I Forgot to Remember to Forget

I Forgot to Remember to Forget is a companion quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Activating the quest
You must have Boone with you as a companion to activate this quest. In order to access the necessary dialogue options, the player must have spoken to Manny Vargas in Novac or Bitter-Root in Camp McCarran about his tour of duty in the NCR and Bitter Springs. In order to trigger the quest, the player must accumulate at least 5 "history" points with Boone.

Note that these "history/trust points" can only be earned while Boone is in your party, although he need not be by your side (you can have him wait elsewhere). If all of the following have been completed before recruiting Boone, it will be impossible to accumulate the required history points.


 * Talking to Bitter-Root at Camp McCarran about his history: +1
 * Killing Vulpes Inculta: +1
 * Vulpes appears at multiple points, leaving several opportunities to kill him. He first appears in Nipton. If spared, he'll appear on the Strip to give you the Mark of Caesar (If you kill Vulpes when he approaches you at the strip, Securitron guards will not become hostile, nor will anyone else, making this the easiest time to kill him). Finally, he'll appear at the Fort by Caesar's side.
 * Camp McCarran
 * When interrogating the captured Legion POW Silus, if he dies: +1.
 * Note that this history point is earned for Silus's death at any point, not just during torture. The ideal way of earning it is by making the Speech checks to have Silus discuss the information leaks, talking to Boyd to get the rewards, then re-entering the interrogation room with a weapon and killing Silus with a sneak attack. However, with the latest game update installed, after leaving and speaking to Boyd, the door will lock, requiring a non-existent key. This can be resolved by leaving a C-4 under Silus (if you have high enough Sneak and are able to keep holdout weapons), after submitting the quest to Lt. Boyd you can detonate the C-4 and kill Silus.
 * During the mission I Put a Spell on You
 * Confront and kill the spy in act: +1.
 * Disarm the monorail bomb: +1 (no additional point awarded for this after patch 1.4.0.525. See Bugs)
 * The Fort
 * Killing Caesar: +2.
 * Legion raid camp
 * During the side quest Booted, rescuing the hostage Powder Gangers: +2
 * Nelson
 * During the side quest Back in Your Own Backyard
 * Kill the hostages: +1.
 * Save them: +2.
 * Note: It is possible to save all 3 hostages, then after Boone comments about saving them, talk to him and run through the dialogue. Then kill one of the hostages to gain a bonus point on top of the +2 from saving them, with no negative Karma and no hostility from the other troops.
 * Although Boone will make a comment about saving the hostages, there is additional dialogue about it that is accessed only when you initiate conversation with him after the event.
 * Camp Searchlight / Cottonwood Cove
 * Eradicate the Legion: +2. While the eradication can be done at any time, for it to count towards Boone's history points it has to be done while doing Eye for an Eye and the current displayed objective is "Kill all Legionaries in Cottonwood Cove." Killing Aurelius of Phoenix repeatedly using the console is a viable option for farming all 5 trust points on PC.

The +2 history points will provide some dialogue which the Courier can respond to, which will affect Boone's opinion of the Courier when the actual quest begins. Sometimes Boone will make comments while the events are happening or just completed; sometimes he will not comment. However; each time history points are accumulated you can choose the companion option to "talk to" Boone; as his history/trust with the courier improves additional dialogue options about his past and Bitter Springs will open up. Depending on your dialogue choices you can eventually persuade Boone to consider returning to Bitter Springs. If that final dialogue option is unlocked, the conversation will come to a close (no more dialogue options) and Boone will say it is a bad idea; however waiting next to Boone for a few minutes he will approach the Courier and say he has reconsidered what you have said, changed his mind, and will ask if you can go to Bitter Springs together. Agreeing to do so will finally initiate the quest to begin.

Some of Boone comments:
 * When talking to Boone about Caesar's death, he will say that Caesar has an entire line of succession and this will barely slow the Legion down. Regardless he is happy with the death of their leader.
 * If the Powder Gangers were rescued during the quest Booted, Boone will tell the Courier about the state of affairs with the NCR and Caesar's Legion in the Mojave Wasteland. If they get across the Colorado, it will be too late to save them and the NCR should be patrolling for Legion raiders and setting up checkpoints rather than spreading themselves so thinly if their objective was holding Hoover Dam.
 * After killing or rescuing the hostages at Nelson, he will talk about what the NCR had to do to the crucified or captured NCR soldiers as the Legion would use gruesome torture tactics to demoralize the other side. To save them the pain of torture, NCR snipers have to perform mercy killing. If they were saved, Boone will be glad the Courier saw another option.
 * After eradicating the Legion at Cottonwood Cove, Boone would be rather pleased to know the camp where his wife and unborn child was being sold and put out of her misery was wiped out and wish that something like this would happen more often.

The attack on Bitter Springs
In order for Boone to initiate dialogue about Bitter Springs, the Courier must have both gained Boone's loyalty and talked to either Manny Vargas in Novac, Bitter-Root at Camp McCarran or Captain Gilles (only after the quest Climb Ev'ry Mountain) about the Bitter Springs Massacre. After a Speech check of 30 or better is passed the Courier may suggest going back to Bitter Springs. Boone wil initially refuse, but will approach the Courier after a period of time about revisiting Bitter Springs.

Once arriving at Bitter Springs, Boone asks to go to Coyote Tail Ridge, where he was stationed, and tells the Courier exactly what happened during the massacre there. He then asks the Courier if they don't mind staying overnight. If the Courier says yes, the screen will fade out and fade back in, with Boone saying that a Legion raiding party is on the way. It largely consists of recruits, but they can be tough to defeat, especially if trying to avoid casualties. Some tougher units will be mingled with the later waves.

The attacking Legion forces come in three waves.
 * Wave 1 starts very close to the sloping hill up to the refugee camp, and by the time the Courier gets there they will probably be among the tents already. A single Legion Vexillarius brings up the rear far behind and will typically be behind the Courier.
 * Wave 2 starts from behind some buses at the Bitter Springs Recreation Area. Legion Mongrels run far ahead while soldiers walk.
 * Wave 3 comes through a small gap on the west side that leads to the graveyard. Legion Mongrels lead the way. The soldiers come up behind as usual, but some or all may occasionally stand still in the graveyard.

The quest is considered complete once all three waves are dead. Boone will typically immediately talk to the Courier once the last enemy is dead, but not always. The Courier does not gain NCR Fame until he speaks to them, so the Courier may put on (or take off) faction armor at that point, depending on whether the Courier wants to accept the Fame adjustment. At the end of the conversation his armor is upgraded depending on the last answer. Although both armors are only cosmetically different, this dialogue choice actually influences Boone's ending.
 * 1st answer: telling him that "he can't bring back the past but he can try to make things better", yields 1st Recon survival armor, making Boone repentant.
 * 2nd answer: telling him that "this is war and people die" yields 1st Recon assault armor, making Boone bloodthirsty.

Behind the scenes
The name of this quest is a reference to the song "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" sung by Elvis Presley in 1955.

Bugs
Ich weiß was du in Bitter Springs getan hast I Forgot to Remember to Forget Я забыл забыть Я забув забути