T w e n t y S i d e d

Brief aside for today. The latest Galactic Season is live in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This season (number eleven if I remember correctly) replays the quests and rewards from two previous, early seasons. Each centered on a new companion, although I had actually already unlocked the second. As I understand it, that means I had actually logged in during the original season even if I didn’t take part. I certainly don’t remember doing anything. I’ll be going out of town with my parents later this month; I don’t know if it will affect what I write but it’s likely. I am preparing for more Girls und Panzer. The storytelling actually gets better in the upcoming films, although the physics lose some ground. The first movie “der Film” isn’t a summary or retelling; it actually completes the story told in the series. Which is to say, it addresses some of the “just because” that was going on.

It’s probably worth talking about the naming, as that could be considered part of the “WW2 German glorification” I talked about last time. “Girls und Panzer” is literally the name of the series. Intentionally. Sort of. A transliteration of the Japanese name is “G?ruzu ando Pants?”. So, while the German word “panzer” is sonically emulated, the “und” is actually just the Japanese pronunciation of the English word “and”. The *however* part is that by intentionally using the word “panzer,” the German word for tank instead of “sensha (or some other options, depending on the situation) the Japanese word for tank; it is clear the creators were thinking in terms of German phrasing. And I don’t know Japanese well enough to tell you if there would be a logical difference between rendering “and” and “und”. So, it is broadly accepted, even in Japan, that the series is named Girls und Panzer.

Here’s the next *however*. Girls und Panzer der Film is not actually named “der film.” “Girls und Panzer” is, of course; the same as it has been. After that is just “Gekijoban“. It’s a Japanese word that means, in English “the film.” You can go see “Animal Crossing the Film” or “Zero: the film” and you’ll see the same word. Using “der Film” for international releases was a marketing decision that was seen as matching the “und Panzer” part of the title. Likewise, the set of sequel films collected under the title “Girls und Panzer das Finale” aren’t actually titled “das Finale.” They are titled “Girls und Panzer: Sai Shusho” which means “Girls und Panzer: The Final Chapter.” Again, marketing.

I’ve been hankering for a while to replay Fallout New Vegas. Yes, I am on record (repeatedly) saying New Vegas *is* a good game, but isn’t as enjoyable as Fallout 3. That doesn’t mean “I don’t like it.” I do. But I also haven’t done a few things. The last time I played it was 2014 (the saves were still on the Steam cloud. That surprised me.) Of course, that’s the last time I saved a game on my Steam version; technically. I could have played it on GoG or something else. I don’t remember. But based on the saves present, this is likely the experience I most remember. I did the final battle, then reloaded a previous save and played Honest Hearts and Dead Money. I think Dead Money killed my enthusiasm and I never did Lonesome Road or Old World Blues. I know what’s in them, for the record, I just didn’t play them myself. Dead Money was an extreme slap in the face…at least that first part.

I have no mods installed (yet) and I’m not using a min/max solution like running to the clinic in Vegas to get implants at the beginning of the game. BUT, for the sake of transparency, I am using some outside information to plan solutions and paths. I have a walkthrough guide that lists locations in expected order, rather than doing a “main story” guide and “sidequests” guide separately. AND I have a listing of the ending solutions I want with the relevant quests. Fallout New Vegas doesn’t have “an end to the story,” which is ironic to me considering they left the original ending in place for the later-released DLC’s and require you to restore to a point before the ending to play them, or start a new game. The most commonly-given reason is because the story technically makes the most sense if those things happen BEFORE the battle at the end; but to be honest, that’s always seemed kind “meh” to me.

Anyway, the ending. There are about 30 different stories you can get a “reaction” to in a title card at the end of the game. Many of these require separate intentional decisions from the main storyline. The central quest is split into two parts: the beginning of the game that takes you from your start in Goodsprings to New Vegas, then the faction quests that allow you to decide who controls the New Vegas area wasteland. Your major narrative choices are the New California Republic, a huge gang of raiders called Caesar’s Legion that advocates an authoritarian empire and see an opportunity to move in on the nominal presence of the NCR around New Vegas, the mysterious Mr. House who secretly controls much of New Vegas itself and has a plan to consolidate control of the Vegas-area wasteland under his management, or “none of the above” which involves thwarting the plans of all mentioned factions and giving control of specific things to various local interests.

Now, you can sort-of do a mix of this, that, and the other; especially while pursuing that final “independent” option. Although, players who haven’t tried this game should be aware, completing the “independent” choice doesn’t necessarily give you happy endings across the board. This is a big reason people praise the storytelling in this game: the convoluted, detailed ending where making one choice DOES NOT solve everything. But it should also be considered that it is really easy to break future quests, and not everything is because of a bug. A lot of it *is* because Obsidian didn’t get enough time to finish the game properly, but that’s its own black hole that I may talk about more in the future. (along with Obsidian’s tendency to include a character who does the “Ha HA! It was I all along! I planned all your choices for you, and now you are helpless before me!” thing)

In fact I might have already broken one quest. I don’t know, and I can’t find the answer. In the introduction-half of the game you encounter a minor faction called “Powder Gangers” early on. Like, almost immediately. This will inevitably point you to their nearby base of operations. You can do quests for them, even help them do some pretty nefarious things if that’s the way you want your character to go. The first major faction you meet, soon after, is the New California Republic. One of the first things they want you do is help them get rid of the nearby Powder Gangers who are causing problems along the road in that neck of the woods. You can do this easily (again, if that’s the direction you want your character to go morally); my build is Energy Weapons and Skills. Strength is my dump stat. I helped out at the beginning of the battle, then just followed everyone else. If you choose this option the NCR will storm the Powder Gangers’ base and kill everyone. Except a guy who is part of another quest, even if you don’t have that quest yet. Lucky! But they also kill the boss, who you may have even done a quest or two for (that you can do without affecting your reputation with other factions, to be clear). BUT, here’s the catch: NOT killing that guy is supposed to be part of another quest’s solution, because narratively the NCR is supposed to do this LATER in the game, at the end.

There’s some logic discrepancies here, and it’s not overall important to how I want the end of the game to go, so I’m not going to get too worked up. But it’s going to be interesting to see how this ties into one ending solution, because technically that ending is screwed up now even though the end-point of this situation is the same. Huh.

Oh, and to finish the thought from above, although I tried every faction’s questline previously; I ended up restoring to before I started working for a faction and did the “independent” ending (narratively and technically). That’s what was saved, even though I tried all of the factions. I ended up killing all of Caesar’s Legion for fun, just because I hated them so much. So I’m doing the New California Republic ending this time.

That’s all I have to say *right now* about Fallout New Vegas. I would not be surprised to revisit this topic soon.

Paige Francis He/him