What Happened to Karma in New Vegas?

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  • Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
  • Episode 75 of FNV: The Cutting Room Floor, an in-depth investigation into the cut content, design and development of Fallout: New Vegas. In today's video we're taking an in-depth look at what happened to Karma vaules and alignment in New Vegas.
    #NewVegas, #Fallout, #FalloutNewVegas
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 478

  • @o0TheWinButton0o
    @o0TheWinButton0o Рік тому +592

    This is actually one of my specialist subjects that I’ve been trying to fix for ages.
    The underlying issue is that Obsidian changed the convention from Fallout 3. It was the case in FO3 that killing evil characters awarded no karma, killing very evil characters awarded -50 karma, and murdering non-evil characters was -100. In New Vegas, this was changed to have different values for very evil, evil, neutral, good, and very good. Note the key differences: in Fallout 3, you have to “murder”, not simply kill, and it applies to all non-evil characters, which includes neutral and good/very good. By “murder” the engine seems to interpret that as if you start the fight first.
    These changes causes a whole host of issues that Obsidian didn’t foresee. In FO3, civilians could be neutral if they were just average joes. They would logically give negative karma if killed. However, in Fallout NV, they would need to be good to give negative karma if killed. Some NPCs such as doctors were already assigned to good, so if normal civilians were changed to be good too, there would be nothing separating them. Some of the differences in the early implemented NPCs are probably due to them starting out differently when creating NPCs before realising this flaw. It’s pretty obvious that Obsidian did this so that the main factions could be neutral and not cause karma changes when they were killed. JSawyer tried to fix this, but probably made it worse, since he made all prostitutes good (the same as doctors) whilst leaving the vast majority of other civilians as neutral. Now prostitutes are better people than most wastelanders apparently.
    There’s also a more fundamental issue with the karma system, which seems to be a bug. Sometimes you simply just don’t get any karma for killing people. You can test this by killing fiends with something like JSawyer installed. The game is very inconsistent on whether it decides it actually give you positive karma. The same goes for killing civilians. I believe this might be related to faction crime flags and the game incorrectly deciding that you’ve murdered or not murdered an NPC. I never got to the bottom of that, so that’s why I never released a mod to realign NPC karma values. It was sort of pointless with the underlying bug.

    • @Matt-md5yt
      @Matt-md5yt Рік тому +13

      Keep up the great work

    • @Sofus.
      @Sofus. Рік тому +1

      👍

    • @Dang_Ol_Username
      @Dang_Ol_Username Рік тому +15

      ​@Rudolf I wouldn't be surprised if it *was* taken into account, but it was so low on the totem pole of gamebreaking problems it couldn't feasibly be worked on during company hours. Josh Sawyer did try to fix it on his own with the Jsawyer mod after all, so at the very least, he knew it was an issue.

    • @picawood
      @picawood Рік тому +26

      Welp i guess being a prostitute is a noble cause in the wasteland

    • @neetlukako
      @neetlukako Рік тому +19

      nothing wrong with being a prostitute lol. definitely a better person than most

  • @cyberninjazero5659
    @cyberninjazero5659 Рік тому +1056

    Karma was a vestigial appendage in New Vegas, the reputation system was a far more advanced form of reputation tracking, Karma became a Companion reputation system

    • @thomasstone4283
      @thomasstone4283 Рік тому +24

      Interesting take. I think, in practice, you are totally correct.
      Could it be made useful? In new vegas you can't really play an evil character if you want to complete the most amount of quests.
      Maybe if bad karma unlocked fiend shops or if the khans were an evil only faction without necessarily being a Legion faction.

    • @cyberninjazero5659
      @cyberninjazero5659 Рік тому +69

      @@thomasstone4283 I don't think Karma is really salvageable because you'd have the question of "who is keeping track of you and what you do" it makes sense for each city and faction to have their reputation but it makes no sense that the entire wasteland knows how of much of a good or bad boy you are without Three Dog stalking you and reporting it. That's why it could only really work as a Companion reputation system (though modern games would just have companions have their own individual reputation systems)

    • @invasor-x
      @invasor-x Рік тому +16

      ​@@cyberninjazero5659you could replace karma with some sort of "global fame/infamy" system
      Some actions like killing random civillians are objectively evil while other like saving people from raiders arent all that ambiguous
      This system would add all your "positive" and "negative" reputation points from all factions into a single stat (negative reputation points dont substract the positives)
      In theory this system should also ignore petty crimes that reduce reputation like stealing garbage or minor good actions like giving a hobo 10 caps just so you cant abuse the systen, global fame would only take into account reputation points that you get from major quests

    • @smokedbeefandcheese4144
      @smokedbeefandcheese4144 Рік тому +2

      @@thomasstone4283 I realize it is probably in the realm of exploits but aren’t there Karma sinks in new Vegas. Like there are in fallout three like basically you can figure out how to repeat something over and over that gives you negative karma in fallout three you can do this with a certain quest I forget which one but if you keep selecting a certain dialogue option over and over you lose karma

    • @thomasstone4283
      @thomasstone4283 Рік тому +2

      @@smokedbeefandcheese4144 maybe, but just playing the game naturally gives you SOO much good karma.

  • @primequartz7292
    @primequartz7292 Рік тому +815

    i think its super weird how "evil" in fallout 3 is treated like everyone is just on the same side. like the slavers in paradise falls just assume you're cool and on their side because youve murdered a bunch of people?

    • @kushanblackrazor6614
      @kushanblackrazor6614 Рік тому +122

      Even fallout 2 didn't work that way, so yeah, it was super weird and unintuitive.

    • @maverick9370
      @maverick9370 Рік тому +35

      Still my favorite. Bingo bango bongo

    • @daskampffredchen9242
      @daskampffredchen9242 Рік тому +99

      Paradise Falls was more that you had a Reputation of being open to horrible acts but often the Karma felt weird in F3

    • @ronkledonkanusmoncher564
      @ronkledonkanusmoncher564 Рік тому +137

      @@daskampffredchen9242 I feel like the dudes at paradise falls would be like “damn I’ve heard about this guy, this motherfucker is crazy…. And dangerous. Maybe we can hire him!” Lol

    • @invasor-x
      @invasor-x Рік тому +133

      *drug a priest so a woman can grape him
      *You gained karma*
      *Avenge the people of Tenpenny tower after they were masacred by a psychopathic ghoul
      *You lost karma*

  • @fuckoff5893
    @fuckoff5893 Рік тому +107

    “shooting street photography of the homeless” as an example of being completely evil is so fucking FUNNY

  • @iwy6904
    @iwy6904 Рік тому +161

    I like Sawyer's interpretation of the system. It seems to essentially boil down to unnecessary cruelty vs unnecessary mercy. If you're going to have a system like this without trying to push the player one way or another, this is probably the best interpretation to have

    • @RXdash78
      @RXdash78 Рік тому +42

      I disagree with him about moore though.
      Yeah those deaths are easy to avoid....for the courier. But look at it from her perspective. The Khans were a glorified raider gang that has been plaguing the NCR since shady sands. The only reason peace is possible now is because the NCR is too big for the khans to fight and too merciful to wipe them out. And if you listen to Bitter Root and Manny, both former khans, Khan society is all kinds of fucked up.
      The Brotherhood are essentially a doomsday cult that hoards technology waiting for the rest of the world to die so that they will inherit the earth. Oh and they violently attack anyone ho has technology they want. Only one branch on the east coat actually tried to fix the world and the SECOND their leaders mysteriously died, they basically became the imperium of man from 40k.
      The kings are a violent street gang that have been roughing up NCR charity workers for distributing food to their citizens. And they brutally beat every envoy the NCR sent to get a peaceful resolution.
      From her perspective, she's asking a private military contractor to take out a historical foe who has spat on every mercy the NCR has offered and is currently allied with their greatest enemy, a street gang that attacks humanitarian efforts and refuses to negotiate, and a cult of gun fetishists who think nobody but them should have access to high technology. Then said PMC goes behind her back and over her head to directly contravene her orders in order to get peace with groups that the NCR has no guarantee won't turn on them.
      I get that she's making this more personal than it needs to be but look at it from her perspective and she's being quite reasonable.

    • @iwy6904
      @iwy6904 Рік тому +2

      @@RXdash78 I don't rememeber her at all really, but I'm inclined to agree with you

    • @ridiculousrandy1401
      @ridiculousrandy1401 11 місяців тому

      ​@@RXdash78not to mention that Crocker is useless, Hsu and Dhatri can't get anything done with barely soldiers, Kimball is a puppet, and Oliver is a self righteous yes man. Moore is one of the few commanding officers actually trying.

    • @erikerik3823
      @erikerik3823 4 місяці тому +1

      It's either do you want to save these puppies or let them die in a meat grinder? I like that in fallout 4 many quests you actually have rewards,if you are good you get good relationship with people and compliance if you are evil you get something they have for example being a terrible person on "diamond city blues" will make you rich i like when being evil rewards you because otherwise there is no reason whatsoever to be (yes i praised fallout 4 come on hate comments)

    • @chimpindoge3474
      @chimpindoge3474 Місяць тому +1

      @@erikerik3823I actually completely agree with being evil being incentivized by money being a good thing that 4 did. In nv I noticed being an evil bastard was just so much more hard to "roleplay" as given there was hardly reward in many of the cases. The only way I was able to roleplay successfully as a violent bastard was by being a lazy bounty hunter that liked things done quick so instead of befriending the boomers/ncr he found out the safest and quickest way to eliminate them all. Caps or rewards would have gone a long way to open up more possible roleplay scenarios though.

  • @DeaDaR03
    @DeaDaR03 Рік тому +179

    I tried doing a very evil karma for a melee drug addict character but the fiends give so much karma I was *always* in the green.

    • @calamaribowl8683
      @calamaribowl8683 Рік тому +14

      The best way to counteract that is eat all corpses you see

    • @Xapek-tw9xg
      @Xapek-tw9xg Рік тому +16

      ​@@calamaribowl8683meh, still useless. Played as stealth cannibal kleptomaniac and still have good carma that moment i travelled to fiends territory. I probably could have maintained negative carma by eating everything, but oh gosh i hate that animation. Even worse than that one animal pelt from far cry 3/4 for me

    • @jamesflynn932
      @jamesflynn932 2 місяці тому +4

      The only way i could get a very evil legion playthrough is stealing everything and dropping it all after to not weigh me down

  • @mrdavila4898
    @mrdavila4898 Рік тому +160

    0:30 allow me to say that the transition with the explosives to the title was genius

  • @TKsh1
    @TKsh1 Рік тому +127

    Karma is one of those mechanics that is interesting to use but it's just too hard to translate into gameplay. Even Reputation, which is more realistic and expanded, tends to boil down to "have X positive reputation to get reward" experience.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +9

      True. Sadly NV crew needed more dev time or a chance at a new Fallout game to expand on reputation system. Aka you being able to get quests or more dialogue choices [NCR] etc

    • @ChadVulpes
      @ChadVulpes 11 місяців тому +4

      How is it that RPGs have alignment systems that are actually two-dimensional rather than just one-dimensional, and they manage just fine? I hate this narrative of Obsidian as a pariah. The truth is they just didn't know what to do with the mechanic that was in the series since the very first game, and didn't think ahead to either use it or just remove it. The world is not out to get them, they're just not that good.
      I was going to say that Obsidian is not the true Fallout, but then I had an epiphany. The entire series is schizophrenic. There was never a time in the history where two main Fallout games were made consecutively by the same core team. The core principles are muddled and forgotten. To be perfectly honest, I think the series is best enjoyed when looking at it from an outside perspective. As a trainwreck that it is.

  • @steveshyde7564
    @steveshyde7564 Рік тому +39

    I always thought it was weird how I would gain karma just for defending myself

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +16

      It makes more sense when you realize the entire system was an afterthought lol

  • @b99b12
    @b99b12 Рік тому +262

    I always thought it was sensible for feral ghouls to give good karma because you're putting former humans out of their misery. That's why I like the ghoul quest in fallout 4 for the brotherhood of steel

    • @TKsh1
      @TKsh1 Рік тому +76

      It makes sense, but considering that, like wildlife, you're almost always killing them for the sake of survival first, it shoudn't affect your karma.

    • @invasor-x
      @invasor-x Рік тому +33

      I used to think that, but most of the time you kill them because they were in your path, not because you wanted to "free" them or something

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +10

      Only issue is that you kill em for survival. So why is it treated as good karma choice is 99% of players will inevitably kill em for survival?

    • @jallen1425
      @jallen1425 Рік тому

      There's no mind left to be in misery. The higher mental faculties that would have allowed them to identity self and recognize their own suffering has deteriorated hence the term "feral". They simply act on animal instinct and most likely an aggression caused by brain damage there's really nothing left of them to suffer. The idea of not wanting to kill them is dumb though. For a faction that's all about technology they manage to recruit a bunch of idiots, I guess logic and reason aren't part of their teachings. Just a bunch of techno tribal fools.

    • @jallen1425
      @jallen1425 Рік тому +3

      ​@@danielsurvivor1372Because like one commenter said before the Karma system is a vestigial leftover from Bethesdas simplified lazy world building in Fallout.

  • @mr.gripsandtheboys3469
    @mr.gripsandtheboys3469 Рік тому +56

    I remember killing boxcars on my very first playthrough with an incinerator I got from the convict boss in Primm and I think I spent a good 30 minutes laughing at the fact I gained karma for burning a crippled man to death while I watched him scream in agony in slow motion.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +1

      Primm has a boss? Like on the first floor?

    • @mr.gripsandtheboys3469
      @mr.gripsandtheboys3469 Рік тому +8

      @@danielsurvivor1372 Yeah, a sort of miniboss. More health, leather armor, and armed with a heavy incinerator. He's in the first floor of the casino Beagle being held hostage in, in the dining room.

    • @MigorRortis
      @MigorRortis 2 місяці тому

      Gewd ggyun

  • @ZappBranniglenn
    @ZappBranniglenn Рік тому +75

    Personally, I like the focus on Reputations over Karma in New Vegas. And by the early 2010s, Karma trackers were so rote in games that it felt like a real evolution, not a simple substitution. But I do think they could have done some interesting things regarding Karma.
    Then again, the lack of moralizing in New Vegas can be part of why the world is so captivating to players. Removing Karma entirely may have been the right call.

    • @borpus9716
      @borpus9716 Рік тому +5

      I agree, I think reputation is a much better way to achieve what the karma system was doing. I mostly ignore the karma in NV and just look at how factions view me. I think Karma systems force morality too much. The main time new Vegas is really guilty of this imo is when you kill fiends and powder gangers.

  • @renegaderaven3777
    @renegaderaven3777 Рік тому +25

    Niel being considered evil is completely baffling.

  • @Lux_Ferox
    @Lux_Ferox Рік тому +81

    My headcannon is that Courier 6 operates outside of Karma's influence. It would explain some of their more "otherworldly" achievements.

    • @twotamatos
      @twotamatos Рік тому +6

      I always Roleplay neutral Courier in new Vegas there is a bunch good I do but I defs have a twisted side now that I’ve done a few playthroughs I think fallout new Vegas protagonist is perfect as neutral just out of how many people see u as a vessel for opportunity they can mold I think if your neutral canonically that’d make sense you’d just kinda play devils advocate by agreeing and being somewhere in the middle feel like fo3 it’d be cannon the Vault dweller would be good cuz James is a doctor trying to save the wastes

    • @Fbispook
      @Fbispook Рік тому +12

      Freeside Mfs will see you transcend morality and be like “he can’t even pay for a reputation change”

  • @bloodmoonangel8925
    @bloodmoonangel8925 Рік тому +25

    Well to be fair, you can kill Mr. Burke right after exiting the vault and get good karma, even if you had no idea what his intentions were

    • @daskampffredchen9242
      @daskampffredchen9242 Рік тому +5

      Well. I guess the Karma knows that he was evil but I think the best solution would be if the game wouldnt tell you unless you know they are evil

  • @AnonymousAnonposter
    @AnonymousAnonposter Рік тому +59

    Recently Schizo Elijah spoke briefly in one of his videos that Karma in New Vegas is more flawed and shallow than Fallout 3, which caused a lot of confusion. This video explains everything perfectly about how and why the Karma system is indeed flawed in New Vegas.

    • @porkcutlet3920
      @porkcutlet3920 Рік тому +15

      No, it's not flawed or shallow. It's just completely broken. Saying it's flawed or shallow implies the current system was intended. It's not.

    • @Maximum432
      @Maximum432 Рік тому +10

      The karma system in Fallout 3 was already flawed and shallow.

    • @fordpines4661
      @fordpines4661 Рік тому +3

      ​@@Maximum432 At least it was functional.

    • @Maximum432
      @Maximum432 Рік тому +9

      @@fordpines4661 And it's not needed in NV.

    • @brysonkuervers2570
      @brysonkuervers2570 10 місяців тому +2

      Probably has something to do with it more so being broken than flawed. Either way the faction reputation system is leagues better than the karma system for NV

  • @rickiecomeaux8287
    @rickiecomeaux8287 Рік тому +49

    This is the ONLY reason I take the Cannibal perk at level 4, to keep bad karma until level 50 so I can take the "Ain't Like That Now" perk.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +14

      Funny how Cannibal got both directly(speech checks) and indirectly(hardcore more, maintaining evil karma) buffed in NV

    • @TheDeadWannabe
      @TheDeadWannabe Рік тому +3

      You can just go to NCRCF and steal all the items to attain evil karma before level 50 to get the perk.

    • @rickiecomeaux8287
      @rickiecomeaux8287 Рік тому +2

      @@TheDeadWannabe Already did that at level 4, thanx for playing try again. Not enough items to steal in the whole game to balance out fiend and ghoul kills. I have already had a playthrough ruined by good karma kills, cannibal perk is MY solution.
      My OP was a comment about the benefits to the Cannibal perk on an evil playthrough. I am NOT soliciting advice, do not need any. Only advice I need is a mod for removing the karma gain for killing--available for Xboxone. BTW...I know it doesn't exist.

  • @genericwhitemale9566
    @genericwhitemale9566 Рік тому +16

    It clearly wasn't really focused on at all and was only in New Vegas because it's an extra feature from F03 that would've been a pain to get rid of. The Faction Rep system does its job 1000X better anyways.

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +1

      I don't think it would've been that difficult to disable, if anything it was probably more work for them to modify it as much as they did

  • @Sleepy.Time.
    @Sleepy.Time. Рік тому +81

    Fallout 4 ditching the entire invis tattletale system was one of the few things it did to improve the series.

    • @BillehBobJoe
      @BillehBobJoe Рік тому +18

      it was meaningless in fallout 1 or 2 also. if you were very evil or killed children you got bounty hunters after you. similar to fallout 3 actually

    • @Sleepy.Time.
      @Sleepy.Time. Рік тому +26

      Skyrim was weird about crime reporting as well, nothing like having your own horse report you to the guards

    • @windhelmguard5295
      @windhelmguard5295 Рік тому +31

      @@BillehBobJoe bad karma actually did matter in fallout 2 since the bounty hunters would sometimes carry extremely rare late game weapons, like the super sledge.
      in fallout 3 having good karma was really good as it lets you join the regulators, rewarding you for basically doing what you've always been doing (killing raiders) with extra caps and exp.
      was kinda weird though when you gained karma for killing a raider, lost karma for eating his corpse, but then gained karma again for selling his finger to the regulators.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +5

      Yep, they removed it alongside any form of roleplaying in F4 😂

    • @BillehBobJoe
      @BillehBobJoe Рік тому

      @@windhelmguard5295 regulators is the perk lawbringer otherwise its an unmarked location.
      But I don’t remember gaining karma for killing raiders and enclave who do drop the finger
      Two random facts lawbringer gives access to a unique raider with special knuckle weapon in the dc cementary
      And the leader of the regulators has a 10mm pistol that does over twice the damage of the sniper. But she cant die and never uses the pistol in combat

  • @A-No.1
    @A-No.1 Рік тому +16

    I actually like Neil having evil karma. It implies a lot about him, and since he definitely has a history of working under the master it's not difficult to imagine he's done some missed up things.

    • @LucyWest370
      @LucyWest370 Рік тому +8

      I think the whole issue with the karma system is that it just works on a binary sliding scale. To truly make the karma system actually good it would have to be something like the reputation system, but also, judging morality from an objective perspective everyone is going to agree with is always going to be difficult unless the answer is staring you in the face.

  • @doktorhabilitowanystanczyk
    @doktorhabilitowanystanczyk 11 місяців тому +6

    I've always thought that ghoulified soldiers at Searchlight were not actually evil, but you gain karma for putting them out of their misery and them being marked as evil in the engine is just a mechanical simplification.

    • @cyberius14
      @cyberius14 10 місяців тому

      You are exactly right as talking to one of the patrols in the area asks you to put them out and take there tags

  • @BillehBobJoe
    @BillehBobJoe Рік тому +11

    its one of the few things they totally half assed.
    obsidian made a great enough game. not everything needs to be polished to a mirror finish
    that being said, i feel like playtesting should of revealed killing feral ghouls turns you into the lord and savior of the wasteland.

  • @stevenwilgus8982
    @stevenwilgus8982 Рік тому +8

    I've watched so many of your excellent cut content, that at the end, I added, ".... ended up on the cutting room floor."
    Hahahaha

  • @randyman410
    @randyman410 Рік тому +6

    Thank you for your channel. I never miss an upload.

  • @mr.cauliflower3536
    @mr.cauliflower3536 11 місяців тому +3

    There's also the level 50 perks which you can only select with a certain karma.

  • @Garagetaper
    @Garagetaper Рік тому +1

    God I love New Vegas! Never stop doing these videos. You are by far my favorite UA-camr.

  • @jalford312
    @jalford312 Рік тому +9

    The Karma system isn't necessarily bad, it's just way too simple for a big RPG with huge narrative implications for anything. Like as mentioned in the video Boxcar is a great example, I think it's a bit weird to give karma for just killing NPCs who are already hostile to you or whatever, but even if you accept killing all Powder Gangers is evil, it's obviously abhorrent to kill one who's of no threat to anyone by virtue of being a cripple. But the karma system isn't set up for context, killing an evil character is always good, so unless a dev flips their karma too good, it makes it good to kill them, but then you have someone who is likely a murderer/bandit with good karma. It just needs to be way more open ended, and more time given to the morality of every little action, like stealing a gun from the Powder Gangers shouldn't be an evil action, but it should still be stealing.

    • @MachinaOwl
      @MachinaOwl Рік тому

      I'm doing an NCR playthrough where I killed of BoS, the great Khans, and the Powder Gangers. The game said I was neutral, then all of a sudden they're saying that I'm an evil karma devil lmao

    • @Buglin_Burger7878
      @Buglin_Burger7878 Рік тому

      Not entirely true, if someone is part of the gang and supporting them in a way to be considered part of them they are likely contributing to hurting others. There where two instances in real life where 1 person saying no stopped a nuclear weapon from being used. Heck if you've seen how some people make due with injuries some cripples could kill you.

  • @ElvencloudYT
    @ElvencloudYT 11 місяців тому +4

    Deathclaws *totally* could have karma - some of them have human+ intelligence! Most* (or all) were killed by the Enclave in Fallout 2, but I can't imagine some deathclaws would evolve on their own outside of experiments.
    Great video!

  • @Detahramet
    @Detahramet Рік тому +7

    1:58 There are deathclaws that a capable of speech as part of an experiment. Whether or not this means that other death claws are capable of higher thinking is another question, but they are presumably capable of some concept of right and wrong.

    • @contramachina354
      @contramachina354 Рік тому +4

      fallout 2 is a bit over the top... took the series down an odd route

    • @Detahramet
      @Detahramet Рік тому +10

      @@contramachina354 Oh totally, Fallout 2 was like, half shitpost, sometimes literally if you count Jet. But its still canon.

  • @Tybron
    @Tybron Рік тому +21

    I noticed Evil and Very Evil Karma in NV does lock you out of some quests, and Good and Very Good Karma probably gets you into some quests as well. An early example was when I decided to just rob every house in Goodsprings blind on one character, but all those little -5 Karma hit per stolen item quickly added up, getting me into Very Evil territory in minutes. Since I was doing an evil run anyway, I went to side with the Powder Gangers to take the town over. To my shock, I was so evil that the Powder Ganger contact said "Something about you is off, I just can't trust you, sorry" and I was actually locked out of the quest. While yes, Reputation is far more important in NV than Karma, it does still have effects with NPC's and quests, so it's not completely vestigial.

    • @ohsheet6958
      @ohsheet6958 11 місяців тому +9

      I think you were locked out of the Powder Gangers quest because you agreed to help Ringo beforehand.

    • @toe_sucker_4165
      @toe_sucker_4165 10 місяців тому +9

      Courier deemed too rancid to work with terrorists, quote, "the vibes were off"

  • @PresAlexWhit
    @PresAlexWhit Рік тому +70

    The issue with Karma is that the choices are given a binary good or bad outcome. It's essentially shoehorned beliefs. If you disagree with the karma outcome, it's too bad. There's no discussion to be had.

    • @contramachina354
      @contramachina354 Рік тому

      you forgot the golden rule... unfortunate

    • @exiledhebrew1994
      @exiledhebrew1994 Рік тому

      Massacring people will always be morally evil

    • @PresAlexWhit
      @PresAlexWhit Рік тому +2

      @@exiledhebrew1994 what if they deserve it? What if they were going to kill even more people? Is massacring the Legion bad? It gives good karma. Is massacring the enclave bad? That gives good karma too. What about killing the ghouls that try to kill everyone in Tennpenny Tower? If you do, you get bad karma and 3 Dogg talks shit about you on the radio.

    • @exiledhebrew1994
      @exiledhebrew1994 Рік тому

      @@PresAlexWhit killing legion soldiers is good; but massacring all legion, even slaves and merchants, is bad. Not everyone under a legion flag agreed with their ways.
      Killing all the Ghouls in ten penny tower is morally wrong because not all of them were genocidal, only Roy Phillips was. Killing him can be somewhat justified, but wiping out a whole settlement is not.
      Killing Enclave soldiers is good; but enclave are always hostile like raiders, and attack the innocent on sight; forfeiting their right to life.

    • @corn776
      @corn776 Рік тому +3

      @@PresAlexWhit massacring the legion is bad, hail Caesar

  • @beairmann
    @beairmann Рік тому

    Great video as always!

  • @danielsurvivor1372
    @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +15

    It's a shame that you didn't ask Josh Sawyer for WHY Mr House is set as good karma character. Neutral seems like a perfect fit, like Caesar, you can make good arguements for why Mr House ending is best or worst, and yet game's karma suggests it's evil to kill him, aka all path besides Mr House one are evil bcus they force you to kill him.
    Maybe one day you can ask NV devs why they set Mr House karma to good in the first place. Was he meant to be a different character? Or is it set to good karma because at one point you were able to peacefully dethrone him in NCR path?

    • @Steelion69
      @Steelion69 Рік тому +14

      Apparently there is a leftover in the GECK revealing that it was possible for House to surrender to the NCR (and hilariously - start paying taxes) and become an NCR citizen.
      But this was probably cut because no Megacorpo CEO would kneel to taxes and faction choices were made to have "no compromises" to prevent an "objectively good" or "objectively bad" route.

    • @kobold7466
      @kobold7466 Рік тому +3

      ​@@Steelion69 i can see why they didnt want a "best and worst" ending but faction compromises sound cool as fuck and doesn't necessarily mean theres a best ending. Like you just couldn't have every faction kumbaya together but forcing house to compromise with the NCR by blowing up his robots just makes sense and is a good option for non lethal playthroughs. maybe could even make a legion version of the quest and blow up the robots under the fort and either destroy or secure the chip then offer House position of Consul of vegas if he sides with caesar during the battle.

  • @tediousnip4139
    @tediousnip4139 Рік тому +11

    We love you Triangle City

  • @Dr.Livingdark
    @Dr.Livingdark Рік тому +2

    The mooninite reference was amazing, thank you

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +2

      You actually got it 😭😭😭 You're the only one 🖤🖤🖤

    • @Dr.Livingdark
      @Dr.Livingdark Рік тому +2

      @@TriangleCity we can’t perceive five thousand dimensions yet

  • @josephgrady2129
    @josephgrady2129 11 місяців тому +1

    Hearing you swear at the beginning was funny 😂

  • @goaway5297
    @goaway5297 Рік тому +3

    Due to the gray area of NV's choices I think they should have made killing grant negative karma, if the target was at least karmic neutral and not an automaton or animal. Good karma would be feasible to endgame with speech checks allowing you to bypass Lanius.

  • @carpetbeetle8349
    @carpetbeetle8349 7 місяців тому +1

    Quick Tip: You can go from full Very Good to Very Evil by stealing all the dishes and food from the Ultra-Luxe's Kitchen

  • @ardensidie5162
    @ardensidie5162 Рік тому

    lol nice vid I didn’t even know what karma really meant in FNV

  • @parkouremaster
    @parkouremaster Рік тому +2

    And not matter how much karma you have, and on what side you are, while you have good reputation with the faction you're good, example freeside, don't care if you are good or evil, you're still Courier for the eyes of everyone, meanwhile if you're liked/idolized in freeside no matter what karma you have, you will still get rewards from The Kings, and Ralph will still sells you his secret weapons

  • @Mojavekight17
    @Mojavekight17 Рік тому +3

    The stuff in the powder ranger prison was owned by the NCR

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +2

      You can explain that way for head canon if you want, but the only reason it actually happens is because of the Powder Gangers faction settings

  • @danielsurvivor1372
    @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +2

    1:55 I think logic behind killing creatures and getting good karma is that "less dangerous creatures in Mojave less deaths"

  • @xxTriple_Txx
    @xxTriple_Txx Рік тому

    bro wake up TriangleCity posted a new video

  • @thefalloutfanhub4934
    @thefalloutfanhub4934 Рік тому

    Yeah triangle city upload letsssss gooooooo

  • @orelyosif5852
    @orelyosif5852 Рік тому +1

    Well, Josh Sawyer himself said they want to get rid of karma

  • @Kacp3rrak
    @Kacp3rrak Рік тому +1

    The way I see it for Deathclaws, it's less about if they are morally evil or not for a creature and more of "You killed this deathly dangerous creature which makes it safe for others"
    Unless they really did just actually make a mistake

  • @SirQuacksalotthe1st
    @SirQuacksalotthe1st Рік тому

    Gonna need to make a video showing Johns mod running on the 360

  • @iswordlogici7760
    @iswordlogici7760 Рік тому +2

    I think this is fixed with the unofficial patch. I only play with that on and from what i noticed killing evil npcs rewards 5 karma, and 100 for very evil.

  • @davidr1037
    @davidr1037 Рік тому +1

    Cool episode

  • @corbjones2738
    @corbjones2738 Рік тому

    So this explains how I kept shifting between good/neutral when doing the independent ending (and after killing all NPCs in Goodsprings and Novac - a Kill Everything Run turned itself around lol)

  • @hay_den2
    @hay_den2 2 місяці тому

    *smokes bowl at 9 am*
    “you lost karma”

  • @SausagecatChannel
    @SausagecatChannel Рік тому +1

    Remember one bug I ended up wondering was related to the karma and rep systems was an instance,where I started with bad to neutral karma at best after discreetly taking out a few early no name ncr and traveling merchants. but having knocked out scores of legion ended up having good or better rep and very good karma with ncr and most factions in general except the legion,but past evil acts seemed to lead followers to act out. particularly on random merchants,think was since started out as more of a raider in the beginning.
    One time Veronica straight up oneshotted cass with a ballistic fist despite having perfect rep with the ncr and being idolized at that base.
    Just walked in the door and she just sprinted up and suckerpunch critted her.
    Happened in my last playthrough where Boone just capped a merchant in Novac at random so is the only non legion area pretty much that the current courier is not idolized in.
    Gonna go downhill in the final act though since is gonna be the wildcard ending.

    • @SausagecatChannel
      @SausagecatChannel Рік тому +2

      Gotta get my Roving trader hat somehow early game for the barter up

  • @FestusOmega
    @FestusOmega Рік тому +1

    Setting aside the issue of NPCs with nonsense alignments, a good way to do a karma system would be to put the caps on positive and negative karma as arbitrarily large, such as -60,000 instead of -100, but then put caps on how much different actions can affect karma, e.g. stealing can reduce your karma to a minimum of -X but murder can reduce your karma to a negative of -10X or something like that. Also, if there would also be very few actions which can push karma above the positive equivalent of the murder threshold, that would keep mass murderers from achieving good karma since repeated murders would push karma low enough that it would become infeasible to afterwards achieve positive karma through normal play.

  • @MatthewCampbell765
    @MatthewCampbell765 Рік тому +1

    I would say that Caesar should definitely have evil Karma, I'd even say Very Evil Karma. He has a certain degree of depth and humanity, but I don't that actually grants him much in terms of morality, in fact I think he's one of the eviler villains in the Fallout series.

  • @FaeQueenCory
    @FaeQueenCory Рік тому +2

    "This guy who has done countless genocides... Neutral.
    This lady who is bloodthirsty and petty... Ultra evil."
    Sure, Jan.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому

      She's just evil, not ultra evil. And it makes sense she unnecessarily wants you to kill nearly all factions she sends you to deal with, how tf that's not evil? In kings quest she literally wants you to instigate conflict, that's a very good way to use karma.
      Lose karma for doing *unnecessarily evil* actions that you can't justify without sounding schizo or gain karma for doing unnecessarily good actions. Moore is evil because she's instigating violence for no good reason besides "ewwwwww"

    • @AnonymousAnonposter
      @AnonymousAnonposter Рік тому +1

      Yes, once again he's right.

  • @Jules-69lol
    @Jules-69lol Рік тому +2

    I have some mods that improve the karma by adding karma-dependent perks

  • @patrikk9961
    @patrikk9961 Рік тому

    What soundtrack at 1:30? Just woke up from a nap and started watching Your video and it lowkey started to move something in me

  • @GreatestOfAllTime96
    @GreatestOfAllTime96 Рік тому

    that intro caught me off guard lol

  • @szymonbober2280
    @szymonbober2280 Рік тому +1

    i remember getting "thief" in perks in Fallout 2 and it stopped my game cause no one wanted to talk to my character...

  • @alexandermccabe556
    @alexandermccabe556 2 місяці тому

    you know i had never really thought about this my first playthrough i made all the good guy choices but killed almost everyone and i still had high karma i had assumed it had something to do with faction reputation overweighing it but never gave it much more thought

  • @thewanderingdumbass
    @thewanderingdumbass Рік тому +1

    Honestly, if it weren't for small parts of the game attached to the karma system (main one being ending slides), I would say strip it out entirely based on what the comments have said.

  • @pitchforker3304
    @pitchforker3304 Рік тому +1

    I think a faction marked Evil just means the player can steal from them without karma loss. Not sure where I picked that up, though, it could be wobbly.

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +2

      You're right, but it makes no sense for it to be used at the 188 and not for the PG's

    • @pitchforker3304
      @pitchforker3304 Рік тому +1

      @@TriangleCity For sure, stealing from the 188 should be "bad" regardless. It's a messy system.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому +1

      You sure? I remember stealing from Powder Gangsters still nets you karma loss despite gaining you karma for killing em. Other example is you lose no karma for stealing from Silver Rush but you also not gain karma for killing them, so where did you get dat hunch?

  • @flouserschird
    @flouserschird 2 місяці тому

    It’s almost impossible in Fallout 3 to be anything but the Messiah because there are hardly any evil choices to make if you don’t blow up Megaton. You have to go out of your way to kill and steal everything to be even neutral.

  • @ktrn6713
    @ktrn6713 Рік тому

    I remember doing postal run in nv and despite wiping out goodsprings primm novac and couple ncr outposts i still had good karma

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +1

      Truly a saint 🖤🖤🖤

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому

      Better way to maintain evil karma is via stealing or cannibal perk.
      Kinda funny how you need a perk to actually lose karma for killing innocent ppl
      "Oh you know how you killed that poor guy? That's nothing, now EATING HIM IS *UNACCEPTABLE!1!1!2!* "

  • @SugarBuzzin
    @SugarBuzzin Рік тому

    Lonesome Road cut content, when? Love your stuff btw!

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому

      Hopefully in the next few months, but there's still a lot of research to do and I'm in the middle of a massive F3 project, along with quite a few unrelated smaller projects, so idk

  • @alim-xf7wz
    @alim-xf7wz Рік тому +3

    Karma must be removed I wonder why no one made such mod for disabling it.

    • @VenomRaven
      @VenomRaven Рік тому +1

      There is a mod that stops the notifications from showing up.

  • @varrictethras669
    @varrictethras669 11 місяців тому

    the fact that you used FTL music as background is so confusing - I've literally spent a good minute or so trying to figure out whether I had it launched or not

  • @jacobpshappy
    @jacobpshappy Рік тому

    Wake up, Trianngle City posted

  • @CassidyCope
    @CassidyCope 11 місяців тому

    It makes sense for Karma to be underdeveloped in New Vegas, since it was just a rudimentary measurement for your reputation across the entire wasteland in Fallout 3. After adding a more formal rep system, I honestly think Obsidian might've been better off axeing karma entirely (as Fallout 4, which also includes multiple factions and a form of reputation, would later decide to do).
    Of course, rep can also be broken by knowledgeable players. Since you get all of your negative rep with the major factions reset after killing Benny, it's objectively best to do any extra content that will antagonise your endgame faction (including nuking it, naturally) before finishing the first act of the game.

  • @whatrnames
    @whatrnames 2 місяці тому

    Do you have any source links for the comments by JSawyer? Writing a masters thesis related to karma systems in games and would be helpful to have those

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  2 місяці тому

      rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/an-archive-of-josh-sawyers-formspring-from-april-2010-through-march-2013-over-1-mb-of-text.128571/
      A lot of his posts are here, tho there's probably also some stuff on SomethingAwful and Tumblr

  • @phillipwagner6669
    @phillipwagner6669 Рік тому

    Hey what's the background music you're using at 2:15?

  • @leaffinite3828
    @leaffinite3828 11 місяців тому

    idk if i ever paid karma attention in new vegas, in 3 i think i did look at it occasionally, but still

  • @brandonobaza8610
    @brandonobaza8610 2 місяці тому

    I was a kid when Fallout 1 came out, didn't start playing until NV. I asked a friend, "what's up with 'karma'?" He said, "Ignore it. Steal everything and align yourself with good factions." So, I stole everything, killed House, and put myself in charge of New Vegas. Me run Bartertown 😁

  • @Kyryyn_Lyyh
    @Kyryyn_Lyyh 4 місяці тому

    Neutral Karma play through is way harder than any other.

  • @hallamhal
    @hallamhal Рік тому

    I ignore my karma for the most of it - reputation is where it's at

  • @ZekeFreek
    @ZekeFreek Рік тому +5

    I think the karma system should be scrapped. It's overly binary, leads to weird situations where you're at the whims of the opinions of the quest designers and as Sawyer said, its antithetical to create scenarios that make the player think and question their ethics when you have to assign numerical good boy or bad egg points to their actions. Moreover, it's kind of immersion breaking how omniscient it makes everyone in the game towards your actions. You can't steal a spoon in stealth without the whole wasteland docking you points for it.
    Obsidian had the right idea with the reputation system and while they likely couldn't axe karma at the time for engine reasons, you can kinda tell they would've preferred to and I think future games should follow that line of thought.

    • @danielsurvivor1372
      @danielsurvivor1372 Рік тому

      Karma is still lowkey almost better than in F3 due to small fixed.
      1) it not being as important
      2) If you steal sumn and get caught, almost no NPC instantly kill you, they just take it back, which makes sense(though it makes no sense why player can't try to steal said item again)
      3) It has less ridiculous karma taking or giving moments, besides ghouls and fiends. E.x. F3 takes you karma for killing Roy, one of the most evil ghoul mfs to exists in Fallout, since he will always massacre Tenpenny residents, even if you remove racists. While NV doesn't have such insane misalignments, maybe Niel having evil karma is closest we have and that one is probably engine issue.
      4) that's about it xd

    • @MachinaOwl
      @MachinaOwl Рік тому

      Apparently I'm a terrible person for turning in Private Stone even though he was stealing medical resources from the others.

    • @pau-nocu
      @pau-nocu 7 місяців тому

      @@danielsurvivor1372 I love the fact that in Fallout 3, if you steal a fork, the whole town will come after you and kill you.

  • @baifomet6425
    @baifomet6425 Рік тому +1

    I always thought killing feral ghouls gave you good karma because you were putting them out of their misery or something. Now I notice is just all jank lol

  • @TheJp247
    @TheJp247 Рік тому

    I assumed you get good karma for killing feral ghouls because you're technically mercy killing them

  • @wilberator9608
    @wilberator9608 2 місяці тому

    Gives a new meaning to "karma's a bitch"

  • @LostShipMate
    @LostShipMate Рік тому +1

    You mean the Kleptomania scale?

  • @VenomRaven
    @VenomRaven Рік тому

    I ended up turning karma notifications off in most of my playthroughs. I was under the impression it barely did anything anyways.

  • @philosophos_a1522
    @philosophos_a1522 Рік тому

    I always believed that the stuff from prison was considered owned by the NCR rather than the Powder Gangers...

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому

      You can head canon it away like that, but that's also one of things Josh Sawyer fixed in his mod, so it was likely unintentional

  • @atriggeredsjw8532
    @atriggeredsjw8532 Рік тому +1

    Hey triangle. What’s your favorite new Vegas uncut content mod?

  • @oSpoken
    @oSpoken Рік тому +1

    I always wondered why karma meant a decent amount in fallout 3 yet does't do anything in New Vegas

  • @Based_nobark
    @Based_nobark Рік тому

    I started uploading my gameplay clips and I wanted to ask do you put tags in your description or do you use the actual "tags" option in the editing section?

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому

      In the tags, but they don't matter much from what I understand and I rarely update them.

    • @Based_nobark
      @Based_nobark Рік тому

      @@TriangleCity thanks man enjoy the videos keep up the great work 👍

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +1

      Descriptions can help for searches, but titles and thumbnails are the most important aspect of your videos being seen

    • @Based_nobark
      @Based_nobark Рік тому

      @@TriangleCity thanks for the help I appreciate it I just had some funny gameplay clips I've been sitting on for awhile and thought people would enjoy them

  • @gagaplex
    @gagaplex 11 місяців тому

    They clearly meant to replace Fallout 3's Karma with the Faction Reputation system... but somehow kept Karma in, anyway. Vestigial, as was quoted. They should probably have removed it from the Pipboy and just set everyone to neutral.

  • @dataunknown3060
    @dataunknown3060 11 місяців тому +1

    I’ve gotta be one of the very few people who was happy that the karma system was made all but non-existent in new Vegas. I didn’t like the restriction it presented in 3. “Oh you want to have this person as your follower? Well too bad, your play-style doesn’t fit them.” If you don’t have a good or neutral play through on 3 you only get access to some of the worst followers in the game who end up dying in nearly any interaction with enemies.

  • @alexcavazos3341
    @alexcavazos3341 11 місяців тому

    Good thing about good karma is that it gives tou 100 more hp points if you taka a perk. At max bad karma you get extea damage n ap regen
    Netral is mid really only giving crits n only when low on health tho it can be really powerful for crit builts.

  • @leaffinite3828
    @leaffinite3828 11 місяців тому

    "you have to wonder how much planning went into it at all." No you dont. Its pretty obviously a vestigial system from fallout 3, and was frankly a strange addition to that game as well. Im not saying no planning went into it, but its obviously very little.

  • @Jakewillow
    @Jakewillow Рік тому

    Just a heads up, as there are indeed good-natured talking Deathclaw in Fallout 2

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +1

      I meant in the context of NV's Deathclaws, but that's a good point :)

  • @Notmyabt
    @Notmyabt 11 місяців тому

    i know i just completed you earlier but there’s no starting quote at 5:01 :[

  • @Capta1nAsh
    @Capta1nAsh Рік тому +1

    > says fuck within the first minute of the video (and first time I can remember in any video)
    > lost karma
    > UA-cam disliked this
    > Smiling Troublemaker (demonetisation)

  • @raptorfromthe6ix833
    @raptorfromthe6ix833 Рік тому

    i appreciate the fact you didnt censor 'fuck'

  • @gobert9316
    @gobert9316 5 місяців тому

    "Almost impossible to maintain evil karma" duuude I've been permanently very evil in NV no matter what, literally ONLY from stealing

  • @TheQuaadFather
    @TheQuaadFather Місяць тому

    Hey you can easily become irredeemably evil, just steal everything you come across and it becomes way harder to move the number back up. Lost Cass several times not realizing what was happening because, killing slavers bad but stealing from slavers is worse??

  • @anequallygoodchannel.2761
    @anequallygoodchannel.2761 Рік тому +1

    Its brave of you to drop the f word in the first minute. Really tap danicing on the demonstazation line 😳

    • @TriangleCity
      @TriangleCity  Рік тому +1

      There's no consistency lol I've had videos where I dropped a lot of f bombs that didn't get hit and others that have no cursing that did for no reason.

  • @Drabbo
    @Drabbo Рік тому

    I just wish they kept the Karma and Skill system the same in Fallout 4.
    Or at the very least I was hoping they kept the vast amount of weapons New Vegas had.

  • @GiggsTheWanderer
    @GiggsTheWanderer Рік тому

    If you have bad karma the thugs in freeside are too afraid to attack you and will even apologize profusely.

  • @excelup5358
    @excelup5358 Рік тому

    karma would probably have worked better on a local level rather than a global level
    for example, killing profligates as a legion envoy would probably be seen as "good" in the eyes of the legion but "bad" to pretty much everyone else, while on the same token, killing caesar would be seen as "bad" in the eyes of the legion but "good" to everyone else
    this would have solved the issue with story essential characters being given good karma or bad karma, as this would change depending on which faction you sided with
    essentially, karma would've been better presented locally alongside faction reputations

  • @TheGameDomeGuy
    @TheGameDomeGuy Рік тому

    That explains why I my Legion character was a "Guardian of the wastes" even when you know... Legion character

    • @TheGameDomeGuy
      @TheGameDomeGuy 18 днів тому

      Watching this again... I won't lie some of this reasoning for giving Karma to some characters kinda feels a bit how to put it... Smug? Fart huffy? Unnecessarily complicated because they wanted to be all like "there's only moral Grey" kind of stuff?
      I won't lie this whole alignment thing just kinda seem to be a bit of an excuse for the devs to wax poetical about the whole "morality is subjective in the wastes" thing and meh... Never cared much for that argument