Roleplayer's Off Topic Thread #38

[Centurion]

8 hours ago, The Good Doctor said:

Colorado

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The game would draw heavily from the Van Buren design document concepts, but modified and used to tell a new story set 10-20 years after New Vegas. Major themes would revolve around tribalism, cultural and technological entropy, and societal collapse. Think of a Southwestern "Bronze Age Collapse", with most conflict revolving around preservation and choosing what to save instead of progress. Would probably be the most "bleak" Fallout game, as it would be centered on making the most of a bad situation rather than actively taking a bad situation and making it good.

The game would use a map node system like Fallout 1&2, Outer Worlds, Starfield, etc. With it being a collection of unique small-mid sized maps that the player fast travels between, rather than one large one that is completely filled out. Any given node might range from as small as Megaton to as large as The Pitt or Far Harbor.

I think I’d make the PC start out as a prisoner as a nod to Van Buren. You can choose in character creation if you were guilty or innocent of your crime. Maybe even a Legion prisoner, starting the game on a cross.

Some of the companions from Van Buren would feature, such as Measles (a ghoul with a secret agenda), Alexandra (a runaway Canaanite doctor turned bounty hunter), and Devil Dog (rabid mutant dog from Denver who can be tamed). Would also bring back Follows Chalk from New Vegas as an older now and much more world-weary traveler.


Faction stuff

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Major factions would include Caesar's Legion, the Children of Hecate, and the Reservation.
 

-Caesar's Legion -

Caesar's Legion would be the biggest presence, akin to the NCR in FNV (even the main currency is Legion coin). But without Sallow's vision, they have been on a decline ever since the Mojave campaign. The death of the original "Caesar" -once believed to be divine and infalible- and the withdrawal from Nevada raised many questions about Lanius's perceived strength and the truthfulness of Legion teachings, resulting in numerous slave revolts and rebellions by former officers who decided they could take men loyal to them and do a better job on their own (most raider types in the game are in fact Legion deserters).

Many of the larger ongoing conflicts in the game will be traceable back to Caesar's Legion. In just a few decades, over a hundred tribes and communities got absorbed or obliterated. And while the Legion have brought about their own kind of development, they have also been the biggest contributors to preventing natural or cohesive growth and cooperation in the Southwest. Where once there were many cultures both peaceful and violent, there now remain only a few holdouts, and almost all of them are on the back foot. 

The Legion do their best to maintain peace and order, but their grip is slipping. Ironically, the majority of communities and settlements that seem most "normal" will be in Legion lands, as all the more colorful factions and primitive tribes will have long since been removed. The Legion's brutality will also be less prominent this time around, as they are no longer in "total war" mode against 90% of the map, and possibly even easier to stomach when it occurs as the victims will often be equally barbaric in their actions.
 

-The Children of Hecate-

The Children of Hecate are a coalition of tribes and former slaves who banned together under the religious and matriarchal leadership of a former Legion slave who has taken the name "Hecate". She was among the first to revolt against the Legion following the Second Battle for Hoover Dam, and despite Lanius himself leading the pursuit, she was successful in slipping through their grasp.

She fled into the wastes, where what she did for the next couple of years are a mystery but many nonbelievers say that the sun and thirst drove her mad (and that may be the case, to a degree, but in-game the player would be able to discover that she unearthed a ZAX computer, whose knowledge she combined with her own to form a warped tribal religion that she does appear to believe in).

Whatever the case, she returned to Legion lands with the new name "Hecate" and started allying with groups who opposed them, in the freeing of more slaves, and spreading her new faith revolving around strength through pain and adversity. Many of her followers view her as a prophet or goddess, and her closest followers, all former slaves known as the Daughters of Hecate, are the chief missionaries of this religion 

Over the years, the Children of Hecate have grown into a full blown movement, bringing in entire tribes, rebel legionaries, slaves, and so on. The core unifying factor of their movement is resistance against the Legion with a main goal to topple them. Secondary to this is an attempt to restore a certain degree of tribal identity to those cultures who have had theirs stripped away, which can be good or bad, as many of these tribals were never above engaging in raiding and slaving of their own. As such, many member groups within the CoH are not above engaging in raiding and slaving of their own, albeit in a less systematic fashion than the Leigion.
 

-The Reservation-

A faction of ghouls and mutants who have made their home in an irradiated place were only they can survive, which has kept them safe while so many other groups have fallen to the mighty Legion or CoH. Their population started small but grew over time as word spread of it being  one of the few places where nonhumans are not looked down upon.

Many of the ghouls were prewar, making the place a sort of bastion for prewar knowledge and sensibilities in the otherwise mostly brutal and primitive Southwest. They even established a trade partnership with a faction out of Vault 0 who call themselves the "Brotherhood of Steel" in an effort to acquire, restore, and refurbish old world technologies for their own use. Unfortunately, they lack production capabilities and so every year they lose a little more than they gain.

Over time, the group started inviting in super mutants as well, seeing the mutants as fell outcasts who never chose to lose their humanity. This had the unforeseen side effect of the mutants' philosophy as taught by the Master taking root among them. This led to a sort of "neo Unity" movement in the Reservation with mutates seeing themselves not as outcasts or mistakes, but as actual superior beings to humans. This has damaged their relationships with other factions over time. What’s worse, the influx of ghoul and mutants to their ranks has resulted in a population that is much too large for the Reservation location to contain, and so they have in recent years begun to branch out and claim new territories, sometimes aggressively. And some of the locations they claim seem to be very deliberate. Prewar science and medical facilities, manufacturing plants, and even a couple military sites.

The Reservation are not open enemies with any major faction, but pretty much everyone keeps a weary eye on them, and vice versa. They clearly have an agenda or several, but their secretive and insular nature (and the fact that a faction of mutates is almost impossible to infiltrate) makes it difficult for outsiders to learn what their leaders are up to.

The player will be able to discover during the MQ that they are working on creating a world for themselves. The "born ghouls" concept of Van Buren would be their great secret project. The creation of a new species, essentially. A future for their people. However, another aspect of their plan is to use a single nuclear bomb at their disposal in order to cripple whichever rival faction has the most power by the end of the game. If not prevented, which faction they decide to nuke would be determined by the player’s actions.

Minor factions would include:

-Vault 0 Brotherhood of Steel. They went native generations ago and are barely recognizable. By now, even their connection to the rogue Chicago chapter has been lost. Basically Reaver-esq. tech tribals who have power armor and a really secure base.

-Followers of the Apocalypse. Missionaries who can be found among the Children of Hecate, trying (often in vain) to educate them and steer them in a positive direction.

-Desert Rangers. Rangers who were too far east to join the NCR with their comrades, and decided to fight the Legion on a different front. Once allied with Hecate and were even instrumental in her initial success, but came to regret this when the Children of Hecate grew zealous and brutal.

-Salvagers. Prospector groups who operate in the more dangerous parts of Denver "Dog City", Colorado. Caesar's Legion has destroyed most factions in the area and planted their flags on the city, but certain districts are still quite dangerous from all the dogs, and -more recently- an inexplicable increase in the feral ghoul population (Reservation’s doing, an effort to ward people away from the university area so they can work there in peace). "Salvagers" is a catch-all term for groups of mercenary  scavengers who the Legion has commissioned to stake out these dangerous parts of the city and pick them clean of resources. They are paid well for this service. Though the different groups do have a tendency to fight with each other over the areas where they’ve staked their claims. 

-The Dead Horse tribe. Allied with the CoH against Caesar's Legion, though their veneration for the ghostly "Burned Man", keeps them from following Hecate or seeing her as anything more than a witch. To become chieftain, the greatest warrior among them must burn his own face and wear bandages from that point forward.

-Offshoots of every faction. Legion deserters will often become raiders and petty warlords. Children of Hecate will go on to try and reestablish their old tribes. 

The only thing I don’t really vibe with is the separated nodes. One of the things that draws me in is the open world exploration. With it being in Colorado you could use the Rockies as a sort of load zone like the ruins of DC and with the better technology they engine would hopefully be able to accommodate more than just a single heavily scaled down city and the like 5 miles surrounding it, but damn man that’s interesting. Especially the children of Hecate

[The Good Doctor]

18 hours ago, Centurion said:

The only thing I don’t really vibe with is the separated nodes.

Problem is that the locations I’d want to include are spread over a very large world space. Many hundreds of miles. Map nodes are the only way I see it being possible without scaling it down to an absurd degree. Between those two options, I prefer the nodes. But I can understand why someone wouldn’t.

I don’t mean tiny nodes like in Fallout 1 and 2 except in certain locations. Think more like Monarch in Outer Worlds, or Zion in New Vegas, or hell even Vvardenfell. Basically a bunch of mid to large sized maps instead of just one. The playable area would ultimately still be a lot bigger than any current Fallout games. It just can’t all be walked between due to some places being many days or weeks apart.

18 hours ago, Centurion said:

Especially the children of Hecate

They’re the ones I took the most liberty with. Their old Van Buren concept doesn’t work with the current Legion lore, but making them a more reactionary movement is a good substitute, I think.

Hecate is one of my favorite characters who never saw the light of day. Since we eventually got Joshua Graham, I have always held onto a slim hope that she would get brought back one day as well.

[BigBossBalrog]

Yeah, I think this is going a little too far  As a plus side, now I know there's a museum of failures! (?) 

[The Good Doctor]

1 hour ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Yeah, I think this is going a little too far  As a plus side, now I know there's a museum of failures! (?) 

What a joke. Cyberpunk being bad is a meme at this point. 

[The Good Doctor]

@BigBossBalrog In other news, I’m back into RE4R. Enjoyed the heck out of chapter 8; lots of fun running and gunning across the battlements while el gigante hurls rocks. And the room with the first zealot and his army of minions was really well designed.

Got Ashley back, then got separated again. Her gameplay segment was really fun, if a little on the easy side. Plenty scary too. Then backtracking through that area armed to the teeth as Leon was satisfying. Enjoyed the golden knight boss fight.

I waited way too long to buy the riot shotgun and start upgrading it. That thing is beastly. 

[The Good Doctor]

And once again, I can’t help bud appreciate the subtle character development they’re giving Ashley in this remake. She started terrified and still is, but it’s cool seeing her gradually become less and less hesitant to jump into danger when it’s needed, becoming more casual about doing things that frightened her before. There also came a point where I realized that Leon no longer was needing to tell her what to do, like during a fight with lots of knights, she figured out a way to help fight them all on her own.

Also, one of the funnier moments in the game is when she’s like "alright, I am done with knights", and then the elevator reaches the mausoleum, the doors open, and there are like a dozen knights standing there.  

[BigBossBalrog]

1 hour ago, The Good Doctor said:

@BigBossBalrog In other news, I’m back into RE4R. Enjoyed the heck out of chapter 8; lots of fun running and gunning across the battlements while el gigante hurls rocks. And the room with the first zealot and his army of minions was really well designed.

Got Ashley back, then got separated again. Her gameplay segment was really fun, if a little on the easy side. Plenty scary too. Then backtracking through that area armed to the teeth as Leon was satisfying. Enjoyed the golden knight boss fight.

I waited way too long to buy the riot shotgun and start upgrading it. That thing is beastly. 

Did you take them out with the stealth mechanics? You can sneak around and drop the chandelier on most of them 

[BigBossBalrog]

In terms of Ashley I can't believe some people prefer the borderline racial, American stereotype Ashley that acts like she's touched in the head.

[The Good Doctor]

1 hour ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Did you take them out with the stealth mechanics? You can sneak around and drop the chandelier on most of them 

I had no idea sneaking was even on the cards in that section. It seemed like the action kicked off as soon as I entered the room. But then again, I did immediately open with a flashbang.  

Will have to try that next time. I did drop the chandelier, but it was mid-fight and probably only got one or two ganados.

1 hour ago, BigBossBalrog said:

In terms of Ashley I can't believe some people prefer the borderline racial, American stereotype Ashley that acts like she's touched in the head.

I don’t get it either. Old Ashley was a mildly annoying ditz. This version has way more going on in terms of character. Just a strict improvement, in my opinion.

The two garradors were probably the toughest fight so far thanks to all those ganados bastards constantly blowing my cover.  

Verdugo fight was easily scarier, though. Felt like going up against a xenomorph, never knowing where he’s going to strike from next. Killing him took every magnum round and shotgun shell I had left, and I nearly died at the end of the fight when he knocked me down right as I dumped liquid nitrogen on him, and we both got caught in the middle of it.

I have decided that I hate the shooting range. It’s mostly okay, but there are two or three challenges on there where getting the S rank feels impossible. 

[Centurion]

@The Good Doctor controversial fallout opinion. The whole dogmeat thing is played out.

[Centurion]

Like having a “creature” companion needs to continue to be a thing, but having “dogmeat” show up continuously is kinda old. Rex was fantastic, maybe a mutant hound or a wasteland mongrel next time

[The Good Doctor]

17 minutes ago, Centurion said:

@The Good Doctor controversial fallout opinion. The whole dogmeat thing is played out.

It is controversial, but I agree. Dogmeat should’ve only been in Fallout 1. It’s really lazy how they just keep reusing the same exact name in every game. Just another example of Bethesda’s obsession with "mascots".

It was especially lame in FO4 when they halfway tried to hint at there being a supernatural element to it, which is silly. He’s just a dog. 

Appreciated that New Vegas got more creative with Rex and ED-E. Van Buren was going to have a big mutant dog. I want more stuff like that.

[The Good Doctor]

@BigBossBalrog RE4

 

Man, the Krauser fight was sweet! That might be the biggest single gameplay improvement in any section so far. No more quick time events, now a full on knife fight! 

That was a lot of fun.  It felt like they made it feel about as grounded as possible for such a crazy encounter. Perfect blend of the wilder action-packed side of later RE and the slightly more believable and weighty slow pace of the older games. Had me grinning the whole time.

The death of Luis hit harder than I expected. I really liked him in this game. He had a lot of charisma, was very competent, and actually had quite a nice little redemption story. His final words closed off his arc very well. And I liked that he finally got to have his smoke at the end.

[Centurion]

9 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

It is controversial, but I agree. Dogmeat should’ve only been in Fallout 1. It’s really lazy how they just keep reusing the same exact name in every game. Just another example of Bethesda’s obsession with "mascots".

It was especially lame in FO4 when they halfway tried to hint at there being a supernatural element to it, which is silly. He’s just a dog. 

Appreciated that New Vegas got more creative with Rex and ED-E. Van Buren was going to have a big mutant dog. I want more stuff like that.

I also think the 3-4 human followers, 1 robot, 1 ghoul, 1 supermutant is also played out a bit. 
 

but on the topic of followers, I wish Far Harbor would’ve came with 3 followers instead of one. Old Longfellow for Far Harbor, a synth from Acadia, and a CoA Zealot from the nucleus.

[The Good Doctor]

1 minute ago, Centurion said:

I also think the 3-4 human followers, 1 robot, 1 ghoul, 1 supermutant is also played out a bit. 

I’m less bothered by that. Having a diverse selection gives a lot to work with, narratively (not that Beth always takes advantage of that). Though I wouldn’t mind a little more variety in the weird ones than "ghoul" and "super mutant". Hell, I’d be happy to not even have super mutants in the next game. Do something new for once.

Wouldn’t mind if they had a little fun with the concept. Like two companions are siblings or lovers who will only join as a pair. Or one guy is a really mean SOB who will start fights you might not want. Or one has an agenda, and is following you to fulfill it with the intention to betray. Mix things up a bit.

And I’d love for Charisma to determine how many will follow you at a time. Like one humanoid companion for every 3 points or something like that. 

3 minutes ago, Centurion said:

but on the topic of followers, I wish Far Harbor would’ve came with 3 followers instead of one. Old Longfellow for Far Harbor, a synth from Acadia, and a CoA Zealot from the nucleus.

I wish Old Longfellow had a quest and reasons to follow you back. Of all the companion concepts in FO4, he’s easily my favorite. But I can’t justify bringing him back to the Commonwealth, and even in Far Harbor Nick Valentine is much better suited to most of the actual quests. Longfellow kinda got shafted in terms of content.

But yeah, given the time and resources, more companions would always be better. I actually find it a little weird that they made one for Far Harbor but not Acadia or Nucleus. Given how little content Longfellow got, I can’t imagine it would’ve been difficult to add something similar for the other two.

[BigBossBalrog]

21 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

@BigBossBalrog RE4

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Man, the Krauser fight was sweet! That might be the biggest single gameplay improvement in any section so far. No more quick time events, now a full on knife fight! 

That was a lot of fun.  It felt like they made it feel about as grounded as possible for such a crazy encounter. Perfect blend of the wilder action-packed side of later RE and the slightly more believable and weighty slow pace of the older games. Had me grinning the whole time.

The death of Luis hit harder than I expected. I really liked him in this game. He had a lot of charisma, was very competent, and actually had quite a nice little redemption story. His final words closed off his arc very well. And I liked that he finally got to have his smoke at the end.

The whole thing was straight out of Metal Gear Solid with Krauser ranting about how he was betrayed by the U.S and the crazy CQC him and Leon were doing 

 Mechanically, it has such a badass and fun rhythm to it with the parrying and all of Krauser's insane flips  I think the change with Krauser being the one to kill Luis adds so much to the story arc; in the original you had him pretty much showing up out of nowhere and doing nothing, but with this him killing your friend makes him feel more important.

In the intro; there's a brief scene of him training with Leon and Leon quotes him to Ada, which makes it also feel "Who the hell is this guy?" 

This isn't really a spoiler cause its very hard to miss and never commented on, but you find a picture in Luis's lab that reveals a dark truth; he was part of Umbrella Lab 6 and was on the team that created Nemesis  Really cool way to further tie 4 to the rest of the series. 

[BigBossBalrog]

The discourse seemed to have left Metal Gear alone because it was in hibernation, but it's here 

I find it funny they didn't use the gay shower scene, the cuddle in the snow scene, the cock grab scene, the "lets lick our knives sexually in white blood scene", and the billion other stuff 

[TheCzarsHussar]

 

[The Good Doctor]

8 hours ago, BigBossBalrog said:

 

 

[TheCzarsHussar]

Wait did that Stormtrooper fucking slap Finn's ass?

[The Good Doctor]

3 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

Wait did that Stormtrooper fucking slap Finn's ass?

That is one of two Stormtroopers in the Sequel trilogy to seem remotely like a human.  Still not a great scene, but I’d expect that from those movies. 

[BigBossBalrog]

https://gizmodo.com/witcher-netflix-season-5-renewal-1850483227

 For once Netflix dosen't cancel one of it's shows, and its for Shitter...

[The Good Doctor]

@BigBossBalrog

14 hours ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I think the change with Krauser being the one to kill Luis adds so much to the story arc; in the original you had him pretty much showing up out of nowhere and doing nothing, but with this him killing your friend makes him feel more important.

Completely agreed. It was a great change that helped both of their characters. Luis gets more screen time with that fun minecart adventure and stuff. Krauser gets to have a more significant "on-screen" impact on the story and feels like a much bigger threat who we have reason to hate.

14 hours ago, BigBossBalrog said:

he was part of Umbrella Lab 6 and was on the team that created Nemesis  Really cool way to further tie 4 to the rest of the series. 

I really like that. It helps further drive home why he so desperately felt the need to redeem himself and truly "change". Luis played it off, but he had some serious demons.

[BigBossBalrog]

9 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

@BigBossBalrog

 

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Completely agreed. It was a great change that helped both of their characters. Luis gets more screen time with that fun minecart adventure and stuff. Krauser gets to have a more significant "on-screen" impact on the story and feels like a much bigger threat who we have reason to hate.

I really like that. It helps further drive home why he so desperately felt the need to redeem himself and truly "change". Luis played it off, but he had some serious demons.

"You think people can change, huh?" Surprisingly emotional for Resident Evil; the smoke was a great callback.

I also like how Leon reaction was muted - as genuinely mournful as he looked, the dude's falling on his training so he can complete his mission (Instead of of screaming Luis's name skyward ) 

[The Good Doctor]

 

23 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I also like how Leon reaction was muted - as genuinely mournful as he looked, the dude's falling on his training so he can complete his mission (Instead of of screaming Luis's name skyward ) 

That’s pretty much how Leon is throughout the game. One thing I’ve noticed is that he only cracks dumb jokes when he’s alone. He’s generally much more serious and professional when Luis or Ashley are around (though he starts to ease up around Ashley as the story progresses). Which further sells that he only does it to cope with the absurdity the situation.