Fallout: Difference between revisions

* [[After the End]]: Nobody knew who fired the first missile that triggered the apocalypse. By the end of the day, nobody cared....

** Fallout's opening sequence deconstructs this. Everyone considered it would be the end of the world. But humanity still survived, mutated, blood thirsty, and completely shattered, but still the world moves on. The Great War isn't the end, simply one more sad chapter.

** Actually, Tactics has several interesting subversions. {{spoiler|Originally, the [[Big Bad|Calculator]] was going to be a perfectly rational computer, still soullessly following orders after its superiors were dead.}} This was changed in the game, {{spoiler|where the Calculator is now not a computer, but several dozen insane disembodied brains. The (completely sane) computer itself, which oversees the brain's actions, offers the protagonist the chance to upload his own, sane mind into the machine. This returns the calculator to sanity, and to your control. Depending on how nice you are, this could be an [[Earn Your Happy Ending]] or a [[Bittersweet Ending]]. Simply destroying it works too, and that gives you the slightly good canon ending. Or you could shove the [[Jerkass]]'s brain into it, creating the worst ending.}}

** Also, robots without their inhibitor pack attack whoever happens to be nearby. Which just so happens to be almost any robot not tied to a specific location.

** In certain towns in the first two games the situation is similar - in Klamath, for example, if you do so much as insult someone the entire town tries to kill you. Note that the towns in question are frontier settlements with little or no government - once you get to more 'civilized' areas there are militias, sheriffs, and even outright organized police forces, all of whom typically have jails of some sort, and dispense means of justice other than 'shoot everyone'.

** Largely averted in the first two. For example, child-killing carries ''specially'' negative consequences, also depending on the town/city different crimes will be met with different outcomes (carrying counterfeit papers or prohibited drugs may get you banished while other crimes arrested and others, shot down). All the different crimes will also have different values for the karma system.

** There's also an actual [[Alleged Car]] that doubles as a [[Cool Car]], the Fallout 2 Highwayman.

* [[Alternate History]]: The ''Fallout'' timeline diverges from the real world just after [[World War II]], with the social, political, and technological status quo of [[The Fifties]] enduring well into the late 21st century. The changes are minor at first but continue to cascade as the decades go by. Some of the changes include: NASA being replaced by the United States Space Agency (U.S.S.A.), American astronaut Captain Carl Bell becoming the fist human in space instead of Yuri Gagarin (though the game mentions that Russia and China dispute this), the first lunar landing occurring a few days earlier then it did in [[Real Life]] and with a different module and crew, the states are divided into thirteen commonwealths in the 1960s and the American flag is changed to reflect this (it now depicts thirteen stars, twelve in a circle and one in the middle) and then there is the divergent technological development.

** You may be an all intelligent mad scientist bent on dominating the Mojave, Mr. House, but please explain why you thought building robots with ONE leg supported by a TIRE was such a good idea?

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Seen in ''Fallout 1'' with the Lieutenant and the Master. Averted in ''Fallout 2'' with President Richardson, who's a standard unarmed civilian, and in ''Fallout 3'' with Colonel Autumn, who is only slightly tougher than a normal enemy soldier. Played straight in ''Fallout 3'' with [[Bonus Boss]] Commander Jabsco of Talon Company (who has a rocket launcher and more health than almost any other character in the game), and Chinese General Jingwei in the ''Operation: Anchorage'' DLC expansion (who has an ''insane'' amount of health which, combined with his body armor, makes him the 2nd toughest enemy in the entire game next to the 15-foot tall Super Mutant Behemoth, possibly to encourage the player to [[Talking the Monster to Death|convince him to surrender instead]], or maybe just an example of [[Executive Meddling]] on the part of General Chase). Both seen and averted in ''New Vegas''. The NCR President and General are both bog-standard humans, while Caesar himself is only about as tough as an [[Elite Mooks|Elite Mook]]. Legate Lanius, however, is a frickin murder machine (for reference, the guy can take multiple anti-tank rounds to the face and still have more than 3/4ths of his health left).

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Virtually any character build in any of the games that relies heavily on intelligence. The intelligence attribute contributes to skill points granted per level. As a result, high level intelligent characters will almost certainly have mastered a wide variety of skills, including ones related to direct combat.

** In ''[[Fallout 2]]'', in order to even get access to [[Hollywood Cyborg|cybernetic combat implants]], one must first have substantial skill as a medical doctor.

** In the original two games, certain critical hits with most weapons will blow enemies (or you!) right off their feet and send them tumbling across the room, sometimes knocking them unconscious.

*** With the right stats and perks, the Super Sledge in the second game can easily send someone flying'' [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|across the map]]''. This can actually be a problem when the corpses fly offscreen, and become unlootable. Looking at you, Sulik.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: In all games, Small Guns is the combat skill that will get you through with the least fuss. A hunting rifle acquired fairly early on will serve you well for a very long time.

* [[Boss in Mook Clothing]]: Deathclaws are the Devil. In all five games.

** There's also a unique pair of Lucky Shades, which give the wearer a + 1 to [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Luck]].

* [[Corrupt Politician]]: There aren't many elected officials, but for those there are, this trope is usually in full effect.

* [[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]]s 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''.

* [[Mysterious Protector]]: the "Mysterious Stranger" perk in 2,3 and New Vegas, with the Miss Fortune Perk added in the last.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: In ''Fallout'', recruitable NPC Tycho mentions he's a Nevada Ranger. The Nevada Rangers were the protagonists of ''Wasteland'', the game to which ''Fallout'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]]. The [[Big Bad]] of ''Fallout Tactics'' also seems to be a subtle [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Big Bad]] of ''Wasteland''. Also, some Rangers holed up in the Capital Wasteland. Interestingly, Tycho's description is "a man in dusty leather armor with a trench coat and gas mask"... and that's exactly what the NCR veteran Rangers wear in ''New Vegas'' (and are prominently featured on the box art).

* [[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.