Why did the devs of FNV make the choice for which faction to pick so cut-and-dry?

Atomic Postman said:
NCR isn't even the best choice for NCR. The game quite heavily signals that the NCR is at a political crossroads. It's had its first regressive, imperialistic neo-con administration and the Second Battle of Hoover Dam is the do-or-die moment for it. Victory means rewarding and securing the future for this path of NCR - loss means NCR massively turns away from it, and the loss of life and territory is entirely blamed on the administration.
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Morgan_ said:
I kinda feel like House controlling Vegas could actually save the NCR from an early expansionist grave. Maybe there is back story that confirms otherwise though.
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I have to agree with both of you guys.

Choosing NCR = Literally handling the NCR to the likes of Kimball, Lee Oliver and Cassandra Moore. The jingoes, the oligarchs, brahmin barons, etc. You're literally giving Lee Oliver the presidency. And probably getting a Cassandra Moore presidency right after.

I would't have minded as much if people like Hanlon, Hsu, Crocker, etc, were the ones winning.

Expansion will become the magical answer to all problems. They will expand and expand. The new influx of resources will pauper the cracks with newfound wealth. No need to stop, consolidate and solve anything, we can EXPAND MOAR. The periphery will be exploited to serve the core and keep it content. Stopping to get your game together is hard, expanding more is easy. But the problems will catch up. It will mean one, ten, maybe a hundred more New Vegases in the future. That's not solving your problems, that's running away from them.

And one day the NCR will into a big wall. A New Vegas that manages to fight back, or another peer competitor like the Legion. Or the cogs of government will finally give out. Then what? The NCR's contradictions will catch up to it. Boom, civil war, collapse, all that stuff. It happened to the Romans, to the US, to almost every single empire you can name.

I think House/Independent are the best paths for the NCR. They stop, hoist the jingoes from govt, do some soul searching. New Vegas becomes a nice friendly neighboor. Sure, there's that "NCR will starve in a decade" thing, but I think they can find a way to deal with that.
 
Slaughter Manslaught said:
I have to agree with both of you guys.

Choosing NCR = Literally handling the NCR to the likes of Kimball, Lee Oliver and Cassandra Moore. The jingoes, the oligarchs, brahmin barons, etc. You're literally giving Lee Oliver the presidency. And probably getting a Cassandra Moore presidency right after.

I would't have minded as much if people like Hanlon, Hsu, Crocker, etc, were the ones winning.

Expansion will become the magical answer to all problems. They will expand and expand. The new influx of resources will pauper the cracks with newfound wealth. No need to stop, consolidate and solve anything, we can EXPAND MOAR. The periphery will be exploited to serve the core and keep it content. Stopping to get your game together is hard, expanding more is easy. But the problems will catch up. It will mean one, ten, maybe a hundred more New Vegases in the future. That's not solving your problems, that's running away from them.

And one day the NCR will into a big wall. A New Vegas that manages to fight back, or another peer competitor like the Legion. Or the cogs of government will finally give out. Then what? The NCR's contradictions will catch up to it. Boom, civil war, collapse, all that stuff. It happened to the Romans, to the US, to almost every single empire you can name.

I think House/Independent are the best paths for the NCR. They stop, hoist the jingoes from govt, do some soul searching. New Vegas becomes a nice friendly neighboor. Sure, there's that "NCR will starve in a decade" thing, but I think they can find a way to deal with that.
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I think Van Buren's NCR is a half decent depiction of what's coming for NCR in the event of their victory at Hoover Dam. Civil unrest (NCR congress being bombed by malcontents), war strain (BoS and Legion, doubly so in the NV timeline) collapsing lines of supplu and contact to the point of total abandonment in territories east of the Colorado River. Stuff like the NCR salvagers at Denver, the settlers at Hoover Dam, the mining disaster at Burham Springs and the 215 Rail Line Gangs would be quite common - people just cut to the wind and left to fall into chaos and decay as the NCR splinters. We obviously see the blueprint/seeds for this in the Mojave.
 
I dislike the NCR, but OP is correct the games characterization greatly favors them, then slips in a compelling argument for Mr. House.

It takes prior games, world lore, and outside opinions about modern US to get to the assumptions we do about the NCR being a corrupt oligarch that is conquering just in a more sophisticated way. I agree with that view of them, but they are assumptions bc they aren't very present in the game.

All the soldiers and officers you interact with are nice, decent, and treat you well. I can't think of any quests for the NCR where you need to do something questionable. That would have helped a lot.

In the cut content there is a part where NCR troops kill settlers fetching water. That would have been an effective story turn. Sad it was cut.

For me, I am a free Vegas guy.
 
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