Bobby

[Signal]

In one of the updates (I think) it was established that one of the characters from Wasteland 1 will be making a return: Bobby. If I'm not mistaken, it will be established canon that the Desert Rangers decided to shoot/beat Bobby up and leave him for dead - except he survived. He will be making a return in Wasteland 2, and he will be pissed off.

First off: What do you think about this?

Second: Do you think Bobby will be a straight up antagonist or an NPC you can actually talk to and have non-violent interactions with?

Third: How powerful do you think Bobby is going to be?

Fourth: What do you hope the storyline about Bobby in Wasteland 2 will be like?

Any other comments and thoughts about Bobby are welcome. For those of you who aren't familiar with Bobby from Wasteland 1, here is an explanation in a nutshell (to the best of my memory):
One of the first places the Desert Rangers probably visited was Highpool. There, you encounter Bobby, a teenager, who tells you about his dog Rex who "got sick" and thus he hid away in a cave to get better. He also tells you about Jackie who got lost inside the cave. If you find and go inside the cave, it turns out Rex had rabies and attacks. You have to kill Rex to rescue Jackie. Unfortunately, when you emerge from the cave after killing Rex, Bobby attacks you.

My personal pet theory is that, if it is established that a group of Desert Rangers tried to kill him, he'll develop a major hatred of anybody with a Desert Ranger badge and will tend towards antagonistic. However, I do hope the developers include some way to reason with him ("The dog had rabies and had to be put down - get the fuck over it. And you attacked a group of Rangers who had guns and you didn't - how the fuck did you think that was going to go down?")

[CHAR-BROIL]

I don't think you fight Bobby... I think after you come out of the cave after killing Rex, Bobby runs off crying "You killed my dog!", never to be seen again.

But regardless, I think it totally fits into the Wasteland "style" that Bobby is still pissed after all these years that Rangers killed his dog. I think he should should be a combat-NPC, of the mini-boss type (like Red Ranger was)

[krellen]

I don't think you fight Bobby... I think after you come out of the cave after killing Rex, Bobby runs off crying "You killed my dog!", never to be seen again.

He appears as an encounter - if you get within 50 feet of him, you are forced into "combat". You can, of course, choose to ignore him and use the (clunky) combat interface to move on past him without actually engaging. He's only armed with a knife.

[Noble]

I think it'd be pretty fun to see Bobby again after all those years; but just so you know it was actually possible to save Jackie without killing Rex, you just had to run past the dog and climb over to Jackie and rescue her and then run back out. You don't get any new dialogue however -- at least to my knowledge.

[CaptainPatch]

You can, of course kill him, just like you can kill the kids that laugh at you because you slipped and fell in the creek. (Indicating that as a "cure" for Society's ills, Rangers are just as bad as the "disease" they are supposed to eradicate.) Obviously, if Bobby is alive, the Ranger party deliberately chose to NOT kill him. Given his particular fixation on Rex, I can well imagine that Bobby became a "Halloween"-style killer avenging his "murdered" dog. First, he would start with all the residents of Highpool, because they failed to intervene to prevent Rex's murder. Thereafter, his mission would be to bring Justice to the organization responsible for Rex's murder. "Something or someone is killing Rangers! We have to stop it before Rangers once again become nothing more than a chapter in a History book!" It would make for an initial quest in WL2.

[paultakeda]

Obviously, if Bobby is alive, the Ranger party deliberately chose to NOT kill him.

In that KS Update it's clear that WL2's history has it that the rangers left Bobby for dead. I'd say they deliberately TRIED to kill him, but it didn't take.

What I want to know is what happened to Jackie.

[Signal]

What I want to know is what happened to Jackie.

It would be such a bummer if Bobby ended up killing Jackie, probably blaming her for indirectly being responsible for Rex's death. She didn't heed his advice about avoiding the cave, after all, and so if the Rangers hadn't gone in to try and save her from Rex, Rex would still be alive.

Having said that I hope to God a developer, particularly the one who wrote Highpool in the first place, doesn't read this and gets the idea to have things turn out this way. The developer who wrote that specific Bobby/Rex/Jackie scenerio said she enjoys screwing with our emotions like that.

That said, it would be appropriately grim for a nigh-lawless, post-apocalyptic setting like Wasteland.

[CaptainPatch]

What I want to know is what happened to Jackie.

Reintegrated into the Highpool general population. (The fact that she _needed_ rescuing suggests that she wasn't particularly outstanding in any competent way. Just another kid that "fell down the well".)

[paultakeda]

What I want to know is what happened to Jackie.

Reintegrated into the Highpool general population. (The fact that she _needed_ rescuing suggests that she wasn't particularly outstanding in any competent way. Just another kid that "fell down the well".)

You know, Jackie turns into a pretty competent party NPC if you take her all the way. Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

[BrokenToaster]

Obviously, if Bobby is alive, the Ranger party deliberately chose to NOT kill him.

In that KS Update it's clear that WL2's history has it that the rangers left Bobby for dead. I'd say they deliberately TRIED to kill him, but it didn't take.

What I want to know is what happened to Jackie.

I guess that's what happens you try and kill someone with access to the cheapest hospital around. Bobby always rubbed me the wrong way and deserved the fist/crowbar treatment. If he survived he probably spent his time holding a vigil over Rex's grave ("Vigilante ranger?" I'll show you "vigilante ranger" you little snot.") and becoming the wasteland's premier water pump repairman.

I think I always dumped Jackie in Quartz so maybe she took a job at the Stage Coach Inn working as a replacement for the cleaning lady you kill after finding the servo motor in the storage closet. She just wasn't mutie enough to get a lucrative gig with the Mutie Cuties.

[Signal]

If he survived he probably spent his time holding a vigil over Rex's grave

You know, if Bobby goes the serial killer route as was suggested before by CaptainPatch, I could see Bobby doing something creepy like carrying Rex's skull with him wherever he goes. Or building a little shrine where he worships the skull every night. Maybe offers up the sacrifice of the blood of his victims.

[Noble]

If Bobby was beaten up and left for dead by the Rangers but brought back to health by the town doc, I can see a more realistic/believable reason for him hating Rangers; they could have permanently injured him in the fashion of a leg that never healed correctly therefore basically crippling him for life, and he goes out for revenge upon finding out Rangers are coming back to Highpool/whenever he sees a ranger team.

[paultakeda]

He ousted Faran Brygo and is the new headman of Las Vegas, picked clean the remains of Base Cochise and now he's got a robot army set to destroy Ranger Center!

[Signal]

By the way, was Bobby's age ever established? Was he a child or a teenager?

[paultakeda]

By the way, was Bobby's age ever established? Was he a child or a teenager?

Teenager. Of course, I always took him to be around fourteen. Technically a teenager... technically.

[CaptainPatch]

Bobby always rubbed me the wrong way and deserved the fist/crowbar treatment.

What always annoyed me about Bobby was the fact that it never seemed to sink through his thick skull that keeping a rabid dog around was putting EVERYBODY else at risk. So, the Rangers killed Rex and we can see how he reacted to that. Suppose they _didn't_ and Rex bites one or more of the other kids, resulting i one or more kids dying. How would Bobby react to that? How would Bobby react to that? "It wasn't Rex's fault! It was the sickness that made him do it! Rex is really a Good Dog at heart! If those kids had simply stayed away from Rex, nothing would have happened to them! It was their own fault for getting too close!" Total disconnect from reality. _His_ dog's life was more important than the health and well-being of everyone else at Highpool.

Now that I think about it, I realize that I _should_ have offed that self-centered brat.

[Lucius]

For me Jackie died in Quartz on every..single..playthrough. Usually by Ugly.

As far as Bobby goes, I imagine him taking control of Highpool, expelling those who oppose his anti-ranger views. He could trade with Topekans for weapons and begin terrorizing the locals, such as the Ag Station, as he gears up for a full on assault on the nearby Ranger Center! I bet our first mission will be to confront him. We can then kill him or talk him down, in which case he will become available to join the party as the first NPC.

[Son of Max]

I think Bobby's ripe to end up a serial killer when you consider all the aspects of his character from the original.

Perhaps, he could end up leading a gang of grown up Highpool kids in sort of a bandit gang, taking similarly mentally unstable types like himself into the desert to 'hunt Rangers'.

Conversely, it would be REALLY cool if Jackie took her experience traveling with the Rangers and fighting for her life and understanding who and what Rangers really are and JOINED the Rangers when she was old enough. She already exhibited a somewhat adventurous side by going into the cave in the first place. Then, when she got stuck and had to be saved by the Rangers, she learned a valuable lesson: The difference between courage and reckless abandon.

She also learns an important lesson about the difference between being a somewhat skilled outlander and a professional, like a Ranger, is.

I always thought that Jackie was some kid who wanted to be a Ranger some day and was 'training' herself to be one when she was old enough. She went into the cave to prove to herself she had 'what it takes' and to test her own courage. Of course, being 14 years old, such plans are likely not so well laid and produced the end result the Rangers stumbled upon in Highpool.

Just my two cents.

[UniversalWolf]

After being left for dead Bobby went full cyborg and now runs a toaster repair shop.