(Typed on March 15th, 2015)
Today is my first marathon session, as I don't really have a lot of things on my plate today. I expect I'm gonna swallow a massive amount of story during this playthrough in my diary, but I am absorbing everything like a sponge.
My first action was to head back to Carbon and give Ruby the dead cat. She's more than upset about it, naturally, but at least I get compensated. Leaving Carbon for (probably) the last time, I took one last contempuous glance at Mayor Bitch. Fortunately for me, I would realize I would get my opportunity to give him a peace of my mind down the road. But, at this time, I could just imagine.
Going deeper into the Crater's outer ridges required going through what was left of a community and jumping across pits. I wasn't confident with these mechanics, but at least they were passable enough as I beat the crap out of dozens of giant ants and scorpions. Unfortunately for me, those annoying buggers that shoot scorching venom not only became more common around here, but also took vantage points towards the final leg of this dangerous trek. I decided to finally practice with my firearms, but I was more than irritated at how uneffective they were, so I decided to just punch a lot of them by jumping to their little alcove in the middle of the void.
Upon reaching the lower sections of the Crater, I grew a bit more paranoid as what I was about to see. After I had opened up a freezer to find a torch that could do some fire damage, I stumbled upon a scorpion nursery, as several of those things popped out of unsightly incubators. I wasn't wary of the scorpions, but finding out where they came from was, so far, my least-favorite part of this game because I am creeped out by insects in video games. Lemme put it like this, going into the Fire Ant Queen's chamber in the Fallout 3 mission "Those!" isn't pleasantville for me.
Scavanging ammo and Stimpaks from dead Wastelanders is a somber reminder as to the perils this post-apocalyptia present, but at the same time, they aren't gonna be needing them anymore.
The lower section of the Crater, in general, is slightly more frustrating than the open aired section I started out in, mostly because of the radioactive puddles that the insects liked to go into. I soon realized that fire isn't the best friend of those venonmous volleyers, and now they learned to fear ME! Well... as long as I have a shipment of Stimpaks to keep me up and going. Eventually, after thorough exploration of this region, I made another save before venturing into the Crater Pit. There... I would finally get my wish.
Mayor Richar... I mean, Mayor Bitch, was waiting for me! I would've asked him how the hell he got down here without running into me, but I was too pissed at seeing his fat mug one more time. Our not-so-democratically elected "leader" once again crooned about evolution as the bones of past civilizations shall be my final resting place. Believing that his worrying about the Raiders was a ruse, I make the comment that he thinks the Raiders shall be the new civilization of the world, to which the Mayor replies that he had no other choice. You see, when I helped the town out in killing some scum in Armpit's Bar, Matron (whom I erroneously call Madrok in the first day typing... will not fix because I want this to showcase how I figured out stuff) got super pissed and gave her bitch an ultimatum; kill the Brotherhood Initiate, or Carbon gets torched to the ground. Without much thought, he chose my death would be a proper deal for me actually trying to make this shithole less shitty. While I can understand that sometimes you have to make tough decisions for your community, I knew he hated my guts the moment he laid eyes on me. Well, the feeling's mutual.
Still, my mission is finding the Paladins, and Mr. Bitch decided to set up the Brotherhood by leading them to Matron. So, not only did he screw me over by luring me down into this pit, he screwed my faction over! I was raring to go and I now had something to cook his rump roast, although Richard had some of his "friends" drop by to help him.
So now began the second boss of this game, Mayor Richard. Richard was more annoying than the Giant Radscorpion because of the fact that he is a "flunky boss", where he's not as much of a problem as are the minions that wander around with him. Also, Richard loves tossing grenades (most likely based from Armpit's latest brew) and placing landmines that defeated me the first time I fought him, so I finally died in this game.
I soon realized that head-on attacks won't work against Richard in this car Stonehenge, so I would use the cars for cover while being tactful about his grenade placement. The second time I fought him, we met at a double KO, so I had to wait until the third try to see him finally be undone by his explosives.
Although there was a satisfaction in destroying Richard, all those bombs he liked using started to collapse the Crater, meaning I had to move. Although the path back to the surface had a lot of more enemies to cull for experience, I wasn't gonna loiter around and hang out with the Raider bums. Avoiding giant ants, scorpions, and even a Giant Radscorpion, I make my way to the outer layers of the crater. Once there, I had to overcome more of those freaks and assholes, and much to my chagrin, they were able to harm the brahmin.
Fleeing the Crater was like falling out of the frying pan and into the fire, literally. Although Matron had given the mayor an ultimatum, because she's a Raider, she was gonna torch Carbon regardless if he had succeeded in killing the Initiate. Even in death, Mayor Richard is a failure. I see Armpit trying to weasel his way out of Leather Tassles's death gauze, and instead gets burnt to a crisp. However, even though he was dying, he still had some info left for me to use on dealing with the Raiders in Carbon. Since the deal with the radscorpion tails was ending, he gave me his liquor recipe before dying. Somebody out there in the Wasteland might end up paying a pretty penny for this thing, so I'll hold out until that day comes.
Vidya had succeeded in getting a few people into the warehouse, but many more weren't lucky. The Raiders have no qualms killing innocents for no reason other than just because, and I wasn't gonna put up with that shit for much longer. Some Raiders used torches of their own, while a few had access to flamethrowers. They were annoying because they like to use fire on their opponents, but all Raiders eventually go down at my newly bought Sledgehammer.
After clearing out the Raiders in this part of town, I went to the warehouse to check up on Vidya, who refused to let me in. Well, that warehouse may be safe because I killed over 50 radscorpions and a couple hundred rats that occupied it before, but if the Raiders wanna set fire to something, they will set fire to something until they die. Frustrated at not being able to take a breather, our hero sets off for the other parts of Carbon to do battle with more Raiders and probably gain both a better standing with the Brotherhood as well as respect from the all-seeing entity they call "karma".
The west side of Carbon is a complete maze with manmade barricades, pits, and smashed buildings. I wasn't able to save all of the innocents that weren't able to find sanctuary in the warehouse, but I did a fair enough job. With all Raider activity finished, I moved on to the North side.
The north side of Carbon appeared to have been connected to a railyard system, as there were numerous tracks that were horribly mangled, either during the Great War and fallout or as the result of people searching for scrap metal. One annoying element of gameplay glitching occurred when I knocked a Raider into a pit and he was still moving around, but thankfully the game registered him as a casualty. I continued my trek of Raider clubbing throughout this part before moving on to the East side of Carbon. There wasn't much going on in that part of town, so I finished my Raider cleansing, which allowed me safe access into the Warehouse.
Once inside, I look at Ruby and Jesse. As usual, Ruby has a problem, and this time, her grandmother's necklace was stolen. Since this is an easy cap and XP grab, I take it, and then talk to Jesse, who is more than pissed at the Raiders showing up, but is also impressed with my capabilities. Finally, there's Vidya, who might as well now be the head figure of what's left of this community. Upset that not everybody was able to survive, she does thank Cyrus for doing the best he could. The Initiate then mentions that, while killing all these Raiders solves the problem short term, it just gives them more of an excuse to come back here to make sure every single thing in this town is dead, and it won't stop until Matron is eliminated. Jesse is able to finally give me the key needed to get into the town's railyard, and promises to be waiting for me on the other side.
The Carbon Railyard is yet another in a long line of pointless areas to wander through, and I'm starting to sound bitter because I'm getting to the point where things get tedious. And, bear in mind that I have taken several breaks during the typing and gameplay today so I don't get worn out. The idea of going through one area of a game just to wander into another area in order to wander into the area you are intended to visit is such a pointless means to artifically prolong time and add difficulty to your game. I can tolerate it in modern day games, but that's because the programming and technology can handle massive game worlds, but in this day and age, everything is a series of rooms connected with one another, and the game has to load every individual room. I know this part makes no sense, but this is how I'm feeling right now playing this old game.
At least an element of suspense is added in mine fields, resulting in me having to be careful, but my dang controller is so hard to have me move at a slow pace not to set them off, as well as the fact that most Raiders don't set them off themselves. While finding a Raider who has the key to the gate, I found the necklace and made sure to return it to Ruby for that quick fix. After a few minutes of wandering, I realized I had to hop on a railcar to get over to the other side in order to find the damn Raider who had the damn key in order to open the game gate! Then, I had to go through another minefield, this time in a tight area just to accomplish this goal. Once I succeeded, even though I died twice at this part because of the mines, I was able to move on to the next part of the Railyard passage to the Mill. Not much worth mentioning there, except a new kind of Raider adversary has appeared.
Matron is keen on promoting her own gender to higher positions, and also giving them stripper-level outfits, to boot. Also, I noticed they were the first enemies to make comments after you defeated them, with some saying "Nice shot" upon dying. Random tidbit.
So, after I pass through this next area, I realize I'm now heading to the Mill Parking Lot. Oh, great... I gotta fight through THAT just to get into the damn mill?!?
Gladly, I learned that wasn't the case. This was a hub area, and Jesse was there to congratulate me on my hard work. Asking where Matron is in this facility, Jesse says she's all the way in the back area because she likes how the machines make vibrating motions. Suddenly, the image of Matron riding on top of a random mechanism during her downtime sprang to my head.
In order to get to her, I would have to work my way through the rest of the facility to unlock that part. So, to start, I have to work through the storage facility where many Raiders are learning how to use firearms and lose their qualms about raping and pillaging innocents. This part is one of the more grueling segments due to the fact that I learned to loathe a certain type of weapon user later on, but I'm talking ahead of myself.
After working through the storage area and finding a Stimpak haul, I move on to the Reactor where I have to activate an ancient reactor in order to reach Matron. Getting to the Reactor wasn't as bad as I thought... getting out, however, was a real pain in the ass, because once you leave the Reactor to the Office, you soon see female Raiders that toss around explosives. I died, like, 15 times in this area alone because of those stupid bombs. Thankfully, they get hurt by 'em, as well.
As I continue my wandering, I also died a few more times because I forgot how much steam hurts, so I would have to jump over them and spend a Stimpak or two if I didn't quite get the distance.
Eventually, though, I left the Office to go back to the Storage area, and for once, the game was relaxing here as all the enemies I had killed in this area were gone and no reinforcements arrived. This gave me ample time to prepare for heading to the Mill Grinder to face off against Matron. I saved before this, as I usually do.
An interesting cutscene is here where Matron thanks a Super Mutant General for helping her out in return for slaves when the power goes out in the facility due to the reactor malfunctioning. Matron tries to charm the Mutant into helping her in the forthcoming battle, but the Mutant, who takes more inspirations for a smooth-talking brute along the lines of Marcus instead of the versions that sound more like Maurice LaMarche doing Lrrr and Morbo from "Futurama" that I dealt with in the Fallout games I played on the PS3, not only declines, but admits how repulsed he is by her for selling fellow humans for his cause. Hmm... you need the slaves, but you hate the idea and have issues with the dealer, so our Super Mutant might be Chaotic Neutral. Pissed off at the declination, Matron insults the fact that he is impotent and sets off to battle the Initiate alone.
Upon entering, you finally get to have an audience with Matron, who is responsible for general misery in this area and the destruction of Carbon. Wanting a piece of her (not in that way), Matron makes the proclamation that she worked for the Brotherhood by guiding them to the Ghoul City, which is where the Super Mutant may have been heading. Although this sounds... fair, the fact remains that Matron still killed many people, and the fact that I've been running around in circles helping dumbass mayors and smelly barkeeps just to find THIS out is more than enough to get me in the mood for a battle.
Matron's boss fight, which is Boss #3... is pretty disappointing. You're in this giant area, but Matron is all by herself, a far cry from Mayor Richard, and she doesn't have a size advantage like the Giant Radscorpion. She has twin Desert Eagles as her offense, and she is evasive, but against a melee user, I just kept hitting her and using Stimpaks until she finally fell. Matron won't be joyriding on machines ever again.
So, having that taken care of, I went to speak to Jesse on getting a lift back. With newfound knowledge, as well as the termination of the Raider threat to this region, my character would be one step closer to getting his promotion in the Brotherhood.
Upon what will be the FINAL, and I mean FINAL, trip to Carbon, I let Vidya know about the fall of the Raiders, which is a huge relief for her. Considering that there is a leadership void in this community, what with the last mayor dying and all that, I feel she'd make a decent figure for this town. Vidya then is told about a mutant being with Matron, and she's horrified because Super Mutants are rough business. She also knows of A ghoul city, except that city was destroyed by Super Mutants years ago. Without much help, I soon see Old Wanderer hanging around. During my time at the mill, I found a Vault 13 flask. I'm certain they must have been a viable trading artifact in the Wasteland, but probably for it's condition rather than sentimental value. Of course, the Old Wanderer is more than humbled at seeing this flask again that he pays me for it. Realizing that it was I who took out the Raiders, the Old Wanderer has a newfound respect towards me and decided that I should have what it takes for becoming a Brotherhood member.
Being a former Brotherhood member must also mean he should understand mutants, and he remembers the horrors of a creature known as "the Master", which was the creator of the mutants that resided from the West Coast, with his mutated being spreading throughout a temple like plague. Because of this threat, he gives me a few Stimpaks for any upcoming scuffles. I then ask about the ghoul city, and he knows it's location. He calls it the city of Los, and provides directions there. He's pretty much finished with helping the survivors of Carbon learn to fend for themselves, so at long last, I complete the first Chapter.
