Things to know before starting the Honest Hearts DLC...

[Miles to go before I sleep...]

First, the obvious, save immediatley before talking to Jed Masterson or, failing that, as soon as you emerge from the northern passage into the Zion canyon lands. These saves will spare you a lot of grief if you make either of the following two mistakes.

If you play primarily in first-person as I do, be very careful peering over the edge of cliffs. Falling in Fallout: New Vegas can be fatal, especially over the many vertical drops throughout the canyon lands. If you need to look over a cliff edge with a bit less risk of sliding over, back out to third-person for a safer look. A bit less "immersive," but better that falling victim to the reduced situational awareness first-person provides in cases like this rather than what you would be able to manage in "real life."

But most importantly, avoid killing Follows-Chalk when he first appears -- unless, perhaps, you are playing a hardcore member or ally of Caesar's Legion hunting down Joshua Graham. And accidentally killing Follows-Chalk is much easier than might be expected.

The following contains minor, but necessary spoilers about the opening scene in the Zion canyon lands and Follows-Chalk's first appearance...

The caravan is ambushed almost immediately after arriving in the canyon lands. All of your party will die no matter what you do. Their deaths are scripted. This is important to know because it may help you back off your natural aggression a bit when trying to defend the caravan. Feel free to kill all of the ambushers as you see fit. However, be very careful when crossing the bridge over the canyon. Another ambusher will appear and will even fire on you. However, Follows-Chalk comes up behind him and is not dressed in a way that might clearly distinguish him from your assailants.

On my first play-through of the ambush scene, I killed the ambusher across the canyon from the bridge. I then shot at the other "ambusher" who came up behind him and continued to shoot him as he charged me. Successfully killed him, learned he was "Follows-Chalk," and then faced nothing but unfriendlies during my time in Zion until falling into the canyon...

On the second attempt at dealing with the ambush (and after getting a "clue" from Internet searches), I was a bit more restrained when crossing the bridge. Sure enough, hostile pops up, hesitates, then starts shooting. Drop him as, or shortly before, Follows-Chalk appears. Follows-Chalk lives -- for today, anyway -- and the Honest Hearts quest-lines continue.

Of course, accidentally killing Follows-Chalk could be prevented by the developers if he had been marked "essential" during his introduction. Some comments on the Internet indicate that was the intention, but it either wasn't done or wasn't done effectively in the shipped DLC. Unofficial patches don't make him essential either.

It turns out, if you are really restrained in your response to the people who just killed all of your traveling companions, you are supposed to see Follows-Chalk come up behind the ambusher across the bridge and take him out before introducing himself. Very helpful in giving you an indication that he is not hostile (in addition to your omniscient Pip-Boy compass). However, Follows-Chalk takes so long to come to your rescue, that visual plot clue is not likely to be triggered before he appears so closely on the heels of the last ambusher and dressed so much like the ambushers that his face tattoo might as well have been concentric bands around a "bull's-eye" in the middle of his face...

[talgaby]

TL;DR:
1. The cliffs, like in most games with such simple geometry, are slippery with few invisible walls to protect you.
2. If you cannot comprehend by the time you get to Zion that New Vegas is not CoD, try to restrain yourself for that 30 seconds you cross the starting canyon, otherwise you kill a plot-critical NPC while you keep blindly shooting at everything that moves out of sheer habit.

[just.nuke.em]

Początkowo opublikowane przez talgaby:

2. If you cannot comprehend by the time you get to Zion that New Vegas is not CoD, try to restrain yourself for that 30 seconds you cross the starting canyon, otherwise you kill a plot-critical NPC while you keep blindly shooting at everything that moves out of sheer habit.

[PenguinBystandah]

Początkowo opublikowane przez talgaby:

TL;DR:

2. If you cannot comprehend by the time you get to Zion that New Vegas is not CoD, try to restrain yourself for that 30 seconds you cross the starting canyon, otherwise you kill a plot-critical NPC while you keep blindly shooting at everything that moves out of sheer habit.

I agree and approve this reply.

[Miles to go before I sleep...]

Początkowo opublikowane przez talgaby:

TL;DR:
1. The cliffs, like in most games with such simple geometry, are slippery with few invisible walls to protect you.
2. If you cannot comprehend by the time you get to Zion that New Vegas is not CoD, try to restrain yourself for that 30 seconds you cross the starting canyon, otherwise you kill a plot-critical NPC while you keep blindly shooting at everything that moves out of sheer habit.

Funny thing, by the time I entered Zion for the first time, I was level twelve or so and had not killed a single human being in that play-through up until the Honest Hearts opening ambush which kills everyone else in your party. Killing Follows-Chalk was not from lack of "restraint." He died as a result of his perceived actions without regard to what the Pip-Boy's magic compass might have been trying to tell me.

The game developers hope you see that Follows-Chalk is "friendly" because he kills the last ambusher on your behalf. Unfortunately, that helpful act typically happens after the last ambusher fires on you only to die at your hands before Follows-Chalk can do anything except appear to be yet another ambusher, one who will charge right up to you through the same hail of fire that took down those you think are his comrades. Of course, he is a named NPC, but that only makes him seem to be some kind of "boss" which helps explain his relentless "charge," somewhat greater resistance to damage, and increases his seeming threat.

Now, killing Follows-Chalk could be just one of those simple and sometimes regrettable choices you make while playing and that would be no big deal. However, his death leaves you with virtually no quest-lines in Zion amidst an entirely hostile population who dog you until you return to the Mojave. The result is a DLC which seems to have vanishingly little content until you Google a bit in response to wondering what you might be missing.

[Franklin stinky feet]

Początkowo opublikowane przez talgaby:

TL;DR:
1. The cliffs, like in most games with such simple geometry, are slippery with few invisible walls to protect you.
2. If you cannot comprehend by the time you get to Zion that New Vegas is not CoD, try to restrain yourself for that 30 seconds you cross the starting canyon, otherwise you kill a plot-critical NPC while you keep blindly shooting at everything that moves out of sheer habit.

[pontfogel]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Miles to go before I sleep...:

Początkowo opublikowane przez talgaby:

TL;DR:
1. The cliffs, like in most games with such simple geometry, are slippery with few invisible walls to protect you.
2. If you cannot comprehend by the time you get to Zion that New Vegas is not CoD, try to restrain yourself for that 30 seconds you cross the starting canyon, otherwise you kill a plot-critical NPC while you keep blindly shooting at everything that moves out of sheer habit.

Funny thing, by the time I entered Zion for the first time, I was level twelve or so and had not killed a single human being in that play-through up until the Honest Hearts opening ambush which kills everyone else in your party. Killing Follows-Chalk was not from lack of "restraint." He died as a result of his perceived actions without regard to what the Pip-Boy's magic compass might have been trying to tell me.

The game developers hope you see that Follows-Chalk is "friendly" because he kills the last ambusher on your behalf. Unfortunately, that helpful act typically happens after the last ambusher fires on you only to die at your hands before Follows-Chalk can do anything except appear to be yet another ambusher, one who will charge right up to you through the same hail of fire that took down those you think are his comrades. Of course, he is a named NPC, but that only makes him seem to be some kind of "boss" which helps explain his relentless "charge," somewhat greater resistance to damage, and increases his seeming threat.

Now, killing Follows-Chalk could be just one of those simple and sometimes regrettable choices you make while playing and that would be no big deal. However, his death leaves you with virtually no quest-lines in Zion amidst an entirely hostile population who dog you until you return to the Mojave. The result is a DLC which seems to have vanishingly little content until you Google a bit in response to wondering what you might be missing.

I also killed him on my first playthrough. I didn't see him killing the white-leg and after the ambush I was sort of on guard, so I just fired instinctivly when I saw him, realising as I pulled the trigger that he was acting strange for an enemy. Luckily I had just saved.