Gamebryo killed the Vault-Dweller Star

[Jakkar]

Once 'pon a time, a vault seemed a special thing. Considering the true name of Necropolis, envisioning the series of events that led to it becoming a city of the dead - studying The Glow and wondering at that similar architectural style. Revisiting Vault 13 in Fallout 2, and the long-awaited access to Vault City, if that was your inclination...

.. Now, although one of the highpoints of the modern games.. I can't help but feel that these numbers applied to the doors and jumpsuits of these endless Dungeon-vaults are somehow careless applied, for the sake of more content, regardless of ideas..

The notion saddens me. These numbers, now canonical, are numbers that can never be used to envision more richly detailed survival shelters in future incarnations of the brand. If this keeps up.. We might run out of vaults, at least in California. Fallout: New York just isn't catching my imagination.

 

[overtake]

Yeah, Something like that.
Only the Vault 11 was really pleasing. Vault 34 should had had more signs of the lifestyle there and the 22 was kind of predictable. GM getting out of hand. So fresh.

And for the 19 and 3, somehow I dont believe that raiders could just run over two vaults. The Vault 19 consept could have made a really good twisted adventure. Shame.

But I still got a wave of adrealine and endorfins each time I opened a vault door for the first time.

 

[Jakkar]

Needless to say, readers - SPOILER WARNING


It was Vault 34 I was exploring when I decided to re-register in the Fallout community and mention this,

Aye. I still get that excitement. I think 34 is my favourite in Vegas so far, though 22 was excellent - I think 22 technically wins out for having so much custom content, while 34 was something of a love-letter to Necropolis, but as such felt extremely repetitive - they should have used a lot of 'named', dialogue-ready ghouls instead of endless waves of spawning-ferals. The overseer was so lazily assembled, too ._.

The excitement is there, but.. It inevitably falls to disappointment. I think I blame the modular construction. Fallout's tile-based system could be repetitive - especially in Fallout 2 you'd notice entire sections of caves and tunnels obviously copypasted for some of the 'dungeon' zones like the Wanamingo Mines.. But it's nothing compared to the recognition of segments in the Gamebryo titles.

It doesn't feel like 'Vault Tek Standard', each Vault was too much of a unique architectural project. And the sheer number of roadblocks and 'false doors' full of rubble is just embarassing.

One thing I love 34 for - I found it alone, by dropping into the caves via the mine entrance on top of the mountain - without any hint from the quest available at the Sharecropper farms - consequently, it bugged and started the quest inside the vault without me having a clue what was going on.. But the atmosphere was thick, because at this point I had no companions and was barely able to hold off the Golden Geckos with my skills and armaments - and only fully explored Vault 34 on my third revisit, as I searched elsewhere in the Mojave for anti-radiation supplies and superior weapons for Ghoul crowd control.

That freedom to explore, plan, revisit, that felt a -lot- like Fallout. If only the dungeons weren't such obvious XP-holes..[/b]

EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention - I can't really weigh in on the other vaults you mentioned, sadly. I haven't explored them yet, or if I have, I've forgotten. Once I've really satisfied myself with Vegas I'll probably trawl the wiki a little to study the places I've been and things I've done and refresh my memory =)

 

[K.C. Cool]

I don't think the vaults translated well into the 3D world, or at least the Bethesda world. It lost some if its creepy "abandoned" charm. Obviously the 2Dness of the vaults in the original Fallouts allowed for some imagination to come into play and give a unique feeling. Or maybe it was the contrast. the player character came from a living/working vault and venturing to one in disarray.

Either way, I agree. Finding vaults in the originals sort of made me hold my breath as to what I might find, like opening a time capsule no one else has really ventured deep into. The only time I got that feeling was in New Vegas in Vault 3 when finding the untouched rooms behind locked doors, but at that point it was an unrewarding surprise rather than building anticipation.

I think finding a vault that you couldn't just casually open would have been cool, such as having the player character find some sort of old government "all clear" code to get in and finding that it is still a living, breathing, functioning vault. Having quests to expose the overseer or to convince the vault dwellers to leave or stay, something in contrast to the numerous beat up and unimaginative vaults in the game.

 

[Mojave Wolf]

IMO, the Sacrificial Chamber was Epic.

 

[Plautus]

IMO, the Sacrificial Chamber was Epic.

"Sacrificing yourself for the good of the community may not be as fun as driving a racecar, but it's just as important!""

 

[Makenshi]

I found Vault 22 on my own while wandering the montains, and the feeling was fucking ace.

"what's that down there? look like plants, wtf..."

"hey, I think it's a fucking oasis, that's cool! wait, what, there are some damn mantises... shoot them!"

Welcome to Vault 22

"whoa it's not a spring, it's a vault! holy hanna!"

Beware the plants, they eat people

"oh sh- the door is blasted, and look at this warning... this is exciting, can you feel it boyz?"

 

[LinkPain]

IMO, the Sacrificial Chamber was Epic.

"Sacrificing yourself for the good of the community may not be as fun as driving a racecar, but it's just as important!""

How the hell is that room always so neat with all the lead it was unloaded into her?
Did they clean it up before running away?

 

[PowahAwemah]

IMO, the Sacrificial Chamber was Epic.

"Sacrificing yourself for the good of the community may not be as fun as driving a racecar, but it's just as important!""

How the hell is that room always so neat with all the lead it was unloaded into her?
Did they clean it up before running away?

Those row-boats must have a clean up function.