Philosophical Themes of Dead Money?

[spiritgunninforthe#1spott]

just a discussion forum for what you think the themes that inspired the dead money dlc are and/or how you relate to them, also , at this point there seems to be a general consensus that the game play if it wasnt difficult, at the very least it wasnt entirely "user friendly" for all characters, class builds, skill levels, type of gamer, etcs. did this add or detract from your game play experience in anyway? Ill probably leave my own thoughts if some sort of rapport begins to build here

[Mauno]

The whole "Letting go" theme was very well executed, and the gameplay didn't detract from the feel at all for me, as I loved the change of pace.

[Garmr]

Narrative was great but the gameplay wasn't that well executed in my honest opinion, half of my time in the villas is spent usually trying to figure out where I am since everything looks the same and it's built like a maze (and don't get me started on the stupid collar mechanics).

Once you get into the Sierra Madre it's not much better having to deal with the hologram sentries either with the holorifle or sneaking past them (which is next to impossible even with a maxed out stealth skill since they only factor in whether you are in their line of sight).

Also while I get the whole "Letting go" thing as a narrative it was silly they made the gold bars 35kg when it's clearly stamped on them 5kg for each bar (thank god for mods).

Story wise though it's amazing but the gameplay just isn't there compared to the other DLC's and my only real motivation to even play Dead Money is to get access to the new gear for regular play through.

[kaffekoppen]

For me, the gameplay of Dead Money didn't detract from the experience. Quite the opposite actually. It's one of my favorite DLCs ever.

I usually hate it when games decide to take away my stuff (e.g. your character must break out of jail), but in Dead Money it seems oddly refreshing. There's more emphasis on scavenging and survival with the cloud, limited supplies and traps that actually hurt. I don't think the speakers are that bad, but then again at this point I've played DM enough times to know where they all are.

[Vic Evicerator]

Most everything people mention as a minus point I count as a plus. Gameplay wise, I think they did a good job of balancing the artificial constraints to force people out of their usual gameplay styles without forcing it too much. The second time around it was much easier - I'll confess that the speaker thing was more frustration than challenge, but I got to appreciate the layout for what it was, and honestly it's at least as interesting as varying desertscapes.

Having played all of the DLC packs now, I can safely say that the narrative and the themes it was built on (greed and jealousy and how that can destroy you) are strongest in this over all of the other DLC packs. I also actually give a crap about the characters, quite unlike almost everyone else in the other DLCs except for Whitley and the Divide ED-E. Dean Domino and Christine are fantastic (I wish I could take Christine back to the Mojave), and it's hard to really hate Elijah - he's a great villain.

[Mauno]

Lord Vic pretty much nailed it.

DM's characters are brilliantly written, and all have their own... issues, with the "Letting go" theme. It's quite unfortunate how so many people dismiss the DLC as frustrating, and totally ignore the excellent narrative aspects of it.

[Crix]

I didn't hate it, but it is my least favorite and this is because I feel so confined throughout the entire first part of Dead Money until you get to the Casino.

[Segovax]

I didn't like it because it felt like once I figured out the gimmicks there was no real difficulty other than tedium. I liked some of the characters that were involved and enjoyed their personal stories. In fact, I thought it was puzzling that I could find the Elijah character so well done and interesting, except for how truly stupid his plan seemed. I think if I hadn't been stuck dealing with some of the most tedious parts of the game I could have easily suspended disbelief for the bank job scenario, but there was just too much time tracking along the wall looking for the speaker or something. It wasn't so bad I wouldn't play through it again, but it's not a DLC I really cared about that much.

Given that, it was hard for me to really engage the very obvious themes that were laid out. I think it had a lot of potential but didn't really deliver the same experience I got from the other DLCs.

[your hot goth aunt]

Dead Money had the best story of the whole lot, if you ask me.

It's a shame that the Villa's such a pain in the ass though.