fallout will never be consistent because I don't think even the original devs really thought about the world that much, it was a mish mash of all of their favorite pop culture things.
for instance, what the fuck does "bethesda got fallout wrong because they think its the 50s in the future, not the future of the 50s" shit you always hear parroted mean.
someone should tell interplay because
1. why is the tv in the opening to fallout 1 in black and white?
2. why is the news broadcast done in a pre-ww2 silent reel style?
3. why is the water chip a huge fucking vacuum tube? tim cain says it was a joke so the macguffin for the very first game is a prank
I hate emils shit writing too and the show looks like dogshit but asking for tonal/thematic consistency from a series that, at its inception, was a pastiche of just stuff the devs liked from tv and movies is a Sisyphean task.
interplay couldn't even get their own shit together with the nonsense that was fallout 2's pacing, theme, and tone. Telepathic drug using tribal astral projection? Sure why not
tl;dr fallout 1 was lightning in a bottle that just worked
I disagree. I think Fallout 1 was the only game to get the setting just right, it was perfect. NONE of the following devs could capture that essence, not even the devs of Fallout 2 who were forced by Interplay to shoehorn pop culture references because the suits thought this would make the game appeal more to the mainstream audience(lol). Even without that, we started to see the trend of "Amusement Park Ride" world design that Bethesda would become known for. Still, at least it still felt like everything belonged in the same world, even if you could tell the devs started taking some liberties. Fallout Tactics started life as a completely different game, and the devs were confused as to what kind of game they were even making as there was some confusion if Tactics was going to be the genuine Fallout 3. Not a whole lot of people there even played the original titles(again, another trend Bethesda would continue), but I would say that they actually captured the essence of Fallout setting pretty well once again. There were some hiccups, like the use of Humvees and a bit of lore inconsistency, but absolutely nothing like we would see in the future. Other than the West Coast BOS in the original game, MidWest BOS portrayed here, all the way back in 2001, is still the best follow up to that Brotherhood we would ever see.
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel would be the first Fallout game that truly didn't get it's setting, in my opinion. Even then, you could tell that the devs really wanted to connect it to the original titles and appeal to the fans as much as possible, problem is that by that point Interplay was at the brink of bankruptcy and they were forcing the devs to go all in on marketing the game to console babbies and dudebros. They did so by replacing Nuka Cola with Bawls Energy Drink(an actual brand you can buy right now) and using contemporary metal bands for it's ost. The story was very much flanderized and the nuance of the setting simplified so that even an idiot or someone who never played a Fallout game could understand it(once again, yet another tradition that Bethesda would proudly continue). At times, it felt less like an original story and mishmash of Tactics + Fallout 1 campaign in a rebooted universe. Still, you could at least tell at a glance that this was Fallout, most of the time.
Fallout 3 is a mixed bag. I think it stands the test of time as a proper sequel, however it feels, once again, like a reboot as well. Originally, the game was going to be set, appropriately, much closer to the start of the bombs, but Todd really wanted the Brotherhood, Super Mutants and Enclave to be there, so they instead made it a sequel. If this isn't foreshadowing, then I don't know what is. Anyways, this is when the shandification of Fallout started: The devs did not understand the setting, they made it way too cartoony, the sanitization of the setting started right here, and there was over-reliance on member berries. Still, the setting of Capital Wasteland is still worthy of being in the Fallout universe, I would argue that Enclave/Brotherhood/Super Mutants also work within the canon and make sense. Problems came with the stronger parts of the previous titles: Story sucked ass and made zero sense, there was zero thought put into the actual game world and it's cities, the "thrill park" syndrome was stronger than ever, entities like raiders, ghouls, dogmeat and Brotherhood started to become mascots rather than organic parts of the setting, and there was confusion over the tone of the franchise. It wasn't about rebuilding anymore, or even fighting a big bad that could shake up this unique setting. This was basically star wars but without the space part(unless you paid for Mothership Zeta DLC) as the biggest plotpoint aside from building a giant water purifier(note that there was drinking water in every Fallout game before this, even in the most backwater villages) was a war between The Brotherhood and The Enclave, complete with a giant toy robot that no doubt Todd insisted they put in because it was part of his teenage Fallout fan fiction. In fact, there was zero rebuilding anywhere, everyone was living in crappy little metal shacks, surrounded by skeletons, untouched ruins and undetonated atomic bombs 200 years later while still eating manufactured crap in cans. I think everybody knows the problems with Fallout 3 vs the previous titles, so I will just post a classic image to sum it all up:
I think the only game that understood the Fallout setting perfectly aside from OG Fallout was New Vegas, and the why of it would take too long if I listed every single example. All I am going to say is that everything just clicks and it feels like you're truly playing a Fallout game set 200 years after the bombs, when society not only started to rebuild but nation building has begun and the first major war of new humanity is about to begin. It's a simple story, narrative wise, but it works much better than fighting The Enclave or a giant mutated creature yet again. Enclave has been dealt with and armies like NCR, Legion or even House's robots can deal with the wildlife. That's the point, this is a story about tribes in a post-post apocalyptic sci-fi setting, not an amusement park ride in Disney land. Of course, it helps that many devs who worked on Fallout and Fallout 2 were working on this game as well, so in essence, what I said at the start still holds true: No other group of developers came close to understanding the setting...but they did get a second chance with New Vegas.
Then we come to Fallout 4, where all the biggest problems of 3 were just made worse. Theme Park? Check. Shandification? Worse than ever. Retcons? Up the ass, altho PC mods fixed most of them, thankfully. Horrible writing that does not just understand why Fallout works, but is awful on it's own? Yep! The game isn't even an RPG anymore, it's an action shooter just like Brotherhood of Steel. The setting has been turned into a cartoon, almost a parody, while the tone was sanitized more than ever for mass consumption. Even the plot tries to (poorly) copy New Vegas without understanding WHY that simple story worked. You're not seeing various tribes coming together and deciding the future of post-war America, you have several factions fighting over Synths in a very thinly made allegory about poor oppressed niggers, I mean slavery. They flubbed it with Synths big time, this had major potential but it, along with Institute and Railroad that were teased in Fallout 3, ended up being a disappointment. Even the Brotherhood doesn't know what to do with itself: It's written to be like the MidWestern BOS of Tactics but claims to be the same one from Fallout 3. It does not act like either, and you can see where I am going with this: They commit the biggest sin of trying to destroy the most technologically advanced settlement in the world, definitely most advanced science bay short of Big MT, all because the elder REALLY hates niggers, I mean synths. The Western Brotherhood would have an aneurysm if they saw that, in fact every single BOS chapter before this considered capturing technology to be paramount to their missions no matter what the nuances in their philosophies were...except the Brotherhood in Fallout BOS, which really were just guys in power armor kicking ass because that's what normies think of when they look at Fallout. We also saw Super Mutants, Radscorpions, Dogmeat and all the other lovable mascots that Fallout is now known for, because that's what they are. Every single game has to have them now, even if it they make zero sense within the lore. To say that Bethesda misunderstood the whole point of the Fallout setting as of Fallout 4 would be like saying that my dog might have a hard time reading Shakespeare, an understatement. Even within the vacuum of it being it's own game it was nothing special, the only good bit of content was Far Harbor DLC and that was a fluke because the same devs worked on Starfield. We all know how that turned out.
As of Fallout 76, the shandification has been truly complete. There was nothing remaining within the Fallout universe but a hollow shell, an imitation, a brand that had to have all the checkmarks to get the consoomers to buy the product they expect, but don't make the game too interesting or rough around the edges because you have to appeal to the wide market! There is barely even any story in Fallout 76, it was just a soulless Game as a Service that every other title was at the time. Remember the short lived BATTLE ROYALE mode that Bethesda put around the same time we saw a craze of those titles? You're really going to tell me that was put in the game out of some labor of love or because it fits the setting? No, more thought has been put into how the store and Fallout 1st works than anything within the setting or the story, which is a shame because West Virginia is a fantastic locale for a Fallout title, arguably the only worthwhile addition to the franchise. The fact that there were even more retcons and the ones from previous titles continued should be expected, the devs barely even bothered trying to justify Super Mutants and Brotherhood in Appalachia as they had to be there no matter what and fans would expect them to at this point. The franchise has become such a joke of a brand that one of the few unique additions to the setting, Scorched, were just generic feral ghouls with guns and repurposed dragons from Skyrim(and repurposing Skyrim elements would become a trend, if Starfield is anything to go by).
That brings us today, to the TV show. If we follow this trend, then we shouldn't be surprised that by now, the series is only connected to the previous titles in a sense that the human centipede could technically be considered a complete entity: We had Fallout 4 taking a shit on the fans and the setting, Fallout 76 ate that shit and continued the cycle some more, and then the TV Show ate that shit and once again, continued the disgusting cycle once again but this time cannibalizing bits of lore and characters from the previous titles as by that point, the substance it has consumed had absolutely no nutritional value anymore and it had to feed off something else as well. This disgusting metaphor aside, all the reasons as to why the TV Show doesn't understand the setting, or even basic elements of the franchise, has been discussed already. There is nothing more to build off of, Bethesda made sure of that, the show feels like a cheap thrill ride and memberberries any% speedrun because that is what games have become these days. In a way, the show is authentic to the games, the modern ones anyways. At this point, these products(and you cannot call it art anymore, they ARE branded products that only exist to sell more merchandise) are not trying to appeal to the actual fans of the franchise, they are trying to appeal to the mass market and the consoomers who will consume the brand no matter what, regardless of content. Hardly a unique fate, but it's sad it came to this. If there was a single person in charge that still cared about the IP, we wouldn't be here, but alas, here we are.
Is there anything to take away from everything I've written? Yes, if there is anything to get from this, is that Fallout setting DOES work under the right writers. Original Fallout and New Vegas work perfectly and there is truly nothing like them. Games like Fallout 2, Tactics and even 3 to an extent still stay faithful to the setting and show how strong it is even when there are some misunderstandings or liberties taken. I haven't even gotten into fanworks which actually understand the Fallout setting better than the devs, I would suggest playing(or watching someone talk about) Fallout Sonora and Fallout Nevada as this post is already way too long. These games, made by the same person, UNDERSTAND what Fallout is all about and I will go a step further than that and say that these are the official Fallout prequels, not 76. Get the right team of writers and developers who understand what they're making, and just like with any IP, this very unique setting can work wonders and provide an experience unlike anything else. Sadly, we will never see anything even remotely passing even the low bar Fallout 3 set under modern day Bethesda, so fanworks here and there are all we have now. If you want to see how a true sequel to Fallout 2 that isn't New Vegas would look, check out the leaked Van Buren design docs. THAT is how you make a proper Fallout title, of course this is why most of the elements from Van Buren are canon now, and mentioned all the time in New Vegas(the concept of which was originally going to be Black Isle's Fallout 4, the war with Legion and NCR and what not. In fact, Legion first appeared in Van Buren and would be a teaser for Black Isle's Fallout 4 in the same sense Institute and Railroad were in Bethesda's Fallout 3.)
God damn it, Drinker. Either he never played the games and merely pretends he does or he is a sellout, neither would surprise me.
