Tactics could have made a great spin-off series

Golbolco

Golbolco

Still Mildly Glowing
I've thinking about this for a couple of days now. You know how Fallout Tactics's full title was Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel? It almost implies that there was eventually intended to be other Fallout Tactics games not centered on the Brotherhood.

Were it not for some of the problems Tactics had and its failure to uphold some of the big parts of the Fallout franchise like choice and consequence and open-ended questing, along with the combat system, I think that it could have made a good opening for a spin-off series about the Fallout universe's conflicts. You could easily do Fallout Tactics: New California about the war with the NCR and Brotherhood, or Fallout Tactics: Enclave (isn't there a new mod like that? Is it any good?) If these games had incorporated more of the Fallout flavor and had multiple endings, I think they would have been welcome as part of the franchise.

Sadly, it seems that the team at Interplay and Micro-Forte were only interested in focusing on the Brotherhood with Tactics 2 and Fallout Extreme. Even their next attempt at a spinoff weirdly fetishized the Brotherhood... kind of like another studio managing the franchise right now.
 
The Enclave mod isn't really new.

I have yet to finish it, but it is a complete mod as far as i know.
 
naossano said:
The Enclave mod isn't really new.

I have yet to finish it, but it is a complete mod as far as i know.
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I saw that its ModDB page is dated to April 2018, but the thread on here is dated to 2011. I guess the newest version/translation is new?
 
Well, judging by the end of Tactics, we've got the Calculator's takeover of the Midwestern brotherhood, so that could put a downer on their efforts if you want to stay true to brotherhood ideals. I think the whole point of the brotherhood rebels were that they were supposed to be different in ideology, which is basically why there pretty much exiled in the first place. With the calculator in charge, and his/her/their/it's ultimate goals seemingly being assimilation of every other faction, it could be interesting.

The developers already stated that the parting from established canon was that they were given far too little time on the project, and that they focused on the engine and gameplay elements to the exclusion of a dedicated turn-based system and more story/lore elements. That they just didn't have the time or budget to look more in-depth into what it means to be part of the Fallout series. But then most developers say such things when a project doesn't perform very well...

Somewhat like the Syndicate series (A.I. led technology faction trying to infiltrate the world).

Unless you wanted a more canon setting? Do you mean some of the famous battles in Fallout Lore, with a new tactics game featuring the West Coast (original) brotherhood. Maybe that means we could go back to Wattz 2000 rifles and p94 plasma rifles instead of the stuff from Fallout 3, but that's just my stylistic bias...
 
Vostyok said:
Well, judging by the end of Tactics, we've got the Calculator's takeover of the Midwestern brotherhood, so that could put a downer on their efforts if you want to stay true to brotherhood ideals. I think the whole point of the brotherhood rebels were that they were supposed to be different in ideology, which is basically why there pretty much exiled in the first place. With the calculator in charge, and his/her/their/it's ultimate goals seemingly being assimilation of every other faction, it could be interesting.

The developers already stated that the parting from established canon was that they were given far too little time on the project, and that they focused on the engine and gameplay elements to the exclusion of a dedicated turn-based system and more story/lore elements. That they just didn't have the time or budget to look more in-depth into what it means to be part of the Fallout series. But then most developers say such things when a project doesn't perform very well...

Somewhat like the Syndicate series (A.I. led technology faction trying to infiltrate the world).

Unless you wanted a more canon setting? Do you mean some of the famous battles in Fallout Lore, with a new tactics game featuring the West Coast (original) brotherhood. Maybe that means we could go back to Wattz 2000 rifles and p94 plasma rifles instead of the stuff from Fallout 3, but that's just my stylistic bias...
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I'm not sure what's considered the canon ending for Tactics (although I'm not particularly bothered by who says what is canon anymore.)

My idea was more like making the Tactics series into an anthology focusing on a different nation or time period in the Fallout universe, not necessarily focusing on the different offshoots of the Brotherhood. Imagine if instead of the confusing rail shooter we got with Operation: Anchorage, there was a Tactics-style game about the Sino-American War in Alaska. Bonus points if there are two separate campaigns for both the Chinese and the Americans. Or you could do something set before Fallout 1 with the rise of the Unity, with a Forces of Corruption-style method of indirectly influencing enemy settlements with the Children of Cathedral.
 
Sounds like..... Fallout: Total War. :cool:

A lot of the background is shrouded in mystery regarding pre-war events, as it would be. Would be an opportunity to add some story details.
 
Would you guys recommend I play Fallout: Tactics? I tried it a while back but got turned away by the aesthetic of the game and the fact that it has very little dialogue and roleplaying elements. Is the lore in Fallout: Tactics interesting and worth investing into? From what I've heard it doesn't really tie up with the Fallout lore really well. Loved the beginning cutscene tho.
 
I've checked Enclave and Enclave II on moddb. Neither have 2018 as their last update.

About the development time, i heard that they ultimately had less time that what was initially agreed. It still remains the best Fallout game not made by anyone from the original team.
 
Paladin Hank said:
Would you guys recommend I play Fallout: Tactics? I tried it a while back but got turned away by the aesthetic of the game and the fact that it has very little dialogue and roleplaying elements. Is the lore in Fallout: Tactics interesting and worth investing into? From what I've heard it doesn't really tie up with the Fallout lore really well. Loved the beginning cutscene tho.
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The lore offered is pretty shallow honestly, but it doesn't break a lot of rules or anything. It mostly lets you fill in the blanks (which in my opinion is a plus) but also leaves a lot to be desired. It does have a few inconsistencies though, and you're right that the aesthetic doesn't perfectly square up with Fallout. I would say that if you want more Fallout and like tactical RPGs, it's probably worth it, but if you go in looking for lore you're not going to be happy with it.
 
I could see Fallout Tactics as a separate continuity, focused on combat to satisfy the FPS junkies. Generally that's the only way I see us ever getting a real Fallout again: if it's officially split and Bethesda just admits that they don't want to develop actual RPGs anymore, before handing that half off to a series developer.
 
NMLevesque said:
I could see Fallout Tactics as a separate continuity, focused on combat to satisfy the FPS junkies. Generally that's the only way I see us ever getting a real Fallout again: if it's officially split and Bethesda just admits that they don't want to develop actual RPGs anymore, before handing that half off to a series developer.
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No need to seperate it when shit like Fallout 3, 4, and 76 exists. Tactics is one of the best games in the series, that nobody has played. Play it. Mod it. Forget the minor Brotherhood flub in the intro and hairy deathclaws and go with the flow. Also, play Xconn's Ultimate Ripoff mod.
 
Yeah, it could of. They were apparently planning for a second one but it got cancelled, its a cool game though and as much as I hate the power armour there is some neat original stuff, even if it doesn't all fully fit into fallout.
 
stjohn said:
Yeah, it could of. They were apparently planning for a second one but it got cancelled, its a cool game though and as much as I hate the power armour there is some neat original stuff, even if it doesn't all fully fit into fallout.
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And the second Fallout Tactics was gonna be faithful to the classic games in it's lore. It's a pity we can never experience Tactics 2.
 
TorontRayne said:
No need to seperate it when shit like Fallout 3, 4, and 76 exists. Tactics is one of the best games in the series, that nobody has played. Play it. Mod it. Forget the minor Brotherhood flub in the intro and hairy deathclaws and go with the flow. Also, play Xconn's Ultimate Ripoff mod.
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I don't think Fo3 satisfied FPS junkies tho. It's gunplay is abysmal. NV improves it massively (bringing it up to decent). Oh, and if Fo4 and 76 were a separate continuity that would be much better.
 
A squad-based (actual squad of 8 to 10 people) series based around post-war polities and their struggles is a gold-mine. Fallout: Extreme and that Euro-Brit Mech concept would had followed sort of along those lines.
 
Toront is correct. Tactics is one the best in the series IMO and more people really do need to play it. Sure it has some lore inaccuracies but in a world where FO3, FO4 and 76 exist, most of them aren't that bad. I also quite like the Power Armor design myself and was really looking forward to exploring Florida in FoT 2.
 
You can mod it pretty well with the included tools that get sorted with the patch. I made a little mod that replaces all the anachronistic kalashnikovs and sig-sauers with weapons from Fallout1/2 and New Vegas. Made deathclaws hard as nails, like they should be.

Was pretty fun when I got the .223 pistol from some random encounter and it made one-handed character actually viable, again.

It was a shame they just copy-pasted most descriptions from the original games. The power armor you get is clearly NOT t51-b....

edit: Yes, design document for FT2 sounded awesome. Also, dev team not afraid to roast themselves for the first game:

My biggest regret about Fallout Tactics 2 getting canned was the fact that we didn't get to unleash the Dialogue Tree secret encounter upon the world. "You see the dialogue tree. It's brown, shriveled form obviously hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, but with love and care it would certainly live to bear sweet fruit once more." - Gareth Davies.
 
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