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Honest Hearts is the second add-on for Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks.

Narration[]

The paths we're following are slow going, so you might as well keep your ears open and listen to what old Jed has to say. A few decades back, folks in the NCR started to hear about a community in northern Utah called New Canaan. Didn't know much about them, except that they were religious folks. Sent out missionaries to talk to the tribes. We've seen our share of cults, but the New Canaanites, they were honest traders. Good fighters, too. Raiders wouldn't tangle with 'em.


But then the Legion appeared in Arizona. I reckon you know all about them. Turns out Caesar's first war chief, the Malpais Legate, was a New Canaanite. Joshua Graham. Legend goes that Graham was the meanest, toughest son of a bitch in the whole damned Legion. The New Canaanites wouldn't talk about him. They were ashamed. Guess I can't blame 'em.

Well at Hoover Dam, the Malpais Legate finally met his match. Hanlon and Oliver kicked his New Canaanite butt right back over the river. Caesar had to make an example for the others, to show them that even at the highest level, failure wouldn't be tolerated. He had Graham covered in pitch, lit on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon. People say he didn't even scream on the way down. Not long after, some of the slaves and tribals started to talk. Said Graham wasn't dead. Shouldn't have been any surprise.

All this talk bothered Caesar, so he forbade anyone from speaking his name. Wanted to erase Joshua Graham from history. He got his wish. Joshua Graham disappeared. And in his place came legends of the Burned Man walking the wastes. Probably just a tribal ghost story. But New Canaan's been silent for a long time. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe the Malpais Legate is dead. Or maybe Joshua Graham did crawl out of that canyon and finally found his way back home.
Jed Masterson, Honest Hearts intro

Synopsis[]

An expedition into the unspoiled wilderness of Utah's Zion National Park goes horribly wrong when your caravan is ambushed by a tribal raiding band. As you try to find a way back to the Mojave you become embroiled in a war between tribes and a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burned Man. The decisions you make will determine the fate of Zion.— Steam page description

After the First Battle of Hoover Dam, and during preparation for the Second, Caesar reached out to the Great Salt Lake and the White Legs tribe to rally them into destroying New Canaan and its people. Through the guidance of one of his frumentarii, the White Legs acquired powerful weapons and razed the religious community to the ground, killing many. But they failed to end the life of Caesar's true target, the former Malpais Legate, now the infamous "Burned Man," Joshua Graham.

Joshua along with a missionary, Daniel sought refuge in the wilds and natural beauty of Zion Canyon, followed by members of the Dead Horses tribe who revere Joshua as their war-chief, whereas Daniel hopes to spread the word of his faith to another tribe living in Zion, the Sorrows. However, the White Legs, led by their war-chief Salt-Upon-Wounds invaded Zion, intending to eradicate the tribes there and cement a place for themselves among the ranks of Caesar's Legion. While Joshua hopes to rally the two tribes and strike back against the invaders, Daniel pushes for a bloodless resolution and evacuating Zion even if it means giving up a bastion of beauty to savages.

Outside the cliffs of Zion, the Happy Trails Caravan Company is riding on the edge of financial collapse with the loss of New Canaan and most other routes disrupted by raiders and other tribulations. Jed Masterson sent out an all-channels recruiting message hoping to acquire the services of anyone with a reliable means of map-reading like a Pip-Boy. This is where the Courier enters the story of Honest Hearts.

Crafting[]

The Honest Hearts add-on adds new crafting recipes to the game that make use of the Survival skill. Unlike recipes added by the previous add-on Dead Money, most recipes added by Honest Hearts do not require add-on-specific items or perks. Most recipes are available from the start of the game, provided the player has the necessary skill level and ingredients.

Notable new recipes include a method of turning one fission battery and 5 drained energy cells into 25 energy cells, as well as being able to make homebrewed Nuka-Cola and homebrewed Sunset Sarsaparilla at a campfire using the appropriate ingredients (Nevada agave fruit and barrel cactus fruit for the Nuka-Cola, and Nevada agave fruit together with a xander root for the Sunset Sarsaparilla).

There are four new gecko-based armor types that may be crafted. They require tanned green gecko hides. Green gecko hides are only available in Zion. Honest Hearts also adds the most effective poison resistance chem in the game with Blood Shield, which may be crafted with components available in the Mojave Wasteland and very commonly available in Zion Canyon.

The add-on also introduces two new ways of crafting scrap metal. 1 scrap metal can be created at a workbench by either combining a metal cooking pan, metal cooking pot, and pot, or by combining a butter knife, metal spoon, fork, and tin plate. The recipes are listed in the crafting menu as "Cookery-to-metal" and "Meals-to-metal", respectively.

Characters[]

Creatures[]

Factions[]

Items[]

Ammunition[]

Armor and clothing[]

Consumables[]

Weapons[]

Weapon mods[]

Other items[]

World objects[]

Locations[]

This section is transcluded from Fallout: New Vegas locations. To change it, please edit the transcluded page.

Quests[]

The XP that is rewarded for quests will vary depending upon the player character's level when the quests are completed. The total XP split between the main storyline quests is approximately 3000 XP at levels 1-4 and 22000 XP at levels 45-50, the secondary quest XP ranges from 75 XP per quest to 550 XP per quest.

This section is transcluded from Fallout: New Vegas quests. To change it, please edit the transcluded page.
Icon Name Location(s) Given by Reward Form ID Editor ID
Main quests
When We Remembered Zion
Happy Trails Expedition Northern passage Happy Trails Expedition Broadcast 175 caps xx008891 NVDLC02MQ00
Icon gray x
Arrival at Zion Southern passage
Eastern Virgin (Angel cave)
Jed Masterson Variable XP xx008893 NVDLC02MQ01
Restore Our Fortunes
Roadside Attraction Angel cave
Crashed scout bus
Joshua Graham Variable XP xx00F6EE NVDLC02MQ02a
Restore Our Fortunes
Gone Fishin' Angel cave
Zion fishing lodge
Joshua Graham Variable XP xx00F6EF NVDLC02MQ02b
Restore Our Fortunes
Tourist Trap Angel cave
Zion General Store
Zion Ranger station
Joshua Graham Variable XP xx00F6F0 NVDLC02MQ02c
Icon gray x
Deliverer of Sorrows The Narrows (Sorrows camp) Self Variable XP xx00F708 NVDLC02MQ02d
In a Foreign Land
The Grand Staircase Sorrows camp
Morning Glory cave
Daniel Variable XP xx008894 NVDLC02MQ03
In a Foreign Land
The Advance Scouts Sorrows camp
Bighorn Bluff
Daniel Variable XP xx00C7C0 NVDLC02MQ03a
In a Foreign Land
The Treacherous Road Sorrows camp
Old Rockville Bridge
Daniel Variable XP xx00C7C1 NVDLC02MQ03b
In a Foreign Land
River Monsters Sorrows camp
Yao guai cave
Daniel Variable XP xx00C7C2 NVDLC02MQ03c
Icon gray x
Gathering Storms Sorrows camp Daniel Variable XP xx00F304 NVDLC02MQ03d
O Daughter of Babylon
Crush the White Legs Three Marys Joshua Graham Variable XP
Stored in a footlocker in front of the southern passage:
xx008A36 NVDLC02MQ04
May my Hand Forget its Skill
Flight from Zion Pine Creek Tunnel Joshua Graham Variable XP
Stored in a footlocker in front of the southern passage:
  • A Light Shining in Darkness
  • Chalk's headdress
  • Daniel's outfit and hat
  • Joshua Graham's armor
  • Salt-Upon-Wounds' helmet
  • Salt-Upon-Wounds' power fist
  • Scripture
xx008A37 NVDLC02MQ05
Icon gray x
Chaos in Zion Zion Canyon Self Variable XP xx00AE9C NVDLC02MQ06
Icon gray x
Departing Paradise Southern passage
Northern passage
Self None xx010C25 NVDLC02MQ07
Side quests
Icon gray x
A Family Affair Sorrows camp Waking Cloud Variable XP xx010C82 NVDLC02MS04
Icon gray x
Bighorners of the Eastern Virgin Eastern Virgin Follows-Chalk Variable XP
.45 Auto pistol
War club
xx00A3B9 NVDLC02MS02
Icon gray x
Civilized Man's Burden Dead Horses camp Follows-Chalk Variable XP xx010C83 NVDLC02MS03
Icon gray x
Prisoners of War Ranger Substation Osprey Joshua Graham Variable XP xx00B4D3 NVDLC02MQ05a
Icon gray x
Retake the Bridge East Fork Bridge Joshua Graham Variable XP xx00B4D1 NVDLC02MQ05c
Icon gray x
Rite of Passage Sorrows camp
White Bird's cave
Ghost Den
White Bird Variable XP
She's Embrace
xx0094C3 NVDLC02MS01
Icon gray x
Sanctity of the Dead Burial mounds Joshua Graham Variable XP xx00B4D2 NVDLC02MQ05b

Perks[]

This section is transcluded from Fallout: New Vegas perks. To change it, please edit the transcluded page.

Regular perks[]

Name Level req Other requirements Ranks Benefit Form ID
Grunt 8 Guns 45, Explosives 20 1 25% more damage with 9mm pistols and SMGs, .45 pistols and SMGs, service rifles, assault and Marksman carbines, light machine guns, frag grenades, grenade rifles and launchers and combat knives. xx00F677
Home on the Range 8 Survival 70 1 Whenever you interact with a campfire, you have the option of sleeping, with all the benefits that sleep brings. xx00B2F3
Sneering Imperialist 8 1 +15% Damage and +25% accuracy in V.A.T.S. to various tribal and raider characters. xx00F67B
Tribal Wisdom 8 Survival 70 1 -50% limb damage from animals, mutated animals, and mutated insects, +25% to Poison Resistance, ability to eat mutated insects in sneak mode. xx00F679
Fight the Power! 10 1 +2 Damage Threshold and +5% Critical Chance against anyone wearing NCR, Legion or Brotherhood of Steel armor. xx00F67C
Eye for Eye 20 1 For each crippled limb you have, you do an additional 10% damage. xx00B2F4

Companion perks[]

Name Follower Benefit Form ID

Quiet As The Waters

Waking Cloud in your party. White Legs' Perception is effectively decreased by 3. xx00B2F7
Way of the Canaanite Joshua Graham in your party. Decrease in spread and double the Critical Chance for .45 Auto pistols. xx00B2F5
Well-Stacked Cairns Follows-Chalk in your party. Reaching various summits reveals nearby map markers and grants +3 Perception temporarily. xx00B2F6

Achievements/Trophies[]

Name Requirement Achievement points Trophy type Image
In a Foreign Land Scouted the Zion Valley for signs of the White Legs 20 Gamerscore Bronze In a Foreign Land
May my Hand Forget its Skill Evacuated Zion 40 Gamerscore Gold May my Hand Forget its Skill
O Daughter of Babylon Crushed the White Legs 30 Gamerscore Silver O Daughter of Babylon
Restore Our Fortunes Resupplied Daniel and the Sorrows 30 Gamerscore Silver Restore Our Fortunes
When We Remembered Zion Arrived at Zion 20 Gamerscore Bronze When We Remembered Zion

Notes[]

  • Honest Hearts is the only add-on that does not have a warning screen before visiting the new area. The only warnings you receive are through dialogue with Jed.
  • Installing Honest Hearts will remove the ability to use the campfire during combat. This is due to the implementation of the Home on the Range perk.
  • Skill books are only found as random loot in Honest Hearts. See Fallout: New Vegas skill books for details.
  • Like Dead Money, you are not allowed to take companions with you into Zion. However, unlike Dead Money, Honest Hearts does not force them out of your party; you must do this yourself if you wish to proceed.
  • Honest Hearts, like all add-ons, raises the level cap by 5.
  • Equipment is not taken from the player at the beginning of the add-on; however, the maximum weight limit is decreased due to the length of the journey. 100 pounds of equipment can be taken if you have the Strong Back or Pack Rat perks, or have a minimal Survival skill of 50, or pass the Speech check when talking to Jed Masterson, or pass the Speech check of 50 when talking to Ricky. Without these perks/skill levels, you will have a weight limit of 75.
  • The player is able to return to Zion after completing the add-on; however, followers still cannot accompany you. They also cannot be left waiting at the northern passage, and instead will return to their home (ED-E back to Primm, etc.). This is due to the 14-day length of the trip to Zion.
  • Honest Hearts features weather, adding rain and overcast skies to the game.
  • When the add-on is completed, you can purchase the new weapons from the add-on, such as the tomahawk, the fire bomb, the war club, the yao guai gauntlet, the .45 Auto pistol, the .45 Auto submachine gun and their respective mods, and the ammunition, from shops around the Mojave Wasteland.
  • It's important to note that after completion of the add-on, most unique non-player characters will have left Zion.
  • If you choose to defeat the White Legs and allow the Dead Horses and Sorrows tribes to remain in Zion, after the main quest is finished, Dead Horses and Sorrows tribe members will still be at their respective camps and will be peaceful to the Courier.
  • After the main quest is finished, Dead Horses and Sorrows tribe members can be killed for loot without receiving negative Karma. If the player character is seen attacking a Dead Horse, the entire tribe becomes permanently hostile.
  • As with Dead Money, there are no noticeable repercussions in the Mojave for actions in Zion.
  • The only major merchant in Honest Hearts is Joshua Graham; passing a speech check will allow one to purchase medical supplies from Daniel, but his caps and items are limited.
  • Many tribals are well-equipped and carry some weapons that are rare in the Mojave Wasteland.
  • The Animal Friend perk can be taken to face fewer hostile creatures.
  • None of the vehicles in Zion will explode.
  • It is possible to pickpocket any main character, such as Joshua Graham, Daniel, or Follows-Chalk, while they are asleep. However, their unique weapons and apparel cannot be pickpocketed.
  • Loading Honest Hearts does not change the spore plants or spore carriers in Vault 22; they are still "empty" when searched.
  • Tribal apparel brought back to the Mojave from Zion is not considered 'faction' by followers. That is, they will carry/wear it.
  • After completing Honest Hearts' main story, the player will be unable to start or finish any remaining side quests for the add-on, as most of the main characters will have left Zion.
  • There are many skeletal remains strewn about Zion, most likely campers killed by the fallout referenced in Randall Clark's terminal entries.
  • The Vault Boy/Girl is mirrored when selecting apparel from this DLC — they look to the right instead of the left.

Behind the scenes[]

Honesthearts display

Fallout: New Vegas texture that first hinted to Honest Hearts.

  • Honest Hearts was first hinted at via in-game graffiti,[1] sparking speculation that it would be the next add-on. This speculation was confirmed when ZeniMax Media registered "Honest Hearts" as a trademark.[2] The graffiti hinting at Honest Hearts refers to Joshua Graham and New Canaan, which were originally to appear in Van Buren, Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3 project.[3][4]
  • Honest Hearts was again hinted at in the game files of the Dead Money add-on, with the inclusion of an unused snow globe for Zion National Park, and further suggesting it would be the next DLC in line for release after Dead Money.[5]
  • Joshua Sawyer has indicated that the title of this add-on is a reference to Brigham Young's aphorism "Honest hearts produce honest actions."[6]
  • J.E. Sawyer also revealed that the story of Honest Hearts drew inspiration from the Utah War and Mountain Meadows Massacre.[7]

Developer quotes[]

I keep seeing this criticism on tumblr that attacks the Honest Hearts DLC for "using Natives as an aesthetic" and that it suffered from "white savior syndrome". I am not going to offer my own opinion on this, but I'm curious what you think about all that, seeing as you did some writing for the DLC.

I understand why people see it that way, but how the DLC shipped was not how it was planned. The tribes in Zion are descendants of a mix of North American native people as well as other American citizens and European (of various non-native ethnicities) tourists/campers. This survives in the language of the Dead Horses, for example, who use a large number of German-derived words.

In the first design docs for HH, every tribe was supposed to have members from all of the F3/FNV ethnic groups. However, there was a complicating factor: body art. The various tattoos and body paints we needed to texture the bodies multiplied the number of required textures. They couldn’t simply be layered on (as they can in F4), but were entirely new body textures that dramatically increased the amount of texture memory being used. For that reason, each tribe wound up having only one body texture per sex. This compressed their ethnicities into homogenized blends, with Dead Horses being a darker tan, Sorrows a light tan, and White Legs (under the body paint) fairly pale.

As a minor point, Daniel was specifically supposed to be (and was, in data, for most of development) Asian. I don’t know when, how, or why he was switched to Caucasian, but that’s how he shipped.

It’s frustrating, because those changes slot Joshua and Daniel as white guys among (mostly) brown folk when 1) they weren’t supposed to be white guys and 2) the tribes were specifically called out as ethnically and culturally mixed without any real-world analogues.

Regarding the “natives as aesthetic” criticism, the patterns we used for the three tribes’ body art are not based on any current or historical native American body art (AFAIK). There are in-fiction explanations for each tribe’s specific choices. The White Legs initially colored themselves white to blend into the Great Salt Lake (where they are from) and they dread their hair out of reverence for Ulysses. The Sorrows use the river pattern to reflect their suffering and their connection to the Virgin River in Zion. The Dead Horses mark various accomplishments on their skin and decorate their clubs with .45 shells out of their respect for Joshua Graham.
J.E. Sawyer on Tumblr
So far all NV dlcs give a very different experience than what's in the OC. Does Obsidian often use dlcs to experiment with new gameplay ideas, as a quick way to see what gamers would like and not like to see in your future games?

We do use them to experiment with themes and gameplay elements on a small scale, yes. For example, in Honest Hearts, I wanted to deal with post-apocalyptic religious characters. Religion isn't dealt with very much in video games, or it's only touched on superficially, or it is done through a proxy/fake religion as a joke.

In contrast to Dead Money, where Chris created a number of nasty, vice-driven folks, I wanted Honest Hearts to feature characters primarily motivated (at least ostensibly) by a desire to do good. That is, I wanted the player to be choosing between virtues instead of choosing between vices. This is also (to a lesser extent) different from the core game, where the major factions are all various shades of scumbag and players are often thinking about which group sucks least.

But fundamentally I really wanted to see if people were allergic to religious topics and characters. Even though it's obviously common in films and books, the topic of religion in games often draws a stink eye or immediate concern that someone, somewhere, will be offended. Honest Hearts had a lot of fair criticism for its relatively small scope, but I'm glad that most people either didn't care about the religious content or enjoyed it. I don't think religion needs to be an element of every story or setting, but I'm glad to know that it can be.
Josh Sawyer Formspring July 25, 2011 answers
Looking back, is there anything you would change regarding the "tribal" aesthetics used in the Fallout work you've done?" (apologies if this sent twice, tumblr glitched for me and said the first didn't send)

Yes. I’ve said this since Honest Hearts came out, but the tribes in that DLC were not meant to actually “look” ethnically Native American. They were supposed to be descendants of a broad cross-section of Americans of different ethnic backgrounds (including Native American) and European tourists (in my own trips through the American Southwest, I’ve encountered many French, Swiss, Dutch, and German tourists). We had prepared different skin colors to show that breadth, but we found out that when it was combined with the body art (which was intentionally not based on existing NA body art designs), we blew up the texture memory, which was already really limited on the PS3. The solution was to have just one skin tone, a mid-tone, which had the obvious, unfortunate side effect of just making them all look kind of Native American.

I think the naming and speech patterns could use another pass to avoid falling into negative tropes.

I’ve also said before that Daniel was supposed to be Asian, but for whatever weird reason, somehow his data was switched over to Caucasian (which, in that engine, automatically flips a bunch of face and skin data). This was again done to avoid having it be “two white guys saving Native Americans”. But that’s exactly what it looked like in execution.

The core plot of Honest Hearts was based on Lawrence of Arabia and The Mission. I think it cleaves too tightly to the inspirational material in making the outsiders be the main drivers of the native groups’ destinies. As a result, the native groups feel sidelined in importance/voice.

Finally, I think involving Native American consultants, especially from the American SW, at some stage would have been a good idea.

I take responsibility for the bad representation in HH. I think we did a better job in Deadfire because we did ask Asian devs within the studio to look at the Huana and Rauatai characters and their representation, but we should have also hired some Māori consultants specifically to look at the Huana. The Huana aren’t really Māori (just like the Rauatai aren’t really Japanese), but even a fictional culture that’s only “inspired by” a mix of real world cultures can still get into uncomfortable or outright bad territory.

A few Pacific Islanders have contacted me to tell me that they appreciate that Deadfire deals with PI-type cultures and colonial themes. I’m genuinely glad for that, but we could have very easily done something incredibly shitty through pure ignorance. It never hurts to ask ahead of time.
J.E. Sawyer on Tumblr
I don't think it's vitally important to determine exactly how it would go as much as it is to acknowledge that the people being "helped" have agency and voices of their own. Follows-Chalk and Waking Cloud are good characters, but they are followers of JG and Daniel more than drivers of the plotline.

Lawrence of Arabia was another inspiration for Honest Hearts because it's another example of a colonizer stepping in and trying to "help", but a difference between LoA and The Mission is that LoA has Sherif Ali (played by Omar Sharif) as a full participant in / objector to what's happening. The Mission and Mississippi Burning and, unfortunately, Honest Hearts all feature a pair of outsiders wrestling with moral quandaries to figure out what to do while the locals go, "Hmm, if you say so," quietly in the background.

Even the pidgin languages the tribes speak in Honest Hearts were just an attempt to keep costs down. All of the DLCs feature very few speaking characters because Fallout games have localized text and VO. That includes background characters and their reactive barks, so we made pidgin languages for the tribes so they wouldn't need to be re-recorded. Of course, the tribes were also supposed to be multi-ethnic, so you'd see white Dead Horses, black Dead Horses, etc. And again, Daniel was supposed to be Asian. It was incredibly frustrating to get halfway through production only to discover that making ethnic variants for every tribe would completely blow the already limited in-game memory limit. It wasn't a problem of "Ah, this will take more work," but, "The game will crash as soon as this area loads."

And it was white-hot inferno rage when I saw that the shipped version of Daniel had been set to Caucasian. I honestly don't know how or why it happened. Sometimes devs accidentally change data when editing something else and don't even realize they've changed something. For all I know it could have been me. In any case, the confluence of changes and omissions just resulted in it looking pretty bad.
J.E. Sawyer on somethingawful

Bugs[]

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Fallout_New_Vegas_Official_Honest_Hearts_Trailer

Fallout New Vegas Official Honest Hearts Trailer

References[]

  1. The in-game graffiti in question can be found in the game's "nvdlcgraffiti" folder, sharing the filename "nvgraffitihonesthearts". They read:
    "Where's New Canaan, anyway?"
    "The Burned Man Walks!"
    "Joshua Graham Lives!"
  2. Honest Hearts - trademark by ZeniMax Media Inc. Rockville, MD - Serial Number: 85198870
  3. Burham Springs design document
  4. New Canaan design document
  5. Unused snow globe model found in the Dead Money game file under the folder named "FNVDLC02"
  6. I heard you went to Zion National Park? Did you find any Honest Hearts there? @ Formspring
  7. J.E. Sawyer on Formspring
Honest Hearts
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