Is fallout dry?

[NMLevesque]

If people are worried about the setting not being appropriately desolate, struggling, etc, then consider natural disasters. I think the Fallout world is surprisingly absent of them. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, contagions, pest plagues/invasive species, could all stall out progress or claw it back. Human history is full of decline that didn't require any of those things specifically. Then of course there are unnatural disasters and, since this is Fallout we're talking about, there are plenty of options. So I don't really get the issue vis a vis progress.

 

[Gizmojunk]

pest plagues/invasive species...

Ah yes, we could write a campaign about how the bombs ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe—and created TESseract rifts in the deep wastelands, where hoards of alternative humanity pour out; invading the land, and bringing their wildly alien priorities, and gaming preferences with them. Forever changing the game world into something quite other than it had always been; a dubious change for the worse.

 

[NMLevesque]

Ah yes, we could write a campaign about how the bombs ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe—and created TESseract rifts in the deep wastelands, where hoards of alternative humanity pour out; invading the land, and bringing their wildly alien priorities, and gaming preferences with them. Forever changing the game world into something quite other than it had always been; a dubious change for the worse.

....wat?

 

[BigGuyCIA]

Ah yes, we could write a campaign about how the bombs ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe—and created TESseract rifts in the deep wastelands, where hoards of alternative humanity pour out; invading the land, and bringing their wildly alien priorities, and gaming preferences with them. Forever changing the game world into something quite other than it had always been; a dubious change for the worse.

So basically the Witcher universe except it was nukes instead of magic.

 

[cratchety ol joe]

Hello (and a HNY to all! ::partyblower.wav:: ) I thought I'd chime in with one way I see the Fallout franchise not being a dumpster fire, please bear with me. Some of this is just bullshit pouring from my idle mind.

Fallout
What did I like about Fallout? I liked the unnerving re-entry of a sterile and forgotten old-world clashing with the broken and festered new-world. I like the journey of exploration that the vault dweller undertook and the introduction of what the new-world was all about. I liked FO2 (and to some extent New Vegas for the same reasons) because of the details of the adversarial growth of a new world, but with the definite undertone that the perils of the old-world would return and nothing would have changed creating a horrible concept that even after having faced extinction humanity is doomed to walk the same path as before.

I actually REALLY like the story of Tactics and think it's a very plausible (albeit misguided and underwritten) story... The Calculator, to me, is perhaps the most plausible foe of all the fallouts, and the threat it raises was (again; in my opinion) the most plausible and enjoyable stories - Even mankind's own attempts at preventing terrible things backfires and ends up itself becoming a threat! (again NV also fits into this paradox threat concept)

I played 3 and 4, so I guess that's a thing, I'm sure they both had stories but, meh.

okay intro and 'reasoning' played out here's what I personally think should have happened for a good fallout universe to be built

Non-Sequential Sequels
I get it, people like a story, people like the 'happy' feeling of seeing a well-known character and observing their progress and then their outcome, I get that there'has been recurrent characters like watching Friends; it's comfortable, you know who's who etc..

Fuck that noise.

I personally would like to have seen other Fallout games set in parallel to Fallout 1 and 2, within the same time period, but set in different area's each with NON-CONNECTED character completely disparate from the previous and with utterly different, but ultimately comparable stories, I want to bear witness to the (pun intended) Fallout of the old-world And in my opinion this is where Bethesda royally screwed the pooch.

The East coast should never have had mutants, or even the enclave, THOSE STORIES ARE DONE. Just as when Tactics made its mark, it had a new adversary which was a threat within its own area, so too should the east coast have its own story.

I'd have liked to have seen the US broken into sections (perhaps harkening to its actual early formative period). Each section facing a threat that could, even beyond the safety of the vaults, threaten to tip the edge of the survival of humans.

We've heard the story of the mid-west coast, the story of the central area but to me, the ACTUAL stories of the west coast have yet to be told, and then there are the northern or southern territories...

I'd like to see these places in 2160's I want to learn of their stories and what problems were actually faced as the vault dwellers emerged. But, that's just my 2 pence (yes, pence - I'm English, I don't use "cents") I'm my eyes such a range of stories (and their respective games) would have been a real well of opportunity, one I'd personally love to be able to explore into.

Dry as a dead Badgers arse in July.
Instead, we now have sequentially organised (but geographically challenged) sequels and prequels which all have EXACTLY the same components; Mutants - check, Enclave; check, Brotherhood - check... It's all been told, we've read those books, seen the screen adaptations and bought the T-shirts... and, well... it's boring content now.

Is Fallout dry? In its current state - YES

Could it still be revived, actually, I think with even some wiggle room of what my ideas are: YES ...

Do I expect Fallout to become reinvigorating - NO.

I think the franchise has been milked and hollowed by an uncaring uninspired developer and is entering possibly a 'dead horse' phase of its life which potentially may lead to Fallout just fading back into nothing, sure, 3 and 4 re-lit the torch, and yeah a new audience was found, but gaming is in a strange place right now and I don't think Fallout (in its current state) has what it takes to continue further.

</rant></scene>
You see: cratchety ol Joe shake his head dismissively.
You see: cratchety ol Joe leave through a door at the rear.

 

[Risewild]

Ah yes, we could write a campaign about how the bombs ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe—and created TESseract rifts in the deep wastelands, where hoards of alternative humanity pour out; invading the land, and bringing their wildly alien priorities, and gaming preferences with them. Forever changing the game world into something quite other than it had always been; a dubious change for the worse.

Is that a screenshot of the Unofficial Fallout 2 Patch made by Arthmoor?

 

[Gizmojunk]

No, just something I made a while back.

 

[naossano]

I am currently mind-blown by Fallout of Nevada...

 

[Alphons]

I am currently mind-blown by Fallout of Nevada...

I had the same experience. Main quest pay- off and ending slides for some locations dissapointed me heavily, other than that I was amused by it on every step.

 

[Octavian]

No lol, just do a full AU reboot. Lorecucks will never be pleased at this point anyway.

 

[Einhanderc7]

No lol, just do a full AU reboot. Lorecucks will never be pleased at this point anyway.

Great input Octavian, you sure do have firm control over the English lexicon. Just make sure you don't forget to put a coat on before you go outside, it's been cold out lately.

 

[naossano]

Like which ones?

for the classics :
Expansions : restoration project, megamod, global mod, Oblivion Lost (kind of a bastard between TC and expansion.)
Total Conversions finished and translated : Last Hope, fallout of nevada, resurrection 1.5, Shattered destiny.
Yet To be finished or translated : Olympus 2207, Sonora, Ardent's Mod, Mutant rising, Van Buren,What remains, Whispering Winds
Smaller ones : Here

for tactics : i intend to try Enclave Mod, Awaken and The Sum someday.

There are a ton of mods for the gamebryo sequels, but i don't seek for them atm. (doesn't mean they are bad)

If you count spiritual successors, there are more games, but i have yet to try them. I am thinking of Atom rpg, the Wasteland series, Underrail, the games by Iron Tower Studio. Kenshi is quite differrent, but i am definitely hyped. And, of course, the Outer Worlds deserves a mention if you loved New Vegas.

 

[The Doctor]

Fallout is whatever you make of it. Every game has its ups and downs, and a lot of people's fond memories come from the goofy things that they came across, either intentionally or by accident

 

[Gizmojunk]

Fallout is whatever you make of it.

Alas... Bethesda took that notion to heart.

I don't quite agree; there is player interpretation, but I would say that Fallout is linchpinned to the humor and sensibilities of its original developers, and Bethesda couldn't get it right even if they wished to try—for they don't understand it; and they don't want to. They wanted a way to reskin TES with the retro-post-Apocalypse, and the Fallout brand name.

On the odd chance that they really did want and intend to make a fitting Fallout sequel (which I don't believe for a minute)... then [IMO] it becomes a laughable parody of the development of the first two games, where the newly assigned developers didn't understand the concept of the setting, and had assumed it was 'Anything goes in wacky-land'—but with no one in a position to tell Bethesda that they were wrong.

 

[Octavian]

Great input Octavian, you sure do have firm control over the English lexicon. Just make sure you don't forget to put a coat on before you go outside, it's been cold out lately.

I'm dead serious. Do you really see them being able to unfuck the lore without mass retcons of lore and possibly even the retcons they already have? Starting from a blank slate also has a host of other advantages, like being able to create games more in tone with fallout 1 (rather in the society rebuilding template used by 2 and NV). Some people can advocate for major locational change, but Fallout's themes are rooted and intertwined in Cold War America, and because of Bethesda's decisions, so are its image and marketing.

Its about the gameplay being good more than anything. I'd find it hard to believe a game thats thematically in line with F1 or F2 and plays like or better than F1 or F2 (counting in game writing as part of gameplay because its an RPG) would not make a big splash with hardcore fans just because its screws the lore up a few times.

 

[Gizmojunk]

... like being able to create games more in tone with fallout 1

They are philosophically incapable of that. They don't intend to sell to people who would appreciate that. Pete Hines' own admission a while back, was that they would never choose to surprise the player; that every action be [pitifully] laid out for the player, to explain exactly what it means... (That they could not for instance take the water chip, without being explicitly told the outcome of doing that.)

They are making mass-market sandbox entertainment, geared solely for empowerment fantasy... That doesn't play well with surprises like killing the Necropolis Ghouls for unwittingly leaving them without a water source. You won't ever get a Fallout game from them—it's not profitable on the scale that they need to sell, in order to stay afloat as a company. It's also more difficult and risky to pull off.

 

[SquidWard]

On the odd chance that they really did want and intend to make a fitting Fallout sequel

I feel like they on some level tried with Fallout 3. I don't know if they were aiming for a "fitting Fallout sequel" or not but I think they were trying to do something with it. I don't know if they were attempting to appeal to older fans or just taking elements that they thought the new market would find cool. But they were trying to do something more along the lines of what they thought Fallout was with 3 than they were with 4. I'm not saying they did a good job at doing that though, because they surely didn't.

But I agree, they don't want anything besides power fantasy which has always been their goal. Look at Skyrim. The power fantasy is done poorly but you can tell that's what they wanted.