Online Series: Fallout (Amazon, April 10, 2024)

[RobBrown4PM]

The setting in Fallout 4 was stellar, unfortunately the execution of the story, characters, and a lot of the mechanics that played in to it were half assed, no thanks to Bethesda's ever growing liking of trimming down on detail.

 

[Blender]

The setting in Fallout 4 was stellar, unfortunately the execution of the story, characters, and a lot of the mechanics that played in to it were half assed, no thanks to Bethesda's ever growing liking of trimming down on detail.

So many of the aspects of Fallout 4 just felt half finished. They were fun and interesting, but needed more to really bring them over the top and often didn't feel completed or rewarding at the end.

 

[RandV]

Speaking of viewers who wouldn't be familiar with the game series, are they going to stick with 50's aesthetic? Because it's not just that this is a post nuclear apocalyptic world, but when it got blown up everything had that nuclear family 1950's aesthetic.

This is something that could be confusing to new viewers and they could easily do away with it and just blow up a 'modern' world, but doing so would probably be sacrilege to the video game audience. Personally I've only played Fallout 2 and 3 so am not that invested in the series and wouldn't really care either way.

 

[NyQuil]

Speaking of viewers who wouldn't be familiar with the game series, are they going to stick with 50's aesthetic? Because it's not just that this is a post nuclear apocalyptic world, but when it got blown up everything had that nuclear family 1950's aesthetic.

This is something that could be confusing to new viewers and they could easily do away with it and just blow up a 'modern' world, but doing so would probably be sacrilege to the video game audience. Personally I've only played Fallout 2 and 3 so am not that invested in the series and wouldn't really care either way.

I think the 50s aesthetic is part of what makes Fallout so subversively amusing.

The juxtaposition of the wide-eyed "Pleasantville" style visuals and marketing contrasts so well with a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

 

[Osprey]

I think the 50s aesthetic is part of what makes Fallout so subversively amusing.

The juxtaposition of the wide-eyed "Pleasantville" style visuals and marketing contrasts so well with a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Also, the source of much of the inspiration and humor in the franchise is the early Cold War-era instructional videos that cheerfully told kids what to do in the event of a nuclear blast (ex. take shelter under your desk or crouch down against a wall). They all had a positive, matter of fact tone meant to reduce fear and panic. Fallout just copied their style and exaggerated it to make it even funnier to modern audiences. It similarly drew inspiration from the overly positive "world of tomorrow" advertising that was popular in the 50s and 60s. It's ironic and amusing to juxtapose that with the world of tomorrow that actually ended up coming to be in the series.

If you transfer the series to modern times, you risk losing the satire, irony, tone and humor that makes it Fallout, IMO. I really hope that they don't modernize the series. It needs to remain retro or else it'll just be like ever other post-apocalyptic setting.

 

[Thread The Needle]

There better be deathclaws and gore or I'm not watching.

 

[Eisen]

Been downhill since Fallout 2.

Since the original Wasteland.

 

[NyQuil]

Since the original Wasteland.

I replayed it again recently to see if my fond memories still hold up from my days with the Commodore 64.

I found it to be much smaller in scope and size than what I remembered.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t have to switch disks and the load times were instantaneous.

I do miss being able to make your own party, but I guess they since went the route of NPCs for more engagement with the game environment.

Wasteland 2 was pretty good but it had more in common with X-Com in terms of style of play. I thought it was pretty novel to take the pre-made party from the original Wasteland and turn them into fleshed out characters that you interact with.

 

[Eisen]

I replayed it again recently to see if my fond memories still hold up from my days with the Commodore 64.

I found it to be much smaller in scope and size than what I remembered.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t have to switch disks and the load times were instantaneous.

I do miss being able to make your own party, but I guess they since went the route of NPCs for more engagement with the game environment.

Wasteland 2 was pretty good but it had more in common with X-Com in terms of style of play. I thought it was pretty novel to take the pre-made party from the original Wasteland and turn them into fleshed out characters that you interact with.

It was big compared to the games back in the day, only Bard's Tale and later Ultima could reach that scope. At least to my knowledge.

What I liked the best is that you had actually several ways to make your way forward which was new.

 

[NyQuil]

It was big compared to the games back in the day, only Bard's Tale and later Ultima could reach that scope. At least to my knowledge.

What I liked the best is that you had actually several ways to make your way forward which was new.

The other funny thing to do was to re-copy some of the disks from the Master set so you could run those maps again.

I must have gone through the Citadel 3 or 4 times with the same party by saving the game on the main map, recopying the Citadel disk, and then entering the Citadel again.

Meson Cannons for everyone!

The paragraph book was a cute touch. There was an entire storyline in there that wasn't used in the game and was just intended to confuse people who tried to read ahead.

 

[izlez]

I never played the games, and I hated Westworld, and I don't have much faith in games turned shows/movies... but I am kind of optimistic about this

 

[Eisen]

The other funny thing to do was to re-copy some of the disks from the Master set so you could run those maps again.

I must have gone through the Citadel 3 or 4 times with the same party by saving the game on the main map, recopying the Citadel disk, and then entering the Citadel again.

Meson Cannons for everyone!

The paragraph book was a cute touch. There was an entire storyline in there that wasn't used in the game and was just intended to confuse people who tried to read ahead.

Indeed, and passwords hidden as a sort of copy protection. I reran the Citadel for proton axes. *brutally pummels*
My favourite enemy was the scorpion robot in the middle of this big city. Dang, I need to play it again. It's been about 30 years.

 

[Osprey]

Indeed, and passwords hidden as a sort of copy protection. I reran the Citadel for proton axes. *brutally pummels*
My favourite enemy was the scorpion robot in the middle of this big city. Dang, I need to play it again. It's been about 30 years.

The original Wasteland is on Steam, FYI. Also, there's a "Wasteland Remastered" that was released earlier this year. That's probably more for newer generations and you may prefer the nostalgia of the original, but I'm mentioning it just in case. Also, there's a Wasteland 3 coming out next month, so right now is a great time to run through Wasteland 1/Remastered and Wasteland 2 in preparation.

BTW, if anyone's wondering why Wasteland games are being talked about here, it's because the first Fallout game was the spiritual sequel to the first Wasteland game. The developers wanted to make a new Wasteland game, but couldn't negotiate the rights from their original publisher, EA, so they created a new but similar IP: Fallout.

 

[NyQuil]

My favourite enemy was the scorpion robot in the middle of this big city. Dang, I need to play it again. It's been about 30 years.

Yeah, the Scorpitron.

 

[Xelebes]

This will only work if they avoid the storytelling that we expect in a game. Have the TV show augment the Fallout games by telling the stories that cannot be told in game. That is a story with multiple POVs and no clear protagonist. Make it so the camera cannot possibly be from the POV of a playable character.

 

[Osprey]

This will only work if they avoid the storytelling that we expect in a game. Have the TV show augment the Fallout games by telling the stories that cannot be told in game. That is a story with multiple POVs and no clear protagonist. Make it so the camera cannot possibly be from the POV of a playable character.

That's an interesting suggestion. I'm afraid that it won't feel like Fallout if it doesn't have a clear protagonist, though. Also, I believe that it could work with game-like storytelling. Take Netflix's The Witcher. Each episode is like a quest and, obviously, it keeps Gerald as the main protagonist. If it didn't, I doubt that it would feel like The Witcher. Maybe this Fallout series could have better writing by spreading the POVs across 3-4 main characters like Westworld, but I, personally, would rather have a "good" series that feels like the game, like The Witcher Season 1, than a "great" series that doesn't. As I said, though, it's an interesting suggestion and I wonder if Nolan and Joy will go in that direction, especially because that's how Westworld is structured. I just think that I prefer that they don't.

 

[Xelebes]

My issue is that it would really be distracting to see a character who you suppose is the one watching, participating

And the fact is, the Fallout realm is much larger than can be accurately captured by a single main protagonist. Try telling the expansion of the NCR after Fallout 2 and before New Vegas (as MATN suggests), a rather epic story that fills gaps in the Fallout story that would be sold short with only a single POV.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

What if they just made a generic sitcom but put it in a vault?

 

[Kcb12345]

Officially excited for this. Walton Goggins is a severely underrated and underappreciated actor

 

[Hasbro]

Officially excited for this. Walton Goggins is a severely underrated and underappreciated actor

Great range too. He can be a coldblooded villain and a comic goofball which would be a great tool kit for an antihero.

 

[Kcb12345]

Great range too. He can be a coldblooded villain and a comic goofball which would be a great tool kit for an antihero.

He will be playing a lead ghoul as well, which he has done before in The Maze Runner: Death Cure

 

[Osprey]

He will be playing a lead ghoul as well, which he has done before in The Maze Runner: Death Cure

I wonder if he'll be playing Harold, everyone's favorite ghoul.

 

[NyQuil]

I bet it'll be more like this guy:

 

[beowulf]

 

[beowulf]