Setting Fallout 4 Part 1 (of 2) – How the West Was Fun

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
Orderite
California Literary Review's videogame blog has a writeup about Fallout's setting, its Western/Frontier feel and why Boston is the wrong place to set a Fallout game.<blockquote>All the hallmarks of the Western are there. Thirstily wandering along at a calculated pace in the waste, sleeping under the stars in the wilderness, taking the role of the unknown gunman who wanders into town to solves everyone’s problems with a hail of gunfire before drifting out like a tumbleweed, the reintroduction of tribal culture set apart from homesteaders on the fringes of societies where law is thin and it’s best to travel with a gun on your belt even if you’d prefer never to use it. Arguably (and that’s exactly what I’m doing) this gameplay is as important, if not more important than the tools used or enemies fought.

More than most games, Fallout captures the nature of rugged individualism idolized in the Westerns of old. It’s a tale of the frontier. Only it’s a new frontier built atop a forgotten history.

American history.

Not only is every Fallout set in the U.S., but 3 of the 5 officially recognized Fallout games (no one cares about BoS [Brotherhood of Steel], as it was a PoS) take place in familiar Western settings. The first was set in Southern California, with some bleed through into Mexico and Arizona. The second, as my travels reminded me, in the Northern California region bleeding through to Southern Oregon and Western Nevada. New Vegas, well that one should be obvious.

The two that weren’t, Fallout 3 and Tactics, are also the two most controversial amongst hardcore Fallout fans, and I think it’s because (aside from the fact that they marked major gameplay departures) they lacked a bit of this Western magic.</blockquote>Thanks @TheCromulentMan.
 
I very much agree with what they said, although I don't think all Fallout's absolutely have to feel "Western", but sometimes it doesn't hurt.
 
Lets keep making Fallout in huge cities since those are the least likely places to be bombed to armegeddon during a nuclear exchange. :roll:
 
I agree that California and the west is a good setting for fallout, BUT remember the intro to fallout 1 with the TV and it zooms out and there is just steel framing of skyscrapers left. I would really like to see a fallout set in like a BIG city that got vaporized with huge skyscrapers with just the steel framing left. Skyscrapers you can climb to the 40th story if you want. We've yet to really see the depiction of the fallout 1 intro imo.
 
I'm not sure that Fallout needs to be stuck in California. Most people seem to enjoy considering what the post-apocalyptic status of their region would be and I wonder if this being a California blog that bias doesn't play into their feelings a bit.

Being from New Orleans, I'd love to see my region depicted in a game of this sort and I see no reason that a lone wander couldn't have a compelling tale in the ruins of Louisiana. (I was honestly pretty stoked when I found the reference to the Saints winning the super bowl in FO2, I certainly didn't think actually would a decade or so later)

One problem with staying on the west coast is there is so much lore established that factions are pretty much set, plus cannon endings for past games need be recognized, and finding more vaults & weapons caches & islands of isolation just become more and more unrealistic as NCR is making a civilization out there.

I'd be find with going out the US (latin america or europe), or exploring texas, florida, tennesse, etc... Really wouldn't be a ton different than wasteland California, except closer to a blank slate to write a story in.
 
the intro to fallout 1 with the TV and it zooms out and there is just steel framing of skyscrapers left
Click to expand...

I'm reading Stephen King's "Wastelands" book right now, and it has one of the best writtien depictions of this kind of setting that I've ever experienced. The city of Lud is an amazing place in that book.

A problem with the setting in the two newest Fallout games, for me anyway, is how much the developers tried to mimic the cities they are set in, and how they tried to create a sense of authenticity to the locations in relation to their real life counter parts.

The towns and cities in Fallout 2 and especially Fallout 1 had a sort of alien feel to them. Some of them were based on real places, but they didn't feel the need to emulate those places. Instead they were different from anything we know in our world. They felt almost fantastical, because they fit the world of Fallout, not our own. The mystery and atmosphere of those towns was pretty much lost in the locations of Fallout 3 and New Vegas. We explored places that felt like a post-apocalyptic version of our own Earth rather than the Earth of Fallout.
 
Patrolling around the Capital Wasteland and the Mojave made me wish for a nuclear winter...guess I'm s*** out of luck. Don't know much about Boston except the Tea Party thing and that it was the location for The Departed, might be good, might not be, wait and see I suppose. If a Fallout game wasn't set in the US, then I'd like to see Russia, although China would be pretty cool too.
 
smber2cnma said:
Being from New Orleans, I'd love to see my region depicted in a game of this sort and I see no reason that a lone wander couldn't have a compelling tale in the ruins of Louisiana. (I was honestly pretty stoked when I found the reference to the Saints winning the super bowl in FO2, I certainly didn't think actually would a decade or so later)
Click to expand...
Oh man, a post-apo Louisiana. That would rock :)
 
I just want Bethesda to stay on the east coast, far far away from the west coast. They would just fuck up the lore on the west even more.
 
Not being a citizen of the USA I wouldn't know specifics about regions, but I agree that the western feeling is a big thing on Fallout, altho, I don't think is the only kind of Theme it should have.
 
Lexx said:
I just want Bethesda to stay on the east coast, far far away from the west coast. They would just fuck up the lore on the west even more.
Click to expand...

I so agree with that.

Personally, I'd love to see other locations than the West Coast. I was always imagining post apocalyptic Florida as a thick jungle full of mutated monsters, with cities overgrown by greenery (like the Wasteland 2 promo posters) - I think a little change in scenery/color palette would do the franchise good.
Also, I don't want another story about the NCR and god forbid - BoS or the Enclave *shivers*
 
Lexx said:
I just want Bethesda to stay on the east coast, far far away from the west coast. They would just fuck up the lore on the west even more.
Click to expand...
Agree, they just can build as many "theme parks" as they want on East Coast.
I bet they'll add more BOS / Enclave / super mutants like they're all over North America though.
 
Ardent said:
Also, I don't want another story about the NCR and god forbid - BoS or the Enclave *shivers*
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm the only one who wants the show to end...all these Fallout games have just trampled the lore into the ground, and squeezed the magic out of the series. Let F:NV be the swan song IMO...and the original was the best. :look:
 
I think it's obvious from articles so far, while that Todd guy is in charge, fallout universe will not be well-thought out, deep and coherent for a simple reason - It's /nearly/ impossible to be like it, if they are inserting content by "it's fun" and "tl/dr" philosophy. So, to remind us all - old fallout is dead, you can bet geographical position of the new fallout game will be insignificant in terms of gameplay - it will be the same-ol'-same. *bells* But in 3D! *bells*.

Heh, not related but, I'm amazed how peoples mind work; they can find "deeper meaning of things" even in a shitty and hollow story of F3 (and no doubt in F4). Players are way more clever then Beth and I guess that's what Beth is counting on. "Our Editor - your talent to make our game playable."

*
- That's clever actually.
- Mmm, fair?
- Well...
*
 
London would be nice even like it is today would do it hah

But then again only a few inhabitants would speak english there :))
 
Pardon me for barging in unannounced.

Back when I started playing Fallout and Fallout 2 (both of which I discovered in 1999 in an extended orgy of geeky bliss), I didn't really think about the Western feel to the games. I think this was due to the fact that they were composed of so many elements and references that the sum of the parts was something new and entirely its own - which is a huge factor in my love for Fallout. But sure, the Western component is relevant, and I think that it was never as obviously at the forefront as in FONV.

Other than that ... A Fallout game set in Louisiana? Oh yes, I'd be drooling all over that.
 
I bet F3 could have been even nice. If they didn't desiged it like a post-apoc version of Oblivion.

Its rather "new" that you have only one area to explore while you had many in F1 and F2. Of which some even had a few connections.

Both F3 and Vegas felt way to "new". The buildings and areas felt more like the bombs dropped yesterday not 200 years ago. Sure they tried to "explain" that in vegas. But lets be honest here. Even after 50 years you would not recognize any buildings anymore. Leave alone after 200 years. I am not saying that everything has to disappear. But still. F1 and F2 felt like it was a long time after the apocalypse.
 
The U.S. westward expansion began not long after Jamestown, Virginia was founded. American history was made by settlers moving west into a wild frontier. Since the whole world was nuked into a preindustrial age in the Fallout games, you could have a "western" theme almost anywhere in North America. You just need GOOD writers to execute it well. I would enjoy further Fallout games if they are made well. New Vegas was done fairly well, but the main quest(s) were a little too political for me. I wasn't motivated by any of the factions. Still, Obsidian did better with the franchise than Bethesda did with Fallout 3.

There will certainly be more Fallout games. I'm sure people at Bethesda read these forums. All we can do is keep giving our input and hope they learn something.
 
West vs East

Hi. The time i spend on NMA mostly consists of reading what you, more experienced fallout players, write. I have played all the games and I have to agree with person talking about Fallout intro. World shown to us in that intro was more like hated Fallout 3 and less like other loved games. Even though F3 seemed like conversion of oblivion it had a lot more "fallout feeling" to it than NV. The whole game was "darker" and had better climate than NV. Fallout and Fallout 2 were full of jokes but all in all those were realy serious games. I'm sorry for off topic but I think that is relevant. East setting was new to us all, it didn't consist of wide open map like in old games but of a big city and some more terrain outside to explore. Does anyone remember how dark New Reno was? Because I do, and i have never found such a climatic place in F:NV. It's just my opinion but i think that game can be good and have a "fallout feeling" to it even if it's set in Greenland (but not in space! Mothership zeta sucked). Your humble, born in early 90's, Borsuk3344
 
If the progression (or lack thereof) from Oblivion to Skyrim is any indication of what will be done from Fallout 3 to 4 then it seems we are doomed to receive rehashed ideas/themes/factions/graphics that will be obvious and trite with a plot line that will feel pigeon holed in Boston (if that is indeed where the setting will be)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top