Fallout 1 Thoughts 1#
1. The first part of the game is one which I absolutely adore and that's the opening with the murder of a unarmed civilian by some Pre-War soldiers and then it being used as a commercial. I also enjoyed the use of "Maybe" in the opening as while I would have preferred "I don't want to set the world on fire" I think the uncertainty of Maybe still works as well.
2. Ron Pearlman is the voice of Fallout and I've got to say he was badly misused in Fallout 4. We knew that, of course, but his overview here nicely summarizes everything here. I wonder if it's an homage to 'The Road Warrior' as the speech strong reminds me of the Feral Child/Storyteller's.
3. I love the Vault Overseer, I really do. He seems like such a kindly likable man but you still get a little thrown by his beady eyes and shifty expression. I also like the Water Chip quest is such a simple and direct one but it's not "Find your father or find your son." No, you're after something which is equipment-based.
4. Fallout 1 definitely does get the ball rolling much better than Fallout 2 (ugh), Fallout 3 (Albeit I really liked exploring life in the Vault--I just don't think it needed anything more than the birthday party), and Fallout 4 (which I think should have been longer or shorter).
5. I always love there's a dead guy right outside the Vault. I like to think this is the first guy the Overseer sent out and he got mauled and eaten by rats within seconds.
6. Combat, Combat, Combat: I actually have always felt the turn to first person and third person shooting is entirely consistent with Fallout because this is a murder-heavy game. I killed 17 or so rats on the way out and that's just how the system works.
7. Off to Shady Sands: I always liked the original Shady Sands. It's a self-sufficient desert community with a multi-racial population. Its also spiritual, isolationist, and unfriendly to outsiders. I kind of regret that it became NCR because it lost everything which Aradesh had made good about the place. I also like the vaguely Middle-Eastern feel.
8. Aradesh: I really like Aradesh as he's being cautious but not crazy. The outsider is welcome as long as he's watched. I also liked they got cheated of a water maker by previous traders and that's why they dislike outsiders.
9. Tandi: I love Tandi, I really do. Just her voice acting and fun-wanderlust-filled spirit. It's a pity the Vault Dweller and her didn't hook up. Notably, I made my Vault Dweller 18, so it would be an appropriate match but probably not for a 52 year one as is the option.
10. Murdering Radscorpions: Murder, murder, murder. In any case, I pick up my first companion and decide to head to Vault 15.
11. Odd Notation: Shady Sands tried to find other Vaults but couldn't despite the fact Vault 13 is right next to them. I wonder if that's due to the fact the Vault Overseer was keeping silent of them.
Was the Vault experiments planned from the beginning or just a retcon ala Bethesda? Tough call.
12. Vault 15: One area which I liked over the Bethesda games is the Vaults are mostly nice places in these games. Vault 15 did its job and Shady Sands was created. Vault City did its job. Vault 13 became Arryo and later New Arryo. I don't mind Vaults which were experiments but some of them are just ridiculous ones.
Still, this is just a Dungeons and Dragons-esque dungeon of murder. I do think you could probably redo Fallout 1 as a Bethesda mod, though. Shift all of the audio files over to other characters. Sadly, you'd need audio files for all the written characters.
I think exploring Vault 15, though is a perfect Bethesda dungeon.
