Which Fallout has the best music intro?

Best Music Intro

  • Total voters
    30
Atomic Postman

Atomic Postman

Vault Archives Overseer
Not the best narration, but the best "music + zoom out" only. Try to seperate the quality from the games themselves.
 
Well this is a tough one.

Maybe I’m being biased, but I think Fallout 1 is the best because it does such a good job at introducing the setting. Just watching that intro gives you a good feel for what the fallout world is like (or rather, what it was like). Though this isn’t really fair to the other intros, as Fallout 1 was the only game that really needed to introduce the setting.

I’m not as much of a fan of Fallout 2’s intro. I love Louis Armstrong, and the Vault-Tec video is entertaining, but the intro completely lacks the sense of desolation you get from Fallout 1’s intro. I respect that they tried to do something different though.

Fallout 3’s intro is perfectly fine in my opinion, but the fact that it’s just ripping off the original Fallout intro puts it further down on the list for me. It’s cool that they got I Don’t Want To Set the World On Fire. There’s not really much to say about it though.

Don’t remember the Fallout Tactics intro, so I’ll omit this for now.

New Vegas is a close second to Fallout 1. In some ways it’s even better. Blue Moon might be my favorite intro song so far, (Kiss To Build a Dream On a close second), and it fits so well into both the Fallout setting and the Vegas setting in general. As I’m typing this, I think I’m realizing I like the New Vegas intro the most overall. I guess there’s just something about the simplicity of the original Fallout intro that I prefer.
 
I think the original Fallout is a master class in efficient presentation and worldbuilding and the intro is certainly part of it.

I like 3's a lot just because "I don't want to set the world on fire" is easily the best of the intro songs (as evidenced with Black Isle trying to use it twice beforehand in Fallout history) and as you say it's largely a retread of 1's - but it's effective because what it's imitating was also extremely effective.
 
As recall... They wanted to use "I don't want to set the world on fire" for the original, but the cost was exorbitant & prohibitive; they settled for "Maybe", and ultimately considered it a better fit for the intro.
 
Fallout 2 by far imho. Louis Armstrong followed by the Vault 13 dwellers being mowed down by the Enclave is perfect.
 
Even though Fallout 3 is my favourite video game and favourite Fallout, the original is just amazing. How U.S. soldiers mercilessly execute a resistance fighter to how the music fades into nothing and all you hear is the wind.
 
I don't even remember Fallout 4 or Fallout Tactic's intro, so I guess that says something, lol.

For the rest, I'd actually say they all feel incredibly fitting for what they're trying to achieve.

"Maybe" handles the desolation, and the vague memory of the old world in the face of this terrifying new one perfectly. Sets the bleak tone of the world perfectly.

"Kiss to build a dream on" is excellent at fitting the general optimistic tone of leaving the Vault with high hopes, and is a perfect contrast to the Enclave soldiers mowing down innocent people. Kinda sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the game too, with this contrast between what seems like positive change being inherently held back by this incredible cynicism of the new nations of the world, none of which are idealistic anymore.

"Set the world on fire" is excellent irony, and fits the more "traditional" post-apocalyptic focus 3 was going for. I don't agree with that decision, but the introduction nailed it perfectly.

And the slightly faded "Blue Moon" is excellent as it pans out of an abandoned Lucky 38, both for setting up the Vegas vibe of gambling and glamour, along with the general old archaic feel of the Lucky 38.

I'm going to say Fallout 2, but this was after a lot of deliberation. I might be biased because Fallout 2 has kinda the most uncomplicatedly positive place in my heart (I feel incredibly forgiving of what it is, because it nails the stuff I like so much), but it just sets up everything Fallout 2 is about for me.
 
I like 1 and 3 intro's best. 3 was the first for me and it was simple and panning out to see power armor and a wasetland had me excited for what all I could find and do as I had played Oblivion first and had an idea of what kind of things I might be able to do. Objectively without that bias I will say 1 is the greatest one. Somehow with as much as I played it I don't remember NV's intro. This is probably a mark against it. 2 is fun, but feels more like a bunch of loading screen content cut together.



Fallout music related; What do we think of Damjan Mravunac working on a Fallout soundtrack? I think he'd be great.
 
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If we're just talking about the music, Maybe sets everything up perfectly. It's old enough to feel scary and contrasts the rest of the game perfectly

If we're going by the intro as a whole, then New Vegas. It's always felt like it could work with a James bond type rp in my own weird mind.
That and it's just cool.

Honestly, none of the fallout games have a bad introduction.
 
Fallout 2. But that's probably due to me playing it before the first game.

(I do like "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" as a song better than "Maybe", though, so that might do something too.)
 
For anyone else like me who wants to lay fresh eyes/ears before making a case, I did your legwork.











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NkHQs7ann4

Didn't think I was gonna give this answer but 2. Not that this is only what did it but I REALLY liked how they played with the sound to make you feel like you were actually in the briefing room. And I assume the Enclave showing up is the pull-out/reveal, which was just amazing technically and narratively to experience back in the day; expecting a sort of leisurely reveal of the bleakness of the terrain and instead to be confronted by what looks like maybe the BoS, but before you can put your brain around it things go south without missing a beat.

Special mention to 3: That musical sting when the BoS Knight(?) comes into frame never ceases to thrill.

More disappointed by the NV intro than I expected. I recall loving it but that would appear to just be because of what follows the musical section, which is itself just so-so.

I don't think 4 can really be counted as its entire intro pretty closely matches up to just the "narration" section of all the other intros.
 
Just started playing fallout tactics a week or so ago and I must say I’m a huge fan of the music intro, although the narration/storybook part sucks. Ron Perlman even sounds bored reading it. But the way post apocalyptic Chicago is portrayed is great. I like how the landscape has been transformed into sandy desert, something Bethesda seems to be allergic to. The fast bluesy song fits the fallout universe well while being very different from the music we usually hear. And the brotherhood soldier stopping to take a piss is just icing on the cake. It’s a very well done intro in my opinion, I’d probably rank it just below 2, maybe even higher.
 
Iprovidelittlepianos said:
Just started playing fallout tactics a week or so ago and I must say I’m a huge fan of the music intro, although the narration/storybook part sucks. Ron Perlman even sounds bored reading it. But the way post apocalyptic Chicago is portrayed is great. I like how the landscape has been transformed into sandy desert, something Bethesda seems to be allergic to. The fast bluesy song fits the fallout universe well while being very different from the music we usually hear. And the brotherhood soldier stopping to take a piss is just icing on the cake. It’s a very well done intro in my opinion, I’d probably rank it just below 2, maybe even higher.
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Tactics doesn't get enough love (lore craziness aside). And I for one loved the scrapbook style intro, I thought that was really cool, then and now.
 
Fallout 1. A classic is a classic.

New Vegas is a close second as it uses it to stablish all the dynamics of the story before the narration even starts.
 
Gizmojunk said:
As recall... They wanted to use "I don't want to set the world on fire" for the original, but the cost was exorbitant & prohibitive; they settled for "Maybe", and ultimately considered it a better fit for the intro.
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(Feeling late already to reply, but) 'Maybe' this would explain how it was supposed to be. I'm still voting for 'Maybe', tho.

 
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