Fallout 2 did take itself seriously, with ironic humour thrown in for good measure. The amount of references to pop culture did detract from the overall product, but did not diminish the themes tackled in the game.

It's interesting to see people cling to the humour in Fallout 2 (which the developers admitted was too much and scaled it back in Fallout: New Vegas), while missing the bigger picture. The bigger picture that includes the political rivalry between New Reno, the NCR, and Vault City for control over North California. The deliciously complex political situation in Redding. The competition between the families of New Reno. The man/mutant struggle in Broken Hills. Gecko and Vault City. Modoc and the Slags. But no, people continue to go "HEY FALLOUT 2 HAS (insert pop cultural reference) SO IT'S FINE FOR FALLOUT 3 TO MAKE NO SENSE."

The same goes for Old World Blues. Yes, it is superficially comical. But...

Exactly Andro, Harkness is the antithesis of Fallout. A fully sentient computer that fits inside a normal human-body when contrasted with a ZAX like Eden who also mentions that he has thousands of databanks beneath his room. Now the reason why technology stagnated cannot be explained, it's just whimsy for the setting, therefore I don't accept that simply having a greater period of time is why these people have access to this level of technology.

They should have super high-tech versions of Fallout stuff not stuff akin to real life technology.

It's not about logic because logic and Fallout development don't go together from the series very premise, it's about consistency and setting and, like Mothership Zeta, the Androids just do not fit; it sets a precedant that this level of ttechnology is possible in fallout when before it wasn't, hell maybe someone can invent flat-screen tvs next or replace cathode-rays with integrated-circuit boards and we can just call the entire series a day.

I don't see the technology level problem. We've not only seen advanced, compact artificial intelligences, we've witnessed the technology to replace a human's brain with technology exists in the Fallout universe. Heck, even the more traditional robots must have some pretty advanced microtechnology to do what they do. Really, I don't see any problem technology-wise, the androids don't actually seem that far beyond everything else. Different, perhaps, but certainly plausible given the sorts of technology we've already seen.

And what's so horrible about the Big MT not focusing on humanoid robots? It doesn't mean they're incapable of it, just look at their AI, not to mention the ability to replace a human's brain with technology. It just means they didn't focus on it. I mean, it's not like anyone's saying the Institute must also have hard light technology or Saturnite. Plus, the leaders of the Big MT aren't exactly sane (it seems two centuries of being a brain in a tank does that to you in Fallout). If anything, the Big MT only serves to make a place like the Institute, which clearly focused on different but similarly advanced technology, seem less impossible.

Of course, I still maintain that the most important thing is that humanoid robots have been a part of science fiction for quite some time, thus in a world with such a heavy emphasis on retro-futuristic science fiction, they're not an unfitting element.

How are they not anymore different than anything else, they are entirely synthetic people so life-like as too be indistinguishable from humans... to the point that even Harkness doesn't know he's one.

Again, AI is a fluke reserved for the largest pre-war computer, as Eden says with his thousands of data-banks; not only has this super-computer level of computing-power been put in a vessel the size of a man but taking into account everything else in that machine like controls for the legs and arms and simulating every human inflexion and movement it must be absolutely tiny. More-so than I am willing to suspend my disbelief for.

Big MT had advanced artificial intelligences placed in small appliances and as I've pointed out, the technology to replace a human brain. Plus they've developed suits with self-locomotion, matter conversion technology, that hard light hologram technology, and all sorts of other stuff. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the technology in the Institutes's androids originally came from the Big MT.

Plus I believe President Eden is far, far more than an AI capable of posing as a human.

It's explained that they are merely personalities over common functions, the main SINK programme says that (hence why you can switch them off). I also don't like that DLC either.


Harkness isn't "posing" as a human, he displays human emotions; "the right to self-determination" he says when he get's his ID changed, he thinks entirely for himself.

True self-awarness is completely possible within the Fallout universe, but its only ever been seen with ZAX super-computers IIRC (although I think Skynet was self-aware as well). And before the Institute came along, such self-awareness was a rare occurrence which took an extremely advanced super-computer years to develop.

However, building a synthetic humanoid is just out of this world. Ones that bleed, that [censored], that shave, and are so human like to the point that no-one (including themselves) can even determine that they are androids.

Its Mothership Zeta level.

Alot of things I'm uncomfortable with in Big Mountain as well. The vending machines that can produce food from chips is one such grievance I have.

That isn't "true AI". Those are pre-programmed personalities. Very similar to how ED-E does not have "true AI" as is pointed out by Dr. Whitley.

As Enclave said, the Fallout universe has stagnated technology as part of its setting. Certain aspects of technological development simply don't develop past a certain point, which is why you have old computers with transistors and the like interspersed with ray guns.

I don't think having 200 years should allow the Institute the ability to bypass this caveat of the Fallout world.

Ok I was wrong *sobs* how can this be!

Light years is a measurement of distance not time

Its a figurative expression used to show the comparable extreme differences between two things.

Yeah its an astronomical measurement, but that's now how I'm using it.

/pedantry.