What Makes Fallout Fallout?

[Primary Objective]

So the fallout franchise has been quite divided for a while know and I was wondering, what do you all think makes Fallout Fallout? By this I mean what keeps it from just being another interchangeable post apocalypse game. Personally I think it has quite a bit to do with role playing and the post nuclear politics of the many civilizations and factions to live on even after the bombs fall.

 

[Paradoxyz]

I think that what makes Fallout what it is is how they show the struggle of humanity to survive after the nuclear apocalypse, the different visions of people on the wasteland. The vaults also are something important in the lore, so I think they are part of what makes Fallout Fallout.

 

[Primary Objective]

The vaults also are something important in the lore, so I think they are part of what makes Fallout Fallout.

I honestly think while yes they do have a VERY important place in the lore, if another classic style fallout game was created I don't think it would need to have vaults and the wasteland could be just as interesting without them.

 

[naossano]

You are S.P.E.C.I.A.L. tm

 

[Paradoxyz]

I honestly think while yes they do have a VERY important place in the lore, if another classic style fallout game was created I don't think it would need to have vaults and the wasteland could be just as interesting without them.

All Fallouts have a vault somewhere in the game, I think that a Fallout game wouldn't be a true Fallout game without having vaults. Of course, the main character being from a vault is now kind of a cliché, but having a vault present in the game kinda connects the game with the other Fallout games.

 

[retardette]

What made Fallout, Fallout to me was that it was the first game, in my opinion of course, which truly merged gaming with other arts/crafts like writing, story, design etc. and incorporated them in a manner where the lines between the arts/crafts I mentioned started to blur and it was not a matter anymore of "well I can't get X from a game I can get from a book/movie/etc".

While this is obviously true for other games way way way before Fallout, no other game managed to pull it off with such a high quality and a "okay now this is really something different" first timer moment. To this day, in my mind there isn't a single game, after and before which ever came close to that again.

 

[NMLevesque]

The lore for one. Without the story then it could be anything.

Meaningful choice architecture is the central mechanic, through which the player character influences the world around them. Cynical consequences must abound.

Strong themes are a necessity. The questions they raise have to be explored. Satire is heavily encouraged here.

 

[nkchan16]

Hitting the enemy in the groin and watch him squirm.