Shamus Young "The Blistering Stupidity of Fallout 3"

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Some of you might have already heard of Shamus Young. He's a person who talks about video games on the internet, he's talked about Fallout a few times. Anyway he's starting a new series of columns on his website called "The Blistering Stupidity of Fallout 3" where he is criticizing Fallout 3 that I thought you folks might be interested in.

I have mixed feelings on Fallout 3, overall I liked it but I think this identifies a lot of the problems I had with the game, mainly that its setting is nonsensical and its main plot is stupid. I'm one of the people who thinks Fallout 3 should have been set earlier than it was and that there should have been more vegetation. The reason things in Fallout 1 & 2 were so arid is because the climate in those parts of the world is arid.

 

[Battlecross]

"200 years after a nuclear war, people aren’t going to be forming greaser gangs."

Opinionated nonsense ignoring the world it's set in.

 

[Big No]

"200 years after a nuclear war, people aren’t going to be forming greaser gangs."


Opinionated nonsense ignoring the world it's set in.

I'm sure there's better things to do in a wasteland full of slavers and giant crab people than recreating Happy Days.

 

[Battlecross]

"200 years after a nuclear war, people aren’t going to be forming greaser gangs."


Opinionated nonsense ignoring the world it's set in.

The Tunnel Snakes are in a Vault and if that is an issue, why aren't the Kings? The answer is, they aren't an issue since this is a universe in which they can exist and do for stylistic reasons as much as anything else.
I'm sure there's better things to do in a wasteland full of slavers and giant crab people than recreating Happy Days.

The Tunnel Snakes are in a Vault and if they're an issue, the Kings would be too. Neither are though as they make sense in universe.

 

[Big No]

The Tunnel Snakes are in a Vault and if that is an issue, why aren't the Kings? The answer is, they aren't an issue since this is a universe in which they can exist and do for stylistic reasons as much as anything else.

The Kings exist because not all the tribes in New Vegas wanted to reform for Mr. House, so they set up in Freeside and unearthed a bunch of Elvis stuff. They didn't know who he was though as he only went by "The King" and they decided to honor this "King" by dressing and acting like him.

The Tunnel Snakes existed for the sake of having Greasers. The Kings were a tribe, the Tunnel Snakes were a bunch of friends who became Greasers.

 

[TheGreatCornholio]

"200 years after a nuclear war, people aren’t going to be forming greaser gangs."


Opinionated nonsense ignoring the world it's set in.

The Tunnel Snakes are in a Vault and if that is an issue, why aren't the Kings? The answer is, they aren't an issue since this is a universe in which they can exist and do for stylistic reasons as much as anything else.
I'm sure there's better things to do in a wasteland full of slavers and giant crab people than recreating Happy Days.

The Tunnel Snakes are in a Vault and if they're an issue, the Kings would be too. Neither are though as they make sense in universe.

Forming a greaser gang is exactly the sort of thing sheltered teenagers that grew up watching movies like the outsiders would do

 

[Battlecross]

The Tunnel Snakes are in a Vault and if that is an issue, why aren't the Kings? The answer is, they aren't an issue since this is a universe in which they can exist and do for stylistic reasons as much as anything else.

The Kings exist because not all the tribes in New Vegas wanted to reform for Mr. House, so they set up in Freeside and unearthed a bunch of Elvis stuff. They didn't know who he was though as he only went by "The King" and they decided to honor this "King" by dressing and acting like him.

The Tunnel Snakes existed for the sake of having Greasers. The Kings were a tribe, the Tunnel Snakes were a bunch of friends who became Greasers.

You're just making a reason for them to exist basically, kids forming a gang/group makes perfect sense and making one like they did makes sense in universe.

 

[Big No]

You're just making a reason for them to exist basically, kids forming a gang/group makes perfect sense and making one like they did makes sense in universe.

Kids making a gang/group, it's fine. Did the writers have​ to make them Greasers just to enforce the 50s attitude? How would they even know what Greasers are anyway, I bet the control-freak overseer wouldn't let them watch things like The Outsiders.

 

[Battlecross]

You're just making a reason for them to exist basically, kids forming a gang/group makes perfect sense and making one like they did makes sense in universe.

Kids making a gang/group, it's fine. Did the writers have​ to make them Greasers just to enforce the 50s attitude? How would they even know what Greasers are anyway, I bet the control-freak overseer wouldn't let them watch things like The Outsiders.

Why wouldn't they adopt a style consistent with the theme and the pre-war world? Why would a tribe suddenly flock to a 50's star like Elvis and want to be like him?

 

[TheGreatCornholio]

You're just making a reason for them to exist basically, kids forming a gang/group makes perfect sense and making one like they did makes sense in universe.

Kids making a gang/group, it's fine. Did the writers have​ to make them Greasers just to enforce the 50s attitude? How would they even know what Greasers are anyway, I bet the control-freak overseer wouldn't let them watch things like The Outsiders.

If the pre war world was a mirror of the 50s it stands to reason the survivng entertainment available in the vault was 50s style entertainment.

 

[ChildServices]

Why wouldn't they adopt a style consistent with the theme and the pre-war world? Why would a tribe suddenly flock to a 50's star like Elvis and want to be like him?

They'd do it because they walked into the impersonation school, realised it was a semi-defensible position, noticed that there were a lot of spare clothes lying around (which they probably decided to adopt as their uniforms mostly out of expediency at first), and then a bunch of them, particularly their leader, began to take a liking to some of the media that was available there.

 

[Battlecross]

Why wouldn't they adopt a style consistent with the theme and the pre-war world? Why would a tribe suddenly flock to a 50's star like Elvis and want to be like him?

They'd do it because they walked into the impersonation school, realised it was a semi-defensible position, noticed that there were a lot of spare clothes lying around (which they probably decided to adopt as their uniforms mostly out of expediency at first), and then a bunch of them, particularly their leader, began to take a liking to some of the media that was available there.

I get it and I'm okay with it, but the reasoning is no stronger than what allows the Tunnel Snakes to be. That's my point. We've also got hoity toity White Glove Society types, mafia wannabes, etc. etc. People in this world take inspiration from the pre-war universe. Its how it is.

 

[Big No]

But the pre-war world wasn't a mirror of the 50s, it just is now because of the changing lore. I already stated why the Kings wanted to be like Elvis, they didn't know who he was but they saw the (audioless) tapes and all the things in the Impersonation Studio and concluded that he was a deity of some kind.

 

[Battlecross]

But the pre-war world wasn't a mirror of the 50s, it just is now because of the changing lore. I already stated why the Kings wanted to be like Elvis, they didn't know who he was but they saw the (audioless) tapes and all the things in the Impersonation Studio and concluded that he was a deity of some kind.

It wasn't a mirror but aesthetically it was very much like the 50's, and we're talking about FO3 and NV here. Kids wanting to wear leather jackets, have a hair style prominent in ads and things and be a "group" is not in any way out of universe or inconsistent.

 

[Yamu]

If we're getting technical, it's not highly likely that any sort of media encouraging rebelliousness in the youth would have been approved for and included in the archives of a vault whose primary focuses were studying authoritarianism and maintaining indefinite stability. So the Tunnel Snakes really wouldn't have had much to draw that aesthetic from.

 

[Walpknut]

Where did they even get the leather for their jackets anyway?

 

[Neon Child]

Where did they even get the leather for their jackets anyway?

This is one of the most reasonable questions to me because even if you could come up with some half baked answer, its clear none of them are smart enough to put their foot in the correct shoe let alone learn how to manufacture leather jackets. They couldn't even have tried to sneak out because there's no way they'd get back in even if they found a way to do it. The only answer that I could come up with that would make sense would be that they were provided by the Overseet for their services. Even then that doesn't explain why he would agree to such a ridiculous request and how they would even come up with the idea.

 

[TheGreatCornholio]

There are plenty of legit knocks against FO3 but the source of the tunnel snakes jackets seems a bit trivial to me.

 

[Walpknut]

It's trivial but it's still a pretty glaring plot hole. Like, they have been inside the Vault all their lives wearing only Jumpsuits yet this kids got their hands on Leather jackets somehow without explanation.

 

[TorontoReign]

The jackets were brought in by the people seeking shelter in the vault. They just happened to stay in storage for 200 years or so before Butch and the gang stumbled across them in an old hermetically sealed case.