Classic Inspiration is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas
Quick walkthrough
- Speaks with Michael Angelo in his shop.
- Take a picture of the Bison Steve sign in Primm.
- Take a picture of the Novac thermometer.
- Take a picture of the Camp McCarran sign.
- Take a picture of the Helios One sign.
- Take a picture of the Sunset Sarsaparilla HQ bottle.
- Return to Michael Angelo.
Detailed walkthrough
After entering the workshop, the player will be directed to speak with Michael Angelo, the "artistic name" of Sheldon Weintraub, brother of Sarah Weintraub from Vault 21. Michael seems hesitant and stressed, and can be further disturbed by being lied to and extorted by the player in a series of Skill challenges. Once down to business, the player can either continue to bully him for XP and caps through a 50 Speech check, but if you chose to bully him you will not be allowed to start the quest. Or you may start the quest by diagnosing him with a 55 Medicine check (quest starts even if you don't pass). Michael's problem seems to be that he is running out of inspiration in his dark and dusty workshop, but at the same time is afraid to experience the outside world in person due to a large portion of his life being spent in Vault 21.
Michael enlists the player in obtaining several pictures of distinctive signs about the wasteland, giving the player 24 camera film and a special camera, the Codac R9000 in order to accomplish the task.
Take pictures of the following five signs:
- The Dinosaur Thermometer in Novac.
- The Bison sign on the roof of the Bison Steve Hotel in Primm.
- The sign over the entrance at Camp McCarran.
- The sign over the main doors at HELIOS One.
- The big bottle at the Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters.
When you have taken a picture of one landmark, you can return and receive up to 200 caps. When you have taken a picture of all of the landmarks, you will be rewarded an additional 500 - 5000 caps.
Successful photos award 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200 XP immediately. Completion of the quest results in an additional 200 XP, for a total of 950 base XP.
Journal entries
Notes
- You can return to Michael Angelo and receive more Film when you have none in your inventory. This can be done after the quest is completed.
- If you remove all your Film from your inventory, you can ask for more film, then drop it and ask again. This allows the player to gain more than 24 films.
- If you only have Camp McCarran discovered and not Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters, fast travel to McCarran and then head to the old poseidon gas station directly behind you, from the north western corner of the open garage you can clearly see the Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters and its giant bottle (even without zooming in with the camera). You only need to get close enough for the label on the bottle to appear (go between the street lamp and New Vegas wall), you do not have to walk all the way to the building or cross the highway. It is a bit harder to accomplish if trying it in reverse, as the McCarran sign is a much smaller target.
- If Sarah Weintraub is killed at any point before or during Classic Inspiration, the quest will be failed. Michael will not continue conversation after she has died.
- After you get the Don't Tread on the Bear! quest, it is very likely to run into an NCR Trooper 'MP' that will try to kill you when going to receive your reward with Angelo, the wisest thing to do here is to save the game before going inside the workshop and talk with the Military Police around the Embassy, they will tell you that if you pay them 200 caps, they will calm down and not attack you which will get you Infamy if you kill the troopers. After paying, you can go and complete the quest without any trouble. (You may be able to prevent this from occurring by pre-empting the NCR MP from talking, therefore talking about something else. You may not even have to pay the 200 caps.)
- After completing the mission, an NCR MP may approach you and make remarks about you not paying them their fair share. He will immediately turn hostile, and the rest of the building and NCR troopers outside will turn hostile as well.
Bugs
- Sometimes, completing this quest will corrupt your save file, causing future saves to crash the game. The only way around this is to reload a save before the end of the quest.