Fallout - Editorial @ Gamemoir

Couchpotato

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Gamemoir has a new article that ponders it would be nice for Fallout to be set in a Post-Fallout setting. I have to say I agree with them.

Post-nuclear armageddon fantasy is a genre I would really love to see. There’s so much room for creative innovation and with such a rich lore base, the sky is really the limit as to where Bethesda could go with the IP.

I suppose there is a fear that the game would effectively become a sort of modern “Skyrim with guns,” as Borderlands 2 was described. However, I don’t think those fears are well grounded. What really makes Fallout? It’s the tone, the characters, and how they think and feel and interact.

Would putting similar characters, with philosophies and paradigms born out of the hellfire, into a different setting change the overall tone and style of the series? I don’t think so. Will we have learned our lesson? Will we finally have achieved peace? As a Fallout game, we play with the disclaimer that “War, war never changes.”

So long as the narrative focuses on the drive to spread misery seemingly inherent to the human condition and also the drive to survive and protect others from said misery, we will have a Fallout game, blues skies and green hills, or brown everything.

I do enjoy the blasted wasteland look at times, and there is something to be said about the emotional impact of watching people trying and failing to cope with the difficulties of life where everything has a faint glow.

A part of me hopes that there will continue to be ruin fiction Fallout, but I also hope for some progression. A sign that there actually is a future in the series, even if it ultimately collapses again.
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For me, process is more enjoyable than destination. In the Fallout universe, I really don't care if there is an ultimate end or point to the story. I merely enjoy being in that world. I can make up my own story arc and do what I want; be as bad or as good as I'm inclined. The NPCs in that world are fun to know and chat with, but I don't care if NPC 'A' ever finds a mate and true happiness in the end. All I want are reasonably fun and challenging quests, sort of a 'never-ending story' [I hated that movie, but my daughter loved it] type of game I can play indefinitely. Exploration, discovery, unexpected encounters — that's all I want. I'm not looking for some ultimate revelation and tidy wrap-up.
 
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I also prefer this type of setting. That said, just about every zombie game is theoretically post-fallout. The danger of radiation is just swapped for zombie hordes.

Otherwise you've still got your roving bands of thugs, destruction, current tech, etc.
 
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I prefer apocalyptic settings. Fallout 2, 3, NV were too happy-go-lucky for me.

You make an excellent point. I wish the Fallout series had a harder edge, too. The bad guys just seem a bit too — something. Yes, they are bad and do bad stuff, but they seem not gritty somehow. Same with the overall world. The whole milieu is a bit too positive and hopeful, or accepting. Does that make sense?

A post-apocalyptic world that is bleaker is probably what I want.
 
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