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Fallout 3: The Rivet City Market TragedyOk, so this is not going to be a review of Fallout 3 of some sorts, yet will probably contain some spoilers for those who have not yet played the game but are going to. Suffice it to say that Fallout 3 is an excellent, addictive kind of RPG that everyone should fall instantly in love with, even though [spoiler]the ending is 100% crap (and 100% crap is an understatement, those responsible for this ending should be fired instantly at Bethesda) [/spoiler].
Today I will briefly take you through The Rivet City Market Tragedy. You won't find this quest in any walkthroughs, as the incident happened during
my game only last night. As such, it isn't even a quest at all, but something very odd, interesting and even disturbing at some point.
There will be a lot of you who've finished the game and then fell into a firey pit of despair as you've realized the people at Bethesda shoved a
definite ending down your throat. By not allowing you to play on after the final sequence, many of you will in all probability have defiantly reloaded one of your last savegames while mumbling something akin to "FUCK YOU". I'm sure you've also decided at that point never to end the last quest again. Heck, you probably couldn't care less anymore about this so-called main quest and it's do goody flavours, shooting every NPC on sight that dares talk about it. Indeed, the ending is enough to turn all saints into rogues.
Anyway, you will at some of the last stages of the main quest have gotten a new companion:
Fawkes, a super-super mutant that you befriended when you liberated him from the hands of The Enclave. Now, this is one bad-ass side-kick: invincible and yielding a deadly laser gatling gun with endless ammo. With him at your side there's now nothing that can stop you.
So, having seen each possible ending (I tried hard to get one where I could actually play on, to no avail obviously), I reloaded my most recent savegame NOT in that damn room where it all ends and turned my back on Project Purity. Fawkes and I would now take on the Wastelands, oh yeah baby! Of course, I had to search the internet for the mod that would effectively remove the too-low level cap of 20, but once that was in place we were ready to rock! And so we did and destroyed many a hide-out of Enclave, Raider, and other trash of the Wasteland.
Being a supermutant and all, Fawkes is often surprised by the trust people have in me, and adds: "No-one takes a shot at me." Supermutants are public enemies, so he's quite right.
Now, yesterday night I decided to stop by at Rivet City to investigate a link concerning some quest I was working on. Of course, I stopped by at Rivet City Market to sell some of my loot and get some stuff I needed, and naturally, Fawkes followed my lead.
That decision turned out to be the start of the Rivet City Market Tragedy. We entered the marketarea, and as many players know, this hall has some shops set up and a bar, where Rivet City locals go to have something to eat or drink. I talked to Flak of Flak 'n Shrapnel to sell and buy and then to Bannon to see if he got some clothing for me.
Meanwhile, Fawkes would just linger around a couple of meters behind me, "to watch my back" as he often states. I then walked up to the bar area, and briefly spoke with the barowner Staley.
I turned to walk up the stairs near the bar, when I suddenly heard some agitated voices. One of them belonged to Fawkes, exclaiming some taunt to whoever must have approached him with hostile intent. While I looked back to see what the hell was going on, I already heard Fawkes' gatling gun blazing. Now the shit really hit the fan as people started either running, screaming, shooting or all of the above. Security officers ran to the scene to fight Fawkes who now seemed intent to kill all of them. I took some distance of this scene to watch how this would turn out; nobody was interested in me, so I apparently took no part in this particular fight.
The Tragedy as it unfolds: Flak has angered Fawkes and is about to be slaughtered.I saw citizens run for their lives as Fawkes shot at their backs, and killing them.
Citizens cower in fear as Fawkes turns his gun on themHarkness, the android chief security man exchanged heavy fire with Fawkes, as Gary Staley dared to approach Fawkes stealthily from behind, shooting when he was satisfied with his position. Fawkes turned quickly to return fatal fire. Harkness was not allowed to die by the game, just shot unconscious, standing back up at some time point to engage in battle once again.
Harkness confronts Fawkes.Harkness gets shot - again - by FawkesIt was clear from the onset that Fawkes was targeted by all, while I must note that it was probably one incident between one of the Rivet City locals and Fawkes that started it. As I was looking in another direction at that time, I am still not sure what exactly triggered the escalation. I am positive however, that someone of Rivet City started it. Fawkes is not the kind of man to fire at those who are non-hostile.
A Security Officer returns Fawkes fire (out of sight), but would perish seconds later Anyway, the battle went on for some time, and I stood there watching it with open mouth (well, behind my screen), watching it unfold into a tragedy. I saw god loving people who I'd got acquainted with during my many travels to Rivet City mercilessly butchered by Fawkes, their puny attempts to flee or fight in vain.
The Young family (minus their daughter, she managed to flee into another area), the Staley
family, all slain. Bannon, Flak, that guy Holmes, slaughtered.
Okay, so all that would be disturbing enough, but much less what happened next. The fighting stopped. One moment Harkness was once again shot unconsious by Fawkes, the other he stood up and acted all "business like usual”.
Harkness gives up, and goes back to his old spot, while Fawkes carries his gatling gun still around.Indeed, Shrapnel and some security officers holstered their weapons, as did Fawkes! People just started wandering about once again, as if nothing had happened.
Shrapnel to Security Officer: "I hear that some-one got radiation sickness while drinking dirty water." Meanwhile, three fresh corpes lie a few feet away...It was like the game’s engine suddenly realized that this battle between immortal NPC’s was a bit ridiculous and put a stop to it. Yet, this absurd fight resulted in 11 casualties, not something easily dismissed as “a misunderstanding of sorts”.
IDed casualties:
1. Gary Staley
2. Angela Staley
3. Mei Wong
4. Christie Young
5. Henry Young
6. Security Officer
7. Security Officer
8. Brock
9. Seagrave Holmes
10. Bannon
11. Flak
Yet, the NPCs do not seem to care much about the great loss their community has suffered. Hell, little miss Young, daughter of, is seen strolling casually around the place, not minding just having witnessed the killing of her parents, or the fact that their mutilated bodies are on the ground without anyone showing the slightest interest in cleaning up this mess. I can still shop at A Quick Fix, even though Angela Staley is sprawled across the shops floor! Now THAT is disturbing. What kind of people are there in Rivet City? Have they lost every sense of emotion? Has the Wasteland made them into numb zombies?
Disturbing sightsSaleswoman: "Hi there, you interested in my wares? Oh, don't mind Angela's body, she won't bite." Customer: "Hey Gary, two beers please! What? What are you doing sprawled on the floor like that, Gary? C'mon, we need a drink!" The Young elders wasted by Fawkes, yet their daughter seems not saddened at all: expresses the wish to play.All is quiet at the River City Marketplace. Someone clean up this mess, though!I will not know just what triggered this, but I suspect Gary Staley or Seagrave Holmes, as they are seen dead in the early photos I took. If they did NOT trigger this though, I have to have a serious talk with Fawkes! Bad boy!
Seriously though, when the battle started and the first victims fell, I though “FUCK! What the hell is this bull! Now I have to reload to make this not happen!” But you know, I kind of like this now. I think it served those punks right, if they though they could take on this immortal NPC. They should have known their God (the game’s engine and script) made Fawkes indestructible! For this stupidity they deserved nothing less! And hey, judging from my stats I’m still humanity’s only hope.
.gif "Smile")
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Exactly.