Is it true that in the process of the development a substantial part of the Caesar's Legion content has been cut out? In the final version of the game Legion occupied only a few settlements and a large part of its quests were "evil" counterparts of NCR quests, whereas the latter had many unique quests, not connected with Legion directly. Was it possible to develop the game in a way that both sides would have been represented more or less equally or inequality had been planned right from the start?
To the last question — yes, it was possible to develop both sides, and I agree that NCR felt more prominent in New Vegas, design-wise and scope-wise, than the Legion. While I wasn’t involved with the faction design and divisions in New Vegas (I was mostly companions, some major NPCs like the Legate, the graphic novel, and some end slide work), our lead writer, John Gonzalez, and I did kick around thoughts on Caesar’s role and characterization as well as the structure of his presentation when the player meets him, and I shared the backstory on a number of Legion references in dialogues that herald back to tribes we developed way back when for the first iteration of Van Buren (Hangdogs, Twisted Hairs). I always felt that Caesar’s goals were going to die once he ran out of lands to conquer — he had a war machine, and once it stopped rolling, the other societal problems his faction had at their core would surface and they would tear themselves apart… or simply decay until they became the prey of someone else.
In addition, we did want to include a Legion companion, Ulysses, who would be tolerant of Legion behavior and provide an internal perspective on it, but he got moved to the DLCs as an antagonist. My feelings on the Legion were summed up both with him, and also in a conversation tangent with Rose of Sharon Cassidy, where she inadvertently peppers her anger at the Legion with a slow, grudging respect for some of the other benefits they bring when they conquer an area (protecting caravans, uniting tribes, keeping the peace). In many ways, the Legion is better adapted for the wastes than many of the other factions.
