Well, one's a dumb scavver who probably can't even spell "book" and the other is, presumably; since they even know what it was like "back in the day", a ghoul who was actually there.
No, she's just just
a regular old woman.
I know you get reddit updoots for shitting on Fallout 4 right here on the dex, but at least know what the fuck you are talking about if something is your favorite example. [...]
Clair has been manager of the Hotel Rexford since 2247 and remembers the time when the place was in its heyday; when parties were thrown frequently and the clientele was more sophisticated. She is tasked with greeting and checking people in while her boss, Marowski, stays in his "office." Clair, along with a few others, helps keep the place running and will offer to give a verbal history of the hotel and the surrounding area.
I do know that backstory and you're not helping your point. Clair explicitly mentions retirement and how the Rexford was so much better back in Marowski Sr.'s days and how, as you quote, the clientele was more "sophisticated." This is easy for us to parse relative to our own reality, but highly incongruous in the postapocalyptic wasteland we're shown.
Does Goodneighbor have a pension plan? How much "more sophisticated" can the clientele get in a world where caravaners strap bags to cows instead of leveraging the forbidden magic of the wheel?
Clair Hutchins is consistent with a setting that still has a memory of, and a reflex to emulate, pre-War America. Whereas the scavver I mentioned hasn't, even by accident in her thirty or fourty years of life, learned about "America." These two people are in relatively
close proximity. Sure, you could argue happenstance and social stratification, maybe that scavver just wandered in from postapocalyptic Bumsville, but inconsistent worldbuilding is a pervasive failure with Bethesda's take on Fallout. Diamond City has a school where they presumably teach old stuff, but the guy in the market thinks baseball was the Circus Maximus. Dr. Amari in Goodneighbor is established to be a doctor, in fact she's a
"a scientist specializing in the human brain"... How? She's never said to be a former Vault dweller nor an Institute deserter, so how was she educated? A question that the Sole Survivor can
literally put to the traveling caravan surgeon - "Are you a real doctor?" - but the writers never addressed for themselves. And this writing issue permeates right down to gameplay aspects, such as how you come across untouched suitcases and pre-War safes, only to find pipe pistols and raider armour within. Fallout 3 had melons at the Super Duper Mart... That's some strong preservatives, bro. It also had Tenpenny Tower, a "luxury" retreat for those evil, evil rich people... who live in the middle of nowhere with no ostensible source to their wealth, under the roof of a man who "came over from Britain." In what, a fucking balloon?
Anyway, I could go on but you get the point - Bethesda never resolved the logical progression of Fallout's setting and timeline, the worldbuilding is surface level only and this creates recurring, irritating problems. New Vegas did a generally better job of this, depicting large scale, working societies with some degree of internal logic, though Bethesda clearly didn't pay much attention to Obsidian's side title. Starfield's going to be an interesting moment in this department because, as they've stated themselves, it's their first new, original IP in decades, so we'll see if they do better with a clean slate. But the smart money is on you finding space toothpaste inside a space crab's gut on an unexplored planet.
Now, look, I both love and hate Bethesda's games. It's an abusive relationship and I'm the battered housewife. I know Todd only hurts me because he loves me... but he
does hurt me. He does, Late Bloomer.
Gothic, Gothic 2, Risen, ELEX, [...] Fallout: New Vegas, Kingdom Come: Deliverance...
Rephrase the question to "Who else does what Bethesda does?" and you get Piranha Bytes, Obsidian while aping Bethesda, and Warhorse Studios. That's why Bethesda's games are so popular, because they're near enough the only ones making that particular kind of game.
