Here’s a Fallout super fan’s analysis of the first trailer for the TV series

The show looks faithful—maybe to a fault. Let's look at what the trailer reveals.

See full article...

 

[A_Very_Tired_Geek]

I'm in the "not interested" camp. Film adaptations of games rarely work well, they're either superficial with a lot of references and awful writing/acting, or they end up straying too far from the universe. One need not be completely faithful in retelling an already told story such as rehashing the Sole Survivor or The Courier, because this leads to the first big trap of adapted games. You just need to be faithful to the world. Yet, looking at that trailer and the stills I can tell the set FX people were A) not very good at their jobs - the sets are obviously fake. it doesn't take a lot of skill to make things look old, just an eye for detail (See the various SFX creators that make Youtube their home these days like Adam Savage's Tested channel). Apologists just stop. No one would be able to hoist a cockpit from an airliner on top of another building without damaging it and scratching the paint. Nor will you get that level of clean from lye soap and a scrub brush. That's straight off the factory floor fresh. Paint sprayers are precision instruments, they won't last 1 year in the elements let alone 200.

Second, the biggest turn off is there's only a superficial head nod to the Fallout backstory. It's like someone rushed through playing a couple of the games after being contracted to write - or they got ChatGPT to do it. The biggest problem with the whole thing is fundamental. There's too much of what people think of as Fallout. The entire reason for the nuclear war between the US & China was competition over increasingly scarce resources due to unbridled materialism - scarce resources that lead to the creation of power armor because the US (and likely China too) couldn't afford the metals that went into the massive battle tanks and personnel carriers any longer that dot the landscape around major battle areas like The Commonwealth, and largely absent from NV because Mr House kept the war away from his doorstep. In the Fallout universe, a couple of hundred years after the day the bombs fell, complete suits of power armor are even more rare. Even in the BoS only those of higher rank wear power armor. They lead a squad of soldiers in regular armor or uniforms just like you'd see in a US mechanized infantry unit (one armored vehicle with driver/gunner + squad of riflemen). You don't see entire squads of heavy armor deployed very often outside of their strongholds.

I'm ignoring some game balance quibbles with backstory breaking game mechanics along with inconsistencies in the game stories themselves as this series is clearly based on FO3 & 4. I know you have to suspend a large degree of reality to enjoy the Fallout games, but this trailer is a few steps too far for me. There's no suspension of disbelief at all and I'm not even OCD about it. I just think the set design and peripheral story advancement are just plain awful even if you factor in this isn't even a TV series (TV could be surprisingly good set designs) - it's a streaming series and thanks to Netflix with its quantity over quality thing going on that bar is incredibly low right now. (Now that I think of it, I don't believe The Commonwealth was a battle area as there's no Chinese equipment around like in FO3, but it undoubtedly was a major US arsenal and fortress - The Pyramid, the many military checkpoints, the massive battle tank, and the massive crater of the Glowing Sea testifies to it.)

 

[Auie]

Fallout Before Todd Howard > Fallout After Todd Howard, and for that reason alone, I have no interest in this series.

 

[ScifiGeek]

I'm honestly surprised 3 is in that list, which is a very different game from 1, 2 and NV. Playing 3 after 2 is such a downgrade, not to mention NV.

All the games have different tone/vibe. FO2 was criticized for being more light/humorous than the FO1 bleak tone.

The tone/setting of FO3 may be my favorite, though NV is considered a better game overall, for me the difference between the two is more about the mood I'm in.

I'm sure the Tone/Vibe of the TV show will be different as well, and that's fine.

 

[NullSignal]

I'm not getting my hopes up for anything Amazon are producing. I've come to learn that they are great at building up hype for their big prestige shows, but often not so great at actually executing them. I'll watch at least an episode or two though, because it does actually look like it could be fun.

But is it only me, or does some of that trailer (leaving aside the gore) have a a certain "budget tween TV show" sheen to it? Everything's too clean and the clothes are too neatly tailored.

 

[A_Very_Tired_Geek]

Fallout Before Todd Howard > Fallout After Todd Howard, and for that reason alone, I have no interest in this series.

Given the massive and quite obvious popularity of the series since Bethesda took over, I'd say you're a small minority. I've played all of them but FO76, and frankly I consider all the "It ain't Fallout if it ain't 1 or 2" at best nonsensical rose colored glasses nostalgia. They were fun to play, but they had issues that fanbois love to completely ignore as do most games that somehow reach cult status. Get over yourselves.

 

[NullSignal]

I've played FO 1,2,3,NV a couple of times each, and played FO3 again earlier this year, and playing NV again right now. Just recently got a new GPU, so time to play FO4 before the show starts. So yeah, I'm a fan...

Trailer looks really good. Fingers crossed, it delivers.

FO4 is a bit dumbed down compared to the previous ones, so if you've enjoyed the series since the original, don't set your expectations too high for that one. It's much more "modern Bethesda RPG", for better or worse.

Looks like Megaton in the trailer though, which would imply it takes place in the capitol wasteland of FO3.

 

[NullSignal]

Given the massive and quite obvious popularity of the series since Bethesda took over, I'd say you're a small minority. I've played all of them but FO76, and frankly I consider all the "It ain't Fallout if it ain't 1 or 2" at best nonsensical rose colored glasses nostalgia. They were fun to play, but they had issues that fanbois love to completely ignore as do most games that somehow reach cult status. Get over yourselves.

Fallout: NV is about as faithful a sequel to FO2 as anyone could hope for.

And I spent more hours playing FO3 than I care to admit back in 2008 / 2009. It was absolutely revolutionary in gameplay terms.

 

[papito10]

TV doesn't have the VFX budget films have, TV doesn't have the VFX budget films have, it's okay, just let it go...

Looks like it could be fun, and I do like the people involved, but I'm not expecting to be blown away.

Now to go play New Vegas again

It's the opposite. The requirements for VFX for TV are actually higher, because it would look like crap in 4K otherwise.

https://www.vulture.com/2022/07/4k-tv-cgi-review.html

 

[xnef1025]

I'm sure that this makes me horribly nitpicky; but that blast door is only faithful at a surface level:

In terms of aesthetics it's very close; they are painted yellow here and were left bare there but the stampings covering parts of the three bolt locking mechanism could have come from the same factory that supplied Vault 111 or one of the other FO:4 vaults.

The mechanics, though, are totally different: previously(in both 3, NV, and 4; and as best I can tell even in 1, though obviously that's less readily inspected) vault doors rolled on a static rack integrated into the floor when pulled out of position to be opened. In 3 the mechanism that unlocked and manipulated them docked toward the top right; in 4 it was moved to dead center; but in all cases the lower rack was static and the door was pushed along it.

Here the unlock/manipulator unit appears to be gone(note that the location where the docking port would have been in a FO:4 vault has been covered over; though the locking mechanism still looks like it should be twisted open); and the door is held captive between and upper and lower rack; and moved by the lower rack sliding, with the details of exactly how it does that out of frame.

It's honestly kind of a weird change: in some respects it's hugely faithful to the 4-era design, someone was clearly paying attention when they did the detailing; but mechanically it both functions in a way that vault doors never have and one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense: from the perspective of component ratings and maintenance having the fiddly moving parts under the multi-ton blast door; rather than a a simple static rack on the bottom and the mechanical complexity on top is just lunacy.

This is all more or less irrelevant to whether the show will turn out well; but there's something sort of jarring about that combination of meticulous replication of detail and disregard of function, without any apparent motive for the change.

Had to post this because I've spent 5 years playing the damn thing. It's the style of Vault door from Vault 76.

 

[RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha]

Not looking forward to meeting the Deathclaw. Nope. Uh uh.
Now, can we get some Bobblehead merchandise at Walmart or Target please?

 

[Deleted member 195850]

Given the massive and quite obvious popularity of the series since Bethesda took over, I'd say you're a small minority. I've played all of them but FO76, and frankly I consider all the "It ain't Fallout if it ain't 1 or 2" at best nonsensical rose colored glasses nostalgia. They were fun to play, but they had issues that fanbois love to completely ignore as do most games that somehow reach cult status. Get over yourselves.

I think that's entirely down to FO3 and later being first person.

 

[FoO]

I don't think I even care if it's good, I'll be along for it.

 

[Hagen Stein]

Good lord there are brooms EVERYWHERE in Fallout 4 too. It would be hilarious if you could equip it and just go around cleaning the Commonwealth. Sole Survivor Cleaning Service!

There's a mod that adds a "dirt cleaner" to the settlement menu. It lets you remove all those pile of dirt and leaves and debris and fallen trees and whatnot assets : https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/45544

 

[Sulla]

I'm sure that this makes me horribly nitpicky; but that blast door is only faithful at a surface level:

In terms of aesthetics it's very close; they are painted yellow here and were left bare there but the stampings covering parts of the three bolt locking mechanism could have come from the same factory that supplied Vault 111 or one of the other FO:4 vaults.

The mechanics, though, are totally different: previously(in both 3, NV, and 4; and as best I can tell even in 1, though obviously that's less readily inspected) vault doors rolled on a static rack integrated into the floor when pulled out of position to be opened. In 3 the mechanism that unlocked and manipulated them docked toward the top right; in 4 it was moved to dead center; but in all cases the lower rack was static and the door was pushed along it.

Here the unlock/manipulator unit appears to be gone(note that the location where the docking port would have been in a FO:4 vault has been covered over; though the locking mechanism still looks like it should be twisted open); and the door is held captive between and upper and lower rack; and moved by the lower rack sliding, with the details of exactly how it does that out of frame.

It's honestly kind of a weird change: in some respects it's hugely faithful to the 4-era design, someone was clearly paying attention when they did the detailing; but mechanically it both functions in a way that vault doors never have and one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense: from the perspective of component ratings and maintenance having the fiddly moving parts under the multi-ton blast door; rather than a a simple static rack on the bottom and the mechanical complexity on top is just lunacy.

This is all more or less irrelevant to whether the show will turn out well; but there's something sort of jarring about that combination of meticulous replication of detail and disregard of function, without any apparent motive for the change.

Does your mom's basement have an authentic vault door?

 

[OptimusP83]

Here, I giffyfied it for you, Mr. "I'm a nuclear weapons expert on the internet".

View attachment 69088

I see two very Yucca Flats-type shockwaves.

Admittedly I was very much on the “there are no shockwaves!!” Train until I rewatched the videos. As your gif shows, they’re there…barely. Seems like they’re much more prominent in real explosions, these are “blink and you miss them”. It does seem like they scaled back explosions viewed 2 miles to more than 20 miles and plopped them in the center of LA. It’s a bit hackey, imo but it’s a minor gripe overall As it’s more about the impact (heh) of the bombs dropping in LA IN THE FIRST PLACE than how large the shockwave is. I think if they scaled a nuclear detonation to real life size from that vantage point, you wouldn’t really be able to see multiple detonations, which is the main point trying to be conveyed.

again, it’s a bit of a weird choice from the editing side, but it’s also just a trailer. They have 4+ months to get the CGI fine tuned there…

 

[SparkyMalone315]

I'm in the "not interested" camp. Film adaptations of games rarely work well, they're either superficial with a lot of references and awful writing/acting, or they end up straying too far from the universe. One need not be completely faithful in retelling an already told story such as rehashing the Sole Survivor or The Courier, because this leads to the first big trap of adapted games. You just need to be faithful to the world. Yet, looking at that trailer and the stills I can tell the set FX people were A) not very good at their jobs - the sets are obviously fake. it doesn't take a lot of skill to make things look old, just an eye for detail (See the various SFX creators that make Youtube their home these days like Adam Savage's Tested channel). Apologists just stop. No one would be able to hoist a cockpit from an airliner on top of another building without damaging it and scratching the paint. Nor will you get that level of clean from lye soap and a scrub brush. That's straight off the factory floor fresh. Paint sprayers are precision instruments, they won't last 1 year in the elements let alone 200.

Second, the biggest turn off is there's only a superficial head nod to the Fallout backstory. It's like someone rushed through playing a couple of the games after being contracted to write - or they got ChatGPT to do it. The biggest problem with the whole thing is fundamental. There's too much of what people think of as Fallout. The entire reason for the nuclear war between the US & China was competition over increasingly scarce resources due to unbridled materialism - scarce resources that lead to the creation of power armor because the US (and likely China too) couldn't afford the metals that went into the massive battle tanks and personnel carriers any longer that dot the landscape around major battle areas like The Commonwealth, and largely absent from NV because Mr House kept the war away from his doorstep. In the Fallout universe, a couple of hundred years after the day the bombs fell, complete suits of power armor are even more rare. Even in the BoS only those of higher rank wear power armor. They lead a squad of soldiers in regular armor or uniforms just like you'd see in a US mechanized infantry unit (one armored vehicle with driver/gunner + squad of riflemen). You don't see entire squads of heavy armor deployed very often outside of their strongholds.

I'm ignoring some game balance quibbles with backstory breaking game mechanics along with inconsistencies in the game stories themselves as this series is clearly based on FO3 & 4. I know you have to suspend a large degree of reality to enjoy the Fallout games, but this trailer is a few steps too far for me. There's no suspension of disbelief at all and I'm not even OCD about it. I just think the set design and peripheral story advancement are just plain awful even if you factor in this isn't even a TV series (TV could be surprisingly good set designs) - it's a streaming series and thanks to Netflix with its quantity over quality thing going on that bar is incredibly low right now. (Now that I think of it, I don't believe The Commonwealth was a battle area as there's no Chinese equipment around like in FO3, but it undoubtedly was a major US arsenal and fortress - The Pyramid, the many military checkpoints, the massive battle tank, and the massive crater of the Glowing Sea testifies to it.)

Apparently you forgot about the Enclave. Who are actively building new more advanced suits of power armor and vertibirds. The brotherhood actively developed new weapons as well. But sure go off about how everything has to be prewar.

Edit: To prove my longstanding fandom my personal rankings of the Fallout games in order of greatness.

Fallout 2
Fallout NV
Fallout
Fallout Wasteland Warfare (Table top miniatures game)
Wasteland 2 (I don't care it's a fallout game)
The Outer Worlds (again don't care it's fallout in space)
Fallout 3
Fallout 76 (ignore that it's multiplayer and it's great)
Atom RPG (yep I am going to give it to the guy, he did well)
Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Board Game
Fallout Tactics
Fallout Pen and Paper
Fallout 4
Fallout MMO (the fan made one)
Fallout VanBuren (yes the demo)
Fallout Shelter (mobile)
Fallout Brotherhoof of Steel (Xbox)

 

[Vectrexer]

Mattel Inc. goes Full Military Mode in the post-apocalyptic world and transforms the OG VertiBird into a real machine capable of raining death from the sky!

 

[vlam]

Standard 'longtime lurker, first-time poster' spiel.

While there's a lot that I enjoy, there are a few lore problems here.

Firstly the BoS. They aren't law enforcement, they've given themselves guardianship over pre-war tech for the greater good - big difference.

Secondly, more BoS. The airship is as unique as it comes, given the provenance of it's component parts. It literally can't be made again, or be on both sides of the country at (roughly) the same time.

Thirdly, no federal gov? LA would be covered by the NCR at this point in the timeline would it not?

Here's hoping further trailers address these points, even if the series is non-canon

I don't think its unreasonable for the BoS to be able to make multiple airships, given that its likely they had to scavenge pre-war tech and replace faulty parts until it starts working. It's perfectly reasonable for airships to be present in any area of the US that had military bases. They shouldn't be common, mind you. I wouldn't expect a whole fleet of airships - maybe 1-2 per region, some regions having none at all. But I wouldn't call it unique in the sense that there can and should only be 1 in existence.

The NCR should absolutely be present.

 

[SparkyMalone315]

I don't think its unreasonable for the BoS to be able to make multiple airships, given that its likely they had to scavenge pre-war tech and replace faulty parts until it starts working. It's perfectly reasonable for airships to be present in any area of the US that had military bases. They shouldn't be common, mind you. I wouldn't expect a whole fleet of airships - maybe 1-2 per region, some regions having none at all. But I wouldn't call it unique in the sense that there can and should only be 1 in existence.

The NCR should absolutely be present.

I likewise see no particular reason that the Prywden has to the only airship. It hasn't been made entirely clear when this show takes place either could be several years after 4 and the BOS could have made other airships since then.

I do agree that the NCR should be present though. And here's to hoping the Khans make an appearance.

 

[vlam]

I likewise see no particular reason that the Prywden has to the only airship. It hasn't been made entirely clear when this show takes place either could be several years after 4 and the BOS could have made other airships since then.

I do agree that the NCR should be present though. And here's to hoping the Khans make an appearance.

The Khans' presence in socal would be a bit problematic unless they show up as infiltrators and spies. Even if the show decides they wanted to establish that the Khans won the battle for Hoover Dam, the NCR is still no slouch and they likely would have sent reinforcements to Vegas to push back the Khans. Even if unsuccessful at retaking the dam, it would still likely keep the Khan's forces stuck in Nevada.

 

[Webmonkeh]

As a middle-aged male that has somehow managed to (not on purpose) avoid playing anything in the Fallout universe:

1) Should I play Fallout first before I start the season?
2) What order of games, then? Does it matter? Is there a link to an expert take on this?

 

[SparkyMalone315]

The Khans' presence in socal would be a bit problematic unless they show up as infiltrators and spies. Even if the show decides they wanted to establish that the Khans won the battle for Hoover Dam, the NCR is still no slouch and they likely would have sent reinforcements to Vegas to push back the Khans. Even if unsuccessful at retaking the dam, it would still likely keep the Khan's forces stuck in Nevada.

Did I miss the timeline of the show being firmly established? My bad if I did but I thought that was still unknown. Even if the show is after NV I would argue that it's easily believable that even not all of the Khan's fought at Hoover Damn regardless of who won and that their chem business would have absolutely brought them to SoCal. The NCR is strong but not strong enough to eliminate all gang presence.

 

[Penforhire]

I'm guessing Walton would make an excellent mayor ghoul. For a moment I had flashbacks to opening up a fridge in the middle of nowhere and finding ghoul Billy (IIRC) inside, lol.

 

[RhoSinePhi]

RE Prydwen. Lancer Captain Kells in FO4;

"There were less advanced versions of this ship built on the West Coast a long time ago. Historical records about their current status are in dispute, but we're fairly certain that they were destroyed."

I'm not understanding the cyclops overseer. Or at least who I assume is the overseer. Seemed funny enough but I'm curious how that's going to fit in canon wise.

Did the gulper have fingers in it's mouth? I'm not really sure how that was a "nuclear mutation".

When the vault dweller is shown just outside the vault for the first time, I soooooo wanted her to pick up that skull and tin can and put them in her backpack because that's of course what you're supposed to do when you first step outside the vault; pick up every goddamn thing not bolted to the ground!

 

[SparkyMalone315]

As a middle-aged male that has somehow managed to (not on purpose) avoid playing anything in the Fallout universe:

1) Should I play Fallout first before I start the season?
2) What order of games, then? Does it matter? Is there a link to an expert take on this?

As to whether or not you should play it before the show that's up to you but I absolutely recommend you play them.

Chronological order is Fallout 76, Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout NV, Fallout 4.

I would recommend playing them Fallout 1, 2, NV, 3, 4 and then 76.

Fallout 1 and 2 are isometric turn based and thus mechanically very different, if that isn't your style I wouldn't blame you for skipping then even though 2 is my favorite game of all time. If you are there for the narrative experience than a character editor can make the games less frustrating falche and falche 2 are good. Fallout NV Vegas has the best story of the modern Fallouts, it's a controversial take but Fallout 76 has significantly better story than 3 and 4 in my opinion and it can be played like a one player game (I have over 2400 hours in it).

A Tale of Two Cities combines Fallout 3 and NV. And it wonderful if you want to make the time investment.

Playing just Fallout 2 and Fallout NV would also give you mostly highlights, greatly reduce your time investment and give you both styles of Fallout. If you want to go further than core games then Fallout Tactics is good fun as are the board games.

Edit: For an expert take No Mutants Allowed is a great source for all things Fallout.

 

[vlam]

Did I miss the timeline of the show being firmly established? My bad if I did but I thought that was still unknown. Even if the show is after NV I would argue that it's easily believable that even not all of the Khan's fought at Hoover Damn regardless of who won and that their chem business would have absolutely brought them to SoCal. The NCR is strong but not strong enough to eliminate all gang presence.

Timeline isn't established. But the confrontation between NCR and the Khans just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that ends after 1 battle. The NCR wouldn't let any Khans military presence get past their vegas outpost, so any Khans in socal would need to be infiltration, not full on military.

 

[SparkyMalone315]

Timeline isn't established. But the confrontation between NCR and the Khans just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that ends after 1 battle. The NCR wouldn't let any Khans military presence get past their vegas outpost, so any Khans in socal would need to be infiltration, not full on military.

Ok I can see that argument. I wasn't thinking full on military anyway, more like a small gang selling some chems, stock piling a few weapons. So I think we are kind of on the same page there.

 

[TetrisSpeedrunner]

I'm not understanding the cyclops overseer. Or at least who I assume is the overseer. Seemed funny enough but I'm curious how that's going to fit in canon wise.

I had the same initial reaction, but, given the purpose of the vaults, there could be multiple explanations as to why this one has mutations in its population. It could be implying that the protagonist also has some sort of mutation that isn't as obvious, which will be important to the plot.

 

[SparkyMalone315]

I had the same initial reaction, but, given the purpose of the vaults, there could be multiple explanations as to why this one has mutations in its population. It could be implying that the protagonist also has some sort of mutation that isn't as obvious, which will be important to the plot.

Agreed it's weird they are overseer unless all of the people in the vault are mutated but vault experiments and vault leaks are well established in lore.

 

[vlam]

As a middle-aged male that has somehow managed to (not on purpose) avoid playing anything in the Fallout universe:

1) Should I play Fallout first before I start the season?
2) What order of games, then? Does it matter? Is there a link to an expert take on this?

If you're down for turn based isometric gameplay (think Baldurs gate 3 but from 25 years ago), start with Fallout 1. If you aren't down for that, you can probably find some plot summaries to read up on what happened in those games - its useful information.

After that, I would honestly just recommend playing them in order of release - Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4. The story for 3 and 4 is kinda weak, but they are fun games. New Vegas is my, and many others', favorite instillation.

If you have limited time and only want the highlights, I would unfortunately recommend only playing 3 and 4, as it is likely that the show won't bother too much with New Vegas, given that its not a Bethesda game (made by Obsidian). But that could also just be wrong - there's been plenty of discussion about New Vegas plot possibly making it into the show, but no hard indication from the show that it will acknowledge NV.

As for DLC: I recommend it all, tbh. Some of it is better than others, but it is ultimately a fun experience and more fallout content. However if you're just here for the story, I would recommend:

Fallout 3

• Operation: Anchorage (gives you some US vs. China backstory)
• Broken Steel (Brotherhood of Steel vs Enclave story)

Fallout NV

• Honest Hearts (Khans backstory)
• Lonesome Road (really good narrative)
• Old World Blues (only if you want some lore, this is the least necessary of my recs)

Fallout 4
- Far Harbor (maybe? - depends on how much Fallout 4 influences the show)


If you are playing for the fun of it all, EVERY. SINGLE. NEW VEGAS. DLC must be played. New Vegas has the greatest DLC of any game I've ever played. Better than Borderlands 2. Fallout 3 DLC is mostly good. Fallout 4 DLC is fiiiiiiiiine kinda.



TLDR Summary:
You probably won't NEED to play any games before the show. If you do, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are likely the most important games due to those being the Bethesda games. Fallout New Vegas is the best game. Recommended order is 1, 2, 3, vegas, 4. Some DLC is more important than others when it comes to series lore.

 

[DDopson]

Yeah, they got the blasts right but I agree on the shockwave, most especially given the setting within what looked like downtown LA. You'd see a wave of buildings collapsing. And not just a few. All.

Just look at the non-nuclear Beirut harbor explosion from a couple years ago:



That's from a much closer vantage point of course but that shockwave traveled far and fast and was DESTRUCTIVE.

Thanks. Note the ratio between the size of the initial spherical blast, versus the radius at which the shockwave levels urban buildings. And that was only a 1.1 kT blast.

 

[SparkyMalone315]

If you're down for turn based isometric gameplay (think Baldurs gate 3 but from 25 years ago), start with Fallout 1. If you aren't down for that, you can probably find some plot summaries to read up on what happened in those games - its useful information.

After that, I would honestly just recommend playing them in order of release - Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4. The story for 3 and 4 is kinda weak, but they are fun games. New Vegas is my, and many others', favorite instillation.

If you have limited time and only want the highlights, I would unfortunately recommend only playing 3 and 4, as it is likely that the show won't bother too much with New Vegas, given that its not a Bethesda game (made by Obsidian). But that could also just be wrong - there's been plenty of discussion about New Vegas plot possibly making it into the show, but no hard indication from the show that it will acknowledge NV.

As for DLC: I recommend it all, tbh. Some of it is better than others, but it is ultimately a fun experience and more fallout content. However if you're just here for the story, I would recommend:

Fallout 3

• Operation: Anchorage (gives you some US vs. China backstory)
• Broken Steel (Brotherhood of Steel vs Enclave story)

Fallout NV

• Honest Hearts (Khans backstory)
• Lonesome Road (really good narrative)
• Old World Blues (only if you want some lore, this is the least necessary of my recs)

Fallout 4
- Far Harbor (maybe? - depends on how much Fallout 4 influences the show)


If you are playing for the fun of it all, EVERY. SINGLE. NEW VEGAS. DLC must be played. New Vegas has the greatest DLC of any game I've ever played. Better than Borderlands 2. Fallout 3 DLC is mostly good. Fallout 4 DLC is fiiiiiiiiine kinda.



TLDR Summary:
You probably won't NEED to play any games before the show. If you do, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are likely the most important games due to those being the Bethesda games. Fallout New Vegas is the best game. Recommended order is 1, 2, 3, vegas, 4. Some DLC is more important than others when it comes to series lore.

Presence of Gulpers means that either Far Harbor or Fallout 76 have lore import.

 

[Deleted member 192806]

Presence of Gulpers means that either Far Harbor or Fallout 76 have lore import.

More likely the latter since Bethesda has really had a boner about 76 even though it wasn't the rousing success they hoped for.

 

[OptimusP83]

You're joking, right? I played through the Fallouts 1 and 2 numerous times in my youth, and I don't recall ever getting stuck getting out of the opening "tutorial" level (the cave outside the vault with rats in FO1, and the temple with neutered radscorpions in FO2, if I recall correctly). They certainly don't hold your hand, but you're doing something seriously wrong if you're having that much difficulty at the beginning of the game.

And given that the world building, writing, and overall gameplay are really awful in FO 3 and 4 (as is usual with Bethesda games), I don't understand how people play them for more than an hour without getting absolutely disgusted.

No, I don't have strong feelings about this subject. Why do you ask?

I booted FO2 up about a week ago with FO2:CE on my mac and played it on normal difficulty and, yes, I died to the "neutered" radscorpions twice. Then died 2-3 times at the "test" at the end of the temple where you brawl a dude from the village. Had I known I'd be fighting unarmed I'd have put an extra point in unarmed combat, or even melee (as theres absolutely a way to fight him while still having your weapon). But thats the point, I created my character based on how I felt I'd want to play the game, and literally right off the bat I'm crushed by some rando simply because I didn't anticipate a fistfight.

Also holy shit the amount of whiffing both the PC and enemies do in VATS in those games is astounding. It makes the pace of the game incredibly slow, which just isn't something I have the time for these days. Its funny because comparin game completion times FO3 was about 30hrs for the main story, and FO2 was about the same, except there is WAY more story in FO3 and more stuff to do, but FO2 just takes so long to do everything (a result of it being solely turn based, and I'm not pinning negative judgement there, its just how turn based games are) I just don't have the time to slog through a slow paced game anymore. As a kid I had all the time in the world, but slogging an hour through a dungeon only to die and start again because I forgot to save is a "slam the laptop shut and grumble off to bed" moment for me now, not an "oh well, let me try again".

Anyway long story short, it is very much a harder game than any of the modern titles. In part because you can't leverage player skill outside of VATS to make up for your characters lack of skill with guns, for instance.

You could argue its transformation into a quasi-looter shooter is a big departure (it is) but whether that is a negative is a personal opinion. I don't mind it. Clearly many do. I however don't inexorably link the world with the game mechanics. I think there is a LOT of room in the Fallout universe for more than turn-based, dialogue-driven, really difficult RPGs.

On the topic of dialog, I too wish there was better dialog options in FO4. Mass effect does a great job of incorporating a feeling of agency, FO4 drops the ball there. But I still enjoy the story.

 

[Cervus]

If there's one thing I've learned about fandoms in recent years is the perfect is the enemy of the good. This series is already being picked to death in this thread.

 

[OptimusP83]

How many times do I have to say that Fallout 4 is fun? Because it is fun! But it's not a good RPG in the same way that Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas were good RPGs. So if you haven't played modern Fallout and think "ok so let's see what modern Fallout is about" you will probably be dissapointed.

Why does Fallout have to be a strict RPG? Fallout is a whole game universe, why are we yelling "IT HAS TO BE A DIALOG DRIVEN RPG OR ITS NOT FALLOUT!!"??

You don't have to like it, and you're absolutely entitled to your opinion. There are things about FO3/4 that I also don't like (never played much of NV, bit its in my GOG backlog and I started a play through years ago but only got about 2 hours in), the lack of real impact your dialog options really have being one of them. But there are some small effects (mainly little bonuses or "perks" for certain NPCs that can be triggered if you respond in a way that ingratiates them to you (mainly just "use sarcasm when the NPC is the sarcastic type" which, yes is quite shallow, but its not nothing). Overall its less about the dialog and the main quest. Its the thousands of little environmental storytelling details that are what I love. The random lore, events, holotape logs, scrap paper notes, etc that are so cool. Even little things like passing by NPCs and they start random conversation and end up giving you clues to cool locations, etc. I think thats really cool and its a huge part of why I'm so engrossed in FO4 despite its shortcomings.

I also am very much a fan of Action/RPG games in the vein of the Mass Effect series. So sue me?

 

[SparkyMalone315]

If there's one thing I've learned about fandoms in recent years is the perfect is the enemy of the good. This series is already being picked to death in this thread.

Well I considered myself a super fan and am incredibly pumped. I thought the trailer was great, they nailed the look, I don't care if things are clean. Walton Goggins is one of the finest TV actors in existence, most of the people involved are talented.

I do wish they got Ron Perman to do the narration but I wish Ron Perman would narrate my life and hang out with my dad so I'm biased.

 

[vlam]

Presence of Gulpers means that either Far Harbor or Fallout 76 have lore import.

Thanks for the clarification. I never played Fallout 76 and only played Far Harbor one time.

I do think it's pretty reasonable to assume Fallout 4 plays a significant lore role in the show, especially due to the presence of an airship. But it's also possible that a lot of these things are just low-effort references to hook in fans (see: Star wars ep7-9 for examples of this).

If I had to put money on information that is critical, it would be knowing about the Brotherhood of steel, the main races (humans, ghouls, probably super mutants), vaults and the history behind them, and the general idea of the American - Chinese war (basically, how we got to fallout). Anything beyond that is very possible as just set dressing rather than important info.

 

[vlam]

Well I considered myself a super fan and am incredibly pumped. I thought the trailer was great, they nailed the look, I don't care if things are clean. Walton Goggins is one of the finest TV actors in existence, most of the people involved are talented.

I do wish they got Ron Perman to do the narration but I wish Ron Perman would narrate my life and hang out with my dad so I'm biased.

Ron Perlman not saying the words for Fallout 4 made me actually upset. They did it for 3. They did it for New Vegas. He's still acting. HAVE HIM DO IT FOR 4!?!?!? I didn't care that they made him the tv anchor. War never changes is Ron Perlman's line.

Tbh I hope they cast him in the show. As both narrator and as a character.

 

[SparkyMalone315]

Why does Fallout have to be a strict RPG? Fallout is a whole game universe, why are we yelling "IT HAS TO BE A DIALOG DRIVEN RPG OR ITS NOT FALLOUT!!"??

You don't have to like it, and you're absolutely entitled to your opinion. There are things about FO3/4 that I also don't like (never played much of NV, bit its in my GOG backlog and I started a play through years ago but only got about 2 hours in), the lack of real impact your dialog options really have being one of them. But there are some small effects (mainly little bonuses or "perks" for certain NPCs that can be triggered if you respond in a way that ingratiates them to you (mainly just "use sarcasm when the NPC is the sarcastic type" which, yes is quite shallow, but its not nothing). Overall its less about the dialog and the main quest. Its the thousands of little environmental storytelling details that are what I love. The random lore, events, holotape logs, scrap paper notes, etc that are so cool. Even little things like passing by NPCs and they start random conversation and end up giving you clues to cool locations, etc. I think thats really cool and its a huge part of why I'm so engrossed in FO4 despite its shortcomings.

I also am very much a fan of Action/RPG games in the vein of the Mass Effect series. So sue me?

I consider Fallout 4 the worst of the Fallout games. It's still a great game that I have put over a thousand hours into. No hate here man. Fallout Tactics and the board games are also great. Wasteland 2 and 3, The Outer Worlds, Atom RPG and Turograd all great. Hell even Fallout Shelter and Fallout Brotherhood of Steel are fun to mess around with.