Fallout (computer game)

Gameplay

Fallout and Fallout 2 are both role-playing games in which you control a single character (possibly with AI-controlled allies) from an isometric perspective.

Related Topics:
Role-playing games - AI - Isometric

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Character System

When Fallout was first announced, one of its major selling points was its plan to use the popular GURPS ruleset created by Steve Jackson Games. GURPS is known for its point-based character-creation system which allows players great freedom in customizing their characters in any setting or genre, shying away from the class-and-level-based progressions and specific settings that characterized some of the competing rulesets of the time (Such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons).

Related Topics:
GURPS - Steve Jackson Games - Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

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However, creative differences between the two companies led the developers of Fallout to abandon GURPS and develop their own proprietary character creation scheme, called the SPECIAL System. SPECIAL is an acronym representing the seven basic attributes that define Fallout characters: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. In addition to these attributes, characters could also develop Skills (statistics representing their chance to successfully perform specific tasks, such as firing a gun or picking a lock), and Perks (special abilities that allow characters to bend the rules of the game in their favor).

Related Topics:
GURPS - SPECIAL System - Acronym

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Attributes remain generally constant over the course of the game, and represent the player character's most basic identity. Skills, on the other hand, are improved as the player gains experience points and levels up. A new Perk is also chosen every third or fourth level depending on traits selected during character creation.

Related Topics:
Experience points - Levels up

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The character system was further enhanced by adding traits. During creation of a character up to two traits can be selected, although players can decide to select none at all. Most traits have both positive and negative effects on PC, the only exception to this rule being Bloody Mess, which appears only to affect the amount of blood and gore present on screen (though it may at times cause NPCs to inadvertently explode). In addition the Bloody Mess trait alters the game ending sequence. After the final conversation where the Overseer reveals that your character can't return to the Vault the game returns to the isometric view and the Overseer walks back into the Vault. If the player character possesses the Bloody Mess trait though he(she) will pull out a pistol and shoot the Overseer in the back.

Related Topics:
Traits - PC - Blood - Gore

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Storytelling Method

Much of the game of Fallout is spent traveling through the post-apocalyptic wasteland, visiting towns and other bastions of "civilization", and interacting with non-player characters.

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Fallout stands out among other contemporary computer role-playing games, in part, because of its system of moral choices. While other games are fixed in a single moral-choice, Fallout is not. Most major locations in the game are characterized by a conflict between two or more competing factions. The player is offered the opportunity to work for any of the factions (usually subtly divided into good/evil, chaos or law) and to help them defeat their enemies, thus determining the ultimate fate of that location.

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For example, in one early mission (although it is, inevitably, of course, decided by the player to go there early, but it's relatively close to the place where the player starts, so it's usually early on) the player enters the place of Junktown. Junktown is officially controlled by the sheriff, Killian Darkwater, but a crime boss named Gizmo has also gathered a great deal of influence to himself. The player may initially be hired by Killian after helping him avoid an assassin, to collect evidence against Gizmo, but Gizmo will make a counteroffer, probably hiring the player to assassinate Killian, but it's all up to the player.

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At this point, the player can give a recording of Gizmo's counteroffer to Killian, proving that Gizmo is a murderer, and eventually leading to his execution. Or the player can actually carry out the assassination, murdering Killian, and handing Junktown over to the crime boss.

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After the end of the game, when the player has made many such decisions, a final epilogue plays, outlining the ultimate fate of each location that the player influenced. Because of the player's choices, the world of Fallout can either become increasingly peaceful and civilized... or increasingly savage and barbaric... or a mixture of both, by a favor of good in one place, but bad in another, accidentally or purposely.

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In Fallout 2 it is possible to continue playing after the finale. Although no major changes to the game world are made (i.e. the developments outlined in the final slide show sequence "haven't happened yet"), there are some new comments from NPCs as well as several new dialogue options in certain locations, mostly to herald and reward the player for the success. The player is also given an option to raise all of his/her PC skills (through "Fallout 2 Hintbook" or using one of the terminals in Vault City).

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Because the ending of the game is so varied, Fallout 2 had to take place primarily in different locations from the original game, to avoid violating the fiction created by the player the first time through, with few exceptions to Shady Sands, Vault 13 and Vault 15. Similar challenges have "plagued" other video game series that featured variable storylines and moral choices, such as Deus Ex and '.

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Combat

Combat in Fallout is turn-based, and depends on the use of Action Points. This is not unlike Board Games. Each character in the game has a specific number of Action Points per turn, a figure which is derived from their Agility score. Each action that can be taken in combat costs a certain number of Action Points to perform. Thus the strategy of the game involves the clever and efficient use of Action Points to maximize the player character's damage potential and safety during combat.

Related Topics:
Turn-based - Board Games

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For example, if the player character has seven Action Points per turn, it may be wiser to wield a pistol that costs 3 Action Points to fire rather than a rifle that requires 4, because with the pistol the player character could attack twice every turn, rather than just once - thus doubling damage potential. After firing twice, the player character would also have 1 Action Point remaining, which could be used to step behind an obstacle and avoid a counterattack. There are exceptions to this rule, however - if the rifle that requires more AP does a lot more damage, then it's all up to the player to consider their moves thoughtfully.

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During combat, the player may have AI-controlled allies - an example of this is "Ian," considered by many to be the first NPC one gets, in "Shady Sands." There are a lot of anecdotes about Ian shooting the player character in the back, which can be a source of frustration for many players. AI-controlled characters may also sometimes run directly into unreasonable danger, or will open fire with an automatic weapon when another ally or the player is within the area of the weapon's effect, with predictable results. Even worse, if an AI-controlled ally accidentally hits a member of a faction uninvolved in the current battle, the entire faction may take offense and join the battle against the player and their party.

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One prominent feature of the combat in Fallout is the graphic depiction of violence (although, as in many computer games, the level of gore can be decreased via an options screen, should the player desire a less violent experience). Death animations, in particular, often show bodies being blown to pieces, humans being burned alive, and upper torsos being shredded by hails of automatic gunfire, leaving only a pair of legs behind.

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Cultural References and Real World Parallels

There are a lot of cultural references in Fallout, mostly to "retro" cultures, movies,

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music, etc.

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The Locations of Fallout

While most of the towns in Fallout are not present in the real world (Junktown, Shady Sands, The Hub, etc), Los Angeles is in its correct place. However, the town of Necropolis is described as being the city of Bakersfield, although hardcore fans have compared it to maps and found that it more accurately resembles Barstow. The Hub, also called "The Hub Trading Company," may be a reference to the "Hudson?s Bay Company" based in Canada.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles - Bakersfield - Barstow - Hudson?s Bay Company

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There are many references to post-apocalyptic science fiction, such as Mad Max. One of the first available armors is a one-sleeved leather jacket that resembles his. A player wearing this jacket can get a dog, named "Dogmeat" for Mad Max?s dog, to join the party in Junktown. Like Fallout 2, many of the references to other material can be found in random encounters, which include a vanishing British Police Call Box à la Doctor Who complete with sound effect, and a massive footprint that resembles Godzilla's, referring to the short animation "Bambi Meets Godzilla". Another reference comes in the form of a quote; in the Old Town district of The Hub, an insane man named Sal wanders in perpetual circles calling out non-sequiturs, one of which is "Let's play Global Thermo-Nuclear War!", a reference to a similar line in the 1983 film WarGames. References to other pieces of fiction, such as Robin Hood, are also present.

Related Topics:
Mad Max - Doctor Who - Godzilla - Bambi Meets Godzilla - WarGames - Robin Hood

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Fallout 2

Town names are often derived from real-world references. For example, Modoc is the name of a Native American tribe and a national forest in California, USA (Modoc National Forest). The player-character?s home village, Arroyo, could be named for any number of different locations ranging from parts of Arizona, to different areas of Mexico. Several of the towns are based on real cities, including San Francisco, Redding and Klamath Falls. Broken Hills, a uranium mining town in the game that eventually becomes a ghost town regardless of the player's actions, is probably named for Broken Hills in Nevada, a mining town that has since become a ghost town. There is a great deal of similarity between an image shown to signify the town in the end sequence, and a real area of the ghost town. Similarly, New Reno is derived from Reno in Nevada, a city known for gambling which purportedly has gang problems.

Related Topics:
Modoc - Native American - National forest - California - USA - Modoc National Forest - Arizona - Mexico - San Francisco - Redding - Klamath Falls - Broken Hills - Reno

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There are other cultural references, typically in the form of dialogue which occur throughout the game. Some examples are more overt than others. For example, the Hubologists that the player encounters in Fallout 2 resemble the modern Scientologists in many respects, including the presence of "celebrities" named Juan Cruz and Vikki Goldman, likely meant as references to real life scientologist Tom Cruise and former wife Nicole Kidman. Other parallels include the similarity of Vault City, a quasi-utopian dictatorship, to Rome under Caesar.

Related Topics:
Scientologists - Tom Cruise - Nicole Kidman

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Other notable references include most of the random encounters. While many of these include parties of yakuza, bounty hunters, mutated scorpions, etc.; others include references to Star Trek, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. One particularly witty, if esoteric, reference is a character found in the town of Gecko named "Gordon of Gecko". The player can undertake a quest from him, and the dialogue leading up to this paraphrases Gordon Gekko?s "Greed is Good" speech from the film Wall Street.

Related Topics:
Yakuza - Bounty hunter - Star Trek - Monty Python and the Holy Grail - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Wall Street

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