Forum:Fallout 3 retcon concept: it was a prequel all along!

I think a fair number of Fallout fans found Fallout 3 a little disappointing, with regard to its continuity with the rest of the series. I have an impractical idea for how Fallout 3 could be somewhat improved in light of its continuity with the Fallout series:


 * Change the date from 2277 to 2121 -- 40 years before the original Fallout.


 * Keep the Brotherhood in T-45d power armor, but since the Enclave didn't develop Advanced Power Armor until 2215, they'll have T-51b instead. However, T-51b is still superior enough to T-45d that people with well-maintained T-51b suits seem really scary.


 * Raven Rock as the Enclave's refuge after the destruction of the Poseidon Oil rig would have to be reversed -- the Poseidon Oil rig would be the Enclave's refuge after the destruction of Raven Rock instead. I'm not sure why the Enclave has an AI president, but it's a mistake they won't repeat.


 * Since it's only 44 years since the bombs dropped, the following make more sense:
 * Everything is more irradiated: decaying radioactive waste have only been through 1/5th as many half-lives as in a game set in 2277, and only 1/2 as many as a game set in 2161.
 * The Enclave appealing to American nationalism, and residual anti-communist sentiment (e.g., in the Republic of Dave), makes more sense (as opposed to Eden appealing to American nationalism 200 years after the US's obliteration, which makes about as much sense as appealing to Mughal Empire nationalism now.)
 * The Enclave hasn't gotten as far-removed from the people of the Wasteland, and is willing to leave people who aren't too mutated (a very small fraction, admittedly) alive -- and Autumn even has qualms about that. Almost humane compared to Richardson's kill-everyone plan.
 * Eden's "When I was a child, growing up in rural Kentucky..." speech is no longer transparently insane.
 * Not everything has been scavenged-out, as it would be after 200 years, so an economy based on scavenging (and raiding) without new production is more viable.
 * 2121 is within about a decade of 2134, when another dissident faction of the Brotherhood of Steel lead the expedition to the Glow. The conflicts within the Brotherhood -- as well as the expedition to the East Coast in general -- could be portrayed as part of a larger issue of the Brotherhood still trying to figure out its ideology and goals, which included the expedition to the Capital Wasteland, the expedition to the Glow, and the Civil War, etc. Although personally I'd rather see the Californian hegemony scaled back a bit and see a different but analogous group with East Coast origins take the place of the Brotherhood.
 * Ghoul Chinese Communist troops still think they're fighting the good fight against the running dog lackeys of capitalist imperialism.
 * The Capital Wasteland supermutants are only now running low on FEV, even though they're continually running down pre-war stocks rather than producing any more.
 * Braun and the other people of Vault 112 are old, but not bi-centenarians like Mr. House, so successful radical life extension doesn't need to be as common or have such a high success rate.
 * Allistair Tenpenny could have come from the UK to the US when there was actually a functioning transatlantic transportation system, rather than somehow crossing the ocean at some point in the 23rd century.

Thoughts? I realize this ship has already sailed, and it's established in canon now that Fallout 3 took place in 2277. If we could somehow alter canon, though, would Fallout 3 make more sense as a prequel to Fallout 1 than as a sequel to Fallout 2?

Idhan 06:32, May 29, 2011 (UTC)


 * Some things in Fallout 3 never make sense no matter how you twist it. Rootmars 01:53, May 28, 2011 (UTC)


 * Okay. Come to think of it, I'm not actually sure that this subject is appropriate for this forum. Would it be better in the Fallout 3 general discussion forum or the Fallout World discussion forum? Idhan 06:38, May 29, 2011 (UTC)


 * I think its all too late now. The damage is done.  Leave the massive Retcons for Star Trek Agent c 18:40, June 4, 2011 (UTC)