Axe of the Blood God: How Fallout New Vegas Became a Beloved Classic

Axe of the Blood God is our weekly RPG podcast hosted by Kat Bailey and Nadia Oxford. You can find the previous episodes here.

In this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God (download link here), we look back on the game that has grown into a beloved classic: Fallout New Vegas.

As part of our ongoing run of Obsidian coverage, we talked to Josh Sawyer and Feargus Urquhart about one of their most challenging and ultimately most rewarding projects: Fallout New Vegas. We delve into the companions, the quests, and the factions define it—and there will be more on Monday.

Also in this episode, we talk about Tyranny's new expansion; South Park's amusing difficulty sliders (which is apparently just a joke, but a politically charged one), and Final Fantasy VII's 20th anniversary.

Want to share your thoughts on RPGs? Email us at usgamer@usgamer.net. We may read your letter on the show! Keep those Perfect RPG Teams coming, folks!

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Show Description

Kat and Nadia welcome back Josh Sawyer and Feargus Urquhart for a Fallout New Vegas retrospective that delves into why it's such a beloved cult classic (35:42), while also talking about South Park's amusing difficulty sliders, Tyranny's underwhelming expansion, and what Final Fantasy VII means in 2017.

Music from Axe of the Blood God is courtesy of Lena Chappelle, who has also contributed the themes to Active Time Babble and Roleplayers' Realm. I also use music from the RPG Music Pack over at rpgmaker.net. Check it out!

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#1 NiceGuyNeon 10 months ago

New Vegas is my favorite open-world RPG made in Bethesda's mold. By Fallout 3 I was turned off by Bethesda's design which just felt random and inconsequential. Sure, Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood questline was amazing, but I didn't see it connect in any meaningful way to the greater events going on. New Vegas is one of my all-time favorites in the RPG space because it all felt more connected and meaningful based on your actions.

Bethesda's style of game has its place too, especially if you're just looking to explore a giant world and quest at your leisure, but New Vegas is immediately more impactful based on quest structure alone.

As for my RPG team:

Leader- Geralt (Witcher)
Tank- Wrex (Mass Effect)
Dark Mage- Morrigan (Dragon Age: Origins)
Cleric (AND FIRE WIELDING WAIFU)- Yukiko (Persona 4)
Team Pet: Koops (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

#2 rye0077r 10 months ago

I've been thinking about this for weeks, but I have finally come up with a somewhat suitable party... However, given that the best teams are made up of 4 characters, I've limited myself to a party of four...

The Leader: Robin, Fire Emblem Awakening. Robin is the tactician and obvious choice to lead the party. Their powerful magic spells would be helpful in battle as well!

The Medic: Ness, Earthbound. Sure he's just a child, but he can heal the party while devastating the enemy with a fully powered-up PSI-Rockin'!

The Ranger: Minsc, Baldur's Gate. Five words: "Go for the eyes, Boo!"

The Warrior: Naoto, Persona 4. A good overall fighter. She can use her guns for long ranged attacks and her Persona can really bring the hurt against the opposition.Edited September 2017 by rye0077r

#3 link6616 10 months ago

Rpg teams?

Leader : Adol - everyone likes him, good with many weapons, and flash guarding is very good.
Mage - Nino, (Fite emblem 7). Powerful magic, great evade, everything goes boom with no scratches.
Healer - Rosa from ff4. One of the best white mages out there.
Fighter - Noa from Legend of Legia - she's a combo machine and she will decimate.

The best defense is a good offense.

#4 FTLMantis 10 months ago

I would be excited to play along with you guys through Nier Automata. it's slightly outside my comfort zone, but with some context i would be super happy to try it. Hopefully there's some way to make that happen.

I'd also like to hear if you have any thoughts about why jrpgs work better for some people than crpgs. I love jrpgs and many western rpgs like fallout new Vegas and mass effect, but have now bounced off 4 separate critically acclaimed crpgs. I suspect that it has something to do with the moment to moment gameplay more than thematic elements, but maybe you have some more well defined thoughts as masters of the genre. Kat at least seems interested in pulling the podcast that way, and I would love to get her pitch on the genre to outsiders.

#5 FTLMantis 10 months ago

Also excited for Jermey to come back. It was nice beig able to follow my two favorite game journalists on one site- will be cool to have them back on one podcast again!

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#6 Kat.Bailey 10 months ago

@FTLMantis I mostly just want to keep the pod somewhat balanced since we ostensibly love all RPGs

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#7 FTLMantis 10 months ago

@Kat.Bailey Totally makes sense. I would enjoy a podcast dedicated to what you enjoy about them, potentially with specific examples at some point, if you decide to make one like that.

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#8 Nuclear-Vomit 10 months ago

Love the New Vegas. I have 181 hrs spent (according to steam) on this gem.

And yes... it is the last Bethesda game to allow us to change the music tracks. It was a pain in the ass but I was able to do it. Skyrim... what have you done?

#9 camchow 10 months ago

Man I love Fallout 4. With mods and overhauls like Horizon and Frost, I've put like 400 hours into it. Honestly one of my fav games of all time, it just hits that exploring, loot collecting, character building itch and now a minecraft / town builder thrown in (I mean, gotta mod the hell out of settlement objects and budgets but still). It's just, god it's so my thing.

But dude, the main story is kinda just meh. Fallout New Vegas though, oh man, without a doubt the best story and scenario of any of the Bethesda games I've played. Unbelievable deep. Loved hearing how they had to plan out the game with the idea that the player could just immediately kill any NPC they met. Love LOVE that they thought everything through like that. The branching possibilities... oh man, great stuff. Fallout 4 relies on that lazy Skyrim technique of important NPC is immortal so you just have to deal with it. I'll have to go back and play through New Vegas again one day but I think it'll be hard to go without some of the things added in Fallout 4.