I'll agree that they've been shown to not being willing to share. But truth be told, it always seemed to me that House was keeping the NCR there only because he didn't have the capabilities to keep them away and they were convenient against the Legion. Without the chip and the non-functional reactor his hold was limited and if the NCR was playing nice and allowed him to keep the Strip he would have driven them because they don't factor in his plans for the area except as a source of money.
Which he actively states. He knows he can't beat them off, he knows that if they attack they'd lose a lot of men but take the strip, he knows they would do so if it wasn't for the Legion.
How wonderful a government, stealing that which is not theirs simply because it exists. One wonders how anyone could not side with the NCR. If the Legion was not present they would have attacked the Strip, that's plain as day, they make it plain as day, they know it, House knows it. They wouldn't have held back or played nice, they would have marched in and killed anyone who tried to stop them, the three families (no major loss) the securitrons (huge loss) and anyone else who stood in their way (Kings).
Really? Because contrary to what you might think both the NCR and Legion made quite some head way in rebuilding, long before House did.
Disregarding their methods and views, Caesar has brought order to a violent and chaotic region.
The NCR were (seemingly) the first to create a working economic and military nation. Their citizens enjoy quite a few rights and it's a reasonably tolerant society (open to ghouls and mutants).
If it really is true that House is the only one who can bring back civilization, I'd say leave humanity to rot. If their only salvation is a cybernetic computer, than I don't really think humanity deserve it's chance.
It would be truly sad that without this single person and his promise of space travel humanity is completely worthless and doomed.
Eh? House stopped the annihilation and, for want of less than a day, almost completely stopped any destruction of Vegas. That's a good start, he then, after battling innumerate system failures as a result of the lack of a chip (backup systems stretched extremely thinly in order to protect were damaged) he re appears, unites three warring families and sets up a business at the drop of a hat. He then goes on to make the most populace area and the only one with any source of steady income.
The NCR have...shot people and stolen stuff. Okay overly simplistic, they've set up their organisation then proceeded to expand like a bubble, absorbing everything into itself and changing nothing except the taxes. Anything which refuses to yield is subjugated by force. They're glorified raiders, cutting a bloody path through the world in the name of freedom, not like that's ever happened in world history. They share more in common with the Legion than anyone cares to admit.
Many of them are good people, certainly are, but their leaders are not, nor are the people with real pull. As with any voted electorate the people at the top know eachother, they all play the game and their world runs on pull: who you know. If we take House to be Ayn Rand's wet dream then the NCR are her worst nightmare. That won't change, of course it won't, the people at the top decides who goes to the top.
The Legion, well we hear they've rebuilt stuff...from...the Legion, which is about as reliable as judging the size of a male's genitalia by what he says online. We don't know what's going on in their lands, we can guess and from the harsh rules and abusive treatment of women it's likely to be safe from outside attack and raiders, but not from the ruling party. Again, like many real world agencies.
He's a man, not a computer. Moreover what is the problem with one person saving humanity? Seriously, do all saviours have to come in groups of 4 or more or they get turned away? Humanity will persevere without House, of course it would, we're like cockroaches, only more stubborn. However with House we would prosper. He offers development, he has knowledge which simply cannot be acquired by any other means, much of his technology is useless, as the FotA note with his life prolonging tech but some of it is extraordinary and he's sharing it and using it on a daily basis. Without House humanities advance would stagnate for so very long. With him we would move at a rapid pace, assuming the Legion and NCR don't suddenly decide they really want to take Vegas again.
It's easy to tally only the bad sides of the opposing sides and the good sides of the one you support. It paints him in quite a good daylight, let's just forget about the land grabbing he is shown to do, the murders mass murder he commits and the fact that he is shown to care solely for his plan and not for actual people.
People seem to forget that House is just as much and sometimes even more about using the tools that they vilify the NCR and Legion for.
What land grabbing? He owns the Strip, he not only saved it but rebuilt it and protected it, that's not land grabbing, that's land forging. House is a man who emerges from a cave and builds a fortress in the rock, inviting those with something to offer inside and telling those without something to offer to find a skill or resource, a sensible approach given the times. The NCR are like a tribe who see this fortress and want to claim it for their own, simply because it exists and is not theirs.
He doesn't commit mass murder either, the closest we get is the BoS, a pre emptive strike in an ongoing war. I don't like granting it so easily but in this case it was a very sound decision, the BoS are an incredible threat as I've stated before. He doesn't kill anyone else without provocation.
As for only caring for his plan, partly true. He only cares for things which progress his ideals, luckily for humanity his ideals are highly useful. What do you think would happen if House opened his arms wide and invited the world into Vegas? It'd be left destitute and rotten. A million caps for one man is huge, distribute it amongst thousands and it becomes meagre. The same with Vegas, allowing only those of value in is upsetting but if you don't then everyone dies.
Now don't get me wrong, there's room for manoeuvre, House's stance is in my opinion too harsh, particularly when there are groups readily available to help others. If I were in a position to do so I'd divert some resources to the FotA. But not huge amounts, money is needed, lots of it.
Actually they make it clear that they lack resources for more people and their first priority is their own citizens. And what's worse is that House is completely apathetic to plights of Freeside.
You're not using the word despot right. You might say that the NCR is only looking out for it's citizens and doesn't care for non-citizens, but that doesn't equate to them being despotic.
No different to House, he just doesn't sugar coat it, what is it with you people? Have you been fed so much bull by politicians that unless someone grovels for forgiveness you think them demons? See above for why House can't just save the world so easily. One minute you think he's incapable of helping, the next you expect him to click his fingers and fix everything (actually, who knows, maybe if he could it would, clicking those fingers would probably break something though)
That's argument is based on a fallacy. A democratic power was in charge when the war happened, thus democracy is automatically a faulty system? There's three faulty assumptions in that.
1) The assumption that the sole responsibility of the war lies with the US government. This disregards the circumstances leading up to the war, the other involved party (communist China) and the shadow government (Enclave).
2) The assumption that all democracies are the same. Though there are certain qualifiers for a democracy there is not a single way to do it and pre-war America is shown to be a paranoid, controlling and deflecting society.
3) The assumption that it is the system of democracy that breeds the corruption. Do you truly think the powerful and wealthy people who seek to corrupt would not exist or be seeking to expand or keep their power if the NCR or a democracy didn't exist.
And really I only see Mr. House doing something about corruption when it conflicts with his own interest.
Of course they will always exist, democracy makes it easier. Look, for what we have now in this world it's a working system, just. Full of flaws and terribly corrupt but it works, it's the lesser of our evils. In the wasteland it's not quite the same. House is a dictator, yes, he fits it to a tee, he is however a benevolent dictator (as in Plato's ideal), not a despot.
What does House not do to combat corruption that he can? The three families are left to run their casinos because House cannot intervene, without them Vegas would fall (he acknowledges that securitrons alone would not give the NCR pause for thought, the three families are needed), part of their arrangement is that he cannot send securitrons into the casino's without serious due. Breaking that risks breaking up the three families or civil war, neither of which he can risk with the Legion across the water and worse, the NCR breathing down his neck. Other than that, there is no corruption, he elects no one, nepotism exists only within the families and casinos and that's that. It's autonomous which denies corruption.
Well he had a robot tailing you from the start. Did he ever state he knew Benny was betraying him before he saw him shoot you?
...is he psychic now? How would he know Benny was going to betray him until he did so? What, you expect him to read minds? The guy can't access Benny's casino. The FotA girl was an imbecile (seriously, "derp I dunno, it sounded fine, derp") and House can't be expected to do a full check on every individual who enters the strip to ascertain if they may possibly be able to help a fool with delusions of grandeur start a mutiny.
I seriously don't understand your point here, how do you expect House to know about Benny's betrayal before it happens?
» Sat Dec 25, 2010 12:49 pm 
