The great thing about an excellent RPG like Fallout: New Vegas is that every time you play it, the experience will be different based on the choices you make.
But I gotta say, none of my playthroughs have been quite as different as the one I just did with the NV Randomizer mod. The mod randomly determines everything from NPC clothing to loot to weather to lighting conditions to character models to monster spawns. Even gravity gets randomized from time to time.
And when you cram a huge open world RPG into a dice cup and shake it up, shit gets weird quick.
Sometimes the randomizer will simply dress someone differently, but usually it's far more dramatic. Bodies and limbs get replaced and screwed back together. A character who was a robot might be a radroach or a mutated cow. It'll be a sunny day and suddenly the clouds will turn green or night will fall so fast—at noon, sometimes—that you can't see a thing.
Sound fun? It is! And here are the 11 weirdest things I saw in a few hours of playing Fallout: New Vegas, random edition.
Doc Mitchell's lost some weight
Yeah, I'm not sure what kind of medical advice I want to take from old Doc Mitchell considering he's allowed his face to lose all its flesh. This is definitely not the first thing you want to see after being dragged out of a shallow grave. I don't know what word he's about to say, but the first word that comes to my mind is eaaaaggghh
Victor is a mutated cow
Speaking of dragging me from a grave, I owe Victor my life. Only the randomizer has replaced the familiar securitron robot with a giant mutated cow. He still sounds like a robot, at least.
Sunny Smiles has a bold new look
I'm not sure what sort of tutorial Sunny has planned for me this time around, and I'm a little afraid to ask. Don't we just go out and shoot some geckos so I can learn how VATS works? Or should I strip down to my underwear first?
That's not a gecko
The mostly harmless gecko Sunny takes me to shoot has been randomly replaced with a Lakelurk King. Great! Just what a brand new player should be facing in their first combat encounter.
A deathclaw that runs faster than Usain Bolt
It's startling to see a deathclaw so early in the game, especially one running faster than an Olympic athlete. I thought I'd managed to avoid it until it straight-up ran me over. Even in my slow-motion death animation it's still bookin'.
This guy who really shouldn't be in the desert
Guess I'll avoid naming him because of spoilers, even though New Vegas is over ten years old. But I found this fellow most players will recognize just hanging out in the desert north of Primm. He couldn't talk, but he did look around in confusion a little. He's right to be confused. He should definitely not be out here.
Boone is dealing with some stuff, okay?
Boone has been through a lot, and it probably doesn't help that he spends half his day blowing people's brains out from inside a giant plaster dinosaur head. Maybe all that armor is just a metaphor for the walls he's built around his heart, but along with the bug-eye mask it just kinda makes him look like he's cosplaying as a big, sad bumblebee. But maybe, just maybe, that's what he needs right now. No judgements here.
Cliff Briscoe got into an acid vat
Doc Mitchell has a fleshless skull but a normal body, and dinosaur shop proprietor Cliff Briscoe appears to be his polar opposite. Perfectly healthy head and neck, but it's Whoops, All Bones the rest of the way down. Maybe the Viking helmet is meant to distract the eye from that startling sight.
The NCR has relaxed the dress code
And I think that's fine! No reason for everyone to dress the same in the military. That's the old way of doing things. Let's change the future for the better, like these loyal but expressive NCR soldiers are.
Mr. House is a large mole rat
Meeting Mr. House in Fallout: New Vegas is an unforgettable experience, but now he's just a big pink wrinkly mole rat. Hey, sometimes meeting celebrities can be a bit of a letdown.
Caesar rockin' a gimp mask and bike shorts
He may rule with a cruel iron fist, but even Caesar has lightened up on the uniforms. Gimp mask, bike shorts, bandoleer, and boxing shoes. It's definitely a look. The rest of the Legion are dressed just as strangely as their boss, too: I even saw one wearing footie pajamas. As the saying goes, "True to Caesar."
