Small CN for a video game violence/torture image.
Howdy, it's been a while coming, but I've been busy in the real world. This is the last bit of updating to the point I am in the game, and then I'll be updating as I play. There isn't much to politically critique in this one.
So one of the first places I go to is Primm. This ultimately makes some decisions for me. I enter via a side road which is full of NCR troopers. This is my first real experience with them. They seem harmless, but not especially helpful. Mostly masculine. Fairly boring. I do manage to steal a decent amount of ammo from around the place though. The tent with the most booty is guarded by the Lieutenant, so I leave it. There aren't that many soldiers in the vicinity, so if I did fancy popping them off it wouldn't be too hard. But I ain't playing that game!
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| Actually a real place |
They are looking to help out the citizens in Primm who have been holed up in a casino by the Powder Gangers. As well as being blown up by a load of mines on the way, the PGs are immediately hostile. There's only 3 of them. They aren't hard to get rid of if you can get them on their own. It's a spoiler, but there's a fourth one on the roller coaster. You can jump on from the left side. Anyway, you find the citizens and they mostly go on about how lovely their city is. There's a robot who tells you all about the casino. The Vicki and Vance has a safe-store, where you can loot a lot of stuff unseen, and outside there are abandoned sherrif offices. You find out that there's stuff going on in the main building with the roller coaster around it. After killing a lot of powder gangers you find the deputy sheriff tied up, who makes a run for it. IRL I wouldn't blame someone for being traumatised, but in the game he comes across as unhelpful, cowardly and out for himself. After finishing destroying the rest of the Powder Gangers I return the the V&V. I didn't necessarily want to take down the PGs but I wasn't given any option.
I was asked to decide on the new sheriff. Honestly, none of the options impressed me here. I could encourage the NCR to become an unelected government and police, which at best results in a highly taxed popular town being created, but is abandoned by them with any other decisions. Alternatively I could rescue some dude who was arrested for... pretty much doing what the NCR does. Who would be an OK sheriff but apparently, some people would wind up dead without trial. Beagle just seems like not somebody who would put their town first. So... I reprogrammed the robot to be sheriff. Rise of the machines? Perhaps. Venus Project it ain't. Honestly putting anybody in charge of the 5 or so people who live here feels like an extensive waste of time. Never mind somebody incapable of feeling. Also, by reprogramming him doesn't that technically make me in charge? The moral quandaries! I chose it because the suggested outcome is that a few bandits would get away but overall crime would be low and the place would be safe. That's better for me than a few extra people being killed. So plain logistics game rather than ethics. Beagle seems disappointed coz a robot only understands black and white, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Unfortunately self organising wasn't an option.
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| Why must I add to this? |
A few days later some NCR deserters ran up to me. Apparently they would try to extort money from me, or I'd fight them or have to use my speech skills on them, but actually I talked to them normally and convinced them to run away. It's a bit sad people weren't willing to face fascists, but I'm totally against conscription or military punishment for deserters, or the idea that you're contracted for a long period of time whether you agree to it or not. On the other hand, the torturous scenes that these deserters fled to avoid may have been put upon their comrades due to them leaving in the end. A future running for the borders would suit them. And if they did find New Canaan, I'm sure they would fit in with the Mormons and other morally pacifist groups.
From there I went to Nipton. I was greeted by a man running away ecstatic to have "won" his life. I could see a fire, and crucified people. As soon as I saw Caeser's Legion were responsible, I managed to take them down surprisingly easy. There were very few survivors. I found one guy who was now without a leg. He said there were slaves taken. I also cleared out a building of dogs and mantises. There is a room upstairs I don't yet have the points to break into, so for now I will chase the slaves. I actually left this uncompleted, so it's the first mission I am actually completing as we speak! So, that took a few attempts. These guys take a lot more bullets, and not so much as a thank you, but these guys I rescued were PGs so I guess it maybe makes up for the other kills. I return to Nipton, and there are Legion dogs and a Centaur roaming around. Wasn't expecting that. So I return to the injured guy... and he's a total asshole. Oh well. At least there's a lot of looting to be had seeing as everybody's fuckin' dead.
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| Really dead |
By now, I'm labelled as an Evil Fatcat. This displeases me. I knew I would come out on the evil side for stealing, but FatCat? If my character was rich from stealing I would understand it, but I've mostly been stealing from the Legion and empty houses! I do not appreciate ruling class status! At level 7 I would prefer to be a Pirate to a ranger, I suppose. I'd better get working on my good karma after that!
So Novac is kinda cute. Big giant dinosaur and all. People are mostly nice. I got a bit of glitch on one of the little quests though, so something went awry. I figured out a women who sold another woman to slavers. the boyfriend of the victim was supposed to shoot her when I wore his hat. Perhaps because of the fact I already had the hat on, or perhaps it was the wrong time of day, nothing happened, and I can't get her there again. I shouldn't really mind. I'm not really one for meting out vigilante justice, but then again, she sold someone to slavers. And I like to occasionally complete the missions. (fixed!) So I recruited Boone. I'm not sure I will keep him. He seems pretty conservative, but I'm not a state, I'm not hiring him. He's voluntarily signing up as my cannon fodder for now. He will probably go away or turn on me if he doesn't believe in something I do. Something useful might be sorting out the REPCONN site down the road. But that is of another post! I also killed a Super Mutant who was killing cows. All power to the Cow. Didn't seem like any other way of winning.
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| "Hoping to steal our rockets so they can fly up and paint the moon pink and draw a Lenin face on it." |
No-Bark Noonan is probably the most... interesting character around. Certainly met a few of these types at Occupy! Ha, not so much. This one is scared of "Commie Ghosts". Honestly, I find this aspect of the game interesting, because it is supposed to have been a Cold War type scenario against China. You occasionally see Chinese Remnants running around, ghoulified. You don't see too much opinion and fear mongering about Leftist stuff so much as lots of typically capitalist propaganda. In number 3 the Tranquility Lane override uses Chinese Soldiers coming in to kill everybody. It's an interesting scenario and the game doesn't really push any opinion of them upon the player. It has a pretty satyrical view of the US though, even if patriots could read it at face value. Check out his shack though. Probably the most effort in any of the interiors of the buildings so far.
I threw Neil into the mix for an extra N. He's a friendly supermutant who waits outside of Utobitha. He has given me some advice, however I will not be taking it for a while into the game yet. Mostly I ran into him trying to escape a massive nest of scorpions I had to flee. Interesting bunker I passed with hippie slogans on the outside. I can't enter it yet though, sadly. And I couldn't continue past Neil either, because there was an angry Deathclaw waiting for me. Hopefully soon I will have the exp to wander around the plains without fearing sudden death. For a little while anyway.
I didn't come across much of note aside from picking a robot sheriff and attacking the PGs which worked against my values in this episode. I want to detail things according to gender and such. There will be points in the story, but for now, most characters are much the same, male or female. I even have realistic female body armour. Skyrim can't say that for itself. None of the characters in this area have stood out to me too much. I will probably do some focuses on particular characters/issues in the game as it goes by after playing a little more. Did any of you find anything interesting about these three places in relation to Libertarian Socialism? Anything from signs on the billboard to character bios. Let me know!
Intro
Pt 1
Pt 2
Pt 4
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