PakGamersHub Exclusive: How a Minor Fallout: New Vegas Choice Led to a Shocking Ending!
Fallout: New Vegas. Just hearing those words probably brings a wave of nostalgia for many Pakistani gamers, right? It’s one of those legendary RPGs that just keeps giving, especially with its iconic “where are they now” ending slides that brilliantly wrap up your journey and choices in the Mojave Wasteland. But have you ever wondered how the development team at Obsidian Entertainment actually decided which quests earned one of these coveted final slides?
Turns out, the process was a lot more “vibe-based” and less strictly structured than you might imagine! Josh Sawyer, the design director at Obsidian and the lead for Fallout: New Vegas, recently spilled the beans on the fascinating, sometimes arbitrary, decision-making behind these beloved endings. And guess what? A relatively minor quest, focused on some truly inept NCR soldiers, managed to snag its own shocking conclusion all because of one particularly wild choice players could make.
According to Sawyer, when it came to picking quests for the ending slides, it wasn’t usually about designers lobbying for their work. Instead, it was often the game’s director making the call, frequently driven by a gut feeling. Of course, major story beats, faction alliances, and companion storylines were always a given. But for everything else? It boiled down to what the team thought would be “interesting and entertaining” for the player, rather than the sheer “importance” of the quest itself.
And that’s where the quest “Flags of Our Foul-Ups” comes into play. Picture this: a bunch of NCR soldiers, affectionately dubbed “The Misfits,” who are just… terrible at their jobs. Absolute screw-ups, basically. They’re in deep trouble, and it’s up to you, the Courier, to decide their fate. Typical New Vegas fashion, you could use your skills – Speech to unite them, Science to falsify records, or even combat training to whip them into shape.
But then there was *that* other option. The one that clearly stuck with the developers: giving these hopeless soldiers a heavy dose of “Psycho,” the in-game combat stimulant. Sawyer revealed that this specific, morally ambiguous choice truly captivated the team. They started pondering: what would actually happen to these guys during the intense Second Battle of Hoover Dam if they were hopped up on Psycho?
The conclusion they reached was chilling: they’d probably descend into madness, become war criminals, and start attacking everyone, friend or foe. And just like that, the idea for a dedicated ending slide for this grim outcome was born! Talk about taking player choices seriously, even for a side quest!
The resulting ending slide for the Psycho choice reads: “Driven into a frenzy by their use of Psycho, The Misfits inflicted heavy casualties on the Legion during the defense of Camp Golf. At first they were commended for their valor, but eventually, desperate for more of the chem, they turned on travelers in Outer Vegas. For their dishonorable conduct, the NCR court-martialed and executed them by firing squad.” Yikes. That’s a brutal, yet perfectly fitting, Fallout ending!
Sawyer also highlighted the practical side of things. While it might seem easy, creating these ending slides – writing them, illustrating them, and recording all the voice lines – adds up, especially with the sheer number of permutations. Some companions alone could have up to seven different ending states! It’s a huge undertaking, which makes the fact that a minor quest’s wild outcome got such a detailed, dark conclusion even more impressive.
It just goes to show the incredible depth and player-choice focus that made Fallout: New Vegas such a masterpiece. What are your favourite FNV ending slides, PakGamersHub community? Let us know in the comments!