I've beat the game twice, and both times that city was a bit of a turn off for me. It is possible though that i've never explored its lore, so i would like anwers to my questions even if they come out as critisism.
1. Why is everyone in the city so advanced technologically ? These people are selling tesla power armors and gauss riffles in their stores, when the people of new reno for example don't even know what a power armor looks like.
2. What's the deal with the hubologists and their fight with the shi? I couldn't find enough info on the fallout wiki and neither on the game itself though i've never joined the hubbologists. I would really like to know more about them. And again why are they so advanced? These guys make the brotherhood look silly and now that i mention it
3. Shouldn't the brotherhood have a problem with the hubologists and with guys that are selling power armors and energy weapons to any tribal with money?
4.Since the residents of San Fransisco apparently are so technologically advanced, why aren't they major players in fallout 2 politics? Vault City and NCR both are creating small empires and even though they're written as advanced places, it all falls apart when the player reaches SF. Is SF isolated? Do other cities ignore its existence? Again, it is not clear to me.
1. Beyond concrete explanations, I think that the idea was to present a glimpse of hope in the overall darkness. To show that, even without interference from the old world or a savior, one community, by itself, managed to rise from the ashes, forget about the past and has started to build a new, promising future. To show that it is actually possible. It may not have really worked, since the place is indeed a little bit rushed in terms of writing, but I think that the general idea is interesting. Show the future, a good future, at the moment it gets birthed into this brutal world. And since it's usually the last city you see before meeting with the Enclave, it offers a good contrast. It hints that the Enclave, despite having sci fi tech, is freaking wrong and still in the past. Because the world can heal in time, as demonstrated by the last city you saw.
2. No idea. I think it's a bit silly, and the hubologists have too much screen time and content, while they should have stayed a more subtle joke.
3. Yup, but same reason why they believe in tribal legends. They are on the verge of returning to what they always fought : the past. They are a relic, and they are starting to become what they always feared. Tribals, mere looters, believers of local superstitions. The idea of showing it, while surrounded by the new, stable and bright future of the Shis, is interesting, but again, a bit rushed and not very well exploited.
That, or as Valcik said, maybe it was Matt's final middle finger to Horrigan. A last troll of honor.
4. Again, it was probably the idea, but never made it into the game. I would have loved to see more interactions with the outside world and SF too. Even make it pretty clear that this is now a City-state, with its own territory, independent from the NCR. Caravan traders would have been a good way to explain that, if you took the job of protecting caravans from the NCR to SF, but well.
San Fran is one of the delicate subjects of Fallout 2. It had great potential, amazing ideas that were probably intended to be expanded a little more, but probably due to planning issues, it never truly lived to its ambition. I still enjoyed the place for what it was though, especially the tanker, and these are games that leave a lot to your own interpretation and imagination, so it's not an issue for me. Players can fill the gaps easier than with a next gen FPS, where what you see is what the world is.
