Thinking about it, what is the stupidest fictional thing ever?

[Hoplon]

1. Humanity will one day be smart enough to invent perfect medical pods that can remove cancer and other illness is seconds, yet thinks it would be a great business idea only to allow a select few to take advantage of this great new technology.

You are aware that the private medical industry does that now right?

 

[Therumancer]

The old stand-by: Who would win in a fight?

I'm fairly certain that most cases of primitive-but-effective against most anyone toting powersuits, laser gatling guns, and of course plasma weapons is going to have not a phyrric, but a clear-cut victory in the case of the powersuit brigade. But the question of Enclave is neither here nor there. We're talking New California Republic. So!

The first thing I should acknowledge is that I am slightly-coloring this with my incredible ability to kill things in the wasteland, earning me multiple levels of Lord of Death in short order. I shouldn't speak of any side's abilities in reference to my own, because I shoot ALOT of things. That said, I've actually sat there and watched two sides duking it out as well. The usual case of something attacking the NCR patrols is that they raise their guns, they shoot at it until it dies, and they return to their duty. The time it takes for a Legion acolyte or something to do the running towards them, he could be dead before the spear lands, if it ever flies.

Okay, let's take Camp Forelorn Hope. There is a mission where you go there and you do things for these guys, but most importantly you help them out with their constant assault of Legion SOBs from an encampment. Now, I was figuring that this was going to be a terrible fight where everyone but me ends up dead in the first few seconds, and then perhaps I get dead too from overwhelming numbers. This was before I really understood that the Legion weren't all that great. I led the charge, chose my targets, and the guys following me cleaned up almost as well as I did. I think maybe one of them died from a spear to the face. While I was raiding all of the bodies, I wondered what in the hell the big deal was all about. Here I was, thinking we'd all - you know - die...and we were all badasses. Not just me, but them too.

I think, if anything, the thing holding NCR back is not them, but itself. I don't think their leadership is any good. They phased out the Tandi stuff and that made me sad. I think Caesar successfully got them to shit their pants because of brutal cutthroat attacks and propaganda, not actual power. The truth is, I think the Jackals are a greater threat, brutallity and technology, no regard for human life while living in an operational VAULT. I have a feeling that if the Legion were as powerful and as numerous as claimed, they'd march thousands west, kill their fill, and be done with it. The REAL Romans did that. These are just low-brained butchers.

Errr, well, after having met Caesar I got the impression that he was very loosely (very, very loosely) based on Milo Morai from Robert Adam's "Horseclans", and that his faction was never actually explored in the intended detail, including the brutality, slavery, and logic/morality that went along with it. Perhaps because it was decided that it would be too controversial and seem like they were trying to sell some things that they weren't if they did (Robert Adams himself had to put some disclaimers into his own books once in a while). As a result the overall equasion was never really broken down or explained well, and really there is only so much that can be conveyed by the current technology and AI.

In Horseclans half the point is that they wind up going up against far more technologically advanced forces and winning. Milo himself (in addition to being psionic and basically immortal to an extent similar to the guys from Highlander) knows a LOT about technology and modern tactics much like Caesar, but intentionally chooses not to have his current society based on it in rising from the ashes because he doesn't want them to depend on it. The basic argument being that his group of Barbarians pretty much live entirely off the land, and in skirmishes and such use stealth and the like to take down their enemies. They have little need for supply lines on a small scale, and pretty much everyone is a warrior due to the values of the culture. When it comes to massive battles, the leadership being familiar with technology means that they have the means to counter it by using "primitive means" you basically don't see these guys mindlessly panicing under the threat of "thundersticks" or whatever, and very much using their own siege engines and
the like. Of course to be fair The Horseclans also use psionically guided mutant elephants, telepathic (and sentinent) warcats, and it does help that the actual undying lords are nearly impossible to kill can fry people with their brains. Fallout doesn't really get much into the concept of "beneficial mutations" other than perhaps with the ghouls.

The point I'm getting at here is that as it's presented in Fallout the situation seems similar enough o have been inspired by that, with the "modern" military rivals being largely being dudes armed with assault rifles and guns, and typically only very specific groups of special forces operatives having the same kind of competence and individual abilities that the legions take for granted. Sure half a dozen guys in primitive armor running at a fortified position is a death wish, but in theory the legion should largely be acting a bit more stealthily in disputed territory, and when it comes to larger scale operations I'd imagine would be bringing out catapults and other weapons that are disdained by a more modern force, which also being post apocalyptic doesn't happen to maintain any technological equivilents due to there not being much in the way of tanks and stuff in circulation.

It should also be noted that for all of his semi-anti-tech approach Caesar also acted like Milo in that he seems to keep plenty of tech close at hand just in case, a lot of the elite troops and such using things like the "Ballistic Fists" and the like which pretty much means having an elite group of enemies in powered armor or something might play havoc with the general rank and file, but he's going to have his own elite forces packing enough tech to counter them.

This is all speculation on my part, because really, even in the design notes, it seems like the concept of the legion wasn't ever really explored, and it shallowness seems to be covered by the game more or less discouraging you to side with that faction (though you still can).

There are ways to justify it being a threat on the level presented, there was pretty much a whole series of books (as I mentioned) based loosely around the theme of a guy with modern knowledge dominating a post apocalyptic world by building a civilization of neo-barbarians, which in turn came into conflict with hold outs from the old world, other barbarians, mutants, and whatever else.

 

[FalloutJack]

Zip!

I could understand, outside the box, what it could actually be and mean, but I dunno if all the stuff actually happening will bear that out. There is, after all, a huge difference between the Fallout world and the Legion and that book. If anything, it would be better to say that indeed the people who worked on the game kinda' goofed. They just didn't detail it enough to make it viable. Perhaps maybe they could have, but I dunno. the point of the whole discussion is to explicate the ridiculousness of the build and I believe we have.

 

[RidleyValiant]

Most stupid thing I've see in fiction?

Midi-chlorians.

 

[Vegosiux]

A sheep-powered raygun. That only works with one specific sheep, and only if the said sheep is alive. Stupid as hell. And it's awesome.

 

[rcs619]

Boudicca, Queen of the Celts, invades and sacks Rome with her barbarian horde and legions of war elephants.

Ryse is such a dumb game. They could have at least looked at Boudicca's article on wikipedia before they had the celts of all people sack Rome with war elephants of all things.

 

[florzk]

the idea of a "destined hero." big reason i despise halo 4.
it's just so... so... lazy and contrived; its like a writer just goes, "hmm... how do i write a good protagonist so that the audience (who are, of course, as intelligent as autistic baboons) know who they are supposed to root for? DURRWAHURR DESTINEEEEE!! HE ARE HERO CUZ GAWD SAY SO! YOU LIEK HIM!" ok, not necessarily god, but... you get the point. also, on a similar note, i hate villains who acknowledge and unapologetically revel in their evilness.

.... also, attack on titan. i just hate it. that's all.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

The fact that Magic isn't infinite seems stupid. When you limit magic it kind of defeats the purpose of magic. When Magic has rules that's one thing but to make it limited/finite and yet you're still calling it magic instead of technology, it just seems dumb...I can turn that around too: Penny's book from Inspector Gadget or, The Turtle Phone from the 80's/90's run of the series are fucking magical and so is every other technical device used by fictional characters without a thought to energy levels, reception, internet connectivity, etc.

---

When plan A fails but there is a magical plan B that is simpler, set up faster and, ultimately goes off without a hitch.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

snip

Ah sorry about my rambling I haz a broken streaming conscious. ><

I did say limp to victory instead of running. LOL

And when the enemy has sniper rifles and sub machine guns it becomes less clear, even more so when they are shooting at the fodder first. And that is how I see the legion working in full scale war. But yes the NCR dose have an advantage.

NV has kinda made me a sniper I use to be all about automatics but they are crap or at least on very hard your armor is paper thin so you do not survive gun fights well, I have the dog the eye bot and Veronica(can't seem to have her talk to the damn brotherhood about her unmarked quest so she can leave >

I still think what we see of the legion is just a foothold in the region not the main force but I do admit they are not well used in the game, they should be everywhere like raiders with small raiding parties spawning regularly but without that you have to wonder why they are such a threat.

You mean the fiends the jackles do not have a base of operations as far as I know. Tho half the time the raiders are the same as the Legion as most have melee weapons.The Fiends can't even unlock low level locks in the vault not to mention they are so strung out on drugs they can not accomplish much

And ya I forgot to bring that up that the NCR can't do much because they thin themselves out to much.

All in all I think the legion is poorly represented in the game which can make them seem like nothing. Then again they did make alliances with the Khans and the Fiends I guess they(the devs) thought that would be enough to go against the NCR?

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

The old stand-by: Who would win in a fight?

I'm fairly certain that most cases of primitive-but-effective against most anyone toting powersuits, laser gatling guns, and of course plasma weapons is going to have not a phyrric, but a clear-cut victory in the case of the powersuit brigade. But the question of Enclave is neither here nor there. We're talking New California Republic. So!

The first thing I should acknowledge is that I am slightly-coloring this with my incredible ability to kill things in the wasteland, earning me multiple levels of Lord of Death in short order. I shouldn't speak of any side's abilities in reference to my own, because I shoot ALOT of things. That said, I've actually sat there and watched two sides duking it out as well. The usual case of something attacking the NCR patrols is that they raise their guns, they shoot at it until it dies, and they return to their duty. The time it takes for a Legion acolyte or something to do the running towards them, he could be dead before the spear lands, if it ever flies.

Okay, let's take Camp Forelorn Hope. There is a mission where you go there and you do things for these guys, but most importantly you help them out with their constant assault of Legion SOBs from an encampment. Now, I was figuring that this was going to be a terrible fight where everyone but me ends up dead in the first few seconds, and then perhaps I get dead too from overwhelming numbers. This was before I really understood that the Legion weren't all that great. I led the charge, chose my targets, and the guys following me cleaned up almost as well as I did. I think maybe one of them died from a spear to the face. While I was raiding all of the bodies, I wondered what in the hell the big deal was all about. Here I was, thinking we'd all - you know - die...and we were all badasses. Not just me, but them too.

I think, if anything, the thing holding NCR back is not them, but itself. I don't think their leadership is any good. They phased out the Tandi stuff and that made me sad. I think Caesar successfully got them to shit their pants because of brutal cutthroat attacks and propaganda, not actual power. The truth is, I think the Jackals are a greater threat, brutallity and technology, no regard for human life while living in an operational VAULT. I have a feeling that if the Legion were as powerful and as numerous as claimed, they'd march thousands west, kill their fill, and be done with it. The REAL Romans did that. These are just low-brained butchers.

Errr, well, after having met Caesar I got the impression that he was very loosely (very, very loosely) based on Milo Morai from Robert Adam's "Horseclans", and that his faction was never actually explored in the intended detail, including the brutality, slavery, and logic/morality that went along with it. Perhaps because it was decided that it would be too controversial and seem like they were trying to sell some things that they weren't if they did (Robert Adams himself had to put some disclaimers into his own books once in a while). As a result the overall equasion was never really broken down or explained well, and really there is only so much that can be conveyed by the current technology and AI.

In Horseclans half the point is that they wind up going up against far more technologically advanced forces and winning. Milo himself (in addition to being psionic and basically immortal to an extent similar to the guys from Highlander) knows a LOT about technology and modern tactics much like Caesar, but intentionally chooses not to have his current society based on it in rising from the ashes because he doesn't want them to depend on it. The basic argument being that his group of Barbarians pretty much live entirely off the land, and in skirmishes and such use stealth and the like to take down their enemies. They have little need for supply lines on a small scale, and pretty much everyone is a warrior due to the values of the culture. When it comes to massive battles, the leadership being familiar with technology means that they have the means to counter it by using "primitive means" you basically don't see these guys mindlessly panicing under the threat of "thundersticks" or whatever, and very much using their own siege engines and
the like. Of course to be fair The Horseclans also use psionically guided mutant elephants, telepathic (and sentinent) warcats, and it does help that the actual undying lords are nearly impossible to kill can fry people with their brains. Fallout doesn't really get much into the concept of "beneficial mutations" other than perhaps with the ghouls.

The point I'm getting at here is that as it's presented in Fallout the situation seems similar enough o have been inspired by that, with the "modern" military rivals being largely being dudes armed with assault rifles and guns, and typically only very specific groups of special forces operatives having the same kind of competence and individual abilities that the legions take for granted. Sure half a dozen guys in primitive armor running at a fortified position is a death wish, but in theory the legion should largely be acting a bit more stealthily in disputed territory, and when it comes to larger scale operations I'd imagine would be bringing out catapults and other weapons that are disdained by a more modern force, which also being post apocalyptic doesn't happen to maintain any technological equivilents due to there not being much in the way of tanks and stuff in circulation.

It should also be noted that for all of his semi-anti-tech approach Caesar also acted like Milo in that he seems to keep plenty of tech close at hand just in case, a lot of the elite troops and such using things like the "Ballistic Fists" and the like which pretty much means having an elite group of enemies in powered armor or something might play havoc with the general rank and file, but he's going to have his own elite forces packing enough tech to counter them.

This is all speculation on my part, because really, even in the design notes, it seems like the concept of the legion wasn't ever really explored, and it shallowness seems to be covered by the game more or less discouraging you to side with that faction (though you still can).

There are ways to justify it being a threat on the level presented, there was pretty much a whole series of books (as I mentioned) based loosely around the theme of a guy with modern knowledge dominating a post apocalyptic world by building a civilization of neo-barbarians, which in turn came into conflict with hold outs from the old world, other barbarians, mutants, and whatever else.

Wow thats some good thinking!

 

[contagonist]

That an elevator through the center of the Earth is a practical means of intercontinental transport.

 

[contagonist]

The USS Enterprise (currently on a secret mission in the Klingon home system), being able to dial up Scotty's cell-phone (he stayed behind on Earth), and then proceeding to have a lag-free, completely real-time conversation with him. I have no idea where the Klingon homeworld is, but I doubt it's like, Alpha Centauri. Seriously, I have never seen the massive scale and infinite scope of space-travel so utterly destroyed by a single moment in a movie.

Actually, faster than light communication is far more probable than faster than light travel. Look up quantum entanglement.

 

[2xDouble]

When a ghost civilization has grown tired of existing only as a memory they bring a sports celebrity alive from themselves to kill the planet-terrorizing ancient monster that's serving as their life support.

For a moment there i wanted to ask "Where is that from that sounds cool!"
Then i realized you were talking about FFX and now i think you are an inhuman monster hiding in the hollow shell of a human like thing, sitting in the head or torso and controling the body with way to few controls for the task. . .

Damn-it. The hu-maan has gifure us out. Abort plaaans to tak over E-art-H.

Seriously speaking, I never could understand why the Fayth had to create someone like Tidus. Even if he wasn't a sports celebrity with no prior combat experience to speak of, his personality would still be as appealing as feeding your private parts to a wood chipper.

And remember, the part I mentioned isn't even the focus of the story. It comes into play during like the last 6 hours of the game out of the 45 it took me to complete the thing. Now that I think about it, if it was the central focus, maybe FFX's story would have been a lot more interesting.

They didn't choose Tidus. They sent Jecht, who was much cooler and better, but f'ed up at the last second. Jecht then chose his son to succeed him because Tidus was pretty much the only person who could be trusted/convinced to follow Auron, the "sole survivor" who had information Jecht would have needed to know before f'ing up. That pretty much IS the focus of the story; it's like a horribly convoluted version of StarFox... and that's the non-spoiler version.

On the subject of the Fayth: I can understand wanting to escape the metaphorical "unending time loop", even if it means becoming (and staying) dead in the process, I saw Groundhog Day, but that still doesn't explain why they chose Jecht.

Come to think of it, it's very much like the Star Trek episode Cause and Effect... minus the planet-destroying monsters (this time).

 

[Aeshi]

Reversing the Earth's rotation causes time to go backwards. This still stands as the biggest (and dumbest) Deus Ex Machina I've ever seen.

Was he actually reversing the Earth's rotation there? I was under the impression that he was just going back in time by using super-speed to go Faster-than-Light, and the whole "Earth rotating the other way" thing was just what he sees as he goes back in time.

 

[KP Shadow]

Nitrogen-breathing aliens requiring special equipment to survive in earth's atmosphere, which is mostly nitrogen.

 

[Alcamonic]

If your genepool is good enough. You can curve bullets in a perfect circle.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Nitrogen-breathing aliens requiring special equipment to survive in earth's atmosphere, which is mostly nitrogen.

That's not really any more ridiculous than respiring nitrogen in the first place. Oxygen is toxic to us at high partial pressures [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity]. If a planet's atmosphere had a greater than 160 kPa partial pressure of O[sub]2[/sub] we would require special equipment to survive in it.

 

[Alcamonic]

Ooh, I gots a good one. In the early 1900's steam power is used to create giant robots to fight Ghosts. the elite team of pilots are also the staff of a theater, and the team includes: a cowgirl, an androgynous girl, a samurai, Dora the Explorer, A psychic Medic, and a lawyer.
Basically, Broadway Steam Machines vs. Japanese Ghost Warlords

Would you mind telling me which show/game that is? Sounds interesting.

 

[Brainpaint]

CSI's Corneal Imaging Tech. It's way too futurustic and impossible by then tech that even if we lived in the Bladerunner universe, seeing that clip will still make Deckard scream "Bullshit!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uoM5kfZIQ0

 

[EyeReaper]

Ooh, I gots a good one. In the early 1900's steam power is used to create giant robots to fight Ghosts. the elite team of pilots are also the staff of a theater, and the team includes: a cowgirl, an androgynous girl, a samurai, Dora the Explorer, A psychic Medic, and a lawyer.
Basically, Broadway Steam Machines vs. Japanese Ghost Warlords

Would you mind telling me which show/game that is? Sounds interesting.

A fun little game called Sakura Wars: So long, My Love. It's for the Wii and the Ps2. However, Its one half Vn/dating sim, one half fighting in robots, Just a warning if you aren't into that sort of thing.