Fallout: Difference between revisions

** 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''.

* [[Every Car Is a Pinto]]: And not just regular Pintos, ''nuclear-powered'' Pintos. Broken down, nuclear powered Pintos. That produce a mini-nuclear explosion, complete with ''mushroom cloud'', when you shoot them.

** It's mentioned at some point that the vehicles' tendency to explode is the result of volatile, radioactive fuel elements having leaked out over centuries of neglect, so it would probably have taken more than a fender-bender to set one off when they were in active use. Then again, maybe not ''much'' more, given the cavalier attitude to Health & Safety issues hinted at in some of the old corporate records you come across...

* [[Expansion Pack]]: Bethesda Software added a lot to the main questline of ''Fallout 3'' with the downloadable addons, including one module that revisits a key battle in the background of the ''Fallout'' world (the Battle of Anchorage), another that allows players to visit a city mentioned in passing by another NPC, and one that promises to address the brevity of the main questline by allowing players to continue the game [[Retcon|after the controversial ending]].

* [[Extremity Extremist]]: It is possible to play this way in all games.

* [[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.

* [[Robot Buddy]] : Skynet and K-9 in Fallout 2, RL-3 in Fallout 3, ED-E and Rex (technically, it's a [[Brain In a Jar|cyborg dog]], but still...) in New Vegas.

* [[Romance Sidequest]]: One of the few Western RPG tropes not used in the series. In ''Fallout 2'' you could get married, but it was a [[Shotgun Wedding]] with a one-night stand treated mostly as a joke, and you couldn't have any meaningful interactions with your spouse after the marriage anyway. An optional romance subplot was planned for ''New Vegas'' but it was ultimately scrapped.

* [[Scavenger World]]: The earlier games in the series avert this - it's been seventy years since the bombs fell in ''Fallout'', and about 150 years since they fell in ''Fallout 2'', so everything useful has already been scavenged, and people survive by farming, fishing, hunting, mining, or manufacturing.

** In [[Fallout 3|Washington D.C.]], however, humanity clings to the past almost religiously.

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

* [[Survivalist Stash]]: All over the place, with varying degrees of loot. Some have their locations hinted at by notes or dialogue, and some are just lying in the middle of nowhere. And, of course,you're likely to stockpile a few of your own once you start to [[Critical Encumbrance Failure|exceed your encumbrance limit]].

* [[Take Your Time]]: Subverted in the first game. Played straight in all subsequent games.

* [[Talking the Monster to Death]]: A viable means of defeating the [[Big Bad]] in ''Fallout 1'', if your speech and science skills were high enough, was to show him that his plan was doomed to failure and thus convince him to commit suicide. There were, technically, ''three'' final bosses of ''Fallout 2''. The traditional one, of the big bad with heavy armor and weapons, just ignored you if you tried this, but you could still convince many of his men to side with you against him. The second of the big bads was an empty suit who you don't have to kill but can make things easier when you take on the boss. The third you could talk into releasing a virus into the base which kills everyone but yourself, your companions, {{spoiler|your villagers}}, and the other two big bads. New Vegas allows a character with maxed-out Speech to convince the nigh-indestructible {{spoiler|Legate Lanius}} that he cannot hold both his target in the West (Nevada and eventually California) and his homeland in the east (Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Utah).

* [[Weird Science]]: The ''Fallout'' 'verse runs on 50-style B-movie '''SCIENCE!'''

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: ''Fallout 1'''s {{spoiler|Master}}. The Vault 101 Overseer (Amata's Dad, at least, {{spoiler|if you don't kill him}}) is one of these as well.

* [[What's an X Like You Doing In a Y Like This?]]

* [[A World Half Full]]: The series in general. Yes, its a post apocalyptic wasteland, but the remaining inhabitants are more or able to get through the day. Of course, playing a Good character makes it count even more.

** Besides which, it turns out the War might have been actually ''beneficial'' to that Earth. Before, it was overpopulated, companies controlled nations, pollution and war were at an all time high, even as natural resources were reaching their end. After the bombs fall, there are now hundreds of peaceful communities, humanity has never been more technologically advanced, hundreds of new species have evolved, and life is generally more exciting.