Why Fallout: New Vegas has to end

By Oli Welsh Published 23 August, 2010

Plot makes it impossible to play past ending.

Obsidian Entertainment has explained why it won't be possible to continue to play Fallout: New Vegas past the ending of its main storyline.

It's because "major" events in the plot would be impossible or difficult for the developer to reflect in the game world, project director Josh Sawyer told 1UP.

"We put a lot of effort into the ending slides - we know those slides are really popular with people so we want to make sure there's a huge amount of variety and reactivity with that stuff," he said.

"Initially, we talked about trying to support post-game play, but because the changes that can happen at the end of the game are pretty major, this is what it basically came down to: either have the changes feel really major in the end slides and then have them not be very major after the end of the game, or make them really minor and not that impactful."

Senior producer Jason Bergman added to Destructoid: "We tell the full story of every one of your companions through the end of their lives, and it's weird to do all that and then jump back and say, 'OK! Now you can keep going again.'"

The game auto-saves before this concluding sequence, though, so you can always return to the point just before the point of no return to mop up quests or explore the Wasteland.

New Vegas' predecessor Fallout 3 also cut players off at the ending, although the Broken Steel add-on later allowed players to re-enter the Capital Wasteland.

Fallout: New Vegas will be released on 22nd October for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • siro #1 2 years ago

    Well, if you have the post-ending save game, there isn't much of a difference, is there?

    So, what's going to destroy the world as we (are going to) know it?
    Edited by siro at 23/08/10 @ 08:48

  • George-Roper #2 2 years ago

    Nothing.

    Level cap removed in DLC #4 @ £7.99.

  • SAMagic #3 2 years ago

    I appreciate where they're coming from - if it's like ANY RPG then the approach to the end game will be obvious so players will be warned and have a savegame prepared.

    Presumably your actions cause political schisms in New Vegas with Caeser's Legion, NCR or whoever becoming the dominant faction, such that it would be more difficult to represent that with just a few lines of text from NPCs as in FallOut 2.

    Either way, I think gamers have bigger concerns with their games than aspects like this.

  • Evolution #4 2 years ago

    At least it sounds like they'll have a proper Fallout style ending that actually reflects what you've done in the game.

  • Shinetop #5 2 years ago

    Entire world blows up? Or the Fremen are trained to cultivate plants in the wasteland and it finally rains on Arrakis?

  • slickster #6 2 years ago

    if its impossible to freeroam after completing story then there should not be DLC for this game.(if its impossible right )

  • RobTheBuilder #7 2 years ago

    As long as it makes it very clear it's the last mission.
    I did the last one of Fallout 3 without even realising!

  • riceNpea #8 2 years ago

    it doesn't really matter to most people. i expect the vast majority that buy it won't make it to the end anyway.


  • metalangel #9 2 years ago

    The slides in Fallout 3 were awful. A bunch of black and white screenshots of the game itself. Compare this to the dedicated renders, photos and artwork the first two games used.

    It's also very jarring to be given a very obvious "the game is about to end" notification like this (as in Bioshock).

    On the flipside, I would have loved if Crackdown 2...
    let you keep playing after detonating the final bomb and clearing the city of freaks. The original was great for this as you could go orb hunting unmolested once you finished the game or choose to have enemies still spawn. But the sequel never gives you the playground, you're always going to have some freaks of Cell disrupting your fun.

  • nuanimal #10 2 years ago

    Lemme guess...

    Everything gets nuked. Again.

  • riceNpea #11 2 years ago

    i think a suitable ending would be finding out it was all a dream and going to the bathroom to find Bobby Ewing is still alive and having a shower.

  • Eraysor #12 2 years ago

    Broken Steel 2 incoming methinks.

  • RobTheBuilder #13 2 years ago

    @metalangel It is jarring, but not as much as having to go back and ignore a mission you've done to keep playing. All it needs is a "There's no going back after this" type line. The one in F3 was too subtle.

  • justice-ste #14 2 years ago

    Hoover Dam blown up perhaps?

  • guernican #15 2 years ago

    "We put a lot of effort into the ending slides - we know those slides are really popular with people"

    They're certainly in my top 50 PowerPoint presentations.

  • darkmorgado #16 2 years ago

    What like pumping 65 hours into Fallout 3 and having the biggest anti-climax in gaming history, as the sudden ending is represented by a couple of fucking slides and voiceover?

    Erm, that's always been the case with Fallout. 3 didn't do it very well admittedly, but its series tradition to have them. At least it looks like Obsidian are putting more effort in this time round, which is to be expected really as they did awesome work on the first 2 games.

    I thoroughly expect New Vegas to be better than 3, given that these are the guys that made the franchise in the first place.

    Now we just need to get them to finish Van Buren.

  • PlugMonkey #17 2 years ago

    if its impossible to freeroam after completing story then there should not be DLC for this game.(if its impossible right )

    You can't freeroam in Mass Effect 2 after completing the story.

    So you can do DLC, it's just I probably won't buy it.

  • drhickman1983 #18 2 years ago

    For me, this could be annoying. When I play games I tend to get into some sort od character, think what should the character be doing. If the main story quest is made out to be urgent or important, the idea of dallying around doing a load of side quests, most of which seem trivial in comparisson to the pressing matter at hand, slightly bugs me.

    To use a made up example: The giant alien creatures will attack soon! I must deliver an urgent message to high command! But first I'm going to collect some coffee beans from the 4 corners of the galaxy for this old man!

    Because of how I think when I play RPGs I can quite easily, accidently, miss most of the side quests on my first play through. My first playthrough of Fallout 3 I did very little aside from the main quest, got the end slide show in about 24 hours.

    On my second play through (I couldn't use the game save from just before the end of my first play through, it just annoyed me that the Project Purity thing was going and critical and I was going off, leaving the actual room, to help some slaves move Lincolns Head) I did more side quests. Still didn't do them all.

    Wasn't until I got Broken Steel when I actually got round to doing all the side quests. After the main story, and after Broken Steels own content, nothing urgent was happening. Nothing was going to blow up, nobody was invading. I could take my time and explore, help out where I could. Felt much more natural to me. Ended up with well over a 100 hours on that game save, most of which was after the "end"

    In short, if a game presents something as urgent and important, I treat it as such, and wont let myself get sidetracked. Even though those sidetracks are often the best part of some games.

  • TonyCocaCola #19 2 years ago

    So basically it will be like fallout 2 where you complete it and then you can just carry on playing from right before the ending.

  • Chazmeister #20 2 years ago

    What!! After Fallout 3 I would have thought that letting people play past the story line conclusion would have been a no brainer. How will the DLC fit in? The only way a can see it happening is either having to start a new game or they'll keep adding stuff you can do at the save point before the ending, both of which would feel rather unsatisfactory.

  • ignatiusjreilly #21 2 years ago

    What!! After Fallout 3 I would have thought that letting people play past the story line conclusion would have been a no brainer. How will the DLC fit in?

    I find it a shame that a satisfactory conclusion to the story is less important than a clear pathway for downloadable content...

  • SAMagic #22 2 years ago

    @EarlBassett : Nah I think they mean the intro slides for the games and the endings for FO 1 and 2. Being told I had offspring of mine amongst a crime family, that Gizmo choked on some iguana-on-a-stick or that my inaction had caused citizens of a farm town to go on to murder every living man, woman and child in an underground society, was always amusing.

  • Hobo #23 2 years ago

    Cue another developer in six months preaching about how they listened to their fanbase and worked extra hard to produce something that could help you play beyond the game's storyline...at a price.

  • Moribundman #24 2 years ago

    @Plugmoney
    You can't freeroam in Mass Effect 2 after completing the story

    Ummmm yes you can. Unless you totally fuck up the final mission and get everyone including Shepard killed...

    It's possible that some members of your crew, or even your squad will be dead, and it seems a little silly to carry on taking Cerberus missions after you've potentially told the Illusive Man to stick his collector base up his arse, but you can return to the Normandy and play through to clean up any N7 missions or sidequests you left in the air, as well as any DLC. OR you can take your Shepard and replay for a savegame +

    As for FO3 I had Liberty Prime heading towards the purification plant, stopped just short of entering the memorial building, scuttled off to play all the pre-Broken steel DLC then once that was installed I went in and continued. It didn't make any plot sense that I disappeared just as things were coming to a conclusion, but there you go.
    Edited by Moribundman at 23/08/10 @ 12:44

  • muscleblade #25 2 years ago

    "You can't freeroam in Mass Effect 2 after completing the story. "

    Actually you can.

  • SomaticSense #26 2 years ago

    Oh fuck off Obsidian. So why not have an amzing ending that still allows you to carry on?

    What a shitty excuse for not allowing it. YOU control the plot, it's not something that's unavoidable!

  • bratmandu #27 2 years ago

    So the backlash against not being able to play on after F3 taught them nothing? **From joystiq article::

    MTV Multiplayer asked Bethesda's Todd Howard what lessons he learned from the current installment (fallout 3). His answer: "Greatest lesson? Don't let the game end, and don't have a level cap."

    Facepalm.

  • ignatiusjreilly #28 2 years ago

    Anyone know how this compares to Fallout 3 in terms of size/amount of content?

  • PlugMonkey #29 2 years ago

    @moribundman and muscleblade:

    Really? When I fired it up it looked like a going-back-to-just-before-the-final-mission job. I must have made assumptions based on the logic jump and not really been paying attention.

    Iiiiiinteresting. Maybe I will have a look at some of the ME2 DLC after all then.

  • abot #30 2 years ago

    Since this will have a definite ending I am going to wait for DLC before purchasing. I don't play multiple times on games where you invest alot of hours. I liked playing Operation Anchorage in FO3 and being able to take some great items back into the main game. I don't want to have to play a new game in order to do that.

  • bratmandu #31 2 years ago

    Yea tbh I don't mind either way - as long as the game's good enough. It's just that to me, not allowing play after completion suggests there isn't many side quests. Maybe I'm just putting 2 and 2 together and getting 4 instead of 22 though. I have faith in Obsidian - some of em worked on Fallout2 so one would hope it doesn't dissapoint.
    Edited by bratmandu at 23/08/10 @ 16:04

  • Seehuusen #32 2 years ago

    How fucking stupid are they....unless they come up with a mjor surprise, they pretty much just confirmed that the character will die or vegas gets nuked.....or a machine will turn you into a baby !

  • Moribundman #33 2 years ago

    @Plugmonkey Well worth it if you haven't finished all the side missions - there are some real little gems in there. Even just the silly little N7 missions - was very frustrated by beacons in fog one first time round but was a fun little level on my replay. The one where you're running around the wrecked ship on the edge of a cliff is also good fun. A nice little change of pace here and there is good. And of course with Cerberus net wou can download Firewalker for a bit of vehicular fun. All the firewalker missions are is a set of N7 missions in a vehicle that loosely tie together plot wise.

    In fact, Dragon Age also allows you to play DLC like (shudder) Return to Ostegar after you've beaten the game - it just comes up with a text screen saying "err... this bit happens before the Landsmeet or summink, right?" (or something to that effect) if you import it into a savegame past the point of no return. Stupidly jarring but a nice concession for players who've already beaten the game but want to play DLC that ostensibly should take place mid-game.

    Back on topic, I hope Obsidian get some chunky DLC like Point Lookout or BL's Zombie Island of Dr Ned. I don't mind if I need to reload an autosave right before the endgame.

  • Collymilad #34 2 years ago

    So a lame backtrack and paid DLC allowing endgame play 2 months after release then?

  • Chazmeister #35 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    I don't see why having a good satisfactory story line ending should mean the game must end. As for the dlc I found it a pretty important part of the FO3 experience, the Brotherhood of Steel dlc being especially good in that it continued the story in a meaningful way.

    As HugeXbox360Fan has just said, being able to see the results of your actions and the aftermath of all the plot decisions is a really great experience. Seeing all the water being purified and distributed around the wasteland, and being able to take on the Enclave once more would not have been possible had they just kept the story locked down at it's original end point. The problem is that by having a locked down ending we're not going to see any dlc that adds significantly to the main story line. Most likely we'll just end up with a bunch of unrelated extra side quests like Point Lookout and The Pitt, which whilst not bad, were not as satisfying as Broken Steel's continuation of the main story.

  • alefroxify #36 1 year ago

    I think that you should be able to carry on, because at the end after you kill Legate Lanius you get his helmet and its pretty stupid not showing that off to people. Also when it ends you get over 4000 xp and there is no point in getting that much if you cant put it to use. :)