Karl and the Ghost Farm

[rolypoly]

So I've been to the ghost farm, spoken to the slag, brought the message back to Jo, went back to the farm to find out that Karl ran away to the Northwest, figured out that he's actually in the Den, came back to him and I can't get any dialogue out of him that will further the quest.

What am I supposed to do? If I give him money or booze or ask about the GECK, he eventually passes out drunk. If I give him a nuka-cola, he spits it at me and passes out again.

Some walkthrough said that I'm supposed to "ask his story", but I don't have that dialogue option available. I remember I talked with this guy when I first came to the Den, and I do remember him talking about ghost farms. So does this mean I'm not getting this dialogue option now because I already spoke with him before? So my quest is now bugged and I can't finish it?

[BreakinBenny]

Per's Fallout 2 Walkthrough (http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/fallout2.html#areas) says that Karl's IN 10 check is a typo in his dialogue scripting, but can be made up with by chewing some Mentats...as Per says. Though, I clearly agree that this problem is completely nonsensical and can add that this is why Fallout 2's unofficial patch exists; to fix many bugs and errors that the devs couldn't fix in time or never properly noticed.

[rolypoly]

I've read and re-read the guide you linked, but fail to find any mention of Karl requiring 10 INT check. Furthermore, my character happens to have 10 INT anyway. Or did you mean that the check actually required more than 10 INT?

[BreakinBenny]

I find it amusing that you may've definitely missed this part in there: "It should be noted that not all dialogue options described in this walkthrough will be available to a character with middling ability or skill scores (typically IN or Speech). As a rule of thumb, "smart" dialogue options require IN 6 or 7, while "supersmart" ones take IN 8 or 9. (There are a few IN 10 lines in the game, but all of them are inconsequential - Karl, Laddie and Gregory have them. Karl's is even a typo in the script.) You can always try chewing Mentats if you have them." (It is the first one marked with a green star)

My point is that Karl's dialogue option for asking him about his Ghost Farm story is that it's incorrectly marked as needing an Intelligence of 10 to gain access. You need to immediately ask Karl about his story when you get the dialogue option. It saves buying him any drinks including the situation where the quest becomes unwinnable... So yeah, unless you insist on pressing on through this rather buggy mess (and this scrap of dookie), I'd say you should pick up Killap's unofficial patch (and/or just the Restoration Project, which restores many things that were meant to be in Fallout 2 but got scrapped because of deadlines).
http://www.killap.net/

[Infinity II]

Originally posted by asdg:

I've read and re-read the guide you linked, but fail to find any mention of Karl requiring 10 INT check. Furthermore, my character happens to have 10 INT anyway. Or did you mean that the check actually required more than 10 INT?

From Fallout wiki:

"It is possible to upset Karl, whereupon he refuses to talk to you about "his story". You will need to give him a beer (needs to be in your inventory), but he will pass out subsequently. When he wakes up after a few hours, Karl will be more talkative"

[sethmage]

When talking to Karl for the first time and using the his story dialog, you should have an option to inform Jo about Karl location when you completed his(Jo) quest without need to travel to Den.

It says something along the lines Saw Karl in Den, so you don't have to get to Den and back withing 30 days as at this time you probably don't have car yet.

[Racuch Zawodowiec]

Originally posted by sethmage:

When talking to Karl for the first time and using the his story dialog, you should have an option to inform Jo about Karl location when you completed his(Jo) quest without need to travel to Den.

It says something along the lines Saw Karl in Den, so you don't have to get to Den and back withing 30 days as at this time you probably don't have car yet.

Yeah but it is still worth doing because you will gain exp for telling Karl that he can return ( which he does but we will never see him again). It's good to have more reasons to come back to Den at once, like making moomy quest or destroying the slaver guild.

[BreakinBenny]

It is a good idea to go back to the Den if you intend to kill Metzger, after getting some experience points and that combat leather jacket from helping Balthas out.