Well, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to make choices in this game. For instance, tonight I was on the small missions for Commander Moore of the NCR at the Hoover Dam. The last thing she wanted me to do was go "handle" the situation with the Brotherhood of Steel. So I went there and started shooting everyone, and all these negative Karma graphics started popping up and I was like, that can't be right. So I just reloaded and spoke to the Commander and she just keeps asking me have I taken care of the BOS situation.

There have been a few other cases where negative karma popped up even though I was following the quest. So what's up. Do you just have to take negative Karma hits or can you be the good guy throughout the game. Me thinks you can't. What say you?

Yep, that's definitely WAD. No matter what side you pick, you're going to be pissing off somebody, and someone ends up losing. That's realistic when you're dealing with politics at a regional level. It's up to you to weigh the pros and cons of each faction, and choose the one that results (in your opinion) in the least bad outcome.

Karma doesn't matter as much in New Vegas as it did in Fallout 3 (faction rep is much more important). It's actually really hard to get negative karma unless you're really trying. If you're worried about your karma dipping too low, just go kill some Fiends and feral ghouls.

A hint though, that's something of a spoiler:

that's exactly the point.

negative karma against the bos is only a few members i believe. the others are neutral and do not affect karma. there is a way to destroy the chapter without incurring any negative karma. but there is only one character that will tell you how. but i think you killed him anyway so...

there is also another way to solve the BOS problem.

karma is calculated per individual, not as a group. so certain members of ncr and bos will give you negative karma if you kill them, but most will not affect your karma. negative karma also does not imply that the individual's group is a 'good' group.

you most certainly can play the game and never incur negative karma. hint: sometimes people in power do things for selfish reasons, perhaps you should explore other ways of solving problems.

Yup Garden, that's one of the reasons why we love this game. Not everything is black and white, good and evil.

Yep, I think you learn everything on your first playthrough and then you DO everything right on your second.

I don't waste time killing the BoS, I just play that I want to join, get the power armour training perk, then stealthily activate the self destruct mechanism. Quick, easy, and quietly.

That's one of the things that makes New Vegas and the the Originals so great. You decide who you want to side with and you live with the consequences of your actions.

The game doesn't hold you hand by only giving you "Good or Evil" but clearly it want's you to side with good like Fallout 3. You have to think and plan in New Vegas as in the orginals. It's all part of making a great RPG. Options and Consequences!

Well there are no good guys and bad guys in the original four factions. House makes you do some bad karma things, so does Caesar, so does NCR, and Yes Man...well you can choose but there are bad karma options all throughout the quest line.

In New Vegas, it's all about planning and thinking. It's much deeper than bad karma and good karma like in Fallout 3. There are interlinking justifications for bad actions and good actions. In these forums, I stand with Caesar's Legion, arguably the faction that has more bad people that you can interact with than any of the four other factions. But good and bad doesn't matter in New Vegas. It's all about ideology.

Fun fact: It's impossible to complete New Vegas without getting blood on your hands. It IS possible to complete New Vegas without killing a soul, but in order to do this you have to condemn a certain person to a fate worse than death, so it's not exactly the good karma option. It IS impossible to complete it without gaining negative karma.

I normally pick Mr. House because I think it's more "good" on a long term.