#mod pip was especially happy to receive this ask

[trafficdivorcedbracket]

Ok hear me out: Desert Duo isn't divorced. They're widowed. They're each other's widow.

I remember that in 3rd Life Scott said something along the lines of "once our husbands die in the war, we can be free". But Grian was never freed, was he? Even after he lost his first life, he still stuck by Scar's side despite no longer being indebted to him. Their relationship didn't end because they divorced, it ended because they were forced to kill each other in the end.

You could argue that the next seasons have them trying to move on from the desert. It doesn't really work when they try to work together in Last Life, that relationship ended before it even started.

In Double Life, they are tied together, and neither of them really wants to be there. Scar wants to wander around with his Jellie pandas, and Grian drags him around while simultaneously cheating on him with Big B. But they were still together in the end. They could have divorced, could have gone their separate ways like the Divorce Quartet did, but they still stuck together. Yes, because Grian was afraid Scar would just kill them if left to his devices, but my point still stands: they never divorced. If anything, they ended as a bitter couple that was only still married for the sake of convenience. It was death that did them part.

And then they were cousins in Limited Life, no one really knows what was going on there—

Yes, they are iconic. Yes, they are tragic. But I'm afraid they're not nearly as divorced as Divorce Quartet.

Regardless of the name the group gets, it is undeniable that their whole story in Double Life is about divorce. They were tied agains their will, and Scott and Cleo openly decided to cut those ties. In episode one.

So you have Martyn as the desperate ex-husband trying to get his soulmate back, killing her and eventually ending up in some sort of bitter alliance. Not forgiveness, not a return to what their relationship could be, but more like divorced parents begrudgingly reaching a truce to attend their child's school play. Or in this case, to defend themselves from a common enemy.

And then you have Pearl. Poor, poor Pearl. She went deranged in her loneliness. She sought revenge rather than reconciliation. She and Martyn joined the Broken Heart's Club because they literally had no one else. To her soulmate, Pearl was just a crazy wet cat of an ex who kept sending drunk messages only to be left on read. When the bitter alliance came, she was so hopeful, but it didn't mean anything. In the end, she killed Cleo, and she was ready to fight Scott for that first place.

She forgave Scott, yes. They were allies for a short period of time in Limited Life. And then Pearl decided to spite him and his new partner just for the sake of it, ending that alliance as well. Friendship divorce. No one else does it like her, I'm telling you.

So there you have it. Tragic for different reasons, but only one group may prevail as the most divorced. And that is the Divorce Quartet.

Thank you

RAHHHHH! ! Speak your truth to the masses ^_^

[fallout-lou-begas]

Howdy! I remember reading in some of your posts that you use some mods to make the game harsher and more difficult, would you be willing to post a list? (or link me to one if you've already made the post- I couldn't seem to find it) I'm just starting to get into using mods for new vegas and the mods you seem to like look to be right up my alley

Hi! I’m so glad you asked, I’m very happy to make some recommendations.

Lou’s Mod Recommendations for Masochists (or: Creating a Disempowerment Fantasy)

Interior Lighting Overhaul / Darker Nights / Directional Flashlights: A combination of mods that make navigating around in the dark a lot more interesting and dangerous. ILO removes all artificial light sources from interiors so that caves and ruins don’t seem unnaturally bright, DN does exactly what it says on the tin, and DF replaces the Pip-boy Light with a handheld, unidirectional flashlight that must be equipped (or worn, if you craft a harness or have a compatible helmet) in order to be used. You can see them in action in this video.

Med-Tek Trauma Kit / More Conditions to Fast Travel / Better Crippled Legs: As I explain in the linked post, these three mods in conjunction revolutionize the significance of getting your limbs damaged, which can turn a sudden injury in combat into a severe game-changer.

No Magic Compass / Remove Compass POI Markers: I forget which of these actually work but I use them in conjunction. These remove the little ticks for locations and NPCs from your compass so that it’s just that: a compass, plain and simple. If you still want Perception to be useful as a stat now that you’ve removed its effect on your compass radius, try Precise VATS, which ties your accuracy and range with VATS to that stat.

Manual Reload: a small mod, but a great one! All this does is prevent the game from automatically reloading your weapon for you, either when you run out of ammo or switch from one weapon to another. This forces you to pay more attention while firefighting, lest you be caught firing dry with an enemy charging you down. Also, manual reloading just...feels good? You get to push a button, and I love having more reasons to push buttons. This mod pairs exceptionally well with Empty Clicks for an immersive indication of being spent.

No Skill Tags: This mod very simply removes the [Bracketed] labels from dialogue options that indicate that it’s a skill check. In addition to being more immersive, it prevents you from seeing that you’re too low to pass a check, and if you’re proactive you’ll live with the consequences of trying it and failing it anyway.

Cover-Based Stealth: In addition to overhauling the extremely simple detection AI of vanilla New Vegas into a system based on line of sight across larger distances (if a distant NPC catches a glimpse of you, they’ll actually come over to investigate!!), its most important feature is the most easy to use global damage variable slider I’ve seen yet from any other mod. Basically, you can multiply the damage dealt by you and to you by however much you want. Setting a high multiplier turns combat into a swift, bloody, and extremely dangerous affair. Compare this to the in-game harder difficulties where the only thing that happens is that enemies get more hit points and combat becomes only more tedious, not actually more difficult. Cover-Based Stealth is also a completely modular add-on, so you can only use the parts of it you like and ignore the rest!

Project Nevada: PN is an overhaul mod that I find difficult to recommend on the whole, but it’s so modular in its design and approach that you, like me, can use maybe 10% of its features while ignoring the other 90% and it’ll work just fine. Most pertinent to me is its Rebalance Module, which lets you easily customize so many features like the toughness of the economy, the rate at which you must fulfill survival needs in Hardcore mode, your movement speed with one or two broken legs (which would make Better Crippled Legs redundant), formulas for carry weight and other statistics, and leveling rates such as experience gain and perk rate. My personal configuration is a tougher economy, slightly harsher hardcore rates, 45% and 20% movement speed from broken leg(s), the least encumbrance possible (which makes backpack items, included in PN but also available in many other mods, a necessity), and a far slower leveling rate: a perk every three levels instead of two, only 5 skill points per level, and tagged skills only receive a +10 bonus but have a x2 multiplier to all skill points invested into them. I can’t recommend slowing down skill point gain enough because there’s seriously not much in vanilla settings stopping you from becoming a God of Everything laughably early.

Immersive HUD: A fully configurable, positionable, hide-able HUD that lets you create a far less obtrusive user-interface. It’s handy for a litany of reasons, but for a more difficult experience specifically, try hiding your ammo count so that you actually have to keep track of your own bullets in your head. Pull your best Dirty Harry and ask yourself whether you fired five shots or six, and whether you’re feeling lucky.

Finally, in addition to these mods, you can take in-game steps to make your gameplay experience more difficult as well. Do not take perks such as Comprehension, which is counter-intuitive to reducing skill point gain, or Living Anatomy, which while a very neat mechanic completely removes the challenge of learning which ammo types are most effective against specific enemies on your own and the suspense of a protracted firefight. Sell skill books instead of reading every single one. That kind of thing. I also don’t have a specific mod to recommend that achieves it cleanly, but when I start a new game, I plan for my character to have 5 less SPECIAL points to invest than the game actually allows, and after creating my character I just use console commands to adjust them to a lower rate. I also use console commands to remove far more caps from my inventory whenever I see a doctor, because (especially with mods that affect buying and selling prices), being restored to peak-perfect health should cost a lot more to maintain balance. Don’t ever be afraid to use console commands to just make things work the way you want them to!

All of these mods and tips are not hard and fast rules or things that make one experience objectively “better,” this is just my best advice for turning the game into something that suits my own personal playstyle, which is beign the weakest, shittiest, poorest, underdoggiest courier in the wasteland.