This just popped into my mind.

Let's say you stepped out of Lucky 38 and haven't dealt with Benny yet. You'll be invited to Crooker's office. Can you take the NCR questline straight to the end without dealing with Benny? Or does the game stop you at some point and say "Remember what you came here to do?"?

I don't have a save at that point so I can't confirm myself. Can anyone try this or check the G.E.C.K for some info?

You have to deal with Benny first I think.

I'm pretty sure the NCR with the actual invite doesn't show up until a bit after you've dealt with Benny (he doesn't show up instantly like Vulpes). I've gone to the Strip and went in and out of there many times (before dealing with Benny) and the NCR guy never appears. But as always with this game, for all I know him not showing up after seeing House for the 1st time is a bug I have. >.>

Before that you can go visit Crocker and he'll give you a NCR history and other personal chat info but you can't do anything else.

NCR Invite shows up when you leave the Lucky 38 after talking with House. Always does for me.
Legion Invite shows up after leaving the Tops and having dealt with Benny.[either killed him or he ran]

So in theory by siding with the NCR it should be possible to skip ever talking to Benny.

You can. Like stated, talk to House, get the invite and just go right to the NCR.

The NCR doesn't care at all about Benny, the Chip, or yes man. You also end up skipping going to the Fort, since you never have the "chip".

Since you don't need the Chip for NCR line, it would definitely make sense that you could skip it. So either I have another little bug in my game or my senility has me not remembering events in my games correctly again. But regardless....Benny will never escape my wrath or my desire to possess his checkered suit in my clothing collection. :celebration:

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I know NCR line has nothing to do with the chip but it seems weird to me that you can skip a main quest and complete the game.

Meh, in FO3 you can skip about a third or so of the main quest, by accident or by design.

Chalk me up as getting the invite from the NCR right after leaving the 38.
Vulpes always after the Benny "incident", though to be honest last three runs it's been the massacre of the top Tops.
You can not believe how much fun it is to wipe out everyone in a casino with your fists, after telling the weapons checker to get lost.