One big difference I found between this and Fallout 3 was all the focus on relationships with different groups. A lot of different gangs, towns, centralized authorities to get on the good or bad sides of. If you piss a group off enough, it closes off all the quests you could potentially do for them. But let's face it, all those quests were going to involve going from Point A to Point B and either killing or stealing something, then returning to Point A.
I put my focus for Skill points into Repair, Sneak, and Speech (and eventually Guns when I had the chance to pick a 4th Skill to give a 15-point boost). Keep my equipment functional, and either avoid fights, or talk my way out of them. Either of which would also help keep my equipment in good shape. I talked my way out of a lot of trouble, especially later in the game as the Speech Skill climbed above 60 (on a 100-point scale). Like making sure Caesar didn't wake up when he went into surgery, then convincing them I tried my best.
Hey, my Medicine Skill wasn't high enough to perform the surgery anyway. That's their fault for not doing a better background check.
My favorite mission was helping the Ghouls who wanted to launch their spaceships to find a better place. I snuck past the Nightkin roaming the passageway, talked my way out of a fight with their boss, then talked my way out of having to fight the Ghoul holed up in the room with the records of where the shipment of Stealth Boys were (which is what the Nightkin wanted). Found out the Stealth Boys weren't there, and convinced the Nightkin boss I wasn't lying to him. Hardly had to fight anyone, it was fantastic.
I wish my Science skill had been higher, because I'm pretty sure their rockets' telemetry wasn't right, but I wasn't smart enough to help them. Bit of a letdown right at the end there, but I really tried my best.
I pissed off a lot groups. Stabbed a lot of people in the back. Pissed off the Khans, although they helped that zoot suit bastard shoot me in the head and bury me in a shallow grave, so screw them. Also killed said zoot suit bastard, because he shot me in the head and buried me in a shallow grave. Killed Mr. House. Blew up the Brotherhood of Steel's bunker, but they slapped an explosive collar on my neck first, so they had it coming. Told a rancher I'd find his missing son, who had been abducted by cannibals, but I had promised a farmer he was hassling I'd get payback first, so I found the young man, killed him, then told the rancher the cannibals did it. I was hoping he'd then wipe out the entire White Glove Society, in a fury, but no such luck. Worth a shot.
Unlike Skyrim, where I stayed out of the Nord vs. Empire mess, I tried playing both sides of the Legion and the NCR, only to ultimately wipe them both out. Forced to choose, I'd pick the NCR, seeing as the Legion are a bunch of enslaving, sadist, cannibal, misogynist jackasses. The NCR are more run-of-the-mill imperialists conquering you allegedly for your own good (but really because they want what you've got). But the NCR got angry with me first. About a mission for the Legion I didn't even succeed on. Which would have been funny, but I didn't realize what had happened until I finished a mission (successfully) for the NCR, tried to report in, and they started shooting at me.
OK, there was never any real chance of me helping the NCR. I had already made an alliance between myself and the "Boomers", but told both the Legion and the NCR I had spoken to the Boomers on their behalf. Which was fun, telling the NCR Ambassador that, yes, the Boomers agreed to help. . . us. Some really enjoyable dialogue options in this game. Like telling the NCR general who was so appreciative of the Securidroids that if he liked that, he'd love what comes next. Spoiler Alert: He did not love it.
It was pretty funny the game kept listing me on the Good end on the alignment. I had "Messiah" as a description up close to the end. I'm running around betraying and lying to people all the damn time, and the game is like, "Good work! You're a swell guy!" I thought Red Dead Redemption's Morality scale was out of whack.
In my defense, the small towns in the Wasteland love me. Goodsprings, Primm, Novak, I helped all those folks out repeatedly. Helped rid that quarry of its Deathclaw infestation (finding that Alien Blaster was a BIG help). Helped the former Powder Gangers hiding in that Vault to join the Khans. This was before I'd thoroughly angered the Khans, and I also tried blowing up the mineral deposits the guys were going to use to make explosives, but didn't have a high enough Explosive Skill at the time. But once that fell through I totally helped them out.
Helped the community of Super Mutants and Nightkin. Negotiated a peace between the Kings and the NCR (that was the mission I completed only to find out the NCR had declared me a terrorist when I went to report my success). Got the HELIOS One plant running, and distributed the power to everyone equally. Although I guess there were more Brotherhood of Steel assholes somewhere who took it over once I gave the NCR the boot. Whoops.
I was disappointed the game doesn't give you the chance to go forward in the world you've created with your choices after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. Would have been a lot to have to develop I suppose, given the number of potential outcomes that could be in play at once. Still, I would have fought the Brotherhood when they tried to take HELIOS One if given the chance (I assume the Disciples of the Apocalypse would have warned me, since we were on good terms.) Plus, I'd have enjoyed seeing what happened once Yes Man finished upgrading himself to be more. . . assertive. That'd be another mess of mine I guess I'd have to clean up.
Because my friend is a swell person, they sent the edition with all the DLC. I ended up not finishing the Sierra Madre Grand Opening, because it annoyed me, but I made the trip thru the Divide. I strongly considered diverting the missiles to smite the Legion and the NCR, but opted to get the launch canceled instead. The last thing I wanted to deal with is more Ghouls. I don't think the story worked as well as they were hoping, because not only does your character not remember this part of their life, neither do I, so none of it meant anything to me. Yep, it's a devastated hellhole. Just like every other place I've ever seen in these games. Not like Ulysses was a reliable narrator, anyway.
Made the trip through the Northern Passage. That one was pretty good. Really enjoyed the journals of the Old Man in the Cave. Those are the little bits and pieces they put in these games I like best. The Burned Man wasn't what I was expecting. I was hoping for more of a lone crazy person, almost like a horror figure, roaming the region. I kind of regretted encouraging that one tribe to fight, since they and the one led by the Burned Man start fighting more as time passes as a result. My reasoning was if they don't, they have to leave. They have a pretty decent place to live, especially compared to the other places I've seen. If you send them away, how likely are they to find another place half as good that isn't already occupied?
The Big MT was a bit irritating, just for the sheer number of fetch-it quests to upgrade the home base they give you. I know they're theoretically optional, but if you want the place to be worth a damn, you kind of need the upgrades. I think I originally talked Dr. Morbius into just shutting down operations, but I got stuck in a dialogue loop while arguing with my brain and had to load my last save. So the second time I cut to the chase and just fought him and his stupid robo-scorpions. Even though it isn't nearly as effective as the Chinese Stealth Suit I had in Fallout 3, I do love the Stealth Suit that you can get there, just because it talks to you. It sounded so surprised when we got outside the lab, my heart broke a little for it. It had been locked up in that lab for like 200 years. The downside to that is, I hardly ever use it because I don't want it getting damaged.
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