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Relying on random encounters, especially this early on, is a recipe for getting gunned down.
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Jan 19, 2014 18:46
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dis astranagant posted:Or you can skip Klamath and murder a couple of shopkeepers in the second town without consequence. But then who'd be left to take care of all the little pianos? Cooked Auto posted:Now here are two sections that never really worked properly for me in my EU version of the game, trying to enter the vertibird section always CTDed the game for me and after patching I could never ever actually find the 10mm pistol in the caverns and I think the body was even gone completely but I could be misremembering that. A fellow EU edition sufferer! I don't remember getting those issues myself, though the total removal of all children from the game to save delicate European sensibilities did make playing hide and seek later on a lot more challenging.
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Jan 19, 2014 20:04
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Obtuse Angol posted:A fellow EU edition sufferer! I don't remember getting those issues myself, though the total removal of all children from the game to save delicate European sensibilities did make playing hide and seek later on a lot more challenging. Yeah I have no drat clue what was wrong with my version really. I'm just gonna blame it on a faulty disc or production run or something. Also the disappearing kids could really screw you over in an upcoming place. Might have happened to me but I can't recall if it did.
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Jan 19, 2014 22:04
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Cooked Auto posted:Yeah I have no drat clue what was wrong with my version really. I'm just gonna blame it on a faulty disc or production run or something. Modoc/the farm
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Jan 20, 2014 03:08
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Or is it Sputnik posted:If it's the one I'm thinking of, it made me uninstall and not touch the game for six years in rage. That's a small side-quest, there are far worse consequences for this.
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Jan 20, 2014 08:23
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Let's put it this way: The EU version didn't remove the children, just made them invisible, unkillable, and untargetable. People who have played the game past this first town will probably figure out the problem with this pretty quickly. Here's a hint: the game has no way of differentiating quest-essential items from normal inventory. KataraniSword fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Jan 20, 2014 |
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Jan 20, 2014 10:08
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KataraniSword posted:Let's put it this way: The EU version didn't remove the children, just made them invisible, unkillable, and untargetable. I thought you could solve at least a part of the problem by using (entertaining/gimmicky mechanics spoiler)dynamite?
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Jan 20, 2014 10:12
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KataraniSword posted:People who have played the game past this first town will probably figure out the problem with this pretty quickly. Here's a hint: the game has no way of differentiating quest-essential items from normal inventory. Don't all the items end up in the pawn shop?
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Jan 20, 2014 13:55
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Update 6: Mean Streets and Meaner Men Looking at the map the Den was about as far from Klamath as Arroyo was. The caves where Smiley had gone off to were a good bit closer, but if he'd been right about the golden geckos I wanted more ammo and possibly more help before I went out there. I also knew where Vic was, and he was my only lead on the GECK. It took us more than three days to walk to the Den.  The Den was a whole different place from Klamath, and a whole lot less friendly. They didn't even have a town greeter, which I'd been led to believe was a must for any civilized town.  "Sulik, what do you think of this place?" "They say people get lost here real easy. In many ways." "That's what I think too." The first building we came to had a glowing red sign and a couple of adorable urchins acting as miniature bouncers. I thought I felt one of them almost touch me when I walked in, but at the time I thought it must have been my imagination. I didn't have time to investigate at the moment, because I was ambushed the moment I walked in.  "Great. How are things with you?" "Oh, very good. Thanks for asking. Becky has such an interesting family history. Do you have one yourself?" "That's a really weird question to just come out and ask someone you met 30 seconds ago, but yes. My ancestor supposedly saved the world from someone called the 'Master'." "How interesting. That reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago. Something about a master. Maybe if you bought me a drink..." "I'm probably going to regret this, but okay." "Really big mutants with weapons as tall as you and me came from the south. Mom said it looked like a big migration of some sort. Some of them kept heading north, and some of them headed east." "You still haven't said anything about a 'Master'." "I still don't follow what this has to do with me." "Well, don't you see? They were talking about the Master, the one your ancestor killed." "I guess that could be the case… wait, your mom saw this 70 or 80 years ago? How old exactly are you?" "Well, I never! If I hadn't finished my drink I would throw it on you. You should buy me another one for just that reason!" "Whoa mon! Dere some questions we don't ask the women. You gotta lot to learn." "Maybe so… do you know anything about a guy named Vic?" "Yeah, I know Vic. Metzger's got him locked up. I'm not sure why though." "Dat's okay den. We and I and dis guy got to talk to Metzger about a few things." "Meantime, do you know anything about getting work here in town?" "Well, I actually need someone to collect $200 that Fred owes me. If you can get it for me I'd be really grateful." "That sounds easy enou… wait, what's the catch?" "Catch? Oh, well, if you knew Fred you'd understand. He's owed me the money for quite a long time. I'd written it off as a loss, but if you can get it back I'd be amazed… and grateful. He's somewhere in town, I'm sure." "I'll see what I can do." It turned out to be easier than I thought it was going to be, mainly because Fred was right outside the door. I'd actually walked past him on the way in to the casino. I pulled him off to the side in case Becky was looking out the window… it'd have completely ruined my plans if he'd actually been coming to pay back the loan.  I could have tried to be rough with him, but he seemed so clueless and lost that I didn't think I'd need to intimidate him. "C'mon man, hand it over." "Oh, drat it. I can barely afford $100. Could you spot me half? I promise I'll pay you back." "…so basically I'd be paying half your debt, and now I'd own the other half and could collect it later." "Whatever you say man. Here's $100, I'll get you the other half as soon as possible!" "Probably for the best. I'm not as patient as Becky's been." "About that… d'you think I could borrow $50? I've got a system that's about to pay off!" "You do realize that's only going to leave me with $50 to pay off your $200 loan." "Wow, you're good at math! I wish I was as good at math as you are…trust me, it's gonna pay off big!" "Alright… but you owe me big time for this." "Yes, I did." "I can't believe it. How did you do it? Oh, never mind. I'm just stunned, that's all. To show my appreciation, I'll split it with you, right down the middle. Thank again, that was very honest of you." "Sure thing. Got any more work, that maybe doesn't involve collecting from deadbeats?" "Derek borrowed a book of mine a while back. I'll pay $80 if you can get it back for me." "So is this the only book in town, or is there more you can tell me about it?" "Oh, it be dat kind of book…" "I don't understand what you're getting at, but it shouldn't be hard to find." There was something weird about this town. Some people were fairly normal, but the rest of them… they looked at you, but they didn't look at you. They looked at empty spaces and acted like there were people and creatures there, and ignored people who were right in front of them.  Most of them walked listlessly back and forth, but I could see that they clustered around one building on the east side of town. I had a feeling that whatever was causing their strange behavior was inside.  "Hey Sulik, you've been around a bit more than I have… is it me, or does this guy kind of talk funny?" "We and I not be having no room to talk about how somebody else talks, fren." I was fairly sure that Flick wasn't a clown, but I couldn't rule it out. What I did recognize him as was a snake, and in Arroyo we know exactly how to deal with snakes:  So, I shot him in the face. Astonishingly he survived the first shot and tried to run into his bedroom, but Sulik caught up with him. I don't know if he agreed with me about why Flick needed to die, but he didn't stop to ask questions and he didn't complain when I asked him to carry most of the spare weapons and ammo. I kept a .44 revolver as it seemed an improvement over the 10 mil.  Halfway done, I headed to the other store in town. It looked like a more upstanding place, but the owner tried to convince me that drugs were the same thing as money. He had a couple of friends, so it took a bit longer.  He also had a couple of emaciated, drugged up women locked in the back room. I felt like they probably deserved something, but considering the fact that they were drugged enough to not know what I was handing them. Giving them some of his drugs was also out. In the end, I just left the door open and decided to tell Becky where they were when I handed over the book.  At least some of the things that Tubby had were useful. It was quite a haul, but I had a feeling most places wouldn't be nearly as open to me killing merchants and helping myself to their inventory.  The building between their stores was full of people in armor holding weapons. They kind of stood out in comparison to everyone else I'd seen in town. I asked the woman who looked like she was in charge if there was anything they needed help with.  "That's it? Doesn't sound like much, but $200 sure doesn't sound bad." "Thanks. Don't get in a fight… yet. I have a plan." "It seems like half the people in this town have some kind of plan. I just hope they don't all run at cross purposes." I wasn't in a hurry, so I continued making a tour around town. There were some.. interesting… places, but I wasn't sure what an Egyptian or a Mummy was and I definitely wasn't going to pay to see one. Far more interesting was a mysterious black building with a flag out front and a man in some kind of uniform.   "Your recent activities have drawn attention to you. People talk and people listen, and word gets around. You need to remember that you are only one small fish in an ocean of sharks, Luke." "What do you mean by that? I mean, I know what a fish is and I've heard of the ocean, but what the hell's a shark?" "Let's just say that you're the new kid on the block and you don't know what's going on in the neighborhood. There's a lot more going on than your simple quest…" "I've been sent to find a miracle in a box that nobody can describe to me from a vault that nobody knows the location of using a trail of clues that starts with a trader who's been locked up by slavers. Simple quest, right. But, do go on." After my last rant, I really only had one choice… my real goal here didn't necessarily have anything to do with Vault 13 or Vic. "Do you know where I can find a GECK?" "The GECKs were a standard issue item for all vaults. If memory serves me right they were to be used after the vault opened to rebuild civilization. I can only assume that one could be found in an unopened vault. Good luck, Luke." "That answer was technically correct but told me nothing useful. Thanks, I guess." Still shaking my head, I wandered between the buildings and down the street into a fenced off area full of old cars including one that looked just like the one I'd seen in Klamath. The only difference was that this one wasn't on blocks, and it looked like it was in much better shape. I had to ask the person in the shack about it.  "Nice car you got there… this part have any relation to it?" "Hmm, that looks jist like a fuel cell regular. If I had a car that ran, it'd sure improve the mileage on it." "Wait, what about that car out front?" "Oh, that one ain't running'. If someone brought me a battery… wait, no, I'd need a fuel cell controller. Yeah, if'n I had one of them, I'd sell the car for $2,000. Even install the controller so it'd run right." "Oh really now? If I ever find that part and $2,000 I might come back here." At that point I was fresh out of things to do on that side of town, and decided to head over to see if I could find that book or get a look at the merchandise Lara was curious about. On the way I passed a trio of punks standing around smoking like they owned the place and didn't have anything better to do, and marked them as people I might have to ask some questions about Vic.  It wasn't hard to find the people Lara was talking about, since they'd appropriated the biggest and creepiest looking building I'd ever seen. Without a fight, there was only one way to get inside...  "Metzger sent me." "What the hell for? His stuff's not going anywhere." "He wanted me to check it for him."Let's just say that they weren't the sharpest spears in the bundle. "gently caress it. Just go in. Does he think it's just going to up and leave? Who the hell would want that poo poo anyhow?" "Thanks. He probably won't ask, but if he does I'll tell him you were real easy to work with." "Man, we gonna have to get you some bigger pants to hold all those balls." Not that I could make heads or tails of what I found… just a bunch of neatly labeled chemicals whose names I couldn't even make a stab at pronouncing. I just had to hope that Lara would accept "boxes full of chemical crap" as an answer.  I waved to Tyler on my way out, and just as I stepped back into the sunlight I caught a glimpse of a book sitting next to a barrel across the street. I ran over and picked it up, and sure enough it was 'The Lavender Flower'. Easiest $80 I'd ever made.  The book can actually be in about 5 different places in the second half of Klamath. Finding it this easily was actually pretty lucky! Right at the end of the street I found the first restaurant I'd ever seen. I didn't know what to make of the concept, entirely, but the idea of food I didn't have to cook myself seemed like a pretty good one. I introduced myself to the person who had 'cook' written all over her face and asked if there was anything I could help her with. That's usually a pretty good way of getting yourself a meal on the house.  "Er… maybe? Hey, you know anything about Vic or vaults or anything like that?" "Well, there's a Vault City a ways east of here and a little north. And Vic… I think he's still with Metzger's place. Ain't seen him in a while. Are you gonna take that meal over for me?" "Sure, no problem." "Thanks so much. I'd do it myself but there's nobody to watch the place while I'm gone. Here's Smitty's meal. If I didn't have it brought to him I'm sure he'd forget to eat." There hadn't been any discussion of payment, but I found myself well rewarded by Smitty since a Stimpack was a lot more valuable than a plate of spaghetti. While I was in the area I decided to stop by and tell Lara what I'd found.  "Raw chemical compounds in large crates. I think it started with a C and had some numbers in there and an H and an N." "That makes sense actually. Here's your money." "It does? You've got to know more about chemicals than I do." "Not that, I don't know what that poo poo is either. But I've seen caravans from Vault City come in and then some of it gets picked up by caravans from New Reno." "I don't know where either of those places are, other than Vault City being somewhere out east." "I'm not sure exactly either… just to the south somewhere. I've never been there, I just see their caravans stop by once in a while - once in a long while. Hey, wanna do me another quick favor? $50, easy money." "It'd give it away if he saw one of your guys nosing around? Sure, no problem." I also handed over the book while I was in the area, since I had a feeling I'd be a bit busy once I got a chance to see Metzger. If nothing else, I'd have a hell of a time just keeping Sulik from tearing the place apart. ddegenha fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 05:37
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You mentioned Klamath in relation to the book by the way. Also I am disappointed you didn't actually read it because of the responses you get.
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Jan 21, 2014 12:15
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So, you just walked up and murdered the shop owners? Well, that's one way to break the power curve of an easily breakable game, I guess.
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Jan 21, 2014 12:22
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The Den is a lawless town and so long as no one else sees you do it you can kill both those guys and take their stuff. It helps that they're both dicks anyway.
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Jan 21, 2014 12:26
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In fact, it has a fair amount of people you can kill and gain karma for doing so. So that kind of tells you what kinda people are there.
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Jan 21, 2014 12:42
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dis astranagant posted:The Den is a lawless town and so long as no one else sees you do it you can kill both those guys and take their stuff. It helps that they're both dicks anyway. I know. I played the game waay too much. But having such a weapon/armor/drugs/cash infusion so early completely removes any challenge from the game until you reach Vault City.
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Jan 21, 2014 12:45
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Sometimes. Neither of them carries much cash, the armor selection at this point of the game (and really more or less until the endgame) sucks rear end and Flick usually doesn't have more than a dose of anything real fun. At least you're near guaranteed to pull a magnum revolver off one of them, it's gonna be a long time before we see anything better.
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Jan 21, 2014 13:05
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I always knew you could do that with the shopkeeps, of course, but never could do it myself. It just seems so horribly evil.
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Jan 21, 2014 14:10
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my dad posted:I know. I played the game waay too much. But having such a weapon/armor/drugs/cash infusion so early completely removes any challenge from the game until you reach Vault City. If you think about it there's only about 3 quest related fights until after the area you mentioned, and one of those only requires you to stand by and watch. This part of the game isn't very challenging at all as far as combat goes, although that definitely ramps up later on. FairGame posted:I always knew you could do that with the shopkeeps, of course, but never could do it myself. I've been playing ahead and taking screenshots... let me say, this is far from the most morally questionable thing our hero will end up doing. Cooked Auto posted:You mentioned Klamath in relation to the book by the way. So I did! Thanks for the spot. And now I have to read it in one of the side runs just to see what I missed. I think I've always just viewed it as a quest token and nothing more.
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Jan 21, 2014 14:34
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EDIT: On second thought, best option with "could this be a spoiler" is to not tempt fate. However, ddegenha answered Rockopolis's question quite nicely in this update, it seems. KataraniSword fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 15:20
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ddegenha posted:So I did! Thanks for the spot. And now I have to read it in one of the side runs just to see what I missed. I think I've always just viewed it as a quest token and nothing more. No you can actually read it and your character will say some stuff about it at least once or twice. ddegenha posted:If you think about it there's only about 3 quest related fights until after the area you mentioned, and one of those only requires you to stand by and watch. This part of the game isn't very challenging at all as far as combat goes, although that definitely ramps up later on. That does sorta depend on you if you decide to deal with something in the Den earlier than you maybe should do.
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Jan 21, 2014 15:28
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my dad posted:So, you just walked up and murdered the shop owners? Well, that's one way to break the power curve of an easily breakable game, I guess.
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Jan 21, 2014 16:10
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Xander77 posted:There's only one way to properly break the power curve - save scum as you travel until you make your way to the end-game town the moment you leave Arroyo. Doesn't that also make the game tremendously un-fun? One of the best things about Fallout is that you can solve most every quest in different ways. But if you have end-game equipment early on, you will always have the least interesting solution--violence--available. I tried this once in F:NV and made a high-sneak/high luck character that used the 2 stealth boys you get early on to sneak into Freeside and then Vegas. And it kind of ruined that playthrough to the point that I lost interest. It's fun not being able to handle an outpost filled with 6-8 lovely raiders. Yes, I know that my preferred playthrough isn't for everyone, but...if you wanted a shoot 'em up then Fallout 2 doesn't even seem that good of a game. It'd be like playing Torment with a low-int/low-wis Nameless One. FairGame fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 16:34
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"Violence isn't the answer - violence is the question. And the answer is"... I dunno - which solution will give me more XP? (Never mind that once you're done with the tedium of saving your way back and forth across the wasteland you'll actually avoid a lot of "guess I'll have to save this quest for latter" and "guess I'll track back across California just to complete that one quest" issues) (Also, New Vegas is like 1/4th of the way through F:NV at best. The one thing that breaks the game if you arrive at Vegas is high luck and access to the Gun Runners, but that's another issue)
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Jan 21, 2014 16:59
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ddegenha posted:I've been playing ahead and taking screenshots... let me say, this is far from the most morally questionable thing our hero will end up doing.
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Jan 21, 2014 23:53
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Gaaaah, you killed the one merchant who gets issues of catspaw in stock! Now the only way to get all ten issues is to scrounge every last location in the game for them.
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Jan 21, 2014 23:55
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King Doom posted:Gaaaah, you killed the one merchant who gets issues of catspaw in stock! Now the only way to get all ten issues is to scrounge every last location in the game for them.
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Jan 22, 2014 00:16
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Shei-kun posted:Does... does that actually DO anything? I always thought they were just wasted space. Think about this for a second: What else in the game shares the name? The Cat's Paw in New Reno. The reward for the quest is a boost to your energy weapons skill. Some people do read it for the articles, apparently.
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Jan 22, 2014 00:34
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my dad posted:Think about this for a second: What else in the game shares the name? Is that quest repeatable? It seems like it should be, but what do I know.
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Jan 22, 2014 07:22
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ddegenha posted:I've been playing ahead and taking screenshots... let me say, this is far from the most morally questionable thing our hero will end up doing. The irony is killing Flick actually INCREASES your Karma because he's an amoral scumbag hiring orphaned children to pickpocket everyone in town. Killing him effectively stops the pickpocketing kids (though it seems I remember a scripting bug making some of them start stealing again, which is probably why some of the FO2 mods put an orphanage in to remove them entirely).
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Jan 22, 2014 09:26
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Crazy Dastard posted:Killing him effectively stops the pickpocketing kids 
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Jan 22, 2014 11:57
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Pierzak posted:So does planting a lit dynamite on them. Or better yet letting them steal from you while that's the only thing you're carrying.
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Jan 22, 2014 12:22
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dis astranagant posted:Or better yet letting them steal from you while that's the only thing you're carrying. If I remember, this suggestion is the only way that you can get rid of them on-screen without the whole town noticing. Reverse-pickpocketing still nets you the nasty karma and the ire of the whole town.
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Jan 22, 2014 16:45
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KataraniSword posted:If I remember, this suggestion is the only way that you can get rid of them on-screen without the whole town noticing. Reverse-pickpocketing still nets you the nasty karma and the ire of the whole town. I thought the super stimpak trick worked still?
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Jan 22, 2014 17:05
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Crazy Dastard posted:The irony is killing Flick actually INCREASES your Karma because he's an amoral scumbag hiring orphaned children to pickpocket everyone in town. Killing him effectively stops the pickpocketing kids (though it seems I remember a scripting bug making some of them start stealing again, which is probably why some of the FO2 mods put an orphanage in to remove them entirely). I think the mods that do this are actually just restoring something that was cut from the final game. If I remember correctly there was supposed to be another area of the Den which had a Get The Orphans Off The Streets quest.
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Jan 22, 2014 17:19
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Most of Fallout 2's cut content was cut in the sketches and a few paragraphs phase. The "restoration mod" is more or less a Fallout Bible fanfic that only ever had names and general concepts to go on.
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Jan 22, 2014 17:22
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dis astranagant posted:Most of Fallout 2's cut content was cut in the sketches and a few paragraphs phase. The "restoration mod" is more or less a Fallout Bible fanfic that only ever had names and general concepts to go on. Well, the 3rd section of the Den where this quest was supposed to happen does exist in the game, you just have to know how to get to it. Implementing the quest itself does require the "restoration" mod though.
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Jan 22, 2014 17:56
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Khisanth Magus posted:Well, the 3rd section of the Den where this quest was supposed to happen does exist in the game, you just have to know how to get to it. Implementing the quest itself does require the "restoration" mod though. I think it's done by pressing 3 on the map of Den.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:11
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my dad posted:I think it's done by pressing 3 on the map of Den. That is correct. You can enter each section of a city by pressing the (hidden) associated number key for the section. They took away the transitions to it and its selector on the city map, but you can get to Den Residential by pressing 3 on the map.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:47
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dis astranagant posted:Most of Fallout 2's cut content was cut in the sketches and a few paragraphs phase. The "restoration mod" is more or less a Fallout Bible fanfic that only ever had names and general concepts to go on. I'm still not sure where exactly Fallout 2 falls in the scale of "game with obscene amounts of cut content", with KOTOR2 and its "pretty much everything is in the game files but not finished" on one end and SaGa Frontier and its "you need the Ultimania to understand the creators' fanfic of a plot" on the other.
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Jan 22, 2014 19:17
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Update 7: Do I Own Him Now? "Sounds great! What have you got?" "Flank steak." "Whoa, really?" "Uh… could I get something without so much rat in it?" "You could have the spaghetti. It doesn't have too much rat in it - just the sauce, that's all." "Well, OK, I guess I'll have the spaghetti with rat-sauce." While Mom was whipping up that spaghetti I made small talk with the other people in the dining room.  I almost immediately regretted it as Stacy gave me a history of cats, the different varieties, and how some of them used to eat humans.  The last bit turned out to be a bit ironic, since long story short someone had eaten her cat. I expressed my sympathies and went off in search of someone less crushingly depressing.  I was doomed to disappointment, since the only other person who wasn't with a friend was a bum that Mom had given a free plate of food.  "What's your story? If it's good, maybe I'll toss you a few bucks."  "pasty white skins… Spooked the hell out of me, it. Night after night they showed up and stole crops and cattle alike; I could do nothing to stop them. I know what you're gonna say - "Why didn't you ask for help?" I tell ya, I did!" "That sounds pretty awful… so what happened then?" "Nobody would believe me, they thought I was crazy. Finally, it just became too much for me. I COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I just up and left and came here - and here I've been ever since." "Hey, Mom's calling. Looks like my meal's ready… uh… hope that gets better for you." From Mom's, the Slaver's Guild wasn't hard to find. You couldn't miss the human misery, or the giant sign on the side that said "Slaver's Guild," or the armed guards standing around outside.  "That's great, Sulik, but what I wanted was to talk about the Slavers." "We gonna go in dere and ask about me sister, mebbe bash some heads if they not answer fast?" "Yeah, about that. I can't help but notice that there's two of us and about a dozen of them. They all have guns, and out of the two of us only I do." "So… we gotta get'em by surprise?" "Sure, but not right now. We need more guns, and more people, and better armor. Then we can bust in there." "We and I can wait, and then we kill slavers by and by." They had a greeter out front, but I just had him send word to the back. I didn't need to ask any stupid question about what the Slaver's Guild did, since that was pretty obvious.  Metzger looked like the kind of guy who'd bite a snake and the snake would be the one who got sick. He also had six guards watching our every move. Not a popular guy in town, that Metzger.  "Lara wanted me to ask you for permission to fight Tyler." "Oh, don't play coy with me. I know exactly what she's planning to do. I gave her a chance a while back and she couldn't cut it, but if she thinks she's up to it…" "So, it's okay?" "Well, I did say the offer would remain open. If she finally thinks she can kick his rear end and is better able to guard my poo poo…" "I'm hearing a lot of words here, but none of them are 'yes, it's okay.'" "gently caress it, yes. Anything else you want out of my busy day?" "Word is you've got a trader named Vic around here." "Why are you keeping him here?" "That little gently caress - he sold me a radio that he said would be able to pick up some transmissions. It didn't. I caught his rear end trying to sneak out of town before I found out. Bad mistake. No one fucks with me. He's lucky to be alive." "Transmissions? Between who?" "No problem. Can I see him?" "What for? Ah, gently caress, never mind. Just don't keep him from fixing that drat radio - and he better fix it soon. I'm sick of feeding his lazy rear end."I didn't waste any more time in getting the guard to let me in to see Vic. For some reason the guard thought I was just wandering around the Slaver's Guild trying to get a look around.  "My name is Luke. I'm here to get you out." "Wow! You'd do that for me? I'd do anything if you could get me out of this mess. Only problem is that Metzger's to me locked up here until I fix this radio and I don't have the parts I need." "Can you use this radio I found?" "That's great! I'll have the radio fixed in no time." "Okay, I'll talk to Metzger." "Maybe some money might help clear things up?" "Sure. $1,000." "I'll just come back later, then." I didn't have $1,000 and I was running out of ways to get money in town. I was so distracted by my money problems that I almost didn't notice a drug addict going insane and deciding I was some kind of tentacle monster. Luckily Sulik was paying more attention than I was, and my revolver helped settle the issue.  "He said yes. If you win, you can have their job, like before." "Great. I was hoping as much. I hear he's been complaining about them lately. Here's your money." "I assume there's something else now?" "And how the hell am I supposed to do that? Also, how much are you willing to pay me?" "We'll give you $150. There's no way we can get close enough to find out by ourselves." "Consider it done."$150 was just enough for me to spring Vic, and as a trader he'd probably be able to lay hands on some cash to pay me back. Of course, that assumed he was good at trading, which I was beginning to think was not the case. With nothing else to do, I went straight back to the church.  "How's it going?" "Actually, great! Almost forgot - a buddy of mine won it big at the tables and he's sharing the wealth, if you know what I mean." "Big plans, then?" "Yeah, he's throwing a party tonight at his place. Should be a blast. We're going to drink until we drop." "Down a few brews for me, then." "Dat boy got more balls than brains, and he not got too much of either." Discovering Tyler's plans put us up to level 5, which results in us topping speech out at 100% and being able to finally put some points into small guns. We're also still working on unarmed, but that's going to stop pretty soon. "Yes. They're having a party tonight." "Excellent! They're sure to leave a skeleton crew. Those should be good odds. We'll take out those at the party after we hit the church." "And my money?"Even as I asked the question, I knew from the look on her face that I wasn't going to get that lucky.  When someone tells you they want to come along to prove that you're not a leading them into a trap, there's really no graceful way to say no. At least the money was better and they said I could sit it out if I wanted to.  And that was how I found myself running down one side of a church with a street gang at midnight. Sulik was having a blast with the entire thing, yelling "U-Suthuuu!" at the top of his lungs. In retrospect, that might have given them some warning.  It turned out that a skeleton crew consisted of everybody except for Tyler. There were still five guards at the church, and they weren't exactly slouches. I felt like I had to lend a hand, and I found that it really wasn't that hard to hit people with my gun… as long as people didn't try to get in my way.  After we gunned the first one down I started shooting through the door, and the rest of the gang came out in a line. When it was all said and done I'd actually made $400, and they let me keep the pistols that Tyler's crew were carrying. Whatever else you could say about killing people, it was certainly profitable.  You might not believe the next part of the story, but I swear that when I went back to the other side I saw a ghost in the old house right across the street from Lara's. And I didn't just see it… I had a conversation with it.  "Hah! I told you there be a bone spirit here!" "What's the matter?" "Where is it? I cannot find it! I am lost! Oh…" "What are you looking for? Maybe I can help?" "My locket! It is gone. Thief! Thief!" "Whoa, I just got here. I didn't do it."After that she didn't have anything else useful to say, so I headed for the best place I could think of to track down gossip.  "What do you know about that haunted house?" "Hmm, don't know much about that. Someone's probably just having a little fun, that's all. One of the boys used to sleep there a few years back. Maybe he knows something." "Tell me a bit about this kid." "Oh ya, that just the thing to piss off da spirits." "Got a name to go with that description?" "Not sure. I think it started with a J… Joseph, Joel, or something like that. I think he's hanging out with some thugs these days." "Oh, those idiots. I know who you're talking about." While I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by to spring Vic. I was surprised that Metzger was still doing business so late at night, but I guess you keep strange hours in that job.  "Come with me, I could use a hand." "And I could use someone else for de bad people to be shooting at." "Sure, I'll join up with you! This old fart has one big adventure left in him. I'm sure of it! I'm pretty good at repairing things too, despite what Metzger says." "Before we go beat up some thugs, where'd you get this flask from?" "From Ed, the brahmin dealer in Vault City. Let me show you on that map things of yours." "Your turf? I don't think so kid." "What do you want?" "I want to talk to you about a ghost that comes around here at night. Maybe because someone stole a locket from that haunted house." "No man, I be walking with the spirits and that's some bad news you got there." "If you don't return it right now, she'll come after you. And she can't be stopped." After that, he couldn't hand it over fast enough. People in towns like to say we're uncivilized, but if anything they're even more superstitious… although I suppose it's not superstition if it's actually the truth. Anyway, the locket set Anna Winslow, and we brought it back to the house.  After we handed over the locket she collapsed into a pile of bones on the floor. I don't know how they got there, but I knew that we had to put them back if we wanted her spirit to stay quiet. Luckily there was a shovel in the book case for some reason.  While I was at it I went ahead and helped myself to a few things from Lara's headquarters. I didn't think she'd miss them with her new job.  We had to walk up and down the cemetery plots looking for the right grave. Sulik insisted that if we put her in the wrong grave she'd be even more upset, and I didn't see any reason why he'd be wrong. The man knew his spirits.  The rest of the gravestones were a little bit stranger, sometimes in depressing ways… now that we had Vic and a place to go, there wasn't anything holding us in the Den. But before we could go to Vault City, there were a few more things that needed to be taken care of.
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Jan 23, 2014 04:34
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| # ? May 27, 2024 11:48 |
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I gotta be honest, I didn't really imagine Vic as being Dennis Franz.
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Jan 23, 2014 05:09
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