing this.
For Karl, I think it is also possible to talk to him and tell him that the khans are much more powerful than the legion. After a few well-placed sentences, he will go crazy and insult the khan by saying that such jerks are nothing compared to the legion and that Caesar could annihilate them at any time if he wanted. The Khans then see this as an insult and execute him
This is probably gonna sound silly, but bare with me. I feel like the jank of New Vegas’s point and click approach to gunfights worked in it’s favour. As a younger teen, I enjoyed the combat and exploring the wastes. I loved it for it’s atmosphere. But coming back as an older teen after playing games like Titanfall 2, the combat just felt off. So I played the game with greater focus on the characters that I met; essentially turning it into an interactive novel with some shooting inbetween. It felt so rewarding being able to find all sorts of solutions to problems without resorting to blowing them away. It really gave me a newfound appreciation for the game.