Fallout: Difference between revisions

 

* '''''[[Fallout Brotherhood of Steel]]''''': Another linear spinoff, this one developed for the [[PlayStation 2]] and [[Xbox]]. Received mixed to terrible reviews and sold poorly. One of the last games produced by Interplay before they went bankrupt. [[Canon Discontinuity|Acknowledged as non-canon]].

* '''''Fallout Extreme''''': Working title for a canceled project briefly developed by 14 Degrees East which would have been a sequel to Fallout Tactics released on the Xbox. It would have apparently been a first-person/third-person squad-based tactics game with strategic overworld management similar to Jagged Alliance, but never got past the concept stage.

 

** And of course, [[Arc Words|war never changes]]. Regardless of how different situations may be, conflicts and fights for survival will go on as long as there is life.

**** And then expanded with New Vegas's 'Lonesome Road': if war never changes {{spoiler|then people must.}}

{{quote|''"You've heard of the Sierra Madre Casino. We all have, the legend, the curses. Some foolishness about it lying in the middle of a City of Dead. A city of ghosts. Buried beneath a blood-red cloud... a bright, shining monument luring treasure hunters to their doom. An illusion that you can begin again, change your fortunes. Finding it, though, that's not the hard part. It's letting go."''}}

*** Which leads right back to the "Let go of the past" theme.

** Note that it's rather strongly implied that this [[Medieval Stasis|50s Stasis]] was limited mostly to the United States, and even in the US there were some slight changes (the band [[Ratt]], and thus presumably the rock and alternative rock genres, are confirmed to exist in the Fallout universe, for example). Also, there's also a running undercurrent that the optimistic happy cheerful [[Zeerust|retro-futuristic utopia]] was teetering on the brink of collapse and massive social upheaval by the time the bombs finally fell (a few months before the Apocalypse, for example, the President was unanimously impeached for annexing a sovereign nation).

*** [[Disproportionate Retribution|Technically he was impeached for jaywalking.]] [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|The annexation of Canada]] [[Blatant Lies|had nothing to do with it.]]

** If you look closely you can see Uncle Sam is in fact carrying a flag and pole, but the way it's bunched up makes it look like a sack with stars and stripes.

** The nameless Raider factions in DC definitely count, as well as the Fiends and Jackals and Vipers of New Vegas.

*** The Great Khans also qualify during the time of Fallout 1 and 2, but by New Vegas they have suffered significant [[Villain Decay]] to hardly qualify for this trope anymore, and can even be convinced to make a full on [[Heel Face Turn]].

*** Not useless at all, but rather quite pertinent to spaceship issues -- it's an excellent experiment in the psychology of long-term total isolation, such as would be entirely likely in a risk prone spaceship or lone shuttle out scouting. The puppets were obviously to see if primitive simulacrums of companions would be enough to stave off total madness.

** Some of these are probably intended to give the impression that despite the seemingly logical explanation, the leaders of the Enclave were in the process of being ''driven insane'' by the impending end of the world.

** Actually, civilization was re-estabilished all the way back in mid-22nd century, as the original ''Fallout'' showed. It just got bigger and better from there. Not so much elsewhere.

* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: Being set [[After the End]] there are many in the game series.

** Woah... the Raiders have a Super Mutant Behemoth locked up in Evergreen Mills? That's pretty badass... Wait... Where's Star Paladin Cro- NO DON'T OPEN THAT GATE YET... Goddamnit Cross, could you at least use the Assault Rifle and shoot it through the fence instead of trying to Super Sledge it?

** Ted (Gunderson), can you at least try to sneak?! I'm trying to save your life from a crazy cannibal, for Dog's sake.

** For Fallout 1: "Alright guys, you've locked me in a corner, and I really don't want to reload, so would you mind moving... that's it. Good... wait, no, TYCHO! Stop getting in front of me! There are only so many hexagonal spaces to click on! Damn it!"

** Let's just say that most of the NPCs are [[Too Dumb to Live]].

* [[Crapsack World]]: The world is a ruined, post-apocalyptic wasteland, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It only gets worse, folks. There are giant radioactive insects and arachnids, really unsociable mutants, proto-zombies of every flavor and variety, mass starvation, dehydration, radiation sickness, rampant slavery, murder on a scale that can potentially reach genocide, and generally life itself only continues to remind the human race of how royally they screwed up the planet. Sure, there are examples of civilization trying to rebuild itself, but that results in places like the den of vice New Reno and fascist communities like Vault City. Still, the player can - should they so choose - leave the gameworld a little better than they found it. Or just make it massively worse, of course...

** Note that the prewar world wasn't much better - both the [[Eagle Land|United States]] and its main enemy [[Dirty Communists|China]] were repressive borderline-[[Dystopia|Dystopias]] with few civil or political rights and highly jingoistic, paranoid civilian populaces with witchhunt tendencies. And by the time the bombs fell, ''these two were the only fully-functioning governments left on the planet''.

* [[Creator Backlash]]: Chris Avellone has apparently come to despise the more comedic aspects of the series, to the point that he [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|unceremoniously destroyed]] many of them in the Fallout Bible, and has threatened to do the exact same thing to the New Vegas canon.

** Something to note about New Vegas is that many of the more humorous elements are only accessable through the Wild Wasteland trait. Meaning the player can decide at the beginning if they want the comedy in their nuclear dystopia or not.

** The entire series is a deconstruction of the supposed "moral purity" of [[The Fifties]], showing [[After the End|exactly what would happen]] if the [[Moral Guardians]] who say this had their way and the ''actual'' 1950's continued forever.

* [[Defector From Decadence]]: the talking Deathclaws in ''Fallout 2''.

** This is actually the origin story for the original Brotherhood too, they started out as U.S. soldiers that discovered the horrific FEV experiments happening in the Mariposa Military base which they were set to guard. They executed the scientists and defected from the military, however as this was happening the bombs were dropped and news of their defection was never received by the Government.

* [[Desert Skull]]: The series loves this trope.

* [[The Ditz]]: Harry, who is easily the dumbest Super Mutant in the ''entire series''.

* [[Doomed Hometown]]: The first two games start out with the player having to stop their hometown's impending destruction.

** On the upside, it could also be considering a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for {{spoiler|the Overseer}} since he not only went out fighting, he also managed to take down at least one super mutant before getting killed.

* [[The Dragon]]: Lieutenant to the {{spoiler|Master}} in ''1'', Horrigan to Richardson in ''2'', and Colonel Autumn to Eden in ''3''. In ''Vegas'', Caesar's right hand is Legate Lanius, while President Kimball's number two is General Lee Oliver. {{spoiler|Benny}} was this to Mr. House (and you can take his place), and {{spoiler|Yes Man is this to you, if you choose the Independent path}}.

**** As one NPC puts it, "their heart is in the right place, but their head is up their ass!"

* [[Grenade Tag]]: Planting explosives on someone via pick-pocketing.

* [[Hello, Insert Name Here]]: The Vault Dweller, the Chosen One, the Lone Wanderer and, most recently, The Courier. The Brotherhood Initiate is an aversion, since he/she is one of three available characters.

** Characters in the first two games refer to you by your name so long as they are not voice acted.

* [[Horror Hunger]]: Cannibalism is a mutation. Ordinary humans who eat human flesh too often sicken and die, but a subset have a natural hunger for human flesh and an ability to eat it without getting fatal rad poisoning (at least not as fast). Several organizations of cannibals exist who have either kicked the habit, [[Warm Bloodbags Are Everywhere|tried to]], or [[Vegetarian Vampire|found a substitute]].

* [[Human Resources]]: In ''Fallout 1'', your character could discover through simple investigation that the meat used by Iguana Bob, the local fast food vendor, was secretly made out chopped up human cadavers. If the player has high enough stats they can blackmail Bob. By ''Fallout 2'', his great-grandson has built an entire franchise...

* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: Frank Horrigan, the genetically engineered synthetic cyborg homocidal maniac specially created by the Enclave, who is forever sealed in a suit of power armor that continually pumps him with life support.

* [[Hyperactive Metabolism]]: Played straight, eating nets you a few HP. This can also be gained as a perk, it increases your vulnerability to poison and radiation, but increases the health you get back from food and medicine.

** Builds favoring the Survival skill over Medicine in New Vegas can actually heal gunshot wounds better by eating than by using stimpacks. There's even a drug ("Hydra") that can regrow broken limbs!

* [[Mascot]]: Both in-world and out-of-world, the Vault Boy - the wavy-haired, perpetually smiling figure in the jumpsuit whose picture accompanies all Skills, Traits, and Perks. In-world, he was the mascot for Vault-Tec. Out-of-world, he serves the same purpose for the series.

* [[Match Maker Quest]]

** Unless its California, then there's a ton of rebuilding.

* [[The Messiah]]: You, should you decide to play your character this way. However, you can run the full morality gamut from this all the way to [[Complete Monster]].

* [[Necessarily Evil]]: Lord Ashur from [[Fallout 3|The Pitt addon.]]

* [[New Old West]]: Certain elements of the Capital Wasteland (bounty hunters, travelling traders beset by robbers, a heroic (or villainous) drifter, etc.) hearken back to Westerns, but with places like Rivet City or the Vaults, its mixed in with Sci-Fi.

** California has a smattering of this as well. Especially in FO2, where the New California Republic is expanding its borders, and there are several mining and 'frontier' type towns (although they were there long before the NCR formed, they just give that vibe). This would've gone a step further in the ''"Van Buren"'' version of ''3'' with a subplot about the establishment of railroads.

** ''New Vegas'' takes this and runs with it all the way to the finish line, down to their being a Perk called "Cowboy."

* [[The Pennyfarthing Effect]]: 1 and 2 have this in spades. Most prominently, you won't get any description of a usable object in the environment or even any indication that it's usable without first switching to the "look" cursor.

* [[Planimal]]: Spore plants, one of which becomes sentient.

* [[Powered Armor]]: Iconic to the series. Some variant of it is always the best armor in the game--whether Hardened Power Armor in ''1'' or Advanced Power Armor Mark II in ''2''--providing excellent protection from firearms and environmental hazards as well as a significant strength boost. Worn by both the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave.

** In the third game, however, it loses a little of its luster as all forms of it excluding the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Armor]] decrease Agility, which is the primary statistic for VATS (unless you hate VATS, which just makes that a null issue). On top of that, other armor types nearly match the T-51b in protection, while being far lighter. And it still doesn't do you any good in the end. The ''Operation Anchorage'' DLC fixed this unintentionally with the glitched Winterized T-51b, which is essentially indestructible in addition to having the highest damage reduction available.

* [[Stock Footage]]: One piece of promotional art for [http://www.bravenewgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/fallout-new-vegas_22.jpg New Vegas] was just concept art for [http://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/4/4e/Fallout_3_Paradise_Falls_Concept_Art.jpg Paradise Falls] from Fallout 3, with the sign in the background changed.

* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]: Each [[Definitely Final Dungeon]] inevitably ends in this, in every game. {{spoiler|In Tactics, you choose whether it does or not. Canonically, however, it does.}}

* [[Super Soldier]]: The original and current point of creating Super Mutants, Deathclaws, and Power Armor. This was the US's hat before the war.

** As for the far extreme of Super Soldiers in Fallout; Talking Deathclaws and Frank Horrigan.

** Paradise Falls is so bad that its the only town you can completely massacre (preferably with Lincoln's hat and Repeater for extra irony) with absolutely ''no'' repercussions.

*** Not just no repercussions, they actually reward you with positive karma for killing any named character that isn't a slave (except for Jones' two slaves, who count as slavers for mission purposes).

* [[Zeerust]]: The surviving pre-apocalypse architecture and technology is highly reminiscent of '50s Pop Art: complete with muscle cars, vacuum tube computers, and tin-can robots.

** For good reason: the background establishes that America (and by extension, the world) never really moved beyond the 1950's in terms of values. There was no 60's revolution, no 80's technological shift, nothing like that at all. As a result, even though the world "ended" in 2077, culturally, it hadn't progressed a bit. Which also explains why significant structures in Washington D.C. and other landmarks (Los Angeles, for example) are still standing: modern nuclear weapons were never developed, and the bombs that dropped in 2077 were about as powerful as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs (that is to say, not very powerful and "dirty" as pigs). A global nuclear war using large numbers of primitive fission bombs would also produce much more radioactive contamination than smaller numbers of more powerful but 'cleaner' fusion bombs.