Title: New Vegas: Sheason's Story
Author: Sheason
Rating: T
Genre: Sci-Fi/Adventure
Status: Complete
Fandom: Fallout
Pairings: N/A
Summary: Is it fanfiction? Is it a novelization? Is it just the disconnected and incoherent ramblings of a man who has finally taken leave of his senses? Yes. This is my attempt at telling a story of New Vegas, but with my own twist, with my character Sheason as The Courier. It's not really "the" story of New Vegas, but it uses the game's plot extensively.
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8293830/1/New-Vegas-Sheason-s-Story

This a huge story(995k words) covering the plot of the entire New Vegas game. The perspective and the choices are interesting to read, sometimes going way outside the scope of the game plot. The humour is quite good as well, and the writing is top shelf. I'm about 20 chapters away from the end, but it's been a hell of a ride, i can't wait to see what's next. The fic does use elements of the game but it is by no means a rehash, i'd very much recommend a read even if you've played through New Vegas several times. Original characters/personalities are what make this story truly come alive for me, this is my favourite fic in months, hoping the author might give other fallout games a shot sometime later.

 

Only a few chapters in and we have the big offences:
That name is terrible.
The MC has a working car in a region with few serviceable roads. I might have been able to buy a motorbike, but not a car.
Making up a new word to describe the sound of a laser rifle. The word is very irritating.
A well travelled Courier who doesn't know what a Cazador is.
Despite the fact the MC is driving he hasn't managed to catch up with Benny.
It's a rehash.

Minor offences:
VATS. It's a game mechanics that's unneeded in a story.

The story is below average for the above reasons, and most importantly, if I wanted this story, I'd just go play New Vegas.

2/5. I got to chapter seven before stopping.

 

Seeing as Cazadores were only created in Big MT and subsequently spread to the Mojave and Zion, it didn't seem all that strange to me for MC to not be aware of them, since he spent the majority of his life in the western NCR territories. MC having a car seemd dubious to me at the beginning, but he's not the only person with a vehicle, with several different varieties belonging to different characters and factions later in the story. Hell, Fallout 2 MC got his hands on a Highwayman if we're taking gameplay into account. The lazer word itself practically disappears after a couple of chapters if i remember correctly, but similar effects pop up occasionally afterwards. As to catching up, he's been out of it for a week, recovering and he's almost cathing up to Benny by Boulder City iirc. And yes, the game plot is used extensively, but plenty of problems are solved differently, there are various other conflicts and opponents aside from the struggle against the Legion, even cross-game appearances. I really wouldn't describe this story as a rehash at all, especially past the beginning, but yymv i guess. I'd very much recommend a read nonetheless.

 

I started reading this, and got up to about chapter 17.

The writing is pretty good - I can't say that everything is completely flawless, but nothing jumped out as a major issue, and I don't recall anything being a minor inconvenience either.

Sheason is an unusual name, and searching it only shows up the author's accounts. Given that most other non-raider people in FNV have relatively standard names, it was a bit odd, but nothing too strange (Arcade Gannon springs to mind). Also, the MC is (I think) about 38/39 in the fic, which seems a bit older than I would expect for post-post-apocalyptic adventuring. VATS being a real thing doesn't make much sense, but neither does the courier carrying a single 9mm and no other weapons at all, or having a car (because everyone up in Cali has them). None of this is completely immersion breaking, but it all builds on itself.

The story is essentially a retelling of the author's playthrough, I assume, with minor edits made for style. For the most part, this isn't an issue, although lifting the script for the tutorial with the doctor is lazy, and doesn't quite fit ("That's your name? Not what I would have picked for you"). But because the author is following a playthrough pretty closely, there's not a huge amount of mystery going on, and they don't seem to have added anything else to the mix.

However, the worst thing about this is I just stopped caring. I didn't read it last night because I wanted to play Overwatch, and I just can't be bothered to continue on with it. I don't feel invested in the story at all.

2.5, rounded down to 2/5. You might want to give it a go, but it doesn't have any real massive plus points to it.