Fallout New Vegas DLC Mysteries: Update

Speculation and Rumor run rampant on the subject of DLC for the recently released next entry in the Fallout Series, Fallout: New Vegas.

With the retail game now firmly in player hands, attention turns to the upcoming planned DLC, about which very little information has been available save for sparse details about the first DLC, that was planned for and was in fact released on a pre-Christmas schedule.

The first DLC, called Dead Money, added a new area to the game as well as three new companion characters to join the cadre already obtained by the player from the main story lines.

The inclusion of a new area in the game is not unusual -- the previous game in the series, Fallout 3, used that method extensively for its expansions, with each featuring new areas, though technically Operation Anchorage was really a simulation of a new area, and not an actual new area. It is safe to anticipate the same to be the case in New Vegas, with the hot question being how many can we expect?

A reliable source close to Bethesda Softworks, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to their not being authorized to discuss the matter with the press, has confirmed that there are four DLC expansions already in various stages of completion not including Dead Money, with two additional DLC being considered for a total of 8 expansions to the game over the next two years.

Despite persuasive measures and even a round of begging, the source would only confirm that the player has a relationship with the mysterious courier, and that the nature of that relationship would be a surprise to players, but they did say that long-time fans of the series are going to be very happy with one of the later DLC expansions, because it will add an area to the game that players likely thought they would never see. Fans of Fallout 3 may be happy to learn that a personality from that title features in another upcoming DLC, but no further information was provided on that subject. When called for an official quote on the matter, developers were not available for comment.

Following up on Previous Information

Back on 21 December we broke a story about the accidental release of information regarding a trail of hints that were concealed in the New Vegas Retail Game that relate to an upcoming but unidentified DLC Expansion for the game ( http://www.gamingupdate.com/news/581/Bethes.. ) covering rumor and facts pertaining to the issue. Today additional information has surfaced and, combined with hints that are placed in the recently released "Dead Money" DLC begin to flesh out the issue.

Promising to stay on top of the story for you, we have been stroking contacts and kicking the bull to see what there was to see, and re-playing Dead Money to see if we could squeeze any more information out of the title.

Dead Money offers Live Hints

One of the trio of companion characters in the Dead Money DLC, Christine Royce, at once presents as both a figure for pity and an enigma in her own right. Having been brutally treated by both the main antagonist and one of the other companions, Christine has suffered forced surgery that temporarily turned her into a mute, and a level of psychological abuse that would have broken a weaker person.

In our dialogue with her she hints at serving some higher authority, and clearly presents as a member of a paramilitary organization, later revealed to be the Brotherhood of Steel, but is very tight with details about her past... Until she shares one startling tidbit, revealing that she had been rescued from Father Elijah in the Big Empty by a courier "who wore the flag of the old world on his back."

During this conversation Christine talks about the introspective nature of her dealings with the courier who rescued her, and who encouraged her to pursue Elijah when he moved from the Big Empty, where he was less successful, to his present headquarters. That Christine needed to settle the score with Elijah is a given, especially considering what we eventually learn about the man through our own dealings with him. He is a monster that needed to be stopped, and we can feel very good about playing a role in that process.

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The important point in the conversation is the information that Christina relates to us about this mysterious courier (who it is growing convincingly clear is our ex-lover and the courier who let us take the fated chip delivery) and what motivated them, explaining that they told her that they too understood what it was like to need to search for someone who has made a lasting mark upon your life.

Later, closer to the end, Christine speaks of a vision or dream that she has had of you doing battle with the mysterious courier who wears the flag of the old world on his back. Based upon other conversations that we have had with Christine, it is clear that she may have a touch of the psychic in her, or it could easily be that this vision was prompted by a memory of her dealings with the courier that she can only half-recall. Either way it represents as significant a reveal as her earlier memory of the flag-wearing courier.

In the summation section at the end of the episode, if you managed to spare the life of DOG/GOD when they tell their story you learn of the Battle at the Divide that takes place between the two couriers -- yourself and the mysterious other -- and though DOG/GOD does not know who won, that is not the truly significant bit of information -- rather it is the location of the battle that is important!