babayagafallout

Okay, it isn't as though I've abandoned this project - more that I need to reformat it. See, alas, I ended up getting into the game, which makes meticulous plot journals hard to do - and suddenly Veronicka is a level 13 sniper who, I am sorry to say, bears a little resemblance to Rambo. Even so, many analyses to make. I will just have to concentrate on them. Like, to start out with, this rather more detail bit on what broad things about Fallout 3 I am still going to poke at because they bug me. More positive posts will follow - there's a lot to like here - but what baffles me is that Bethsada could create such an engaging dark world in Morrowind that was more than a little supported by writing and not support it quite so well years later.

Tone: Uneven tone is a hallmark of all Fallouts, but I might note (yet again) that Fallout plays itself pretty straight with flashes of humor, while Fallout 2 is more of a tragicomedy with a heavy lean on the comedy bit. I am not quite sure what Fallout 3's tone is supposed to be. The landscape insists tragedy. It's miserable, easily the most miserable game landscape I've wandered through. It's a land of rotting corpses and blasted skeletons and blood stains on the walls. Probably no other Fallout has illustrated so vividly the destruction and degradation of humanity that the games represent. The other games visually show their age (they rely on music and writing for a lot of the atmosphere) and Fallout 2 in particular lightens things a bit with enemies like glowing geckos.

So what's with the silly comic relief? Mind, some of the comedy works (if I'm not sure all of it is intentional - I still think the cow-parts as traps in the Museum of Technology are a clever and funny touch), but some of it is distracting and off-putting, to the point of ruining an area for me. For example, there's that mutant-taken bunker you rescue Red from which has a computer filled with dark, atmospheric background, the journal of a woman slowly dying. Pretty compelling, if I may say so. Then you slide through Lady of Hope Hospital in an attempt to save Reilly's Rangers, and you find medical entries about, uh, groin shots? Or you infiltrate the wrecked Vault-Tec Headquarters and some of the most substantive stuff you find is a warning to employees not to stuff feces in broken vending machines. I mean, really? Come on, guys. In places that could be interesting or harrowing, in places where blackened skeletons rest uneasily on beds, I really don't want to read about slapstick and poo. It's not funny.

( More behind the cut! )

Some nicer (and possibly meaner) analysis to come. Plenty of ground to cover.

( The Narrative )

( Analysis: Leveling Up and Perks )

( Analysis: Morality and Karma )

More on this later, but a little prop for the game - when you go exploratory, you find a lot of great stuff that's easy to miss, and that's good game design.

This ranks very high on "things I should not be doing until this and that and that project is done," but I have a whole lot of notes just sitting here and thoughts all a-percolating in my head. So we begin.

These posts are going to be part narrative (slightly frantic, disconnected, journal keeping narrative) and part analysis. The point of the project is thus: in a game without a heavily enforced narrative, can we tell a good story with the resources we have? What resources make telling a story harder, what make it easier? And then a bunch of other snotty things.

A bit of context, since I won't be covering it in depth: Fallout 3 begins, literally, with your birth. You then move from life stage to life stage in the Vault. It's sort of a tutorial level + character creation framework. Your mother died birthing you, but Daddy (a doctor) has been an active presence. Your best friend is Amara, Butch is a kid who is the head of the Tunnel Snakes "gang." The ruler/maintainer/boss of the Vault is the Overseer, who doesn't seem to like you or Daddy.

Bit of broader context. Nuclear war has largely wasted the earth. The Vaults are kind of like very, very large underground bunkers. Okay? Okay.

( Narrative: Day 1, Escape from the Vault )

( Analysis: Starting out with a Healthy Suspension of Disbelief )

Welcome Veronika. We’ll be following her around for the next inconsistent while.
Vital statistics!
Strength: 6
Perception: 6
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 1
Intelligence: 9
Agility: 8
Luck: 3

How are we going to interpret this inasfar as her character? Veronika is a sturdy gal, someone who spent her childhood firing BB-guns, somersaulting down hallways and occasionally down stairs. Although smart like a genius, there is something broadly, inexplicably unlikable about her. Perhaps it's her curious-to-the-point-of-invasive-nature. Her tagged skills are:

Lockpicking
Science
Small Guns

I don't want to copy too much from the brilliant Living in Oblivion, but I will incorporate some of the realism (or "realism") elements. 1. Veronika must eat and drink at least once a day. If she fails, she has to drop everything to find food and water. Soda pop is a permissible substitute for two days in a row at best. 2. Veronika must sleep at least 6 hours per 24 hours. If she fails, she has to drop everything to find a bed. (food/water will be higher priority than sleep). 3. Fast travel is strictly forbidden. 4. Veronika may not take stuff just to take it. No gathering fifteen boxes of Abraxo Cleaner to sell it. She must have real reasons (either sustenance, self-defense, or sentimental/home-building) to take something. 5. Although Veronika is not required to use the nastiest dialogue options, she may never raise or use her minimal Speech skill. She is unlikable! 6. Every perk taken must be justified by in character actions. 7. Veronika is not the Rambo of the wastes. She is not necessarily a stealth master, but she should not be initiating combat for purposes of loot or cleaning up the wastes. That said, her curiosity and hunger may get her into trouble.