Tale - you seem to be in this weird state of denial about Strange Meat - have you been munching on some pies????? Feeling guilty??? :wink_smile:

You do know that the Fiends are cannibals, right?

Some might be, but there's no reason to assume they are as a general rule. Violet is the only one there's any particular indication of. But she could simply be feeding people to her dogs. Their lead chef specializes in Brahmin. There are more notable cannibals on the Strip.

They are not The Road inspired raiders of Fallout 3.

You obviously have missed some side quests: ALL the Fiend leaders buy people, and Cook-Cook was seen cooking one: this is documented as part of a quest!!

Fiends buy people because they trade in slaves. Cook-Cook delights in torture, that's why he burns people. Same reason he engages in other activities with victims. It's why Pretty Sarah is still alive. He's not necessarilly burning to cook, he's burning to cause pain.

You really need to do that quest and read the ledger, ALL the ledger

I fail to see the relevance. Whether or not he specifically is a cannibal is no evidence that the Fiends are cannibals as a rule. And it's documented that his signature dish is Brahmin. You can get the recipe.

Nor does any of that prove that the NCR soldiers at Helios or Mick & Ralph are cannibals. Despite the fact they can be found with strange meat.

Everyone seems to forget the human hunters in Fallout 3 as well. They are two in two random encounters you can find. One of them specifically chasing after and shooting a wastelander, and another with them just walking. In either case, they are friendly and you can trade with them, but all they sell is 'strange meat'. They refuse to identify what the meat is, even though they say they are out hunting it, saying only that 'it's the sweetest meat you can find' or something like that. So definitely, in FO3, all of the strange meat you find is human flesh, just the designers being cagey about it to pull sort of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Solyent Green kind of reveal... "I've been eating WHAT?"

From the background and sheer amount of strange meat in the Grey, I'd say it's supposed to indicate that it's human meat there too... just the same sort of 'is it/isn't it?' feel they meant in FO3. But some areas it's just really out of place, like with NCR camps and at Bison Steves. Those are probably just accidents or something slipped up when they were placing items.

Though it makes me wonder now... Maybe ghouls go feral from eating human brain tissue? Or at least some of them anyway, those that didn't go feral from an initial radiation lobotomy frying part of their brain.

I'm with Tale on this one.

Yes, in FO3 there was strange meat from the human hunters and in Andale. But that doesn't make all "Strange Meat" automatically Human. Having 1 or 2 cannibals doesn't make everyone that associates with them cannibals either. (Whether it puts them on the menu or not is still another question.)

Also, I fail to see how "Strange Meat was Human Flesh in Fallout 3" makes it have to be Human Flesh in New Vegas. There is specifically named Human meat/flesh in this game, so Strange Meat can just be that... strange... unidentifiable. Possibly Human, possibly not.

How about people in the Gray is so poor all they can afford is super cheap "strange meat".

Having it as one of the leveled item drop (while Human flesh is not) would indicate there is something different how Obsidian handle strange meat.

Human Meat was also in Fallout 3. Mostly you would find it on feral ghouls and trogs, creatures known to be man eaters. So there was nothing 'strange' about it. You knew what they were eating.

Personally, my cannibal character collected the stuff to carry with her when she wanted a snack.

wait. so the iguana bits from fallout 1 were actually human meat...oh [censored]..

about the grey thing, i noticed it too. seems like it was deliberate.

Iguana Bob's bit were human - not all iguana bits

The Gray seems to me to be deliberate by the devs - a "red flag" that many seem to be ignoring or denying

re comments that'... maybe the Fiend leaders are cannibal but doesn't mean the rest are..' : that seems pretty..... unlikely is the kindest thing I could say.
Think about the structure of a gang - how would 1 or 2 people be cannibals and the rest of gang at least not KNOW about it?? That would be pretty much impossible over time.
So, best case, some are not cannibals, but know and condone it, in other gang memners

My theory with The Gray is perhaps some shady trader came into town selling meat dirt cheap. So the residents buy a ton of it not knowing what the meat is. So they are basically eating people without knowing it, and we are forced to say Strange meat is made of people! Like Charlton Heston in Soylent Green. Kinda clever by the devs actually. If that is the case.

That sounds like an idea their defense lawyer would come up for the trial - wait, what trial? I already shot most of them

I don't believe that Strange Meat in NV is the same as it is in Fallout 3. As someone already stated, you can find it in NCR encampments and Legion camps. There are plenty of other areas where you can find it where the people aren't cannibals. If it was Human Flesh, then a good portion of the people in this game would be cannibals. That's simply not the case. The Wiki isn't complete either. There's TONS of things on there that are wrong. Just use common sense with this one. Do you honestly think that there's THAT MANY cannibals in this game? I know my answer.

Finding it in NCR camps is a bug.

Saying because it shows up in NCR camps because they put it in the wrong levelled list is like saying that Gun Runners have a religious prohibition again .40-70 ammunition because they never sell it. It's taking a bug for canon information and extrapolating too far.

Non-leveled-list strange meat is 99% likely to imply human flesh, to me. And even if not it definitely implies some unsavory origins.

and as to the fiends, I'm certain when you've taken that many "chems" then you probably don't know if it's dog or human or brahmin or what. Honestly I consider the fiend's cannibalism to be a possible slight nod to the urban legends (usually from the 60s and 70s) about people so high they accidentally killed or cooked or ate human flesh someone else cooked.

I don't see how it's a bug to find it in multiple NCR occupied areas. Especially when it's been there with all three characters I've made. I don't think the people of Primm, Sloan, Good Springs, Helios One, etc etc are cannibals. Even after doing the "Beyond The Beef" quest and making it so they went back to cannibalism, I never found any Strange Meat in that entire casino.

Your chance of finding it also depends on your level, it's set as a mid-level food so you see more of it if you go exploring between level 8 and 16, I never found any in NCR territory when I went exploring at higher levels, it was mostly grilled mantis, longhorn steaks, ect.

That's cause they always serve it fresh!!

That is VERY interesting!! Have you explored the Gary at different levels? I think I'm gonna load up some old save and new saves and verify that The Gray always has Strange Meat

Anybody else notice this? How about the Legion??

As far as I'm concerned, if NCR/Legion/random areas do NOT have "Strange Meat" once you reach a certain level, while The Gray always does- that proves it was intentional for The Gray, and almost surely just an oversight for other areas!!

Excellent observation!!

edit : do you know if the inventory of fridge/oven is permanently set by your level when you first visit a place, or will it reset when you come back later at say level 20??

Seraphian wrote (in thread http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1143371-strange-meat-what-is-it/page__st__60)

The fridges in The Gray are of type "AndaleFridge" which will only EVER spawn strange meat.

I do believe that seals the deal, in the game files they're the exact same as the fridges of andale and we all KNOW what those are filled with.

So it seems to be deliberate for The Gray, even though there is no quest involved

Even if we are to assume Strange Meat is people, why do we assume this is a known fact? Maybe they buy it from hunters like the ones in Fallout 3 and have no idea of its origins. So it's not necessarily a bug that it is in the NCR. They could legitimately believe the meat is coming from reputable traders.

Because everybody in The Gray is eating it and acting strange