Duck and Cover

I've just finished Fallout 2 for the first time in my life, and I was very disappointed in at least parts of it. One of the things I love best about the way the first game ends is that it changes according to what I have been doing, which side-quests I ran off on, and so on and so forth. However, this time...

The ending states that Metzger and his slavers grow in power, until they terrorize the Den and the surrounding neighbourhood. How is that possible when I've killed him?

The citizens of Modoc attack their underground neighbours and kill them all... no kidding, since there were no dialogue options available to let me finish this little sidequest. This irritated me in the time I spent in Modoc, and it irritates me even more now, since that means I will never be able to see what happens if the Modoc people and the Skags learn to live side by side in peace.

The surveillance tapes from Vault 13 show clearly that it was Frank Horrigan that killed the deathclaws who used to live there. The people who wrote the ending obviously haven't seen the tapes and instead they blame me for that genocide, which I find more than a bit unfair.

Also, the diplomacy between NCR and the squatters outside Vault 15 failed, president Tandi resigned, and Roger Westin took over as new president. Of course it failed, since the game never offered me dialogue options that could have closed the deal between the two. Most likely, this means I won't be able to finish that side-quest the second time around either, as with Modoc. Very annoying.

The Mordino family grows in power, due to the large amount of Jet spread across the wasteland and its communities. I can only assume that this means all the time and effort I spent on finding a cure was a total waste.

There were probably other things as well, but these are the ones I still remember clearly enough. Now for my question: Are my files corrupt in some way, or were this all caused by bugs in the game? And if it was all caused by bugs, is there a patch somewhere that I can install for the next round, that will fix this and let me see an ending that takes my actions and their consequences into account?

Raksha,
more than a bit disappointed

What can be said? It's a good game, but full of holes. I didn't like the ending very much either - Horrigan was boring, and it simply didn't satisfy.

Oh yes, and I'd very much like to know how Vault City can both decline and decay in their self-imposed isolation, while they at the same time grow strong and powerful enough to take over Gecko and enslave the entire population there.

...so they're all bugs/holes in the story and there's nothing to be done about them? Rats. And I thought it was such a good game right up until the end.

Raksha wrote:The citizens of Modoc attack their underground neighbours and kill them all... no kidding, since there were no dialogue options available to let me finish this little sidequest. This irritated me in the time I spent in Modoc, and it irritates me even more now, since that means I will never be able to see what happens if the Modoc people and the Skags learn to live side by side in peace.

Are you playing a version w/no children in it? If that's so, get the kids patch, install it and then you will be able to save Johnny and the Modoc/Ghost Farm inhabitants can settle their differences.

Raksha wrote:The surveillance tapes from Vault 13 show clearly that it was Frank Horrigan that killed the deathclaws who used to live there. The people who wrote the ending obviously haven't seen the tapes and instead they blame me for that genocide, which I find more than a bit unfair.

This is a bug. The closest you can come to getting a "positive" ending for the DCs of V13 is to win the game less than 14 days after solving their problem. Then they will not have an ending.

Raksha wrote:Also, the diplomacy between NCR and the squatters outside Vault 15 failed, president Tandi resigned, and Roger Westin took over as new president. Of course it failed, since the game never offered me dialogue options that could have closed the deal between the two. Most likely, this means I won't be able to finish that side-quest the second time around either, as with Modoc. Very annoying.

You should have been able to solve this. Since you have had at least two instances where you were unable to solve something due to lack of dialogue you might consider uninstalling, then reinstalling the game and giving it another go.

Raksha wrote:Now for my question: Are my files corrupt in some way, or were this all caused by bugs in the game? And if it was all caused by bugs, is there a patch somewhere that I can install for the next round, that will fix this and let me see an ending that takes my actions and their consequences into account?

Yes, there is a patch. It should be available right here in the files section on DaC. If it isn't hit No Mutants Allowed. If you're playing the "Dual Jewel" version of the game it should already be patched.

OTB

OnTheBounce wrote:Are you playing a version w/no children in it? If that's so, get the kids patch, install it and then you will be able to save Johnny and the Modoc/Ghost Farm inhabitants can settle their differences.

It has the children in it. For some reason, my difficulties are not in being unable to find Johnny, but in my complete inability to account for Karl's whereabouts, regardless of what I do. I go to the Den and talk to him, but that doesn't seem to help or change matters at all.

OnTheBounce wrote:You should have been able to solve this. Since you have had at least two instances where you were unable to solve something due to lack of dialogue you might consider uninstalling, then reinstalling the game and giving it another go.

The same thing occurred to me, and I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game since those quests. I've just finished creating a new character, and hopefully the dialogues will work this time around.

OnTheBounce wrote:Yes, there is a patch. It should be available right here in the files section on DaC. If it isn't hit No Mutants Allowed. If you're playing the "Dual Jewel" version of the game it should already be patched.

The odd thing is that I have patched the game. I went online looking for patches, and I found this website called Duck And Cover that claimed to have the patches I needed. So I downloaded them and installed them, but these things seem to happen regardless of the patches.

Thank you for the url, but it didn't quite work. I clicked it, searched for a patch and found it, attempted to download it so I could at least compare it to the file I already have, but only succeeded in craching the browser. Twice. I appreciate the help all the same, but it'll probably be a bit easier for me to get my patches from a site my browser can handle.

When you talk to Karl does he talk about why he ran away? Or does he just ask for a loan and pass out? IIRC you've got to get him talking about the ghost farm and explain to him what really happened then you can tell the people in Modoc where he is and they'll tell you to tell him to come home.

No, he doesn't. For all I know, this could well fall under the "missing dialogue options" label along with my other problems. And I spent a lot of time on Karl... a lot.

It might not be missing dialogue, I think IIRC that you have to talk to him several times (waiting for him to come around each time) before you can get him to start talking. He always seems to pass out straight away, the first few times I talk to him, no matter which dialogue options I take.

You have to ask Karl "So what's your story," although that might not be a verbatim quote. Then he spews his story out at you.

You can actually do this the first time you're in the Den, before you even know of Modoc or the Ghost Farm. You should then get the option to tell what's-his-face in Modoc about Kar's fate when he tells you to find out what happened to him.

Cheers,

OTB

Does the option to ask him what his story is come up first time you speak to him though? I thought you had to let him pass out at least once before it's available. But then again it's been a while since I played FO2.

IIRC my characters always have the option right off the bat. (It's been a while for me, too, though. All FO2 is doing on my HD right now is providing maps for me to x-late into FoT Maps. ) It might have something to do w/PE and/or IN, though. I almost always play w/8 in either score.

OTB

Hmm I think the last time I played I had an intelligent and perceptive character, but I distinctly remember having to wait for Karl to recover several times before I finally got that option. But then again I was mainly replaying to see how the npc's wear their armour, so I might not of been paying as much attention to side quests as I should've been. : )

From what I remember he doesn't tell you about the ghost farm when you first met him, but he does tell you he's from Murdoc. Not sure. Could be completly wrong.

But I do know you can tell the Murdoc mayor that you found Karl slumming around in the Den.

As far as I remember, I tried everything, every dialogue option available, more than a dozen times, and in spite of my characters obscenely high perception and intelligence, the closest I ever came was an obscure reference to a farm Karl once lived on... and there was never the option to tell the Mayor of Modoc that I had encountered Karl in the Den a couple of weeks ago. As I said, very annoying. Hopefully it will work this time.

I belive you need to go to the farm first and talk to their leader about what's going on, there should be an option for asking him what happened to the previous owner of the farm, then you either go and talk to Karl or you talk to the mayor about it, then you go off to get Karl. It's been a while for me too, but that's something like I remember.

airsoft guy wrote:I belive you need to go to the farm first and talk to their leader about what's going on, there should be an option for asking him what happened to the previous owner of the farm, then you either go and talk to Karl or you talk to the mayor about it, then you go off to get Karl.

Everytime I played through ((Except the first where I was trying to remember who Karl was)) I had the option of asking Karl about his past before I arrived in Modoc.

Reb from Gamefaqs wrote:There's also Mom's restaurant just south of the slavers guild. "Mom" will ask you to take a dinner dish to Smitty, the guy in the West Side whom you can buy the car from. You'll get some exps, a stimpak and a free rat meal from Mom when you return although I fail to see the point in that. There's a Drunk named Karl you should talk to, to save you time much later. Ask him about his story. That's all you can really do with him for now.

Wolfman Walt wrote:

Reb from Gamefaqs wrote:Ask him about his story. That's all you can really do with him for now.

Can't you also have (gay?) sex with him?

Strapon2 wrote:

Wolfman Walt wrote:

Reb from Gamefaqs wrote:Ask him about his story. That's all you can really do with him for now.

Can't you also have (gay?) sex with him?

highlight of your game?

Heheh... no, just remembered someone else talking about that.

Okay last night I was playing and this is how I did it, I talked to Karl first and bought him a drink, then I left and came back and asked him to tell his story, he then proceeds to bitch at me about his damn Ghost Farm and how none of the other local yokles would belive him. I leave the drunk bastard there and head off to Modoc, talk to Jo about the farm and ask him to cut his pinkie off, he dosn't do it, go to the Ghost Farm talk to their leader, go back and tell Jo all about the mole people and how they wants to start dating, Jo asks about Karl, I tell him I met him in The Den sucking beers like they were his mom's tits, then he asks about the bodies, tell him they're all fake, you have to examine the bodies first to find out they're fake. Good times were had by all, except that family that got theirs from good old Frank.