Honest Hearts

Continuing with Fallout New Vegas, the next DLC I tackled was "Honest Hearts". Though I have managed to make it through this once before, I remembered very little about it so it felt about time I plowed through again.

The content starts out with a radio broadcast requesting adventurers in possession of pip-boy to join them on a caravan to Utah's Zion--like all DLC, you are unable to have companions accompany you, but HH has the added stipulation that you carry 50 pounds or less of inventory. If that is simply too restrictive for you, pass a speech check with the douche-taco carrying a broken pip boy and make him carry some of your extra gear.




As soon as the caravan gets to Zion, it is ambushed by tribals called White Legs, who are so named because of their completely awkward and unflattering tan-lines. After slaughtering the rest of your group, you are left in a strange place with no way home.

Now, my initial impression of this DLC was that it was too short, comparatively. Admittedly, I did not seek out side quests as I would in the bulk of the game, as in other extra content the sheer force that is driving you forward will cause you to uncover many side quests. Not so much here, and there seems to be far fewer named NPC's which you can generally find missions from. I also hate that there seems to be no right or wrong answer, just choices.

Let me explain.

In Fallout 3, there was DLC called "The Pitt", a particularly buggy but exceedingly fun visit to what I assume was old Pittsburgh (though I could be mistaken). There, you were given a choice on how to proceed--there were not "good guys" and "bad guys", there were slaves with ambitions and masters with good-intent. There was no karma associated with your choices because it was never really clear which was the morally right choice, whether to steal the baby and free the slaves or leave the baby and the slaves the way they were.

In Honest Hearts, there is a similar choice where you can side with the Burned Man Joshua Graham or his missionary friend Daniel, but Graham doesn't seem to care whichever way you chose and Daniel refuses to be happy regardless of your actions. It is kind of obnoxious.

Companions:



The man to save you from your wrecked caravan is your first companion, Follows Chalk. He is one of the Dead Horse tribe following the command of Joshua Graham, and he gives you the Perk of +2 to your perception.

Here is my problem, though.

He sounds like a Mexican-Canadian, looks like a Caucasian, and is acting like a Native Indian.

I understand the merging of cultures, but it doesn't feel that way here--it feels like after a big nuclear war that destroyed most of the country, a bunch of white guys and gals banded together to take over someone else's heritage and ethnicity. It is inexplicable.

But say that I am just a cynic. After all, unless they have a race-specific name (like Dr. Usanagi of the New Vegas Medical Clinic), it is rather difficult to determine ethnicity among the NPCs. Maybe he, and the rest of the Dead Horse Tribe and the rest of the Sorrow Tribe, are honest-to-goodness, genuine Native Americans and not some bastard whiteys that are playing dress-up.

That means that two undeniably white guys--Joshua Graham and the soft-hearted Daniel--swooped in and took over leadership of these two groups of dark people.

When you put it that way, it might be construed as a little insensitive.



It doesn't really help that all the Sorrow women are dressed like that. That guy in plaid?



That is Daniel, the man who so bravely found a tribe of mostly-naked native women and became their leader. Inspiring.

Okay, enough of that--the hottie to the forefront is actually your second companion, when Follows Chalk becomes too annoying to bear. Her name is Waking Cloud and her associated perk is that she lowers the perception of your enemies, making sneaking and stealth attacks more effective for you. The downside is that she is an ignorant savage that refuses to go in "sacred" places like caves, stores, campgrounds, rivers, mountains, or the side of the road, but you can tune her out and she is not so bad. She also has a really badass glove made out of the arm of a Yao Guai,

I think the best companion of Zion is Joshua Graham, however. Regardless of the choices you make, he accompanies you for a brief time leading up to the end of the story, and his presence has the added benefit of .45 weapons being more effective with less spray.

All throughout the core game, you hear whispers and rumors of how Caesar's right hand guy failed him so he started the poor bastard on fire and tossed him down the hill. Of course, this raised my suspicions for later--for one thing, as any first grader will tell you, to put out fire you stop, drop, and roll. So setting this guy on fire and then making him roll down the hill is pretty much ensuring that this guy is going to look burnt toast, but probably survived the encounter with surprising badassery.

So when you get to Zion and you are pretty sure this has something to do with that crispy critter, you don't really know what to expect. Everything here has a bit of a savage, tribal look with enemies chucking spears and sporting loin cloths. When Follows Chalk takes you to his leader, the last thing you are expecting is this guy:



Calmly checking and loading guns as he makes small talk with you. It is a little unsettling, especially since the facial wraps recall every horrific story of Caesar's Legion to flash through your mind. Let's be honest, if there is someone that you most certainly do NOT want to be siding with (regardless of your political leanings), it is this guy. You have no idea where he stands, but you can safely assume he has no fond feelings toward either the NCR nor Caesar.

Anyways, not a ton of new enemies--you have some green geckos which now spit poisonous acid, and yao guai you may remember if you played FO3. In case you need a refresher:



That friendly fella.

The big selling point for this DLC is that you learn a lot of new Survival skill recipes for you to make at campfires or reloading benches. Of course, my survival skill was abysmally low before I came here and I have little to no experience with crafting in this game, but it was pretty awesome feeling like you were coming in having to actually learn and adapt to survive.

Weapons are plentiful and all right, though nothing stood out to me as much as the Proton Ax from Old World Blues. I guess I got used to Melee, so reverting back to old-fashioned guns was kind of a culture shock. I probably just wasn't looking as well as I needed to.

A considerable drawback (for me at any rate) is that at no point during my travels did I encounter someone to sell all my useless shit to. I am a Prospector, also known as a scavenger, who picks up every item I come across in the game in the hopes that a) it will prove useful to me, or b) it can be traded for some caps. Even if it isn't worth a fortune, many little items add up. So not long after I have landed in this strange country with little more than the clothes on my back, I am so weighted down with the possessions of my fallen enemy and every flower, rock, and tree on the way that I cannot possibly stuff another bullet in my heavily-laden pockets...and there is absolutely nothing to do with all of it! Obviously that is why they set the carry-weight limit, but I balk at the idea of leaving valuable and possibly useful items on the side of the road.

So there you have it! Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts. It was pretty good, definitely (like all fallout DLC) worth a purchase or at least a deeper look into, but replay value is not as high as it is in other content. Maybe it has more to do with stagnancy with my current character who is fast approaching level 35 and is therefore infinitely "over the hill".

The Reunion is the next set of missions I plan on tackling, so look forward to reading about that soon!

--Andie