Part 48: The Journeys of Hung Wei Lo: Final Reckoning

The Journeys of Hung Wei Lo: Final Reckoning



I think a lot of people forget that the Brotherhood of Steel has different bases scattered around in cities around the game world, like this one in NCR. The reason for this is that there's nothing there.



Interestingly enough, if you go to talk to John Bishop after dealing with the raiders he comes out with this particular bit of dialogue that implies that you had Skynet with you when you did it.

"I don't know how to answer this in a way that doesn't end with people shooting me. I promise I'll work really hard and make up for it?"

But enough with weird dialogue… this is about finding strange encounters.



Our next one is a bit of a Star Trek reference, found near Redding. Take a look at the date… I spent a good couple of in game years running around in the desert looking for these.



This is what happens when you fill an entire shuttlecraft with red shirts. If one of the bridge crew had been along this never would have happened.



The real prize for this one is the Hyposprays, of which there are three on different bodies. They act like Super Stimpacks without the HP damage effect.



Next up, the big giant head… or something like.



"You're nothing like I expected. In fact, it raises considerable questions about my ancestors and their sexual proclivities."



After a twelve hour argument regarding whether or not you're the Chosen One he turns you loose with a couple of chunks of stone.



Using them provides a temporary +3 bonus to ST and AG, as well as 50 additional normal damage resistance. You're only seeing a small increase here because there are limits to how far the game can push stats.



Leaving out from testing that, the next thing we find is the "Crashed Whale" random encounter. Just a whale, as if it had mysteriously appeared in the skies about the wasteland.



It's a bit hard to see in the dark, but there's also a pot full of daisies. No word on whether or not they thought "not again" as they fell. Yes, this is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference that they snuck in here.



At this point we've found all the "good" random encounters and it's time to continue the game. From what I've seen, it looks like with 10 luck I can't actually find any of the bad ones. I was going to use the line from Kung Pow about how AHS-9's style would probably work better on another planet, but it seems I already used that one.



Before fighting him, however, I joined the Hubologists here and got the Zeta scan from the home base. There are actually two mutually exclusive Zeta scans you can get in the game, so to get this one you'd have to have not gotten the one in NCR. Instead of a +2 LK bonus, this one gives you +1 LK and +1 IN.



Our attempt to get the Key FOB did not go well. I'm not sure how I flubbed it up, but the end result was slaughtering the entire first floor of the base. Good thing we don't need anything else from here! Unlike some other areas, once you start fighting in the Navarro base the entire place goes hostile.



Before going on to the end game, we go back to chat with Doc Johnson. There's actually a fourth ending for Redding, but it requires you to deliver the Jet Antidote and then come back 24 hours later to talk to the Doc. Considering that you'd have no reason to ever go back at that point, a lot of people miss it.



At this point I spent another year or so running around the Wasteland to verify that I'd found everything. The most interesting encounter was a hermit.



Interesting because he talks like Yoda, and also interesting because he tells you that the reason he hermits is because he doesn't like people.



Out of curiosity I also decided to see what happens if you walk into a cave, after completing another radscorpion slaughter session. Turns out that there's actually a zone transition hidden in the back.



Inside there are more creatures, usually pig rats and more scorpions.



They can also have secondary exits, although they won't actually have enemies in the second outdoor area.



After that and punching a number of aliens, centaurs, and floaters to death it was time to head to the Enclave. As previously we leave our companions at the entrance, but this time I actually left them inside the door so that they can be picked up before we leave. Turns out that the last time I kind of accidentally lost Marcus, Sulik, and Cassidy forever since the game doesn't know what to do with abandoned companions outside of the Enclave.




On a side note, punching people to death in the Enclave tends to lead to literal piles of bodies where they come after you. It reminds me of playing the original Diablo with a Warrior. Kinda wish I could LP that one, but trying to run it on a Mac would involve a considerable amount of trouble.



"Oh, shut up, you old bitch! It's me, your Chosen One."

"I am still the Elder. Remember your place! Apologize or I will not help you anymore."

Our two options at this point are to apologize or tell her to quite literally fuck off and die. The second one sounds strangely satisfying.



Skipping ahead a bit, you can also have a short conversation with Frank Horrigan before you commence fighting with him as long as you don't use the Counter Insurgency option. Spoiler alert: all three of these choices lead to a fight.



Starting a fight with the Enclave squad nearby also draws Horrigan, by the way, resulting in you fighting both groups at once. It's not a recommended strategy unless you can kill three people every round… like the character I'm showing off on the next short playthrough.



After a few minutes of sitting back and watching the turrets and Sergeant Granite's squad do all the work, we're rewarded with our ending. There's supposed to be some blurb about the Elder that can work its way in here, but I've never actually seen it.



By carefully avoiding picking up our reward from Randal we get the other ending for Vault City, which involves Roger Westin taking over leadership of the NCR council, having a heart attack, and then coming to Vault City and marrying Lynette. Vault City ends up as a recognized independent state in this ending, which might be confirmed by New Vegas.

You can also get special endings for Vault City if you slaughter the entire place, differing as to whether or not you fixed the power plant in Gecko. In one of them the ghouls end up occupying Vault City.



Going back to talk to Doc Johnson results in this ending for Redding, where the Doc becomes Mayor of Redding and helps it to be annexed by Vault City, with 10% of Redding's population becoming full fledged citizens and the rest becoming essentially servants. Yay, we're good guys!




And with that, we're done showing things off with Hung Wei Lo. He ended up higher level than the main character as a result of all the time spent traveling the wasteland, and with a lot more kills under his belt. Especially when it came to Radscorpions. Now, for our other side play through...