Saturday 18 February 2012

Memoirs of a New Vegas Bitch, Part 12

Time to get to work. Vegas isn't going to rule itself you know. And excuse me if I get a bit metagamey at times, to speed things along.



Out in the open again, time to see if I really can pull this off...Ah nuts, not another guy...





Uh, you go into one abandoned tower and suddenly the world is chasing after you. This is why I became a courier rather than an explorer, its less hassle.

Wait a minute, I know you. You were the guy from Nipton, in the wolf hat.



So wiping out villages of gangbangers is just what you do on the weekends. Fair enough. So, why does Caesar want to see the conqueror of the Lucky 38?





Well, going to Fortification Hill became an easier option, I guess, assuming Caesar is legit and its not just another trap.



Eh, priorities. First to get back in here.



An hours rest should be plenty before performing some casual murder.



Ok, now, gotta get over there before House spots me through his Cameras, or the robots warn him...



Round the back, over the bannister...



And here...Shit, I forgot about that guy.



Looks like a good time for an emergency asset.



And now the dumb robot has forgotten I'm even here. It's your own fault, House, you made these damn things.



Try the access codes from the Chip...



Yes!!



If you know I'm unauthorised, you shouldn't let me have the option. Goddamn, House, I know I only got these codes because I killed a man for your super-rare-chip, but you should have some way of stopping me.



And the secret door is open. Lets see where this rabbit hole goes.

This is the first instance of me being meta today, in that I just happened to have Latooni figure out that that console is the secret to finding House. Its really not immediately obvious at all, as its hidden behind a set of stairs, needs 75 Science or the Access Codes (found in only 2 locations in the game) to even interact with, and isn't hinted at anywhere else that I know of. Its something you'll only really find if you take the time to search Houses Penthouse top to bottom, and even then you'll have no idea what it does unless you try it and see what it does, which will cause the Securitrons to instantly turn on you and fail any quests you have from House. The main clue that its what you need to use is, well, that its the only significant thing in Houses barren apartment, other than some non-interactive mannequins.
I'd imagine more than a few people got missions to kill House and scoured the Casino Floor endlessly for ways to open the inaccessible doors down there, never even thinking the way in to Houses secret basement bunker was actually at the top of the building.






Nothing here but this express elevator, so I'll use the second code and head on down.



Huh, this place is also kinda empty, except for that wierd pod thing. Lets see what the RobCo terminal has to say to the third code.




LS? Life Support? Well, I guess I am here to kick the support out of under someones life, so to speak.





....EEEEEWWWW. God, you really are 200 years old, and you look every day of it too. And the metal diaper, seriously? Man, I'm not sure I want to live forever now.



Sorry, Old Man, but thats just how things came out. Nothing personal, just business.


No, you just don't get it. If I'd done that, I'd just be working for you, for a wage. I'd have everything I could want, but I'd just be a puppet on a string. And I'm not going to do that anymore. This? This is me taking charge of my life. And if that means ending yours? Fuck, we played the game, I played better. Good game, and goodbye.



Yeah Yeah....



House's hitbox is kinda wonky, so it took me an embarressing amount of shots to finish him off.





A big chunk of XP for killing one of the main characters of the game, and a level up. While there are definitely some interesting options by this stage, the obvious one for our build is this one to make our pistols and sneak attacks better. In fact, I'd almost call it the core of our build. Commando is also interesting because it improves 9mm pistols like Maria, but thats for later. For now, I think we have to take this one.


Also, House leaves us with a parting message.












Don't feel you have to read it all. I doubt Lat would.




The Securitrons don't seem to react to me now. Probably on auto by this stage, and can't think of anything wierd about me sneaking around.



Hmm, the room feels even emptier without a big face looking gormless from the TV. Lets see if I can do something about that.

Minor note: On the way over to Yes Man, some NPCs commented on Houses death in the street. Guess House emailed that epitath to everyone? But given the lack on anarchy in the streets, and the way no-one goes 'Holy Shit you're the girl who killed House!!', I think for plot purposes Houses death is a secret until the big finale when you officially take over. We'll see how that works out.




I've cleaned the 38 up for you, Yesman.



BATMAN TRANSITION





If ever there was a time for Yes Man to suddenly turn on you, this would be it.








Exactly where this demonstration takes place isn't entirely clear, it seems to be a different lowest level than the one House himself was in. You seem to travel there by means of the screen getting dark rather than any elevator.





...Is making them shoot each other the best way to show this?






....At this point I think that's pretty typical of RobCo engineering.








Huh...Its certainly a nice bit of firepower to have at my disposal, thats for sure.



Another screen-fade teleport.





Since New Vegas is a game about picking a side, after a certain number of missions for one of the end-game factions, the others will magically give you their final warning, then if you continue down one path, they'll finally cut you off and make their quests unavailable to you. Not a problem for Latooni, who's never been about appeasing anyone, but I'd imagine some people would massively angst over the options being lost and try to maximise the number of missions they can take before committing. I like the realism of the factions giving ultimatums, but its nuetered by their ability to alert you even if you're on the far side of the moon when you complete that one last mission.











You've got kinda a passive-aggressive streak, don't you, Yesman? Also, you've got your boss's writing habits.



Well, time to get to the nitty-gritty of things. First stop....eeeeuuuughh, Gomorrah.



Yeah yeah.



I'll make do.

Right, House said he had a contact here, and now all his stuff is mine, so I have a contact here.



I'm here to call in a favor. I need to know the deal with the Omertas.



Well, what are they up to? What's the business that makes everyone say they're acting wierd?



Oh come on, you're on front desk, you gotta know whats going on.



You think I can't keep secrets? I got nothing to gain selling you out.



Don't I just. Look, just tell me who's in the know, I'll get out of your hair and take it to them, nothing to connect us.




Right. Guess I'll wander around until I find him.



Not the busiest casino, but its a full operation at least.



...Who keeps making these signs for them? How do they sleep at night?



...Guh.



Oh, you must be Cachino. Classy little joint you have here. Care to tell why its called Gomorrah?




I've heard you're doing business, Cachino, seperate from the Omertas. I'm just kinda curious where you're going with that, whether it'll be useful to me.




...You know what? This isn't going anywhere. I'm sorry for wasting both our times.




I wait for the angry jerk to turn around, and I snatch a book out of his back pocket. This looks interesting.




Filthy like the rest of them. And he's not even sincere about being dirty.

This is the other big bit of meta-gaming in this update, as going directly into Cachinos pockets for his secret ledger is kinda a stretch, even if you pretend it was sticking out of his backpocket. To be fair, the objectives list does suggest you do this, but these are the same objectives messages that let you psychically track objectives on the other side of the map with ease, so they're already kinda metagamey. If we wanted to be truly in-character, we would go looking for Cachino's office and find the ledger there (apparently he keeps a spare copy of his personal journal full of deadly secrets), but Gomorrah is a fucking maze (literally, going by the background noises) and just finding the place would be a nightmare. Better to take the leap of logic and get through this point quickly.




Hey, Cachino, you dropped something.




The wrong people, huh? You mean like, the higher-ups in your little 'Family'? So you'd rather I not join their book club?




Hhmmmm, I did want to figure that out...but then again, you were a dick to me. I think I'll need a while alone with this book to decide.




Tch...Cachino, your problem is that you keep living in the past.

-----------------------------------------

Ok, that went well enough, even if the games odd theatrical bent meant a lot of it was glorified cutscene. We have our base, our army is prepping, and we have another objective, going to meet Caesar (assuming we don't piss him off along the way) and digging up our second robot army. Things are looking up, even if we still have to do most of the work ourselves.


In the short-term, we have more relevant problems, like what to do about the Omertas. We've only scratched the surface of their dealings, but with Cachinos journal in our hands, we have a few options.
1) Bribe Cachino into helping you uncover his bosses mysterious scheme.
2) Take the evidence to his bosses in order to side with them.
3) Shrug your shoulders and just leave, assuming you can handle these wierdoes and whatever they're up to.
4) Go into Ninja Loli Genocider Mode and begin hunting down and murdering every Omerta in the Casino on general principle (we'd probably want to find where they've stashed our weapons first, the greeter doesn't tell you like the man at the Tops did). I'd be more supportive of this strategy if I thought it'd actually result in the casino closing, but it'd probably just magic up more generic Omertas after we leave.


Other ideas are all welcome, such as just wandering around meeting people, or cheating and going to Gamefaqs for ideas on how to 'resolve' the Omertas possible quests. Let me know what you think.

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