Trailer Fallout - Official Trailer

[Ruin Explorer]

I wonder what ending season 2 will go with for it's depiction of Vegas.

Do you ever think maybe you should spoiler block spoilers in a thread not tagged spoilers?

But like, ignoring that, I think we can probably deduce this or at least limit the possibilities.

Here are the endings for New Vegas (big New Vegas spoilers obviously).

Spoiler

Fallout: New Vegas endings

Fallout: New Vegas endings are determined by the player's actions and choices throughout the game and depicted on a Imageshow at the end. Most choices made during the game are not reflected and merely implied, however, such as the fate of Westside, while others are shown during gameplay or...

fallout-archive.fandom.com

(Have to use a different kind of spoiler block for that so people can click on the link!)

Possibilities:

Spoiler

1) It seems very unlikely it would be an NCR takeover, given Moldaver was a higher-up in the NCR, and very much opposed to Hank McClean. So he wouldn't go there if so. Also the NCR would have probably changed up how the place looked, and de-casino-fied it.

2) New Vegas does not, from the two images we saw (the distant view, and in the end credits), look like it's changed significantly.

3) Independent is possible, but would probably mean creating a canon Courier character to rule New Vegas, and also I think there's no obvious reason for Hank to go there if so (given the Courier isn't part of the pre-war clique and nor is any other likely human independent ruler)

4) Mr House ending is absolutely possible. Mr House seems like he'd be a direct "ally" (with some light backstabbing) of the pre-war clique, and certainly his whole deal is similar. Perhaps too similar? But I think it's quite likely he's still in charge and if we see someone like George Clooney has been cast for S2 we will know lol.

5) Caesar's Legion. I think this is very unlikely, but it would be completely nuts and amazing, and I definitely can't rule it out, because I feel like the writers would absolutely enjoy messing with the insanity of Caesar's Legion. However - I think they'd have expanded far and fast if they'd got New Vegas, and we'd have heard about the, or at least seen something like an aquila or SPQR thing above New Vegas, were that the case. Also heavier fortifications. And maybe Caesar's Legion is just a little too thematically similar to the Brotherhood of Steel to be introduced so early - later on, when the differences would be more obvious, it might make sense.

So my personal guess would be Mr House ending, Courier is MIA and referred to only in vague terms, or, almost equally likely, Mr House ending, Courier is debauched and hopeless, lazing around the casino (probably will cast someone interesting as the Courier if so). Hank McClean 100% seems like he'd work well with Mr House (but also totally get betrayed by Mr House).

If we're making this a spoiler thread period though maybe we can just edit the title and I'll remove the spoiler blocks?

 

[Lidgar]

I'd prefer we keep it spoiler-free for now. Doing an episode a night, so need a few more days to finish!

 

[MarkB]

Do you ever think maybe you should spoiler block spoilers in a thread not tagged spoilers?

But like, ignoring that, I think we can probably deduce this or at least limit the possibilities.

Here are the endings for New Vegas (big New Vegas spoilers obviously).

Spoiler

Fallout: New Vegas endings

Fallout: New Vegas endings are determined by the player's actions and choices throughout the game and depicted on a Imageshow at the end. Most choices made during the game are not reflected and merely implied, however, such as the fate of Westside, while others are shown during gameplay or...

fallout-archive.fandom.com

(Have to use a different kind of spoiler block for that so people can click on the link!)

Possibilities:

Spoiler

1) It seems very unlikely it would be an NCR takeover, given Moldaver was a higher-up in the NCR, and very much opposed to Hank McClean. So he wouldn't go there if so. Also the NCR would have probably changed up how the place looked, and de-casino-fied it.

2) New Vegas does not, from the two images we saw (the distant view, and in the end credits), look like it's changed significantly.

3) Independent is possible, but would probably mean creating a canon Courier character to rule New Vegas, and also I think there's no obvious reason for Hank to go there if so (given the Courier isn't part of the pre-war clique and nor is any other likely human independent ruler)

4) Mr House ending is absolutely possible. Mr House seems like he'd be a direct "ally" (with some light backstabbing) of the pre-war clique, and certainly his whole deal is similar. Perhaps too similar? But I think it's quite likely he's still in charge and if we see someone like George Clooney has been cast for S2 we will know lol.

5) Caesar's Legion. I think this is very unlikely, but it would be completely nuts and amazing, and I definitely can't rule it out, because I feel like the writers would absolutely enjoy messing with the insanity of Caesar's Legion. However - I think they'd have expanded far and fast if they'd got New Vegas, and we'd have heard about the, or at least seen something like an aquila or SPQR thing above New Vegas, were that the case. Also heavier fortifications. And maybe Caesar's Legion is just a little too thematically similar to the Brotherhood of Steel to be introduced so early - later on, when the differences would be more obvious, it might make sense.

So my personal guess would be Mr House ending, Courier is MIA and referred to only in vague terms, or, almost equally likely, Mr House ending, Courier is debauched and hopeless, lazing around the casino (probably will cast someone interesting as the Courier if so). Hank McClean 100% seems like he'd work well with Mr House (but also totally get betrayed by Mr House).

If we're making this a spoiler thread period though maybe we can just edit the title and I'll remove the spoiler blocks?

Another possibility is a Yes Man ending in which Yes Man has subsequently gone a bit megolamaniacal, as he hints at doing in his ending.

Also, this is a pretty good video about the implications of previous Fallout games for the series, and of the series for future games:

 

[p_johnston]

So my personal guess would be Mr House ending, Courier is MIA and referred to only in vague terms, or, almost equally likely, Mr House ending, Courier is debauched and hopeless, lazing around the casino (probably will cast someone interesting as the Courier if so). Hank McClean 100% seems like he'd work well with Mr House (but also totally get betrayed by Mr House).

So I was talking this over with a friend (both loved the series) and I came to the conclusion that The most likely scenario is that they'll do something where the ending doesn't matter so they don't have to make any one ending cannon. They're doing it a little bit with the brotherhood and the NCR. Did Fo4 have the brotherhood ending or not? Doesn't matter because the california elder is going to do his own thing. Is the NCR in control of New Vegas or under attack by Ceasers Legion? Doesn't matter they got nuked by daddy. Especially if Bethesda isn't letting them cannonize/decannonize events from the game the simpliest solution is "Ending doesn't matter because things got super messed up after anyways." Especially with the ending credits showing a mostly destoryed vegas.

 

[Kaodi]

I really liked the series, but I am not sure I love it on its merits, though I love that we have it at all.

Spoiler

It does feel like it gets the scale of the NCR wrong, and maybe even the scale of the Vaults wrong, in the sense that while it was remarkably true to the aesthetic of the Vaults in 4 in particular that it was never the case that the in-game Vaults had populations large enough for a feasible society lasting hundreds of years. I was not a fan of the gulpers have human fingers in their mouths (though they gave an explanation of how they got like that, albeit a weird one).

The single thing I think I liked the least though were some of the details about the Brotherhood of Steel. Admittedly it has been a long time since I played 1, 2, or Tactics (I had a CD collection where sound files were missing for Tactics) but I feel like the branding and squires carrying around comically large bags while the guys in power armour carried nothing was weird. They also seemed a bit more, you know, brotherly in 3, 4, and NV. Not a lot. But certainly more than the way the Knights treated everyone else in the show.

I also do not understand why we never got an explanation of how the eff Moldaver was still around, given that she appeared to be dead at the end.

 

[MarkB]

So I was talking this over with a friend (both loved the series) and I came to the conclusion that The most likely scenario is that they'll do something where the ending doesn't matter so they don't have to make any one ending cannon. They're doing it a little bit with the brotherhood and the NCR. Did Fo4 have the brotherhood ending or not? Doesn't matter because the california elder is going to do his own thing. Is the NCR in control of New Vegas or under attack by Ceasers Legion? Doesn't matter they got nuked by daddy. Especially if Bethesda isn't letting them cannonize/decannonize events from the game the simpliest solution is "Ending doesn't matter because things got super messed up after anyways." Especially with the ending credits showing a mostly destoryed vegas.

It should be pointed out that the end credits seem to serve as something of a next-episode preview. Like, the episode 7 end credits showed the observatory littered with crashed Vertibirds. So, the end-credit pan-out of the Strip isn't necessarily New Vegas as it is now - it could be how it's going to end up once things kick off there.

 

[pukunui]

I binged the rest of the show last night. So amazing!

I have questions and quibbles:

Spoiler

• How did Moldaver survive for so long? She didn't appear to be a ghoul, nor did she appear to have been cryogenically frozen. Is there some other way to extend your lifespan in the Fallout universe?
  
  
• How were there still working lights for the cold fusion generator to turn back on in the destroyed skyscrapers? (I presume that was downtown LA? Aside from the Hollywood sign, about the only landmark I recognized was LAX's Theme Building.)
  
  
• Cooper has kept himself alive because he's searching for his (ex-)wife and child? I had assumed that Cooper turned into a ghoul because he was exposed to the radiation from the bombs - given he was riding away on a horse with Janey, that means that Janey should either be dead or also a ghoul. Unless he somehow managed to get her to a vault, where they gave her RadAway but didn't let him inside?
  
  
• I'm sure I saw various people walk past the same long ruined building multiple times. I'm not sure if it was meant to be the same building (as in it lay on the main route people were taking back and forth) or just a convenient ruin that they kept reusing.
  
  
• We never learn how Wilzig knew Lucy's name. (Or how he was in contact with Moldaver.)
  
  
• I presume that Norm poisoned the raiders. It seemed like both Betty and Steph were manipulating him into doing it - I presume because the raiders were a complication in their plan.
  
  
• Also, who cleaned up Vault 32? Did Bud the brain-in-the-robotic-jar unfreeze a bunch of his buds and get them to clean it all up before freezing them again? Would Betty and Steph have known about what happened in 32?
  
  
• I'm guessing that the shadowy figure at whom Barb glanced up is the same person that Hank has gone to see in New Vegas?
  
  
• I'm super-confused by Vault 4.
  
  
• If ghoulification is something that can happen due to radiation exposure, how did the snake oil salesman turn Thaddeus into one with his "medicine"?
  
  
• Speaking of ghouls, the whole sentient but can go feral thing reminds me of Warm Bodies.

 

[MarkB]

I binged the rest of the show last night. So amazing!

I have questions and quibbles:

Do you have some spoiler tags to go with them?

 

[pukunui]

Do you have some spoiler tags to go with them?

Yes, I have put them in now. Sorry.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I really liked the series, but I am not sure I love it on its merits, though I love that we have it at all.

Spoiler

It does feel like it gets the scale of the NCR wrong, and maybe even the scale of the Vaults wrong, in the sense that while it was remarkably true to the aesthetic of the Vaults in 4 in particular that it was never the case that the in-game Vaults had populations large enough for a feasible society lasting hundreds of years. I was not a fan of the gulpers have human fingers in their mouths (though they gave an explanation of how they got like that, albeit a weird one).

The single thing I think I liked the least though were some of the details about the Brotherhood of Steel. Admittedly it has been a long time since I played 1, 2, or Tactics (I had a CD collection where sound files were missing for Tactics) but I feel like the branding and squires carrying around comically large bags while the guys in power armour carried nothing was weird. They also seemed a bit more, you know, brotherly in 3, 4, and NV. Not a lot. But certainly more than the way the Knights treated everyone else in the show.

Re: The Vaults - I feel like they should have made them larger, but also by making them the size they did, they did make it very possible to limit the number of characters to a reasonable amount pretty easily. Vault 4 is more like the scale they should have been. Not all the way there but more like it. They're smaller in the games just because the tech limited them before 4 and 4 was then basically drawning from "tradition"

Re: The BoS, I don't really agree that the BoS have consistently been more brotherly. I noticed you skipped 1 & 2 there. I feel like the issue is that 3 & 4 made the BoS waaaaaaaaaaay too nice, because the guys at Bethesda think the BoS is super-super-super cool and can only barely bare to make themselves not make the BoS into god's perfect angels, because any macho guys in power armour who love tech must be cool (given that's the sort of people Bethesda's leadership idolises). In 1 & 2 the BoS are wankers, like right wankers. Useful wankers, but wankers. In NV, I would personally suggest they're significantly nastier than 3/4, but YMMV, and Tactics, as I remember, and I am open to correction because I finished it but when it was released, so a very long time ago, they were pretty unpleasant and officious despite you being in the BoS. Their concept is fundamentally a kind of nasty one - because they want to acquire and control all pre-war tech, and have no qualms about killing and stealing to do that if necessary, something FO3/4 didn't eliminate but definitely played down significantly. The BoS of NV would also absolutely gun down any number of NCR troops for something like a cold fusion device. I thought the golf bags were hysterical, personally.

Is there some other way to extend your lifespan in the Fallout universe?

Hank McClean (I think?) - a male character anyway - implied there was. Now he might have just been lying, but whoever it was specifically implied that. So Moldaver either took that approach or was cryogenically frozen somehow. I actually suspect the latter.

How were there still working lights for the cold fusion generator to turn back on in the destroyed skyscrapers?

Artistic licence.

that means that Janey should either be dead or also a ghoul

Doesn't The Ghoul specifically say to Hank "where are my wife and kid?!" or something to that effect? Am I misremembering? Which would suggest whatever happened, she and the mother are in the Vault, probably Vault 31. He was seemingly divorced and dishonoured in the eyes of Vault-tec so presumably not given entry to the Vault despite delivering Janey - also, she might not have even needed rad-away, realistically, but that's a long discussion of radiation. EDIT - Actually I could easily seem him just refusing to go in the Vault as a matter of principle.

We never learn how Wilzig knew Lucy's name. (Or how he was in contact with Moldaver.)

He's Enclave. They undoubtedly have access to all the records from the Vaults, and presumably some Vaults, like the 31/32/33 triad are reporting back to some main Vault-tec server. Likewise as a member of the Enclave he presumably knew about Moldaver (she is kind of in charge of the NCR) and had the means to contact her - he was clearly hiding a lot.

I presume that Norm poisoned the raiders.

Norm sure never acted like he had. He undoubtedly thought about it, but my money is 100% on Betty or another Vault 31 type.

Also, who cleaned up Vault 32? Did Bud the brain-in-the-robotic-jar unfreeze a bunch of his buds and get them to clean it all up before freezing them again?

Now this is a really good question, because, when we thought Vault 31 had people in it, it was an easy answer - Vault 31. But now we know it doesn't, I think the unfreezing of buds has to be it - either that or Vault 31 people from Vault 33 sneaking out and doing it. There might be an entire "clean crew" of buds who are trained specifically for this scenario of course. I expect most of the buds will be Management, but like, there are a LOT of them, like a LOT so there are probably specialists and people willing to do honest hard work to keep things going among them. What confused me was why Norm didn't just threaten Bud - he could easily have flipped and smashed Bud, and then systematically smashed the cryostasis units - he might have died of starvation before he finished, but he might have got it down to a fine art by like, unit 30 or so, and got all of them. Maybe he will think of that next season.

I'm super-confused by Vault 4.

How so? It seems pretty clear. We know Vault 4 is a scientist-centric vault, where they experimented on humans. The nice family from the advert were the scientists who made the Gulpers - looks like they were like 20 years older - unclear if they were in cryostasis at all - some Vaults had it, some didn't, we know that, part of the experiments (I suspect they might have been given they had access to a bunch of cryostasis for the experiments later). So they made all the poor women pregnant with monsters, and had them in cryostasis, at which point the scientists got killed be a revolution of the people they'd been experimenting on (many of whom are likely related to those women), and the revolutionaries appear to have, at some point, opened the doors and gone exploring, and then when Shady Sands was destroyed, they let in a limited but significant number of refugees.

If ghoulification is something that can happen due to radiation exposure, how did the snake oil salesman turn Thaddeus into one with his "medicine"?

It's Fallout - there are always going to be multiple ways to achieve horrible, horrible results! Presumably that's some kind of ghoul-making serum that the guy stole from a lab or something. It's very useful for short high-value cons, because he can pretend to cure people and scarper whilst they're still ultra-grateful - notably even days later there were no actual symptoms of being a ghoul beyond regeneration. So it's probably at least weeks for the nose to fall off and so on.