What Did We Play Yesterday?

The conclusion of my rambling play notes. Last installment, I noted I'd been neglecting my crew. I decided to start off by paying a little extra special attention to Ellie...

...By murdering her parents, natch. Originally I was gonna follow the quest until she cashes in the life insurance policy, then I figured fuggit, I didn't want a situation where they were gone or the apartment was sealed, so I capped them both after our initial conversation. It went about as well as you'd expect, Ellie got furious and ditched me. I assumed she would go aggro, but instead she vanished and now her companion screen is locked as if I'd never recruited her.

While I was in Byzantium I decided to murder Sophia for science. Before I did so, I waltzed into Minister Clarke's place for a little extra murderin on the side. I slaughtered the entire security detail. When I arrived at Clarke's office, he berated me for doing so, then immediately began acting like I was a low-level thuggish moron. The Watsonian explanation is that Clarke does not have good survival instincts (no one on Byzantium does, really) and the Doylian explanation is the devs didn't actually think anyone would play the game this erratically. I grill him for intel and shoot him in the head as usual.

I originally planned on getting the chemicals, but I don't want to lose access to Sophia yet so I went for her next. I waltzed in (middle name, remember?) with Felix and SAM. I found that SAM makes a GREAT door barrier and BFF all around. I had him stand in the doorway to Sophia's office and after I chatted with her one last time, for posterity, I shot her in the head. SAM did a tremendous job of holding back the corporate guards and we cleaned them up with minimal losses. Have I mentioned SAM is great in general? His combat is hilarious and I enjoy his robotic asides. I really like it when other characters chime in and respond to him as though he's not just an extremely deadly toaster.

This whole segment was kinda unusual though. My Board reputation is at "Confused," which happens if you get a certain amount of positive rep and then max out the negative. No one on Byzantium knew what to do with me. Each time I went to a different floor the corporate guards were neutral until I started killing them. When I left I fully expected chaos on the streets, but it was as though nothing had happened. My guess is they set it up this way so you couldn't accidentally box yourself in at Byzantium and not be able to get to your ship, but it could be an oversight or I may even be exploiting some sort of bug or issue with the dual reputation meters.

Well, it looks like me and Felix are chummy again, as soon as I talk to him he is estatic and promptly offers up the deets to his personal quest. Let bygones be bygones, I murdered Sophia Akande in cold blood in her office and birds are singing, the sun is shining... etc etc. So far Felix is the only companion who gives a damn about faction alignment.

I decide to test Felix' loyalty by embarking on his quest. I go to Scylla to talk to Harlowe and I start to have an epiphany, but I put it aside to be an asshole. I agree to do what Harlowe asks, then decide naaah, and shoot Harlowe and take down the entire base. Felix is FURIOUS, and says he needs time to think, and I figured that was it but he doesn't leave me like Ellie did. He goes back to the ship, and the next time I see him he says, "Good to see you, boss," like nothing happened. Well, sure. Where's he gonna go, right?

This is where my epiphany fully realized. The companions, sans SAM, are part of the same corporate brainwashing that ALL of Halcyon is part of. Ellie is an outlier--considering her background and emphasis on personal independence, she is bucking the system in a way none of the others do, and when you cross a line, she leaves your party for good. But to all the other companions you are the boss, and the boss is god. I picked up on this when we were talking to Harlowe. Felix was basically a resource that Harlowe wanted to negotiate use for. I didn't finish the quest obviously, but at that point Harlowe was no different than the Board in that sense. And why would he be?

Welles was saying this all along, but I didn't appreciate how right he was. It isn't just that the Hope has scientists, engineers, doctors, and architects hand-selected for the New World (and... me, team mascot), but the people of Halcyon truly are trained to accept authority and obey in a way I didn't fully appreciate until now. But, also--the devs talked about this. They didn't include romances because they wanted players to have more autonomy and I assume the companion's unwillingness to buck is part of this.

Anyway, I concluded Ellie and Pavarti can be lost (I am aware the latter can die), and Felix may leave you if you do a full Board run that is yet to be determined, but the other companions will stay with you no matter what.

I set about to test my theory. First up, Max. I took him to the Hermit. She refused to help him because of the murder. Max was upset and called her a charlatan. There is a 70 persuade option to attempt to convince her to allow Max to take the drugs, even though she doesn't think he's ready, but I didn't try it. Instead, I killed her. Max was angry--for about a second, and it wasn't even about her. It was about his perception that he'd wasted his life. It was sad, and made me feel sad, and when I triggered conversation immediately after he was still talking as though he was with OSI. I can only assume the devs thought very few players would actually kill the Hermit, so they didn't have a dialogue tree change for that. Max has not abandoned me, but he has abandoned himself. I suppose that will have to do.

(I'm was curious about that persuade option so I loaded an old save to see what would happen. The meditation proceeds as normal. You can attack his mother, which he naturally objects to, but you can't stop him from finding inner peace. So as long as you don't, you know, wantonly murder the Hermit, Max can get closure.)

Next up, Nyoka. I take her with me to kill Hiram. No reaction. I murder everyone in Stellar Bay. No reaction! And this is as depressing as mowing down everyone in Edgewater, once you get rid of the Iconoclasts occupying the city there are tons of unarmed civilians running around screaming things like, "I don't want to die!" and "Please don't hurt me!" and cowering in random corners, and it takes FOREVER to round them all up. I appreciate Obsidian did this by the way.

I give up on Nyoka, having no more screws. I am certain I have missed Pavarti's breaking point, which would have been the eradication of Edgewater if I had not botched the Board quest by killing everyone ahead of time. I could try to take her back to Edgewater to see if I trigger a reaction, or even murder Junlei, but... look, I'm Murderino Waltz Hawthorne, ok? I'm not devil incarnate.

Well, it's time. Time to confuse everyone one last time by following Sophia's instructions for the Hope and skipping it to Tartarus. Except... I can't! I belatedly realized by killing Sophia I closed off her quest line. I could load an old save, but given the situation I think I would rather fully side with the Board during a pro-Board run. Murderino's run ends here. Maybe I'll come back to it? Naaah.

Shit I learned:

• You can sort of go off the rails, but why would you want to? The story works best if you pick a logical path, as usual, and the game accommodates a lot of micro-decisions, but it has trouble with random murder for no reason.
• You can do anything to your companions, essentially. Go wild.
• SAM is amazing.
• The load times on XBO are balls. I find myself planning out mission routes just so I can avoid extra load times.
• Thank you, Customer!

I wanna do a True Believer Pro-Board run and a Dumb run (just start with low intelligence) but just thinking about those load times... guh. There are supposed to be 3 main endings. 2 are obvious based on the factions but I wasn't sure what the 3rd could be. Well, I watched the 12-minute Speed Run, learned a neat trick, and had to lol when I saw what the 3rd ending is. Well played, Obsidian.

Spoiler: You fly the Hope into the Sun because YOU ARE AN IDIOT HAHAHAHAHAA. A satisfying ending to any dummy game, for sure.

In the Outer Worlds, all roads lead to Monarch. It is a large planet with many quests and multiple faction interests, and no matter what choices you make you will end up there.

Welles contacts me when I arrive at Monarch. I debate whether to take the call in case Sophia is somehow watching, in fact I put him off twice, but I finally decide to go for it since my curiosity gets the better of me. Welles tells me about Nyoka. Sophia's contact also suggests Nyoka, so she can be recruited either way.

I'm bringing Felix and Max with me this time. I expect comedy, gentlemen. I explore Stellar Bay a bit and am honestly impressed by the sheer number of ways one can obtain pills for Nyoka. You can intimidate the dispensary nurse, hack a system to modify her allowances, lockpick a save, steal the key to the safe from the nurse, steal the password for the computer from a dead body in the graveyard, or any combination of the above and there are still probably one or two I missed. Once Nyoka is on my ship I head out.

Speaking of my ship. Is it me, or is ADA plotting to kill me in my sleep? I suppose I'll have to deal with that when the time comes. And suddenly, I'm reminded of SAM! I forgot about SAM! Thanks to my looting compulsion, I actually picked up the Acid Steeper in Roseway, so I'm able to repair him for duty. If those with consciences fail me, I will have recourse.

The Monarch wilderness was rough my first game, but actually having skill points devoted to fighting skills certainly helps and even Mantiqueens go down reasonably enough. I work my way toward Devil's Peak, stopping by Amber Heights and Fallbrook. I allow Max to succumb to his enthusiastic violence which makes me sadpanda on the inside. I also listen as Max and Felix' banter evolves from friendly to downright antagonistic at points--it's a pretty interesting progression. At Devil's Peak I take the more dangerous aboveground path with no real problems. My plan was to use C3 as canon fodder, but what can I say, my smart mouth got away from me. I killed them and stole their stuff, then hiked back up where Joy is to see if I can lie to her, but she immediately aggros. Oh well, more loot for me!

In the tower, all I have to do is apply a little pressure and Hiram folds like a cheap deck of cards and agrees to feed me intel. I was tempted to kill him, but I didn't want to arouse Welles' suspicions. Hiram reminds me I have to deal with MSI and the Iconoclasts individually to stop the transmissions and I decide the latter will be the easiest to manipulate since they are already vulnerable and their leadership is unstable.

In order to trigger the weapon-seeking faction choice quest you have to end the broadcasts. There are really only 2 ways to do this as far as I can tell. Either you assist the MSI and Iconoclast factions by providing the BOLT and the printing press respectively, or you murder them. There does not appear to be an option to sabotage either party. I help liberate the printing press, making a point not to help Zora in any way and encouraging Graham's zealotry. I convince the Van Noys to charge the press. They're pretty damn tough, so when they survive, I take them out myself. When I report back to Graham Zora will not engage me. Makes sense. If you don't show Zora you're a reasonable person, she'll never trust you.

Delivering the BOLT is straightforward. I take out Huxley because listen, that's what I do, deliver the goods, verify they've both shut the fuck up back at Devil's Peak, and this triggers the weapon mission. Giving the weapon to the Iconoclasts leads to a long, drawn-out battle where we charge the road for 2 klicks and wipe out MSI soldiers, effectively dropping MSI's reputation to "scared". At the end of it, Sanjay is dead and the Iconoclasts have occupied Stellar Bay. This is just as depressing as I knew it would be, so while Murderino is thrilled with the chaos I am ready to leave Monarch. I've done what Sophia asked. I'm curious how long the game will let me play both sides, so I arrange for Welles' data to be sent as well. Hiram doesn't even bat an eye at my apparent duplicity.

Sophia is thrilled with me. Remember when, before, I said the game didn't seem to register the slaughter of Edgewater? Sophia fully acknowledges it here, which makes me think there would have been more to the Edgewater questline if I hadn't up and murdered everyone so early. (After some reading, I've confirmed that killing everyone in Edgewater BEFORE you're told to kill everyone is a kind of in-game loophole that prevents you from facing the consequences. Well, that's no fun!) Sophia lets me watch the unedited clip of the Chairman's speech (and this is actually something I don't agree with, design-wise, because Sophia SHOULD Have shown me a clip without the funny outtakes), tells me about the food crisis, and explains her plan. She wants me to gain control of the HOPE and skip it to Tartaurus. Now, having played this game once before, I know I am not being given the deets. The Board has found a way to put colonists in suspected animation, what the hell are they going to do with a ship full of people already in suspension? Presumably they going to kill them all, so they can stuff the current residents in there, effectively replacing Welles' Dream Team with the current crop of Halcyon overachievers.

Meanwhile, back at Welles' lab, Welles is thrilled to get the data from Hiram and wants me to track down the chemicals he needs. We're still not to a fork in the road on the main Welles V. Board questlines. In fact, Felix corners me and demands to know why I'm helping the Board, and there's an option to tell him I haven't decided. He's pissed, but he hasn't left yet. I've barely explored Byazantium at this point, and there are still a number of planets on the map I can't travel to, but I know at least 4 are not currently reachable (I think the idea is they were put there for potential DLC). Collapse

I wish I'd decided to play a by-the-books pro-Board For Science as my second PT, because I think playing an opportunisting murderino has blurred the questlines at the expense of the story reveals. Murderino's Wild and Wooly Death Run has essentially become a lololololo run, so I may soon retire ol' Murderino. I already have my next challenge in mind: playing the cleanest pro-Board run as possible, keeping as many people alive as I can in the process. Is it even possible? Regardless, it seems much more fun than killing everyone for the hell of it.

That being said, Murderino's run has been educational, and it is interesting to see how you can play both sides all the way up to the end. I have neglected my crew this run, so far the only one that treats me any differently is Felix. Figuring out how to piss the companions off enough to make them leave has become a subject of academic interest. Tune in next time.

Last episode I offered to sell Welles out in exchange for some nebulous reward and was invited to Byzantium. Something I have since learned is if you want the whole story of Outer Worlds you need to gain access to Sophia via a pro-Board run. She quickly became one of my favorite characters. DO IT. TAKE THE PLUNGE. And if you are gonna see it for yourself, you should skip the murder diaries for now. I expect to document a proper pro-Board run in the future.

Unsurprisingly, the office is quite secure, and I am not currently prepared to kill the ultra lethal guards so I decided to bide my time. I respect Sophia's unwillingness to meet me in person. On the comm she informs me that shutting down Edgewater actually did the Board a favor. They planned on "erasing" the town because it was a drain on resources. This is an interesting twist, as one might assume helping Edgewater was a pro-Board move.

Sophia wants to test my mettle and asks me to assasinate a former employee, a cartographer named Lockwood. Well I can hardly say no, though I play it cool and keep the anti-social behavior to a minimum. See, I can act civilized when properly incentivized. Sophia explains they hired another contractor, Bradshaw, but he is taking his time. I jog over to the Exploration Beaurueere and find the incompetent in question posing at reception. It's clear who is he is in about five seconds, and if you have a high Intelligence stat you can call him on it. He admits the cartographer hasn't shown up to work in a while. His big plan is to pose as the receptionist until she comes back. He wants to make it a competition. That sounds like a great plan, I say, as I casually walk behind the office divider, and I shoot him in the back of the head. The employee in the atrium doesn't even hear the gunshot. As I'm ransacking what little there is I find the receptionist's torso in a closet. Great work, Bradshaw. If I hadn't put him down someone else would have, it was practically a mercy-killing.

I use the key I looted from his body to get into Lockwood's office and learn she got spooked and went into the tunnels to hide. I went into those tunnels on my previous game and found a lot of destroyed robots and eaten humans, but I don't remember finding the source? Well, it's a giant sprat, surprise~! The sprat has good loot, as all giant animals do, presumably because they eat so many people. I find Lockwood and pump her for info and confirm she was asked to formally remove Edgewater from the map. Sophia wasn't speaking metaphorically, they really were going to erase Edgewater. At this time, I really wish I had Pavarti in my party. As soon as Lockwood has told me everythign she knows I waste her. Max doesn't bat a lash, but Felix chews me out. It's awesome. What has really set Felix off is my apparent alliance with the Board, he's mainly upset I killed someone because Sophia asked me to, but the fact she was an unarmed, non-threatening person added fuel to the fire. BOY is he pissed. I like the cut of this lad's jib. I will have to bring him along more often.

Back at the ranch, Sophia has decided I'm gravy. When she asks me about Welles location I'm appropriately cagey, which she also respects, and she asks me to plant a tracking signal at his lab. It's the moment of truth. This will convince her I can be trusted.

I go to the lab, this time appreciating the many precautions Welles has taken to protect himself from me, and something unexpected happens. I have the option to double-cross Sophia and tell Welles about the signal! Friends, this is Mayhem I cannot refuse! I eagerly do so. Welles doesn't even care that I went to Sophia in the first place, he's pleased to have this opportunity to get at them. He asks me to place a corrupted signal, which will stall them until he can prepare his defenses.

OHHHOHOHO did you hear that? Wellesian Defenses? Sounds like CHANCES FOR MORE MURDER! At the comm, I have the option for either signal, but I place the corrupted one, to Welles' delight.

Sophia is now willing to meet in person, but there's no way I can kill her and get out alive so I decide to ride the train and see where it goes. She acknowledges the difficulty of capturing Welles due to the corrupted signal but does not seem to suspect I had any hand in it--however, she's clearly one of the smartest characters in the game, so even if she did suspect she would not tip her hand. She gives me a navkey to Monarch and asks me to clear the airwaves. An Intelligence check notices the secret phrase she gave me corresponds to a romance serial. She gets defensive about romance serials, which I find endearing and formally cements my infatuation with her. I hope this doesn't interfere with my intent to kill her in the name of mayhem. Regardless, we all know what time it is: MONARCH TIME<

This entry mysteriously vanished from my note-taking app while I was in the middle so I had to rewrite it. Thus, some of the details may not be perfect.

I didn't have a save file to go back to so I ventured forward, into space, to continue murdering where no one could hear the screams. I wasn't quite ready to have the Groundbreaker go aggro on me, so I decided to focus on the mayhem component of my quest.

Exploring the waste disposal I gained access to high-level catwalks which would be perfect for a shooting spree. While I was up there I discovered a spacer locked in the bathroom. I released him, shook him down for money, then shot him in the back as he walked away in disgust. Mainly, I wanted to see if anyone would hear the shot. No one did.

After setting Ellie's quest in motion I went to Udom. I harassed him mercilessly, which I highly recommend, then attempted to turn in Welles. This asshole actually wanted ME to pony up 8k so he could do his job. On top of that, Gladys wants 10k for a navkey to Stellar Bay. (As an aside, Udom has a 35 persuade check to explain why he lost the item in the first place. I couldn't trigger it, in spite of having the skill points. I must have locked the option when I made fun of him.) You can technically skip Roseway and land at the dangerous and unregulated Cascadia landing pad, it's not gonna be a fun trip. Finding myself at a financial impasse, I decided to go down to Roseway and cause some trouble. I ignored Felix when I originally passed by, and when I returned to my ship I found him waiting on the dock to ask for a job.

Roseway is in complete disarray, which makes it the perfect hunting ground for a violent opportunist. I insult the scientists profusely and manage to get the locations of all their secrets. The lead scientist, Anton Crane, has asked that I recover his research from a lab overrun by raptidons and outlaws. The research, which is for diet toothpaste, could have some value. I'm in! He also asks me to check up on his assistant in the Aunti-biotics lab. Vaughn assures me that one must find a buyer to sell the lucrative raptidon musk data he's experimenting with. Don't you worry, sweatie, Old Murderino will figure it out. Finally, Orson wants me to obtain contraban schematics. I set out, murdering every outlaw and marauder in my path. (I read on Reddit that the concussion flaw leads to funny dialog options, so I made a point of sticking my face in front of every mine I could find. I have since learned you get the same effect by creating a low intelligence character.)

I take a different path this time, going for the schematic, then the secret lab. I pick up Lillian's cigarette case in the raptidon pen since I remember it will be there. My plan was to give it to her for the XP, then loot it from her body, but if you give her the case it's gone so I just antagonized her instead. She immediately goes aggro--clearly, SOMEONE needed a smoke. Naturally all the outlaws outside the lab are toast courtesy of moi. My TTD head-shot sniping technique is getting quite good.

This is the first time I've simply walked through the front door to the secret lab. Max remarks that I need to watch my back if I'm going to waltz right in there. Well, it turns out Waltz is Murderino's middle name! So I do just that, resisting the tremendous urge to cap all the security forces on entry. I bee-line for the outlaw leader who is stuck in a cell surrounded by raptidons, figure out she has the goods, and go about exterminating the rapts. On my way to unlock her cage I kill the rest of her now-pacified outlaws. Then I kill her. This part of the game annoyed me a little because when I attempted to kill the corporate guards I automatically failed all the scientist missions in Roseway, which I haven't finished yet. At first I thought it was because they were in contact with Crane, but now I think it had something to do with my Auntie Cleo reputation. I reloaded my game and decided to come back for them after I've cleaned out the main base, empty though the gesture is.

While I was doing all this I came across the means to sedate the raptidons, which I somehow missed the first time I played. This is how you preserve the mother raptidon as Anton requested. I can't imagine not killing the raptidons, unless I was doing a pro-Board run, but I can see the usefulness of putting them all to sleep.

I circled around to the Antibiotics lab, which looks like hell just like everything else around here, and wished my plasma carbine did not do such a bad job of putting down these robots. I've already gotten my first flaw, plasma vulnerability, and I continue to charge headfirst into every mine I find. Come on, concussion! Daddy needs some funny dialogue options!

Imagine my surprise when I find Jameson... eaten! It turns out this was a time-sensitive quest. The game observes Jameson was overrun while I was busy with other things. "Well played, Obsidian," I murmured, as I looted his mutilated corpse. I return to Roseway to antagonize the scientists some more. After I finish telling Crane about the death, and reveal I'm keeping his research as well, he goes aggro. Surprise, Auntie Cleo just hit "angry" on the faction meter. I killed everyone in camp and briefly debated going back for the corporate guards, but decided against it.Collapse

Back on the Groundbreaker, I've finally got what I need to turn in Welles, so I do, and get a personal invitation to see Sophia, the Adjutant to the Chairman. In my previous game my contact with Sophia is limited, so I don't know much about her other than she is driven and committed. This is also where Murderino's story starts to get much more interesting.

I have embarked upon a massive murder and mayhem quest in the Outer Worlds with my new captain, Murderino. These are the tales of my journey. There are misspellings. There are arbitrary tense changes. There is a wanton disregard for NPC life. There are spoilers. Reader beware!

Mayhem is a key distinction, here. Don't fret, gentle friends, there will be all the murdering a murderino can murder, but mayhem is important. I have read about several genocide/murder runs and they all just run up to everyone and shoot them. Where's the fun in that? How can we learn and grow if we arbitrarily shoot all the NPCs in the face and end the game in 10 hours? These players mention that their actions do not affect the ending slides much. That's probably because they aren't initiating dialogue/finishing quests and therefore not tripping enough plot flags. I intend to recruit all the companions, as they will open the way to additional murder victims, and I want to see how much it takes for their consciences to override their apparent need to follow a sneaky, rugged ne're-do-well with too many guns and exquisite facial symmetry.

My first playthrough I was overly cautious about stealing because I wasn't sure how important my actions were. What if Marauders attack Edgewater after I've stolen all the ammo and guns? Now I better understand how the game works and I have a vested interest, not only in stealing everything in sight but in pickpocketing weapons, if I can. I do not have to do all the murdering myself. There are several places where I can side with a faction, allow them to whittle down the opposing faction, then mop up. Maybe this would be better called Doublecross Dome.

Welcome to Emerald Vale! I used my medic skill to patch the gent in the cave up, lied to get his gun, then shot him in the face with it. I belatedly realized Phineas saw me murder an unarmed spacer in cold blood and now knows I'm a deranged homicidal maniac (though he doesn't say anything at all in the comm, which is surprising). Oh well!

When I was trying to sneak past the marauders the first time during my pacifist run it seemed like there were sooo many of them, but this time it seems like there are barely any at all. I kill them and examine their campsite. Down the hill, I lie about the gent being alive and convince the soldiers to finish off the mauraders. As soon as the deed is done I shoot both in the back.

After I talk to ADA I go back outside the ship to meet Ernest (I think it was?), who was sent by the town to check up on the guards. I briefly consider Ernest and decide I don't want his death or disappearance to alert the town to my nature. He accepts my homicidal tendencies easily enough, so I let him be. (Interestingly, in one of my many runthroughs on PC marauders killed the guards and Ernest assumed I did it. There's no way to tell him otherwise, which means the game assumes it as well.)

I know how to get to Edgewater peacefully, but I decline to do so, cutting through the pass and killing the mauraders there. They have murdered and robbed several residents. I leave the marauder camp to the east alone in case there's a quest about it. I chat with Silas and agree to shake down people for gravesite money, then make sure to steal all Silas' shit from his house. (Except the shoves and spades, man's gotta have tools to work with.)

In Edgewater I'm ready to steal and learn. Unfortunately, there is not much to steal OR learn, though there is a terminal with a bit of backstory for Pavarti. I take anything that isn't nailed down and eyeball the safe in the General Store, which I desparately want but am not prepared to take. Silas said something about collecting fingers, which sounds like a cute way to accessorize, so I check in with the Constable, who I missed my first game. I accept the bounties, maybe I'll learn something about marauders after all. I note there are 3 cells, and she asks me if I want to report anyone. Dare I dream? Will the game allow me to be so devious?

I recruit Pavarti and find it impossible to be unkind to her. I also meet Max, and after mercilessly antagonizing him (11/10 would badger man of the cloth again) I finish up his recruitment quest. The Vicar may end up putting a crimp in my plans. He agrees to join my crew, but only when I'm ready to leave Edgewater. If he's still part of the town when I attack he'll aggro. This will no doubt be the first of many small complications to my grand plan to annihiliate all human life in Halcyon.

In the meantime, now that I'm not working hard to avoid every marauder camp in Emerald Vale I'm starting to realize how dang MANY of them there are. The easiest way to get a sighted weapon at this early stage is to loot a Hunting Rifle. It's finger time!

I was not sure if Bernie Cotton would aggro, so I approached cautiously. So cautiously that he didn't even notice me when I climbed the latter and snuck to his seat on the roof, where he was gazing at the stars. I took a moment to crouch beside him to see what he saw--the ringed moon, framed in the night sky by pink and purple. I must admit, it's a spiritual view. Well, after that I had to give him a fighting chance, so I stood up and walked in front of him. He aggroed and immediately faced outward, looking down across the field. Based on that I'm not sure how Cotton made even it that far, to be honest, I just unloaded into his back and considered it a mercy.

Next was Doc Maybell. She was holed up in a cave. I took out the lookout and crept along a rock shelf that ran along the back of the cave, placing me directly above them. She was busy at the fire, it was almost as though she were reading the flames. The marauders with her were all watching the entrance, of course. Seeing no obvious way to interact with her, I opened fire. She fought tooth and nail, but that didn't keep her finger from joining my collection. All this for two parcels of stolen Adrena-Time. I probably stole more from Edgewater within the first five minutes I was there. Waste of a perfectly decent physician, for sure.

Anyway, Guillaume Antrim can wait, it's time to visit the deserters and figure out my murderategy. (Get it? Murder-strategy? No? Please stop? Ok, you're probably right.) Unlike some of the other factions these two aren't necessarily wanting to tear each other apart, this is a war of supply lines. I already know that I have to choose a location to power, I can't cut power to them both, but I reason killing the power to Edgewater will leave the surviving population more vulnerable and I can clean out Edgewater after they've left. I spoke with Grace and learned about Zoe, and decided to venture out there on my way to collect fingers.

I took out Guillaume Antrim easily, as I'd warmed up to my modded hunting rifle. I took out Zoe's camp as well. I chatted with her, confirmed she was a little shit, and shot her in the head. I looted her body and took the ring to Grace as proof. After collecting the bounties, I went to the Geothermal Plant, which was cleaned out easily with a plasma rifle, and cut the power to Edgewater.

I'd never done this before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was thrilled to find the town depressed and desperate and ripe for murder, however I was EXTREMELY SAD to see most of the buildings were now sealed up, so I couldn't get into the General Store to raid the supply room. I went to collect my prize and met Tobson, who I lacked the ability to intimidate. This made my job easier, as I had the opportunity to kill him and several guards and claim they shot first.

I made a point of returning to the ship to make sure Max was on board before I wiped out the town. Max is... bugged? I guess, so I couldn't get him to formally join my party, he just stood in the entryway (actually probably not bugged, more on this later). On top of that, Ernest is gone, talk about adding insult to injury I should have killed him straightaway. I returned to Edgewater and finished the deed, which was easy since most were unarmed. Cleaning out the OSI church was really depressing, honestly, and not particularly fun.

I then went to the Deserters. After talking to Adelaide, and learning she will only support a chosen few who play lip service to her ideology, I realized I'd definitely made the right choice. It's so much easier to divide and conquer when dealing with leaders who care more about their personal grudges and interests than people. I hiked back up the hill and killed Grace, who was the only person left in Emerald Vale capable of defending the spacers. The deserters didn't even realize what I'd done, which shows how woefully unprepared they were to survive on their own without support. I killed the rest easily.

Now, meta talk, during this process it became clear the game wasn't registering my homicide and betrayal as such. Pavarti cheered me on as I murdered her neighbors and friends (I kept thinking, Pavarti, nooooo, I would much prefer her getting angry). Reading on the wiki, it sounds like you get trophies for killing Tobson OR Adelaide, but I inferred you need to do this before the quest is finalized. When I killed Adelaide after the fact her trophy (shears) was not on her corpse. Apparently murdering everyone after quest completion means nothing to the game, at least in Emerald Vale.

Going forward I need to assume the game is most likely to acknowledge murder if it is tied to a dialogue option or occurs prior to related quest completion. Killing everyone after the fact is meaningless from a gamimg perspective.

I did it this way to make sure I could recruit Max. I think the developers consciously chose to require you leave the planet before Max formally joins so they didn't have to implement his reactions to your activities. Seems like I ought to be able to recruit him as long as I don't go near the OSI Church and aggro him. I think I still have a save at the Geothermal plant (I keep 4 rotating saves for this playthrough). If it's possible, I may backtrack after all and assault Edgewater before I reroute the power. Then I can hack Tobson's office and the General Store, I'm just so curious about those rooms.