Fallout 3 intro text

[Brother None]

Australia's Atomic Magazine provides us with the intro text to Bethesda's Fallout 3, as voiced by Ron Perlman:<blockquote>War. War never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything, from God to justice to simple, psychotic rage.

In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world - but war, war never changes.

In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wasted to greet them - all except those in Vault 101. For on the fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 101 slid closed... and never reopened. It was here you were born. It is here you will die because, in Vault 101, no one ever enters and no one ever leaves</blockquote>Thanks Specialist.

 

[Tora]

Maybe I'm just too picky, but the last part to that seems a bit... lame

Its not like the vault of the vd had people entering/leaving until there was a problem either. So what makes Vault 101 special in this regard? that their 'fateful opening of the fault' happened later than the others? oh wait, but it can't be! since your father got out! and what happened to the other ~100 vaults? You'd think that if there was so many, we'd have run into more of them or at least communities that spawned from them, especially if Vault 101 was special in the sense that it was the last to open

 

[radnan]

yea i'm going to be a prick and be picky too ...

i demand the head of the copywriter on a platter
war. war never changes repetition -1 = makes the remark seem a little cheap - also makes it a bit like a country song.

wierd vault 101 focus - other then that its decent - might have worked a bit better if we didnt get to read it but just hear it when the game begins.

 

[Dagon]

For me it's OK, but we will have to listen to it not read it to judge it right.

 

[Pope Viper]

Hey, come on! Bethesda is making a game THEY want to play.

 

[Briosafreak]

It's ok

 

[Per]

I don't mind the repetition of "war never changes", but if we're gonna nitpick, the people of Vault 101 can't be excepted from those who emerged if they were never among them, the word "world" is overused in the second paragraph as pointed out by someone, and the words "psychotic rage" just don't set the right tone.

 

[Tora]

For me it's OK, but we will have to listen to it not read it to judge it right.

Its not like I'm judging the voice over. I'm judging the content. You don't really need to hear it to judge it. Granted it *could* make things *sound* better... but not by that much...

'Sides, I can pretty much imagine his voice reading this whole thing anyway... the voice is stuck in my head still from all those playthroughs.... OMG I still have this crazy thing called imagination!

I don't mind the repetition of "war never changes", but if we're gonna nitpick, the people of Vault 101 can't be excepted from those who emerged if they were never among them, the word "world" is overused in the second paragraph as pointed out by someone, and the words "psychotic rage" just don't set the right tone.

Ya, the psychotic rage part was prob in there because its reflective of FO3's L337 VIOLENCE.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

It's missing one of the intro trademarks: "Life in the XXX was about to change."

 

[Ausir]

It's missing one of the intro trademarks: "Life in the XXX was about to change."

Fallout 2 didn't have it in the final version (but it did have it in a previous version found in the game's files).

 

[Sorrow]

It's a pretty bad writing. Also, they have completely ignored the part about economical reasons for war that were highlighted both in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2.
The Great War didn't erupt because of "God", "justice" or "simple, psychotic rage", but because the world ran out of resources.

As usual, they missed the subtleties and intellectual content of Fallout.

 

[A.S.S.R.]

"War.
War never changes.
The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth.
Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory.
Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.
But war never changes.
In the 21st century, war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired.
Only this time, the spoils of war were also its weapons.
Petroleum and uranium.
For these resources, China would invade Alaska, the US would annex Canada, and the European Commonwealth would dissolve into quarreling, bickering nation-states, bent on controlling the last remaining resources on Earth.
In 2077, the storm of world war had come again.
In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders.
And from the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new civilization would struggle to arise.
A few were able to reach the relative safety of the large underground Vaults.
Your family was part of the group that entered Vault Thirteen.
Imprisoned safely behind the large Vault door, under a mountain of stone, a generation has lived without knowledge of the outside world.
Life in the Vault is about to change"

Reads a bit too familiar for me

Right down to using the "War, war never changes" line twice and the ominous description of sheltered vault life.

Between the super-mutants vs. BoS, the water motif (drinking = health and the treatment plant we saw in the concept art) and leaving the vault, this is starting to look more like a transplanted remake than a sequel.

- A.S.S.R.

 

[Morbus]

It's missing one of the intro trademarks: "Life in the XXX was about to change."

Instead of that, we have a dumb fuck gamemaster that doesn't know the player will leave the vault. Fire the guy, I want a good gamemaster.

 

[Per]

Between the super-mutants vs. BoS, the water motif (drinking = health and the treatment plant we saw in the concept art) and leaving the vault, this is starting to look more like a transplanted remake than a sequel.

But - but that's what people say we want!

 

[Sorrow]

"War.
War never changes.
The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth.
Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory.
Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.
But war never changes.
In the 21st century, war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired.
Only this time, the spoils of war were also its weapons.
Petroleum and uranium.
For these resources, China would invade Alaska, the US would annex Canada, and the European Commonwealth would dissolve into quarreling, bickering nation-states, bent on controlling the last remaining resources on Earth.
In 2077, the storm of world war had come again.
In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders.
And from the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new civilization would struggle to arise.
A few were able to reach the relative safety of the large underground Vaults.
Your family was part of the group that entered Vault Thirteen.
Imprisoned safely behind the large Vault door, under a mountain of stone, a generation has lived without knowledge of the outside world.
Life in the Vault is about to change"

Note how the intro talks about economical reasons of wars and how war was still fought for resources. That's an intelligent observation and is properly written.

 

[A.S.S.R.]

But - but that's what people say we want!

Funny, isn't it?

We get flack for wanting a continuation of the storyline a la VB, with the original mechanics intact.

As opposed to...a rehashing of motifs and plot elements, without the stylistic intricacies or much actual roleplaying.


@Sorrow: Beth's depiction of war can't have any actual motivation beyond "Psychotic Rage" or pure fanaticism. At least not while the allowing the PC to blast away at the bad people without a second thought to their rationale. Themes of historical materialism and ethical ambiguity apparently have no place in a genre of knights in shinning armour slaying evil-doers.

- A.S.S.R.

 

[Nim82]

The original was far better and informative, don't like the new wording at all. Seems like it was written for the uneducated masses (oh wait!).

The 'this is where you will die' line is also stupid, we know you go outside - it's pointless, FO's succinct 'Life in the vault is about change' line is a far better ending to an intro, meh.

 

[Sorrow]

"It is here you will die because, in Vault 101, no one ever enters and no one ever leaves"
I think that they should hire Vin Diesel instead of Ron Perlman.

 

[Vault 69er]

Fallout 3:

"But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world."

Fallout 2:

"The end of the world occurred pretty much as we had predicted."

 

[Briosafreak]

Fallout 3:

"But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world."

Fallout 2:

"The end of the world occurred pretty much as we had predicted."

I'm installing FO2 on my laptop and had a good laugh when I heard that, good catch.