Five Fun Facts: Fallout Edition!
When it comes to RPGs, there really is a short list of games that stand out and stand the test of time - especially Western RPGs. Series like Mass Effect, Deus Ex, and more recently The Witcher have stood out among the rest. But one franchise that has truly stood the test of time for over two decades: FALLOUT!
Since 1997, we've explored the barren wastelands of post-apocalyptic California (twice), Washington DC, the Mojave Desert, Boston, and most recently in West Virginia. Each time, the worlds we've explored and the people in it have given us endless hours of quests, stories, and memories - and some sweet, sweet trivia!
Today we're covering five fun facts you may not know (or maybe you do, who knows!) about the iconic Fallout franchise: check'em out below!
I'll be honest, this came as a bit of a surprise to me at first, as the whole premise of the series (including the game's title) would be completely different had it not been in a post-apocalypse setting. However... I won't lie, some of the other options are certainly intriguing! According to Tim Cain, one of the original Fallout creators, they were toying around with a couple of alternative options - namely, time traveling and encountering a dinosaur civilization, and the next being the game centered around the aftermath of an alien invasion. Ultimately they settled on Fallout, but those other two options seem intriguing indeed...
If you've played any Fallout game, chances are you've come across a trusty canine companion on your travels - Dogmeat! Here's the interesting part though: regardless of which game you've played, Dogmeat has been there the whole time! Dogmeat is the only "recurring character" that shows up as an NPC in every entry of the Fallout series, with (in my opinion) his most notable appearance being in Fallout 2. You're given a few options when you encounter Dogmeat in Fallout 2, but if you choose to harm a hair on the poor dog's head, well... A man by the name of Mel (a clear reference to Mel Gibson's Mad Max character) will show up to kick your butt. Moral of the story? Doggos are your friends, especially in Fallout!
Fallout: New Vegas, a sort of standalone title within the Fallout series, is very often considered the best Fallout game, and by some the best western RPG of all time. What's especially impressive about this feat, is that the game had a significantly shorter development time than the average RPG, and much shorter than any other Bethesda title. Obsidian Entertainment, who still had many developers that worked on the original Fallout titles, were approached by Bethesda to make the game, as they were already working on Fallout 4. However, Bethesda gave them a short window of time to make the game: only 18 months! Could you imagine New Vegas with a 4-5 year development time? Holy cow! The good news for all of us, though, is despite some bugs at launch, New Vegas turned out to be a phenomenal gaming experience, and one that has truly stood the test of time as one of the RPG greats!
We all know that Fallout 4 was a really big game - epic storylines, massive areas to explore, lengthy quests, and so much more. And what do all of those things have to include? Well, characters of course! Characters and dialogue to help carry the game as you go on this epic journey to find your son - but do you know just how BIG this game really is? Since it's fully voice acted, with a variety of dialogue options for many of your encounters, it should come as no surprise that this is one of the biggest video game scripts ever - with over 110,000 lines of dialogue! If you turned Fallout 4 into a book, it would be longer than Fallout 3 and Skyrim COMBINED!
Speaking of characters and dialogue - when you've got such large games with such an epic cast of characters, then you've got to hire some big time voice acting talent! Not only do you have a ton of really talented voice actors (fans of Critical Role probably recognize the likes of Matt Mercer, Laura Bailey, Sam Riegel, and Liam O'Brien), but you have some serious all-star actor pedigree in these games. Characters throughout the series have been voiced by Liam Neeson, Malcolm McDowell, Matthew Perry, Wayne Newton, Felicia Day, Zachary Levi, Danny Trejo, Wil Wheaton, and so many more. But maybe the voice you've heard the most is from none other than Ron Pearlman, who has voiced the "Narrator" (and a few other characters too) throughout many of the voice-acted entries in the Fallout franchise - which includes his very own "Ron the Narrator" model found in New Vegas!
