Fallout series

[Burned Man]

I think I missed how Honest Hearts ties into the Ulysses plot when I played it

Graham also mentions expecting you to be a different courier hinting at Ulysses who was a Legion agent.

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

New Vegas was my first Fallout game and it's pretty awesome even by modern game standards. In my opinion it's about as good as GTA V's story mode which I thought was pretty great. Really the main difference for me is graphical. Shame Fallout 4 wasn't better. Still liked Fallout 4, I'm just disappointed in it.

 

[Notgoodwithusernames]

Ive finished lonesome road. In terms of the story it was a great conclusion to the story arc the dlcs had been building towards (chose to nuke the legion btw). In terms of gameplay it was a kick in the balls especially that last fight (some cool weapons though). Also when I reached the divide the game started lagging so bad (It had been running decently before) That I had to set the graphics to low. ALso is it just me or doe Ulysses look like Woolie?

 

[Groundbreaking-maize]

New Vegas was my first Fallout game and it's pretty awesome even by modern game standards. In my opinion it's about as good as GTA V's story mode which I thought was pretty great.

Yeah, the conversation with Legate Lanius at the end sure brought up memories from when Franklin's ex who left him for a lawyer or some shit showed up at his condo, begging him to save Lamar or else he "wuzn't keepin' it real".

That entire game felt like it was designed by a committee of fifty year olds looking up youtube vids to try and find out what kids these days are into.

 

[Imperial Citizen]

Whoa, they really referenced Vault 76 all the way back in Fallout 3? That's kind of mind blowing to be honest.

Bringing this up because I was looking at the entries of the vaults in the Citadel. Vault 76 was the only vault mentioned that is not in the game even though it is mentioned as a DC Vault. Additionally, the entry describes 76 as a control vault. Which makes me wonder, did Vault-Tec even have any control vaults?

It's clear that they did not give a fuck about ethics or sound research testing so their results would not be statistically significant to explore conditions of long-term bunker survival. I'm leaning towards the possibility that every vault had something wrong with it because Vault-tec, like every other pre-war scientific organization, was run by madmen.

 

[Mola Ram]

Additionally, the entry describes 76 as a control vault. Which makes me wonder, did Vault-Tec even have any control vaults?

About a dozen of them were supposed to be control Vaults. The only one we see is Vault 8, which became Vault City. It also wound up with a spare GECK, so even the control Vaults had issues.

I've not played 76 for the same reason I don't handle uranium. What is Vault 76's experiment?

 

[Aquinas]

iirc, none, it was specifically meant to repopulate the area after the fallout subsided

 

[Mola Ram]

iirc, none, it was specifically meant to repopulate the area after the fallout subsided

I think that makes it a control Vault, then?

Now that I think of it, Vault 3 was also a control Vault, but got wiped out by Fiends.

 

[Imperial Citizen]

About a dozen of them were supposed to be control Vaults. The only one we see is Vault 8, which became Vault City. It also wound up with a spare GECK, so even the control Vaults had issues.

I've not played 76 for the same reason I don't handle uranium. What is Vault 76's experiment?

I'd argue that it was the competitiveness. From the Fallout wiki:

For the next 25 years, Vault 76 continued to operate as planned. The overseer found order easy to maintain, though the impressive pedigree of the residents and their competence led to the aforementioned unique challenges, most often challenging her authority. To provide the residents with an outlet for their competitiveness, the overseer instituted a number of awards for the residents to obtain, as award ceremonies were a great way to placate even the most hardened egos (altercations aside; one resident lost a tooth fighting over the Best Dental Hygiene award). The high point of the program was the Vault 76 World Cup, even if it nearly broke the jukebox. The overseer credited the success to the "exemplary" service of her "loyal and dependable" senior staff.

However, Vault 76 also had another objective: the vault's overseer was ordered to find and secure three nuclear silos all on her own after its opening. If these sites were still nuclear-capable, she was to ensure no one except Vault-Tec can access or launch nuclear ordnance. Any other authorities, government, militia or otherwise, were to be ignored, to ensure that Vault-Tec alone controlled these silos and could deny their use to any third parties. However, Vault-Tec may have known that the task was impossible for her to accomplish on her own, especially since they purposefully picked someone young and inexperienced for an overseer.

As the vault neared the end of its duration and the Reclamation Day, the situation started to slowly deteriorate. In 2100, the vault was over capacity, with hydroponics struggling to keep up with the demand and mandatory rationing instituted by the overseer. Six residents had to be placed under disciplinary lockdown (up from four at the end of the previous year), with the morale officer tasked with pacifying rumors about Appalachia around the clock. Nobody wanted to emerge into Appalachia to fight cannibal mutants and brave burning rain. Regardless, tensions were running high, especially with some of the residents being quite difficult to handle.

The residents of Vault 76 were ultra competitive so there was no unity among them. That's probably why there was no Appalachian society by the time of the other Fallout games. The Vault 76 residents used the nukes in West Virginia to blow up each, wiping out any civilization and species in the region.

 

[ShortBusDriver]

New Vegas was my first Fallout game and it's pretty awesome even by modern game standards. In my opinion it's about as good as GTA V's story mode which I thought was pretty great. Really the main difference for me is graphical. Shame Fallout 4 wasn't better. Still liked Fallout 4, I'm just disappointed in it.

Give Fallout 3 a go, it's my favorite story, and environment of the series but the gunplay and graphics don't seem nearly as polished as New Vegas.

I love the look of Fallout 4, the way the leaves blow, and the weather changes, but the story was meh, and the empty wasteland just didn't drive me to go out and explore. I bought it at launch, played it a bit, but never really sat down and played it until months later when we had a snow storm and I was stuck around the house.

 

[The handsome tard]

I think one of my biggest issues with the F4 brotherhood is how they are trying to be what they are not.

What you must understand is that the brotherhood of steel as a faction in general was doomed to fail at some point. They might be the big guys with the big guns/armors but sooner or later their isolationism would be their downfall. We saw this happening in FNV. They might have been the "heroes" in the war against The Master and The Enclave (tho mostly thanks to their big guns) but their insistance of remaining loyal to their increasingly outdated mentality of collecting all tech, that includes "confiscating" from those not "worthy" of having it, would make them enter in conflict with the growing NCR. It had finally reached a boiling point where neither side could find a common ground and went to war, with the brotherhood nearly wiped out thanks to the NCR's superior man power and resources (your big guns and armors can only do so much when the enemy is starting to get weapons and armors as strong).
They are still technically around but they barely have any influence left and are focused more on surviving. Now in NV you can try to bring a historic "peace" between the NCR and Brotherhood (tho if its just in the Mojave chapter and if it will last at all its yet to be seen).

F3's brotherhood had the right idea of actually trying to make good relationship with the locals of the area and use their tech for more benevolent goals. I personally never minded this because it felt unique that a chapter of a faction like the brotherhood, one so distant mind you, would feel like branching out on their goals and actually try to be the good guys instead of tech obssessed weirdos in bunkers.
In the end, I think it paid off with the brotherhood being the most powerful faction in TCW and Broken Steel ended with promising prospect of good times being on the horizon now that TCW had clean water and a faction powerful and yet willing to help the little guy. So they are argurably the most prosperous chapter in the entire brotherhood.

However F4 happens and I feel like the changes done to them feel like they tried to bring some of their old ideals back (probably to satisfy purists who wouldnt shut up with #NotMyBrotherhood) while keeping a few of the ones they had in 3...and I think it all fell apart.
The problem is that F4 seemed almost determined to wipe out all traits of Lyons' brotherhood in this "new and improved" Maxson's. Not only they kill him off (tho he was old so its understandable) but kill off his daughter (a character they already brought back from the dead with Broken Steel) quite out of left field off screen in some random battle (I mean, I dont think the elder would be going into action much and if it has to, then I doubt a trained badass like Sarah would go down just like that). Then I guess anyone who tried to follow their ideas were useless (how convenient) and Maxson suddenly had all these acts of badassery (off screen, again, show dont tell) that obviously meant he was good enough for the role of Elder.
I think this goes right down on how F4's brotherhood describes their war with the enclave and project purity. There is practically no mentioning of James, Dr Li and even The Lone Wanderer (yeah, you know, just the individual that almost nearly did everything for you pricks). And I simply dont know if this is Bethesda's bad writing/retcons or if this is suppose to show the brotherhood actively taking credit for things they didnt do or greatly exagerating their role in it.
Besides, now that they are back at being tech weirdos, it almost feels like TCW is living under a fascist faction, especially since the brotherhood still isnt open to anyone who isnt human (I can understand super mutants but ghouls would probably deserve a chance...I mean, I cant see any use for individuals who are immune to radiation, at all).
There is also the kind of concerningly implication Rivet City was destroyed for them to create their airship...

Things like these sort of made me wish we saw TCW more in F4. All we get are small bits of information so we cant come to any conclusion.

In the end, the brotherhood in DC has grown far too powerful with no other faction to possibly counter any possible inmoral direction they take, especially since all its more benevolent leaders have all conveniently bit the dust. I really dont think a faction like the brotherhood, with their OG ideals I mean, should really ever grow that big and powerful. So Bethesda really tried to bring the best of both worlds and kind of ended with the worst of both.

 

[Imperial Citizen]

I went through the Fallout wiki and looked up the mentioned-only locations in Fallout 76's Wastelanders expansion. I think they provide some unique insight into how post-war Midwest and Eastern America fared, at least by the early 2100s.

Nashville is apparently stable with some npcs noting that it is as pretty as Appalachia. Those same npcs sometimes say that they are spreading the "guitar gospel", so that's either a joke or there may be a music cult growing there.

A trading caravan goes across the Blue Ridge Parkway, a highway from Virginia to North Carolina, so there is some civilization between those state to facilitate trade, and their economy is big enough that caravans can expand into West Virginia.

There is an anti-ghoul group in Charlotte, so either that city or the surrounding region was hit with enough nuclear weapons to saturate sufficient radiation to cause a presence of ghouls.

Both a character from Cincinnatti, Ohio and another from Monroe, Connecticut suffer from radiation-induced cancer, suggesting that bombs fell in those regions or fallout was swept into those regions.

A raider gang called the Free Radicals originated from the Western Maryland Correctional Facility which is based on a real prison in Cumberland Maryland. The gang is made up of surviving inmates lead by the head guard of the prison. So it's possible that Cumberland suffered a societal breakdown. This gang survives based on extorting settlements, which might mean that Cumberland is intact but under control of a raider gang.

Overall, it appears that 25 years after the Great War, small towns on the eastern half of the US are surviving, possibly nearing or around the same level that we see in Fallout 1's West Coast by 2161.

 

[Burned Man]

I think one of my biggest issues with the F4 brotherhood is how they are trying to be what they are not.

What you must understand is that the brotherhood of steel as a faction in general was doomed to fail at some point. They might be the big guys with the big guns/armors but sooner or later their isolationism would be their downfall. We saw this happening in FNV. They might have been the "heroes" in the war against The Master and The Enclave (tho mostly thanks to their big guns) but their insistance of remaining loyal to their increasingly outdated mentality of collecting all tech, that includes "confiscating" from those not "worthy" of having it, would make them enter in conflict with the growing NCR. It had finally reached a boiling point where neither side could find a common ground and went to war, with the brotherhood nearly wiped out thanks to the NCR's superior man power and resources (your big guns and armors can only do so much when the enemy is starting to get weapons and armors as strong).
They are still technically around but they barely have any influence left and are focused more on surviving. Now in NV you can try to bring a historic "peace" between the NCR and Brotherhood (tho if its just in the Mojave chapter and if it will last at all its yet to be seen).

F3's brotherhood had the right idea of actually trying to make good relationship with the locals of the area and use their tech for more benevolent goals. I personally never minded this because it felt unique that a chapter of a faction like the brotherhood, one so distant mind you, would feel like branching out on their goals and actually try to be the good guys instead of tech obssessed weirdos in bunkers.
In the end, I think it paid off with the brotherhood being the most powerful faction in TCW and Broken Steel ended with promising prospect of good times being on the horizon now that TCW had clean water and a faction powerful and yet willing to help the little guy. So they are argurably the most prosperous chapter in the entire brotherhood.

However F4 happens and I feel like the changes done to them feel like they tried to bring some of their old ideals back (probably to satisfy purists who wouldnt shut up with #NotMyBrotherhood) while keeping a few of the ones they had in 3...and I think it all fell apart.
The problem is that F4 seemed almost determined to wipe out all traits of Lyons' brotherhood in this "new and improved" Maxson's. Not only they kill him off (tho he was old so its understandable) but kill off his daughter (a character they already brought back from the dead with Broken Steel) quite out of left field off screen in some random battle (I mean, I dont think the elder would be going into action much and if it has to, then I doubt a trained badass like Sarah would go down just like that). Then I guess anyone who tried to follow their ideas were useless (how convenient) and Maxson suddenly had all these acts of badassery (off screen, again, show dont tell) that obviously meant he was good enough for the role of Elder.
I think this goes right down on how F4's brotherhood describes their war with the enclave and project purity. There is practically no mentioning of James, Dr Li and even The Lone Wanderer (yeah, you know, just the individual that almost nearly did everything for you pricks). And I simply dont know if this is Bethesda's bad writing/retcons or if this is suppose to show the brotherhood actively taking credit for things they didnt do or greatly exagerating their role in it.
Besides, now that they are back at being tech weirdos, it almost feels like TCW is living under a fascist faction, especially since the brotherhood still isnt open to anyone who isnt human (I can understand super mutants but ghouls would probably deserve a chance...I mean, I cant see any use for individuals who are immune to radiation, at all).
There is also the kind of concerningly implication Rivet City was destroyed for them to create their airship...

Things like these sort of made me wish we saw TCW more in F4. All we get are small bits of information so we cant come to any conclusion.

In the end, the brotherhood in DC has grown far too powerful with no other faction to possibly counter any possible inmoral direction they take, especially since all its more benevolent leaders have all conveniently bit the dust. I really dont think a faction like the brotherhood, with their OG ideals I mean, should really ever grow that big and powerful. So Bethesda really tried to bring the best of both worlds and kind of ended with the worst of both.

To me it all comes down to being at the end of the day the Brotherhood of Steel is a faction of dicks. On the Westcoast they bullied people for tech, sent aspirants on a suicide mission for laughs, and had to be convinced not to let the Super Mutant problem run wild. In the Midwest they exploited the local tribals for their own gain. In the Eastcoast we saw them at their nicest and they still have plenty of dickish tendencies. They will shit talk the locals, gun down local opposition in a flash during quarrels and shoot the Outcasts on sight despite being former brothers in arms. I think people had problems with the Brotherhood in 3 because their primary goal was overly altruistic. They were doing the noble thing but weren't getting anything guaranteed out of it which made it seem a little foolish and self destructive. The change worked for me because it was all Lyons's idea and they established that it was the average soldier's loyalty and faith in him that they went along with it. I think once you remove Lyons it makes sense to me they would slide a little backwards into their natural dickishness. My understanding of them is that they are inching closer to the Midwest BOS where they will defend you from threats but expect a little something out of it. They still seem to have noble intentions and want to help the common man but they way they go about it is a bit off putting because they can't help but be dicks about it.

I agree the Brotherhood in 3 was better off compared the Westcoast BOS by generating good faith with the locals instead of outright hostility but you can only get so far on good faith donations. Maxson making some concessions to get Westcoast support and the Outcasts back seemed like a smart move to help solve any manpower shortages they might have had during their wars against the Enclave and Mutants. What we needed to see was more interactions with the locals both in the commonwealth and hear some more about what the BOS was up to in the capital wasteland. The Brotherhood has no shortage of aspirants and initiates so they still have some close ties with local populations. But is it still all voluntary like in 3 or is there obligations like in Tactics? I think part of the problem in 4 is that there are so few settlements that aren't player related we never get to see how they interact with locals. I think they missed a good opportunity to allow the player to form a strong alliance between the minutemen and the brotherhood. I remember there is a terminal on the airship that explains the vertibird patrols are always on the lookout for caravans to shadow so when they get attacked the BOS can arrive to save the day and have a collection of grateful merchants in their pocket which seems like a reasonable compromise of doing the noble thing while doing something for yourself but at the same time you get radiant quests to go strongarm farms to supply to the brotherhood in exchange for protection and we never see if they actually keep their word. The Brotherhood operation in the Commonwealth seems a little half baked and unplanned which makes some sense at the start but it never really seems to get its footing by the end of the game.


Sarah wouldn't be the first Elder to die in a lame way in a pointless battle. One of the Maxsons died in a skirmish with Viper Tribals because he didn't wear a helmet.

 

[Exceptionally Exceptional]

Replaying New Vegas and good fucking god I never noticed how unfathomably arrogant House was. I mean, he was obviously arrogant but holy shit I never noticed how fucking bad it was. Like, as much as a lot of people think he's the best choice for New Vegas I tend to think he's one of those "undone by his own arrogance" sort of people who intevitably damns himself and everyone else around him.

 

[Groundbreaking-maize]

Replaying New Vegas and good fucking god I never noticed how unfathomably arrogant House was. I mean, he was obviously arrogant but holy shit I never noticed how fucking bad it was. Like, as much as a lot of people think he's the best choice for New Vegas I tend to think he's one of those "undone by his own arrogance" sort of people who intevitably damns himself and everyone else around him.

Always put off killing him until I have driver nephi's golf club on hand.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

Well I guess I'll replay New Vegas again, too. After this post here it is the fourth person this week in my sphere of attention that has mentioned restarting New Vegas. I never uninstall that game because I've got so many fucking mods that I use that I would probably have an aneurysm if I has to reinstall and rebuild the game to play the way I am used to playing it.

This mod right here is the key to it all though: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/45739

You're looking at the venerated random start mod for New Vegas, which makes the game extremely fun to replay. I've gotten so much more out of the New Vegas package with the simple addition of this mod. You can choose a reasonably-detailed character to play as and then the game will drop you at a random location somewhere in the Mojave. Story quests are tweaked to accommodate the changes and it completely energizes the opening portions of the game before you begin to become master of your domain.

Otherwise I use mods that don't impact too much of the game's core systems or gameplay. I add some guns, fix up a bunch of textures, and apply community bugfixes. Oh another great mod is "populated casinos" or something along those lines. It adds a bunch more NPCs to the Strip and especially to the interiors of the casinos which makes things seem a lot more full and logical. It's also hilarious to roll in with Mercy and fire a shot or two.

Remember:

Dogs playing poker.

Oh hey this screenshot also reminds me; there's a mod to make throwing grenades/dynamite a simple button-press command rather than requiring you to equip manually. Get that.

 

[Mola Ram]

Always put off killing him until I have driver nephi's golf club on hand.

A slave obeys.

 

[Billy_Sama]

Replaying New Vegas and good fucking god I never noticed how unfathomably arrogant House was. I mean, he was obviously arrogant but holy shit I never noticed how fucking bad it was. Like, as much as a lot of people think he's the best choice for New Vegas I tend to think he's one of those "undone by his own arrogance" sort of people who intevitably damns himself and everyone else around him.

That is way I love New Vegas. They leave a lot of prospective ambiguity on the ending choices that all of them are good or bad on what view you take.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

No gods or men in the Mojave.

ONLY ME.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I think one of my biggest issues with the F4 brotherhood is how they are trying to be what they are not.

What you must understand is that the brotherhood of steel as a faction in general was doomed to fail at some point. They might be the big guys with the big guns/armors but sooner or later their isolationism would be their downfall. We saw this happening in FNV. They might have been the "heroes" in the war against The Master and The Enclave (tho mostly thanks to their big guns) but their insistance of remaining loyal to their increasingly outdated mentality of collecting all tech, that includes "confiscating" from those not "worthy" of having it, would make them enter in conflict with the growing NCR. It had finally reached a boiling point where neither side could find a common ground and went to war, with the brotherhood nearly wiped out thanks to the NCR's superior man power and resources (your big guns and armors can only do so much when the enemy is starting to get weapons and armors as strong).
They are still technically around but they barely have any influence left and are focused more on surviving. Now in NV you can try to bring a historic "peace" between the NCR and Brotherhood (tho if its just in the Mojave chapter and if it will last at all its yet to be seen).

F3's brotherhood had the right idea of actually trying to make good relationship with the locals of the area and use their tech for more benevolent goals. I personally never minded this because it felt unique that a chapter of a faction like the brotherhood, one so distant mind you, would feel like branching out on their goals and actually try to be the good guys instead of tech obssessed weirdos in bunkers.
In the end, I think it paid off with the brotherhood being the most powerful faction in TCW and Broken Steel ended with promising prospect of good times being on the horizon now that TCW had clean water and a faction powerful and yet willing to help the little guy. So they are argurably the most prosperous chapter in the entire brotherhood.

However F4 happens and I feel like the changes done to them feel like they tried to bring some of their old ideals back (probably to satisfy purists who wouldnt shut up with #NotMyBrotherhood) while keeping a few of the ones they had in 3...and I think it all fell apart.
The problem is that F4 seemed almost determined to wipe out all traits of Lyons' brotherhood in this "new and improved" Maxson's. Not only they kill him off (tho he was old so its understandable) but kill off his daughter (a character they already brought back from the dead with Broken Steel) quite out of left field off screen in some random battle (I mean, I dont think the elder would be going into action much and if it has to, then I doubt a trained badass like Sarah would go down just like that). Then I guess anyone who tried to follow their ideas were useless (how convenient) and Maxson suddenly had all these acts of badassery (off screen, again, show dont tell) that obviously meant he was good enough for the role of Elder.
I think this goes right down on how F4's brotherhood describes their war with the enclave and project purity. There is practically no mentioning of James, Dr Li and even The Lone Wanderer (yeah, you know, just the individual that almost nearly did everything for you pricks). And I simply dont know if this is Bethesda's bad writing/retcons or if this is suppose to show the brotherhood actively taking credit for things they didnt do or greatly exagerating their role in it.
Besides, now that they are back at being tech weirdos, it almost feels like TCW is living under a fascist faction, especially since the brotherhood still isnt open to anyone who isnt human (I can understand super mutants but ghouls would probably deserve a chance...I mean, I cant see any use for individuals who are immune to radiation, at all).
There is also the kind of concerningly implication Rivet City was destroyed for them to create their airship...

Things like these sort of made me wish we saw TCW more in F4. All we get are small bits of information so we cant come to any conclusion.

In the end, the brotherhood in DC has grown far too powerful with no other faction to possibly counter any possible inmoral direction they take, especially since all its more benevolent leaders have all conveniently bit the dust. I really dont think a faction like the brotherhood, with their OG ideals I mean, should really ever grow that big and powerful. So Bethesda really tried to bring the best of both worlds and kind of ended with the worst of both.

At least their airship in F4 explained how the Brotherhood got to the east coast in the first place, although didn't Bethesda lift that idea from Fallout Tactics?