How you feel about Fallout: New Vegas- Lonesome Road and The Courier's back-story

[Bala Murugan S]

Obsidian previously left the Courier's back-story pretty much entirely blank, with a few bits of optional dialogue. If LR goes into great detail with the Courier's past, would you be cool with it? Given the achievement "Hometown Hero" and the overall story of LR, many have speculated that the upcoming DLC will delve far more into the Courier's back-story than any previous DLC, or the main game itself. Personally I RP as my Fallout 3 character so I'd, within reason, like things to be as vague as possible - certainly not delving back too far and definitely not mentioning any hometown. I might be alone in this though.

[Wyvern]

I'm more shocked that people are shocked that the Courier isn't a blank slate. That was clear from the first conversation with Johnson Nash. Yet we apparently have dozens of people roaming these forums for the past year who are suddenly shocked as hell that the Courier has back-story. “But Obsidian promised he was blank!" Even so, their interpretation of blank could be different from yours, and the logical deduction of that conversation with Johnson Nash contradicts that statement and it's more concrete since that convoy is already in the game.

[ApplePowerPC]

Those could have been inferred from the main game. You're a courier, so it stands to reason someone hired you. You were shot which implies someone wanted you dead. Beyond that the early history of The Courier is pretty blank. You get maybe, three optional lines that I can think of (Montana impregnation, New Reno clubs, visiting Utah). Even so, all those things don't derail RPs too much. A hometown and more detail can.

[MacIntel]

Fair enough. Still if Obsidian does put an even larger chunk of lore or "background" to the Courier other than them coming from the NCR and accepting a courier job it does go against a fundamental reason people play the game and why they didn't give us a courier named John whose linear story we have to follow to the end. Let's go back over this. This is an RPG. Role-playing game. We role-play a character by their personality, beliefs, skills, and background. And we're given a practically blank or vague slate unlike Deus Ex or Mass Effect.

[Common]

No, you were shot because someone wanted your package. You were set up with that specific package BECAUSE someone else wanted you dead. I don't see the big deal. The Courier apparently did something bad enough that another person wants him dead, and that doesn't bother anyone? But, he was born somewhere. How dare that [censored] Courier. It wouldn't make sense for your FO2 character to be your FO3 one either, or your FO1 character to be your FO2 character.

[desilva]

Yes, but that's all we know about the Courier's past. Chosen One is Vault Dweller's grandson/daughter in canon, whereas The Courier and TWL have no stated canon relationship, so your analogy is flawed. In vanilla game there's nothing in lore contradicting pretty much any RP you want due to the vague back-story. The Courier has no current canon birthplace and nothing is known about his/her early life, this topic is about why it should or shouldn't stay that way for the sake of RP.

[RyanInt]

I have done a lot. I mean a LOT of things that would make someone else wants to kill me, and that is on my 'nice' run. However I don't really understand how this can rub an RP'er the wrong way. Just change what you don't like for that RP. My one character FO: 3 character who's head wound made him 'reboot' skill wise will just think the man is telling a lie, and will just 'play along' to seem sane (he does that often). I for one really hope this ties the story up well. I would like to know my home town, and some information.

[AZUL]

It's been blatantly clear from the very beginning that the Courier was an actual character with a past and a personality, so you have no one to blame but yourself for being absolutely shocked that Lonesome Road is going to dive into that back-story. We've all expected this for almost a year now. I can see someone thinking Johnson Nash's convoy is cut content with no meaning, but Dead Money has been out since last year, and it makes it blatantly obvious that the Courier has a history with Ulysses and that they WILL be addressing that history in Lonesome Road.