Roleplaying in Fallout 3 New Vegas

[Bells]

So, i managed to get myself a healthy dose of Action RPG when i got a copy of mass Effect 2 and Fallout New Vegas at the same time...

Two vastly different games (somewhat... in setting) with a strong role in Roleplaying.

You see, it's rather rare when i get to play a PC game and actually make a character out of it, actual roleplay for fun... so, since this is the first time i ever experienced these two franchises i decided to go nuts a little and alternate between them for giggles.

But you see, in Mass Effect i'm happy playing full Paragon. The nice little Boyscout who deep down inside just wishes he was Superman... at least every one else thinks he is. Just kinda made me want to rename the bastard Jesus Sheppard instead of Bells Sheppard the sassy non-formal leader who is out to do good and justice with his Engineer skills as a true full blown hero.

And then, there is Fallout new vegas... which is more open ended with it's Mute protagonist, and i really didn't feel confortable playing as a goody goody hero of the Nuclear-west... but i also don't usually have fun playing the Dick route.

So i went in a different direction and behold, bells of the west was born. A Sassy Red-headed maiden with a gentle touch for those who help her and a nasty dark side for everyone else.

You see, i like context in my RP... In F3NV i wake up in this city after getting a bullet to the head and this doctor out of no where just saves my life for free... now... i can't betray such a nice fella... i DID stole a TON of stuff from him, but no Karma out of that, so no problem! As i tried to get out of that town i noticed that these fine folks were about to get in trouble with a local Gang... well... i should help out and then make my way! Even things out, y'know?

I try to put the town together against the bad guys, and pretty much everyone is onboard... except the Dynamite hobo (but he has good reason, so i'm cool with him) and the Shop Guy... now... the Shop guy is different. For Bells of the West, he is just the sort of Scum she likes to carve a new face.

For you see, Bells like her Plasma pistols and she is pretty gun with energy weapons with a skill of 40 at just Level 2. But she has a Big knife too... a skill of 14 with those, but she likes the knife... ooh she likes it.

So, the bandits come, we kill them all! Victory for the little town as the sun is just starting to rise up.

So now Bells is ready to go on her Journey... but there is one more thing she must do. She goes to the Shop, the Prick owner is still sleeping... she crawls right next to his bed, as close as close can be... pulls out her Big Knife and there you go..... a bloody knife and a smile later, she is ready to leave town.

Ok, so she lost some karma to that, and i call Bullshti because nobody was around to see her.... but i know that doidn abd stuff is bad even if there is nobody around so okay.

And so it starts her Journey. meanwhile in a distant future, Bells Sheppard Flirts awkwardly with everything with a beating heart while teaching younglings the moral values of a full blown war hero...

Roleplaying in PC RPG's is fun...

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

All of my characters inevitably start out evil and get worse from there. In Fallout 3 I performed every evil deed you could think of and worse, eventually resulting in the deaths of everyone in Megaton, Republic of Dave, Andale, Overpass, that vampire cult in the subways (and the people in the town they were harassing), both of those "superheroes" (and the town they protected), everyone in Oasis, every random wanderer I met, a bunch of people in Rivet City (the android got it worse though; after killing off his pursuers, I used the passcode to reset his sentience, leaving him braindead), all of Tenpenny Tower (and the ghouls who moved in after), everyone in Undercity, anything and everyone who lived in a Vault and probably a bunch of other groups I can't remember now.

Oh and then I also added the mutant killing poison to the water at the end too. Of course I left the slavers intact and sold whoever I could to them. Oh and the guy in the virtual world, yeah, he got left alive... but everyone else was dead, so he's alone for all eternity now.

So yeah, roleplaying is fun!

PS; Bells, on Mass Effect 2, did you never play the first one? If not, how are you finding the game? I ask because it just came out for ps3 and the demo has me intrigued, but I hate starting a series in the middle because I feel like I'm missing out on stuff, so I'm in two minds over whether to get it or not.

[Osterbaum]

Well you should play Mass Effect 1 before ME2. I mean, one the main selling points of the trilogy is that choices in ME1 will transfer to ME2 and then finally to ME3.

e: As far as RPing, I tend to favor the 'good' or 'paragon' (or whatever they choose to call it) route. So much so, that for a long time I didn't even consider the 'evil' etc. option on other playthroughs. More recently I've made a lot more 'evil', 'renegade' etc. choices. In ME2 there were a few renegade choices that quite simply seemed to make tactical sense to me or otherwise seemed justified enough. In Fallout: New Vegas it's trickier, since there are a number of different groups and you can't possibly please them all at once. So I ended up being friendly to some, neutral to others and hostile to the a few. As far as other choices in the game go, I tend to take the good karma path except when the bad karma choice makes more tactical sense and the 'bad' consequences are acceptable. All in all it's pretty interesting how the development of my own ideas on morality and ethics has manifested itself in games (especially RPGs of course) I've played throughout the years.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

They don't on ps3 though, because me1 isn't out on ps3, hence my dilemma of whether to bother purchasing me2, because I CAN'T play me1.

[Osterbaum]

Man, fuck not publishing some of the greatest games on ALL consoles (and the PC obviosly).

[Bells]

i don't recall now, but i heard there would be a special option for the PS3 where you would get a recap of the first game and make all the ME1 choices so those would carry over to ME2, but i honestly can't recall where i saw that... it's been a while.

Now, yes, i know i'm missing quite a bit of the story and now i won't be able to tell what is happening that came from ME1, but it's not really hard to get in the game. The cast of characters that is with you is likeable enough to create a confortable atmosphere, even Sheppard himself has lines (and voice) that make him confortable to play...

The only real drawback is that Sheppard is Space Jesus of fuck-yo-shit and if you don't play ME1 you hear a LOT of "why" he became that and "how" but you "weren't" really there to see it, so it's kinda like the entire Galaxy praising or hating you for a great deed you can't remember doing

On the other hand, Martin Sheen is in it, and i can't possibly deny Loyalty to Mr President.