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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Rasm635u@lemmygrad.ml to c/games@lemmygrad.ml
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[-] NothingButBits@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 1 year ago

Yes, but the devs are clearly biased. The NCR which represents the US is portrayed in too much of a positive light. Their imperialism is presented in a distorted way and many times as something benign. The biggest downside of the NCR that we hear people complaining is "taxes", this gives me "taxation is theft" vibes. Meanwhile the Legion is just god awful, the more you find out about them, the worse they get. There's just not any competition between them. One is good the other is evil. The NCR is the West and the Legion is the East, which means West = Good and East = Bad.

This is just unnecessary fascist propaganda drilled into the game. The East is represented as a bunch of barbarians who are coming to destroy western civilization. The Legion even employs tactics of throwing bodies at the enemy without regards for their lives, which is something Russia has been accused of doing in the Ukrainian war. And of course, the Legion's system is so horrible, so atrocious, that no one could possibly want to live in it. This is how communism is portrayed to Western masses. A system so horrible, that anything is preferable to it. So the barbaric pedophilic eastern hordes represent communism, and the minor flawed republic represents liberal democracy. This is a disgusting level of bias.

As a side note, the Arcade companion quest is just a bunch of fascist apologia. The quest tries too hard, to humanize a bunch of psychopathic fascist ex-military. But hey, at least they're not the ~~Communists~~ Legion, am I right?

Excluding the independent ending, I think there's a case to be made for Mr. House. Not that I'm a fan of him, he's an embellished version of Elon Musk. But House represents the national bourgeoise while the Legion and NCR don't. House seems to be focused mainly on Vegas, while he has no love for Freeside, at least places like Goodsprings, Primm, Novac will be left alone. But it's hard to argue with so much bias in the game.

[-] Gosplan14_the_Third@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago

The NCR has way more problems than the taxation, which a lot of NPCs complain (hey, like IRL conservatives). Chief Hanlon's conversation implies that the NCR is exhausting its natural resources from overuse, draining water from lakes etc. in the service of agrarian capital, with the profit motive being the driving force behind capitalist development there - at least according to a followers' critique and they sustain themselves through imperialism - which is why Chief Hanlon wants the NCR to take an L in the Mojave, to discourage the country from overextension. Thomas Hildern of the OSI (who is willing to use dangerous technology and steal credits from the people working under him) implies that the NCR is heading towards famine from low soil fertility (the reason for the Vault 22 side quest). It could be interpreted (and probably was intended) as a malthusian critique, but the metabolic rift inherent to capitalist agricultural production is also playing a huge role in it.

To read orientalism from the Legion is a bit of a stretch. Even chuds are very very unlikely to use the metaphor of Ancient Rome as the evil orient or as communist, ergo this take is rare to see even somewhere like r/newvegasmemes.

There's a case to be made that the Arcade companion quest is apologetic towards the Enclave troopers, yes. The only one among them who opposes just outright siding with the Legion in the battle is Arcade himself.

The House ending explicitly does NOT leave these communities alone. If the Kings aren't incited to fight against the NCR, he'll send the securitrons to kill them. If the NCR takes over Primm, he imposes a special heavy tax on the town just for the hell of it. For all his pretenses of being an enlightened impartial benevolent dictator, he's sure petty like Elon Musk.

Overall, the devs do have a bias. Somewhere between a libertarian and a socdem one, I think.

[-] NothingButBits@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I know the NCR has plenty of problems, but the one that seems to come up the most is taxes.

Sorry but the West vs East trope is just to much to ignore, if the NCR is the US which it clearly is, then the Legion is either the USSR or China. There's just no other option.

Well I never said House was a good guy, it's just that the NCR is way to benevolent in comparison. I think it's not balanced.

Edit: I remembered that Marcus says, the Legion will fail because "Muh human nature". Ring any bells?

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this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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