» Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:28 pm I posted http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1192431-ulysses-hint-in-honest-hearts/page__view__findpost__p__17719233 back in May:
I have a theory about Ulysses, and why he is mentioned at major story points in the main story as well as in each DLC so far. Ulysses is meant to be the "other player character" in the game. He is meant to be another player character wandering the Mojave, and at various locations he makes different decisions and has his own adventures. His choices and actions impact the actual player, because our player character generally visits areas after he has already passed through and made his choices.The difference between the Courier and Ulysses is that Ulysses seems to be aware of the Courier and some of his actions are specifically meant to affect the Courier's adventure directly. Other times his adventure is independent of anything the Courier does, like when he rescues Christine while exploring the Big Empty.
Back in 2009, Chris Avellone gave a talk in Australia about his game design philosophy, and one of the games he highlighted was the cancelled Fallout 3 (Van Buren). His discussion of what he wanted to achieve in that game was pretty interesting. He said that his base concept was that he wanted to create a feel that there were two parties of adventurers out there, and the actions of one would impact the other as they run parallel. To flesh out this idea, he had pen and paper roleplaying sessions with two different groups, made up of the developers from various departments at Black Isles back then. The parties would be playing scenarios which were in the exact same world, but they were not told that their actions would directly impact the other group's experience, and the idea was to see the reactions and behavior from the players when they started to realize what was going on.
I'm pretty sure that the entire Ulysses story arc is basically Avellone trying to experiment on this same concept on a slightly smaller scale. It'll be interesting to see how Lonesome Road plays out, and if Ulysses will reference various things that the player had done throughout the game, and how they affected him if he encountered those places after the player. Just as how the player encountered various people and places after Ulysses had already already interacted with them.
Thoughts?
Back in 2009, Chris Avellone gave a talk in Australia about his game design philosophy, and one of the games he highlighted was the cancelled Fallout 3 (Van Buren). His discussion of what he wanted to achieve in that game was pretty interesting. He said that his base concept was that he wanted to create a feel that there were two parties of adventurers out there, and the actions of one would impact the other as they run parallel. To flesh out this idea, he had pen and paper roleplaying sessions with two different groups, made up of the developers from various departments at Black Isles back then. The parties would be playing scenarios which were in the exact same world, but they were not told that their actions would directly impact the other group's experience, and the idea was to see the reactions and behavior from the players when they started to realize what was going on.
I'm pretty sure that the entire Ulysses story arc is basically Avellone trying to experiment on this same concept on a slightly smaller scale. It'll be interesting to see how Lonesome Road plays out, and if Ulysses will reference various things that the player had done throughout the game, and how they affected him if he encountered those places after the player. Just as how the player encountered various people and places after Ulysses had already already interacted with them.
Thoughts?
But since then, there has been a lot more information that either directly mentions or teases stuff in Lonesome Road:
- The OWB DLC specifically mentions that Ulysses is luring the Courier into the Divide to give us a message, just like we delivered a message to him in the past.
- Chris Avellone mentioned once on his Twitter that the lonesome road leads to "the past".
- We've had http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WillOoi/20110623/7848/An_Interview_with_Chris_Avellone__game_designer_writer_and_former_unlucky_schlep.php which says:
I also have a lot of love for Ulysses in Fallout, only because I like the idea of someone hunting my player for reasons of his own, and then hearing the reasons why... and realizing how important even the smallest of my actions are for the people of the wasteland - living or dead.
WO: The identity of the Courier in New Vegas will likely become more fleshed out once we discover why Ulysses refused to deliver the package. How far do you think an RPG should define the player character, and how much should be left open-ended for the player to create through in-game choices and actions? The Courier seems to have a great deal more malleability than the protagonists in the Fallout series thus far, with an almost completely clean slate.
MCA: I feel you should let the player write their own history. When we set up Lonesome Road, we only knew 3-4 things for certain about the player character, and in my opinion, that's enough to build an epic adventure around. More on that to come... or it'll come to the player, one way or the other.
MCA: I feel you should let the player write their own history. When we set up Lonesome Road, we only knew 3-4 things for certain about the player character, and in my opinion, that's enough to build an epic adventure around. More on that to come... or it'll come to the player, one way or the other.
It seems to me that all these details seem to match with my theory about the final DLC. But to take things further, I'll venture to say that it is likely that in following Ulysses into the road to the Divide, the player will begin to have flashbacks at certain points of the DLC to points of his life in the past. This will allow the player to actually roleplay elements of the Courier's past, instead of just seeing it, hence deciding the past of the Courier and in doing so, decide how that ultimately affects his relationship with Ulysses today, from his point of view.
Anyone feels like punching holes in the theory, or providing other evidence to support it?
