So, speaking of that Fallout TV show...

I had to take a sick-day, so - in between my many 'oh god I still feel
awful' naps, I binge-watched the entire series. Hey, I finally got
some value out of our Amazon Prime subscription. And despite my
earlier predictions, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Which isn't to say I necessarily think it was a good show. But I
definitely expected a lot worse.

To start with, you know how recent TV-shows-based-on-video games have
been loose interpretations of the source material? I mean, they made
MasterChief in the Halo TV show a talkative wimp whom nobody respected
or listened to, and - for a show about a space war - the TV show was
really light on space-war stuff. You can't fault the Fallout show for
the same thing.

This was a TV that went HEAVY into fan service. I mean, I don't think
there was one scene where you didn't see something that instantly
reminded you of the games, if it wasn't outright referencing some
event or character. Very little felt out-of-place from the games. You
could well imagine pretty much every location or situation appearing
in the games themselves. I mean, it was really, really, really heavy
into the fan-service. If that's all you want from the show, well,
lemme tell you, you're gonna walk away very satisfied.

This did come at a cost, however; if you're not familiar with the
game's lore, a lot of the references will slide past you and the world
will seem very, very weird. Like, who is Vaultec and RobCo? What was
the battle of Anchorage about? Why does this supermarket suddenly have
a robot? What is the Enclave? Who are the Brotherhood of Steel and why
do they have powered armor? If you stick with the show long enough,
some of these things get explained, but I'm not sure the game will
appeal enough to non-fans to keep them watching that long.

Tonally, the game is also much more pessimistic than the games. Sure,
the "Fallout" games were never particularly optimistic to begin with,
but they did have an underlying theme of people trying to get together
and rebuild, only to have some assholes - whether its raiders or
mutants or whatever - upend all their efforts, leaving a trail of
death and destruction it their wake. It's the post-apocalypse, after
all. But the Fallout TV show essentially postulates that /everyone/ is
a self-serving greedy asshole (with the exception of the naive
fresh-from-the-vault protagonist, of course, who serves as the
everyman character that the audience can relate to). It's
exceptionally grim, and honestly, made the watching a lot more of a
chore than it should have been. Hopefully, the producers will lighten
things up a bit in the next season.

One thing I noticed was that the game referred to (pre-war) America's
enemies only as 'Commies' or 'Reds', with the unspoken implication -
especially given the retraux 1950s-esque setting - that it was the
Russians that were the bad guys. Fans of the games of course know that
the "Great War" was fought between the US and China. There was
absolutely no reference - not even in passing - to this fact. I guess
Amazon (and possibly Microsoft) were too worried about offending their
biggest business partner to be open about what the source material
said (in fairness, they never outright said it was anybody other than
China either).

The show was - in my opinion - also delighted a bit too much in its
gore and black comedy. Ever want to see a close-up of a skull being
crushed by a power-armor glove? A wounded foot with its toes literally
falling off? The games always reveled in gore to a degree, but the
lack of fidelity always made it feel more comic book. The comedy bits
also felt a bit off - maybe not for the games (which also could be
ridiculous) - but given the overall tone of the TV show, it felt out
of place.

Speaking of the special effects, I have to say I was underwhelmed. It
all felt very low budget. The greenscreening was all fairly obvious,
and the CGI monsters and characters didn't blend in well with the
foreground (this was especially problematic with the powered-armor, as
those Brotherhood of Steel warriors were on-screen a lot). The VFX got
the job done, but the obviousness of it broke the immersion of the
show often.

The story itself was... okay. Lone vaultie goes out into the big bad
world (to save her dad), meets up with unscrupulous characters, learns
that Vault-Tec (the guys who made the eponymous fallout shelters) are
all evil comic-book villain-style evil scumbags. There are occasional
side-quests, lots of bang-bang-bang shootouts, and our hero has to
struggle between her virtuous upbringing and the realities of life in
the wasteland. It was all rather humdrum and without any real
surprises. The acting was fine, even if the actual dialog was rather
stiff and unconvincing. But like the games it was based on, it was
really the setting and not the story or characters that were the star
of the show.

All in all, I found the whole thing rather average. If you're a fan of
the series, you'll probably love it for all the fan-service. If you
just want dumb action and gore, it's okay for that too. But overall I
found it was too much in love with its source material, and didn't
offer a compelling reason behind its license to keep watching.

Still, at least we have ONE example of a TV show/movie that doesn't
completely ignore the game to do its own thing and then slap the
licensed titled on it. It had to happen eventually, I suppose.

The show is generally getting very favorable reviews, so I guess they
hit the spot, the games did not reveal everything instantly as well, but
over time you started to know things.
The show does the same it reveals things over time.
And yes they hit the tone of the games pretty well.

On 4/12/2024 6:57 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> So, speaking of that Fallout TV show...
>
> This was a TV that went HEAVY into fan service.

Yes fan service. I loved the gaping hole in the one guy's chest that
reminded me of doing that in 1/2 with the 14mm. I was really surprised
they made that reference sine most people these days only know 3+

I'm enjoying it so far, just finished episode 3. Something

> Tonally, the game is also much more pessimistic than the games.

There doesn't seem to be much of the wild humor of the Fallouts either.
Although to be fair Bethesda has been losing more that with each
iteration, and even their first attempt had less of that. I miss that.

In general something seems to be off with it, but it's fine for what it is.

> It's
> exceptionally grim, and honestly, made the watching a lot more of a
> chore than it should have been. Hopefully, the producers will lighten
> things up a bit in the next season.

I wish they'd have staggered their release, 1 a week, even 3 since it
was released feels like I'm nauseous after eating too much at an all you
can eat buffet.

> China

To be expected. Especially as Russia, though not "comunist" now is just
as much a nuclear enemy as it was then (at least it seems a good portion
of the world feels so, even if a good portion feels the opposite.)

> Still, at least we have ONE example of a TV show/movie that doesn't
> completely ignore the game to do its own thing and then slap the
> licensed titled on it. It had to happen eventually, I suppose.

There's someone who loves the games even back to 1-2 high up in
production to get it this close. Yes it's a bit off in some parameters,
but it's not the "fuck you" to all the fans that almost everything else
seems to be (the live action Avatar TV series is supposed to be good, I
tried watching a bit, but it was only mildly interesting, I never got
into the animated series either though.)

If you're a fan it's worth a watch, I don't think a binge is a good idea
though, it needs some breathing room. It certainly makes me want to
play some fallout. Too bad Bethesda isn't in a good place to capitalize
with a new game (estimates are it's at least 10 years out.) Although
with the stench that was Starfield, that's probably a good thing, maybe
they can figure out what they did wrong and fix it, I doubt it though.

If you aren't a fan, I don't know. My wife was in the room scrolling
her social media and caught some bits, She had a couple
comments/questions but don't think she's really paying much attention.
Fortunately the 'doom bass' that was dropped all over from the first
episode that was really bothering her ears didn't continue in the
following 2.

*Mild Spoiler*
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..

One of her questions that bothered me too was why did the gulper die
just from pulling its meal out of its mouth?

I tried googling, but came up with nothing. It's a real head scratcher
to me.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Sat, 13 Apr 2024 09:36:56 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>On 4/12/2024 6:57 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>> So, speaking of that Fallout TV show...

>> Tonally, the game is also much more pessimistic than the games.

>There doesn't seem to be much of the wild humor of the Fallouts either.
>Although to be fair Bethesda has been losing more that with each
>iteration, and even their first attempt had less of that. I miss that.

There's some oddball humor scattered here and there: the 'chicken
fucker' from the first episode makes a few reappearances (and plays a
crucial role in episode 7), and a lot of the incidental characters
seem to be played as stoned (or mentally damaged), seemingly for the
humor of it. Similarly, Maximus's attempts at a heroic rescue always
are poorly thought out. Episode 6 is, I think, the most 'comic' of the
season, and even that one is pretty bleak.

But I think it all relates to the grimness of the overall tone. It
makes these attempts at humor - even black comedy - fall flat.

>> Still, at least we have ONE example of a TV show/movie that doesn't
>> completely ignore the game to do its own thing and then slap the
>> licensed titled on it. It had to happen eventually, I suppose.

>There's someone who loves the games even back to 1-2 high up in
>production to get it this close. Yes it's a bit off in some parameters,
>but it's not the "fuck you" to all the fans that almost everything else
>seems to be

In that, it really was a breath of fresh air. Video game fans for
years have said, "Look, just take the game, crop out the boring bits,
and make it into a movie. Don't rework the aesthetics. Don't write new
backstory. Don't try to force a new message or tone in there. Just 'do
the game, but live action. That's all we want." And Fallout delivers
on that.

The thing is, often video games NEED all those additions because -
let's be honest - video game stories are often very shallow and
ridiculous. I mean, I love them all but they're focused on getting the
player into the action (and then, as soon as the action stops,
immediately forcing the player back into more action). That's why you
end up with video-game protragonists single-handedly taking on entire
armies of bad guys. It's fun game-play, but makes for unsatisfying
storytelling... especially if you aren't neck-deep into the hidden
lore of the franchise. So I get why the producers of movies and TV
shows feel obligated to stray from the source material.

(That said, as video games become more complex, their stories have
also grown more sophisticated... and Hollywood has often gone
above-and-beyond what might be necessary to fill in any gaps. The Halo
TV series only superficially resembles the video game franchise, for
instance).

In some ways, "Fallout" is the perfect vehicle for adaptation, because
it really doesn't have any strong characters or stories. It's all
about its setting. The producers have more than excellently recaptured
the overall look of the games, and have done an acceptable job
capturing the feel. All they had to do was add in their own characters
and story. Unfortunately, this is where the TV series is weakest. It's
not terrible, the story, but it's not great either. It doesn't really
/engage/. (Like I said in my first post, I think the boring dialog has
a lot to do with that). And the constant fan-service gets a bit tiring
too.

"Fallout TV" reminds me of those "Transformer" video games that came
out some years back, except in reverse. With both, if you were a big
fan of the source material (the original Transformers cartoon, or the
Fallout games, respectively), you'll probably love the spin-offs (the
Transformers games or the Fallout TV show), just because of how
clearly it respects the originals. If you're casual fans of either,
you'll probably have fun too, but it won't stand out as anything
special. You'll get a few "oh, I remember that from the original
stuff" moments, and that will let you overlook the weaker bits of the
spin-offs. But if you're not familiar with the franchise beforehand? I
don't think you'll see much take-up from that group.

Then again, maybe just appealing to the fans will be enough for Amazon
and Microsoft/Bethesda. If it pays for the development costs, it might
be enough if Amazon gets more Prime subscribers, and it's great
advertising for the games. Maybe that's all they want.

>If you're a fan it's worth a watch, I don't think a binge is a good idea
>though, it needs some breathing room. It certainly makes me want to
>play some fallout. Too bad Bethesda isn't in a good place to capitalize
>with a new game (estimates are it's at least 10 years out.) Although
>with the stench that was Starfield, that's probably a good thing, maybe
>they can figure out what they did wrong and fix it, I doubt it though.
>
>If you aren't a fan, I don't know. My wife was in the room scrolling
>her social media and caught some bits, She had a couple
>comments/questions but don't think she's really paying much attention.
>Fortunately the 'doom bass' that was dropped all over from the first
>episode that was really bothering her ears didn't continue in the
>following 2.
>
>
>*Mild Spoiler*
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>
>One of her questions that bothered me too was why did the gulper die
>just from pulling its meal out of its mouth?
>
>I tried googling, but came up with nothing. It's a real head scratcher
>to me.

I think the implication was that its finger-studded esophagus had
grabbed so tightly onto its prey that - when Maximus pulled out the
victim, he also yanked out the gulper's entire digestive tract at the
same time. You can see all its guts hanging out of its mouth (although
I suppose you might be excused thinking that was the beast's tongue or
perhaps its stomach contents). Even in the Wasteland, few creatures
can survive that sort of abuse.

There's an brief (and easily missed) followup to this creature in
episode 6 which will make you rethink how you feel about its death,
however. ;-/

On Sat, 13 Apr 2024 13:56:11 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>Then again, maybe just appealing to the fans will be enough for Amazon
>and Microsoft/Bethesda. If it pays for the development costs, it might
>be enough if Amazon gets more Prime subscribers, and it's great
>advertising for the games. Maybe that's all they want.
>

Just an aside: if bolstering interest in the games was the primary
goal of Microsoft/Bethesda, then apparently it worked, as there has
been "a surge in players for Fallout 4 and 76, with both hitting peak
player counts unseen in years."* Other Fallout games have also seen
increases in player counts, although not as dramatic. Although its not
clear if this has led to an increase in SALES for any of those games.

Still, given the lackluster response to "Starfield", any increased
interest in Bethesda's open-world games is probably seen as a win at
this point.

* read here:
https://www.msn.com/en-za/entertainment/other/fallout-season-1-has-caused-a-spike-in-fallout-4-and-76-players/ar-BB1lyPqy

On 4/13/2024 10:56 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> In some ways, "Fallout" is the perfect vehicle for adaptation, because
> it really doesn't have any strong characters or stories.

The stories are more little vignettes, which seems perfect for a TV
series. However as they decided to go to new territory and not tell the
story of any of the specific games, we don't get to see any of that.
I'm not entirely convinced that was the right way to go.

I don't know strong characters, but there were characters in the games
that were memorable. Herold for one, having appeared in more than one.
A lot of the NPC companions, Just from Fallout 2 alone Marcus, Goris,
Sulik and Vic.

Fallout 3 had a lot interesting side quests and memorable characters.
Three Dog, Agatha, Herold again, Moira, Dave, AntAgonizer and Mechanis.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> writes:

> If you aren't a fan, I don't know. My wife was in the room scrolling
> her social media and caught some bits, She had a couple
> comments/questions but don't think she's really paying much
> attention. Fortunately the 'doom bass' that was dropped all over from
> the first episode that was really bothering her ears didn't continue
> in the following 2.

My definitely not a Fallout fan of a wife agreed to watch at least the
first episode with me. Once we can find the time, maybe next
Sunday. We'll see, I've always liked the weirdness and fun of the
Fallout world despite all the clunkiness in the game mechanics. No idea
how that translates into the TV show. I have no idea what she might get
out of that but apparently the show has been popular with people who
haven't played the games.

On 4/18/2024 4:54 AM, Anssi Saari wrote:
> Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> If you aren't a fan, I don't know. My wife was in the room scrolling
>> her social media and caught some bits, She had a couple
>> comments/questions but don't think she's really paying much
>> attention. Fortunately the 'doom bass' that was dropped all over from
>> the first episode that was really bothering her ears didn't continue
>> in the following 2.
>
> My definitely not a Fallout fan of a wife agreed to watch at least the
> first episode with me. Once we can find the time, maybe next
> Sunday. We'll see, I've always liked the weirdness and fun of the
> Fallout world despite all the clunkiness in the game mechanics. No idea
> how that translates into the TV show. I have no idea what she might get
> out of that but apparently the show has been popular with people who
> haven't played the games.

I'm up to episode 7 now. Last one probably tonight, I tried to space
them out but couldn't stop more than a day. I was probably geeking a
bit too hard and kept making comments last night.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

I wonder if I will like it if I never played Fallout games.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> So, speaking of that Fallout TV show...

> I had to take a sick-day, so - in between my many 'oh god I still feel
> awful' naps, I binge-watched the entire series. Hey, I finally got
> some value out of our Amazon Prime subscription. And despite my
> earlier predictions, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

> Which isn't to say I necessarily think it was a good show. But I
> definitely expected a lot worse.

> To start with, you know how recent TV-shows-based-on-video games have
> been loose interpretations of the source material? I mean, they made
> MasterChief in the Halo TV show a talkative wimp whom nobody respected
> or listened to, and - for a show about a space war - the TV show was
> really light on space-war stuff. You can't fault the Fallout show for
> the same thing.

> This was a TV that went HEAVY into fan service. I mean, I don't think
> there was one scene where you didn't see something that instantly
> reminded you of the games, if it wasn't outright referencing some
> event or character. Very little felt out-of-place from the games. You
> could well imagine pretty much every location or situation appearing
> in the games themselves. I mean, it was really, really, really heavy
> into the fan-service. If that's all you want from the show, well,
> lemme tell you, you're gonna walk away very satisfied.

> This did come at a cost, however; if you're not familiar with the
> game's lore, a lot of the references will slide past you and the world
> will seem very, very weird. Like, who is Vaultec and RobCo? What was
> the battle of Anchorage about? Why does this supermarket suddenly have
> a robot? What is the Enclave? Who are the Brotherhood of Steel and why
> do they have powered armor? If you stick with the show long enough,
> some of these things get explained, but I'm not sure the game will
> appeal enough to non-fans to keep them watching that long.

> Tonally, the game is also much more pessimistic than the games. Sure,
> the "Fallout" games were never particularly optimistic to begin with,
> but they did have an underlying theme of people trying to get together
> and rebuild, only to have some assholes - whether its raiders or
> mutants or whatever - upend all their efforts, leaving a trail of
> death and destruction it their wake. It's the post-apocalypse, after
> all. But the Fallout TV show essentially postulates that /everyone/ is
> a self-serving greedy asshole (with the exception of the naive
> fresh-from-the-vault protagonist, of course, who serves as the
> everyman character that the audience can relate to). It's
> exceptionally grim, and honestly, made the watching a lot more of a
> chore than it should have been. Hopefully, the producers will lighten
> things up a bit in the next season.

> One thing I noticed was that the game referred to (pre-war) America's
> enemies only as 'Commies' or 'Reds', with the unspoken implication -
> especially given the retraux 1950s-esque setting - that it was the
> Russians that were the bad guys. Fans of the games of course know that
> the "Great War" was fought between the US and China. There was
> absolutely no reference - not even in passing - to this fact. I guess
> Amazon (and possibly Microsoft) were too worried about offending their
> biggest business partner to be open about what the source material
> said (in fairness, they never outright said it was anybody other than
> China either).

> The show was - in my opinion - also delighted a bit too much in its
> gore and black comedy. Ever want to see a close-up of a skull being
> crushed by a power-armor glove? A wounded foot with its toes literally
> falling off? The games always reveled in gore to a degree, but the
> lack of fidelity always made it feel more comic book. The comedy bits
> also felt a bit off - maybe not for the games (which also could be
> ridiculous) - but given the overall tone of the TV show, it felt out
> of place.

> Speaking of the special effects, I have to say I was underwhelmed. It
> all felt very low budget. The greenscreening was all fairly obvious,
> and the CGI monsters and characters didn't blend in well with the
> foreground (this was especially problematic with the powered-armor, as
> those Brotherhood of Steel warriors were on-screen a lot). The VFX got
> the job done, but the obviousness of it broke the immersion of the
> show often.

> The story itself was... okay. Lone vaultie goes out into the big bad
> world (to save her dad), meets up with unscrupulous characters, learns
> that Vault-Tec (the guys who made the eponymous fallout shelters) are
> all evil comic-book villain-style evil scumbags. There are occasional
> side-quests, lots of bang-bang-bang shootouts, and our hero has to
> struggle between her virtuous upbringing and the realities of life in
> the wasteland. It was all rather humdrum and without any real
> surprises. The acting was fine, even if the actual dialog was rather
> stiff and unconvincing. But like the games it was based on, it was
> really the setting and not the story or characters that were the star
> of the show.

> All in all, I found the whole thing rather average. If you're a fan of
> the series, you'll probably love it for all the fan-service. If you
> just want dumb action and gore, it's okay for that too. But overall I
> found it was too much in love with its source material, and didn't
> offer a compelling reason behind its license to keep watching.

> Still, at least we have ONE example of a TV show/movie that doesn't
> completely ignore the game to do its own thing and then slap the
> licensed titled on it. It had to happen eventually, I suppose.

--
"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." --James 4:17. I need to more goods and less sins.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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OK. I saw its first episode. I liked it and will check out the rest. Maybe I will play its games one day. :P

Ant <ant@zimage.comant> wrote:
> I wonder if I will like it if I never played Fallout games.

> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> > So, speaking of that Fallout TV show...

> > I had to take a sick-day, so - in between my many 'oh god I still feel
> > awful' naps, I binge-watched the entire series. Hey, I finally got
> > some value out of our Amazon Prime subscription. And despite my
> > earlier predictions, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

> > Which isn't to say I necessarily think it was a good show. But I
> > definitely expected a lot worse.

> > To start with, you know how recent TV-shows-based-on-video games have
> > been loose interpretations of the source material? I mean, they made
> > MasterChief in the Halo TV show a talkative wimp whom nobody respected
> > or listened to, and - for a show about a space war - the TV show was
> > really light on space-war stuff. You can't fault the Fallout show for
> > the same thing.

> > This was a TV that went HEAVY into fan service. I mean, I don't think
> > there was one scene where you didn't see something that instantly
> > reminded you of the games, if it wasn't outright referencing some
> > event or character. Very little felt out-of-place from the games. You
> > could well imagine pretty much every location or situation appearing
> > in the games themselves. I mean, it was really, really, really heavy
> > into the fan-service. If that's all you want from the show, well,
> > lemme tell you, you're gonna walk away very satisfied.

> > This did come at a cost, however; if you're not familiar with the
> > game's lore, a lot of the references will slide past you and the world
> > will seem very, very weird. Like, who is Vaultec and RobCo? What was
> > the battle of Anchorage about? Why does this supermarket suddenly have
> > a robot? What is the Enclave? Who are the Brotherhood of Steel and why
> > do they have powered armor? If you stick with the show long enough,
> > some of these things get explained, but I'm not sure the game will
> > appeal enough to non-fans to keep them watching that long.

> > Tonally, the game is also much more pessimistic than the games. Sure,
> > the "Fallout" games were never particularly optimistic to begin with,
> > but they did have an underlying theme of people trying to get together
> > and rebuild, only to have some assholes - whether its raiders or
> > mutants or whatever - upend all their efforts, leaving a trail of
> > death and destruction it their wake. It's the post-apocalypse, after
> > all. But the Fallout TV show essentially postulates that /everyone/ is
> > a self-serving greedy asshole (with the exception of the naive
> > fresh-from-the-vault protagonist, of course, who serves as the
> > everyman character that the audience can relate to). It's
> > exceptionally grim, and honestly, made the watching a lot more of a
> > chore than it should have been. Hopefully, the producers will lighten
> > things up a bit in the next season.

> > One thing I noticed was that the game referred to (pre-war) America's
> > enemies only as 'Commies' or 'Reds', with the unspoken implication -
> > especially given the retraux 1950s-esque setting - that it was the
> > Russians that were the bad guys. Fans of the games of course know that
> > the "Great War" was fought between the US and China. There was
> > absolutely no reference - not even in passing - to this fact. I guess
> > Amazon (and possibly Microsoft) were too worried about offending their
> > biggest business partner to be open about what the source material
> > said (in fairness, they never outright said it was anybody other than
> > China either).

> > The show was - in my opinion - also delighted a bit too much in its
> > gore and black comedy. Ever want to see a close-up of a skull being
> > crushed by a power-armor glove? A wounded foot with its toes literally
> > falling off? The games always reveled in gore to a degree, but the
> > lack of fidelity always made it feel more comic book. The comedy bits
> > also felt a bit off - maybe not for the games (which also could be
> > ridiculous) - but given the overall tone of the TV show, it felt out
> > of place.

> > Speaking of the special effects, I have to say I was underwhelmed. It
> > all felt very low budget. The greenscreening was all fairly obvious,
> > and the CGI monsters and characters didn't blend in well with the
> > foreground (this was especially problematic with the powered-armor, as
> > those Brotherhood of Steel warriors were on-screen a lot). The VFX got
> > the job done, but the obviousness of it broke the immersion of the
> > show often.

> > The story itself was... okay. Lone vaultie goes out into the big bad
> > world (to save her dad), meets up with unscrupulous characters, learns
> > that Vault-Tec (the guys who made the eponymous fallout shelters) are
> > all evil comic-book villain-style evil scumbags. There are occasional
> > side-quests, lots of bang-bang-bang shootouts, and our hero has to
> > struggle between her virtuous upbringing and the realities of life in
> > the wasteland. It was all rather humdrum and without any real
> > surprises. The acting was fine, even if the actual dialog was rather
> > stiff and unconvincing. But like the games it was based on, it was
> > really the setting and not the story or characters that were the star
> > of the show.

> > All in all, I found the whole thing rather average. If you're a fan of
> > the series, you'll probably love it for all the fan-service. If you
> > just want dumb action and gore, it's okay for that too. But overall I
> > found it was too much in love with its source material, and didn't
> > offer a compelling reason behind its license to keep watching.

> > Still, at least we have ONE example of a TV show/movie that doesn't
> > completely ignore the game to do its own thing and then slap the
> > licensed titled on it. It had to happen eventually, I suppose.
--
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On Fri, 26 Apr 2024 21:28:58 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>OK. I saw its first episode. I liked it and will check out the rest. Maybe I will play its games one day. :P

I watched all the episodes (and found it reasonably entertaining).

It did inspire me to load Fallout 76 up and continue where I left
off.. I've played an hour here and and hour there for a couple of
years now, around the time they started selling it for a tenner IIRC.

Some of the things that bothered others (like sparse use of NPCs)
never bothered me, because in a post nuclear wasteland I think crowds
of people would be weird anyway and would prefer every encounter be
well designed to that "busy" feel.

I also don't like RPGs that encourage you to talk to a gazillion
people and try to track dozens of quests at once... even worse
resulting in you completing ones you forgot you were even on.
Thankfully this game isn't like that, or at least it lets me play in a
way that avoids it.

Graphics aren't great but that's Bethesda and probably most MMOs for
you. I think it does have "something" even if it's not an easy
something to describe.. Next gen visuals isn't that "something"...
but moving through the world is still immersive enough I think.

I've heard some grumble about the brutality of difficulty compared to
FO4 for example, and there are two sides to that:

- On the one side, I don't think it's too bad as long as you don't
just spray and pray, but make a conscious effort to headshot the enemy
as much as possible -- to minimize damage to your character and to
conserve ammo and weapon wear and tear... on top of that I also kind
of enjoy the challenge.
- On the other side, in the back of my mind I'm aware of the monthly
subscription they'd LIKE me to sign up for, and the fact that it is
all designed to alleviate the stress of the challenge is kind of
annoying. If a player even suspects that a game is designed to annoy
them into spending more money just to relieve annoyances and enjoy the
game more, the reviews for that game will not work out well in the
long run. When I get annoyed I put the game down for extended periods
of time and start it up later, refusing to pay more. To me, that is
the proper response because it costs them more to serve the game but
nothing more for me to play. Let someone else be the chump and pay
the monthly fee.

As for the subscription... I don't know.... some people make these
games their primary hobby in life and maybe that's the audience for
that particular marketing effort. I don't mind to rank up slowly and
play 1-2 hours a week as long as I'm still having a good time, and the
quirkiness of this game remains strangely entertaining to me.
Thankfully I'm not a level-whore where playing the long game bothers
me, I'm not even level 30 yet and I've read of some folks who said
they had to sneak and play a stealth game until they got to level 50
before they were able to compete with the enemy. Hasn't really been
my experience so far.

Honestly, in terms of just trying it out... for free or even for a few
dollars I'd probably recommend it to anyone. I would just say be
open-minded and give it some time. Also be sure to research and apply
the tweak for the mouse lag fix, because for me it was no joy without.

Back to Fallout TV... does FO76 capture the vibe of the TV show? Only
a little IMHO, you might have to play some of the other games to get
more of that big picture. FO:New Vegas is the only one of the FO
games I ever played to completion, and I always felt the first 10-12
hours were the most fun and in terms of setting probably feels closer
to the setting of the show.

But I do think that anyone who liked the show and has never played the
games would probably benefit from trying one of them, whether FO4 (the
people's choice it seems), FO:NV or FO:76.