Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Chris Avellone]

Thank god that i am not american and don't get all those "reference" in old RPGs.

I think Grotesque also pointed that out as well, and very likely a huge advantage for non-Americans playing F2, imo.

 

[fantadomat]

Thank god that i am not american and don't get all those "reference" in old RPGs.

I think Grotesque also pointed that out as well, and very likely a huge advantage for non-Americans playing F2, imo.

Not only Fallout games,a lot of people talk about "references" in BG games and IWD games,i never got them and just looked at them as different quests and stories.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Not only Fallout games,a lot of people talk about "references" in BG games and IWD games,i never got them and just looked at them as different quests and stories.

You're right - while not anywhere near F2, IWD2 had a bunch (some mine, so I'm guilty).

Although some of that was because it felt like the company would fall apart at any moment, so might as well have fun with the levels and quests. : /

Not a good excuse, but hey.

 

[MRY]

And the additional problem with the references becoming "dated" (Quayle)

FWIW, the thing with the Quayle joke is not its becoming dated. It's that it was crazily dated even on release. Honestly, part of it comes across as a crazy Fairness Rule decision where after someone decided to have a Bill Clinton intern joke (which was timely on release, if bad), it was agreed that there had to also be a Republican made fun of, and Nixon was too dated, so they'd throw in a Quayle joke. It's all weird. I mean, possibly no one was exposed to more Quayle jokes than I was during my formative years -- I grew up in Washington in the 80s and went to school with one of his kids -- and political humor was a staple of my household. In fact, I distinctly admiring my brother's delivery of this Shevardnadze/Quayle joke circa 1989. But even I, the greatest of all possible audiences for that joke, thought it was very weirdly dated.

 

[fantadomat]

Not only Fallout games,a lot of people talk about "references" in BG games and IWD games,i never got them and just looked at them as different quests and stories.

You're right - while not anywhere near F2, IWD2 had a bunch (some mine, so I'm guilty).

Although some of that was because it felt like the company would fall apart at any moment, so might as well have fun with the levels and quests. : /

Not a good excuse, but hey.

Nothing to excuse,maybe because of it the games turned out that good. When devs have fun making the game it reflects on it.

I have noticed that most of your npc/characters that you write are more heavy.dark that endup mostly fucked up. Nothing against it,i do enjoy a nice human story of struggle and inevitability,still i am curious. Have you tried writing/written a more easy going and cheerful ones? From what i remember Erritis was written from you,he was surprisingly dark when you stop and think about it .

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Now I wanna see a post apocalyptic game in space. Can't wrap my head around it very well.

 

[MRY]

Now I wanna see a post apocalyptic game in space. Can't wrap my head around it very well.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ef=nav_search&result=project&term=crying suns

Kidding.

Anyway, there's a whole TV Tropes entry about it: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts Should be enough to keep you occupied.

 

[Cael]

Now I wanna see a post apocalyptic game in space. Can't wrap my head around it very well.

Alpha Centauri...

 

[Neanderthal]

Now I wanna see a post apocalyptic game in space. Can't wrap my head around it very well.

Funnily enough I watched Forbidden Planet the other day, fair bit of Fallout aesthetic in that, and the post apocalypse was present, just not a human one but the weird Trell society left behind.

Fucking good movie, mind you good source material in Tempest.

 

[Chris Avellone]

FWIW, the thing with the Quayle joke is not its becoming dated. It's that it was crazily dated even on release. Honestly, part of it comes across as a crazy Fairness Rule decision where after someone decided to have a Bill Clinton intern joke (which was timely on release, if bad), it was agreed that there had to also be a Republican made fun of, and Nixon was too dated, so they'd throw in a Quayle joke. It's all weird. I mean, possibly no one was exposed to more Quayle jokes than I was during my formative years -- I grew up in Washington in the 80s and went to school with one of his kids -- and political humor was a staple of my household. In fact, I distinctly admiring my brother's delivery of this Shevardnadze/Quayle joke circa 1989. But even I, the greatest of all possible audiences for that joke, thought it was very weirdly dated.

That was on the Enclave oil rig, right, the Vice President? I'm guessing that was Matt Norton (who did Gecko and the Den as well, I believe).

Matt became Lead Designer on F2 when Tim & co didn't want to do the sequel, then Tim & co came back and took over again for a time when Fargo didn't like the F2 story proposal - so they rewrote the game, then Matt became Lead again (or more accurately, co-lead with Feargus) when Tim & co. left.

I imagine it was a roller coaster ride for Matt, but I don't think it was a great position to be in, before or after (he never seemed super happy with the project while I was on it, but I think it may have been b/c his role kept getting yanked around).

 

[Chris Avellone]

Nothing to excuse,maybe because of it the games turned out that good. When devs have fun making the game it reflects on it.

I have noticed that most of your npc/characters that you write are more heavy.dark that endup mostly fucked up. Nothing against it,i do enjoy a nice human story of struggle and inevitability,still i am curious. Have you tried writing/written a more easy going and cheerful ones? From what i remember Erritis was written from you,he was surprisingly dark when you stop and think about it .

While I've written cheerful/easy-going NPCs, the issue is they're not as interesting as quest givers beyond "I'm being victimized and it's more painful b/c I'm cheerful and you sympathize with me," and often don't create enough drama to add flames to the plot without some twist/failing/flaw in their personality (ex: "I'm being victimized and while it would be painful b/c I'm cheerful, the reason I'm being victimized is because I've been inflicting my cheerfulness on people in the area by sealing them in oil drums and feeding them with a tube until they accepted the cheerfulness I was granting them - or died, whichever came first. Can't blame me for trying!")

I also do dark/messed-up b/c usually there's a way to "fix" some of those people. Not the example above, but damaged companions, for example.

Also one could argue that the only person who deserves to be happy is the player.

 

[MRY]

Yes, "Vice President Daniel Bird": http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Daniel_Bird

Maybe at some point you just go all in on everything Enclave-related being a pop culture reference.

 

[aweigh]

next FO game should have lots of references to incels and soyboys

that'll age real good : )

 

[Alienman]

Hey Chris Avellone you changed your avatar again. Is it related to that Durance is referenced in the Pillars dlc?

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Heh, I only got super obvious references, like Monty Python, Tom Cruise, They Live etc. Non US oblivious gamer happy times.

 

[Cael]

I got most of them, and I never lived in the US. I can't remember one that I didn't get, but there is likely to be. Just that there were so many throw-ins in FO2 that it is hear impossible to remember them all off the top of one's head.

 

[Shadenuat]

I was like 12 when played Fallouts and the difference between them was striking. I played F2 a lot for fun and lulz, but F1 legitimately scared the fuck out of me so I only finished it once back then.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Hey Chris Avellone you changed your avatar again. Is it related to that Durance is referenced in the Pillars dlc?

I change my avatar depending on the franchise involved in the last answer I post. Most of the time.

Nothing to do with Durance in BoW, I didn't even know he was planned to be in the DLC.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I never got the T-Ray reference when I first played it. Or Scientology/Hubologists, which I'm still not sure if it made San Francisco less weird or more weird.

Now I wanna see a post apocalyptic game in space. Can't wrap my head around it very well.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/

 

[FeelTheRads]

Well, you can see the similarity between a group that has adopted 70s/80s punk rock outfits and hairstyles, and one that has adopted 50s/60s Elvis outfit and hairstyle, can't you? They're more in your face and direct about it, sure, but I don't mind the Kings at all. What's your problem with them, exactly? It's explained why they look like that.

Can you read? The problem I have is that they're the result of Bethestardian idiotic "durr fallout iz 50's therefore let's put elvis in" thinking.
Look at the number of 50s elements in Fallout 1 (and hell even Fallout 2) and then look how they shitted them all over the place in F3 and New Vegas and how they could only do the most obvious shit: neon signs and fucking greasers and Elvis wannabees. Just pick the lowest hanging fruit, the modus operandi of the likes of Bethesda and Obsidian.

Cargo Cult Kings fit perfectly fine within Fallout's setting, considering all the other cargo cults that have popped up in the world. 2 established those freaking heavily-superstitious tribals.

Sure thing bro. But New Reno is shit and out of place, amirite?

And since you insist of changing the subject because you can't defend your position otherwise: I bet the larping Romans are also great while New Reno is still shit, right?

Also, you can keep posting irrelevant pictures all you want. Unless I hear from Boyarsky and/or Anderson that they totally wanted to fill Fallout 1 with every 50s shit out there but for some reason they couldn't, you are wrong. Period.

 

[Grotesque]

I don't know about you, but New Reno will always be in my heart.

Because of that place I learned the meaning of "wax the shaft" (and then my character woke up with a strange taste in his mouth)
But hey! "5 caps are 5 caps"

 

[Roguey]

Sure thing bro. But New Reno is shit and out of place, amirite?

And since you insist of changing the subject because you can't defend your position otherwise: I bet the larping Romans are also great while New Reno is still shit, right?

I never had a problem with New Reno, though it would have been better if they had been modeled after mid-40s/50s Vegas gangsters instead of prohibition-era gangsters. Leave it to Josh Sawyer to fix this.

Also, you can keep posting irrelevant pictures all you want. Unless I hear from Boyarsky and/or Anderson that they totally wanted to fill Fallout 1 with every 50s shit out there but for some reason they couldn't, you are wrong. Period.

It's delightful how your precious Tim Cain disappointed you so you have leave it to the other two as the authorities on all thing Fallout.

 

[Bocian]

Leave it to Josh Sawyer to fix this.

Fabulously Optimistic

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I don't know about you, but New Reno will always be in my heart.

Because of that place I learned the meaning of "wax the shaft" (and then my character woke up with a strange taste in his mouth)
But hey! "5 caps are 5 caps"

Broken Hills was kind of boring (beaten only by Sanfran in terms of empty shelves per square meter, and I had my fill of mining towns with Redding), but it taught me more about the dangers of gambling than the entirety of New Vegas.

Spoiler

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Beat_Francis_at_armwrestling

Beat Francis at armwrestling is an unmarked quest in Fallout 2. Francis, the super mutant at the Broken Hills bar, is searching for someone who can test his strength with a game of armwrestling.

Walkthrough
To beat him, the Chosen One needs a high Strength (about 9) and an Endurance of 8, and a bit of Luck. Not having these stats will certainly prevent any chance of winning.

Not having the required minimum of the former two stats can be compensated with a Buffout or two. Winning gets a "Big Frigger" power fist, a powerful Unarmed weapon for this point in the game.

If Francis wins, the Chosen One becomes his gimp for the night, and will wake up at his house with a ball gag in their inventory. Plus, a female Sexpert will have all the inflatable rubber dolls in the game named after them, instead of after Tandi. The Tanker vagrants and female punks on the PMV Valdez in San Francisco will also mock the Chosen One and call them names.

Notes
Francis can be fed two Buffouts to decrease his Strength and Endurance dramatically after 6 hours, improving a few chances to beat him.

 

[Average Manatee]

Fallout 2 gets a bad rap for the pop-references that it doesn't deserve. Most of them either fit within the lore of the setting (crazy cultists, dopey vice president) or feel original (most of the one-liners are funny/badass if you don't know where they are from). Super-smart mutants was certainly overused, and the Hubologists probably didn't deserve to be a main path quest rather than a side joke, but the rest is fine.