Fallout series

From Free net encyclopedia

Fallout is a series of computer role-playing games produced and published by Interplay. Although set in the late 22nd century, its story and artwork are heavily influenced by the post-world war II nuclear paranoia of the 1950s. The series is sometimes considered to be an unofficial sequel to Wasteland, but it could not use that title as Electronic Arts held the rights to it, and, except for minor references, the games are set in separate universes. There were two role-playing titles in the series (Fallout and Fallout 2), one squad-based tactical combat spinoff (Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel) and one action dungeon-crawler for PlayStation 2 and Xbox (Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel). The spin-offs, Fallout Tactics and Fallout: BoS are not considered canon by the current developers of Fallout 3 at Bethesda Softworks, as well as former Fallout 3-developers at Black Isle Studios and most of the fan community, due to contradictions in the setting and storyline between those two games and the role-playing games.

Contents 1 Storyline 1.1 Fallout 1.2 Fallout 2 1.3 Fallout 3 2 Mutations and Their Causes 3 Gameplay 3.1 Character System 3.2 Storytelling Method 3.3 Combat 3.4 Soundtrack 3.5 Cultural References and Real World Parallels 3.5.1 Locations of Fallout 3.5.2 Locations of Fallout 2 4 Influences 5 The Fallout Community 6 Trivia 7 External links 7.1 Mods

Storyline

The background story of Fallout involves a "what-if" scenario in which the United States tries to devise fusion power resulting in a hegemonic United States that has less reliance on petroleum. However, this is not achieved until 2077, shortly after an oil drilling conflict off the Pacific Coast pits the United States against China. It ends with a nuclear exchange resulting in the post-apocalyptic world the game takes place in—although it is said in Fallout 2 that nobody knew who sent the first missile. In Fallout 2 one conversation train with the Skynet computer results in Skynet stating that the war may have started because computers with Artificial Intelligence may have grown bored. However, as the Skynet computer was a parody of the computer system of the same name in the movie "The Terminator", Skynet's claim may not be true.

Fallout

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The protagonist of the first game is an inhabitant of one of the government-contracted fallout shelters known as the Vaults. The game takes place in 2161, somewhere in southern California. The Vault's Water Chip, which controls the water recycling and pumping machinery for the vault, has malfunctioned, and it is the player's role to find a new one. A portable, computerised notebook ("PIP-Boy") keeps track of mapmaking, instructions, and various book-keeping aspects.

If the player character returns the chip within an initial time limit of 150 days, he will be told of a greater threat, and will be sent out on two additional quests. A mutant known as "The Master" (previously known as Richard Grey) has begun using a pre-war, genetically engineered virus to create a race of "Super-Mutants". The player can defeat either The Master or destroy the Super Mutant base first. When both are rendered harmless, a cut-scene ensues in which the player automatically returns to Vault 13. There he is told that he has changed too much, and that his return would negatively influence the citizens of the Vault. Thus he is rewarded only with exile into the desert. It is extremely important for all players to note that after 500 days the mutants will find Vault 13, overrun it, and cause the game to end. The limit is shortened to 400 days if you send the water caravan, located in The Hub, to the Vault (it ups your time to get the water chip by 70 days). The v1.1 patch deleted this limit, but kept the water caravan option. A neat cinematic of mutants overrunning the vault can be seen after the limit, but the same cinematic can be seen if you agree to be turned into a mutant at the military base (this ends the game if you do it).

Fallout 2

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The second game takes place 80 years after the first, in 2241. It tells the story of the original hero's descendant and his or her quest to save their primitive tribe from starvation by finding an ancient environmental restoration machine known as the "Garden of Eden Creation Kit," or GECK.

The player does eventually acquire a GECK by finding Vault 13, less its former human inhabitants. He returns to find his village captured by the remnants of the United States government known as "The Enclave". The player, through a variety of means, boards an ancient oil tanker to The Enclave's main base, an offshore oil derrick.

It is revealed that the Vault 13-Dwellers were captured as well, to be used as test-subjects for FEV(see below) (They are untainted by radiation, a requirement of FEV). The Enclave has created an airborne disease to destroy all living people on Earth, in order to allow Enclave citizens—the only people not mutated at all—to take over the planet.

The player frees both his village (Arroyo) and the Vault 13 Dwellers from Enclave control, and destroys the Enclave's oil rig entirely.

The fact that in both games the character is raised in an isolated community works nicely with the plot structure, allowing the character to be as ignorant about the game world as the player would be and explaining why the map you start with is almost completely unexplored.

Fallout 3

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Fallout 3 (codenamed "Van Buren") was in production in 2003, but was cancelled by Interplay when Black Isle, the RPG unit, was closed. The license to create 3 new Fallout games was acquired by Bethesda Softworks in 2004, and a new Fallout 3 project is currently in development. Interplay, however, kept the rights for a Fallout MMORPG.

Press Release - The official announcement from Bethesda Softworks

Mutations and Their Causes

According to the "Fallout Bible" (a series of documents answering questions from players by Fallout 2 designer Chris Avellone, who was not part of the original Fallout team), most of the mutations in Fallout and Fallout 2 are caused by radioactive fallout. The document originally claimed that a pre-War biological serum, named the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) was responsible for these mutations. Some players feel that this reliance on FEV paints the story with a genetic engineering theme that a 50s-viewpoint game should not have. Others, however, point to the fact that in the 1950s and early 1960s, radiation was viewed very similarly to the way that FEV was in Fallout and Fallout 2. In a later edition of the "Fallout Bible" Chris Avellone admitted that his attributing the mutations to FEV was a mistake, saying that almost all of the mutations were indeed caused by radiation.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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, preveting the player from seaching the dead body for any items that the deceased could have been carrying). In addition the Bloody Mess trait alters the game ending sequence.

Note that while this system doesn't use character classes and seemingly allows for many different kinds of characters, Fallout's gameplay in fact only supports three kinds of strategy: violent, diplomatic and steatlthy (compare with the regular classes Warrior and Thief) and no character that isn't well-developed in at least one of these areas is viable.

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.

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.

For example, in one early mission (although it's decided by the player whether or not to go there early in the game, the mission is relatively close to the player's initial location) 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.

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.

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.

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).

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 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

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.

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.

During combat, the player may have AI-controlled allies - an example of this is "Ian," most probably 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. While Fallout 2 corrected this to some extent, allowing players to assign general behaviour modes for their NPCs to follow, NPCs could still act erratically on occasions. 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. However, this can be seen as a realistic touch, and the same happens if the player accidentally hits an uninvolved third party too.

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.

Soundtrack

Composer Mark Morgan produced the singular soundtracks for Fallout and Fallout 2, utilizing synthesized melodies that echo the isolation, danger and intensity of different locations on the map. Since the protagonist's dialog is never heard aloud, and only major NPCs have dialog tracks, the music is a significant contributor to the Fallout experience.

Cultural References and Real World Parallels

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

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.

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 Uncle Slappy 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.

Locations of 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, Reno and Klamath Falls. Broken Hills, a uranium mining town in the game is a reference to the town of Broken Hill in Australia where Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior was filmed.

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. Also, in a datadisk given to the player at one point in the game, it outlines the hubologists view of the afterlife, which is almost exactly the same as Scientology.

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.

Also, in the mining town of Redding, one of the Mines is run by a character named "Dangerous Dan McGrew"- the victim in Robert Service's well-known poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew". The name also was Rimmer's alias in the Western AI game featured in the Red Dwarf episode "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse."

Influences

Fallout draws much from 50s pulp magazines, science fiction and superhero comic books. For example, computers use vacuum tubes instead of transistors; energy weapons exist and resemble those used by Flash Gordon. The Vault Dweller's main style of dress is a blue jumpsuit with a yellow line going down the center of the chest and along the belt area, though the main character's appearance changes while wearing armor. The number on the back might differ from the Vault the dweller represents, but it's usually "13", or in other cases, missing.

Fallout's menu interfaces are designed to resemble advertisements and toys of the same period; For example, the characters sheet cards and perks available, look like those of the board game Monopoly. The lack of this retro stylization was one of the things the Fallout spin-offs were criticized for, as retro-futurism is a hallmark of the Fallout series.

Fallout also draws minor influences from other sources. One of the initial armors available in the game is the one sleeved leather jacket, which bears a resemblance to the jacket worn by Mad Max in The Road Warrior. Also, the armor featured on the cover of the game is powered armor, the most powerful (and rarest) armor in Fallout.

The Fallout games are famous for their Easter eggs. While the first game mostly had references to the 1950s and 1960s pop-culture (Doctor Who, Godzilla), in Fallout 2 there are many references to Star Trek, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monty Python; Some fans of the first game argued that there are too many Easter eggs in the sequel and that they distract from the immersiveness of the game world.

In Fallout, your character meets an NPC named Tycho, who mentions that he is a Desert Ranger and, under the right conditions, will talk of his grandfather, who told him about Fat Freddy, a character from Las Vegas in Wasteland, implying that his grandfather was one of the PCs in Wasteland, who were named the Desert Rangers. Although the time frame of Wasteland is completely different from Fallout, and Fallout game designers deny that Fallout 1 or 2 takes place in the same universe as Wasteland, this is one of many references to the events and the style of Wasteland in the Fallout series, which is why Fallout is sometimes regarded as the spiritual successor to Wasteland. (Cassidy also says that he was named after a kick ass comic book character, a reference to the Irish vampire Cassidy in the comic book Preacher)

The Fallout Community

Most of the English-speaking Fallout fan community is focused on the two oldest functioning Fallout fansites - No Mutants Allowed, founded in 1997, and Duck and Cover, founded in 1998. The game is also popular in Central and Eastern European countries, such as Czech Republic (e.g. Fallout Skynet), Poland and Germany, as well as in Russia. One of the fans from these countries, the polish artist Adam EFC TurcZack, made a tribute to Fallout in the form of a song. Fallout is well-know in Brazil too, with serious fans communities, like Vault Of Broken Dreams.

The fanbase of the Fallout series is infamous in gaming circles because of their strong reactions to arguably every Fallout game since Fallout 2. The Fallout community has often reacted angrily to announcements about the games development and has been said to be overly argumentative regarding future titles.

Josh Sawyer, lead developer of Fallout 3 until its cancellation, gained notoriety for his frequent clashes with argumentative fans on the Interplay forums. On July 30, 2003, he famously responded to criticisms about the game's creative direction with a retort that ridiculed members of the Fallout community as fussy and impossible to please:

The point, in case zealots ever want to accept it, is that your tastes are not the only tastes in the world. Really, I know this may be hard to believe, but if you like playing a turn-based game set in three counties of Utah in 2242, and you like miniguns but don't like lasers, and you like the ratio of combat to dialogue to be about 4:1, and you like cars that look more like Buicks than Pontiacs, and you think 50s-style monsters are okay but 50s-style aliens aren't, and you think Max's jacket from Mad Max is okay but the football pad armour isn't, and you don't like it when italics are used in dialogue but you do like it when boldface is used, and you want it to be longer than 100 hours but no longer than 120 hours, and like games to be non-linear but only to a point, and like big cities, but only two because four is too much BUT HEY NOT THAT ONE, and you like the desert but don't mind a little grass BUT HEY NOT THAT MUCH BECAUSE IT'S NOT FALLOUT...I am terribly, terribly sorry, because we are not going to make a game just for you. We're not trying to make a game for everyone. Really, we aren't. But we're not making a game just for you and ten other angry guys with tastes that are narrower than a hallway in a camp of pygmy dwarves.

These fans themselves say that their anger is a justifiable reaction to Interplay's treatment of the franchise in the 6 years it has existed. The turbulent history surrounding the third Fallout game, the fans argue, is a good example of what they consider to be poor treatment of the Fallout series. Once in development, the prototype Fallout 3 "Van Buren" was cancelled long before release. Further angering hardcore fans, the later Fallout titles that were released were not seen as "serious" role playing games—they were tactical combat and Gauntlet-style action-RPGs. Both of them contained many contradictions to the original Fallout setting and were not considered canon by the developers of Fallout 3 (in both the Black Isle and Bethesda incarnations). Interplay fell on hard times toward the end of its lifespan, and many in the community speculated that the perceived lower quality of the last two titles was a symptom of the company's financial problems.

While Brotherhood of Steel was a poor performer in sales and received at best decent reviews, the tactical combat Fallout game Fallout: Tactics was moderately well received by both gaming critics and the general community. Some have argued that Tactics' moderate success, based on concepts the Fallout community is not fond of, has been a major aspect of how the Fallout community is considered by general gamers. Others argue that the partial success that Tactics enjoyed was due to the similarities between it and the Fallout series, rather than the differences.

This sense of communal isolation again became apparent when Bethesda Softworks was given the rights to not only make Fallout 3, but also Fallout 4 and 5. The news that Fallout 3 would again be in production (after a previous incarnation had been cancelled), was generally well received by the gaming community.

The move was met with anger and disappointment by some in the Fallout communities after Bethesda representatives had said Fallout 3 would be developed from scratch, disregarding the previous incarnation. Arguing that Bethesda's Morrowind was not a role-playing game in the sense that Fallout was, the Fallout community was offended that companies founded by the developers of Fallout and Fallout 2 who left Interplay (Troika and Obsidian) did not gain the rights.

Only those companies, they argued, could truly make a proper Fallout 3. There are persistent rumors that Troika made a bid for the Fallout license but was outbid by Bethesda, but the Troika developers have gone on record as saying that they never made a bid because they believed that they could not raise the capital. In 2005 Troika indicated that it would cease operations due to lack of funding for new projects.

Arguing that they are not "dismissing" the game series, some in the Fallout community fear Bethesda will make a Fallout 3 that has little connection to the original Fallouts. For example, most hardcore fans of the series agree that isometric view and turn-based combat are essential to a Fallout game, however these concepts have become rare in major game releases since the release of the first two Fallouts. Other fans have argued that Fallout was successful for other reasons and that these concepts are not entirely essential.

Sometimes seen as a positive aspect of Bethesda's acquisition of Fallout is that Morrowind, like the Fallout games, allowed a great deal of freedom with regards to travelling within the game world and allowing the character to reach virtually every location in the game in any order, save for the endgame areas. The way Morrowind handled this has been criticised, since there was no option but to walk to the locations or pay for a ride to some of the major locations, while Fallout handled this by introducing a seperate 'World Map' when travelling between locations.

On the other hand, Fallout is frequently praised for its well-written and humorous dialogue - something that was all but absent in Morrowind, which relied upon a system of 'key words' that prompted a limited, functional response. Therefore, many fans harbour concerns for the quality of character exchanges in Fallout 3.

There are two major references to the Fallout fan community in the Fallout games themselves. One is a special encounter with Unwashed Villagers, an early fan community, in Fallout 2. They are depicted as a group of people attacking a spammer. In Fallout Tactics, there is a senile old man who urinates into other people's drinks, named "Roshambo" after a No Mutants Allowed admin, well-known for his distaste of the Fallout spin-offs and those who enjoy them.

Trivia

• The song that plays during the intro sequence in Fallout is entitled "Maybe" and is sung by The Ink Spots. The song in Fallout 2 is Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On". The original theme to Fallout was going to be "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", also by The Ink Spots, but apparently Black Isle was unable to get the license, so it was scrapped. The Fallout intro song "Maybe" reappears in the sequel, being sung by a minor character as floating text.
• Three key members behind the original Fallout (Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson) left Interplay in 1998 and founded Troika Games. Troika was closed down in February 2005 due to financial problems.
• Holding Shift and clicking the Credits button in the beginning game menu in Fallout 1 and 2 brings up a series of humorous/lewd comments by members of the Interplay team that developed the Fallout games.
• "RadAway", in Fallout, was a medicine that lowered the game characters level of irradiation. Supposedly it worked by bonding itself with radiation particles making it possible for them to "pass" through your system, as some form of radiation chelation therapy.
• "Mentats", a drug in the series that temporary raises your intelligence, is named after the human computers in the Dune universe.
• "Brahmin", the two-headed cows, share their name with the Hindu priestly caste. The possibility of this name usage being purely coincidental is diminished when considering that cows are sacred in Hinduism. The name is also similar to the Brahman breed of cattle which are found in India.
• An early version of Fallout had a Goodies folder on the CD; this included a Windows screensaver and 1994 prototype version of the game.
• In Fallout 2, the reason why Vault 13's water chip malfunctioned is "explained" in a random encounter, in which the Fallout 2 character discovers a portal similar to the Guardian of Forever. If he enters it, the player is transported to a small section of Vault 13, devoid of any other characters. When he interacts with the only computer he can, he breaks the Water Chip, ensuring the events of the player's past continue as they should. This encounter, like all special encounters, is only a joke and is not considered canon. Also Vault 8 contains several thousand water chips from an accidentally mixed-up shipment that sent Vault 13 the secondary GECK. The real reason the water chip malfunctioned was due to a series of tests by The Enclave to put the different vaults under experimental conditions. Vault 13's test was to have only one water chip that would malfunction after a certain time. Vault 8's GECK went to Vault 13 and Vault 13's extra chips went to Vault 8.
• Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura by Troika Games has a reference to the two-headed cows that appeared originally in Fallout. They are said to come from a "far away desert".
• "War. War never changes" is the famous phrase uttered in the intro of Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics by Ron Perlman. The phrase is one of the foremost iconic catch-phrases of the game.
• "Nuka Cola" is a blue cola in a coca cola shaped bottle, in the game, obviously a reference to the real and actual Coca Cola, and actually you could become addicted to it.
• In Fallout 2 Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, secretly included one of his tracks from his album Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2. Untitled Disc 2 Track 6 "Windowsill" can be heard clearly in some parts of the game. He may have done this under the pseudonym EFX which appears in the game credits. It is unknown why he chose to do this, and what relationship he had with Black Isle.
• The Red Ryder BB gun makes an appearance in both series of Fallout. This is a reference to the classic computer game, Wasteland, on which the Fallout series itself is loosely based. In turn, Wasteland was referencing the Christmas movie A Christmas Story (1983) In which the movie's main character wants nothing more for Christmas than a Red Ryder BB gun.
• At one point in Fallout's development, in Junktown, if the player aided local sheriff Killian Darkwater in killing the criminal Gizmo, Killian would become corrupt. However, if the player killed Killian for Gizmo, then Gizmo would go straight and help Junktown prosper. The game's publisher didn't like this though and had the outcomes changed to what they are now.
• In Fallout 2 in the ghoul town of Gecko, the barkeep at the pub teaches the PC about a collectable card game called Tragic: The Garnering, a reference to real-world card CCG Magic: The Gathering. Several of the cards he mentions have parallels.
• In Fallout 2, after beating the game by destroying the Enclave base, you can go to the priest in Reno (located in the western section of the town) and talk to him. Doing this will cause him to give you a "Fallout 2 Manual" item that ups all your stats and skills to max added as a goodie/easter egg by the developers.
• Fallout games feature well-known actors as NPC voice-talent. Notable appearances include:
  • Richard Dean Anderson (Killian, Fallout)
  • David Warner (Morpheus, Fallout)
  • Tony Shalhoub ((credited as Tony Shalub) Aradesh, Fallout)
  • Michael Dorn (Marcus the Mutant, Special Agent Frank Horrigan, Fallout 2)
  • Richard Moll (Cabot, Fallout)
  • Ron Perlman (Narrator, Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics)
  • Mission briefings in Fallout Tactics are barked by R. Lee Ermey (Also "Gunnery Sergeant Hartman" in the film Full Metal Jacket) and Kurtwood Smith, who is best known from his work in That 70s Show and RoboCop.
• In Fallout 2, there are recurring posters of Maynard James Keenan of the band Tool. They were taken from the liner notes of their album, Undertow, and appear in almost every town/city in the game.

External links

• The Vault, A Fallout wiki, hosted by the fan site Duck and Cover.
• No Mutants Allowed, Fallout Fan Site
• Duck and Cover, Fallout Fan Site
• FIFE, Fallout open source engine that tries to replace the old Fallout 2
• Fallout LARP Terminal- Czech LARP in a postapocalyptic world inspired by Fallout (Czech)
• Nuclear Winter Studios A Fallout modding and fan group.
• Fallout Corner One of the most famous Polish Fallout fansites.
• Fallout discussion A LiveJournal community for Fallout discussion.
• TeamX A Russian Fallout modding group.
• [1] Duck and Cover's Fan Fiction section housing such classics as "fallout sitcom" by Sir Pooperscooper.
• New Reno RPG A free-form IRC-chat-based RPG set in the Fallout 2 world and setting.
• Vault BR Brazilian Fallout Community.

Mods

• Mutants Rising A mod currently in production for Fallout 2.
• Wasteland Merc 2 A mod for Fallout 2 with mmorpg features such as cooking, mining, fishing and crafting weapons, armors and ammo. 60+ custom missions and 19 custom locations. RELEASED.
• Survivor A mod for Fallout 2 with a new concept and innovative ideas. RELEASED.
• Survivor2 A mod for Fallout 2 with a completely new story currently in production.
• Fan Made Fallout A mod for Fallout 2 that has been in production for 4 years.
• Fallout Yurop A mod for Fallout 2 that takes place in Europe.cs:Fallout

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