Fallout 3: Difference between revisions

** Go to either extreme, and you'll have either ultra-evil mercenaries (if you are good) or vigilante "lawmen" (if you are evil) attack you as random encounters. Also, one perk gives you a substantial bonus to your Speech skill, provided that you maintain a Neutral karma level. To put this in perspective, you can earn enough Karma points to be "Good" or "Evil" before you leave the tutorial level.

* [[0% Approval Rating]]: Despite his soothing, charismatic voice and a virtual monopoly on airtime in Post-nuclear holocaust America, President Eden is widely considered a joke by the people of the Wasteland. In fact many people assume he's either an old pre-war broadcast playing on a loop, or a crazy guy broadcasting from a bunker somewhere. However, when the Enclave makes their appearance on the scene after a 35 year absence, he quickly reaches [[Not So Harmless]] status.

* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: Many of the custom weapons, and some other weapons, use unusual ammunition, but the Rock-It Launcher takes this trope and runs with it (behind the barn for a roll in the hay, then makes it breakfast in the morning), as it fires anything from tin cans to human skulls to [[Empathy Doll Shot|teddy bears]] and after one of the [[Downloadable Content|DLCs]] you will be able to shoot a piece of your own brain.

* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: Downtown D.C. is a honeycomb of subway, maintenance and sewer tunnels connecting to each other and the surface, and is chock full of ghouls, raiders, radroaches and more. It's quite easy to get lost down here if you don't watch your Pip Boy map, and if you're actively looking for another location when you get into them, ''good luck''.

* [[Beam Spam]]: There are ''Gatling Lasers'' in the game, as apparently the brother of [[More Dakka]] would ''not'' be left out.

* [[The Beast Master]]: The Animal Friend perk makes you this. Even the nearby [[Everything's Worse with Bears|Yao Guai]] will help you against those pesky mutants and mercenaries.

* [[Behind the Black]]: Despite the [[Warp Whistle]] effectively being a "skip journey" option rather than a true teleport, half the time you'll appear at your destination standing bang in the middle of a mercenary squad out for your blood.

{{quote|"Concerned about security? Our eye-on-you camera allows the Overseer to watch your every move. You'll never be alone again!"}}

* [[Big Creepy-Crawlies]]: Ohhh, boy. Let's see, Radroaches, Bloatflies, Radscorpions, Fire Ants...

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: The player can do this for Reilly's Rangers, who are pinned down by Super Mutants in the Statesman Hotel.

* [[Bigger Stick]]: The Brotherhood employs Liberty Prime as their bigger stick against the more numerous and technologically advanced Enclave. {{spoiler|Then the Enclave brings out ''their'' bigger stick, their [[Kill Sat|missile satellite]]}}.

* [[Bishonen Line]]: The mirelurks are mutated crabs and look crustacean with shells and pincers. Mirelurk kings however are implied to be mutated from turtles, and have humanoid heads, fingers and toes with no shells.

* [[Bi the Way]]: Possible for female player characters who can flirt with Bittercup, hire Nova and show attraction towards Amata. Possibly with Bittercup, who will flirt with a female character, though other characters claim that she has a reputation for promiscuity.

** "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." -[[The Bible|Revelation 21:6]}. {{spoiler|That is to say, '216' is the code to activate the purifier at the end of the main story arc}}.

* [[Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs]]: Known simply as "Sugar Bombs". The cereal pieces are even shaped like miniature nukes.

* [[Clueless Aesop]]: The Tenpenny Towers quest take on racism. Sure, those Tenpenny Tower inhabitants are scum for refusing entry to Roy, a [[Ax Crazy|murderous madman]] who threatens to kill them. On the other hand, this might just be [[Take That|a slightly heavy-handed message]] to [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|players who prefer a non-violent solution to quests that are probably better served by violence]].

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: Both in [[NPC]] dialogs as well as [[Enemy Chatter]].

* [[Collection Sidequest]]: Finding all of the Vault-Tec Bobbleheads in the Capital Wasteland; collecting all 100 steel ingots in ''The Pitt''; finding thirty Nuka-Cola Quantum for ''The Nuka-Cola Challenge''.

* [[Color Wash]]: The entire game is overlaid with a very noticeable green color filter, which can be disabled via modding.

* [[Disaster Democracy]]: The Republic of Dave. There's even a quest titled ''Election Day'' that lets you [[Vote Early, Vote Often|manipulate the election result]].

* [[Disc One Final Boss]]: The (most likely) first Behemoth you come across, {{spoiler|just outside of Galaxy News Radio}}.

** The best armor in the game can be accessed quite early with the ''Operation: Anchorage'' DLC. Completing the DLC near the start of the game will open access to the Winterized T-51b Power Armor. It requires Power Armor Training but the simulation before unlocks the ability after you complete it. In total, the helmet and the armor, collectively offers 55 damage resistance (only standard Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor or special Enclave Power Armor matches it), +33 radiation resistance, and +1 charisma. Both parts of the suit also have the highest item hit points in the game (Helmet: 999,100/100 hit points and Armor:9,992,000/100 hit points) effectively meaning they will never break and require repair or lose any damage protection points.

* [[Disney Death]]: With the ''Broken Steel'' DLC, {{spoiler|the original sacrifice at the end of the game becomes a two week coma, both for the PC and Sentinel Lyons (unless Lyons, even though more or less better than you, is sent in which means death)}}.

* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Vault 101.

* [[Downloadable Content]]: There were five DLC'S released for ''Fallout 3'': ''Operation: Anchorage'', ''The Pitt'', ''Broken Steel'', ''Point Lookout'' and ''Mothership Zeta''.

** [[Shout-Out|Considering]] [[The Dunwich Horror|the name...]]

** It's also later involved in disposing of a "holy" book with decidedly Lovecraftian elements.

* [[Elephant in the Living Room]]: Hilariously averted with Fawkes. ''No one'' cares you have a ''Super Mutant'' trailing you.

** Fawkes will often [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] this while you're traveling.

** Alternately, {{spoiler|Roy Phillips}} and Tenpenny. Though it just seems like [[Black and Gray Morality]] at first glance.

** Talon Company vs the Super Mutants. The two factions can often be found engaged in turf wars over the downtown ruins.

* [[Exclusively Evil]]: All the raiders are homicidally insane, drug-crazed loonies who live in shelters with human remains used as decoration. Text logs and messages suggest them to be capable of reasoning, but gameplay-wise all they ever do is [[Suicidal Overconfidence|attack anything and everything regardless of consequences]].

* [[Expansion Pack]]: Several, including one that changes a much-reviled element of the ending.

** The Enclave's primary opposition, the Brotherhood of Steel, isn't much better. Both the [[Anti-Mutiny]] and Outcast factions don't have a high opinion of Wastelanders (Vault-born or otherwise), though the former is more tolerant. If you're a Ghoul or a Super Mutant, the Brotherhood and the Enclave are going to shoot you.

** This makes the mutual non-aggression between the Ghouls and Super Mutants stand out more, even if the reason is more practical than ideological. The Ghouls just want be left alone. The Super Mutants leave the Ghouls alone since they're terrible (or even non-viable) as mutation stock.

* [[Fantastic Slurs]]: Ghouls calling unmutated humans 'Smoothskins' (weirdly enough, even some who don't seem to mind humans overall still use the epithet), humans calling ghouls 'zombies', and Three Dog and the Brotherhood of Steel calling Super Mutants 'Frankensteins' and 'Uglies'. Even 'ghoul' presumably started out this way, before being [[Appropriated Appellation|reclaimed]] once they started forming their own societies.

* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]: The Capital Wasteland/Lyons Brotherhood of Steel detachment has some resemblance to early Prussia.

* [[Fast Forward Mechanic]]: There is a "Wait" action.

* [[Five-Man Band]]: Your [[Ragtag Band of Misfits]] in ''Mothership Zeta''.

** [[The Hero]]: You, obviously.

* [[Flaming Sword]]: The Shishkebab. Also, Jingwei's Shocksword is the electric version.

* [[Floorboard Failure]]: A couple of buildings have this as a scripted event. The Point lookout expansion has you falling though several floors and into the basement.

** Another is the Dunwich Building. Just by virtue of knowing [[H.P. Lovecraft|where the name comes in]], you know to load up before you head in...

** After the quest "The Superhuman Gambit", the kid Derek Pacion suggest that the Wanderer can become a superhero, followed by deathclaws. In ''Broken Steel'', the Wanderer can use Enclave controlled deathclaws against them.

** Buy Charon's contract, and he'll part ways with his loathsome former master with a shotgun to the head. If you have bad karma and release him from the contract, he'll try the same on you.

* [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul]]: Mr. Burke.

* [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires]]: {{spoiler|The Family}} is a group of reformed cannibals, modeling themselves after classic vampire lore to curb their cravings for human flesh. Most of them, including their leader, are quite friendly and civil, and are [[Noble Demon]]s at the very worst. You'll have the option of making a deal with them to secure blood packs so they no longer have to feed on people, and protect the settlement that was once terrified of them. You can even become one too.

* [[Game Mod]]: Ranging from the obligatory [[NSFW]] mods to things like a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Mininuke Minigun]].

* [[Gameplay Ally Immortality]]: Averted.

* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]: Some followers who would ordinarily be unwelcome in areas [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|go totally unnoticed when they're with you]]. All bets are off if you dismiss them while in that area, however, which can lead to some amusing scenarios (e.g. dismissing Star Paladin Cross in the middle of the Outcast base will lead to the Outcasts attacking Cross and her pretty much massacring the entire base solo).

* [[Gang of Bullies]]: Butch and the Tunnel Snakes of Vault 101, based on the "greasers" of the 1950s.

* [[Gatling Good]]: Miniguns and Gatling Lasers make a return here. Though extremely powerful, they have even stronger unique versions if you really need to dish out the hurt.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Fawkes.

* [[Give Him a Normal Life]]: Dad expected you to stay in the vault and live a (relatively) normal, safe, and happy life after he leaves for the Capital Wasteland. [[Irony|Too bad him leaving the vault is what prevents that from ever happening.]]

* [[Gladiator Subquest]]: The Hole in ''The Pitt'' DLC. Which, oddly enough, is part of the add-on's main questline.

** Laser weapons can reduce the subject to a pile of ash if they kill on a [[Critical Hit]]. Plasma weapons reduce the target to green goo.

* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: Gratuitous Chinese in this case. The cover of the stealth skill book, the Chinese Army Spec Ops Training Manual, and the bottom of the Chinese Pistol have Chinese writing. [[The Remnant|The Chinese Remnants]] and the randomly located Chinese Radio Beacon signal speak Chinese. Somewhat unsurprising given the game setting's Great War between [[Red China|China]] and [[Eagle Land|the United States]].

** The writing on the Brass Lantern in Megaton and how the ''Yao Guai'' got their name, on the other hand, are harder to explain.

* [[Grenade Tag]]: Reverse pickpocketing grenades. There's even an achievement for it.

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The central theme in ''The Pitt'' DLC: you're faced with a real kicker of a choice. You can aid the slave rebellion, which wants to destroy the raider army oppressing them (who really are evil jerks) and kidnap the boss' baby daughter so they can try to create a cure for a massively degenerative disease from her. However, the raider army's the only thing bringing food into the Pitt other than the meat of 'Trogs', the degenerated semi-humans created by the disease, and they have no scientific or medical knowledge and won't treat that baby well. Or you can side with the genuinely good intentioned Lord Ashur, who leads the slaves and raiders so that he can create an industrial powerhouse that'll be free of disease so he can conquer the surrounding area to provide food, shelter and medicine for everyone. Complicating the matter is that the future of The Pitt's people isn't examined, and the player's actions to aid either side could lead to the city prospering or perishing either way through circumstances not explored.

* [[Hollywood Density]]: In ''The Pitt'' expansion, you are sent on a quest to collect 100 ''steel'' ingots. If you collect them all in one go, then they stack and only weigh as much as the first ingot, but if you collect some, turn them in and then go back, then they still stack but their weight quickly adds up, so both playing the trope straight and averting it at the same time.

* [[Hollywood Night]]: The night in ''Fallout'' is always about as bright as a clear, moonlit night.

* [[Hope Sprouts Eternal]]: One interpretation, and quest completion option, of the Oasis.

* [[Hot Dad]]: [[In-Universe]], James is apparently considered this by several characters.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Surely the Overseer realizes the lack of genetic stock in the Vault means that every person he has murdered on a whim brings the Vault one step closer to eventually dying out due to inbreeding?

** This is actually one of the arguments you can use to convince him to step down as Overseer. His reaction suggests that he was aware of the problem but chose to downplay its significance because it conflicted with his ideology.

* [[If You Know What I Mean]]: Knickknack salesman Crazy Wolfgang is delighted to know that you take such an interest in his junk. Of course, no one could possibly be more invested in his junk than him, but he appreciates the enthusiasm anyway.

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: {{spoiler|Strange Meat ''[[Soylent Green|is PEOPLE!]]''. The Town of Andale is full of cannibals}}.

** Their swampfolk kin, as well. Swampfolk are also immune to pickpocketing, being classed as Super-Mutants by the game.

** Clover, to a lesser extent.

* [[Improvised Armour]]: Most of the Raiders. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|You can't]] [[Item Crafting|make your own]] at a Workbench—you can make a nuclear hand grenade, but not a [[Bucket Helmet]].

** The Armored Vault 101 suit, a regular jumpsuit that's been modified with leather armor to offer more protection.

** Many of the melee weapons weren't meant for cracking skulls. Initially.

* [[Infinity-1 Sword]]: Several. Deathclaw Gauntlet, generic Chinese assault rifles, Ol' Painless, Lincoln's Repeater, double-barrel shotguns, A3-21's Plasma Rifle, Wazer Wifle, Gauss rifle, Tesla Cannon, gatling lasers, dart guns.

* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: Plenty! Shishkebab, Jack, Xuanlong Assault Rifle, Perforator, Backwater Rifle, the Terrible Shotgun, Alien Blaster, Firelance, Metal Blaster, Atomic Pulverizer, [[Game Breaker|MPLX Novasurge]], Destabilizer, Vengeance, Slo-Burn Flamer, [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Experimental MIRV]], Nuka Grenades.

* [[Intentional Engrish for Funny]]: In ''Operation: Anchorage'', you may come across Chinese computers. Your Pip-Boy will attempt to translate the text on their screens into English, but does a poor job of it. The terminal in Mama Dolce's is also this, but already in [[Engrish]].

** The Brotherhood of Steel's original mission in the Capital Wasteland was to recover lost technology and the Outcasts left because Elder Lyons made the decision that helping the local Wastelanders was more important than their original goal. By the end of the game (especially with the add-ons) the Brotherhood of Steel has made entirely new weapon systems, reactivated a super robot from the Pre-War period that single handily curb stomped the Enclave, and have recovered so much of the Enclave's advanced technology that they are practically swimming in it. No good deed goes unrewarded, eh?

* [[Item Crafting]]: With a workbench, some schematics, and delightfully [[Vendor Trash|random junk]], you can create some of the most powerful (and [[Rule of Cool|coolest]]) weapons in the game with no fuss.

== Tropes L-O ==

* [[Large Ham]]: An amusing one in the Rivet City hotel if you successfully lockpick the owner's door.

* [[Large Ham Radio]]: Three Dog.

* [[Level Scaling]]: The level of the enemies in an area are based on your level when you enter it for the first time. This means, if you enter an area at level one, you'll deal with level one type foes, even if you re-enter after reaching level 30.

** It is possible to encounter enemies that you normally wouldn't see until later in the game. For example, if you get your karma high enough early on (like, say, by defusing the bomb in Megaton) and then head out to do some exploring, you might meet your first Talon Company hit squad while you're still wearing a Vault 101 jumpsuit and carrying a measly 10mm pistol. And gods help you if you wander too close to Old Olney without being at a high level and carrying a lot of firepower.

* [[Little Green Men]]: You can find the corpse of one. In the ''Mothership Zeta'' expansion pack, you find out it wasn't alone.

* [[The Load]]: Almost anyone you have to escort as part of a quest. On the other hand, you can give them your armor and weapons which makes them slightly less useless. ''Slightly''.

* [[Mega Corp]]: The Capital Wasteland houses the former headquarters of a corporation that is guarded by robotic sentries with shoot to kill orders, ran trial tests that resulted in several deaths, and is more concerned with stock loss than the death or dismemberment of its employees. No, they are not a military contractor or a pharmaceutical company. They make soft drinks.

* [[Mercy Kill]]: The "good" way to end the Tranquility Lane simulation is to kill everyone inside it, sparing them from their torturer, while leaving the torturer trapped there forever.

* [[Mind Screw]]: Vault 106, full stop.

* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: In Moriarty's Saloon, if a male character talks to a male Megaton resident, sometimes they'll say "This isn't that kind of bar."

** Rare ammo for guns like the magnum and sniper rifle are the exception. You will have more than enough caps to buy a few hundred bullets for them, but no one has that much to sell.

** Most irritatingly, merchant inventories are dictated by player level. Meaning that a level 6 [[Player Character|Lone Wanderer]] with 15000 caps will find that no one is willing to sell him a Chinese Assault Rifle until he gains a few levels.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: One of the random passwords that occurs in the hacking minigame is Cochise, the name of the [[Master Computer]] [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Wasteland (video game)|Wasteland]]'', the spiritual precursor of ''Fallout''. Also, in ''Wasteland'', one of your dialogue options while speaking with Cochise was to ask it how you could kill it. You can ask the exact same question of this game's [[Master Computer]] [[Big Bad]], {{spoiler|President Eden}}. Both of them respond by telling you that they're far beyond your ability to inflict physical damage.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: "Deathclaw"? Hey, that sounds cuddly...

** If you ask Sarah to make the sacrifice, she snaps "[[Men Are the Expendable Gender|what happened to chivalry?]]" Er, chivalry, as in the idea that a [[Knight in Shining Armour]] is meant to protect others? Her snappy attitude probably comes from the dialogue option asking her to make the sacrifice instead of yourself being incredibly rude, and to her credit she does ultimately do it.

** Enclave soldiers in general, compared to their ''Fallout 2'' counterparts, mostly as a result of how vastly different the combat engines in ''Fallout 2'' and ''Fallout 3'' are.

* [[Nicknaming the Enemy]]: Ghouls refer to humans as "Smoothskins". However, it's not clear whether this is necessarily a slur, as even friendly, sympathetic Ghouls refer to humans as this, sometimes even to their faces. On the other hand, when humans refer to Ghouls as "Zombies", it's ''definitely'' intended to be derogatory.

** If you've reached Evil karma, you get [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin'|the same]] but with a different set of people after you, namely [[Vigilante Man|the Regulators]]. But again, [[Trigger Happy|more people to blow away]].

** If you've managed to reach both Evil karma and Good karma at least once, you get ''both'' after you giving you [[Up to Eleven|even more]] people to kill. If both groups are near, you can also potentially [[Set a Mook to Kill a Mook|set them to kill themselves]] [[Pass the Popcorn|since they're hostile to the other group]]. Never leaving Neutral karma will avoid the hit squads.

* [[The Plot Reaper]]: {{spoiler|Liberty Prime}} takes a nuke to the face in the first mission of the ''Broken Steel'' expansion to the main quest. Otherwise, you'd be wondering why he couldn't just curb-stomp the entire Wasteland for you.

* [[Point and Click Map]]

** Bingo in ''The Pitt''.

* [[The Pollyanna]]: Moira Brown, who takes everything from her bleak surroundings to her catastrophically failed experiments to her own ghoulification with the same sunny enthusiasm. [[Break the Cutie|Breaking her spirit]] by persuading her to give up her Guide project is treated as a [[Moral Event Horizon|special kind of evil]].

'''Super Mutant:''' I'll wear your bones around my NECK, human!

'''Sergeant RL-3:''' Do that again and I'll put ''my boot so far up your ass you'll cough up boot polish!''}}

** Abominations play this somewhat straight, as they are definitely a threat if they close in, but their lack of shielding puts them at a disadvantage if you spot them beforehand and open fire.

* [[Put on a Bus]]: {{spoiler|Doctor Li}} in ''Broken Steel''. Characters state that she was tired of the conflict in the Capital Wasteland and decided to take a trip to the Commonwealth. Some of the pre-''Broken Steel'' dialogue implies that {{spoiler|she was in love with your dad, and his death and your near-death}} pretty much destroyed her emotionally.

* [[Putting on the Reich]]: The Enclave Officers.

* [[The Quisling]]: {{spoiler|Anna Holt}}. [[Karma Houdini|And it's]] ''[[Karma Houdini|still]]'' [[Karma Houdini|wrong to kill her]].

* [[Railing Kill]]: Happens quite often if your target is on catwalk or the like. But most notably {{spoiler|Colonel Autumn}} if you shoot him where he stands.

* [[Real Is Brown]]: Or gray, if you're in D.C. [[Justified]] since the region was nuked to within an inch of its life.

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: Most of your allies in ''Mothership Zeta''.

* [[The Remnant]]: The East Coast Enclave is all that's left of the Enclave, which was destroyed by the ''[[Fallout 2]]'' player character. Then in ''Broken Steel'', you fight the remnant of ''that'' remnant.

** Also the Chinese Remnants, ghoulified pre-War espionage agents hiding out in {{spoiler|a factory in D.C.}}

** James, the Lone Wanderer's father. This is a man who {{spoiler|19 years previously, left the safety of Rivet City and set off across the Capital Wasteland to Vault 101, ''with his newborn child in tow''}}.

* [[Revolvers Are Just Better]]: Averted with the .32 pistol, a revolver that is actually one of the weakest guns in the game. The Scoped .44 Magnum on the other hand is among the best of the available pistols.

* [[Spock Speak]]: Mr Handy and Mr Gutsy robots, each have English butler and [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] voice respectively. Also, the Prototype Medic Armor.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: James is shown to have an affinity for scotch throughout the game. Scotch, a type of whiskey, gets its name from the Gaelic 'usquebaugh', which translates into modern English as... wait for it... "water of life".

* [[Stripperiffic]]: The worn slave wear from ''The Pitt'' and some of the Raider wardrobes. Also, the Sexy Sleepwear and the Naughty Nightwear.

* [[Stronger with Age]]: The East Coast super mutants function this way, going all the way up to the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Super Mutant Behemoth]].

 

== Tropes T-W ==

* [[There Are No Adults]]: Little Lamplight.

* [[They Call Me Mister Tibbs]]:

** The hovering robots are called Mister Handy if they have service roles and Mister Gutsy if they're used for combat.

* [[This Is No Time for Knitting]]: In ''The Adventures of Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood'', the following exchange occurs:

* [[Throwaway Country]]: In ''Mothership Zeta'', you can use the [[Death Ray]] to zap part of [[Canada, Eh?|Canada]].

* [[Too Awesome to Use]]: Some may have difficulty using weapons that have rare ammo or cannot be repaired except by merchants. In the case of weapons like the Alien Blaster, it has both a finite ammo limit AND it is unique and cannot be repaired by the player.

** To a lesser extent, feral ghouls, since they ''always'' announce they've detected the player with a distinctive screech that lasts about three seconds, giving an attentive marksman plenty of time to line up a shot.

* [[Tortured Abomination]]: {{spoiler|Harold}}.

* [[Try Not to Die]]: One of Moira Brown's cheerful ways of saying goodbye whenever you end a conversation with her. Also, Everett in The Pitt.

* [[Universal Ammunition]]: Semi-realistically averted. If a weapon is the same caliber as a given round, it can fire it (e.g. .32 rounds work in both the .32 revolver and the hunting rifle). This is not ''quite'' how it works in [[Real Life]], but it's better than many games do at it.

* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: The Narrator says that Vault 101's door never opened, and that you were born there. [[First Episode Spoiler|The game's plot proves both false.]]

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: In full force. Nobody comments that you're decked out in power armor or that you have an eight-foot-tall, bright yellow walking tank with you. But for once, the tank (Fawkes) has the decency to [[Lampshade]] it:

** From setting [[The Woobie|Harold]] on fire, to [[Mind Control|mezzing]] Wastelanders into slavery, to backstabbing the Brotherhood of Steel with a [[Kill Sat]], almost ''every single quest'' has at least one "[[Complete Monster|unspeakable bastard]]" option.

** Dr. Braun gives us an in-universe example, his only source of amusement is cruelly tormenting the other inhabitants of Tranquility Lane.

* [[Vigilante Man]]: The Regulators is a whole organization of these guys.

* [[Villainous Incest]]: {{spoiler|The Andale residents}}. You're pretty far gone when generations of inbreeding ''isn't your [[Town with a Dark Secret|dark secret]]''.

** Three Dog often says "Ghouls are people too", which can either be ignored by the player or not, but even he admits that Feral Ghouls are mindless zombies, going so far as to say [[Kill'Em All|"So kill as many as you damn well please."]]

** The Replicated Man quest is about an android, and both his pursuer and "helper" give reasons on why or why not he's human.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Depending on your actions, you can get quite a few of these.

** In ''The Pitt'', you can also choose to call it to {{spoiler|Wernher}} when you learn of his complete plan.

** In ''Broken Steel'', if you choose to target the Citadel after reaching the Satellite room in the Mobile Base Crawler, upon landing back at the [now destroyed] Citadel, the Brotherhood of Steel will immediately find out that it was your doing. They will then declare you a traitor in their eyes, and will shoot you on sight.

* [[Wide Open Sandbox]]: The player is free to explore anywhere after leaving Vault 101.

* [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]: Most, if not all, of the residents of Little Lamplight.

* [[Worst News Judgement Ever]]: Three Dog of Galaxy News Radio talks about the player character and ''only'' about the player character. There are precisely two news stories in the entire game that aren't directly related to you or your father. This makes sense most of the time, as the player tends to do things that are noticeable enough to be considered newsworthy, but some of the things he reports on are less than noteworthy - he even does a story about you finishing a fetch quest involving collecting soda bottles for a strange woman out in the middle of nowhere. This is lampshaded with "Christ, talk about a slow news day...".

* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Colonel Autumn makes his character clear when he murders a female scientist in cold blood for no reason the first time you see him.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: If you {{spoiler|tell Colonel Autumn the correct code for the purifier}}, he will thank you and kill you, resulting in a [[Nonstandard Game Over]].

** Also, in ''Point Lookout'', if you choose to {{spoiler|side with Professor Calvert to kill Desmond, he will reward you with "The greatest thing any human could ever hope for", which is to say... DEATH! At least he tries to by activating hostile protectrons in his room, and not all of them are working}}.

* [[You Have Researched Breathing]]: You can get meat from anything from a dog to a giant bug, but you need the Cannibal perk if you want fresh human meat. However, feral ghouls will occasionally carry around steak-shaped slabs of human.

* [[Your Head Asplode]]: