Bethesda’s Pete Hines Fallout 4 interview

[Dr Fallout]

Looks retrofuturistic, right!?

You don't get it? It makes total sense. Here, let me break it down for you.

Retro.

Futuristic.

Nailed it! I'd be interested in how they explained the sudden appearance of androids, thus microelectronics. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the original developers explicitly mention that Fallout was a world without microelectronics? That could just be my interpretation of the setting. Granted, we do have things like the PipBoy so maybe it's just that microelectronics were never miniaturized to "modern" levels, which would be what, 90's levels? It does look like the androids might be bio-mechanical, which would be better. Do we know the state of genetic engineering in Fallout? The GECK is pretty advanced so there might be a path to explain it with talented writing...

Talented writing? Never gonna happen!
The GECK isn't actually that advanced, we have things like that nowdays. Not so compressed but we can influence the weather.

 

[generalissimofurioso]

Not to mention the GECK was never really a magic terraforming device to begin with.

It was a kit filled with drought-resistant seeds and anti-radiation tools and stuff.

Basically a big head-start when you don't know how badly the world was gonna be messed up.

 

[TorontoReign]

Not to mention the GECK was never really a magic terraforming device to begin with.

It was a kit filled with drought-resistant seeds and anti-radiation tools and stuff.

Basically a big head-start when you don't know how badly the world was gonna be messed up.

They threw the ad for the GECK (in the manual) in at the last minute to lead up to the possible sequel.

 

[Gnarles Bronson]

Looks retrofuturistic, right!?

You don't get it? It makes total sense. Here, let me break it down for you.
Futuristic.

Nailed it! I'd be interested in how they explained the sudden appearance of androids, thus microelectronics. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the original developers explicitly mention that Fallout was a world without microelectronics? That could just be my interpretation of the setting. Granted, we do have things like the PipBoy so maybe it's just that microelectronics were never miniaturized to "modern" levels, which would be what, 90's levels? It does look like the androids might be bio-mechanical, which would be better. Do we know the state of genetic engineering in Fallout? The GECK is pretty advanced so there might be a path to explain it with talented writing...

So, we have the pip-boy insofar as pre-apocalyptic technology, and then there's two hundred years of technology after the apocalypse, assuming the institute has somehow been running for all that time (not such a leap considering vaults and whatnot).

I don't get the big deal about androids, they've already been done in fallout 3.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I don't mind androids as they fit the retro 50s mindset, but I think they should all be Pre War, mostly broken down, and even the functional ones as a dumb as a brick because the limits in scaled down computer technology.
They should make Protectrons look like robotic geniuses.

I don't agree with Androids. Look at the super computers! They have an AI but they're massive! And here comes Bethesda, claiming that Androids with a small cranium can house an AI so advanced. It's continuity error.

Please read again what I wrote, I don't mind androids but I think they should be STUPID because the processing power necessary to make them act human like doesn't fit inside them.
As you said, AIs exist but their hardware is incredibly big, it would require a quantum leap in computer research to size them down to fit inside a human sized android head. Something that is not going to happen in the Fallout post nuclear world, especially not by some scientists in a few surviving labs with no industry to back them up.

So basically androids should have been something of a useless curiosity in the Fallout wasteland, in general too limited for any kind of task.

 

[MercenarySnake]

I don't understand the reason they want androids in the game, they'll probably try to explain them in by saying the Institute consructed them for the next 200 years. Those people must be really bored to produce androids somehow rather the help rebuild the wasteland.

 

[dustin542]

It would fit the lore better if they are just advanced robobrains.

 

[Dr Fallout]

I don't mind androids as they fit the retro 50s mindset, but I think they should all be Pre War, mostly broken down, and even the functional ones as a dumb as a brick because the limits in scaled down computer technology.
They should make Protectrons look like robotic geniuses.

I don't agree with Androids. Look at the super computers! They have an AI but they're massive! And here comes Bethesda, claiming that Androids with a small cranium can house an AI so advanced. It's continuity error.

Please read again what I wrote, I don't mind androids but I think they should be STUPID because the processing power necessary to make them act human like doesn't fit inside them.
As you said, AIs exist but their hardware is incredibly big, it would require a quantum leap in computer research to size them down to fit inside a human sized android head. Something that is not going to happen in the Fallout post nuclear world, especially not by some scientists in a few surviving labs with no industry to back them up.

So basically androids should have been something of a useless curiosity in the Fallout wasteland, in general too limited for any kind of task.

s

Too late! Fallout 3 had a very intelligent android... so your theory, nice as it is, can't be right... sadly.

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

So, we have the pip-boy insofar as pre-apocalyptic technology, and then there's two hundred years of technology after the apocalypse, assuming the institute has somehow been running for all that time (not such a leap considering vaults and whatnot).

Considering the, you know, atomic apocalypse I think the priority should be on things that helps the reforming society rather than something frankly useless as androids. I mean, what's the point of developing them in the first place in a nuclear wasteland? For labor robots are cheaper and sturdier. It would be like building Lamborghinis instead of utility trucks.

I don't get the big deal about androids, they've already been done in fallout 3.

And they were nonsensical in that game as well, nothing has changed.

 

[Askorti]

Guys, the reason why the ZAX and other computers are so huge is that in the Fallout world transistors were never invented. There is absolutely no explanation for how could they fit a computer inside an android. None whatsoever. They are just shitting on the most basic lore of the franchise.

 

[Walpknut]

One way to make it kind of work would be if the "Synths" are just moving plataforms that are receiving a signal from a bigger more advanced ZAX-like computer that has AIs or similar routines programmed in.
They would be receiving a broadcast of a rather simple Virtual Intelligence that tells them how to operate machinery and carry out their tasks, and the virtual intelligence just controls the "Synth" wirelessly. Just like Victor and Yesman.
Maybe every now and then a true Artiicial intelligence is born within their network and bets broadcasted into a plataform and that's what makes some androids want to escape or develop sentience.

Too late! Fallout 3 had a very intelligent android... so your theory, nice as it is, can't be right... sadly.

"Very" is being generous. The character didn't really showed any deep characterization or intelligence.

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

Guys, the reason why the ZAX and other computers are so huge is that in the Fallout world transistors were never invented.

Actually it seems that they were invented ten years before the Great War.

"The transistor, invented in our world in 1947, was not developed in the Fallout universe until the decade just before the Great War (2067), while its successor, the semiconducting microprocessor chip, may have never been developed at all."

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Divergence

 

[Gnarles Bronson]

So, we have the pip-boy insofar as pre-apocalyptic technology, and then there's two hundred years of technology after the apocalypse, assuming the institute has somehow been running for all that time (not such a leap considering vaults and whatnot).

Considering the, you know, atomic apocalypse I think the priority should be on things that helps the reforming society rather than something frankly useless as androids. I mean, what's the point of developing them in the first place in a nuclear wasteland? For labor robots are cheaper and sturdier. It would be like building Lamborghinis instead of utility trucks.

I don't get the big deal about androids, they've already been done in fallout 3.

And they were nonsensical in that game as well, nothing has changed.

Why did the scientists in big mt make all the dumb stuff they did? Scientists more often than not do science for science sake rather than only for practical value.

 

[Walpknut]

The Big MT Scientists were certifiably insane and THEN they got lobotomized and mindfucked by Mobious. You can't really use them as examples for anything other than insanity.

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

Why did the scientists in big mt make all the dumb stuff they did? Scientists more often than not do science for science sake rather than only for practical value.

Not only the Think Tanks are mentally unstable when you meet them, but pretty much everything you find in Big MT is pre-war stuff made when they were experimenting for the military. Androids in FO3 and FO4 are mass produced post-war tech made because...?

 

[Dr Fallout]

Why did the scientists in big mt make all the dumb stuff they did? Scientists more often than not do science for science sake rather than only for practical value.

Not only the Think Tanks are mentally unstable when you meet them, but pretty much everything you find in Big MT is pre-war stuff made when they were experimenting for the military. Androids in FO3 and FO4 are mass produced post-war tech made because...?

Really? Because it's kewl (how I love saying that) and awsum. What else, we're Bethesda?

 

[Crni Vuk]

(...)
So, we have the pip-boy insofar as pre-apocalyptic technology, and then there's two hundred years of technology after the apocalypse, assuming the institute has somehow been running for all that time (not such a leap considering vaults and whatnot).

I don't get the big deal about androids, they've already been done in fallout 3.

So if Fallout 3 had a quest where you had to help a Jedi find his lightsaber it would be alright to feature the Death Star in Fallout 4.

See no matter how well something is writen but not everything simply fits a setting. Androids are not even so much of a problem, but they would require a hell lot of a good reason to be there. And excellnt writing. Because I don't see how they add something to the narrative that can't be exploited without Androids, like the topic of slavery.

 

[Jabberwok]

I don't mind androids as they fit the retro 50s mindset, but I think they should all be Pre War, mostly broken down, and even the functional ones as a dumb as a brick because the limits in scaled down computer technology.
They should make Protectrons look like robotic geniuses.

I don't agree with Androids. Look at the super computers! They have an AI but they're massive! And here comes Bethesda, claiming that Androids with a small cranium can house an AI so advanced. It's continuity error.

Yep, I agree. These don't exactly gel with the clunkiness of Mr. Handy, either. What's funny is a lot of this stuff they're pulling would probably fit better in the Wasteland lore than Fallout. The synth stuff, most obviously.

 

[SikTh]

Sounds like something from a Philip K.Dick novel (yeah... that one especially...), so one would believe they'll make a ham-fisted attempt at pondering human existentialism in the constraints of an apocalypse. Hmmm. Still not going to play this game I don't think. I thought OWB was stupefyingly over the top and that fake and contrived version of 'zany', retrofitting and and exposition like there was no tomorrow... so I can only imagine this shit will give me an aneurysm. What use would an android have? I suppose efficient labourers etc. for construction but haven't they implemented self-direction and awareness? Seems counter-intuitive.

Also, that artwork is really something, and really quite compelling... I remember back when FO 3 artwork was shown though and that looked lovely, too, though. Until proven otherwise, the pretty gameplay and art is all smoke and mirrors.

 

[Dr Fallout]

Sounds like something from a Philip K.Dick novel (yeah... that one especially...), so one would believe they'll make a ham-fisted attempt at pondering human existentialism in the constraints of an apocalypse. Hmmm. Still not going to play this game I don't think. I thought OWB was stupefyingly over the top and that fake and contrived version of 'zany', retrofitting and and exposition like there was no tomorrow... so I can only imagine this shit will give me an aneurysm. What use would an android have? I suppose efficient labourers etc. for construction but haven't they implemented self-direction and awareness? Seems counter-intuitive.

Also, that artwork is really something, and really quite compelling... I remember back when FO 3 artwork was shown though and that looked lovely, too, though. Until proven otherwise, the pretty gameplay and art is all smoke and mirrors.

Bethesda, why not hire GOOD writers and GOOD scripters and give the artists are a rest?

Androids are a no-no for me in Fallout. They don't fit. Now if Bethesda just made them Human looking robots... I could forgive that. BUT no... they had to have androids.