On the atmosphere of Fallout 2...

[woo1108]

I heard one of producer of Fallout 1 said that they was intended to make Fallout as a sequel of Wasteland but since they don't have right of Wasteland(because of EA), they made stand alone game Fallout.

and they used lots of method of Wasteland too.

 

[Wumbology]

I had figured that Hakunin's appearances in your dream was just your subconscious urging you to find the GECK and save your home.

It would make an awful lot more sense than psychic powers, and as for the info being stored on the Pip-Boy, that could be shrugged aside as abstraction. (Because really, what are any of those scenes doing on the Pip-Boy?)

 

[Oppen]

I can accept Hakunin abilites, but I can't acces how powerfull they are.
Master could only use his power, on everybody in his ROOM, Hakunin however, can send some message to Chosen One, who is in every part of north Core Region.
Also, I'm wonder when Hakunin and FEV met themselves.

I was talking about Melchior's powers, not Hakunin's. I have no explanation for them, and I agree with you that even if it were by FEV (how?), they are too overpowered.

I always thought that what was implied by Melchior was that he was tossing little creatures into the FEV and that they were mutating and coming after you. As far as lore contradictions go, I think "it's magic" would actually be preferable to that.

Master didn't spawned super mutants from air, they just came from other parts of Vault, you know, someone is attacking their boss, and they're going to help him. It's sometimes little silly, if they actually show up 1 hex from you, well, blame engine.

I think that part is up to interpretation, since in every other case in Fallout, enemies didn't just appear at your side without explanation.

I had figured that Hakunin's appearances in your dream was just your subconscious urging you to find the GECK and save your home.

It would make an awful lot more sense than psychic powers, and as for the info being stored on the Pip-Boy, that could be shrugged aside as abstraction. (Because really, what are any of those scenes doing on the Pip-Boy?)

That would make sense, except the last one is actually proved in-game that it's a message from Hakunin. Your subconscious have no way to know there's something going on on the village, when the Enclave take them.

 

[SnapSlav]

I can accept Hakunin abilites, but I can't acces how powerfull they are.
Master could only use his power, on everybody in his ROOM, Hakunin however, can send some message to Chosen One, who is in every part of north Core Region.
Also, I'm wonder when Hakunin and FEV met themselves.

I had figured that Hakunin's appearances in your dream was just your subconscious urging you to find the GECK and save your home.

It would make an awful lot more sense than psychic powers, and as for the info being stored on the Pip-Boy, that could be shrugged aside as abstraction. (Because really, what are any of those scenes doing on the Pip-Boy?)

That would make sense, except the last one is actually proved in-game that it's a message from Hakunin. Your subconscious have no way to know there's something going on on the village, when the Enclave take them.

The final message from Hakunin is the same whether you leave Vault 13 with the GECK or you take too damn long to find the GECK before you ever reach Vault 13. It's a gameplay direction choice, not a game-world breaking direction. The Chosen One didn't hear Hakunin's desperation, canonically, solely once the Enclave laid waste to Arroyo, but the visions of Hakunin, canonically, were left ambiguous. Like Wumbology, I interpreted the visions to be of The Chosen One's own doing, not actual "powers" of Hakunin's, only I took it another step further and believed that, given The Chosen One's dialog options when dealing with Hakunin, they were perhaps a bit deeper than that. Like, childhood trauma and life-long mental scars deeper... XD

 

[Wumbology]

I'm partial to agree with Slav- Hakunin doesn't say "The Enclave are killing us." Or the "evil warriors" tribal variation thereof. He just says they are dying and need the Chosen One desperately.

 

[shihonage]

Fallout 1 is serious and dark.

it sure is

In later games this kind of wacky content stopped being easter eggs and became commonplace. That is the key difference, and it is a big one.

 

[SnapSlav]

I'm partial to agree with Slav

Well, that certainly stands to reason, seeing as I did outline in the middle of my point that my take on it was not far removed from yours. =J

In later games this kind of wacky content stopped being easter eggs and became commonplace. That is the key difference, and it is a big one.

While true, another important distinction, which many of the FO2 critics seem to overlook, is that there's a difference between whackiness taking place in the core game and whackiness taking place in the non-canonical areas (such as Special Encounters). While it's absolutely true that FO2 had many more "atmospherically breaking" instances of comedy than its predecessor, was it all contained within the core, canonical game? No.

Although it's certainly true that a considerable deal of it was, such as the "Easter Egg" encounter inside the Broken Hills mine, or T-Ray's dialog with the PC if she happens to be female and happens to seduce him (as well as his subsequent "death" if you keep doing so), and the names of the porn stars advocating Hubology, and Hubology itself. Yes, the list goes on. There was a good deal of instances of such Fourth Wall breaking moments outside of special and hidden encounters, but they were still all very circumstantial and quite well-hidden. How many players were aware of the South Park reference with T-Ray without it being brought to their attention by Per's Ultimate Guide, or other players who learned of it from the same? Most would have never found that reference, just like most would never find the Secret Transaction through the Wright children rather than finishing the Salvatore questline.

While there were indeed all atmosphere breaking, for FO2, many of the critics choose to simply ignore that a large part of that is due to the game's sheer size and scope. Speedruns notwithstanding, how long does it take to beat FO2 versus FO1? The game is just about 4 times the size of its predecessor, with many more choices and alternatives to approach many more quests and sidequests and many more locations than the first game. Practically everyone remembers the Bridge of Death Special Encounter (in which the PC even says in a speech bubble "I feel the sudden urge to make a separate save right now") in FO2 from first-hand experience because it was almost "unavoidable" in 100% of every playthrough, whereas far fewer players remember the Dr. Who Special Encounter of FO1 from experiencing it themselves. But the reason for that is the same as mentioned above; you're playing the game MUCH longer, so that's more opportunities for those many, non-canonical Special Encounters to activate while you travel.

FO2's atmosphere was absolutely more lighthearted than the first game, but it was necessity of the setting, taking place much longer after the Great War, so the grittiness and deadliness required significant trimming. The zany Easter Eggs weren't the single culprit in making the sequel "less" dark (and even then, that's a matter for considerable debate, because I consider FO2 the DARKER of the 2, not the lighter), they merely contributed.