Is Fallout 3's story just expensive fan fiction?

[Zacharine]

In Fallout 3's defense, the New Testament is sort of FanFiction as well.

That isn't a point in favour of FO3...

Besides, I've seen fanfic done better than the main story of FO3. Seriously, I can appreciate hilarious plot-devices or motivations, and accept occasional preaching of morals by game developers, but FO3 just had too much of both combined with a liberal application of plot holes.

So, in response to OT:

"The main plot just felt like fan fiction."

No, it was worse. Fanfiction can in fact be as excellent as good books, albeit for fairness' sake I must admit it is overpopulated by halfway illiterate 14-year old yaoi fans.

 

[twistedheat15]

As far as the main story I say that FO:3 was kinda lacking in it. The main story felt more like a big side quest. I think the biggest point of FO:3 wasn't the story though, more the setting. Walking around the waste trying to piece together things that happen just by reading a note or looking at certain remains left behind. FO:NV kinda figured if we wanted setting we'd just play 3 again so they where gonna focus more on gameplay and story making everything more compact, and showing that you actually have the power to shape the area the way you want.

 

[Danzaivar]

A group like theirs who believes no one besides them is capable of using or owning technology will not be liked or as righteous as Fallout 3 made them to be.

I hardly paid attention to Fallout 3 and even I can tell you that the BoS in that game isn't the same morally as other BoS. There was a splinter faction who stuck closer to the original BoS that were dicks to people. They wore red and black armour I think.

Aside from that, you're right.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

I had a big problem with Fallout 3's main story. Now keep in mind this is one of my favorite games of this generation by far, so don't flame me too hard.

It's in Fallout 3 that they really changed the way the Fallout Mythos works. In the original Fallout 1/2, all of the wacky stuff that was going on was due entirely to the FEV. Ghouls, Mutants, Giant Insects, etc were all products of exposure to the FEV at Mariposa Military Base. Radiation was just plain old real world radiation - it gave you cancer and killed you.

In Fallout 3 they changed it so that just normal radiation causes mutations and creates things like ghouls and giant insects. That doesn't happen, we know exactly what radiation from an atomic bomb does - it gives you cancer or radiation poisoning and kills you. But they wanted an excuse to have all of these mutants exist everywhere in the Fallout world and not just around Mariposa - so they changed the story.

Also radiation doesn't poison water supplies for 200 years. Washington D.C. wouldn't be a wasteland after an atomic war, it would be a verdant forest overtaken by vegetation. Again, we know what radiation does. It only took a decade or so before people started living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki again, their water is fine.

 

[oplinger]

I had a big problem with Fallout 3's main story. Now keep in mind this is one of my favorite games of this generation by far, so don't flame me too hard.

It's in Fallout 3 that they really changed the way the Fallout Mythos works. In the original Fallout 1/2, all of the wacky stuff that was going on was due entirely to the FEV. Ghouls, Mutants, Giant Insects, etc were all products of exposure to the FEV at Mariposa Military Base. Radiation was just plain old real world radiation - it gave you cancer and killed you.

In Fallout 3 they changed it so that just normal radiation causes mutations and creates things like ghouls and giant insects. That doesn't happen, we know exactly what radiation from an atomic bomb does - it gives you cancer or radiation poisoning and kills you. But they wanted an excuse to have all of these mutants exist everywhere in the Fallout world and not just around Mariposa - so they changed the story.

Also radiation doesn't poison water supplies for 200 years. Washington D.C. wouldn't be a wasteland after an atomic war, it would be a verdant forest overtaken by vegetation. Again, we know what radiation does. It only took a decade or so before people started living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki again, their water is fine.

Ghouls were, and still are, argued about with the fallout creators. Even the creator of the Fallout Bible believes, currently, that it's just heavy radiation. Though in the bible he states the FEV was at work. It's also never stated how the Radscorpions and such came to be.

Also in the 1950s radiation was said to cause severe mutations. That's the idea behind fallout, its the 1950s (SciFi) view of the future. Which also explains the water and such.

Did you not know what Fallout was all about before 3?

 

[Meggiepants]

Sure.... if one could make millions of dollars writing fan fiction.

By this logic, anything that you believe is poorly written is fanfiction. I just don't buy that. I didn't think the story in Fallout 3 is great literature by any measure, but I could say the same about Fallout 1, 2, or New Vegas.

Not only that, but the idea that the main plot of Fallout 3 is the only part of Fallout 3 that comprises part of its story is also ludicrous to me. A video game is not like a book. The setting, the places, the notes you find, the random skeletons holding each other in their lonely shacks, these are all elements of story in Fallout 3. They are all parts of the whole. The main plot story is indeed important, but I would argue that the main plot only makes up 1/3 of the overall story Fallout 3 has to tell. There were plenty of things in Fallout 3 that fleshed out its story. They just didn't hit you over the head with it.

 

[Grey_Focks]

To answer your question, I'm gonna say "No, it isn't." To answer the bigger question of the thread, which is better, New Vegas or FO3, I'll say that I don't know yet. I haven't beaten NV yet, but I've got a pretty good idea of where it's all going. I'd say NV has potentially more replayability and better writing, but FO3 was the actual better game, IMHO, atleast. NV had the better writing, but I really couldn't care less about the main story in it, atleast until...well I won't spoil. That, and GODFUCKINGDAMMITIHATEINVISIBLEWALLS! Few other reasons, too, but I'm getting hungry.

EDIT- Okay, FO3 wins in atmosphere, too. Now, seriously, I needs food.

 

[Desert Tiger]

I had a big problem with Fallout 3's main story. Now keep in mind this is one of my favorite games of this generation by far, so don't flame me too hard.

It's in Fallout 3 that they really changed the way the Fallout Mythos works. In the original Fallout 1/2, all of the wacky stuff that was going on was due entirely to the FEV. Ghouls, Mutants, Giant Insects, etc were all products of exposure to the FEV at Mariposa Military Base. Radiation was just plain old real world radiation - it gave you cancer and killed you.

In Fallout 3 they changed it so that just normal radiation causes mutations and creates things like ghouls and giant insects. That doesn't happen, we know exactly what radiation from an atomic bomb does - it gives you cancer or radiation poisoning and kills you. But they wanted an excuse to have all of these mutants exist everywhere in the Fallout world and not just around Mariposa - so they changed the story.

Also radiation doesn't poison water supplies for 200 years. Washington D.C. wouldn't be a wasteland after an atomic war, it would be a verdant forest overtaken by vegetation. Again, we know what radiation does. It only took a decade or so before people started living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki again, their water is fine.

Ehhhh.

Ghouls, radscorpions... basically, everything other than Supermutants, the Master and Centaurs were created by normal radiation in the first Fallouts (unless we get into the whole Deathclaws/Wanamingos experiments etc etc). The Fallout Bible initially toys with the idea of FEV being spread airborne during the Great War to account for it, but eventually the author apologised after he realised that attempting to go all "real world physics" on a game based on the "world of tomorrow" mindset of the 50's would not only be hard to follow through with, but also ruin the overall experience.

Supermutants exist in the Capital Wasteland because of a strain of FEV designed to promote strength and uniformity at the cost of intelligence. Bit of an asspull by any means, but all the flavour material supports it.

Also, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were just one bomb a piece - we're talking thousands here. According to New Vegas, a hundred nukes went there alone, with only three hitting their mark due to House's intervention.

Don't forget - nukes could well be stronger. In an age of energy weapons and heavy tactical armour a hundred and twenty seven years after its divergence, it's not impossible to rule out that Chinese nukes could of at least been intentionally made more radioative (or simply been more advanced with this as a side effect).

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

I really almost tried to ignore the main plot of fallout 3. I actually ended up skipping a portion of it accidentally in my wanderings. I never even realized that I did until I read something on the main story and had a rather large piece I never did.

 

[Dexiro]

I had a big problem with Fallout 3's main story. Now keep in mind this is one of my favorite games of this generation by far, so don't flame me too hard.

It's in Fallout 3 that they really changed the way the Fallout Mythos works. In the original Fallout 1/2, all of the wacky stuff that was going on was due entirely to the FEV. Ghouls, Mutants, Giant Insects, etc were all products of exposure to the FEV at Mariposa Military Base. Radiation was just plain old real world radiation - it gave you cancer and killed you.

In Fallout 3 they changed it so that just normal radiation causes mutations and creates things like ghouls and giant insects. That doesn't happen, we know exactly what radiation from an atomic bomb does - it gives you cancer or radiation poisoning and kills you. But they wanted an excuse to have all of these mutants exist everywhere in the Fallout world and not just around Mariposa - so they changed the story.

No I think Fallout 3 did acknowledge the FEV. From what I read one (or a few) of the vaults in that area had the FEV released into them as an experiment. And I think there's one vault you can enter that's supposedly the origin of the super mutants in that area.

I could be wrong though, I haven't played Fallout 3 much.

 

[_Cake_]

New Vegas has a better main story but more forced. Fallout 3 has way better side quests but I don`t like the ending. I love both games but in the end I like Fallout 3 better, but like doing side quest more then the main so it makes sense. I think people would have liked Fallout 3`s main story more if it had a better ending. Also why didn`t they try to blow up the place where they make super mutants? I guess cause Fallout 1 already did it.

I wish Fallout 3 was more like the fanfic. Then male players could seduce Amata and Sarah Lyons and females... well if you go by the fanfic one guy is far more popular with women then any other ... Charon. Goes to show loyalty matters more then having a nose.

 

[Vault101]

the way I see it (and much to the annoyence of the die hard fans) Not everyone was familiar with the orgininal fallout series so they didn't know about the G.E.C.K. and enclave ect

from that perspctive I thourght the story was pretty good (with the fixed ending of coarse)

 

[OneOfTheMichael's]

I find it awesome that they're having conflicts with different factions besides the enclave and brotherhood and how it doesn't go down the same pathway.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

I dislike the Brotherhood in New Vegas.
They were more hostile than the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel.

The Capital Wasteland Brotherhood were a sect, cut off from the traditional brotherhood by choice.

They believed that helping the wasteland population was just as important as salvaging technology.

The New Vegas brotherhood are actually much more similar to the classic games idea of who they were.

If you didn't have something to offer, they were pretty much walking-talking-armored-Fuck-You's.

 

[teebeeohh]

...you're really going to use the modding tools against Fallout 3? It was -called- the GECK for a reason >_>

Just to clarify, by GECK I meant the acual Garden of Eden Creation Kit that was the plot device about two/thirds into the main plot, not the modding tool. If you're just joking or not I can't tell but thought I'd clarify regardless.

Nah, I was joking about it, but it's silly either way. All vaults were issued a GECK, that was stated in FO2 I believe (maybe even 1) Some didn't get theirs. But they were all supposed to have one.

>> It's still not a point against FO3.

but most vaults didn't get a GECK. in fact most Vault were not designed to enable people to survive, the Vault system was this huge social experiment run by the Enclave and the only Vaults that did work as advertised were the control group of the experiment

using a brotherhood splinter faction was a cheap trick to have technologically advanced faction without interfering in the given story. I always liked the brotherhood better when they were total dicks, the whiny do-gooders of fallout 3 and tactics just suck and i like that they got their asses kicked by the NCR, imho a lot of the story of fallout 3 appears to be designed to interfere as little as possible with what we know happened at the west coast.

 

[Liberaliter]

As far as video game stories go, it was pretty good. Then again industry standards are pretty low in that department.

 

[Hargrimm]

snip

The guys at the codex and nma have been saying that for years.
And I'm one of them.

...
Supermutants exist in the Capital Wasteland because of a strain of FEV designed to promote strength and uniformity at the cost of intelligence. Bit of an asspull by any means, but all the flavour material supports it.
...

I disagree, in Fallout 3 it is mentioned that this strain of FEV was given to Vault-Tec by the government.
The FEV project (originally PVP) was developed by West Tek and taken over by the government, when they found out that it would not only make animals immune to biological weapons, but also make them stronger and more intelligent. Vault-Tec never entered the equation, they were only needed to build the vaults, which were used to conduct social experiments. So the FEV and Supermutants in FO 3 is a complete retcon.

 

[xXGeckoXx]

Personally I prefered F3, I just didn't get into the NV story as much, not that it isn't a brilliant game mind you

This is what I said about the game before it came out and 30 or so hours in, I say the same thing. The map i mostly empty fringes in new vegas. When you looks at the the pip boy there is a massive fringe surrounding the map which is empty desert. Most of the locations aren't worth visiting (in fallout 3 you would always find a skill-book which was nice).