Josh Sawyer speaks about a possible future Fallout

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Izak said:
I don't like the idea of Obsidian just making a new post-apocalyptic IP, the thing that makes Fallout (and Wasteland) great is it's rich lore and atmosphere, don't get me wrong Obsidian could almost certainly make another fantastic Apocalyptic IP with a deep story but it wouldn't be fallout and well, that's kind of the point.
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But what is exactly is "Fallout"?

The original game? It's been - what? - 15 years since it came out? Lots of stuff changed since then. Even Fallout 2 has many differences to it.
Fallout 3 and Bethesda's take in general are such a radical departure from previous games that they're basically only Fallout in name.
Fallout NV, the Obsidian's attempt to mix older games with Bethesda's style is cool, but again, different from everything before.
And what about Fallout Tactics? That one is semi-canon, right?

Series' lore has been butchered and retconned billion times. It's gameplay differs with every new title. It's setting also has stark changes in tone and the locations generally differ greatly, from game to game. Even the vibe of the games is different from one title to another. Hell, even the internal logic of the setting is not continuous.

So in the end, what exactly is Fallout? Is there some thin red line common to all these games except for the fact that it is post-apoc, that it has retro-futuristic elements to it, and several recurring factions?
If it's all it has to offer, than this franchise isn't much of a continuous one.


tl;dr

Fallout as a general term is an illusion. The franchise has taken so many forms by now that there is hardly anything common to all these games, and therefore, the term "Fallout" has largely lost its meaning.

A new franchise with a deep story, original elements and (hopefully) more consistence in the future made by Obsidian would be a godsend.
 
There's always been a stark contrast between Black Isle/Obsidian Fallout's and other developers take on the franchise. One of the great things that Micro Forte and Bethesda did is limit their effects on the franchise by moving their installments to different regional locations.
When I talk about Obsidian's hypothetical Fallout game I imagine another installment like NV, one that has basically no connection to the East coast and actually continues the recurring themes, stories and characters from beloved previous installments. If Obsidian continues to limit their Fallout's to the West then they can continue to build upon their Factions and lore without getting tangled up in the mess that is Bethesda's Fallout; at least that way they don't have to knock it all down and start from scratch.

Basically I want Obsidian to outright ignore the non-Obsidian Fallout's and continue on as thought NV was the actual Fallout 3, that way we get a series that isn't tainted by retcons and semi-canonicity.
 
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Izak said:
I don't like the idea of Obsidian just making a new post-apocalyptic IP, the thing that makes Fallout (and Wasteland) great is it's rich lore and atmosphere, don't get me wrong Obsidian could almost certainly make another fantastic Apocalyptic IP with a deep story but it wouldn't be fallout and well, that's kind of the point.
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You shouldn't be expecting another Fallout then. Just expect a new post-apoc cRPG and see where it goes. Besides, Fallout is practically ruined anyway. Aliens exist, magic exists, lore inconsistencies all over the place, broken lore are several places, the gameplay formula has been mutated into an abomination. Fallout under Bethesda isn't Fallout. Fallout as an ongoing series true to its formula/lore/design/philosophy is dead. So expecting another 'Fallout'-game is setting yourself up to be let down yet again.

It's over. Fallout's dead. All you can do is move on. A new IP that tries to do the Fallout thing but with a fresh start when it comes to lore would be a great thing to move on to.

Underrail is the most Fallout-y cRPG I've seen so far (Haven't played Age Of Decadence or Divinit: Original Sin yet) and it has really immersed me into its lore and gameplay. I've moved on to other cRPG's and if there's anything close to a spiritual successor to the formula and deep lore of Fallout then it'd be Underrail for me so I look forward to its future.

Yeah, it wouldn't be Fallout. But do you really think we'll ever get another real Fallout game while Bethesda holds it?
 
Mr Fish said:
You shouldn't be expecting another Fallout then. Just expect a new post-apoc cRPG and see where it goes. Besides, Fallout is practically ruined anyway. Aliens exist, magic exists, lore inconsistencies all over the place, broken lore are several places, the gameplay formula has been mutated into an abomination. Fallout under Bethesda isn't Fallout. Fallout as an ongoing series true to its formula/lore/design/philosophy is dead. So expecting another 'Fallout'-game is setting yourself up to be let down yet again.
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I kinda want to treat Bethesda's fallout's like the star wars prequels, stuff that you can completely ignore because they don't affect the good ones in any real way. As long as Bethesda stick to the East and admit their broken game mechanics we can have Obsidian Fallout's, although that is a long-shot :sad:
 
I rather agree with other posters here that as long as Bethesda owns the Fallout property that it would be pointless to have Obsidian make another Fallout game.
Whatever they come up with would always have to be approved by Bethesda to make sure that it does not clash with anything they have planned. And quite frankly their taste in game design and story telling sucks donkey balls, so they dictating better writers and designers what their game must be like is downright disgusting.

And yeah, sooner or later Bethesda's design will touch the West Coast, it is only a matter of time.

I really much like the Fallout franchise to continue with Fallout 1, 2, New Vegas (still would like Van Buren) with sequels building from those games.
But it is not going to happen so I rather see the franchise die that continuously being 'improved' by Bethesda.
 
I'm avoiding being overly hopeful, but there is the fact that Bethesda allowed Obsidian to do as they pleased with New Vegas and the Fallout 3 engine. I know ideally that a future Obsidian Fallout would go back to the skills system and the original perk system, and that such changes would be greater than the changes in the character system from 3 to New Vegas, but I think we should encourage the idea of players accepting that Bethesda and Obsidian games are vastly different takes on the series with their own mechanics not shared by the other. If this consensus is accepted by both fans and the developers, then both kinds of Fallout games can coexist. We can be happy with Obsidian's greater complexity in their mechanics, and Bethfans can be happy with Bethesda's "streamlined" mechanics.
 
ZigzagPX4 said:
I know the video compliments depth, but I feel like a lot of the examples prove that sometimes it is unnecessary.
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Depth isn't what people normally refer to as complexity. Either way I don't see how designing a game with the intent giving little to no depth is a good idea.

The Dutch Ghost said:
As for intelligence capping skill levels and such, not really a fan of that to be honest but that is my taste.
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Not just Intelligence but low Intelligence has bigger draw-back for the skills. The idea is also giving chems more impact. In OWB, I drank a Large Wasteland Whiskey but my character's Science was high enough for me to still past the skill check. If your character is drunk, he can't hack. If your character is not that smart, he needs to take a Mentat and read skill magazine to pass the skill check.

The Dutch Ghost said:
Whatever they come up with would always have to be approved by Bethesda to make sure that it does not clash with anything they have planned.
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They called Fallout: New Vegas a side story.

Practicat said:
If this consensus is accepted by both fans and the developers, then both kinds of Fallout games can coexist.
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That is not happening.
 
CaptJ said:
They called Fallout: New Vegas a side story.
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Sorry for bringing up this old cliche again but it feels more as a sequel than Fallout 3 and 4 do.
If anything, they are the side stories as events in them don't affect the world that much at all.
 
If Obsidian is forced by Bethesda to not include a skills system in their hypothetical game, then yeah, they are better off refusing the offer right there, and let Fallout remain dead under Bethesda.

But who knows? Maybe Obsidian would be granted the kind of freedom they had when making New Vegas.
 
Practicat said:
If Obsidian is forced by Bethesda to not include a skills system in their hypothetical game, then yeah, they are better off refusing the offer right there, and let Fallout remain dead under Bethesda.
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They could cheat and just rework the perk system to be a skill system in all but name. I mean, 10 perks per skill, subdivide it into 2 sub-perks, and you have 20 points of granularity. Since New Vegas never had any skill checks that were not multiples of 5, a 20 point scale is enough to reproduce that exactly.

The downside is that you'd have to tie what perks people have more closely to their skill ranks, but it's doable.
 
Practicat said:
But who knows? Maybe Obsidian would be granted the kind of freedom they had when making New Vegas.
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I thought that Bethesda were strict when it came to the development of NV. Wasn't that the reason the Legion weren't developed all that much or was that because of the time constraints?
 
Izak said:
I thought that Bethesda were strict when it came to the development of NV. Wasn't that the reason the Legion weren't developed all that much or was that because of the time constraints?
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It was probably time constraints. As much as New Vegas tries to ignore Fallout 3, it had to live its lore fuck ups. In Fallout 2, the people made a big deal about drinking radioactive water. In Fallout: New Vegas, everybody drinks a little of it. There is also the pre-war food being edible and Nuka-Cola suddenly becoming radioactive. It is like radiation in FO3, FO:NV, and FO4 is merged with filth. Why is there so much irradiate water?
 
CaptJ said:
It was probably time constraints. As much as New Vegas tries to ignore Fallout 3, it had to live its lore fuck ups. In Fallout 2, the people made a big deal about drinking radioactive water. In Fallout: New Vegas, everybody drinks a little of it. There is also the pre-war food being edible and Nuka-Cola suddenly becoming radioactive. It is like radiation in FO3, FO:NV, and FO4 is merged with filth. Why is there so much irradiate water?
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Well, technically, it's contaminated water that gets irradiated the easiest, I think. Something about the water not actually being the part that gets irradiated, but the solids in them that make up the impurity of the water is what gets irradiated. After all, not even bottled drinking water from today is 100% pure. Feel free to correct me on any of these facts.
 
Mr Fish said:
They have, with Mr Cornflake and the magical subterran city in the Mojave.
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They thankfully played it safe with Kellogg, and referred to the major factions already known like the NCR and Shi without adding anything new, probably due to not wanting to interfere with the lore on the west coast.
 
Mr Fish said:
>_>
Magic subterran city tho.
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Cabot locked his father in a mental asylum for centuries, let's just say that the entire family's insane and that everything they said about the Mojave were the ramblings of mad men.
 
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Hahah, "Mr Cornflake", I had not heard that one yet.
Now I insist someone makes a mod in which the model of Kellog is replaced with a fully animated Captain Crunch, or at least Kellog dressed as Captain Crunch. (wish we could add new voice texts such as Kellog saying 'arrr' or 'I'm the captain' during his regular speech)
 
I think at this point Bethesda needs Obsidian to make the next game.

FO 4 was a dud and it only sold because of the success of 3 and NV. Even the FO 3 fanboys know its bad. Bethesda needs the next game in the series to be solid or they risk tarnishing the brand forever in the eyes of the masses.

Obsidian is a known quantity, you can count on them to produce a good fallout game. If they do it themselves or sub it to someone else they are taking a major risk. The smart business move here is to get the series back on track.

However if they do continue to run the series in to the ground it wont be worth much and Obsidian might be able to buy it from them
 
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