2013: I finish New Vegas and start playing the DLC content. I leave Honest Hearts for last. As soon as I load into Zion the ending cutscene plays and I get a black screen. I have to load an old save and this bug occurs every time I try to enter Zion.
2015: I get a new laptop for university and replay New Vegas from the beginning. I decide to try Honest Hearts. My game crashes when I enter the Northern passage. I disable all of my mods. The same bug occurs. I do a clean install of the game and Windows. My game still crashes when I enter the Northern passage.
2017: Our apartment in Paris is robbed, including my laptop. With the insurance money received I build a new desktop. I install New Vegas on it. I decide to replay Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. They both work fine. I decide to try Honest Hearts. I am able to load into Zion. All of the NPCs in the initial firefight die except one White Legs ambusher. The quest does not progress to the 'Move into Zion Valley' stage. No NPC will talk to me. No NPC is hostile to me. I TCL throughout Zion and nothing progresses no matter what. I disable all mods, do a clean install of the game, and try a new save entirely. This still occurs upon entering Zion.
2018: I replay New Vegas. This time as soon as I leave Doc's house I beeline my way to Northern passage. I pick up nothing. I speak to no one. I fight no beast. I take a sip from my trusty Vault 13 canteen. I do not wish to let my save be altered in the slightest way lest I be denied the forbidden fruit I have gone without for over half a decade. I enter the Northern passage. I complete 'Happy Trails Expedition.' I begin 'Arrival at Zion.' I load into Zion. My heart beats faster and faster. My palms sweat. The firefight begins. The caravan is dropping like flies. I know now this is supposed to happen. in VATS I plug the White Legs full of lead. One remains. I cross the bridge to progress the quest. My lip quivers. Follows-Chalk approaches me. He stares at me. I take a sip from my trust Vault 13 canteen. I interact with Follows-Chalk. I am greeted with "Hoi! White Legs don't leave survivors often. You're some kind of lucky, let me tell you." But this is not in a dialogue box. Though the subtitles emblazon the bottom of my screen, I am given no opportunity here to press further. My quest draws to an end before it can even begin. I set flags to different states in the console to no avail. I TCL around only to have NPCs regard me with passive dialogue. My actions have no bearing on this godforsaken land. I am but an observer for a world I cannot, will not ever know. I have no mouth, and I must scream.
2022: In an envious last-ditch effort, I reinstall New Vegas with the Viva New Vegas modpack. In this instance, I figure I should not let the vanilla game hemorrhage and hope to progress before it crumbles under its own weight. Fallout: New Vegas will be wrapped in as many bandaid fixes as Joshua Graham. If it has allowed the Burned Man to survive in the face of certain death, perhaps I will be granted the Lord's blessing as well. I create a new character and help the people of Goodsprings against the Powder Gangers to refamiliarise myself with the wasteland. When the dust settles, I beeline it to New Vegas. Not for revenge, but for salvation. Warnings of deathclaws and radscorpions fall upon deaf ears. I kill a deathclaw caught between a chair and a wall to reach level 2. As with my previous attempts, I ultimately seek to reach Zion with minimal influence exerted on the land, lest some quest flag, some quirk of the game engine deny me the promised land. I come across Sloan, an outpost I had never known about, an outpost I will never know about as I must press onward. A Stealth Boy grants me passage beyond a final pack of deathclaws. I am proud of myself for making it through. I recall that Honest Hearts requires a low carry weight to begin, so I make a stop at the Crimson Caravan Company and nearby clinic to offload my wares. I have made a miscalculation.
Being only level 3 upon my arrival at the Northern passage I cannot meet the Speech check to get the others in the caravan to bear my burden. My Survival too is below par. Still, that I have made it this far is promising. I am insistent on bringing as many items into Zion as I can, so it's off to Freeside to do some short quests. I enter the Atomic Wrangler ready to collect some debts and hire some escorts when the one-armed bandit lures me closer with its siren song. My scant few caps become chips which become devastating loss. With only 7 Luck I am statistically likely to break even at Blackjack, so perhaps I can recuperate my funds in short order. Liquidating the rest of my inventory does not have the desired effect as my losses are doubled. Another level would grant me a perk, a chance to increase my Luck one point further. Mick and Ralph's nearby has the lustful Naughty Nightwear which will also increase my Luck. Or, penniless and with only my pistol at my side, I could leave for Zion at once.
I was never one to let bygones be bygones. With any number of options for earning coin in Freeside, my sloth gets the better of me and I recall that The Silver Rush across the street is comically easy to steal from. The plethora of guards watched me drag plasma rifles into the bathroom only to waddle out over-encumbered. With a fat pocket of caps, I purchase the Nightwear. Having veered so far from my intended path, I wrathfully murder Dixon and some Freeside addicts to level up. With 9 Luck, I cannot lose. In no time at all I clean out the Atomic Wrangler. The Strip calls.
I should have known my greed would lead me down this path, but no matter. I excuse my behaviour as a need to purchase a high-quality firearm from the Gun Runners, even if I know it to be a falsehood. In no time at all I am barred from Gomorrah, The Tops, and even the Ultra Luxe. When I had crossed paths with Benny in The Tops I paid him no mind, so absolute was my drive to reach Honest Hearts. By this point my pack was as full as my purse, bursting at the seams with drink and food. Why let it go to waste? Imbibing all I had won in an act of unbridled gluttony, I develop an alcohol addiction and make my way to the clinic outside of Freeside. All patched up and level 7, carrying few enough goods to meet the post-Survival check weight limit, I return to the Northern passage.
As my eyes adjust to the beauty of Zion, I hold my breath. I dare not do anything I am not expected to, lest I be cast from this proverbial Eden for my arrogance. The caravan is wiped out in the White Legs ambush. The corpses will have to remain untouched for now. I cross the bridge in anticipation. Follows-Chalk approaches. He speaks to me. I receive the next part of the quest. I make it to the Dead Horses camp. I speak to Joshua Graham. He and I are not so different. He and I do not belong here.
I donot belong here.
2015: I get a new laptop for university and replay New Vegas from the beginning. I decide to try Honest Hearts. My game crashes when I enter the Northern passage. I disable all of my mods. The same bug occurs. I do a clean install of the game and Windows. My game still crashes when I enter the Northern passage.
2017: Our apartment in Paris is robbed, including my laptop. With the insurance money received I build a new desktop. I install New Vegas on it. I decide to replay Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. They both work fine. I decide to try Honest Hearts. I am able to load into Zion. All of the NPCs in the initial firefight die except one White Legs ambusher. The quest does not progress to the 'Move into Zion Valley' stage. No NPC will talk to me. No NPC is hostile to me. I TCL throughout Zion and nothing progresses no matter what. I disable all mods, do a clean install of the game, and try a new save entirely. This still occurs upon entering Zion.
2018: I replay New Vegas. This time as soon as I leave Doc's house I beeline my way to Northern passage. I pick up nothing. I speak to no one. I fight no beast. I take a sip from my trusty Vault 13 canteen. I do not wish to let my save be altered in the slightest way lest I be denied the forbidden fruit I have gone without for over half a decade. I enter the Northern passage. I complete 'Happy Trails Expedition.' I begin 'Arrival at Zion.' I load into Zion. My heart beats faster and faster. My palms sweat. The firefight begins. The caravan is dropping like flies. I know now this is supposed to happen. in VATS I plug the White Legs full of lead. One remains. I cross the bridge to progress the quest. My lip quivers. Follows-Chalk approaches me. He stares at me. I take a sip from my trust Vault 13 canteen. I interact with Follows-Chalk. I am greeted with "Hoi! White Legs don't leave survivors often. You're some kind of lucky, let me tell you." But this is not in a dialogue box. Though the subtitles emblazon the bottom of my screen, I am given no opportunity here to press further. My quest draws to an end before it can even begin. I set flags to different states in the console to no avail. I TCL around only to have NPCs regard me with passive dialogue. My actions have no bearing on this godforsaken land. I am but an observer for a world I cannot, will not ever know. I have no mouth, and I must scream.
2022: In an envious last-ditch effort, I reinstall New Vegas with the Viva New Vegas modpack. In this instance, I figure I should not let the vanilla game hemorrhage and hope to progress before it crumbles under its own weight. Fallout: New Vegas will be wrapped in as many bandaid fixes as Joshua Graham. If it has allowed the Burned Man to survive in the face of certain death, perhaps I will be granted the Lord's blessing as well. I create a new character and help the people of Goodsprings against the Powder Gangers to refamiliarise myself with the wasteland. When the dust settles, I beeline it to New Vegas. Not for revenge, but for salvation. Warnings of deathclaws and radscorpions fall upon deaf ears. I kill a deathclaw caught between a chair and a wall to reach level 2. As with my previous attempts, I ultimately seek to reach Zion with minimal influence exerted on the land, lest some quest flag, some quirk of the game engine deny me the promised land. I come across Sloan, an outpost I had never known about, an outpost I will never know about as I must press onward. A Stealth Boy grants me passage beyond a final pack of deathclaws. I am proud of myself for making it through. I recall that Honest Hearts requires a low carry weight to begin, so I make a stop at the Crimson Caravan Company and nearby clinic to offload my wares. I have made a miscalculation.
Being only level 3 upon my arrival at the Northern passage I cannot meet the Speech check to get the others in the caravan to bear my burden. My Survival too is below par. Still, that I have made it this far is promising. I am insistent on bringing as many items into Zion as I can, so it's off to Freeside to do some short quests. I enter the Atomic Wrangler ready to collect some debts and hire some escorts when the one-armed bandit lures me closer with its siren song. My scant few caps become chips which become devastating loss. With only 7 Luck I am statistically likely to break even at Blackjack, so perhaps I can recuperate my funds in short order. Liquidating the rest of my inventory does not have the desired effect as my losses are doubled. Another level would grant me a perk, a chance to increase my Luck one point further. Mick and Ralph's nearby has the lustful Naughty Nightwear which will also increase my Luck. Or, penniless and with only my pistol at my side, I could leave for Zion at once.
I was never one to let bygones be bygones. With any number of options for earning coin in Freeside, my sloth gets the better of me and I recall that The Silver Rush across the street is comically easy to steal from. The plethora of guards watched me drag plasma rifles into the bathroom only to waddle out over-encumbered. With a fat pocket of caps, I purchase the Nightwear. Having veered so far from my intended path, I wrathfully murder Dixon and some Freeside addicts to level up. With 9 Luck, I cannot lose. In no time at all I clean out the Atomic Wrangler. The Strip calls.
I should have known my greed would lead me down this path, but no matter. I excuse my behaviour as a need to purchase a high-quality firearm from the Gun Runners, even if I know it to be a falsehood. In no time at all I am barred from Gomorrah, The Tops, and even the Ultra Luxe. When I had crossed paths with Benny in The Tops I paid him no mind, so absolute was my drive to reach Honest Hearts. By this point my pack was as full as my purse, bursting at the seams with drink and food. Why let it go to waste? Imbibing all I had won in an act of unbridled gluttony, I develop an alcohol addiction and make my way to the clinic outside of Freeside. All patched up and level 7, carrying few enough goods to meet the post-Survival check weight limit, I return to the Northern passage.
As my eyes adjust to the beauty of Zion, I hold my breath. I dare not do anything I am not expected to, lest I be cast from this proverbial Eden for my arrogance. The caravan is wiped out in the White Legs ambush. The corpses will have to remain untouched for now. I cross the bridge in anticipation. Follows-Chalk approaches. He speaks to me. I receive the next part of the quest. I make it to the Dead Horses camp. I speak to Joshua Graham. He and I are not so different. He and I do not belong here.
I do
2 Comments
Better than the story of the DLC
cybermodules
1 year ago