I've always thought there's no reason video games need to be an intellectual wasteland. You can do music, visual arts and stories in video game form. So there's no reason they have to just be mindless button mashing (though they usually are.)

So I thought Dead Money -with its characters, plot and philosophical issues- was excellent. And then I read the player reviews.

- spoilers ahead -

9 out of 10 people are upset you can't take the gold out of the vault with you. The theme of Dead Money is leaving your obession behind you. In the end, the player has to physically leave the DLC's obsessive focus (the contents of the Sierra Madre's vault) behind them to escape. Father Elijah can't bring himself to let his obsession go, and thus ends up trapped or dead in the vault. The fact you can't actually steal all the gold is a literal incarnation of the metaphorical theme of the DLC.

Another common complaint is that the game is really hard and by the end you stop caring about the loot and just want to get out of the Sierra Madre alive. Again, that's the whole point of the story. The object of your greed isn't worth the sacrifices you have to make to obtain it.

Lots of others are angry they couldn't bring their power armor, stimpacks and weapons into the DLC. Being naked and vulnerable are necessary for the "greed doesn't pay" and "you have to leave your obsessions behind" themes to work. If the player could blow through the ghost people and reach the vault with ease, the DLC's themes wouldn't have any impact with the player.

For selfish reasons I want game developers to go to the effort of making thought provoking plots and well developed stories. But if the vast majority of players don't understand or even notice, then why should they bother?

Don't know what thats about,but I walked out with 37 bars and my DC-15A rifle.

Welcome to the new generation of videogames, where the best way to get attention, is with guns, battles, explosions, gore, more guns, Michael Bay, COD and such

Is a shame really

I think it's a dumb move. Most gamers are teens anyway so it's no wonder most people don't get it. It says alot though about the game developers.

took all them golds son

No DLC is going to be everyone's cup of tea. I'll bet that for every person who griped about Dead Money for any or all of the reasons you listed above, there was at least one who thoroughly enjoyed playing it, maybe even ranked it as their favorite Fallout DLC. You can count me among those people. It's just human nature that people are more likely to complain about things they don't like than they are to praise those things that they really did like.

I'm sure the developers know that as well.

I agree, Dead Money is such an underrated DLC.

But....i had no greed. i just wanted to explore, and ended up with a crushed gamer spirit that felt trapped, and had almost no fun at all. But i did not blame the DLC for that. It was wonderfully written, and a noble try at survival horror Fallout-style. i just assumed i wasn't the right type of player for it. Clearly you were.

Your reasons aren't selfish at all, and i support them. :mellow:

And i didn't take the gold.

Same here. Looks like we are the smart ones grabbing all that gold. :foodndrink: Sadly I never sold any, I still use the glitch at the gun runners.

OP I agree 100% with your post.

I have praised DM many times for it being above a 4 year old level.

When people complain, they make themselves noticed.
When they're content, they tend to just let it slide.
I think there were probably a lot more people who enjoyed dead money then those who didn't. It was just easier to hear/notice those who didn't.

I sympathise with that view to an extent. Maybe there should have been more clues that the DLC would be a survival horror-esque game before the player got trapped in it.

i had *no* idea what i was getting into. An example...

When i would go gambling at the strip, i would dress really well, formal gown and hat, everything. i'd make it a fun outing (before i got bounced from them all). When Dead Money came out, i thought, 'neato! A new casino and hustle-bustle gambling crowd!' Then i packed my refined wear, and headed off.

Then i got there. i won't feel bad if you laugh at the image of me standing there in confused shock.

Yup. Not what i was expecting.

Personally, I love it, and create new playthroughs specifically for it, the same with Honest Hearts, and now; Old World Blues. The problem with a large number of gamers today is they want what they want, and don't care what anyone else wants. Which is a shame really, because it gives the majority of the gamers, myself included, that care for, and support the developers a bad name, UNLESS we voice our opinion on the matter.

Going into the field of Video Game Programming and Design myself, because of games like Fallout; because of companies like Bethesda, Obsidian, Interplay, and Jagex (random, but yes.), I can honestly say even from such a small pool of consumers, like this board, I honestly don't see how they can keep working, and keep a smile, if not only for the satisfaction that comes with a completed project and reading/hearing the praise from the gamers that actually appreciate the work being done, instead of dismissing their work because it isn't "What I wanted" (not quoting anyone here, just using this example as it's the thing I read most in complaints.).

I agree with you OP. Dead Money is such an underatted DLC, expecially when it comes to nowadays gamer generation. While it does saddens me, it also gives me hope as a future participant in this field that there are still some people that appreciate one's work.

EDIT- Though, I personally escaped with all gold bars on several playthroughs, the first few times was on accident (discovered the force field glitch), the rest is well, I'm not greedy persay. I haven't sold any of the gold bars I aquire, I am a completionist at heart, so even if I hadn't discovered that glitch, I would have tried to find a way to escape with them all.

EDIT2 - Also, Welcome to the forums OP! :celebration: Always glad to have another level-headed person on the boards. ^_^

Well said. Though i feel the greed theme didn't really work because you can't be poor in this game, and there nothing but guns ammo to use the money on. Still, gold bars are gold bars :drool:

I liked the story, but I found the game play frustrating. the speakers that happened to be on the same frequency as your collar was just obnoxious.

I know it's a part of the whole survival-horror theme, but I would've liked the DLC significantly better if it weren't for the speakers.

DM wasn't my thing, and I'm definitely not new generation (my first gaming console was Mattel's Intellivision).

Having said that, there are things I did admire about it, and I got the whole "letting it go" business with regards to the gold bars.

My main issue with the game was that it was far too easy to miss an item of importance (like a skill book or a vending machine code) in a single runthrough if you didn't have a comprehensive guide on hand. Something you might have regretted missing out on, but might have returned for, had the developers made it possible to return, which they didn't. If you were determined to collect every skill book, vending machine code, and playing card (which I was, because I'm a freak), it took a considerable amount of forced exploration in a decidedly exploration-unfriendly environment. More tedious than challenging, and it slowed the story down too much. So it was largely for technical reasons that I didn't like it.

I left the gold behind, though. All of it. Even though I could have glitched it all out or just taken a single bar as a souvenir.

Oh no no no, don't get me wrong, I was NOT lumping all of the complainers together. I know quite a few that feel the same way as you and would definitely not lump you in with the rest, Sorry if it seemed I was. My problem lies with the group that basically complains for the sake of complaining, or complains because the content doesnt have what THEY want.

Hopefully that clears up my statement. :sweat: Again, sorry if you thought I was lumping you with the group in question. :sweat:

EDIT- On that note, I do commend you for not taking the gold. I've only ever not taken any once, but... I am a completionist at heart so. :rofl:

There's no need to apologize. I didn't read your post as trying to lump all the DM-non-likers into one category. I just thought that since I'm, um... not young, and since I didn't care for it, I'd point out why a not-so-young person like myself didn't care for it (even though I did appreciate what they were going for, and I generally like cautionary tales).

Ahhh, I see your point. Well said, it's always nice to know it's not just the young'ins playin. Haha. Quite refreshing if i say so myself.

This *exactly*. +1

I loved DM as a story device, but as a completionist in gaming, like others here, I feel I have to push through DM on return playthroughs and its something I dread (I get turned around so easy and everything looks the same). Where I can't get enough of the Big E and have to pull myself away, DM is kinda a chore to do again once done. I am currently playing it now and still have issues finding stuff I have already done more than once.

"My head blows up for some reason if I ignore the beeping noises and keep running forward.

This DLC svcks."

That doesn't resemble anything that anyone has said, in any way.

Are you needlessly mocking someone specifically, or are you needlessly mocking everybody in general, who may have an opinion different from yours?

Just curious.