#honest hearts is the weakest out of the four dlcs

[dotssu3]

jotchua

[morsking]

so i finished honest hearts a little while ago and here are my brief thoughts on it

i understand when people say this is the weakest dlc of the four. the story was not as cohesive or as compelling as dead money. there was very little build-up to your confrontation with salt-upon-wounds, and the friction you had with elijah is also something that’s missing between you and salt-upon-wounds.

elijah had your life in his hands, and even when he didn’t he was the cause of your biggest handicap in the sierra madre: the explosive collar that would go off in the range of speakers and radios that interfered with its signal. elijah’s collar hampers your navigation throughout the casino, making it extremely stressful and unnerving and absolutely satisfying when you finally confront him and either kill him or trap him in the vault, freeing you from his influence permanently. 

you don’t feel the same with salt-upon-wounds because while yes, his tribe does kill your companions at the beginning and it also ambushes you at random at certain parts of zion, it’s not like he was there to preside upon the attack at the entrance nor did you have a chance to get to know him as a person like you did with elijah. he only shows up at the end when you’re there to kill him either when invading the white legs’ camp or escorting the dead horses and sorrows out of the canyon. you don’t debate him or get to question his motives, you’re just told he’s a major fucking asshole and while he IS a major fucking asshole he doesn’t quite have the symbolic power elijah has. i guess he represents the worse in tribal life but you don’t get to interact much with other tribes other than the khans and the families of new vegas, who are far too different from the white legs for you to make any ideological connections between those groups. 

speaking of connections you don’t feel as connected to the canyon as you do with the sierra madre because there isn’t as much environmental storytelling or grand hidden plot like there is with the casino. the survivalist’s story was pretty good though and while it did tie to the religion of the zion dwellers there is no way of divulging the actual story of the survivalist or the great war to them and make them think about their beliefs in a revolutionary manner that would help them a lot. in dead money you can help dean let go of the sierra madre by letting him find out exactly what happened with vera and sinclair that causes him to self-reflect even slightly even if he doesn’t change that much as a person. you don’t get to help the tribes find ways to let go of their superstitions and evolve as a society. their main religious figure was a man just like them looking to start over after experiencing devastating loss after devastating loss, and they shouldn’t be worshipping him as much as they should be looking up to him.

i feel like they could’ve also done a much better job of centralizing the story around joshua and daniel’s friction as well as your friction with them. much like with salt-upon-wounds there was no opportunity to discuss their views and life experiences with each other. joshua graham is such an important figure to new vegas history as he used to be one of caesar’s top commanders AND founded the legion alongside him. and yet when you talk to him it feels like he’s separate from all the conflict that is going on in the base game, a conflict that he shaped and was shaped by (literally!) to the point where he lives his life atoning for his actions as the malpais legate and seeking ways to reapply his skills for a different cause in an effort to find meaning. daniel feels like less of a character and more like... well, an npc. you don’t find out that much about him and he relents far too easily if you choose to take the tribes to a fight against the white legs. 

speaking of the tribes, the dlc really didn’t feel like it was about letting go of violence to save the “innocence” of the dead horses and and the sorrows, when that is a conflict the ending slides of the dlc place great emphasis on. the emphasis is on how your actions helped shape the belligerency or passivity of the tribes when not enough focus was put on that dynamic. that conflict is a little too implicit and leaves you wondering why the tribes end up the way they do. and that happens because the dlc doesn’t let you bond with the tribes enough, to really explore their culture, beliefs, and attitude to inform you that those are the things that are at stake if you let joshua have his way. 

all that being said though i liked zion as a setting. it was scenic and refreshing even if the segments that required you to traverse cliffs were a little confusing and unclear. i liked the natural retreat from the deserted wasteland and it felt like you were really in a place undisturbed by radiation and calamity. 

i give honest hearts a 6/10. it could’ve really been something good but sadly those writing hiccups really diminished the experience for me a lot. i will admit though, joshua’s one quotable bamf.