Can you get Heritage of the Past key items before the subquest begins?

[gandhi_the_peacemaker]

Basically what it says on the tin. I finally finished Ending A and decided for playthrough B I'd pick up the items during my first visit to the desert. Are the items available any time or do they only show up once the subquest starts?

Thanks all.

[gandhi_the_peacemaker]

To answer my own question: You have to wait for the quest to start.

[awanderingswordsman]

I thought they were available except the only one that matters (nuclear arms manual). I could be wrong though.

[gandhi_the_peacemaker]

Unless the items carry across playthroughs (I didn't check), it seems you have to wait. I couldn't find them in their respective areas using the scanner.

[cowinspace]

AFAIK they spawn like other key items, so only when the quest is activated (the same way that the final item cannot be found before the first three are collected). Heritage should be available the first time you get to the desert in the B route anyway, so it's not like you need to wait for story events.

[gandhi_the_peacemaker]

Oh, I didn't even bother checking in with the NPC. I should have done that to begin with. (There was no subquest marker on the map, so I figured it wasn't available yet.)

Thanks for the heads-up.