Full disclosure: the following are just random thoughts, so turn back now if you're the type who yells at people for not having a clear point. Ha! I didn't buy an Xbox One right away. I was waiting until I found a system that came with a game I wanted and at the time, nothing jumped out at me. Then came Fallout 4. That game had a lot of buzz around it. I never played the previous Fallout games, but I liked what I was seeing in the game trailer. So I looked into it and read about the plot. Then I saw more and more of the aesthetics of the world in Fallout. Being a fan of vintage computing, classic television and the look of certain time periods, I knew I had to get this game. Then I found a deal to pick up an Xbox One with Fallout 4 on disc & a digital download of Fallout 3 for a ridiculously reasonable price.
Starting the game in prewar times was great. The 1950s style furniture, clothes, automobiles, electronics really sucked me in. Then the story got me. I found the idea of this character being frozen and waking up in a post apocalyptic society 200 years later, with only his military training to deal with this new world, very intriguing. I imagined being in those shoes and trying not to lose my mind at what happened to my family and the things I will have to do to reunite with my child - don't think I would have handled it as well as the character, but how many could have in reality?
As I played the game, I wasn't aware that many of the things I was reading on computer terminals, or characters I was interacting with were actually references to previous Fallout games. For example, the gun-for-hire MacCready. He would mention stuff from his past and I would just let the information go in one ear and out the other. Then I would run into Dr. Madison Li in The Institute and she would mention that she worked with The Brotherhood in the past. Uh huh.
I eventually beat the game in a variety of ways and was eagerly waiting Fallout 5. Then Bethesda announced a new Fallout game was coming and I thought, "Wow, I'm ready!" The game is called Fallout 76 and is very different than Fallout 4 in that it will be an online, multiplayer game with no non-playable characters (NPC). That's not what I want in a Fallout game, but I preordered it anyway.
So I thought, why not play Fallout 3? I have it. It's Bethesda's first game in the series (Interplay was responsible for Fallout 1 & 2). Graphically, it was a step backwards, but it clearly reminded me of Fallout 4. I can see the inspiration for the super mutant companion Strong of Fallout 4 in the character Fawkes. Fawkes is also a super mutant who likes to battle. The difference is Fawkes is clearly more intelligent. And speaking of companions, another major difference is that the companions in Fallout 3 can be killed.
While playing Fallout 3, I would meet a kid with a potty-mouth and bad attitude named Macready. This would be the younger version of the former Gunner we meet in Fallout 4 which I mentioned earlier.
While hanging out with The Brotherhood of Steel, I meet a young version of Arthur Maxson. In Fallout 4, my character took pleasure in destroying him and his army because of their xenophobic ways, but it was kind of sad to meet the younger version of him knowing that another character I played would eventually kill him (and take his coat...)
In the years since she spent time in the Capitol Wasteland, Dr. Li has grown very bitter and her demeanor is very nasty. Though the character in Fallout 3 is the same in Fallout 4, their outlook has changed considerably. I thought she has a slight-attitude in 3, but in 4, I wanted to run out of her section of The Institute in a hurry. She becomes unbearably nasty.
In a way, I probably appreciate playing Fallout 3 more than those who played the games consecutively. There were many instances while exploring the Capitol Wasteland where a light blub went off and I felt like I was watching a prequel to a hit movie.
I have since moved on to Fallout: New Vegas. I'll write down my thoughts on that sometime.
