SpoonFULL
SasqWatch
Because ranking Mad Max movies isn't
Are we ranking them? It's obvious that Mad Max 2 is the best in the series
Because ranking Mad Max movies isn't
Relatively civilized area?
Just rewatch the first movie and you will see that the setting in it does not make any sense, especially compared to the following movies.
Can't say I could possibly disagree with you more in this thread. First you say F3 is the best of series (blasphemy to true Fallout fans), and now Mad Max is boring!! Ridiculous!
Personally, I love the movies and I am pretty well-known amongst my friends as a pretty big film snob. I even dressed up as the road warrior for Halloween because of my love for the Mad Max series. The first Mad Max is my favorite too (though the Road Warrior probably has a bigger influence on post apocalyptic settings). The ending to Mad Max is terrific. It's the moment you really see lone wolf renegade coming out of Max.
Regardless of how you feel about the movies, you can't deny the massive impact it had on the Fallout games (particularly the aforementioned Road Warrior film). A lot of ideas were lifted straight from the movie. Also, the leather armor and shotgun are clear takeaways from the Mad Max character. Even narratively speaking, you are put in a lot of positions where there is no clear right answer and must decide what is best for your survival more often than what is best for others (best accomplished in the first Fallout game, in my opinion). I am totally stoked to see what they do with the game. I just hope they manage to explore the great elements that Fallout took from the movies. They could really bungle things up if they make the environment a giant playground like the Just Cause games approach the game world.
You say that you find every movie in a post apocalyptic setting to be quite the same. They were all about survival and the human psyche. That there are already enough of this kind of movies and that you see the fantasy setting in a different light.
-development of human psyche as you said. On a small scale like in Walking Dead or in a community scale. Like people praying to a bomb in Fallout 3 or founding communities to other believes and habits.
-But coming with the hostile environment is also the focus on small things, which gain importance. An awesome scene from the road is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiYeFSu5GGE
-Exploration might also be a great factor. The main protagonist is going out into an unknown world not knowing what is around the next corner, who…or what is inhabiting the next town.
-An often ocuring element coming with the exploration element is also the stumbling on relics of past times. This again has two effects. One thing is that it gives a shocking impression of what actually happened (remember the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes), or it might bring something into play which only a few people know, as the Coke you saw in the previously linked video, which is a completely new experience for the child and as a viewer it's interesting to see the reaction.
You said that there are already enough of this kind, you mention overexposure to the extreme, but I disagree. While we currently have an explosion due to the hype of the Zombie Apocalypse which I am actually not a big fan of because it often limits the whole setting to the survival while the whole post apocalyptic setting is just tacked on. But there are hardly any movies, or games where all of these points play a big role. And of this we still need more.
You said that you like the mechanics of Fallout, the writing and the decisions. Some of the most memorable things I remember about the game is also something completely else:
Like in Fallout 3 you can find a small room under a bridge where somebody must have freaked out, painted some stuff on the wall, before finally hanging himself.
Also in Fallout 3 you can find some satellite dishes. And if you climb on top of them you can see that some punks "celebrated" some kind of "we will all go to hell"-party and all the dish is cluttered with empty beer cans.
Or when you look a round in just a random building and find the parent's sleeping chamber. Toys lying on the floor and the skeleton couple lying in the bed, holding hands. With them their child as they wanted to end it and not live in such a world.
These are some of the greatest moments of Fallout to me. Exploration and psychological drama.
And there are hardly any good movies or games set in these settings. Sure, there are a couple. But compared to fantasy games, well…
Interestingly on the movie side, there isn't such a big difference as "real" fantasy movies are also pretty rare (speaking of a Conan, Willow, Lord of The Rings - Setting).
However they are not that far away from each other. While in games fantasy is just another "background", in the movie format it almost provides the same background as the post apocalyptic setting. You have the danger of monsters and evil troops like in Conan or Legend of the Seeker. You have the exploration of unknown regions, not knowing what to expect next. However as I said before the post apocalyptic setting has better chances to keep it to a lower level, where surviving in the end might be enough for a good ending. In fantasy settings (also Reality+Fantasy mixtures) it tends to be about saving the world, which then might go into the absurd when doing sequels. The story in the second season of Legend of the Seeker for example was quite bad. But series like Heroes, Supernatural or True Blood bascially share the same fate.
A fate which is not really shared by post apocalyptic series like Jeremiah, Jericho, Fallen Skies, Walking Dead and also probably not by Defiance. Only exception here is Revolution, which is quite horrible overall.
As a fan of the post apocalyptic setting, two of my favorite fantasy novels were The Hobbit and Thera Awakening (Novel for Stonekeep). The reason behind it is simple. They focus on exploration and the unknown. While the world in Lord of the Rings is quite fleshed out, it isn't if you start with the hobbit and experience everything from the Hobbit's eyes who don't know anything outside of their town. Pretty much the same in Thera Awakening, which, as far as I remember, starts in a keep which got isolated in some kind of fantasy apocalypse event.
So maybe I could show you some aspects which you did not realize as such before. Maybe you don't care about them and of course that's a matter of personal taste.
Personally I can hardly name 10 good post apocalyptic movies and 10 good post apocalyptic games (without sequels) and would not call it overexposure yet.
If you limit that statement to "fight against zombies" instead of the post apocalyptic setting I'd agree though.
I'm very much an "immersion" kind of guy. I'm heavily influenced by atmosphere in games - and post-apoc settings affect me negatively. I get depressed myself, and I don't feel good when depressed. Shocking, isn't it?
Fair enough.
I am also an immersion kind of guy btw (and hate everything immersion breaking, like the presentation in Mad Max 1, the Sunglasses in Book of Eli, or the City of New Vegas in FO) just that to me this "depression" is quite enjoyable.
And while I am not an emo I'd consider myself a goth.
But yeah, tastes differ. Personally I don't get any enjoyment out of Drug or War-dramas.
FO3 had some kind of semi sci-fi feel that felt slightly more vibrant. I liked that.