Dead Money DLC discussion *Spoilers*

[Ben878]

If you plan to play this DLC and haven't, don't read this thread as it will contain spoilers


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I just finished this DLC. It seems pretty tragic, for the humans from the old world (Mr Sinclair, Vera), the companions and Elijah. It seems to have a strong story moral - the importance of letting go, due to all the characters, alive or dead, being obsessed with their desires/goals (which actually had little to no reward attaining them) even to the point it led them to death

What do you think of the storyline?

[лягушка]

I think it's amazing - but I feel bad because Obsidian gave us the choice to get all the gold, which kinda defeats the point.

[Vassago Rain]

It's awful. Look up any of my other posts on the subject for detailed reasons why.

[kevin--76]

It's a powerful story you know, the gold bars representing the benefits of your adventure and that you can't take all of them showing that you have to "let it go".
The other characters have the same problem :Christine is obsessed tracking down Elijah, Dean wants to make his heist which destroyed the lives of several people,same thing for Elijah who is obsessed with technology , in the end you are the one that choose to "let it go" and convince the others or kill them ,
However, for me the gameplay is annoying and it literally kills the game to the point that I just want to get out of the Madre, except when you are in the casino.

[Vex Hilarius]

I always liked it. It was very controversial when it came out but it's reception has improved in the community overtime. Usually on threads with "best DLC" or something DM usually is mentioned a lot. I feel like the ones who don't like it either played it when it first came out and never touched it again or was just not into the gameplay changes from the base game.

I thought the writing and story were excellent but I really hated the BS Elijah gives you as to why your stuff gets taken away. I like the idea of having to adapt to your surroundings and using what you find but I feel like the writers made it unnecessarily complicated. Like they could have just put Dog left your crap there because you were too heavy to carry, nope they had to say "the villa scans items that are radiated and sends them back." like, what?

Other than that annoyance the story was really well made and the characters are among the best NV has to offer.

The gameplay was a little boring since there is only like 30 ghost people in the entire DLC I had to get a mod that adds more so I would always be pay attention to what I'm doing but the casino part was excellent. Immortal enemies are always fun for me to evade.

[Ben878]

Originally posted by kevin--76:

It's a powerful story you know, the gold bars representing the benefits of your adventure and that you can't take all of them showing that you have to "let it go".
The other characters have the same problem :Christine is obsessed tracking down Elijah, Dean wants to make his heist which destroyed the lives of several people,same thing for Elijah who is obsessed with technology , in the end you are the one that choose to "let it go" and convince the others or kill them ,
However, for me the gameplay is annoying and it literally kills the game to the point that I just want to get out of the Madre, except when you are in the casino.

Yeah, overall the 'letting go' is a powerful message for a game (although I wonder if many really took it away though). I could only walk out with one gold bar. So perhaps it also means one can only take so much (from whatever, no matter how great it appears).

Personally, I didn't find the gameplay that bad, just different and required adaption. I ran past almost all the ghost people or went stealthy. If players tried to engage every ghost person I can imagine it would be awful

[Grendalcat]

If you are specialized in guns, energy weapons, melee or unarmed, the Madre provides.
I personally try to kill all the ghost people, once I learn the trick from Dog.
Actually I went in at level 2 one time, and it wasn't that much harder, because so many of the hazards are instakill or nearly so.

The speakers are a bit much, 200 year old impervious speakers doesn't seem reasonable.

I love the story and characters, and the truth is that DM is bascially a Monty Haul campaign.
You can come out of it with 1200+ pounds of gear, and 200,000+ caps.

[LSD]

Loved the DLC, but the so-called "message" is a pile of junk. "Letting go"? Eugh. A fun romp with ghost people, tragically horrific pre-war technology, and a horde of treasure = awesome.

Side note: jesus Obsidian did a terrible job with the DLC (this + OWB) in terms of integration with the Fallout world.
If you could magically turn a coin into weapons, armour, food etc., then why in the hell did America not roflstomp China? Who needs T51b power armour when you can PRINT AMMUNITION. Send a soldier into battle with a vending machine on his back and a squad could conquer China. Who needs supply lines?

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by LSD:

Loved the DLC, but the so-called "message" is a pile of junk. "Letting go"? Eugh. A fun romp with ghost people, tragically horrific pre-war technology, and a horde of treasure = awesome.

Side note: jesus Obsidian did a terrible job with the DLC (this + OWB) in terms of integration with the Fallout world.
If you could magically turn a coin into weapons, armour, food etc., then why in the hell did America not roflstomp China? Who needs T51b power armour when you can PRINT AMMUNITION. Send a soldier into battle with a vending machine on his back and a squad could conquer China. Who needs supply lines?

America didn't lose the war because of lack of supplies or being inferior to their enemy. They were winning until China launched their nukes, no amount of 3d printers with mineral coins was gonna stop that.

That's all a Sierra madre vending machine is, a 3d printer. Sure they'd help, but America had far superiority over China, so the war was supposed to be a walk in the park until they found out about China having knock off power armour. Even then, it was still easy for America until the nukes were launched

[LSD]

Originally posted by psychotron666:

Originally posted by LSD:

Loved the DLC, but the so-called "message" is a pile of junk. "Letting go"? Eugh. A fun romp with ghost people, tragically horrific pre-war technology, and a horde of treasure = awesome.

Side note: jesus Obsidian did a terrible job with the DLC (this + OWB) in terms of integration with the Fallout world.
If you could magically turn a coin into weapons, armour, food etc., then why in the hell did America not roflstomp China? Who needs T51b power armour when you can PRINT AMMUNITION. Send a soldier into battle with a vending machine on his back and a squad could conquer China. Who needs supply lines?

America didn't lose the war because of lack of supplies or being inferior to their enemy. They were winning until China launched their nukes, no amount of 3d printers with mineral coins was gonna stop that.

That's all a Sierra madre vending machine is, a 3d printer. Sure they'd help, but America had far superiority over China, so the war was supposed to be a walk in the park until they found out about China having knock off power armour. Even then, it was still easy for America until the nukes were launched

Isn't the story that they spent years fighting in Alaska, until the T51b came about?
3d printing war materiel = instawin. They have tanks? Spawn a rocket launcher. Need tanks? Spawn a tank. Need food, ammo? Spawn it. Probably could have sneaked 10 guys into China to spawn nukes out of a vending machine.

Seems absurd, even for Fallout. When i played through i thought it was some magical underground transport system, so you put in a coin and a chute sends you the gear from somewhere. But no, it...turns the coin...into the goods...

[Ragnar, The Red Toker]

Its a good story IMO i loved dead money. But to other people its notoriously known as the worst DLC of fallout. Basically the Dark souls 2 of the Souls series.

[Lord Zapharos]

Originally posted by LSD:

3d printing war materiel = instawin. They have tanks? Spawn a rocket launcher. Need tanks? Spawn a tank. Need food, ammo? Spawn it. Probably could have sneaked 10 guys into China to spawn nukes out of a vending machine.

We know that the more "complicated" an item is, the more coins it takes to produce. Can you imagine the cost to produce a tank? It wouldn't be easy to shove 50,000 Sierra Madre chips into a soldier's pack (or to carry that pack). I think we can also assume that larger items would require a larger vending machine (1) to process the chips and (2) to house the item as it is being assembled. Since they are basically 3D printers, it seems unlikely that vending machines could produce ultra-large items instantaneously; you couldn't just "spawn a tank" as an immediate response to battle conditions.

I agree that the ability to quickly spawn small arms, ammunition, and medicine would provide a definite advantage in any war. But it's not the "insta-win" you describe. In particular, vending machines don't eliminate supply-line problems; all the enemy needs to do is cut off your supply of coins and it's back to conventional warfare.

On the other hand, vending machines are far more useful in the Mojave because the scale of warfare itself is smaller (small arms and explosives can more easily turn a battle). Additionally, there are relatively few people and a lot of pre-war junk just begging to be converted into weaponry, housing, etc. Elijah is right that the Madre's technology could build and destroy nations—but only as long as the ratio of materials to people remains high. It's a pretty well-balanced story component, in my opinion.

[Vex Hilarius]

You guys are forgetting that the sierra madre machines were literally designed right before the war. The villa was used as a testing site. If the machines proved useful yeah the Chinese would be obliterated quickly, but it wasn't fully ready for deployment.

[Bomb Bloke]

Originally posted by Lord Zapharos:

Since they are basically 3D printers, it seems unlikely that vending machines could produce ultra-large items instantaneously; you couldn't just "spawn a tank" as an immediate response to battle conditions.

I'd be more curious as to how long it takes to make the chips.

[gooooood mewing vietnam!]

they invented actual matter to energy converters. you're talking star trek ♥♥♥♥ right here.

also, if you get the gold out, good on you. you actually had nothing to let go. you are powerful enough to attain your wishes. there is no message to be had, you god walking among men.