No Good End to Tenpenny Tower (Spoilers, obviously)

[The Minted Lady]

I'm at Tenpenny Tower and trying to decide which way I want to handle the dispute between the ghouls and the humans. I've already read ahead to see what the various outcomes are, and I gotta say, none of them seem particurly ideal.

For one thing, I don't feel the ghouls have a right to live in the tower. Sure, they want to and they might even be able to afford Tenpenny's rent requirement, but they can't seem to take no for an answer. I feel like they're no better than raiders, in a way, because they're just going to kill the other residents once they get inside.

For another thing, and although the Tenpenny Tower residents are stuck-up jerks, who's to say they didn't earn their place in the tower? They have a wealth of bottlecaps in post-war wasteland times. That could not have been easy to amass, and I'm sure they weren't just living next door to the tower before moving in. They had to find their way there, which is a feat within itself in the wasteland.

It's an interesting situation overall. The ghouls are supposed to be the "goodguys" because they're being discriminated against, and the rich humans are painted as the "badguys" because they want to hold onto their safe and comfortable way of life. I feel like the only workable solution they're offering me is to kill the ghouls, but even Three Dog will treat me like a jerk if I do.

Thoughts?

[Sovereign]

It's a good example of a morally grey decision, no matter what you do both sides remain a*ssholes and you can't finish the quest in a way that favours everyone just like in most real life conflicts.

[AimlessArrow]

Originally posted by The Minted Lady:

I'm at Tenpenny Tower and trying to decide which way I want to handle the dispute between the ghouls and the humans. I've already read ahead to see what the various outcomes are, and I gotta say, none of them seem particurly ideal.

For one thing, I don't feel the ghouls have a right to live in the tower. Sure, they want to and they might even be able to afford Tenpenny's rent requirement, but they can't seem to take no for an answer. I feel like they're no better than raiders, in a way, because they're just going to kill the other residents once they get inside.

For another thing, and although the Tenpenny Tower residents are stuck-up jerks, who's to say they didn't earn their place in the tower? They have a wealth of bottlecaps in post-war wasteland times. That could not have been easy to amass, and I'm sure they weren't just living next door to the tower before moving in. They had to find their way there, which is a feat within itself in the wasteland.

It's an interesting situation overall. The ghouls are supposed to be the "goodguys" because they're being discriminated against, and the rich humans are painted as the "badguys" because they want to hold onto their safe and comfortable way of life. I feel like the only workable solution they're offering me is to kill the ghouls, but even Three Dog will treat me like a jerk if I do.

Thoughts?

Like in "Trouble at Homefront" there isnt "good" solution. You have to choose one. Tenpenny residents are snobish people who lives in the past. The ghouls wants what they cant reach by their own efforts(and presumably dont deserves, if the Tenpenny-gang was the first settlers in the tower).
I always choose the most pratical way: let the ghouls to kill humans, earn my home there and kill the zombies a few weeks after. By the time Tenpenny and Crowley are long gone (via other quests),there isnt serious karma loss (altough my aim is to keep it in neutral), and I have my own tower in the end. But again you cant be absolutely fine in this case.

[Applied Mediocrity]

For the most part the game's story forces you to be the good guy, and all wrongdoing seems wrong not because it's genuinely evil but because it's completely out of place. This quest stands out as one of the best in Fallout 3 exactly because of this moral ambiguity.

The best way as I see it is to take the money and the gun from Chief Gustavo, explore the tunnels for xp and loot, talk with Roy to find out he can't open the service door on his own to let the ferals loose and then walking away like it's not your business.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Applied Mediocrity:

For the most part the game's story forces you to be the good guy, and all wrongdoing seems wrong not because it's genuinely evil but because it's completely out of place. This quest stands out as one of the best in Fallout 3 exactly because of this moral ambiguity.

The best way as I see it is to take the money and the gun from Chief Gustavo, explore the tunnels for xp and loot, talk with Roy to find out he can't open the service door on his own to let the ferals loose and then walking away like it's not your business.

When does the game force you to be the good guy?

[The Minted Lady]

The "it's none of your business" approach is probably the most logical, although I still aim to kill Tenpenny himself. He was willing to pay to have a town destroyed just because it's an eyesore to him. Who knows what will be next on his list. Still, I don't think the residents should pay for his sadistic behavior.

This may end up being one of those times when I ignore the implications and just go for the reward. I do like the idea of tht ghoul mask you get from Phillips. Too bad you can't just steal it from him and run.

[Applied Mediocrity]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

When does the game force you to be the good guy?

Your parents' favorite "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" is a dead giveaway, don't you think? Why would you even go look for your old man if you didn't care about the thing he wants to do with the thing?

Sure, you can blow Megaton up and p*ss off the whole Capital Wasteland along the way. Your old man? Why, he'll just give you "son I am disappoint" and "we'll talk about it later" because there's this free clean water thing for everyone, you see.

Originally posted by The Minted Lady:

I still aim to kill Tenpenny himself.

There's "You gotta shoot 'em in the head" for this. Which also poses a good question of what to do if you find out Crowley's true motives.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Applied Mediocrity:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

When does the game force you to be the good guy?

Your parents' favorite "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" is a dead giveaway, don't you think? Why would you even go look for your old man if you didn't care about the thing he wants to do with the thing?

Sure, you can blow Megaton up and p*ss off the whole Capital Wasteland along the way. Your old man? Why, he'll just give you "son I am disappoint" and "we'll talk about it later" because there's this free clean water thing for everyone, you see.

You do know you can saboutage the Pufier with the Enclave bio weapon, killing millions. You also don't have to go looking for your father if you don't want to and even if you do you decide why your character is looking, it's a RPG after all.

[JtDarth]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Originally posted by Applied Mediocrity:

Your parents' favorite "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" is a dead giveaway, don't you think? Why would you even go look for your old man if you didn't care about the thing he wants to do with the thing?

Sure, you can blow Megaton up and p*ss off the whole Capital Wasteland along the way. Your old man? Why, he'll just give you "son I am disappoint" and "we'll talk about it later" because there's this free clean water thing for everyone, you see.

You do know you can saboutage the Pufier with the Enclave bio weapon, killing millions. You also don't have to go looking for your father if you don't want to and even if you do you decide why your character is looking, it's a RPG after all.

So much this. My character's reasoning for going after dear old dad is usually along the lines of doing it to call him out for his BS and to have a direction in life, rather than just being the messiah-hobo of the capital wasteland.

[The Minted Lady]

Lol. Messiah Hobo.

I do agree that the game doesn't necessarily force you to be good; in fact, it seems to reward you the most for being evil or morally ambiguous. This quest, for example, rewards you whether you let in the murderous ghouls or slaughter them in the name of wealthy bigots.

@Mediocrity -- Yeah, I have that quest and I know what Crowley's really up to, but other than killing Tenpenny, I'm still trying to decide how to handle it. After I called him on it, he seems fine with me just getting the keys and not killing the others, but Duvok is a bit of a scumbag. I'll still probably just shake him down for the key and leave him to his den of iniquity.

I am trying to play a "Good" character, but my own tendency towards the highest reward in video games makes it both difficult and interesting.