I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone.
Jokes aside, Lonesome road is probably my favourite FNV DLC, which seems like an unpopular take in contemporary critical discourse surrounding the game; on the internet anyways.
I do GET what others find objectionable about the DLC, I'm not super on board with the characterisation of Chris Avellone's pseudo-rantsona and the cardinal sins the game committs in regards to roleplaying are at best misguided attempts at narrative subversion and at worst break the entire game's foundations in half.
Its one of those things, where, even though I myself had not heard of this discourse I intuitively felt something wrong when I played the game for the first time. "You, the courier came through here before and indirectly caused the devastation of the divide" - Ulysses said calmly
"No I didnt. My character didnt do that at all. My courier was a common drifter before he stole a mojave express courier's identity just in time to be shot by a claymation chandler bing". I was mostly confused. I do think its a mistake to take everything Ulysses at face value, and if you listen to his soliloquoys scattered about the various holotapes you come to realize hes a disturbed, traumatized individual who's maybe not quite meant to be taken as gospel. He reminds me of Measurehead's backstory from DE if you do the fascism sidequest.
That being said, the reason for Lonesome Road being my favourite is the gameplay. Its an amazing gauntlet that puts the player's abilities to the test with the various tunnelers, deathclaws, marked men and the like. Chris Avellone's hatred for the post-postapocalypse shines here, albeit appropriately for a recently nuked area, there are nought but the remnants of those who tried to rebuild the divide but were cut down by radiation. FNV is a bit too easy, but Lonesome Road is a nice mix up in this department. This last playthrough I played using the JSawyer mod and a revolver build, both of which made the game more challenging and I had a blast making it through the titular road.
Its unfortunate how the DLC also implies that the mojave will just get fucked again by tunnelers because again, Chris Avellone hates the post-postapocalypse, but my headcanon is that the indomitable will of the player character overcomes this to make sure the future inhabitants of vegas can put up a fight. I mean, a drugged mailman took care of dozens of them with a few hollow points, it won't be that difficult to mount a defensive line against em
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone.
Jokes aside, Lonesome road is probably my favourite FNV DLC, which seems like an unpopular take in contemporary critical discourse surrounding the game; on the internet anyways.
I do GET what others find objectionable about the DLC, I'm not super on board with the characterisation of Chris Avellone's pseudo-rantsona and the cardinal sins the game committs in regards to roleplaying are at best misguided attempts at narrative subversion and at worst break the entire game's foundations in half.
Its one of those things, where, even though I myself had not heard of this discourse I intuitively felt something wrong when I played the game for the first time. "You, the courier came through here before and indirectly caused the devastation of the divide" - Ulysses said calmly
"No I didnt. My character didnt do that at all. My courier was a common drifter before he stole a mojave express courier's identity just in time to be shot by a claymation chandler bing". I was mostly confused. I do think its a mistake to take everything Ulysses at face value, and if you listen to his soliloquoys scattered about the various holotapes you come to realize hes a disturbed, traumatized individual who's maybe not quite meant to be taken as gospel. He reminds me of Measurehead's backstory from DE if you do the fascism sidequest.
That being said, the reason for Lonesome Road being my favourite is the gameplay. Its an amazing gauntlet that puts the player's abilities to the test with the various tunnelers, deathclaws, marked men and the like. Chris Avellone's hatred for the post-postapocalypse shines here, albeit appropriately for a recently nuked area, there are nought but the remnants of those who tried to rebuild the divide but were cut down by radiation. FNV is a bit too easy, but Lonesome Road is a nice mix up in this department. This last playthrough I played using the JSawyer mod and a revolver build, both of which made the game more challenging and I had a blast making it through the titular road.
Its unfortunate how the DLC also implies that the mojave will just get fucked again by tunnelers because again, Chris Avellone hates the post-postapocalypse, but my headcanon is that the indomitable will of the player character overcomes this to make sure the future inhabitants of vegas can put up a fight. I mean, a drugged mailman took care of dozens of them with a few hollow points, it won't be that difficult to mount a defensive line against em
8 Comments
What’s the current popular take on the best/worst NV DLC? I’ve always been a Dead Money/Honest Hearts enjoyer but I haven’t kept up to date on the discourse.
@conman the word on the street from what Ive seen is "honest hearts is cool because joshua graham is in it", "old world blues is reddit and cringe" "dead money is based and people only disliked it cause they're scrubs" and "lonesome road is bad because of ulysses' ranting". Personally I like all of em to a certain extent, although ive only played Dead Money once (personally, I like the setting, characters and removing your equipment, but I hate the exploding collars mechanic, imo it just turns into tedious save scumming every time your collar beeps until you find the radio or run past). I love Lonesome road for its gameplay, Old World Blues is okay and Honest Hearts is a nice foreshadowing of Pentiment, with a solid main character and setting but IMO has really dull fetch quests for the most of it
I think I remember Old World Blues being the fan favorite at the time. OWB and LR appear to have the highest review averages on Backloggd, but that’s not exactly a barometer for the overall state of Internet™ opinion. I genuinely like all of the DLCs, but I’ve always loved Dead Money’s aesthetic and atmosphere, and I get some extra novelty out of Honest Hearts since I live in Utah and have been to Zion multiple times.
Eyyyy another fan of lonesome road! Love it! I love all the FNV dlc's but LR is my personal fav of the bunch with HH and DM being perhaps 1-5% away and OWB being well wacky fun lol.
"indomitable will of the player character overcomes this to make sure the future inhabitants of vegas can put up a fight. I mean, a drugged mailman took care of dozens of them with a few hollow points, it won't be that difficult to mount a defensive line against em " - Fantastic and well put line right here. Along with the rest above. Now im itching to replay FNV for the nth time with JSawyer's mod. Never did install his mod back then.
"indomitable will of the player character overcomes this to make sure the future inhabitants of vegas can put up a fight. I mean, a drugged mailman took care of dozens of them with a few hollow points, it won't be that difficult to mount a defensive line against em " - Fantastic and well put line right here. Along with the rest above. Now im itching to replay FNV for the nth time with JSawyer's mod. Never did install his mod back then.
@Detectivefail Thanks. I recommend the Jsawyer mod, its mostly a rebalancing mod + adds some cut content that was cut by mistake but it makes the game a lot more challenging with fewer skill points and level ups as well as scattering all the courier stash items you get at the beginning of the game for free all over the wasteland
Every bit of this games DLC is doing its own 'thing' in a way that essentially forms a 'whole' and it's kinda hard for me to choose which is my favorite when each playthrough, it changes for me depending on mood of when I enter in any of them. My last run, it actually was Lonesome Road and it all comes down to, as you put it, this insane gauntlet that is just a full test of everything you have learned / built as a character through the whole game.
I get some bemoan the more 'linear' nature of it, but I think that's kinda the /point/, no? I also adore Ulysses and everything that makes him a 2nd-year sophomore philosophy student. He's perfectly edgy with the right amount of sensible arguments that you can also poke holes in and throw it in his face. Avellone knows that nobody is as insufferable as Chris Avellone and when he writes mouth-piece characters like this, he knows we're all sitting there going: "Man, SHUT THE FUCK UP".
I've always argued this is what makes Ulysses one of the best antagonists. He's everything in one. Intelligent, ignorant, badass looking, and insufferable enough to really make you want to dunk on him.
Anyway, my favorite game ever made.
I get some bemoan the more 'linear' nature of it, but I think that's kinda the /point/, no? I also adore Ulysses and everything that makes him a 2nd-year sophomore philosophy student. He's perfectly edgy with the right amount of sensible arguments that you can also poke holes in and throw it in his face. Avellone knows that nobody is as insufferable as Chris Avellone and when he writes mouth-piece characters like this, he knows we're all sitting there going: "Man, SHUT THE FUCK UP".
I've always argued this is what makes Ulysses one of the best antagonists. He's everything in one. Intelligent, ignorant, badass looking, and insufferable enough to really make you want to dunk on him.
Anyway, my favorite game ever made.
About the last bit, the tunnelers can be scared pretty easily and you end up killing the tunneler queen anyway soooo
VeryIngenious
28 days ago