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Fallout series
- Thread starter exball
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Probably not proper time and place, and maybe even hypocritical, but I find this to be flat out wrong. if anything the Beta for HL2 shows how it was going to be far more complex but complexity does not = quality. There were a lot of factors working against HL2, but trying to appeal to some nonexistent modern audience was not one of them.
Reboot implies they were completely removing/ignoring the story of the original game, which they didn't. Black Mesa was outright nuked, and while Valve doesn't care much to follow the HL1 expansions, Laidlaw was very clearly considering that Black Mesa was outright destroyed. I'll even go so far as to say that's more on HL1 for having very little story and no characters whatsoever and they had to pick up the slack for HL2.
I imagine if they had infinite time and money they could've done a system similar to Daggerfall with having checks and loans, since gold actually had weight in that game. None of the games outside of 3 (ironically) ever felt like they did the ingame economy right, you're just always unfortunately always going to end up with the player having an insane amount of caps.
Campbell_Trio
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2025
At a certain point my friend and i agreed to stop doing side content and abuse glitches to get the main story with faster then told me to avoid a whole dlc because it was just bad combat arenas.
Sunshine i think is the new default bad mario now since i see discourse around its quality get brought up more and more, i have nostalgia for it so anything i say is soaked in bias but i think it's pretty good.
They probably had some form of coin rollers where they just count two thousand caps into a crate and mark it.
People on twitter were saying how accurate the show was that Thad carried thousands of caps in his pockets without any sound or impact on his movement but this line implies we just don't hear the noise
Caps could have been the dollars of the currency with other tokens underneath it like bills or actual coins.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2019
It's a totally different experience from the sequel in terms of tone and writing but more or less the same as the sequel gameplay wise with less refinement.
Serbian Peacekeepers
kiwifarms.net
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- Dec 12, 2020
In universe I imagine people come up with ways to reduce the weight and annoyance of carrying Caps, maybe crushing them into flatten version that are bigger in diameter but thinner so you can easily carry more?
Though really, Caps are probably a game centric item and in reality most people would be focused on bartering goods and caps would just be to make up the difference or pay for cheaper goods and services, Most people would probably only carry around 50 to 100 on their person.
foreman 89
kiwifarms.net
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- Feb 23, 2021
If 30+GameOvers participated on r/Fallout, how long would it take for him to get banned?
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2024
First post. To his credit they are insufferable, but a much different breed of it than he is.
Still, insufferable nonetheless.
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2022
i have 100 stealth and 90k bottlecaps and i just walked through a white legs camp on my knees popping heads open with a .22 silenced pistol like i was FDR playing James Bond shut the fuck up follows-chalk
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2019
I had a recent sperg out about the TV show so Im legit trying to take it easy (for my standards)
The question is brought up a lot, "what makes a fan a 'true fan' ?" and of course there is a lot of subjective answers but I think it is mostly agreed, at least by those that actually give a fuck, that a true fan cares about the following
- Lore
- Tone
- Themes
- An understanding and consistency of the three above
- Capacity to recognize when the ones above arent being followed properly
- Capacity to recognize tourists and shills
You may have come during F1 or F76, doesnt matter, as long as you demonstrate interest in Fallout as a whole and is able to come to the understanding that, at best, there was a drop off of quality with Bethesda's hands that only grows by the product. It started alright with F3 so there is a level of subjective discussion over it but 4 onwards is where objectivity starts and it should be agreed that, at least as a FALLOUT game, that game is atrocious and it only got worse with 76 and now with the TV show? It is very clear that there is a level of intentious malice in it's writing, there really isnt much debate in there.
You CAN like 3,4,76 and the TV show for what they are, the gameplay and the pretty effects, that is ok. What isnt ok is for you to act like they carry the lore, tones and themes of the classic entries and the IP as a whole just because they throw recurrent lines and shallow references whilest changing even whats the core message of the franchise even is.
All of this coming from someone that came in with F3, had a blast with it, played the classics, had a blast with it and also played F4, had a blast with it...the first time and even then I knew shit wasnt the same anymore.
The Automatron DLC was also borrowed from a F3/NV mod where you can build robot companions. A fun mod if not pretty damn janky. Tho roleplaying as an The Engineer type of character is legit fun, you can even turn Zeta's robots against them.
Sure Bethesda will claim its their 100% original idea but we both know they steal ideas from modders (who they already made it clear that they openly despise).
The greatest handgun ever made...
You know its bad when your two main leads are the poor man's version of the Sequel trilogy leads.
Guess doesnt matter where you go and do, being a Bethesda fan surely is a miserable experience.
Banned from 30+nations threads
For no reason at all
lol
Not bad but it is like a proof of concept if that makes any sense. You really feel like they knew they had an idea but didnt explore it properly, tho to be fair, the DLCs do begin to improve the presentation ,characterization and even lore (to the point stuff from those DLCs are referenced in future entries). Obviously the sequels improved on it a lot(only to butcher it B3 onwards)
I do recommend a playthrough (with friends if possible), DLC included but otherwise, there isnt much making a replay that appealing.
True, I guess its just one of the things our suspension of disbelief just didnt bother putting much thought into it because, well, its just not a big deal in THIS particular case. The bottlecaps just had a visual goal to demonstrate a post apocalypse's attempts at establishing some sort of currency back again (backed by stuff that has actual worth like water) and there were lot of caps from Nuka Cola's overproduction of their bottles (a subtle demonstration of how this company was massive pre-war) so one thing like to the other. Is it kind of silly? Yes. Is it NONSENSICAL with the proper consideration and lore? Not really. Besides, they did ditch the caps in F2 for a currency more fitting with the time period and setting (post-post apocalypse now), even making a joke about it in a side mission where you get A LOT of caps at the end but these things are worthless now lol.
Tho Im sure someone disingenuous would use this as an argument as to why Fallout was never a serious franchise
"See? Carrying caps around is so dumb! Fallout was never serious!"
The question is brought up a lot, "what makes a fan a 'true fan' ?" and of course there is a lot of subjective answers but I think it is mostly agreed, at least by those that actually give a fuck, that a true fan cares about the following
- Lore
- Tone
- Themes
- An understanding and consistency of the three above
- Capacity to recognize when the ones above arent being followed properly
- Capacity to recognize tourists and shills
You may have come during F1 or F76, doesnt matter, as long as you demonstrate interest in Fallout as a whole and is able to come to the understanding that, at best, there was a drop off of quality with Bethesda's hands that only grows by the product. It started alright with F3 so there is a level of subjective discussion over it but 4 onwards is where objectivity starts and it should be agreed that, at least as a FALLOUT game, that game is atrocious and it only got worse with 76 and now with the TV show? It is very clear that there is a level of intentious malice in it's writing, there really isnt much debate in there.
You CAN like 3,4,76 and the TV show for what they are, the gameplay and the pretty effects, that is ok. What isnt ok is for you to act like they carry the lore, tones and themes of the classic entries and the IP as a whole just because they throw recurrent lines and shallow references whilest changing even whats the core message of the franchise even is.
All of this coming from someone that came in with F3, had a blast with it, played the classics, had a blast with it and also played F4, had a blast with it...the first time and even then I knew shit wasnt the same anymore.
The Automatron DLC was also borrowed from a F3/NV mod where you can build robot companions. A fun mod if not pretty damn janky. Tho roleplaying as an The Engineer type of character is legit fun, you can even turn Zeta's robots against them.
Sure Bethesda will claim its their 100% original idea but we both know they steal ideas from modders (who they already made it clear that they openly despise).
The greatest handgun ever made...
You know its bad when your two main leads are the poor man's version of the Sequel trilogy leads.
Guess doesnt matter where you go and do, being a Bethesda fan surely is a miserable experience.
Banned from 30+
For no reason at all
lol
Not bad but it is like a proof of concept if that makes any sense. You really feel like they knew they had an idea but didnt explore it properly, tho to be fair, the DLCs do begin to improve the presentation ,characterization and even lore (to the point stuff from those DLCs are referenced in future entries). Obviously the sequels improved on it a lot(only to butcher it B3 onwards)
I do recommend a playthrough (with friends if possible), DLC included but otherwise, there isnt much making a replay that appealing.
True, I guess its just one of the things our suspension of disbelief just didnt bother putting much thought into it because, well, its just not a big deal in THIS particular case. The bottlecaps just had a visual goal to demonstrate a post apocalypse's attempts at establishing some sort of currency back again (backed by stuff that has actual worth like water) and there were lot of caps from Nuka Cola's overproduction of their bottles (a subtle demonstration of how this company was massive pre-war) so one thing like to the other. Is it kind of silly? Yes. Is it NONSENSICAL with the proper consideration and lore? Not really. Besides, they did ditch the caps in F2 for a currency more fitting with the time period and setting (post-post apocalypse now), even making a joke about it in a side mission where you get A LOT of caps at the end but these things are worthless now lol.
Tho Im sure someone disingenuous would use this as an argument as to why Fallout was never a serious franchise
"See? Carrying caps around is so dumb! Fallout was never serious!"
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- Joined
- Apr 24, 2025
My favorite was when I'd be expertly sneaking through the trap-laden caves without a problem, only to hear a gigantic explosion behind me, turn around, and see him go, "Like the shadow of a ghost
"
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2024
Finally bit the bullet and decided to try and watch the show. What an absolute butchering of the Fallout lore. This has firmly cemented my belief that this is just an attempt from Todd to destroy everything not related to Bethesda Fallout and Todd is just a petty bitch. And of course, they just HAD to bring back the Enclave. Bunch of talentless hacks writing this garbage.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2022
in FO3 broken steel they do mention pockets of it even though you got rid of them on FO2 even if they claim utter defeat once you destroy the platform, bethesda just saw an opportunity to make the enclave this localized pockets thing similar to BoS when you look at it but unlike BoS, the enclave still had all of the pre-war tech that the brotherhood only dreamed of, not to mention that the oil rig was destroyed and the president was killed BUT they weren't fully hunted down, especially with NV showing that most of said pockets having disbanded but some still keep the enclave traditions and whatnot, it's funny seeing that they sort of agreed with FO3's take on the enclave.
honestly i am neutral about the enclave, both companies used that faction in a retarded way even though they have their own potential excluding them having extremely advanced shit and losing to fucking spear chuckers (backed by the brotherhood though) because the writers drank from the same retarded juice as james cameron (the greatest pioneer) drank from when he made the exact same retarded thing in avatar.
good fucking luck finding a writer that fucking gets it though, the oldfag devs just made them as this objectively evil faction that refused to let go and wanted to install the same hierarchy of old while the theming of their fallout was about moving on and Re(master)Todd just does it for the "member the pre-war?" shit for a retarded view of rule of cool some retarded writer (emil) convinced him it would work, then there's 76 but 76 will rape and retcon the lore as any MMO does it to sell shit, nothing new in that field.
Campbell_Trio
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2025
I think the enclave have way more wiggle room to bounce back especially compared to the bos but i will agree on Bethesda writing the enclave badly.
The enclave literally tear through your village like paper and you only beat them because you nuke their base not out of any actual test of strength
I think very little of 76s cosmetic lore is canon since its all very disposable and probably forgotten after its no longer hot. Its also mostly just shit like brands and franchises that existed pre war.
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2019
"My caps, they jingle jangle jingle..."
I hereby give you all permission to make VATS memes about my painful demise as punishment for reminding you of that ever-present song.
For honorable service against all Communists.
Everyone's gangster until the mailman starts loading dragon's breath shells into the ballistic fist. Also, replacing the industrial hand's blade with a Saturnite saw, then superheating it.
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- Nov 9, 2024
Say you have an account on kiwifarms and you will be banned faster than a jew can grab a penny.
>IMPLYING
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2022
Technically Obsidian did this by having ED-E (via recording) make mention of an outpost in Chicago.
Granted the "if" does a lot of heavy lifting. It's possible ED-E bypassed Chicago completely; got there but there wasn't anyone to carry out repairs; or someone else simply did what the Courier can possibly do and repair it on a whim before allowing it to go on its merry way.
So the blame for "bringing back the Enclave... again" is more on Obsidian's shoulders than Bethesda's outright. The Remnants bunker also carried an implication of there being a bunch of those things over the USA. Whether they're occupied by a token force or were simply a supply cache for travelling Enclave, who knows. The bunker in FNV was originally a vertibird refuelling station that was made into an ad-hoc cache
So yeah, Bethesda brought the Enclave back first, but even after blowing up the crawler it's vague on whether they're truly defeated.
Sarah Lyons has this to say after you blow up the mobile base:
This basically gives them the window to bring back the Enclave whenever though. "A good amount of time to recover" =/= "wiped out" The is actually makes the absence of the Enclave from 4 becomes confusing with this context too...
I am personally convinced Bethesda has an absurd timeline/internal mindset with regards to Fallout, which is exacerbated by their relative apathy to it compared to something like Elder Scrolls, I think there's an argument to be made for what them shifting a bunch of concepts and stories around to make them fit some original framework they had in mind. It doesn't involve the West Coast or central US whatsoever, and there's some vague possibility raised by this on what the hell Fallout 76 was originally meant to be. Important context for all this is every idea they've had for the Fallout franchise was more or less envisioned between 2008-2011
Sarah alludes to Virginia in her dialogue at the end of Broken Steel, just in case you were wondering how early Virginia in Bethesda's version of Fallout was conceived (2009-2011).
I've theorised that 4 was intended to be a prequel to 3 prior, and by shifting 76 into a sequel, you end up with something like this:
Fallout 4* -> Fallout 3** -> Fallout 76***
*Grandson of John Maxon arrives in Boston after the BoS raid on The Pitt, his son Arthur is born during or shortly after the events of this game. There would be some allusion to a BoS chapter in D.C. assisting on a secret project, or not.
** A decade later or so later, after the events of 4, a much more diminished BoS is confined to D.C. The grandson of John Maxon, Arthur, is 10 years old. The BoS has some nebulous internal stuff going on hence their diminished presence in Fallout 2. The Enclave at Raven Rock emerge as the Western Enclave are wiped out between 2241-2245 (or are Enclave who left East). Eden possesses an ad-hoc or refined version of the F.E.V virus developed on the West Coast, and is meant to be an A.I. copy of the previous Enclave president.
*** 3 decades after the events of Fallout 3 (actually 4, but actually 2.5, but actually F1.5, but actually F0.5) in Fallout 76, Vault 76 mysteriously opens, just as the BoS and Enclave mysteriously appear in the region, resuming their conflict from decades prior. MODUS represents the core Enclave schism from 3, of serving an artificial intelligence (Eden) or being lead by flesh and blood (Autumn) with the MODUS Enclave being composed of the former, making them the true antithesis and anathema of the BoS. Vault 76, like 13, was a Vault The Pitt is post-Ashur, post-cure, divided into 2 factions vying over the city - in a sequel context you can be vague over the player's choice since both sides wanted to distribute the cure/vaccine regardless, and similarly be it Werner or Ashur the power vacuum after would provoke a split regardless).
In order to course correct 76, you would need to retcon more or less the entire story of 4 into being a prequel, which isn't too absurd given it originally was.
According to Emil himself in 2018, "Fallout 4" was originally going to be set closer to the pre-war, exploring a world devastated by the bombs. I don't know what happened here but given the writing finagling I think occurred with Fallout 3 and Bethesda's notoriously long dev-time, their prequel spin-off plans might've been brought up purely to create a sequel rather than a prequel out of worries it might've displeasured fans. This, humorously enough, still puts the blame on Emil Pagliarulo. Emil, I think, has the same issue a lot of Hollywood execs/producers/directors/writers do when it comes to videogame stories, where doesn't conceive of them being good couched in their own material, so he creates a story independent of it, then forces the setting to match. The more say he has, the less coherent everything becomes.
76 being released with such a hollow story (if you can call launch 76's "main quest" a main quest at all) and gimmick multiplayer can be the consequence of its actual, original main story being ripped out.
So in sum: This culminates in my favourite, total ass-pull of a conclusion: Fallout 76 was the original Fallout 4, Fallout 4 was the original Fallout 76. The settings were switched as a consequence of the haphazard treatment of the franchise and fears over possible backlash to a prequel after so long a wait.
Fallout 4 was in development before Emil was made head writer if you didn't know, and I think he forced what was already developed and adapted it to something else, which this assigned responsibility more or less being a result of his work on Oblivion and Skyrim. A proto-Fallout 76 was turned into Fallout 4 haphazardly. Emil might not be totally blameless, since I think Bethesda decided it to be a sequel last-minute with no multiplayer component due to the disgruntlement toward ESO at the time. It might also explain the relative lack of Emil's trademarks, such as a heavy emphasis on religion, present in the Dark Brotherhood and Starfield, stories which otherwise had his complete say. It'd also explain his dismissiveness towards 4's story, since it wasn't entirely his own and it was pretty much a rush-job for a prequel/multiplayer game turned sequel.
TLDR: Fallout 76's cheapness in story yet oddly developed map is Bethesda trying to make money of off work they already sank too many hours into. Fallout 76 was to be the original setting for a sequel to Fallout 3, and Fallout 4 was a prequel to 3, possibly with multiplayer. Emil was brought on during the last year of Fallout 4's development to make a story from pre-existing assets and make it fit as a sequel to Fallout 3, which was done as a consequence of fan reaction to another multiplayer prequel game they had just released: Elder Scrolls Online. It also helps explain its more light-hearted tone compared to 3 and NV, because it was never intended to be a mainline game. They had to make it so a game that had spent 7 years in development didn't just come out an immediate failure like Elder Scrolls Online was purported to be.
Fallout 4 likely suffered the exact same fate was Fallout 3 did, of mixing together to totally separate visions for its place in the chronology, and trying to make the original fit its new position in time. The original plan for 76 was scrapped due to Fallout 4 setting a new chronology, so rather than scrap it outright they recycled the original location for Fallout 4 into becoming what is now 76 and vice versa. I would even hazard to guess that elements of the original sequel to 3 were just shoved in haphazardly.
Ponder:
1) The "Institute" kidnap a genetically pure individual to serve as their leader (for no reason)
2) The "Institute" are conducting FEV experiments to create Super mutant replacements for "synths" (goes nowhere + no reason + FEV was a military thing, how do they have it?)
3) The "Institute" working with an outsider (Kellogg) is made a big deal out of despite them "canonically" braving a trek from West to East coast
4) You can join the "Institute", which otherwise has no logical basis given you can't actually alter course on anything it does (like you can in a certain other game)
5) Li is a member of the "Institute" despite the events of Fallout 3 giving her cause to shun such an openly malevolent organisation, and disliking the BoS despite their relative benevolence in 3, especially compared to her new organisation. Her description of why she left makes no sense given she left the BoS when it wasn't working on secret weapons projects, they were rather open in fact. The BoS also never used their control of Project Purity to nefarious ends. What was Li intending to do with Project Purity? Distribute free water? Like the BoS already did?
The BoS skip over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, just to stop over in Massachusetts
9) Maddison Li somehow got here by herself despite needing escort out of Project Purity. The Commonwealth isn't even safe to do this since in 4 it's depicted as a similar lawless Wasteland as the rest.
In case it wasn't clear, I think the Institute were originally meant to be the Enclave as they would've been depicted in the original theoretical sequel to 3, but were then retrofitted to fit the assets and ideas made for a prequel instead, but a prequel that itself as now made into a sequel. Kidnapping a genetically pure human to serve as the Enclave's future leader could be the result of an AI wanting to avoid the issue Eden ran into with Autumn - they needed a human who was 100% indoctrinated yet competent to lead the Enclave. Similar to the player's influence in 76, it's possible the Enclave could've been changed from within. I think the player interactions with this hypothetical AI were similarly recycled into 4 with DiMA.
Fallout 4, like Fallout 3, is a result of combining a setting/location intended for one plot, but then made to do another, flipping character names and origins as required.
Fallout 76 is barren because the original basis for it was to serve as a sequel to 3. 3's possible OG date of 2246 would put F76 fittingly in 2276, 3 decades after. The main conflict, again, would've been Brotherhood of Steel vs Enclave, with the protagonist being a cryogenically awoken denizen of Vault 76, possibly meant to serve their purposes, or the plot would've been identical except Shaun would've been an indoctrinated servant/Vice President of the Enclave's AI.. 76's barren story is a consequence of its main story beats getting recycled into what would become Fallout 4, which in itself was also conceived as a prequel set in New York before being retrofitted as a sequel set in Boston. The settlement building stuff is likely also a product of being originally intended for multiplayer. The Minutemen/Gunners were probably the "Alliance/Horde" dynamic for the original multiplayer version of the Fallout which became "Fallout 4".
Sarah alludes to Virginia in her dialogue at the end of Broken Steel, just in case you were wondering how early Virginia in Bethesda's version of Fallout was conceived (2009-2011).
This does help develop one potential ass-pull of a theory: Fallout 76 was originally the sequel to Fallout 3, set 3 decades after the (probably) original year for Fallout near the end of development i.e. Fallout 3 2246 -> Fallout 76 2276.
I've theorised that 4 was intended to be a prequel to 3 prior, and by shifting 76 into a sequel, you end up with something like this:
Fallout 4* -> Fallout 3** -> Fallout 76***
*Grandson of John Maxon arrives in Boston after the BoS raid on The Pitt, his son Arthur is born during or shortly after the events of this game. There would be some allusion to a BoS chapter in D.C. assisting on a secret project, or not.
** A decade later or so later, after the events of 4, a much more diminished BoS is confined to D.C. The grandson of John Maxon, Arthur, is 10 years old. The BoS has some nebulous internal stuff going on hence their diminished presence in Fallout 2. The Enclave at Raven Rock emerge as the Western Enclave are wiped out between 2241-2245 (or are Enclave who left East). Eden possesses an ad-hoc or refined version of the F.E.V virus developed on the West Coast, and is meant to be an A.I. copy of the previous Enclave president.
*** 3 decades after the events of Fallout 3 (actually 4, but actually 2.5, but actually F1.5, but actually F0.5) in Fallout 76, Vault 76 mysteriously opens, just as the BoS and Enclave mysteriously appear in the region, resuming their conflict from decades prior. MODUS represents the core Enclave schism from 3, of serving an artificial intelligence (Eden) or being lead by flesh and blood (Autumn) with the MODUS Enclave being composed of the former, making them the true antithesis and anathema of the BoS. Vault 76, like 13, was a Vault The Pitt is post-Ashur, post-cure, divided into 2 factions vying over the city - in a sequel context you can be vague over the player's choice since both sides wanted to distribute the cure/vaccine regardless, and similarly be it Werner or Ashur the power vacuum after would provoke a split regardless).
In order to course correct 76, you would need to retcon more or less the entire story of 4 into being a prequel, which isn't too absurd given it originally was.
According to Emil himself in 2018, "Fallout 4" was originally going to be set closer to the pre-war, exploring a world devastated by the bombs. I don't know what happened here but given the writing finagling I think occurred with Fallout 3 and Bethesda's notoriously long dev-time, their prequel spin-off plans might've been brought up purely to create a sequel rather than a prequel out of worries it might've displeasured fans. This, humorously enough, still puts the blame on Emil Pagliarulo. Emil, I think, has the same issue a lot of Hollywood execs/producers/directors/writers do when it comes to videogame stories, where doesn't conceive of them being good couched in their own material, so he creates a story independent of it, then forces the setting to match. The more say he has, the less coherent everything becomes.
76 being released with such a hollow story (if you can call launch 76's "main quest" a main quest at all) and gimmick multiplayer can be the consequence of its actual, original main story being ripped out.
So in sum: This culminates in my favourite, total ass-pull of a conclusion: Fallout 76 was the original Fallout 4, Fallout 4 was the original Fallout 76. The settings were switched as a consequence of the haphazard treatment of the franchise and fears over possible backlash to a prequel after so long a wait.
Fallout 4 was in development before Emil was made head writer if you didn't know, and I think he forced what was already developed and adapted it to something else, which this assigned responsibility more or less being a result of his work on Oblivion and Skyrim. A proto-Fallout 76 was turned into Fallout 4 haphazardly. Emil might not be totally blameless, since I think Bethesda decided it to be a sequel last-minute with no multiplayer component due to the disgruntlement toward ESO at the time. It might also explain the relative lack of Emil's trademarks, such as a heavy emphasis on religion, present in the Dark Brotherhood and Starfield, stories which otherwise had his complete say. It'd also explain his dismissiveness towards 4's story, since it wasn't entirely his own and it was pretty much a rush-job for a prequel/multiplayer game turned sequel.
TLDR: Fallout 76's cheapness in story yet oddly developed map is Bethesda trying to make money of off work they already sank too many hours into. Fallout 76 was to be the original setting for a sequel to Fallout 3, and Fallout 4 was a prequel to 3, possibly with multiplayer. Emil was brought on during the last year of Fallout 4's development to make a story from pre-existing assets and make it fit as a sequel to Fallout 3, which was done as a consequence of fan reaction to another multiplayer prequel game they had just released: Elder Scrolls Online. It also helps explain its more light-hearted tone compared to 3 and NV, because it was never intended to be a mainline game. They had to make it so a game that had spent 7 years in development didn't just come out an immediate failure like Elder Scrolls Online was purported to be.
Fallout 4 likely suffered the exact same fate was Fallout 3 did, of mixing together to totally separate visions for its place in the chronology, and trying to make the original fit its new position in time. The original plan for 76 was scrapped due to Fallout 4 setting a new chronology, so rather than scrap it outright they recycled the original location for Fallout 4 into becoming what is now 76 and vice versa. I would even hazard to guess that elements of the original sequel to 3 were just shoved in haphazardly.
Ponder:
1) The "Institute" kidnap a genetically pure individual to serve as their leader (for no reason)
2) The "Institute" are conducting FEV experiments to create Super mutant replacements for "synths" (goes nowhere + no reason + FEV was a military thing, how do they have it?)
3) The "Institute" working with an outsider (Kellogg) is made a big deal out of despite them "canonically" braving a trek from West to East coast
4) You can join the "Institute", which otherwise has no logical basis given you can't actually alter course on anything it does (like you can in a certain other game)
5) Li is a member of the "Institute" despite the events of Fallout 3 giving her cause to shun such an openly malevolent organisation, and disliking the BoS despite their relative benevolence in 3, especially compared to her new organisation. Her description of why she left makes no sense given she left the BoS when it wasn't working on secret weapons projects, they were rather open in fact. The BoS also never used their control of Project Purity to nefarious ends. What was Li intending to do with Project Purity? Distribute free water? Like the BoS already did?
7) The "Institute" are obsessed with the development of artificial lifeforms, but not even serving as a means to an end because no goal of objective is given
The BoS skip over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, just to stop over in Massachusetts 9) Maddison Li somehow got here by herself despite needing escort out of Project Purity. The Commonwealth isn't even safe to do this since in 4 it's depicted as a similar lawless Wasteland as the rest.
In case it wasn't clear, I think the Institute were originally meant to be the Enclave as they would've been depicted in the original theoretical sequel to 3, but were then retrofitted to fit the assets and ideas made for a prequel instead, but a prequel that itself as now made into a sequel. Kidnapping a genetically pure human to serve as the Enclave's future leader could be the result of an AI wanting to avoid the issue Eden ran into with Autumn - they needed a human who was 100% indoctrinated yet competent to lead the Enclave. Similar to the player's influence in 76, it's possible the Enclave could've been changed from within. I think the player interactions with this hypothetical AI were similarly recycled into 4 with DiMA.
Fallout 4, like Fallout 3, is a result of combining a setting/location intended for one plot, but then made to do another, flipping character names and origins as required.
Fallout 76 is barren because the original basis for it was to serve as a sequel to 3. 3's possible OG date of 2246 would put F76 fittingly in 2276, 3 decades after. The main conflict, again, would've been Brotherhood of Steel vs Enclave, with the protagonist being a cryogenically awoken denizen of Vault 76, possibly meant to serve their purposes, or the plot would've been identical except Shaun would've been an indoctrinated servant/Vice President of the Enclave's AI.. 76's barren story is a consequence of its main story beats getting recycled into what would become Fallout 4, which in itself was also conceived as a prequel set in New York before being retrofitted as a sequel set in Boston. The settlement building stuff is likely also a product of being originally intended for multiplayer. The Minutemen/Gunners were probably the "Alliance/Horde" dynamic for the original multiplayer version of the Fallout which became "Fallout 4".
Fallout 1 prequel + Fallout 2 sequel = Fallout 3
Fallout 2/3 prequel + Fallout 3 sequel = Fallout 4
Fallout 4's story is the result of putting Emil into the role of lead writer to rush a new main quest to replace the original one they developed, because ESO bombed and was lambasted for being a prequel multiplayer game, which was the original intention for the now-Fallout 4. Fallout 76 was to serve as the sequel to 3 set in Virginia (alluded to be the trajectory of the BoS at the end of Broken Steel) but had its main plot beats re-used for 4, which results in the jumbled mess of 4's story. The Shaun storyline/twist is probably a product of having to create a whole new leadership and character roster for the organisation which was envisioned as a weaker version of 3's Enclave, lead by an AI which would similarly be recycled and used in Fallout 76 since it was no longer relevant in the sequel.
So if you've been keeping up my lunacy, the Fallout chronology as originally intended by Bethesda during the last stages of 3's development:
Fallout 1 -> Fallout Tactics -> Fallout 4 -> Fallout 2 -> Fallout 3 -> Fallout 76 -> Fallout New Vegas
What happened as a result of 4's story derailment:
F76 -> F1 -> Tactics -> F2 -> 3 -> New Vegas -> 4
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2022
On one hand it makes sense that the Enclave would have sectors all over the US. On the other hand, for God's sake how many times will they bring these guys back as the big bad? I'm just surprised that it didn't turn out that the Institute was a front for the Enclave.
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2023
First game establishes why bottlecaps are used and it makes sense. Problem lies with toddout also using bottlecaps, for absolutely zero reason and with no backing of any kind for it's currency. In that sense, that statement is correct, but it only applies to Bethesda entries. Even Fallout Tactics established it's own currency, which makes sense considering the distance from California, but no, people on the East Coast just use Bottlecaps, because reasons. They also have Jet, even tho it was established it was a drug local to New Reno so how it made it's way to the other side of the country(and who the fuck even produces it) is also left unexplained.
You asked what makes one a "true Fallout fan", this is why I will never take Bethesda babies seriously. It takes some truly low IQ and a certain level of delusion to just try and pretend all these holes in worldbuilding are acceptable, especially when the earlier games had their bases covered.
Considering how fucking awful it is, I am starting to come around to it. In a sense that the subhumans watching it clearly deserve every bit of shit coming out of Amazon's ass, and they love every single second of it, despite the writers having almost as much disdain for these unwashed peasants as I do. In that sense, I hope they keep butchering the lore for as long as possible, so that anyone who even remotely mentions this show can be laughed out of any serious Fallout conversation or community forever, like Bethesda babies were back in the early Fallout 3 days. You already start to see it, in less than 2 years the TV show fandom already became de-facto niggers of the community, liked and respected by nobody lmfao
Ironically enough, outside of the New Vegas questline with the retired Enclave vets, Fallout 76 actually has some of the best written Enclave lore in it. Well, the base game does, I have no clue what retarded shit they did with the updates. MODUS might also be one of the better Bethesda written characters as well. Almost makes you wish that game had actual NPCs instead of just audio logs, so you could interact with these characters like in a proper RPG.