Is fallout dry?

[The Dutch Ghost]

Yes currently Fallout has run dry because of reasons mentioned here regarding how Bethesda is handling the franchise. Like a lot of other companies running franchises/IPs Bethesda Game Studios think Fallout is all about constantly repeating certain elements where ever a new game is set next.

Would I advocate a full reboot in order to give the franchise its vitality back? Well I am of course an old fan so I will say no. Keep Fallout 1, 2 (and New Vegas canon. Parts of Tactics maybe) but discard everything that Bethesda has put into the franchise since.

Do I think that a new Fallout 3/4/5 should be set in the Core region? No I think like others here that it might be better to go to regions that have not had any attention yet, and not necessarily in a time period set after Fallout 1/2/NV.
We have seen enough of the BOS, the Super Mutants, NCR etc (Vaults, items and pre war references can be used though). A new region would give room for new faces and allow players to see how other parts of North America started to be rebuild by survivors and their descendants.

I don't agree with MCA that the only way to preserve the post apocalyptic feeling of Fallout was to have another nuclear holocaust. A cool theme for an endgame but it is little different from Bethesda's "Despite all the time that has passed the world feels like the war only happened twenty years ago."

There is of course a set time in which the Fallout world can maintain the post apocalyptic/post-post-apocalyptic feel before it has recovered to much and becomes civilized again.
I also don't think that the Fallout franchise was meant to have dozens of titles; main games and spin off titles.

Of course that won't stop Bethesda.

Until Bethesda lets go of the IP commercial wise the franchise is as dead as the dodo.

 

[wanamingo89790]

Yes currently Fallout has run dry because of reasons mentioned here regarding how Bethesda is handling the franchise. Like a lot of other companies running franchises/IPs Bethesda Game Studios think Fallout is all about constantly repeating certain elements where ever a new game is set next.

Would I advocate a full reboot in order to give the franchise its vitality back? Well I am of course an old fan so I will say no. Keep Fallout 1, 2 (and New Vegas canon. Parts of Tactics maybe) but discard everything that Bethesda has put into the franchise since.

Do I think that a new Fallout 3/4/5 should be set in the Core region? No I think like others here that it might be better to go to regions that have not had any attention yet, and not necessarily in a time period set after Fallout 1/2/NV.
We have seen enough of the BOS, the Super Mutants, NCR etc (Vaults, items and pre war references can be used though). A new region would give room for new faces and allow players to see how other parts of North America started to be rebuild by survivors and their descendants.

I don't agree with MCA that the only way to preserve the post apocalyptic feeling of Fallout was to have another nuclear holocaust. A cool theme for an endgame but it is little different from Bethesda's "Despite all the time that has passed the world feels like the war only happened twenty years ago."

There is of course a set time in which the Fallout world can maintain the post apocalyptic/post-post-apocalyptic feel before it has recovered to much and becomes civilized again.
I also don't think that the Fallout franchise was meant to have dozens of titles; main games and spin off titles.

Of course that won't stop Bethesda.

Until Bethesda lets go of the IP commercial wise the franchise is as dead as the dodo.

my expectation: it will be at least 10 years until another fallout, if there is one it will probably be the last bethesda one. After which they're either gonna leave it dead or years later, sell the rights.

 

[KingArthur]

my expectation: it will be at least 10 years until another fallout, if there is one it will probably be the last bethesda one. After which they're either gonna leave it dead or years later, sell the rights.

I wish I couldn’t say I see this happening, but it’s plausible.

 

[SquidWard]

I also don't think it would be financially viable to take Fallout back to its roots as an isometric, turn-based RPG. The game series has become synonymous with being an open-world action-RPG.

I would agree but if you could acquire the IP at a very low cost, you could reasonably just sell to a more niche market like inXile and Obsidian had with their kickstarting games. I kinda wish Fallout had been that. Something that was sold at a relatively low cost and the company that held it had kickstarters to make new isometric-esque RPGs with it. It could be financially viable but it wouldn't be financially viable from a AAA publisher's standpoint. They stand to make more money than that. The low to middle tier people could do it because they'll only make so much money anyway.

 

[Black Angel]

Sequels don't have to come after previous titles chronologically. Any game set in a new location wouldn't be a prequel if the plot lines don't intersect. The lore of each region should be developed across the first few centuries. So long as it expands overall, rather than being perpetually replaced through retcons, then Fallout would be rehydrated. If said lore is well written then the number of contenders for best Fallout will only grow. Neither is likely to happen.

It already happened, though.

See: Fallout 1.5: Resurrection and Fallout of Nevada.

 

[Einhanderc7]

To be honest I'm currently of the perspective that I hope Bethesda completely obfuscates the IP to the point that the trademark is cancelled.

Why? Public Domain WOO!

At their current rate we won't even have to wait all that long. It's like the oil fields in Kuwait during Desert Storm, they're just burning their resources waiting for hostilities to cease for company to come cap them off.

However I find myself wondering, is it possible to start a kickstarter to obtain the funds to outright purchase the intellectual property from Bethesda? If they keep sabotaging the brand the asking price should significantly drop.

Imagine if you can the rights of the Fallout IP in the hands of NMA, and from there licensing to whomever NMA wants to develop a Fallout title. I know this is only wild wishful thinking, but we're allowed to have our fantasies right?

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Why? Public Domain WOO!

A very long time in the future until the Intellectual Property rights on Fallout run out. Didn't Disney's lawyers help extend it with several more decades?

Imagine if you can the rights of the Fallout IP in the hands of NMA, and from there licensing to whomever NMA wants to develop a Fallout title. I know this is only wild wishful thinking, but we're allowed to have our fantasies right?

I think we would still fight among each other on what constitutes Fallout if we as a group could collectively buy the franchise.

 

[SquidWard]

I think we would still fight among each other on what constitutes Fallout if we as a group could collectively buy the franchise.

We definitely would. I'm not old enough to have been around but didn't people have issues with Fallout 2? That there makes me know that we'd disagree plenty enough without even going towards the action-RPG spectrum.

I guess we'll all always disagree on it. There's a point of compromise though where I feel most of us would enjoy. If you add in the very real context that we've been dealing with Bethesda's Fallout, we'd likely be more inclined to get along about a back to the roots styled Fallout even if it isn't exactly what we'd want.

 

[Einhanderc7]

We definitely would. I'm not old enough to have been around but didn't people have issues with Fallout 2? That there makes me know that we'd disagree plenty enough without even going towards the action-RPG spectrum.

I guess we'll all always disagree on it. There's a point of compromise though where I feel most of us would enjoy. If you add in the very real context that we've been dealing with Bethesda's Fallout, we'd likely be more inclined to get along about a back to the roots styled Fallout even if it isn't exactly what we'd want.

At least there would be some actual oversight and a discussion rather than "It just works".

Yeah, Disney did completely screw everyone with their lobbying to "reform" intellectual property rights laws. We should make some noise to try and get that repealed. However an IP can enter the public domain if the IP holder violates its use or genericizes the brand.

 

[Black Angel]

You know what would be better? Fuck what other people think, and start making your own mods for the Fallout games. I actually don't care if you're going to use Fallout 1&2's engine or NV's Gamebryo, so long as it's faithful to source material or at least inspired enough to even make me go, "Woah! That should totally be canon!", then I'll enjoy it.

The only reason why I don't care much for Gamebryo in comparison to Fallout 1&2's engine is because we already have 2 translated great TC mods, Fallout 1.5: Resurrection and Fallout of Nevada, that felt like their own game, which greatly use the engine to its maximum potential (or perhaps the engine have even more! As can be seen from Nevada adding some quality of life feature like item tabs for inventory, though its function can be glitchy at times), and there's still Olympus 2207 still in translation, Mutants Rising still in-progress, Fallout Sonora, and thankfully fanmade Van Buren was picked up by hexer again last time he showed up in the Codex, which is not too long ago. There's also other, smaller TC mod that's totally playable, even though they're too short for my taste.

Meanwhile, what do we have with Gamebryo? There's at least quests mods, I don't yet have good enough PC to accommodate installing those quests mods, but the TC mods for NV so far weren't exactly faithful to source material (I remembered there's a lot of stupid shit that they added into Fallout: New California), or just plain uninspired (DUST is actually cool in regards of making an alternate version of Post-Second Battle Mojave where things just go to shit, but it being survival simulator aren't exactly Fallout-y in my book. Same with Fallout Frontier, being full-fledged shooter is just not my cup of tea, especially since New Vegas aren't really that fun to play as a shooter).

Also, wait, what? What's up with Disney reforming IP laws? It's news to me.

 

[wanamingo89790]

You know what would be better? Fuck what other people think, and start making your own mods for the Fallout games. I actually don't care if you're going to use Fallout 1&2's engine or NV's Gamebryo, so long as it's faithful to source material or at least inspired enough to even make me go, "Woah! That should totally be canon!", then I'll enjoy it.

The only reason why I don't care much for Gamebryo in comparison to Fallout 1&2's engine is because we already have 2 translated great TC mods, Fallout 1.5: Resurrection and Fallout of Nevada, that felt like their own game, which greatly use the engine to its maximum potential (or perhaps the engine have even more! As can be seen from Nevada adding some quality of life feature like item tabs for inventory, though its function can be glitchy at times), and there's still Olympus 2207 still in translation, Mutants Rising still in-progress, Fallout Sonora, and thankfully fanmade Van Buren was picked up by hexer again last time he showed up in the Codex, which is not too long ago. There's also other, smaller TC mod that's totally playable, even though they're too short for my taste.

Meanwhile, what do we have with Gamebryo? There's at least quests mods, I don't yet have good enough PC to accommodate installing those quests mods, but the TC mods for NV so far weren't exactly faithful to source material (I remembered there's a lot of stupid shit that they added into Fallout: New California), or just plain uninspired (DUST is actually cool in regards of making an alternate version of Post-Second Battle Mojave where things just go to shit, but it being survival simulator aren't exactly Fallout-y in my book. Same with Fallout Frontier, being full-fledged shooter is just not my cup of tea, especially since New Vegas aren't really that fun to play as a shooter).

Also, wait, what? What's up with Disney reforming IP laws? It's news to me.

yeah like some kinda organized modding canon, i think they're already doing that with new california-new vegas-the frontier but the lore in new california was a bit wack and i can imagine the same with the frontier (great fucking mods tho). Right now, all I can imagine in that canon would be ressurection and nevada, never played them but apparently they're great, the someguy series too, and maybe cascadia depending on if its actually gonna be proper good. Oh and fallout zero, that mod is great but was never finished unfortunately, although its self contained enough that it probably wouldnt have an effect on the overall lore. And of course all bethesda games wouldn't be included.

 

[Einhanderc7]

If I had the time, I would make a Fallout game/mod in Source. There would be no open world, but a system of travel just like the originals.

Sadly I don't have the time, nor the funds to support such an endeavor. Therefore all my eggs are firmly in the basket of hoping Bethesda Games Studios screws up so bad that their business goes under.

That would be interesting...

 

[NMLevesque]

It already happened, though.

See: Fallout 1.5: Resurrection and Fallout of Nevada.

If you say so. I've never seen a story mod that wasn't kind of meh. (fixed typo)

 

[zegh8578]

My five cents I've said them before, I can repeat:
The Fallout narrative lends itself poorly to sequels upon sequels.
In Fallout (1) you, the player, witness the rebuilding of society. Allready from the getgo you are treated by kind of a surprise, in that you are led to believe the world is wild, unruly and hostile, but you find Shady Sands almost right away, complete with city walls, administration, agriculture, order and prosperity (and how prosperous it will remain, we all know too well!)
Eventually, you are given an impression of de facto city states, that trade and interact. Society is basically as developed as ancient Greece, this is miles beyond a "wild, unruly, barren wasteland"

By Fallout 2 we have - not only functioning infrastructure, but active maintanance. We have parks and lawns and actual federative states emerging, controlling large territories, civilizing the lands.

From here on out, the next step could be something like a... "futuristic medieval" theme, with large rebuilt cities, no scrap, no "junktowns", but actual functioning cities, suburbs, rural lands, and instead of bandits, raids and mutated monsters, there would instead be nation states at war. This is kind of what New Vegas gives you.

Beyond that, I don't really see the point. You'd have to FORCE back the element of nuclear war and utter destruction. And, well, that's what the sequels are doing.

 

[Nirv]

You know what would be better? Fuck what other people think, and start making your own mods for the Fallout games. I actually don't care if you're going to use Fallout 1&2's engine or NV's Gamebryo, so long as it's faithful to source material or at least inspired enough to even make me go, "Woah! That should totally be canon!", then I'll enjoy it.

The only reason why I don't care much for Gamebryo in comparison to Fallout 1&2's engine is because we already have 2 translated great TC mods, Fallout 1.5: Resurrection and Fallout of Nevada, that felt like their own game, which greatly use the engine to its maximum potential (or perhaps the engine have even more! As can be seen from Nevada adding some quality of life feature like item tabs for inventory, though its function can be glitchy at times), and there's still Olympus 2207 still in translation, Mutants Rising still in-progress, Fallout Sonora, and thankfully fanmade Van Buren was picked up by hexer again last time he showed up in the Codex, which is not too long ago. There's also other, smaller TC mod that's totally playable, even though they're too short for my taste.

Meanwhile, what do we have with Gamebryo? There's at least quests mods, I don't yet have good enough PC to accommodate installing those quests mods, but the TC mods for NV so far weren't exactly faithful to source material (I remembered there's a lot of stupid shit that they added into Fallout: New California), or just plain uninspired (DUST is actually cool in regards of making an alternate version of Post-Second Battle Mojave where things just go to shit, but it being survival simulator aren't exactly Fallout-y in my book. Same with Fallout Frontier, being full-fledged shooter is just not my cup of tea, especially since New Vegas aren't really that fun to play as a shooter).

Also, wait, what? What's up with Disney reforming IP laws? It's news to me.

I also have not been very content with the total conversions for New Vegas. FO:NC and the Frontier both do not catch my interest in the slightest. Their focuses are different from what I desire in a New Vegas mod. I have been interested in trying Autumn Leaves, but I have yet to play it it. I've also heard good things about Salt Lake Stories, but I don't know much about it.

I have considered trying to look into FNV modding; I've used the GECK a little bit and it doesn't seem too difficult. I've had a few ideas for a while now too.

 

[Alphons]

Fallout will never get dry, as long as we get games like Resurrection or Nevada.

As to New California- authors several times said that it was going to be fanon mod. If it's fun to play (I have yet to see), I'll have no problem with lore incosistency.

I've also heard good things about Salt Lake Stories, but I don't know much about it.

Really great mod. In alternate ending to Honest Hearts you get to explore various settlements around the Salt Lake. What I really liked is that authors made the travel system just like in classic Fallouts- you travel between hubs using your car. Locations are very well designed as authors could focus on them without making the world between them. Quests and solutions are varied, voice acting is mostly OK (though I remember one crappy) and there is a lot of lore regarding trade around the Salt Lake, fall of New Canaan and new factions in the region. You also meet a character from Fallout 2. Only thing (outside of that one VA) negative thing I can say about it is that authors got burned out a bit near the end and cut out some mentioned locations. You can still visit them on world map, but can't enter them (for example ruins of SLC, ruins of New Canaan and settlement with casinos and mob- Wenbury I think).

 

[KingArthur]

yeah like some kinda organized modding canon, i think they're already doing that with new california-new vegas-the frontier but the lore in new california was a bit wack and i can imagine the same with the frontier (great fucking mods tho). Right now, all I can imagine in that canon would be ressurection and nevada, never played them but apparently they're great, the someguy series too, and maybe cascadia depending on if its actually gonna be proper good. Oh and fallout zero, that mod is great but was never finished unfortunately, although its self contained enough that it probably wouldnt have an effect on the overall lore. And of course all bethesda games wouldn't be included.

In terms of organized mod-canon, the Someguy Series for NV did this. If you haven’t played the mods in that series, I HIGHLY recommend doing so. The voice acting is good (usually), the stories range from being about bounty hunting to helping escaped Legion slaves, and the gameplay is actually really fun and varied; in the bounty hunting series, for example, each bounty target has their own “thing”, like the usual “lots of enemies around one main target” cliche to a scarily accurate NCR sniper-turned-mass murderer-because-syphilis, forcing you to either sneak or use diverting items like flashbangs from Lonesome Road, or move from cover to cover.

Then there’s King of the Ring, which is a boxing mod that calls to mind the Become a Prizefighter storyline from F2.

But yeah, I highly recommend the Someguy Series for NV. Good shit.

 

[Nirv]

Fallout will never get dry, as long as we get games like Resurrection or Nevada.

As to New California- authors several times said that it was going to be fanon mod. If it's fun to play (I have yet to see), I'll have no problem with lore incosistency.



Really great mod. In alternate ending to Honest Hearts you get to explore various settlements around the Salt Lake. What I really liked is that authors made the travel system just like in classic Fallouts- you travel between hubs using your car. Locations are very well designed as authors could focus on them without making the world between them. Quests and solutions are varied, voice acting is mostly OK (though I remember one crappy) and there is a lot of lore regarding trade around the Salt Lake, fall of New Canaan and new factions in the region. You also meet a character from Fallout 2. Only thing (outside of that one VA) negative thing I can say about it is that authors got burned out a bit near the end and cut out some mentioned locations. You can still visit them on world map, but can't enter them (for example ruins of SLC, ruins of New Canaan and settlement with casinos and mob- Wenbury I think).

I'll definitely try it for my next playthrough then; thanks!

 

[Gizmojunk]

You know what would be better? Fuck what other people think, and start making your own mods for the Fallout games. I actually don't care if you're going to use Fallout 1&2's engine or NV's Gamebryo, so long as it's faithful to source material or at least inspired enough to even make me go, "Woah! That should totally be canon!", then I'll enjoy it.

Brand damage. The only way we could do it is with total conversion mods that use Bethesda's game, in accordance with their GECK Eula—at least until they put in a New Vegas clause, about not besting them with their own engine.

I remember reading something about a couple of guys doing airbrush T-shirts in a Florida mall (IRRC), and they sold a few Giger Alien designs... And the studio sued them not only for all of their sales, but afterwards for damages. Bethesda does allow for modding the games, and AFAIK that includes the use of the IP within their running product. It might be possible to redesign and/or add some behaviors, and gut the story. People could buy the game when it is on sale, and install the conversion mod to play it.

**The only reason I bought DOOM3, was to test out the Ground Zero mod.

Spoiler

 

[wanamingo89790]

voice acting is mostly OK (though I remember one crappy) and there is a lot of lore regarding trade around the Salt Lake, fall of New Canaan and new factions in the region. You also meet a character from Fallout 2. Only thing (outside of that one VA) negative thing I can say about it is that authors got burned out a bit near the end and cut out some mentioned locations. You can still visit them on world map, but can't

My five cents I've said them before, I can repeat:
The Fallout narrative lends itself poorly to sequels upon sequels.
In Fallout (1) you, the player, witness the rebuilding of society. Allready from the getgo you are treated by kind of a surprise, in that you are led to believe the world is wild, unruly and hostile, but you find Shady Sands almost right away, complete with city walls, administration, agriculture, order and prosperity (and how prosperous it will remain, we all know too well!)
Eventually, you are given an impression of de facto city states, that trade and interact. Society is basically as developed as ancient Greece, this is miles beyond a "wild, unruly, barren wasteland"

By Fallout 2 we have - not only functioning infrastructure, but active maintanance. We have parks and lawns and actual federative states emerging, controlling large territories, civilizing the lands.

From here on out, the next step could be something like a... "futuristic medieval" theme, with large rebuilt cities, no scrap, no "junktowns", but actual functioning cities, suburbs, rural lands, and instead of bandits, raids and mutated monsters, there would instead be nation states at war. This is kind of what New Vegas gives you.

Beyond that, I don't really see the point. You'd have to FORCE back the element of nuclear war and utter destruction. And, well, that's what the sequels are doing.

You could make a game focused on decline in society. Set it within the ncr long after the events of new vegas and make the setting similar to children of men where theres a complete fracture between separate groups within an oppressive state and its leading to outright anarchy and war. It would be different from the originals but would bring fallout full circle, and cement the whole war never changes thing in our minds. Although now that I think about it new vegas kind of does this.