Both Oblivion and Fallout 3 always gave you the option to depart from the Main Quest any time you liked... But the problem I had with them is that both never really had this point where it would make sense that your character would depart from the search of the Amulet or his Father only to start it again a year later.... I didn't had a problem with it because both had an open-ended Main Quest (with Broken Steel).. The problem is New Vegas doesn't have it and on the Vault Wiki I read a quote that there won't be a DLC released that will turn the ending open ended.. So is there a part in the game where it makes sense to depart from it but also will make sense to start it much later? (a bit like Morrowind where you don't know anything about what's going on and you can reject to join the Blades)

EDIT: ow.. and please no spoilers

The game tells you. A message pops up and says "there is no going back." Person says comeback when yuo are ready.

I'd say that the second half of the main quest is the best time. Unlike the first half of the game where you're chasing after Benny, you're given no real reason to rush the second half.

this warning of the Point of no Return does it make sense to leave at that point or is it more like "there's a nuke about to explode but I rather have a short holiday first, so I'll see you guys in a few months."

The point of no return is definitely a bad point to leave the main quest.
That's why so many people want the game opened up after the final sequences.
If something important is about to happen, nobody wants to break immersion because they have to go collect a few more sunset sarsaparilla Star bottlecaps. It's like you stated with the nuke anology.
That point never truly comes, which I think was a poor choice in design. However, there is a certain part where it slows down a little bit, and that's probably the best time.

I depart from the story after you deal with Benny, that's the natural break-point for me. The rest is just building up to the dam anyway, so is a good point to go off and do your wasteland stuff/DLCs/Casinos, before continuing with the main story of the Dam battle.

Its more like "everything is set for the final battle, just give use the word and we will get it started." For you are the key to the whole thing and they don't want to risk it without you.

Its not a bad stop to make a save.

Still a better one would be once you get the Chip and Mr.House, Yes Man, NCR and Legion all like you. That way you can just go back to that point and try to end the game in a different way.

On my last playthrough i wandered off right after the tutorial.

I usually do the nearby side quests when wandering trough the Mojave towards the Strip for the first time, and then wander more once the faction of my choice sends me to deal with the various groups. They can't expect me to resolve such conflicts in hours or even days, can they? :wink_smile:

You can wander off from the main quest any time you like, but I think it's best to put it on hiatus after you catch up with Benny at the Strip. It's at this point the various factions start chucking end-game stuff in your direction, and it seems perfectly reasonable that you might want to take a step back and assess the situation before throwing your lot in with whoever impresses you most.

I liked Broken steel, I could just wake up, talk to Lyons and just chill out. I hate the "report to ___ to begin the assault on hoover dam" because I'm supposed to go there, but it will eternally hang over my head.

For myself, I either:

--wander all over and do a lot of quest set-up (this requires knowledge/hindsight of the game of course) before I enter the Strip and then just focus on main plot from there. Or...
--enter the Strip, talk to House for the 1st time, but instead of going immediately to take care of Benny I start wandering.

I do things this way just in case I do something that PO's off a main faction where I couldn't join/go for their side, and thus I can still likely recover via the 1-time forgiveness thing. Nothing really makes "sense", imo, to suddenly go wandering aimlessly over the landscape for days on end. Unless you roleplay that you're a loner who isn't political & never talks to strangers, but then after many months suddenly have a change of heart & return to become the Chosen One of the current war.

I wander about like a gypsy then eat Benny then some more gypsy.

In terms of roleplaying you could stop before you entered New Vegas and pretend you need to aquire a fortune or prepare yourself to meet Benny.

If not roleplaying then whenever although Novac is the place where you can truly free-roam.

I always complete the job I was originally hired to do. After completing that job, I turn on my old employer (House, of course) and end him in whatever grisly fashion I fancy at the time. Then I stray from the main quest for a while.

I agree with the folks who espouse deviation after getting to see your old friend Benny. It's sorta the way the game wants you to do it anyways. Most of the quests in the 2nd act of the stage production send you hither and yon regardless. I believe the design intent was that, if you had not yet got your 'sploring groove on yet, the devs thought you would see all sorts of interesting stuff on the horison too alluring not to investigate while doing the far flung faction quests before you go to the dam.

-Gunny out.

After dealing with Benny, you ought to explore the map, get to know the factions, decide who you like etc.

The good thing about the way the game is designed is that after you deal with Benny then your pretty much at a high enough level to start any of the quests that you want to, and if you do start the second act of the game where your starting to build your reputation with the different factions and progress the story your still going to have to run around to different places so you'll have plenty of chances to do whatever you want.

To me it makes no sense to go get Benny right after you find out where he is and who he is. He is a powerful man, surrounded by allies. It's suicide to go challenge him on his own turf when according to the main story's premise he already managed to gank you once using fewer people and less support. That is a good break point to go gain strength and friends.

whilst some of the above suggestions work, mine works on a purely different basis, namely your characters backstory and whom you want to faction with.

For my "Good -- the end justifies the means --" character, as soon as I hit Nipton, it's on for me. I drop the main quest and get into my own characters little world. I track down camps of Ceasors Legion, and bring them to "dead" justice. I burn entire camps to the ground and make it my personal mission to go about, finding them. In between I come across opportunities to make some extra caps // ammo or help someone who really needs it. And that breaks me out of the main story.

For my "Revenge -- everyone DIES who stands in my way --" character, my sole purpose is almost entirely bent on hunting Benny the [censored] down. I even turned to Caesor when Benny takes off. And I was happy as [censored] to end him as I pleased.

You just have to find out your characters identity and figure out what they plan on doing.

My Scavenger person was all about finding new weapons // companions and such to help me become more powerful so I could protect myself out in the wasteland. I went with a "I don't remember what I used to do, or anything about myself" after being shot in the head story, just to justify ignoring the main story instantly when I started. And after a couple hours, I forgot about the main quest and the game almost felt like it was tailoring to how I wanted to play. I kept all my factions neutral, I wouldn't attack unless attacked. I didn't get involved in peoples petty quarls, and ignored it all.

You'd be surprised just how simple it can be to jump out of a main story, you just gotta give it a bit of thought.



@Momaw::

I walked into the Casino with a flamethrower, and torched the entire place. The only reason Benny was able to 'gank' you, was because he and a bunch of goons attacked a sole person who was alone, and they ambushed you. Him and his goons are nothing but a bunch of over glorified pussies.

That is player knowledge, not character knowledge. Your character sees themself alone versus Benny with 15 thugs around him, after passing through a checkpoint where they take away all your decent weapons. It makes no roleplay sense to go after Benny unless you've got backup and/or enough hardware that you can just kick in the door and murder everybody.

Yup. It's called role play for a reason. I role play the game, not meta-game it. That's why I gave up on NV until the latest patch. So many areas and missions were bugged that I couldn't play with out meta-gaming it.

My character was a good guy leader of a mercenary unit (made of me and my companions) that worked with the NCR. As such, All they did after i started meeting with them at the strip was hire me for work they couldn't do. That made it so i could do anything i wanted at anytime, and also do those missions however i wanted, lol. I befriended the BoS, i spared the Khans, etc.


Now that was just with that character, with others i would advise to do it like this: Talk to House, agree to get the platinum chip, talk swank into letting you get to benny in his room, kill him, grab the chip, then have your character keep the chip while he thinks about what to do with it.

I'm still so angry that there's a certain point where I wont be able to keep playing anymore. To me, that's just wrong! You dont spend all that money on a game and then forever after you're coasting around the main story quest of the game because if you do complete the main story point of the game you wont be able to play anymore. That's just [censored] stupid.
It goes what I wondered before, I mean after the main quest and it's all game over, that wouldnt actually be game over, would it? It's not like your courier is going to retire from roaming the wasteleand doing good deeds/killing things and go shack up with Doc Mitchel!

I suppose I'm frustrated because I want to kick some legion ass, but I want to keep on roaming afterwards, with all my companions and goodies.

I still maintain any guy who needs to capture you with a group of people is nothing, as a player or playing the character. I played my character through and through. Especially with it being my first playthrough of the game. I didn't know Benny would be easy, I figured he would've put up a fight. However, playing through having ED-E and Veronica, I found them both to be strong and easily able to take out their own share of monsters, so why not thugs? I spent the game leveling, getting stronger, and exploring to find better stuff so I could go burn Benny to the ground. My entire experience for the game was actually do get my revenge on Benny, and I did. Unfortunately, I am now bored of the game since my main reason to play the game, was to kill that son of a [censored]. And I did, and I still maintain it's the best feeling i'v had in a video game in along time.

As for the Checkpoint, I didn't go in planning to surrender Weapons. I went in to torch and kill everything in the Casino because I wanted Benny to be [censored] out of luck and ruin his business. Fortunately, the son of a [censored] was there to kill as well.