FleshEatingZipper writes: This is going to date me, but there was a common expression on the official Fallout 2 boards that went “you’d have to be a FOOL to want FallOut OnLine” primarily because of gameplay/integrity concerns. Well, this week, a court denied Bethesda (makers of The Elder Scrolls and current owner of the Fallout IP) yet another injunction against Interplay, original owner of the IP, in their production of a Fallout MMO. The two have been in a persistent slap fight for the past few years, instigated entirely by Bethesda, and it seems that there’s very little rhyme or reason behind it aside from sheer malice. But first, a little back story…
Fallout is turning 25 years old today, and Gameover celebrates the classic series with this retrospective that reflects on how the series started, where it has been, and where it might be heading.
Fallout 1 is close to my heart, not only because I experienced it close to its release, but for the weird, still serious tone it had. I was immersed in the world and the first post-apocalyptic games I really liked. Still, can't and won't recommend it to anyone today. Too clunky and technically outdated. F1 should get a Wasteland 2/3 like remake.
I loved the themes and writing in Fallout: New Vegas, the execution of them though was underwhelming to me, mostly because of the limitation they had to work with both time and hardware related. This game also screams for a proper remake.
Fallout 4 was disappointing to me at first, especially how the factions are handled, too many generic MMO like missions and the whole third act which should have been changed/expanded. But still it's my most played Fallout after they added Survival Mode to it, the gameplay and the world is becoming much more intense. Garbage collecting and weapon upgrades make a difference, especially in the first 30 levels. Settlements also become a real save heaven, so after bigger missions/explorations I like to wind down with improving my nearby settlement.
So as of today, Fallout 1/New Vegas and Fallout 4 are my favorites in the franchise.
I played 1 and 2 back-to-back a couple of years ago for the first time. Fallout 1 was good but it was so weirdly content-barren. You had this huge map with almost nothing to see. 2 delivered a ton more content, characters, world-building, and more, despite being made within a year after 1, I think? But you are right, Fallout 1 has a distinctly different tone compared to the rest of the franchise. The combat... didn't age well in both of these games, but I think they are still worth trying.
I actually enjoy the combat system more in the earlier games. Just a nice revamp wouldve been fine. I do enjoy new fallouts and its still one of my fav series but fps eh
Fallout 2 ramped up a lot more content and improved with the QoL features, with a lot more people involved this time. The core team of Fallout 1 leaving early in production (they formed their own company Troika) might show the lack of direction of the game.
It had interesting ideas and themes in some areas (Den, Broken Hills, Vault City, NCR, Sierra Army Depot), but their work were seemingly tainted by some mouthbreathing edgelords in their team. There was rarely an area which hadn't some (for me) stupid things in it. There seems to be a designer which had an overabundance on what ran last night on his tv (Frank Horrigan, Xenomorphs, Scientology Celebs, Clinton Sex-Scandal, Ghost Stories...), the single idea guy who added intelligent animals to all areas and another guy who just added (partly) edgy jokes/joke characters everywhere.
The regression of humans to tribals within 80 years after the bombs fell didn't make sense to me. The existence of G.E.C.K. and what it does was too far out for me. I hate the idea that vaults were all experiments (as if people wouldn't become weird or conflicts heating up there by default) which became a staple of the series from now on. But on the other hand I loved quests and interactions which span between areas, that you can revisit areas from F1, how they handled Super Mutants (expect for magician Super Mutant Melchior) and Goris was at least cool asf.
So I don't hate F2, but the more I had think about it, the more it drops in my personal ranking. Every dumb idea people knock Bethesda for has roots in Fallout 2, except maybe for Mole Miners and Scorchbeasts.
Original Fallout creator Studio Interplay's fake relaunch was quickly called out over Twitter, with the account then being shut down.
What would be the point?
All the creative talent moved onto other studios.
It would be Interplay in name alone.
Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax reunited Fallout IP and some of the brains behind it, who used to work at Interplay back in the late '90s, opening a treasure trove of fan hopes and possibilities.
Was hoping for an isometric turn-based Fallout but would definitely love another entry from Obsidian in first/third person.
Yeah that’s pretty neat. I’m hyped to see if MS utilizes it’s new first party like Sony does. All of the studios sharing technology and expertise, etc. It could be a really good thing. Or it could be a disaster like EA where the studios turn to shit. I’d bet on the former.
Fallout Van Buren time. Brian Fargo, Howard and Urquhart can at least give us the Fallout game we deserved to bury the memories of F76
Last time I check Interplay was almost going under, Interplay should just sell the fallout mmo rights to Bethesda and start on a different IP
It is because Bethesda wants interplay to fall out of their deal.
Honestly people, do you want the 10 person team of a dying company like interplay to make fallout online or would you rather have Bethesda do it?...yeah that's what i thought.
Suing Interplay for something they had already agreed to in the first place is equal to kicking a game company that took risks and made some great, albeit not successful games while they're down.
Suing a small time studio over the word "scrolls" and refusing to settle it with a game of Quake, while granted that was an odd request, makes the suit look more about flexing their muscles than actually protecting their franchise.
This is why I'll be buying Skyrim used.
Interplay sold the right to develop single-player Fallout games to Bethesda, but they had a agreement that Interplay would make a MMO in the Fallout univers.
Bethesda wants to make their own MMO, so they go to court to try to stop Interplay from making the one they had agreed to.
They also sued Interplay for selling the 3 best Fallout-games in stores like gog.com (Good Old Games), just to make it harder for Interplay to get funding for Fallout MMO.
So basically they're trying to ruin what's left of Interplay, so they can get the Franchise for themselves, instead of sticking to the agreement they made when they bought the rights to make Fallout from Interplay.
Bethesda is making a few good games, but they are a bunch of jerks.