I am here to talk about Brotherhood of Steel. And the REAL reason it is not canon.

Many people believe it is not canon because of inconsistencies, some believe it was because it svcked (Which it did). And some believed it was because Beth said so.


The truth is, the team that was working on Fallout Brotherhood of Steel was NOT the same team that worked on Van Buren.

Van Buren, the REAL continuation of F1 and F2 was never finished, leaving us with that sad excuse for a sequel. But it wasn't a sequel.

Here are 2 quotes from 2 different developers that may give further insight:

"Q:
Most importantly, does the publicaiton of fo:bos mean that plans (whatever plans there were) for fallout 3 have been suspended?

A: No. F:BoS is being developed by the console division of Interplay. Black Isle Studios - who we consult and work alongside - has their own plans for the Fallout series and further development on the PC. Our decision to develop F:BoS does not in any way affect the resources that Black Isle may devote to further Fallout titles. Nothing has been made official as far as a Fallout 3, so we can't really comment on that specifically.

We discussed story and setting with Black Isle ambassadors, and followed their recommendations and ideas."

The second quote was more concrete on F:BoS's level of canon legitimacy

"However. As we have stated more than a few times now, FO:BOS is not a continuation of the PC chronology. It is inspired by, and takes place with a recognisable tangent of the Fallout Universe, but is is a law unto itself. Further console games (should they come to fruition) will have to follow what we lay down with this game.

Is there an answer that will apease your "Why the hell change it..."? Probably not, because when you get right down to it, we changed it because we wanted to.

FO:BOS resides within a thrice-removed tangent from ourselves, with Fallout 1 and 2 nestled somewhere between.

Yes facts about FO and the BOS that we could use in our defense have been listed, but since we are going to stay the course that F:BoS is not meant to be canon or not necassarily follow canon, then we can't site those items. Can we?"



Now, before anyone makes assumptions I do not like F:BoS. The point of this thread was to make it adamant that it was not canon because it was not made to be. The cancelled Van Buren was supposed to be the real continuation of the Fallout Series. And if it was ever finished, it would be Canon.

It's not canon. We know that. You didn't have to make a thread to tell us something we all know.

You may have known the what, but did you know the why?

It seems a lot of people on this forum view it along the lines of "It svcked, and broke canon. It must not be canon" when it reality it is "It was a spinoff that was not even made to follow the first 2 games."

Alright, cool. But do we really care why it wasn't canon? No, the majority of us probably don't give a flying crap why it isn't canon.

If we want to be technical, canon is whatever Bethesda says it is. As owners of the IP can get final say in this regard. Certainly individuals can decide on their own internal consistency, but canon is ultimately in the hands of the owner.

However it is interesting to note that it was considered separate from the get-go, or at least early on. Would it be possible to cite those quotes so we can see them in their greater context?

This was the link given, but it 404'd. http://forums.interplay.com/viewtopic.php?t=32476&start=45


But, here is the entire editorial. http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=11