What Fallout New Vegas was supposed to be

Risewild

Risewild

Antediluvian as Feck
Modder
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We all know that Fallout New Vegas is an incomplete game, and that Obsidian wanted to do things that were never made because of one reason or another. So I am making this thread to record what we know of how Obsidian wanted Fallout New Vegas to be and the reasons why the final product is not like that (if known).

Playable Ghoul and Super Mutant race:
  • Obsidian wanted the player to be able to make Ghoul and Super Mutants characters. It wasn't implemented due to how hard it would be to do so using the game engine.
Larger game world and locations:
  • Obsidian wanted to have a larger world with more and larger locations. It wasn't implemented because of lack of time, console hardware restrictions and Bethesda saying that from each landmark in the world, the player has to be able to see another three landmarks (making the world have to be more compact).
A specific town/settlement couldn't be used:
  • This one is sketchy, but apparently Bethesda told Obsidian not to use a particular town/settlement in Fallout New Vegas. I don't think the town name was ever revealed.
A more "morally grey" Caesar Legion and explorable Legion territory:
  • Caesar's Legion was supposed to be represented as a more "morally grey" faction than it ended up being in the final product. The player would also be able to explore Legion controlled territory and a number of "civilian" Legion settlements. Not implemented due to lack of time.
A less buggy game:
  • Any developer wants to release a game without bugs, but Fallout New Vegas was released in a very "broken" state. Obsidian gets a lot of criticism about releasing very buggy games, but that criticism is misdirected, because it wasn't Obsidian's fault. Bethesda was the one doing the testing and QA of Fallout New Vegas, and it did a very poor job.
Ulysses was supposed to be a companion in Fallout New Vegas:
  • Ulysses was planned to be a companion in base Fallout New Vegas, but it was cut off from the final game. It then reappears as the main antagonist in the Lonesome Road DLC.
Fallout New Vegas was supposed to have and use the Child at Heart perk:
  • The Fallout 3 Child at Heart perk exists in Fallout New Vegas, but it is not obtainable without cheats. There is still also content in the game where the perk would be used. The cause for cutting this content was most likely the very short amount of children featured in the game.
Floaters were supposed to make an appearance once more:
  • The Floater enemies from Fallout and Fallout 2 were supposed to appear on Fallout New Vegas too. Probable cause for not being in the game is lack of time.
There was supposed to be more traits available and they were to be picked by filling in a medical history questionnaire:
  • The questionnaire contains 13 options (doesn't contain one for the Wild Wasteland trait), while the game was released with 10 traits (including the Wild Wasteland trait). The reason why it wasn't implemented is unknown, but it might be due to the engine, since it could be hard to make it so the player can "tick" the boxes and/or to implement new traits added by future DLCs (for example Old World Blues adds 6 more traits). Some trait descriptions are similar to Perks, so there's also be the chance that some of those planned Traits were turned into perks instead.
RZwkuHO.png

From the top option to the bottom one we can identify these Traits:
  1. Four Eyes
  2. Unknown Trait
  3. Unknown Trait
  4. Unknown Trait
  5. Small Frame
  6. Fast Shot
  7. Unknown Trait (This description seems similar in part with the classic Fallout games "Good Natured" trait)
  8. Trigger Discipline (This trait differs from the questionnaire description because it applies to all guns and energy weapons, instead of only applying to automatic weapons)
  9. Unknown Trait
  10. Heavy Handed
  11. Unknown Trait (Could be related to the "Jinxed" trait, from classic Fallout games)
  12. Unknown Trait
  13. Loose Cannon

Courtesy of @Alphons (link to post):

Primm was supposed to have reputation:
  • The settlement of Primm was supposed to have a reputation system like some other settlements in the game. Lack of time and/or lack of content might be the deciding factor to not implement this.
Myers was supposed to have his own deputies, that were also former prisoners at NCR CF:
  • If you resolved the quest to get Primm a new sheriff by picking Meyers, there would be deputies. Probable cause for not being implemented, lack of time.

Both Freeside and Strip were supposed to be only two zones (not 4), while Westside and North Vegas were supposed to exist in the world zone (no loading screen to enter):
  • The cause was console hardware limitations.
There was supposed to be a pack brahmin companion named Betsy:
  • Game files indicate that it was somehow relevant to Freeside's North Gate, which contains a cut cattle pen with a gate. Probably a temporary companion. Probable reason to not be implemented, lack of time.

Rotface had an unmarked quest:
  • The way it is now, Rotface will get tips and buy a hat (Eulogy Jones' Hat). But that unmarked quest was much more than that. It was probably cut because of a lack of time.

If you freed Benny at the Fort he would later try to kill you:
  • If the player saved Benny from the Legion, he would later ambush the player while using a Stealth Boy. Probable cause for not being in the game was lack of time.

Ability to play after completing the game, with all consequences from the endings:
  • For example, if you didn't kill Fiend leaders McCarran is a mass grave. The reason for not being implemented was lack of time.
There was more to that scene, where Van Graffs shoot that guy when you first enter the store:
  • He was supposed to be pushed from stairs by Jean for flirting with Gloria and then killed. Probable reason to not being implemented, the game engine.
Stein (Nipton mayor) was supposed to appear as either a corpse or alive:
  • Now he's a skeleton. Probable cause lack of time.


Courtesy of @Atomkilla (link to post):

The Courier and Cass married:
  • Obsidian considered having the Courier and Cass get drunk and getting married by the King. The reason why its not implemented is that it would be too complicated.


If you can remember any more things please say something and I will add them to the list. :wiggle:
 
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Risewild said:
This one is sketchy, but apparently Bethesda told Obsidian not to use a particular town/settlement in Fallout New Vegas. I don't think the town name was ever revealed.
Click to expand...

Weren't they restricted from using Area 51?

Also some other things:
-Primm was supposed to have reputation
-Myers was supposed to have his own deputies, that were also former prisoners at NCR CF
-both Freeside and Strip were supposed to be only two zones (not 4), while Westside and North Vegas were supposed to exist in the world zone (no loading screen to enter)
-there was supposed to be a pack brahmin companion named Bessie
-Rotface had unmarked quest
-if you freed Benny at the Fort he would later try to kill you
-ability to play after completing the game, with all consequences from the endings (so if you didn't kill Fiend leaders McCarran is a mass grave)
-there was more to that scene, where Van Graffs shoot that guy when you first enter the store (he was supposed to be pushed from stairs by Jean for flirting with Gloria and then killed)
-Stein (Nipton mayor) was supposed to appear as either a corpse or alive (now he's a skeleton)
 
Thanks for the new things. I updated the first post to contain them. I also added a few more things I remembered.
 
Obsidian considered a plotline where you'd, under the influence of alcohol, get married to Cass in New Vegas.
JESawyer said:
"We actually had some ideas for characters that would... like in one story draft we had, Cass would get drunk with the protagonist and then would wake up with The King having married them at The King's School of Impersonation. That seemed very Vegas, but we were also like, that's kind of a complicated series of events, so we decided not to do it. But it's also in the vein of the Fallout 2 more humorous romance, rather than in-depth and serious. It'll be interesting to see how Bethesda approaches that in Fallout 4."
Click to expand...
 
Quite some of those features were added or restored through mods.
Lexx for example made a Betsy mod.

Yeah Bethesda did not want Area 51 be used (probably because they want to use it for more alien nonsense)

That place would probably would have made a lot of sense of being Big MT.

I wanted to make a mod myself in which the player joins a group of prospectors that travel to Area 51 (the campaign would perhaps be about all of these people having different goals). One the player would get there they would discovered this bombed out Air Force base (the Chinese did know of its existence), but some surface buildings and hangars would still be standing.

In one hangar the player would find the alien spaceship model and perhaps alien corpses and discover that it is all fake. There are no aliens.
The spaceship and the aliens (perhaps genetically modified monkeys) were part of a project to distract the civilian population of all the top secret weapons research and testing the government and armed forces were doing.

The beacon the player found in Fallout 3 would be revealed to be some sort of hypnotic suggestion device/virtual reality combination that puts anyone influenced by it through a scenario in which they are captured by aliens, manage to escape and free other prisoners, and have to stop the aliens from threatening humanity and then be awakened while thinking it was all real.

Once the Chinese would be defeated the government was planning to reveal the aliens as the next big threat to America in order to continue the massive military budget and various emergency measures implemented since the start of the war with China. (perhaps even suspend the constitution for the duration of the crisis)

The player would also encounter the Men in Black, revealed to be pre war androids who unlike the Synths of Fallout 4 were revealed to be pretty bad designs due to the limits of Fallout's pre war technology.
They had to be networked in order to increase their intelligence but without it they would be as dumb as a rock because the processor in their heads are less capable than that of a Mr Handy or the brain of a Brainbot.
 
Weren't they also originally supposed to set the game between Fallout 1 and 2, but were told not go backwards in timeline? If they had, that could've changed some things in the game... perphaps even drastically.

I think I remember Sawyer also said that they toyed around with an idea that they player could leave the game through Mojave Outpost (apparently at any point) if he didn't feel inclined with the story, or something to that end. But the idea was - iirc - more in jest, so I don't know if it counts here.
 
No Obsidian wanted the game to take place between Fallout 2 and Bethesda's Fallout 3, probably so that some characters from Fallout 2 could make a return and not be to old.

First time I heard that Sawyer once said that.
 
There had to remove Fisto plot arc and one of the five main endings.

Otherwise, there is a series of mods in the nexus that put back stuff that were removed in the finished product. Which includes lines that were already recorded by the original actors and events that were already made and scripted, but glitched out of the released product. I don't recall the name of this series of mods. But the series is big.

Edit:
New Vegas Uncut.
There is like 10 or 15 parts.
 
More like shitty limited engine. Other open world games on consoles were alot more massive.
 
The engine can become rather unstable the more NPCs are present.
I had wanted to install mods that increase the number of NPCs such as NCR soldiers, raiders, Legion etc. The engine sometimes really had difficulty with it.
 
Wasteland Adventurer: There was supposed to be a merchant outside of Jean Sky Diving. Seems like he was pretty far along in development when cut, and would provide some basic info about the area for new players.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/48865

The Scorpions had an unmarked quest: Probably one of the many things that got cut due to the short development time.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ammunition_for_the_Scorpions

Marilyn the Securitron: There was supposed to be a second "female" securitron in the Lucky 38 called Marilyn (based on Marilyn Monroe). Veronica makes a comment about 2 female sex bots when you meet Mr House.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Marilyn

Sorry if some of these have already been mentioned
 
I will add to the first post the new information from the previous posts later. I don't have time at the moment.

I spent a couple hours searching the internet about the Area 51 thing, and I do remember in the past reading about it, but I can't find any information about Bethesda blocking it from the game.

Thanks for helping this thread grow :ok:.
 
Seemingly the Platinum chip could've had more influence on the story other than on the House and Independent endings because there are remnants of a Flag system that tracks wether the Chip is in the House of House, Caesar, NCR and surprisingly The Followers of the Apocalypse (Maybe they were the original instigators of the Independent Questlines?). Probably removed because this would've potentialy increased the number of permutations 24 times and they just had 18 months to make the game.

You could also had convinced House to spare the BOS, it has been added back with mods so the reason for the cut was probably to make the Ending quest lines more distinctive.

Also, there seemed to have been a way for House to surrender peacefully to the NCR

It reads:
Upon further reflection, I have determined that it is my best interests, and the best interests of the New California Republic, to transfer sovereignty of the Vegas Strip to the NCR.

If all terms are agreed upon, annexation would occur one year from today.

a) I am to be granted full status as a citizen of the NCR and immunity from prosecution for any activities prior to annexation.

b) I will be recognized as the sole proprietor of the Vegas Strip, a commercial property.

c) I will be subject to all laws of the NCR, including personal and property taxes.

d) NCR functionaries will police the Strip; I will retire my Securitron police force and limit their movement to the grounds and interior of the Lucky 38.

Please confirm that these terms are agreeable. I do not foresee any objections on your part.

Robert Edwin House President, CEO, and Sole Proprietor The New Vegas Strip
Click to expand...

Removed probably due to time, or maybe to make the player choice for the ending more impactful.
 
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