Who is the good guy in New Vegas and what do they wanna achieve?

[Sizzle]

Ncr, House, The Legion or Yes man??

[talgaby]

None. There is no "good" or "evil" in this game, just shades of moral grey. NCR is playing a frontier Western democracy with overtaxation and mandatory drafting crippling their own citizens; House is an autocrat who runs the city like a factory; the Legion is ruling with an iron fist, an order built on slavery; and Yes Man is just a program to control the Vegas police force, but it has little to no advice on politics, economy, basic sociology to make anyone run an entire city and the outlying regions… especially a city relying solely on tourists for income.
If you want a clear "good guys versus bad guys" scenario, I'd advise playing Fallout 3, because there you are forced to help the White Knights of Goodness no matter what.

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by KimK'sLovelyAss:

Who is the good guy in New Vegas and what do they wanna achieve?

None of them. All of them. For varying values of 'good'.

NCR is a democratic republic in the mold of the USA during its 'Manifest Destiny' phase (19th century). You will join them, for the greater good (the greater good), or else.

House is a technocratic despot who believes that he knows what's best in life (no Conan, not crushing your enemies) and you *will* fill the role he designates for you in the greater good (the greater good) or else - “To keep you is no benefit; to destroy you is no loss".

Wildcard - Yes Man rules in the Courier's name, keeping New Vegas as an independent city-state surrounded by the NCR. You could be a check on the NCR's tendency to squeeeeeeeze its citizen's for every drop of tax it can push out of them. Or you could be the example they point to, their go-to boogeyman - for showing how horrible things are outside their borders and why they have a moral imperative to continue to forcefully expand.

The Legion - Brutal, ruthless warlord who will stop the constant internecine fighting by destroying all powerbases other than his own for the greater good (the greater good - STOP THAT!). Basically 'Hero' from the point of view of the Qin Emperor. With fewer bathrobes and more short dresses.

[Starbug]

Pick any faction, it just slightly alters the last couple hours of the story and changes which ending panel you get.

[talgaby]

And by slightly changing he means totally changing the entire quest lines for the third act for the game, with different objectives, and in an extreme case switching on what side to fight on the final battle. As if FO3 would have offered you to fight alongside the Enclave to destroy Liberty Prime.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by talgaby:

And by slightly changing he means totally changing the entire quest lines for the third act for the game

Those final couple of hours don't really impact the world in any meaningful way beyond what ending panels you get. Final battle is extremely short and underwhelming no matter which side of the dam you start from.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by JobeGardener:

One thing America DOES is answer the call for help no matter what armpit of the earth you reside.

They didn't offer up much help during the Rwandan genocide. I guess the "armpit" needs to have natural resources or geopolitical strategical importance to qualify for help.

[Discreet_Pigeon]

All factions are the "good guys." The reason for this is because no one usually depicts themselves as being the villians for they are doing what they believe to be the correct action whether it be Caesar enslaving people, annexing tribes by forceful submission, and ruling the weak to maintain order or you(courier) deciding to tell the factions to go ♥♥♥♥ themselves and bring freedom with anarchy.

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by JobeGardener:

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

None of them. All of them. For varying values of 'good'.
. . .

The NCR is in no way a representation of America. In no way does America make anyone go along with anything. One thing America DOES is answer the call for help no matter what armpit of the earth you reside. NCR is the closest thing to the good guys in game.

OH ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CHRIST GO READ SOME HISTORY YOU MORON.

Manifest Destiny

19th century

Monroe Doctrine

American Isolationism

[bermuda]

NCR: Originally good guys who originated from Shady Sands in Fallout 1, ambitiously getting lots of people and becoming the New California Republic, to fight against the evil. Over time, they got more corrupt though. They basically are the closest thing you'll get to an in between. They're corrupt, but they're also good fighters and help a lot with stuff.

Mr. House: Basically a corrupt guy who leads New Vegas and the Strip with his army of robots. He wants you to do some effed up crap, but he lets people basically do what they want, as long as it doesn't involve killing.

Caesar's Legion: Again, a meh kinda group of people. They are slavers who are basically the Fallout: New Vegas manifestation of the Ancient Romans, yet they do let you kill benny and stuff like that.

I'll add a few:

The Great Khans: Basically a tribe of weirdos who make drugs and sell them. They don't really do anything bad besides be hired mercs.

The Powder Gangers: They did escape prison and blow up a bunch of helpless NCR troopers, hence their name, yet they were kept in captivity for insane reasons do to the NCR's corruption.

The Fiends: Like the Great Khans, except they reside in Vault 3, and don't make drugs.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Originally posted by ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!:

NCR: Originally good guys who originated from Shady Sands in Fallout 1, ambitiously getting lots of people and becoming the New California Republic, to fight against the evil. Over time, they got more corrupt though. They basically are the closest thing you'll get to an in between. They're corrupt, but they're also good fighters and help a lot with stuff.

They were always on the shady side. Pun intended.

Like when they hired New Reno gangsters to strong arm Vault City into signing on. Or when they planted agents in Redding to make sure that the town voted with NCR interests because they wanted the gold mines there for central banking.

[NickBoldt]

The conflict in New Vegas isn't about good vs evil.

It's about a battle of ideologies. Corrupt and incompetent democracy, iron fist totalitarism, liberal economic pragmatism, and anarchy.
So pick your poison.

[ʙ⌁¹¹⁰¹]

I'm the good guy. Simple as that.

[hghwolf]

Originally posted by Vita, Mortis, Careo:

Like when they hired New Reno gangsters to strong arm Vault City into signing on. Or when they planted agents in Redding to make sure that the town voted with NCR interests because they wanted the gold mines there for central banking.

IOW, they`re The United States of America.

Did you know they`re discussing arming Al-Quaida to fight ISIS now ? Germany was discussing forcing "potential radical muslim threats" to use a different ID that would prevent them from leaving the country.

I`d say the "war on terror" has jumped the shark, but I`m more concerned over the cyclical nature of history.

[bermuda]

Originally posted by hghwolf, the prick of destiny:

Originally posted by Vita, Mortis, Careo:

Like when they hired New Reno gangsters to strong arm Vault City into signing on. Or when they planted agents in Redding to make sure that the town voted with NCR interests because they wanted the gold mines there for central banking.

IOW, they`re The United States of America.

Did you know they`re discussing arming Al-Quaida to fight ISIS now ? Germany was discussing forcing "potential radical muslim threats" to use a different ID that would prevent them from leaving the country.

I`d say the "war on terror" has jumped the shark, but I`m more concerned over the cyclical nature of history.

Politics.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by hghwolf, the prick of destiny:

Did you know they`re discussing arming Al-Quaida to fight ISIS now ?

Who is discussing this? Sounds far fetched.