Would Fallout games/media set in alternate endings work?

[TheAnimeHunter]

Let me make what I think is the most interesting possible example of this. In Fallout 1, if Rhombus is dead, the Brotherhood of Steel becomes the Steel Plague, an overzealous techno-religious dictatorship that would destroy the New California Republic and go on to create a dark age that would last a thousand years.

That sounds awsome! Personally I'd like some kind of peek into a version of Fallout 2 or New Vegas where it's the Steel Plague expanding across the wasteland instead of the NCR, bringing their post-apocalyptic dark age with them.

But that makes me want to ask you, would Fallout games set in alternate timelines created by different choices made in Fallout 1 or 2 really be that interesting or am I not seeing the bigger picture?

 

[Iprovidelittlepianos]

Yeah I think some “What If” scenarios could be fun to explore, perhaps not as full fledged games but as spin-off titles or comics. The Master succeeding is one that I find interesting, we could see his Super Mutant army waging a campaign against the world outside California, maybe even forcing the Enclave to come out of retirement early and actually be the good guys for once.

 

[TorontoReign]

Let me make what I think is the most interesting possible example of this. In Fallout 1, if Rhombus is dead, the Brotherhood of Steel becomes the Steel Plague, an overzealous techno-religious dictatorship that would destroy the New California Republic and go on to create a dark age that would last a thousand years.

That sounds awsome! Personally I'd like some kind of peek into a version of Fallout 2 or New Vegas where it's the Steel Plague expanding across the wasteland instead of the NCR, bringing their post-apocalyptic dark age with them.

But that makes me want to ask you, would Fallout games set in alternate timelines created by different choices made in Fallout 1 or 2 really be that interesting or am I not seeing the bigger picture?

I forgot all about that. It sounds better than what we got.

 

[The_Proletarian]

I like the idea. There's a load of possible sequels to Fallout 1 in that case. If the Master wins then his army of mutants could fight the Enclave when they emerge and other scenarios.

 

[Iprovidelittlepianos]

To add on to this, one of the endings for the Den in Fallout 2 depicts it as transforming into bustling slaver capital, complete with breeding pens. I always thought this sounded like the beginnings of a cool new powerful faction in the core region, and I would’ve loved to see this expanded upon, though new Vegas establishes that the NCR pretty much cleaned house and took over the area.

This hypothetical Den actually was the main inspiration for one of the cities/factions of my own fallout setting.

 

[TheAnimeHunter]

Yeah I think some “What If” scenarios could be fun to explore, perhaps not as full fledged games but as spin-off titles or comics.

Maybe as a sort of self-contained DLC-ish game, sort of like what Far Cry: Blood Dragon is.

 

[ENCLAVECOMMANDER]

There's definitely potential, yeah. I'd like to see the outcome of a Steel Plague/Enclave war, or Unity/Enclave war. These possibilities sit between the reuse of classic game factions that Bethesda went with and the entirely new ideas that Black Isle devs said they'd have come up with if tasked with making a new Fallout.

 

[Slaughter Manslaught]

That could be interesting, as games, fan-mods or even a form of series pseudo-reboot.

One interesting alternative ending that could be interesting is an Enclave win. Everyone is dead, right? Not quite... there are still vaults with occupants, pre-war bunkers occupied (like Lost Hills), Mr. House is clearly protected, some pre-war horrors might still be around (like the Think Tank), AIs are immune, etc.

Could either run it as an aftermath thing, or a "Man in the Oil Rig" kinda thing.

Another scenario that could be very interesting, I believe, is a "No-NCR" scenario - in one of Shady Sands' endings, if Tandi dies, Shady Sands remains just a quiet, decent desert settlement ruled by Aradesh, who is eventually killed by a desert raider. The events of FO2 are still in motion (Vault Dweller exiled, Mutant Army defeated, BOS protects human outposts, Enclave shows up, drought in the north is inevitable), but its a very different eighty years, and gets outright unrecognizable after FO2. Without the NCR, The Hub, the Brotherhood of Steel, New Reno and Vault City end up being the main players of the West Coast, changing everything.

An one-off idea I want to play with in the future, is a "What if ALL the Fallout Big Bads are still around and rampaging?" So you have The Unity, The Enclave, The Calculator, the Scorched, plus all the other minor villains and antagonists, still alive and causing chaos and havok. The post-war world here is not one of slow recovery and rebuilding, but of desperate struggle as whatever remains of the human race fight against Super Mutants, other mutants, Enclave forces, rogue robots, Scorchbeasts and their thralls, and generally all sorts of groups of murderous monsters, warlords and brutal raiders.

What passes for civilization was driven to extremes and is brutal, militarized, inhumane, and often violently distrustful of outsiders. The Great War may have been just the First Act of The End. Literally the Darkest Timeline (its darker than Enclave victory, because at least Enclave victory means humanity goes on for sure and the war is pretty much over. Here, humanity in the know world is on the brink).

 

[TheKingofVault14]

Let me make what I think is the most interesting possible example of this. In Fallout 1, if Rhombus is dead, the Brotherhood of Steel becomes the Steel Plague, an overzealous techno-religious dictatorship that would destroy the New California Republic and go on to create a dark age that would last a thousand years.

That sounds awsome! Personally I'd like some kind of peek into a version of Fallout 2 or New Vegas where it's the Steel Plague expanding across the wasteland instead of the NCR, bringing their post-apocalyptic dark age with them.

But that makes me want to ask you, would Fallout games set in alternate timelines created by different choices made in Fallout 1 or 2 really be that interesting or am I not seeing the bigger picture?

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing something like that, it would really make for an interesting "what if" story in contrast of the official canon timeline. Maybe as a fan mod? Oh boy just thinking about it sounds nice!

 

[Sn1p3r187]

Yeah I think some “What If” scenarios could be fun to explore, perhaps not as full fledged games but as spin-off titles or comics. The Master succeeding is one that I find interesting, we could see his Super Mutant army waging a campaign against the world outside California, maybe even forcing the Enclave to come out of retirement early and actually be the good guys for once.

That is actually one od the cooler what if scenarios in the fallout series. ive asked myself that since the day i first played the first fallout game years back. "What If the Vault Dweller failed to stop The Master and his army successfully rolled over California?". I feel itd force a lot of tribes in the east and north to form together and find a formidible way to fight a new and improved Master's Army. People would probably need the help of the Think Tank much earlier to utilize those technologies to fight back The Master

 

[PsychoSniper]

Sterile mutants wouls always mean that the masters army would always have a size cap, because wastelanders that can be converted are rare and there is a finite number of vaults.

The NCR would never form, shady sands would end up overran, and the BoS would probably be forced to relocate to a new bunker at some point as the main one would be at risk.

It could be neat if it forced the Enclave back onto the scene at that point, prehaps they had more competent leadership than presidebt richardson.

Seeing what REAL muties are xompared to normal wastelanders could even prehaps moderate the xenophobia, leading to an alliance between the BOS and the Enclave as a means to deal with the master.

The Enclaves air power would give then a massive advantage as long as they dont fly too low around supermutants with miniguns, combined with the added numbers and wasteland skill the BOS brings, they could crush the masters army.

Maybe Shady Sands gets saved, and ends up being the first civilian settlement in the new united states.