milk ducks
First time out of the vault
I started a new game a few days ago. Fell into a pretty ... interesting glitch during the first real quest (Ghost Town Gunfight): I was gathering up support from the Goodsprings community, and everything was going well, until I entered Trudy's house.
It was late at night, and she was in bed, so that's where I needed to go to speak with her. This was about 45 minutes into the game, so I hadn't actually saved it yet. Anyway, the moment I loaded into the house, I got a "Quest Failed" message, for apparently no reason at all. I tried to load the auto-save, but since it kicked in at the same time the quest failed, there was no getting around it. I didn't have the dialogue option to speak with Trudy about Ringo, so I decided to head back to the Gas Station, to see if there was any way I'd still be able to complete the quest.
I woke Ringo up and, surprisingly, I was able to tell him we were ready. He stood up, walked around a bit, then sat back down. I tried telling him once more that we were ready, but this time he didn't move at all. Then I heard a strange sound, coming from the front door; it sounded like that "error sound" you get when the game won't let you do something. I stood at the door for a moment, and then Sunny Smiles' naked corpse appeared and collapsed at my feet.
I told some friends of mine on the New Vegas Penny Arcade thread, and they were able to duplicate the results. Apparently, if Sunny Smiles dies at any point in time, the quest will fail. Normally, once you've spoken with Ringo, Sunny appears at the station and tells you the rest of the town's in position. Well, I guess the game still forces her to make an appearance, even if she's dead, so that's what happened.
The only thing I can't explain is how she died in the first place.
It was late at night, and she was in bed, so that's where I needed to go to speak with her. This was about 45 minutes into the game, so I hadn't actually saved it yet. Anyway, the moment I loaded into the house, I got a "Quest Failed" message, for apparently no reason at all. I tried to load the auto-save, but since it kicked in at the same time the quest failed, there was no getting around it. I didn't have the dialogue option to speak with Trudy about Ringo, so I decided to head back to the Gas Station, to see if there was any way I'd still be able to complete the quest.
I woke Ringo up and, surprisingly, I was able to tell him we were ready. He stood up, walked around a bit, then sat back down. I tried telling him once more that we were ready, but this time he didn't move at all. Then I heard a strange sound, coming from the front door; it sounded like that "error sound" you get when the game won't let you do something. I stood at the door for a moment, and then Sunny Smiles' naked corpse appeared and collapsed at my feet.
I told some friends of mine on the New Vegas Penny Arcade thread, and they were able to duplicate the results. Apparently, if Sunny Smiles dies at any point in time, the quest will fail. Normally, once you've spoken with Ringo, Sunny appears at the station and tells you the rest of the town's in position. Well, I guess the game still forces her to make an appearance, even if she's dead, so that's what happened.
The only thing I can't explain is how she died in the first place.